The Reformation in England

THE REFORMATION
IN ENGLAND

JOHN STRYPE
(From an engraving by G. Vertue)

THE REFORMATION
IN ENGLAND

BY

S. R. MAITLAND
u

Author of "The Dark Ages"

WITH
NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON : JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK : JOHN LANE COMPANY • MCMVI

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. PURITAN VERACITY, No. I.

Georg-e Joye — Anthony Dalaber .... i

II. PURITAN VERACITY, No. II.

Thomas Greene — John Careless .... 14

III. PURITAN STYLE, No. I.

John Bale, Bishop of Ossory ..... 32

IV. PURITAN STYLE, No. II.

Bishop Ponet — Bartholomew Traheron ... 54

V. PURITAN POLITICS, No. I.

John Knox— Bishop Ponet — Wyat's Rebellion . 66

VI. PURITAN POLITICS, No. II.

The Duty of Subjects to their Rulers generally . 77

VII. PURITAN POLITICS, No. III.

Respecting- Queen Mary in particular ... 98

ail. PURITAN POLITICS, No. IV.

The Spaniards . . . . . . .116

IX. PURITAN POLITICS, No. V.

The Change of Religion 136

272803

Contents

PAGE

X. THE PURITAN PALINODIA.

The " Harborough" for faithful Subjects . . 150

XL THE RIBALDS, No. I.

Thomas, Lord Cromwell . . . . 173

XII. THE RIBALDS No. II.

Act of Six Articles , .188

XIII. THE RIBALDS, No. III.

Act of Six Articles 204

XIV. THE RIBALDS, No. IV.

Act of Six Articles ....... 223

XV. BISHOP GARDINER AND THE KING .... 238
XVI. BISHOP GARDINER AND PAGET . . . . . 250

XVII. BISHOP GARDINER AND BISHOP BONNER, No. I.

" De vera obedientia " ...... 266

XVIII. BISHOP GARDINER AND BISHOP BONNER, No. II.

*' De vera obedientia " . . . . 292

XIX. BISHOP GARDINER : His POPERY .... 308

XX. BISHOP BONNER'S CRUELTY 315

§ i. General Statements, and Fuller's in par-
ticular ....... ib.

§ ii. Some Occurrences during the first year

and a half of Queen Mary's reign . 331

§ iii. The Commission in South wark . . .341
§ iv. How far Was Bonner concerned with the

Martyrs condemned by it? . . . 347
§ v. Bonner's dealings with his own prisoners 360
§ vi. His dealings with the Court . . . 380
§ vii. Those with his own prisoners resumed,
with a List of all the Martyrs who
suffered in the reign of Queen Mary. 384

ILLUSTRATIONS

JOHN STRYPE Frontispiece

(From an Engraving by G. Vertue.) PAGE

HUGH LATIMER, Bishop of Worcester 2

(From an En. raving by G. Vertue.)

JOHN Fox, the Martyrologist 10

(From an Old Engraving.}

HENRY VIII 22

(From a Lithograph after Holbein, by T. R. Way.)

SIR WILLIAM PAGET, first Lord Paget 56

(From a Mezzotint.)

STEPHEN GARDINER, Bishop of Winchester .... 74
•(From an Engraving by P. a Gunst.)

JOAN BALE, Bishop of Ossory 130

(From an Engraving by H. Meyer.)

CARDINAL WOLSEY 176

(From a Lithograph after Holbein, by T. R. Way.)

THOMAS CROMWELL, Earl of Essex 198

(From a Lithograph after Holbein, by T. R. Way.)

CARDINAL POLE 200

(From an Engraving after Titian, by H. T. kyall.)

Illustrations

PAGE

EDWARD SEYMOUR, Duke of Somerset, Lord Piotector . 238
(From an Engraving after Holbein, by Gaidar.)

NICHOLAS RIDLEY, Bishop of London 266

(From an Engraving by P. a Gunst.)

EDWARD, Lord HERBERT of Cherbury . . . . .310
(From a'i Engraving by I. Thomson, after a Drawing
by Wm. Derby.)

ROBERT FERRAR, Bishop of St. David's .... 336

(From an Engraving.)

THOMAS CRANMER, Archbishop of Canterbury . . . 362
(From an Engraving by Gcrbicus Fliccus.)

EDMUND BONNER, Bishop of London 442

(From an Engraving.)

ERRATUM.
Page 67, line n, for "1544" read "1554"

ESSAYS-

ESSAY i.

PURITAN VERACITY. No. I.

GEORGE JOYE — ANDREW DALABER.

FOR the history of the Reformation in England, we depend
so much on the testimony of writers, who may be con-
sidered as belonging, or more or less attached, to the puritan
party, — or who obtained their information from persons of
that sect, — that it is of the utmost importance to inquire
whether there was any thing in their notions respecting
truth, which ought to throw suspicion on any of their
statements.

The question is one which does not require much
research or argument. There is something very frank (one
is almost inclined to say, honest) in the avowals, either
direct or indirect, which various puritans have left on
record, that it was considered not only allowable, but meri-
torious, to tell lies for the sake of the good cause in which
they were engaged, and for the benefit of those who were
fellow-helpers in it. The case is not merely that the charit-
able partisan looked with compassion on the weak brother
who denied his faith under the dread of cruel torments, or
stood by with pitying and loving connivance while he told
a lie as to some matter of fact, to save his own life, or lives
dearer than his own. It is, that they did not hesitate,
without any such urgent temptation, and with great deli-
beration and solemnity, to state what they knew to be
false ; and that the manner in which such falsehoods were

A

2 PURITAN VERACITY. [ESSAY

avowed by those who told them, and recorded by their
friends and admirers, is sufficient evidence that such a prac-
tice was not considered discreditable. This will be best
proved and illustrated by a few facts, which require no
further general introduction than what has been already
given ; and it is hoped that the reader will understand,
that in thus bringing them forward the object is, not to
criminate any person or class of persons ; but to inquire
how far we may rely on statements resting on the authority
of those who adopted puritan principles.

" When the Party," says Bishop Burnet, " became so considerable,
that it was known there were societies of them, not only in London,
but in both the universities, then the Cardinal [Wolsey] was con-
strained to act. His contempt of the clergy was looked on as that
which gave encouragement to the heretics. When reports were
brought to court of a company that were in Cambridge, Bilney,
Latimer, and others that read and propagated Luther's book and
opinions, some Bishops moved, in the year 1523, that there might
be a visitation appointed to go to Cambridge, for trying who were
the fautors of heresy there. But he, as Legate, did inhibit it (upon
what grounds I cannot imagine), which was brought against him
afterwards in Parliament, (Art. 43. of his impeachment.) Yet, when
these doctrines were spread everywhere, he called a meeting of all
the Bishops and divines, and canonists about London ; where
Thomas Bilney and Thomas Arthur were brought before them, and
articles were brought in against them. The whole process is set
down at length by Fox in all points according to Tonstall's register,
except one fault in the translation. When the Cardinal asked
Bilney whether he had not taken an oath before, not to preach, or
defend any of Luther's doctrines, he confessed he had done it, but
not judicially, (judicialiter in the register.) This Fox translates, not
lawfully. In all other particulars there is an exact agreement between
the Register and his Acts." — Hist. Ref., vol. i. p. 31.

Fox, who, as Burnet says, has set down the whole pro-
cess at length, begins by telling us that, on the 27th of
November, 1527, "Cardinal Wolsey with his complices,"
that is to say, " a great number of Bishops, as the Arch-
' bishop of Canterbury, Cuthbert [Tonstal] of London, John
« [Fisher] of Rochester, Nicholas [West] of Ely, John

* [Voysey] of Exeter, John [Longlond] of Lincoln, John

* [Clerk] of Bath and Wells, Harry [Standish] of St. Asaph,
' with many others, both divines and lawyers, came into the

* chapter-house at Westminster," to examine Thomas Bilney
and Thomas Arthur as to their having " preached or taught
to the people the opinions of Luther or any others con-

HUGH I.ATIMEU, B1SHOH OF WORCESTER
(Front an Engraving by G. Vertue)

i.] ARTHUR, BILNEY, AND GEORGE JOYE. 3

demned by the church." With the details of this process,
however, we have no business at present ; and perhaps the
story is so well known, that it is almost unnecessary to say
that, according to Fox, " Bilney was a Cambridge man, and
the first framer of that university in the knowledge of
Christ1;" and that he converted many of his fellows to
the knowledge of the gospel, amongst which number were
Thomas Arthur, and Master Hugh Latimer ; and at length
" forsaking the university, went into many places teaching
* and preaching, being associate with Arthur, which accom-
'panied him from the university."

Thus it was that Arthur and Bilney came to be called
before the cardinal "and his complices; " but I do not want
to say more about them at present ; and, indeed, I only
mention the august tribunal before which they were sum-
moned, in order to introduce a person who was not there,
though he had received a very particular invitation to
attend, and had, to a certain extent, accepted it. This
person was George Joye, who was then a fellow of Peter
House, in Cambridge, and who is now not quite unknown,
from his connexion with Tyndale's translation of the New
Testament, and from several works which he published,
especially an attack on Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester,
which elicited a reply, entitled, " A Declaration of such true
articles as George loye hath gon about to confute as false2."

Fox does not appear to have known that Jove was cited
with Bilney and Arthur ; and I refer to the account of that
process, in his Martyrology, only that the reader may better
comprehend what here follows, and perceive that I am not
selecting, for an illustration, the story of a person incon-
siderable or unknown. George Joye was well known, and
a man of some consequence, among those who followed the
new learning.

The facts which led to his being summoned with Bilney
and Arthur seem to have been these. The Prior of Newn-
ham Abbey, near Bedford, told the suffragan of the Bishop

1 Edit. 1596, p. 910.

2 I suppose that most of what is known of him is collected in Lewis's
History of the Translations of the Bible, p. 79, et seq. On the ground
that one of his works is professedly " Printed at London by George Joye,"
Herbert gives him a place in his edition of Ames's Typographical Anti-
quities, vol. i. p. 567.

4 THE PRIOR OF NEWNHAM. [ESSAY

of Lincoln, that George Joye held some heretical opinions.
The suffragan told the bishop ; and the bishop wrote direct
to the prior for further information. The prior replied
fully to the bishop, and the consequence was, that Joye was
cited to attend at that meeting in the Chapter House, at
which, as we have seen, John, Bishop of Lincoln, was one
of the " complices " of his friend and patron the cardinal.
What Joye did on that occasion he shall tell in his own
words, as soon as I have explained how we come to have the
prior's letter to the bishop, and given some account of its
contents.

It seems that, by some means or other, that letter came
into the hands of Joye ; and when he considered himself
safe from his pursuers, he printed it, with a commentary
replying to the charges which it contained. His little book
is entitled " The Letters whyche Johan Ashwell, Priour of
' Newnham Abbey besydes Bedforde, sente secretly to the
' Byshope of Lyncolne, in the yeare of our Lord M.D.xxvii.

* where in the sayde Pryour accuseth George Joye that tyme

* beyng felowe of Peter College in Cambrydge, of fower

* opinyons : with the answere of the sayde George vnto the
' same opynyons3." It consists of about fifty-eight small
pages, and is dated at the end, " fl[ At Straszburge, the
10. daye of June ; " and beneath is added, " C This lytell
boke be delyuerd to Johan Ashwel Prior of Newnha Abbey
besydes Bedforde with spede." On the back of the title,
George Joye gives a brief synopsis of the errors and heresies
with which he was charged, in the following form :

"C The fyrste opinion is (as M. priour sayth) that a syrnple
preyst hath as large and as greate power to bynde and to lose, as
hath a byshope, or the byshope of Eome.

<[ The seconde that he imputeth vnto me is that fayth is sufficient
wythout workes.

C The thyrde that he fayneth on me, is that euery preist may
have a wyf e or a concubine.

C The fowerth, that euery laye man maye heare confessions.

3 It may be proper to say, with respect to books of this period, that
while I endeavour to give all extracts as correctly as possible, I do not
feel bound to copy exactly the punctuation, (where there is anything that
can be properly so called,) or all the contractions, misprints, and obsolete
spelling which would render them tiresome, if not unintelligible to most
readers. For words in brackets, unless otherwise explained, I am re-
sponsible.

i.] THE PRIOR OF NEWNHAM. 5

C v. And because he sayth that I had men going on pylgrimage
in deriseon, I have set to the scripture that dampneth worshippyng
of images."

The next page begins :

" {[ Here foloweth the Pry ours letters

taken out of hys own hande

worde for worde.

C The Superscription.

To our moste Reverend father in Christ and special! good
lorde my lorde of Lyncolne our diocesan be thys

deliuered wyth spede.

Most Reuerende father in god, dew recommendations had to you
with humble obedience : I, your spirituall chylde, louing subget,
and daily bedaman, is gladde to here of your prosperous welfare, y°
which I and my brethern dayly praye to god to continew. And
where as your lordship wrote your louynge letters, wyllynge them
to be kepte secrete : so I beseche your lordshyp, that these symple
letters of myne may be kepte secrete vnto your selfe. Also, where
as my Lorde your suffragane informed your lordship one master
Joye, by ye knowledge that he had of me, what erroneus opynyons
he hylde : forsothe some be oute of my mynde, and some I haue
called to my mynde by the reason of your letters. Una opinio
erat, &c."

Here the cautious prior proceeds to detail the errors and
heresies in Latin, but as we have already had a synopsis of
them, we may skip rather more than a page, and take him
up when he again becomes English.

"But for these and diuerse other we haue bene sumtyrne sine
charitate propter circumstantes and sedentes. And sumtime I haue
geuen him exhortation openly, and sumtyme secretely, that he shuld
leue such Lutronus opinions. Also M. Chaunceler made serche for
him diuerse times when he came into the contre ; but the he was
euer at Cambrig in Peter house. And M. Chaunceler gaue vnto me
strait commaundement in your lordshipes name that I shuld not
suffer him to preche in none of your churches without your licens
and writing with your sealle ; and so he came no more at me ; nor
I praye to god that he do not, except he amende, quia dictum
vulgare infectionis with heresi, iulisy, and frensy, &c., but I beseche
your lordship that no creature maye know that I, or any of mine, do
shew you of these thinges for then I shall leusse the fauor of many
in my contre. But I am, & haue ben, & wyll be euer at your
commaundement. Et sic valeatis in Christo Jesu sicut cor in
corpore meo.

Your louing subget and dayly orator Johannes
Prior de Newenham licet indignus.

C More ouer I haue harde sume reporte that when he haue ben
among lay persons at festis or yonkeres in the contre he hath had

6 GEORGE JOYE. [ESSAY

many lewde opinions among the people & some good folkys would
murmur and grugge at his saynges and some wold reioyse
therein."

Having thus given the prior's letters, (or as we should
now say, letter,) George Joye proceeds to confute his charges
point by point ; but this is not to our purpose ; we are not
discussing the Lutheran opinions charged on him, but in-
quiring how far he was a credible witness as to matters of
fact ; and the part which concerns us is a sort of postscript,
which he entitles —

" {[ The storie of my state after the bishop

had receyued the pryours letters "
and which begins thus : —

" On the Saterdaye seuennyght before aduent sondaye, the yeare
of our Lorde M.D. XXVII. there were letters sent as from the
Cardinall by one of hys offycers to Cambrydge, delyuered to the
vyce Canceller called Doctour Edmonds master of Peter college,
where I was then felowe. In whyche letters he was commaunded
to sende me up to appeare at Westminster yc wendesdaye folowyng
[the 27th of November] at ix. of the clok with Bylney and Arture,
for certayne erroneous opynyons, &c. Our master sent for me on
the morow in to the contrey, and I came to hym, on the mondaye.
He shewed me the letters; I red them, and sawe the Cardinals
sygne manuell subscrybed in great letters, and his seale. I gote me
horse when it snewed, and was colde, and came to London, and so
to Westmynster, not longe after my howre, when Bilney and Arture
were in examinacyon. Whyche thynge when I harde of, and knewe
but those two poore shepe among so many cruel wolues, I was not
ouer hastye to thruste in amonge them ; for there was a shrewd
mayney of bishops beside the Cardinal with other of theyr faction.
And I thought to heare how these two lytell lambes shulde spede,
yere I wold put myselfe into these lyons mouthes. I went to my
diner and taried walkyng in the cyte.

" At last, on the Saterday, I came to a Master of myne called Syr
Wyllyam Gascoingue, the Cardinales tresurer : and shewed him my
errende, but he knewe all the conuayaunce of my cause better than
I (for I beleue yet he was the author of all my trouble) and he bad
me go in to the chamber of presence, and there Doctour Capon
should present me to the Cardinall. I was but a course courtyer,
neuer before hearynge this terme ' chamber of presence,' ne knew
where it was ; and I was half e ashamed to aske after it ; and went
into a longe entrye on the lefte hande ; and at laste happened vpon
a dore, and knocked, and one opened it ; and when I loked in, it
was the kichen. Then I went backe into the hall, and asked for the
chamber of presence ; and one poynted me up a payer of stayers.
There stode I in the chamber of presence, when I wold wyth all my
harte haue ben absent, waytynge for Doctour Capon almost an

i.] GEOEGE JOYE. 7

bower ; for I was not ouer hasty to aske after hym. There no man
knew me, nor I them. There was a great fyer in the chamber, the
wether was colde, and I saw now and then a Bishop come out ; but
I durste not stand nyghe the fyer, for feare of burnyng. Theyr was
in all aboute a dozen bishops, whose solemne and lordely lokys
pleased me not. Whom when I behelde, betwene me and the fyer,
as they passed forbye, in good fay the me though [t] I saw nothing
els but the galouse and the hangman : but, as grace was, none of
them knew me. Then the tresurer sent for me downe into his
chamber ; and there he told me, that the Cardynal sente not for me.
Then I beganne to smell theyr secrete conuayaunce, and how they
had counterfeted theyr lordes, the Cardinales, letters. And here
the tresurer sent me to the bishope of Lyncolne, tellynge me that a
suffragane had accused me. Whych suffragane I neuer see nor
knew. I went a good pase toward the bishops place, and ouertoke
hys chaunceler, called Doctour Rains, shewing him yt I wold speake
wyth my lord. He shewed my lord of me, and said that I must
come againe the mornyng at .vi. of the clocke. I dyd so, and wayted
for my lorde at the stayers fote til it was about . viii. My lord came
down, and I dyd my dutye to hym. He asked me, ' Be you M. Joye 2 '
' Ye forsothe my lorde,' quod I. ' Abyde,' said he, ' wyth my Chaun-
celer tyll I come agayne ; ' (for my lord with all the bishopes toke
theyr barges to wayte upon the Cardinall that mornyng to Grene-
wiche to the kyng,) I desired my lord to be good lord unto me, and
shew me his pleasure, what hys lordshype wold with me, and wher-
fore I am thus sent unto hym ; and he answered me like a lord, and
bad me tary with his chaunceler, and sayd I shuld wayte vpon his
laiser. There toke I my leue of my lord, and saw him no more.

" C Then, bycause M. Gascoigne rode home the same day into
Bedfordeshier, and bad me ouer euen to come againe on the morow
and tell him how I sped, I desyerde M. Chaunceler to [let me] go to
him, promisyng to come agayne at such a time as he wold apointe
me at my lordes coming home ; for he tolde me that my lorde wold
come agayne the same day about .ii. or .iii. of the cloke. I came to
M. Gascoing, whych I perceyued by his wordes fauored me not, and
he rebuked me because I studied Arigene, [Origen] ' Whych was an
heretike,' said he ; and he said that I helde such opinions as did
Bilney and Arture : which discomforted me very sore, when I
perceyued him to be my enemye, whom I toke for my good master.
There I saw hym laste. Then came I to the byshopes place agayne
at my houre, and shewed my selfe to M. Chaunceler. And there
daunsed I a colde attendance tyll all most nyght ; and yet my lord
was not come. Then I went to M. Chaunceler wyth whom was
Watson the scribe, desyryng him that I mought departe ; for I
though[t] my lord wold not come home that nyght, sayng that I had
farre to my lodging, and I loued not to walke late. Lothe they
were, I perceyued, and especially the scribe, that I shulde go : but
they wolde nether byd me to supper, nor promyse me lodgynge; and
I made haste, sayng that I wold come agayne on the morow to se
and my lord were come home. Then sayd the scribe, ' Where is
your lodging ? ' And here 1 was so bold to make the scribe a lye for
hys asking ; telling hyoa that I laye at the grene drogon toward

8 GEORGE JOYE. [ESSAY

Bishopsgate, when I laye a myle of, euen a contrary waye ; for I
neuer trusted 'scribes nor pharisais, and I perceyued he asked me not
for any good. Here I bad them bothe good nyght.

" As I went now I thought thus with my self e, I am a scholer of
Cambridge under only the vice chauncelers iurisdiction, and under
the great God the Cardinal ; and M. Gascoigne said the Cardinall
sent not for me ; I wyll take a brethe yere I come to these men
agayne. On the morowe I was not ouer hastie to come to the
chaunceler ; but as I walked in the citie, I met with a scoler of
Cambrydge ; and he tolde me that the bisshop of Lincolne had sent
hys seruaunt besely to enquire, and to seke me; ' What is the matter '
quod I. ' Mary,' quod he, ' it is sayde that he wold geue you a
benefice for preachyng in hys diocese.1 'A benefice,' quod I, 'ye a
malefee rather, for so rewarde they men for wel doynge.' Then I
gote me horse and rode fro my benefice, and lefte college, and all
that I had, and conuayed me self e towarde the seaside ready to flee
farther yf need were. But many a foule, jeoperdouse, and sorowfull,
iourny had I yere I came there. And, in my traueling, I mette with
a good felowe of mi olde acquaintaunce, which merueled gretly to
see me in so straunge a countrye, to whome I opened my minde
shewyng him partely of my hateful state, troublouse and paynfull
iournes that I had both by vnknowne waies, and also be night many
times. ' Be my trowthe,' quod he, ' I meruel ye be not robbed so
many theueshe wayes as you have ryden.' And then he warned me
of a theueshe place that I must nedes ride bye, and [I] asked him
agayne, ' Know you the place, and what great men dwel theraboutes? '
' Ye well,' sayd he. Then quod I, ' But dwel ther any bishopes that
waye ? ' (for I had leuer have mette with .xx. theues then wyth one
bishope.) ' Nay,' quod he. Then was I glad, and rode on my waye,
and euer blessed me from byshopes.

" But the bishop of Lincolne layed prevey wait for me to be taken,
and my fete bound under an horse bely to brought in him. The be
as the great bishop of Ely our visitour, angry supra modum* ; and
yet he wolde haue cyted me viis et modis, expulsed me my college
when I was gone, had my flyght preuented his comyng. Sed bene-
dictus dominus qui non dedii me in captione dentibus eorum. [Ps.
cxxiv. 6.] Amen.

" C Nowe M. priour, if there be any thyng in thys my answere
that offendeth you, blame your selfe, not me. You firste rolled the
stone ; I am not yet (thanked be God) so feabled, but that by Gods
helpe, I am able to rolle it you agayne; not to hurte you, as you
hurted me ; but rather to heale your ignoraunce wyth the trewe
knowleg of goddes word. And where as I am not so pacient in my
answere as I ought to be, and as you desyre, I praye you impute it
vnto the commune decease of all men borne of Adam whose childe
I am, yet staned with those carnal affectes souked out of him fro
my conception and can not be fully mortified but by death, then to
be perfite, renued in spirit, and made lyke oure brother Chryste, the
fyrste begoten among hys many brotheren. But yet of thys one
present conforte we are here al sure that beleue in goddes promise ;

4 The text appears to be corrupt. I give it as it stands.

i.] THOMAS GARRET. 9

that is to say, al our infirmities and synne (of the whych as longe
as we are in this mortal fleshe we can not be perfitly deliuerd) to be
swelowed in christes deth thorow our faith, nether shall they be
imputed vnto us, Christ being our ryghtuousnes, wysdome, holines,
our redemption, and our satisfaction before his father," &c.

The reader will bear in mind that we are not discussing
the question, whether George Joye had a right to deceive
his persecutors ; or, indeed, how far what he did was morally
right or wrong. That is, no doubt, a very important ques-
tion ; but it is not the one now under consideration. We
are at present only inquiring how far he, or any member of
the sect of which he was a leader, may be relied on as an
authority in matters relating to that sect. He tells us,
without any appearance of hesitation or compunction, that
he said what was false to others. May he not be doing the
same to us ? May we, for instance, believe that the prior's
letter is genuine ? I should think so ; but, I must say,
rather from internal evidence than on his authority ; and
perhaps, without entering upon technical reasons for the
opinion, I may say, that I believe the date from Strasburgh
to be merely a blind, and that the book was printed in
London. With regard to deception of that kind, it is
notorious that the puritan party had no scruple.

Having said thus much of Cambridge, and Cambridge
men, let me (to borrow Strype's words) "here take in ....

"what progress the other University of Oxford made about the
same time also in religion ; Thomas Garret, Curate of Honey-lane,
London, and who was burnt in the same fire with Dr. Barnes, was
the great instrument thereof there. Who brought thither sundry
books in Latin, treating of the Scripture, with the first part of
' Unio Dissidentium,' and Tyndal's first translation of the New
Testament ; which was about the year 1525, or 1526 ; which books
he sold at Oxon, and dispersed them among the students. Cardinal"
Wolsey and the Bishop of London had intelligence of this man, and
that he had a number of these heretical books, as they called them,
and that he was gone to Oxford to vend them ; and a privy search
was intended to be made for him in that University. But one Cole,
of Magdalen college, afterwards Cross-bearer unto the Cardinal,
gave secret warning of this to a friend or two of Garret's, and
advised them to persuade him to be gone. And now a great many
in Oxon became suspected in religion ; as they might well be ; for
they fell very hard upon reading these books, and gathered much
light in religion from them ; namely, Delaber, of Alb an hall; Clark,
Sumner, Bets, Taverner, Radley, Frith, Cox, Drum, and others, of
St. Frideswyde's college, or the Cardinal's college, now Christ's
Church ; Udal, and Diet, and others, of Corpus Christi ; Eeden of

10 ANTHONY DALABER. [ESSAY

Magdalen college; others of Glocester college; two monks of
St. Austin's, of Canterbury, named Lungport ; and John Salisbury,
of St. Edmond's Bury ; two White Monks of Bernard college ; two
Canons of St. Mary's college, one whereof was Kobert Farrar, after-
wards a Bishop and a martyr ; and divers more." — Mem. Vol. I. P. i.
p. 569. 8vo edit.

The person to whom I wish to direct the reader's atten-
tion is the first named of Garret's disciples, who became the
historian of some of his proceedings. " The story of Thomas
Garret or Garrerd, and of his trouble in Oxford, testified
and recorded by Anthony Dalaber, who was there present
the same time," is given at great length by Fox in his
Martyrology 5 ; but a brief outline of it may suffice for our
present purpose, as our business lies not so much with the
hero of the story, as with the historian.

About the year 1526, Master Garret, as we have just
learned from Strype, came to Oxford, bringing with him
sundry books in Latin, treating of the scripture, with the
first part of " Unio dissidentium," and Tyndall's first trans-
lation of the New Testament ; and, moreover, it was not
unknown to Cardinal Wolsey, and to the Bishop of London,
and to other of that ungodly generation, that M. Garret
had a great number of these books, and that he was gone to
Oxford to make sale of them there to such as he knew to be
the lovers of the gospel. They determined, therefore, to
apprehend him ; but their purpose becoming known to him
and his friends, it was agreed that he must fly.

Anthony Dalaber, the narrator, was at that time a scholar
of Alban's Hall, and resident in the university ; but he had
lately been in his " country in Dorsetshire at Stalbridge ; "
and his brother, who was parson of that parish, being in
want of a curate, had desired that he would send him one
from Oxford. Whereupon, as he proceeds to state,

" it was thought good among the brethren (for so did we not only
call one another, but were indeed one to another,) that Master
Garret changing his name, should be sent forth with my letters into
Dorsetshire to my brother, to serve him there for a time, until he
might secretly convey himself from thence some whither over the

5 Edition of 159G, p. 1089, but some few particulars which Fox omitted
in his later editions are taken from Messrs. Seeley's edition, vol. v. p. 421,
&c. 1 trust that no reader will understand me as^ vouching ^for the
correctness of the reprint ; but the matter is so trifling that it is not
worth while to seek after the very scarce original edition of Fox.

JOHN FOX, THE MARTYROLOGIST
(From an old Engraving)

i.] ANTHONY DALABER. 11

sea. According hereunto I wrote my letters in all haste possible
unto my brother, for Master Garret to be his curate, but not declar-
ing what he was indeed ; for my brother was a rank papist, and
afterwards was the most mortal enemy that ever I had, for the
gospel's sake."

It is curious to speculate on what may be contained in
the scheme of Garret's taking a curacy under such a rank
papist. One would like to know what his friends expected
him to do, and how he himself expected to get on, under
such circumstances ; and perhaps we may doubt, when we
find Anthony playing such a trick on his brother, whether
the enmity of the parson of Stalbridge was purely " for the
gospel's sake." Fox makes the best of the matter by putting
in the margin, " brother against brother," which it cer-
tainly was, however we may doubt the propriety of the
allusion.

" So," continues Dalaber, " the Wednesday in the morn-

* ing before Shrovetide, Master Garret departed out of
' Oxford towards Dorsetshire, with my letters for his new
' service. How far he went, and by what occasion he so

* soon returned, I know not." But so it was that Garret
did come back to Oxford during the night of the succeeding
Friday, and going to the house where he had previously
lodged, he was there apprehended by the proctors ; and the
next morning delivered to Dr. Cottisforde, Master of Lin-
coln College, and Commissary of the University, who kept
him as prisoner in his chamber.

" Of all this sudden hurley-burley," says Dalaber, " was I

* utterly ignorant, so that I knew neither of Master Garret's
' so sudden return, neither that he was so taken." In fact,
Dalaber had been much occupied in changing his lodging ;
and, having worked hard at removing his " poor stuff "
from Alban's Hall to Gloucester College, where he had
taken a chamber for the purpose of studying the civil law,
until the Saturday afternoon, he had sat down to read the
only book which he had there — Francis Lambert's on the
gospel of St. Luke. "All my other books," he says,
" written on the scripture, of which I had a great number,

* as of Erasmus, of Luther, of (Ecolampadius, &c., I had yet
' left in my chamber at Alban's Hall, where I had made a
' very secret place to keep them safe in, because it was so
1 dangerous to have any such books." So he sat diligently

12 ANTHONY DALABER'S [ESSAY

reading, and meaning to do so " until even-song time at
Frideswide college," when he was disturbed by repeated and
violent knocking at the door ; and, at length, on opening it
" there was Master Garret as a man amazed ; " and " one
with him " who, however, turned out to be only a servant
in Gloucester college, who had acted in the capacity of guide
to point out Dalaber 's rooms.

Master Garret, not duly considering, " spake unadvisedly,"
and " said he was undone, for he was taken." After the
guide was gone the terrified Dalaber exclaimed, " Alas !
' Master Garret, by this your uncircumspect coming unto

* me and speaking so before this young man, you have dis-

* closed yourself and utterly undone me." But what was
done could not be helped ; so Garret explained that the
Commissary and all his company having gone to even-song,
leaving him alone, he " hearing nobody stirring in the col-
lege, put back the bar of the lock with his finger " and
came off. Dalaber was frightened at the idea that both
were at the mercy of the young man who had acted as
guide, and it seemed quite clear that Garret must not stay
one moment where he was. He proposed to go into Wales,
and from thence, if possible, to Germany ; and, after taking
an affectionate leave of Dalaber, who did what he could,
though not so much as they both wished, to disguise him,
he went his way.

As soon as he was gone, Dalaber shut up his rooms, and
set off to communicate the intelligence to the brethren.

" Then," says he, " I went straight to Frideswide and even-song was
begun, and the Dean and the other canons were there in their grey
amices : they were almost at Magnificat before I came thither. I
stood at the quier door, and heard Master Taverner play. ... as I
thus stood in cometh Dr. Cottisford, the commissary, as fast as ever
he could go, bare-headed, as pale as ashes (I knew his grief well
enough) and to the Dean he goeth into the choir, where he was sit-
ting in his stall, and talked with him very sorrowfully : what, I
know not ; but whereof I might and did well and truly guess. I
went aside from the quier door, to see and hear more. The Com-
missary and Dean came out of the quier wonderfully troubled, as it
seemed. About the middle of the church met them D. London,
puffing, blustering, and blowing, like an hungry and greedie lion
seeking his prey."

It is a pity to spoil a story which is really so graphic and
interesting; but I must curtail it, and briefly say that
Dalaber spent the evening with his friends at Corpus

i.] EXAMINATION. 18

Christi College, and slept in his old quarters at Alban Hall.
He rose early in the morning and went to Gloucester Col-
lege, where he was surprised to find the gates shut, contrary
to custom.

" Then," says he, " did I walk up and down by the wall there, a whole
hour before the gates were opened. In the meanwhile my musing
head being full of forecasting cares, and my sorrowful heart flowing
with doleful sighs, I fully determined in my conscience before God,
that if I should chance to be taken and be examined, I would accuse
no man, nor declare any thing further than I did already perceive
was manifestly known before."

In short, he found that his rooms had been broken open
and searched ; he was taken, and was examined by Anthony
Dunstan, a monk of Westminster, who was prior of the
students.

" He asked me," says Delabar, "if Master Garret were with me
yesterday ? I told him ' Yea.' Then he would know where he was,
and wherefore he came unto me. I told him, I knew not where he
was, except he were at Woodstock. For so (said I) he had showed
me that he would go thither, because one of the keepers there, his
friend, had promised him a piece of venison to make merry withal
the Shrovetide ; and that he would have borrowered a hat and a
pair of high shoes of me, but I had none indeed to lend him. This
tale 1 tJwught meetest, though it were nothing so."

After some further discourse the chief beadle came to
summon Dalaber to attend the Commissary, whom he found
with the dean of Cardinal's College, and the warden of New
College, at the altar of Lincoln College chapel. After they
had asked him a good many questions, chiefly respecting
himself,

" one came," he says, " unto them who was sent for, with pen, ink,
and paper. I trow it was the clerk of the University. As soon as
he was come, there was a board and tressels, with a form for him to
sit on, set between the doctors and me, and a great mass-book laid
before me ; and I was commanded to lay my right hand on it, and
to swear that I should truly answer unto such articles and inter-
rogatories as I should be by them examined upon. I made danger
of it awhile at first, but afterwards being persuaded by them,
partly by fair words, and partly by great threats, I promised to
do as they would have me ; but in my heart nothing so meant to do.
So I laid my hand on the book, and one of them gave me my oath,
and that done commanded me to kiss the book."

On being afterwards examined by Dr. London, he re-
peated the fabrication about Woodstock and the venison,
and to that, notwithstanding their threats and promises, he

14 PURITAN AND JESUIT. [ESSAY

adhered. " Then," he adds, " was he that brought Master
' Garret unto my chamber brought before me, and caused to
' declare what Master Garret said unto me at his coming to

* my chamber ; but I said plainly, / heard him say no such
1 thing ; for I thought my nay to be as good as his yea,

* seeing it was to rid and deliver my godly brother out of
' trouble and peril of his life."

These stories do not appear to me to require much com-
ment; and it will be more to the purpose, — at all events,
should be a prior business, — to show, by the production of
others like them, that these are riot singular cases.

ESSAY II.

PURITAN VERACITY. No. II.

THOMAS GREENE — JOHN CARELESS.

" UNE chose des plus embarrassantes qui s'y trouve," said
Pascal's Mentor, " est d'eviter le mensonge, et surtout quand
on voudroit bien f aire accroire une chose f ausse ; " and then,
after giving him some light on the " doctrine des equivoques,"
he proceeded to explain what must be done in cases where
equivocation would not do, and quoted the doctrine of
Sanchez concerning "la doctrine des restrictions mentales" —
" On peut jurer, dit-il, qu'on n'a pas fait une chose, quoiqu'on

* 1'ait f aite effectivement, en entendant en soi-meme qu'on ne

* 1'a pas faite un certain jour, ou avant qu'on f ut ne, ou en

* sous-entendant quelque autre circonstance pareille, sans
'que les paroles dont on se sert aient aucun sens qui le

* puisse faire connoitre. Et cela est fort commode en beau-
1 coup de rencontres, et est toujours tres juste quand cela
1 est n4cessire ou utile pour la sante, 1'honneur, ou le bien."

There is certainly something very natural in the pupil's
question, " Comment ! mon pere, et n'est-ce pas la un
mensonge, et meme un parjure?" and he must have been
relieved by the answer : " Non, dit le pere : Sanchez le

* prouve au meme lieu, et notre pere Filiutius aussi, tr. 25,
'chap, xi., n. 331; parce, dit-il, que c'est Tintention que

ii.] DOCTRINES OF VERACITY. 15

'regie la qualite de Faction.' Et il y donne encore, n. 328,

* un autre moyen plus sur d'eviter le mensonge. C'est
' qu'apres avoir dit tout haut, * Je jure que je n'ai point fait
'cela/ on ajoute tout bas, 'aujourd'hui:' ou qu'apres avoir
<dit tout haut « Je jure' on dise tout bas, 'que je dis,' et

* que 1'on continue ensuite tout haut * que je n'ai point fait
'cela.' Yous voyez bien que c'est dire la verite1."

Had it then existed, one might have supposed Anthony
Dalaber to have been brought up in this school, and to have
profited therein greatly, if one had known the facts of the
case, and been present when he was called on to swear that
he would tell the truth, and when, as he himself states, " I

* promised to do as they would have me ; but in my heart

* meant nothing so to do. So I laid my hand on the book,

* and one of them gave me my oath, and that done, com-
' manded me to kiss the book."

It is not, however, my purpose to discuss the facts stated
in the preceding number: and therefore, on the cases of
George Joye and Anthony Dalaber, I will here offer only a
single remark, which has respect to the use which we are
authorized to make of them as testimonies of puritan
doctrine. George Joye was his own historian, apparently
his own publisher, and perhaps even his own printer ; and
therefore did what he did, and wrote what he wrote, so far
as we have any evidence, without the concurrence of any
other person. And therefore, when he says, " I was so bold
to make the scribe a lye," and explains to us that he did it
on a general principle, "for I never trusted Scribes nor
Pharisees," we have only his personal opinion and practice
as to the matter of truth-telling. Of course such an opinion
from such a man, so openly and gratuitously stated, such a
fact related by him after all danger was past, in a manner
which savours of anything but shame or compunction — is
very weighty and important. Such I doubt not the reader
will consider it.

As to Dalaber's case, however, he is indeed his own
historian, so far forth as to give the story all the interest
and all the authority of autobiography ; but for its publica-
tion we are indebted to another hand. I am not aware that
Fox any where states how the memoir came into his posses-

1 Les Provinciates, Lett. IX. torn. i. p. 1C3.

16 THOMAS GKEENE. [ESSAY

sion ; but as he informs us that Dalaber lived until the year
1562, it is very possible that he may have received it imme-
diately from the author. Under most circumstances it
might be too much to assume that the editor, or publisher,
of Dalaber's story approved of his conduct ; but when we
consider the whole case, it is perhaps natural to suppose
that if Fox had disapproved of that conduct, or had expected
it to be blamed by his party, he would have omitted or
qualified, or at least given some intimation of his dis-
approval.

But we shall get rid of the necessity for such speculations
if we take one or two stories related by Fox respecting his
own contemporaries. Thomas Greene has furnished a
curious piece of autobiography, which Fox introduces
thus : —

"Next, after these two above specified [Richard Wilmot and
Thomas Fayrefaxe], followeth the beating of one Thomas Greene,
who in the time of Queene Mary, was caused likewise to be scourged
and beaten by Dr. Story. What the cause was, heere followeth in
story and examination to be seene, which he penned with his owne
hand, as the thing itselfe will declare to the reader. The copy and
words of the same as he wrote them, heere follow. Wherein, as
thou mayst note (gentle reader) the simplicitie of the one, so I pray
thee, marke the cruelty of the other part." — Edit. 1596, p. 1868.

Let us then look a little at the " simplicity " of Thomas
Greene. It seems that he was the prentice of John Wayland,
a well-known printer, who brought him before Dr. Story on
account of a certain book called " Antichrist," which had
been clandestinely put in circulation, (or, as Thomas Greene
himself expresses it, "distributed to certain honest men,")
to the great annoyance of the government, who were actively
engaged in searching after the persons by whom these in-
flammatory and seditious libels were brought into the country,
and dispersed.

As to the book, however, thus incidentally mentioned, I
do not wish to say much at present ; because it belongs to
another part of the subject. But things will not always
wait until they are wanted; and, indeed, considering the
false colouring which has been given to such stories, (by
which it has come to pass that people take it almost for
granted that whoever was punished by a papist was a true
lover of the gospel,) it is necessary to the understanding
of Thomas Greene's story, to observe that the work which

ii.] SEDITIOUS LIBELS. 17

he was accused of clandestinely distributing was not one of
merely practical piety, or polemical divinity, or even one
abusing the pope and all popery ; but one of a large class of
books, the object (or to speak with the utmost stretch of
charity, the tendency) of which was to set the commons
against the nobility, and produce a revolution in the govern-
ment.

It may be difficult, in the present day of licentious free-
dom, to form any idea of what is meant by a seditious libel,
and we may think it very hard that men should be punished
for printing and publishing any thing whatsoever that comes
into their heads, or will put pence in their pockets. Into
these questions I do not here enter, but merely state the
fact that, in the days of Queen Mary, (to say nothing of her
father, brother, or sister,) the government did punish the
fomenters of sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion, and
that to call this persecution for the gospel's sake is, in my
mind, by no means proper. I hope to say something of
both the politics and the provocations of the puritan party,
in which this may be established and illustrated ; but in the
mean time I would observe, that owing to our having received
almost all that is popularly known of things and persons
belonging to the period of the Reformation from puritan
sources — either from those who actually belonged to the sect
when it was a struggling sect, or those who subsequently
held them in great admiration, and gave them implicit credit
— we are, of course, liable so far to adopt their views, as that
we are prepared to allow much more liberty to one side than
the other. It is very natural that Fox, rejoicing in Eliza-
bethan protestantism, should laugh in his sleeve while he
told how " wily Winchester " or " bloody Bonner " was
" prettily nipped " by some ignorant protestant or saucy
mechanic ; and it is not perhaps to be wondered at, that
good Mr. Strype, reposing in the shades of Low Layton,
with the most perfect confidence that all the puritan party
were truly striving for the gospel, should tell us, with a
quaint smile, how somebody " laid it close in " to the nobility
and gentry, and what clever things " were smartly thrown
in their teeth by the best sort."

But, as far as I can judge, even by the " best sort," men
of rank, and persons high in authority, either in church or
state, do not like to be " prettily nipped," or to have things

B

18 THOMAS GREENE'S [ESSAY

11 smartly thrown in their teeth ; " and in particular, " the
nobility, those of the Queen's Council, and the rest," to
whom, according to Strype, the author of Antichrist " directed
his book especially," do not like to be publicly told, that if
they do not mind what they are about, the people will rise
and crush them. They positively dislike it, even though it
be put in the form of a prayer, that the oppressed commons
may not do anything so very improper. If the Queen's
Council could have had a moment's doubt as to the threat
conveyed in the following passage, of this book which (if
Strype is right) Thomas Greene was circulating, there were
but too many helps to the clear understanding of it almost
daily issuing from the foreign, or the secret, press : —

"To what truth and what religion may the subjects of this
realm hereafter cleave, and assuredly, without wavering follow ;
which do perceive that your lordships, contrary to your own com-
mandment heretofore, made and directed to them, do fly and retire
from the doctrine and true use of the sacraments, that you, in so
little time past, did most worthily approve to be most godly and
necessary to be taught and followed 1 God grant that the Commons
of this realm, that noiv murmur and grudge at this inconstancy, and
other your evil doings, do not hereafter burden you with the same / and
especially for your flying from the true religion, which you did
before all men approve to be most godly : from the which ye be
now fled, to the great dishonour of God. Wherefore God, by his
prophet, threateneth you to bring you to dishonour, saying, ' I will give
them honour that honoureth me, and they that dishonour me, will I
bring to dishonour.' Thus," adds Strype, "this fickleness in the
gentry and nobility of those times was smartly thrown in their
teeth by the best sort." — Eccl. Mem. III. i. 444.

There was certainly something smart in this. The sound
was no more uncertain than the blast of Knox's trumpet.
Probably there was more, and worse, of the same kind in
the book, the contents of which I know only by Strype's
extracts. Our business with it at present, however, arises
from its being the book which Thomas Greene, the prentice,
was charged with circulating, and it is hoped that the reader
will understand his notable " simplicitie " the better, from
my having given him what Strype would have called "a
taste of it."

On being asked where he got the book, Thomas Greene
told Dr. Story that he had it of a Frenchman, and that he
" would tell him no more and could not." The doctor ex-
plained to him, at once, that it was no matter of religion

ii.] NOTABLE SIMPLICITIE. 19

for which he was called in question — " he said, It was no
heresy but treason; and that I should be hanged, drawn,
and quartered " — but as he found him resolved to make no
disclosure, he sent him to Lollard's Tower.2 Before he had
been there two hours, however, the keeper came and removed
him to the coal-house ; and when there, said to his prisoner,
" Tell me the truth, and I will be your friend." " And I
said," adds Greene, "I had told the truth, and could tell no other."
In the coal-house, Thomas Greene remained six days.
" Then," he adds, " Dr. Story sent for me, and asked whether
i I would tell the truth where I had the book. I said, I had
' told him, of a Frenchman. He asked me where I came
' acquainted with the Frenchman, where he dwelt, and where

* he delivered me the book. I said I came acquainted with
' him in Newgate, I coming to my friends which were put

* in for God's word and truth's sake, and the Frenchman

* coming to his friends also, there we did talk together, and
1 became acquainted one with another, and did eat and drink

* together there with our friends in the fear of God." The
doctor asked whether he got the book in Newgate, and
Greene replied that he did not ; but that he met the French-
man in the street, who showed him the book, and he expressed
a wish to have it. Story said it was a great book, and asked
whether he bought it ; and on Greene's replying that he did,
he charged him with having robbed his master for the pur-
pose. Greene replied, that a little money served, for he only
gave him f ourpence, and a promise of twelvepence more when
they should next meet.

Dr. Story proposed that he should find two sureties, and
watch for this Frenchman, with a promise that he should
himself be kept harmless ; but Greene replied that he could
not find sureties, and the doctor observing "This is but a
lie," called for the keeper of the coal-house, and went
away, telling his prisoner that next time he came he would
make him tell a different story.

Ten days more elapsed, and then Dr. Story sent for him
again, and asked if he would tell the truth ? "I said," says
Greene, " / could tell him no other truth than I had, nor
would ; " so he was returned to his place of imprisonment.

2 That is, to the Bishop of London's prison at St. Paul's. I mention
this because the name has been (only I believe in recent times, and
quite improperly) applied to one of the towers of Lambeth Palace.

20 THOMAS GREENE'S [ESSAY

After fourteen days more, he was again sent for by
Dr. Story, who had with him my lord of Windsor's chap-
lain, and two other gentlemen, to whom he told the story.
They took Greene aside, and entreated him very gently,
saying, w Tell us where you had the book, and of whom, and

* we will save you harmless. I made them answer that /
' had told all I could to Dr. Story : and began to tell them
' again, but they said they knew that already."

After some conversation on his faith, Thomas Greene was
remanded to the coal-house, and while imprisoned there,
Bishop Bonner " coming down a pair of stairs," (which must,
I suppose, have come down by the side of the coal-house,)
*' looked in at the grate, and asked why, and by whom, he
had been put there. " I made him answer," he says, " that

* I was put in for a book called ' Antichrist ' by Dr. Story.

* And he said, c you are not ashamed to declare wherefore
' you were put in,' and said it was a very wicked book, and

* bade me confess the truth to Story. I said / had told him
t the truth already ; and desired him to be good to me, and

* help me out of prison, for they had kept me there long.

* And he said he could not meddle with it ; Story hath

* begun it and he must end it."

Now, if what I have here related were all that we knew
of the matter, it would be very unjust, and uncharitable, to
suppose that Thomas Greene had said anything else than
truth ; but the fact is, that he seems most anxious to have
it known and believed that what he had been saying was
false : — "Whilst I lay yet in the Lollard's Tower, the woman

* which brought the books over being taken, and her books,

* was put in the Clink in Southwark, by Hussey, one of the

* Arches ; and I, Thomas Greene, testify before God, now,

* that I neither deserved the man nor the woman the which

* I had the books of."

This Hussey sent for him ; but could get nothing but
what he had told Dr. Story before. " Then he was very
' angry, and said, * I love thee well, and therefore I sent for

* thee ; ' and looked for a further truth, but I would tell

* him no other ; whereupon he sent me again to Lollard's
' Tower. At my going away, he called me back again, and
'said that Dixon gave me the books, being an old man
' dwelling in Birchin-lane ; and I said, he knew the matter

* better than I. So he sent me away to the Lollard's Tower,

ii.] NOTABLE SIMPLICITIE. 21

' where I remained seven days and more. Then Master
' Hvtssey sent for me again, and required of me to tell him
4 the truth. I told him / could tell him no other truth than

* what I had told Dr. /Story before. Then he began to tell

* me of Dixon, of whom I had the books, the which had

* made the matter manifest afore ; and he told me of all
' things touching Dixon and the books, more than I could

* myself ; insomuch that he told me how many I had, and

* that he had a sackfull of the books in his house, and knew
' where the woman lay better than I myself. Then I saw
' the matter so open and manifest before my face that it profited
' not me to stand in the matter"

The reader might perhaps imagine that Greene was now
going to tell the truth. But no such thing ; it was only
that the old lie being found unprofitable, a new one must be
substituted.

" He asked me where I had done the books ; and I told

* him / had but one, and that Dr. Story had. He said I

* lied, for I had three at one time, and he required me to
' tell him of one. Then I told him of one that John Beane
' had of me being prentice with Master Tottle."

Now, if after all this, and a good deal more, obstinate
perseverance in lying, when the information which they
wanted to get from Thomas Greene had been obtained from
other sources, and the treasonable business in which he had
been a petty agent had come to be fully known — if, after all
this, his blood-thirsty persecutors, instead of putting him in
the hands of the hangman, turned him over to the beadle,
it seems to me that he got off rather better than he might
have expected ; and that he might think himself very lucky
that his notable " simplicitie " had led him into no worse
scrape, and that he was able to say, " when they had done
whipping of me, they bade me pay my fees, and go my
ways."

But much as we may admire the simplicity of Thomas
Greene, it is surely somewhat strange to find this account of
it in " The story of certain scourged for religion" — a story
after which Fox observes : " Besides these above named
' divers others also suffered the like scourgings and whippings
' in their bodies, for their faithful standing in the truth ; of

* which it may be said, as it is written of the Apostles in the
' Acts, * Which departed from the council rejoicing that they

22 JOHN CAKELESS. [ESSAY

' were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus.' "
The distinction which Fox must have made in his own mind,
and expected to be made by his readers, between truth and
the truth, must be kept in mind during this inquiry ; and it
may be feared that it was not peculiar to him, or to his
times, but that it characterized the party to which he
belonged, and survived the age in which he lived.

But let us turn from the " scourging of Thomas Greene,
prentice," who is not a very dignified representative of his
party (though Fox's admiration of his " simplicity " gives
his story great importance), to the account of a person much
more distinguished ; one whom Strype describes as an
" eminent martyr 3 : " and let us see if we can account for
his practice on any other ground than that of some such
distinction, leading to an idea that the truth was sometimes
to be maintained or promoted by falsehood, — I mean, John
Careless, whose letters have been published by Fox, repub-
lished by Coverdale, and, within these ten years, again
republished as the " Letters of that faithful man of God,
John Careless," and as part of a "precious relic of the
founders of our established Church4."

The reader must understand, that " there were now,"

according to Strype, who is speaking of the year 1556,

" abundance of sects and dangerous doctrines : whose main-

tainers shrouded themselves under the professors of the

gospel. Some denied the godhead of Christ ; some denied

his manhood ; others denied the godhead of the Holy

Ghost, original sin, the doctrine of predestination and

free election, the descent of Christ into hell, (which the

3 Mem. of Gran. vol. ii. p. 504.

4 These words are quoted from Mr. Bickersteth's dedication prefixed
to the edition of " the Letters of the Martyrs," published in the year 1837.
This work professes to be a reprint ef the volume collected and published
by Bishop Coverdale, in the year 1564. Three other letters of John
Careless were afterwards annexed to " A Pitvovs Lamentation of the
miserable estate of the chvrche," by Bishop Kidley. "Imprinted at
London by William Powell, dwelling in Flete Strete, at the sign of the
George, nere to Sainct Dunston's Church." They are intituled, " Certeyne
godly and comfortable letters of the constant wytnes of Christ, John
Careles, written in the time of his imprisonment, and now fyrste set
forth in printe. Anno Domini, 1566." They were not, therefore, in the
first edition of Fox ; and I believe only one of them has been in any edi-
tion of the Martyrology, or reprinted anywhere. They are all addressed
to the same female, K. E., who, in the edition of Fox, 159G, p. 1752, and

HENRY VIII
(From a Lithograph after Holbein by T. R. Way)

ii.] ABUNDANCE OF SECTS. 23

f protestants here generally hell,) 'the baptism of infants.
' Some condemned the use of all indifferent things in
' religion : others held freewill, man's righteousness, and
' justification by works — doctrines which the protestants, in
' the times of King Edward, for the most part, disowned.

* By these opinions, a scandal was raised upon the true
1 professors V Again, speaking of some " schismatical
' spirits " who had " imbibed principles of Pelagiani

* Arianism, and anabaptism, and endeavoured to infuse the

* same into those good men and women professing and

* suffering for the gospel," and having stated, on the
authority of Fox, that " not only in private assemblies here
1 [i.e., at Colchester] did these swarm, to pervert the right
' ways of the Lord, but also in divers prisons in London,
1 they kept a continual hand : where they scattered their

* heretical doctrines among such as were committed for the
' love of the gospel ; " he adds, that " some of the chief
' among them were these two — John Kemp and Henry
4 Hart .... these were those they called freewill men :
' for so they were termed of the predestinators .... and

* there were thirteen articles drawn up, to be observed
' among their company that adhered to them .... there
1 were certain articles of Christian religion, which Careless

* had sent to Tyrnms, a prisoner for the gospel in the
' King's Bench [read Newgate] : and these Hart undertook

* to confute 6."

Of these particulars the reader should be aware, and he
should also know, that Dr. Martin was commissioned by
the council to make inquiries respecting these quarrels
which were said to exist among the nonconforming

in Mr. Cattley's edition, vol. viii. p. 192, is changed toE. K. Why Fox,
or whoever put the first of the three letters into the Martyrology, did not
put in the other two, I do not know, except it were that the former of
them is in a high strain of praise, gratitude, compliment, and full confi-
dence— for instance, " I am right suer we are both sealed vnto the daye
of redemption ;" and again, '"he you certaine and suer that God will
likewise glorify you with himself in everlasting glory. For, as the Lord
did know and elect you for his before the foundation of the worlde was
layde : so hath he called you by the sincere preaching of his holy gospel "
— while the principal object of the latter seems to be, to let her know
that he had been informed by credible persons that she was frequently
guilty of " comming into the companye of filthy idolaters, at the time of

i' A.ntechristian service."

.Mem. III. i. 586. u Annals, vol. ii. P. ii. p. 283.

24 JOHN CARELESS'S [ESSAY

prisoners ; and in the course of his investigation, Careless
came before him in the custody (at least, in the company)
of the marshal of the King's Bench. How, or why,
Careless came to be a prisoner in the King's Bench at all,
does not appear. That when he was there, he was a zealous,
not to say fierce, polemic, is quite clear ; but I do not see
anything to show that he was originally imprisoned on
account of religion. When Dr. Martin asked him where
he dwelt, and was answered, "In Coventry," he rejoined,
" At Coventry ? what so far man ? How earnest thou
hither ? Who sent thee to the King's Bench to prison ? "
All that Careless thought fit to answer was, " I was brought
thither by a writ, I trow ; what it was I cannot tell. I
think Master Marshal can tell you." " In good faith,"
said the Marshal, " I cannot tell what the matter is ; but
indeed my Lord Chief Justice sent him from the bar."
The only other fact which I observe to be stated by Fox
respecting his imprisonment, (which was begun before he
was sent up to London,) is that, " being in Coventry jail,
1 he was there in such credit with his keeper, that, upon

* his word, he was let out to play in the pageant about the

* city with his companions. And that done, keeping touch

* with his keeper, he returned into prison at his hour

* appointed 7." However, it is quite clear, and quite enough
for our present purpose, that having been previously a
weaver at Coventry, he was at this time a prisoner in the
King's Bench; and that we have "The effect of the
Examination of John Careless before Dr. Martin, briefly
declared " by the prisoner himself, and recorded in Fox's
Martyrology. The document begins thus : —

"When I came into his chamber, Master D. called me to him,
saying, « Come you hither, sirrah ; what is your name ? ' * Forsooth,'
quoth I, 'my name is John Careless.'

7 Since the above was published I have observed two notices of John
Careless in Fox's Martyrology, by one of which we learn that he was
the person by whom Bishop Latimer was "premonished about six hours
before " of the poursuivant's approach to summon him to London (vol. vii.
p. 464, 8vo. Ed.) ; and by the other we are told that on " the 20 day of
'Nov., the mayor of Coventry sent up unto the lords of the Council
' Baldwin Clarke, John Careless, Thomas Wilcocks, and Richard Estelin,
' for their behaviour upon Allhallows-day last before : whereupon Care-
' less and Wilcocks were committed to the Gatehouse, and Clarke and
1 Estelin to the Marshalsea."— Ibid. vi. 411.

ii.] EXAMINATION. 25

Dr. Martin — ' Careless ! by my faith I think the same ; and so 1
ween it will appear by thy conditions, by that time we have done
with thee.'

Careless — 'Though my name be Careless, yet perchance you
shall not find me so careless in my conditions, as your mastership
doth presuppose.'

Martin — ' No ! that I shall prove anon. I pray thee of what
church art thou, or of what faith ? for I hear say that you have
divers churches and faith in the King's Bench ; and here I have
two of your faiths which you sent to Newgate. Come hither ; look
upon them ; and I pray thee tell me which is thy faith ; for the one
of them is thine, and thine own handwriting.' "

John Careless, as he had told the doctor at the outset,
was far enough from being the sort of person which his
name would indicate. In fact, those who are acquainted
with De Foe's inimitable and " most edifying discourse
between the Justice and the Weaver 8," may be apt to think
more than once of Edmund Pratt, in reading the examin-
ation of John Careless. He was nob at all disposed to
commit himself ; so he tells us : —

" With that I came near him, saying, ' If your mastership have
any thing of my handwriting, show it me, and I will not deny it.'

Martin — ' Nay, marry, thou canst not deny it. Lo ! here is thy
own name at it.' And so he began to read it, but suddenly he
stayed, saying, ' How sayest thou to it ? Canst thou deny that this
is thy faith, fact, and deed, and this is thine own hand ? ' "

Careless acknowledged that " the tenor " of the document
was of his " first drawing," but absolutely denied that the
copy shown to him was his handwriting, or that he knew
whose handwriting it was. Whether this was true or false,
how can we possibly know, when we find him going on
thus : —

" Then he turned the other side of the paper, where Henry Hart
had wickedly written against my true articles, wJwse hand and name
I knew as soon as I had seen it; for indeed my good brother Tyms
had sent me a copy of the same before. Then he said, ' Lo ! here is
another of thy fellows faith, clean contrary to thine : whose faith
is this ? Dost thou know this hand ? '

Careless — ' No, forsooth, / do not know whose faith, nor yet whose
hand it is, neither will I make me any thing to do with other men's
faiths. I stand here to make answer to your mastership for mine
own ; and if any man have wrote against the same, I would I might
come to talk with him face to face, to see how he were able to prove
his party good. '

Martin — ' Prove ! A wise proof that you would make : you will

8 Great Law of Subordination, p. 91.

26 JOHN OARELESS'S [ESSAY

prove yourselves a sort of fools before you have all done,' and many
other mocks and taunts he gave me all the time of our talk, the
which I will leave out for brevity's sake. Then he said, 'Dost thou
not know one Henry Hart, or hast thou not heard of him ? '

Careless — ' No, forsooth ; I do not Jcnoiv any such, nor have I heard
of him, that I wot of.'

But yet Hied falsely; for I knew him indeed, and his qualities too
well. And I have heard so much of him, that I dare say it had
been good for that man if he had never been born : for many a
simple soul hath he shamefully seduced, beguiled, and deceived
with his foul Pelagian opinion, both in the days of that good King
Edward and since his departure, and with other things which I will
forbear to name for divers considerations. But I would wish all
men that be godly- wise, to beware of that man, whose opinions in
many points are very noisome and wicked : God convert him, or
confound him shortly, for his name's sake. Amen.

Martin — ' No have, forsooth ; and it is even he that hath written
against thy faith. Lo! here is his name at his faith.' And then
he read Hart's most blasphemous articles against those which I^had
written and sent to Newgate, whereunto all those twelve godly men
that were last condemned had set to their hands, whom Hart, Kemp,
and M. Gypson, would have persuaded from the same again ; but,
thanks be unto God, the serpent prevailed not.''

After a good deal of discussion about " one Master Cham-
berlain," who had written against Careless, but whom Careless
affirmed he did not know, and about the two books of Com-
mon Prayer, and the conduct of the Frankfort exiles respect-
ing them, all which is not to our present purpose, the
examination proceeds : —

^Martin — 'Well, let it pass. I pray thee tell me what is the
cause of so much contention between you that lie in the King's
Bench for religion ? '

Careless — ' Forsooth there is no contention amongst us, that I
know of.'

Martin — 'What! wilt thou lie to me? Is there not great con-
tention between thee and one Trew, that was here with me ere
while ? Yes, that there is ; and I can tell thee by what token well
enough. I hear say one of your matters is about predestination.
How dost thou believe about predestination ? ' "

Careless was probably glad to evade the first and principal
question, by taking up the second, to which he very prudently
replied, " According to the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures,
and none otherwise ; " but, after some discussion of it, the
examiner returned to his point :

" Martin — ' What other things do you contend for in the King's
Bench ? I pray thee, Careless, tell me the truth.'

Careless — ' Surely we have no contention there, nor ever had, but

ii.] EXAMINATION. 27

for this matter of predestination ; and that is ended between us,
many a day agone. ' This I spake to make the best of the matter ; for I
was sorry that the papists should hear of our variance.

Martin — ' What ! will you lie indeed ? I know there are a great
many of other matters between you. Tell me the truth, I pray
thee ; for I promise thee I do ask thee for no hurt, but to do you
good : for I think you will be burned all the sort of you. But yet I
would send some man to you, to reform you of some of your errors.' "

Then followed some discussion, in which the doctor told
Careless that he had no commission to examine him as to
heresy, but was commanded by the Council to know of him
what opinions were amongst them in the King's Bench, for
which they did strive amongst themselves ; and though
Careless modestly suggested that if he wanted to know the
opinions of his companions, his mastership might send for
them, or send somebody to them, and at length positively
declared that he could recite no man's faith or opinions but
his own, yet the doctor stuck to his point :

"Martin — 'Why, thou canst not deny but there is contention
amongst you, and wilt not thou declare wherefore it is ? What a
fellow art thou.'

Careless — ' Indeed I do not deny but there hath been some earnest
reasoning amongst us, but not a great while ; for Master Marshal
hath shut us asunder for the same as much as he can, so that we can
neither come nor speak together.'

Then Martin said to his clerk, Write that he saith, he doth not
deny but that there is contention amongst them in the King's
Bench ; but he will not tell wherefore it is. But first write, that he
doth confess the articles which were sent to Newgate, to be of his
drawing forth first, but not of his handwriting. ' To whom didst
thou send it in Newgate ? '

Careless — 'Forsooth to my bedfellow Tyms, that was burned
yesterday.'

Martin — ' Tyms ! who is that ? I know him not.'

Scribe — 'It was one of the six that were burned yesterday.1

Martin — ' Ah, very well. Was he thy bedfellow ? Where was he
thy bedfellow?'

Careless — 'Forsooth he was one of my fellow-prisoners in the
King's Bench.'

Martin — ' Hast thou any more copies of these articles ? '

Careless — ' No, forsooth.'

Martin — ' Write that he saith he sent his articles to his bedfellow
Tyms, that was burned yesterday, and that he hath no more copies
of them.' So that was written.

Careless — ' Nay, you should have written him my couch-fellow,
for we lay in no bed almost these three years, but upon a poor couch
of straw.' This I said for a good consideration, though indeed it was
otherwise. God be praised for his providence I "

28 JOHN CAKELESS'S [ESSAY

Then after a long excursion the examiner comes round to
the old and awkward question : —

" Martin — ' I tell thee yet again, that I must also examine thee of
such things as be in controversy between thee and thy fellows in the
Kings Bench, whereof predestination is a part, as thy fellow Trew
hath confessed, and thyself doth not deny it.

Careless— 'I do not deny it. But he that first told you that
matter, might have found himself much better occupied.' "

This led to a discussion of the prisoner's opinion about
election ; and an examiner of less patience and perseverance
(or perhaps I should say with less previous information)
might have supposed that he had got all the information that
he was likely to get ; but instead of that, the doctor, on his
return from the excursion, and in total disregard of Careless's
assurances — first, that they did not contend at all, and then,
that they contended only about predestination — breaks up
new ground, and asks :

" How say you to the two brethren that are in the Kings Bench
which deny the divinity of Christ? How say you to their
opinion ?

Careless — O Lord ! I perceive your mastership knoweth that
which of all other things I wish to have been kept from you : verily
he was to blame that told you of that."

Does all this require any comment ? I cannot think that
it does ; but it seems right to add a word or two respecting
its literary history, which is rather curious and instructive.
The full-length examination of John Careless, from which
the foregoing extracts are made, was, I believe, originally
published by Fox in the first edition of his Martyrology.
Whether it was reprinted in any subsequent edition, I do
not know ; but, as Mr. Cattley, the editor of Messrs. Seeley's
edition, professes to give it from the first edition, I presume
that it is not in any of the intermediate ones. Certainly, it
is not in that of 1596, the only one to which I have at
present opportunity to refer. In that edition, every word
here quoted, except the questions and answers, as to how
Careless came to be in the King's Bench at all — everything
that bears the least appearance of falsehood or prevarication,
is omitted ; and so much of the examination as is given is
introduced by a paragraph respecting the truth of which the
reader will be in some degree able to judge. Fox argues,
that though Careless " came not to the full martyrdom of
his body," yet he ought to be placed among the martyrs —

ii.] EXAMINATION. 29

" as well for that he was for the same truth's sake a long time
imprisoned, as also for his willing mind and zealous affection he
had thereunto, if the Lord had so determined it, as well may
appear by his examination had before D. Martin. Which examina-
tion, because it containeth nothing almost but wrangling interroga-
tions, and matters of contention, wherein D. Martin would enter
into no communication about the articles of his accusation, but only
urged him to detect his fellows9; it shall not be greatly material,
therefore, to express the whole, but only to excerpt so much as
pertaining to the question of predestination, may bring some fruit
to the reader."— Edit. 1596, p. 1742.

Accordingly, Careiess's declaration, " That God hath pre-

* destinate me to eternall life in Jesus Christ, I am most

* certain, and even so am I sure that his Holy Spirit (where-
( with I am sealed) will so preserve me from all heresies
' and euill opinions, that I shall not die in none at all," and
a good deal of discussion of doctrine is retained ; but not a
word of what I have quoted, except, as I have already said,
the questions and answers as to how he came to be in the
King's Bench.

Whether this is putting the matter in a true light, he
who has read only what is here extracted, and much more
he who shall take the trouble to read the whole as it is re-
printed in Messrs. Seeley's edition, will be able to judge.
The editor of that edition has distinguished these parts
which he has retrieved from the first edition, so that it is
easy to see what it was thought good at some time or other,
and by somebody or other, quietly to drop out of the book.
Mr. Cattley has also in this edition done another thing
which, in our present inquiry, deserves notice. On one
passage which I have quoted he has put a note. He
takes no notice of Careiess's previous falsehoods, and
whether he approved or disapproved them he does not
state; but, when the unfortunate man declares that he
" lay on no bed almost these three years," the editor is
roused even to a species of protest. To be sure, one does

9 It is quite necessary to keep clearly in mind what the " accusation '
really was. When Careless said that Dr. Martin could not prove any of
the articles which he had written to be heresy, and challenged him to try,
the Doctor answered "But what if I should examine you of the sacra-
' ment and other things : should I not find thee a heretic ? Yes I trow
' I should ; but / have no commission to examine you of any such things
' but 1 am commanded by the Council to know of thee what opinions are
' amongst you in the King's Bench, for the which you do strive among
' yourselves ; therefore look that you tell me." — Fox, vol. viii. p. 166.

30 JOHN CARELESS'S [ESSAY

not see why that was a greater, or in any way a worse,
falsehood than declaring that he knew no such person as
Henry Hart ; but, for some reason or other, it seems to
have more powerfully affected the editor's mind, and he
puts this note : —

" This passage is not to be defended ; far from it. The circum-
stances of the case, however, should not be lost sight of. The
' consideration ' hinted at, is evidently the risk of bringing into
trouble those who had contributed to his necessities, including the
keeper of the prison. And it is in reference to their kindly inter-
position in his behalf, that Careless praises God for his ' providence.'
—ED." Vol. viii. p. 167.

This, which, whatever impression it may leave on the
reader, is really almost a sort of protest rather than an
apology, is more than is elicited by either of the former
falsehoods of John Careless, or by those of Anthony
Dalaber or Thomas Greene, and more than Strype thinks
it necessary to say in his account of the matter. Indeed,
that account furnishes a curious specimen of the two great
defects, which render the very valuable works of Strype so
much less valuable than they might be — namely, prejudice
and carelessness. After having mentioned the fact of
Careless having written the confession, and Hart's writing
on the back of it, he states that this paper —

"fell by some accident into the hands of Dr. Martin, a great
papist ; who took occasion hence to scoff at the professors of the
gospel, because of these divisions and various opinions amongst
them. But Careless, before the said Martin, disowned Hart, and
said that he had seduced and beguiled many a simple soul with his
foul Pelagian opinions, both in the days of King Edward, and since
his departure." — Gran. vol. ii. p. 505.

Is it not strange that Strype, while referring so specially
and particularly to the plainest and most clearly acknow-
ledged falsehood of Careless, should so gloss it over ? He
" disowned Hart." Who would understand that phrase to
mean, that he declared most falsely that he had never so
much as heard that any such person as Hart existed ?
Especially followed as it is — he " disowned Hart, and said
that he had seduced," &c. Of course Careless said nothing
so absurd, and so plainly contradictory of that profession of
entire ignorance which he had just made. If the reader
looks back to the third extract which I have just made
from the examination, he will see that what Strype quotes

ii.] EXAMINATION. 31

about Hart's seducing and beguiling, is not what Careless
said to Dr. Martin, but what he thought fit to observe by
way of comment, when he was writing an account of his
examination. The evil arises, of course, merely from want
of care in reading and copying, and is just like his telling
us that " by some accident " the paper of articles fell into
the hands of Dr. Martin, when in the next paragraph he
tells us that the noise of " such unseemly quarrelsome dis-
putes and heat " reached to "the Council . . . who sent Dr.
Martin to the King's Bench to examine it 1()." And when,
in the examination itself, he had Dr. Martin's own words,
" I tell thee, then, I have commission, yea, and command-
ment from the Council, to examine thee, for they delivered
me thy articles."

But, setting this aside for the present, let me recal the
reader's attention to the four cases which I have mentioned.
It seems to me to be quite time to ask him whether they
prove anything ? If not, perhaps no multiplication of such
stories would avail to throw any light on the puritan
doctrine respecting veracity. Let me, however, remind
him of one thing — namely, that I am not charging Joye,
and Dalaber, and Greene, and Careless with falsehood, or
attempting to show that they were guilty of it, but merely
bringing forward their own statements, respecting their
own conduct, made for their own pleasure, and, without the
least mark of regret or compunction, addressed to their own
friends, and in three cases out of the four, set forth and

10 Cran. ii. 505. I have no wish to cavil at what Strype says, and I
think no one feels more strongly than I do the value of his work ; but
really it is one great inconvenience of the careless way in which he wrote,
that one cannot bring one passage to correct another, without a high pro-
bability of its containing something in itself which needs correction. It
may be a matter of no importance whether Dr. Martin went to the King's
Bench, or whether Careless was brought before him elsewhere ; but that
anybody who had read the examination should affirm the former, seems
very strange. The first words (as the reader will see by turning back a
page or two) are, " When I came into his chamber, Master D. called mo
to him," &c. ; and in the course of the examination, Dr. Martin having
asked him, "Where dost thou dwell?" Careless answered, " Forsooth
at Coventry." The Doctor rejoined, " At Coventry? What so far, man?
How earnest thou hither ? [and then, as if sensible that this word might
be misunderstood to mean the place where they actually were at the
moment, he added] Who sent thee to the King's Bench to prison? " And
Careless answered, " I was sent thither by a writ," &c. How could Strype
imagine that this dialogue took plaoe in the King's Bench ?

32 PURITAN STYLE. [ESSAY

published by those friends without the least hint of dis-
approbation. If he duly considers this point, he will, I
think, acquit me of any want of justice or charity towards
either the individuals or their sect ; and will not wonder or
blame me if I proceed to inquire what effect the doctrine
thus developed had on some of those writers who, 'whether
formally or not, are in fact the Historians of the Reforma-
tion.

ESSAY III.

PURITAN STYLE. No. I.

BALE.

WHAT kindled and fanned the fires of Smithfield ? What
raised and kept alive the popish persecution in the days of
Queen Mary ? Was it her own sanguinary disposition ? or
was she the slave of her husband's cruel superstition ? or
were both the tools of foreigners, who certainly hated the
English because they were heretics, but more deadly hated
the heretics because they were Englishmen? Was it "wily
Winchester," or was it " bloody Bonner," or was it some-
thing in the spirit of the church of which both were zealous
members ?

Whatever may be said on any or on all of these points,
there was undoubtedly one other cause ; which, if it be too
much to say that it has been studiously concealed or dis-
guised, has certainly never occupied that prominent place to
which it is entitled in such an inquiry. I mean, the bitter
and provoking spirit of some of those who were very active
and forward in promoting the progress of the Eeformation
— the political opinions which they held, and the language
in which they disseminated them — the fierce personal attacks
which they made on those whom they considered as enemies
— and, to say the least, the little care which was taken by
those who were really actuated by religious motives, and
seeking a true reformation of the church, to shake off a
lewd, ungodly, profane rabble, who joined the cause of pro-
testantism, thinking it in their depraved imaginations, or

in.] THE EXILED PROTESTANTS. 83

hoping to make it by their wicked devices, the cause of
liberty against law, of the poor against the rich, of the laity
against the clergy, of the people against their rulers.

In particular, it seems impossible that any reflecting mind,
even though misled by partial relations, or prejudiced by
doctrinal opinions, should fail to see, as a mere matter of
fact, in how great a degree the persecution of the protestants
in England was caused by the conduct of their brethren
who were in exile. To this point in particular I beg the
reader's attention.

No man, I suppose, will blame those who, when they were
persecuted in their own country, fled to another. Perhaps a
severe scrutiny might discover that in a great many cases
politics (what some called treason) had more to do with their
flight than religion ; but, to say nothing of this, it was
natural that men who felt that they were in danger of their
lives if they worshipped God as they thought right, or
refused to obey Antichrist by the commission of what they
considered atrocious idolatry, should quit the scene of danger
and throw themselves upon the hospitality of foreigners.
They did so, and with the happiest success. Banishment
from one's country is, no doubt, a hardship in itself, and in
the case of many it was probably attended with risk, trouble,
and loss ; but one would have thought that when the exiles
found themselves beyond the reach of persecution, and
received with hearty welcome, and fraternal love, by those
whom they considered as brethren in their common Lord,
they would have sate down under the banner of love thus
mercifully spread over them, and poured out their hearts in
gratitude and praise to the God of all consolation1. We

1 In his account of Bishop Parkhurst, Strype says, " He and the other
' exiles being not only most kindly received at their coming, by Bullinger,
' Zanchy, Wolphius, Gualter, Lavater, and other ministers and rectors at
« Zurich, but also living easily there among them ; so much love and
* hospitality had such an impression upon him, that he thought he could
' never sufficiently extol it, nor be thankful enough for it : as he expressed
it in these verses :

Vivo Tigurinos inter humanissirnos :
Quibus velis vix credere quantum debeam.
0 ! quando Tigurinis reponam gratiam ?

" How kind the divines of that city showed themselves (and especially

Gualter) to him, John Bale took notice of in the preface to his books

' of the Acts of the Popes .... the same writer, an exile also then

C

84 THE EXILES. [ESSAY

might, surely, have expected that, if their Christianity did
not rise high enough to enable them to bless those who cursed
them, and to pray for those who despitefully used and perse-
cuted them, they would at least have tried to forget their
own injuries for the sake of the brethren whom they had left
behind, and who, either because they were unable, or because
they scrupled, to fly, were still exposed to the fury of Anti-
christ— that if they addressed anything to the rulers of Eng-

at Basil, records gratefully the entertainment of the rest of the English
' there. That they lived together in one house [like a college of students.]
' That Bullinger took a fatherly care of them, and that by the full con-
' sent of the citizens. And he adds, that these that were daily with him
' at Basil, related those ministers care, their trouble, and their paternal
' affection towards them, while they lived under the shadow of that city,
'covered against the heat of persecution with the love of the whole
' people."— Annals, Vol. II. P. i. p. 348.

Since this note was first published I have been led to suspect that
Parkhurst's demonstrations of gratitude may have been somewhat
exaggerated at the expense of his contemporaries. In addition to what
I have quoted above, Strype says, " He had a great sense of the favour
' and protection he received in Helvetia, especially of the learned men of
' Zurich .... and so delighted was he with the discipline and doctrine
1 of that church, that he often wished that our church were modelled
' exactly according to that. And in gratitude to Eodolph Gualter (in
* whose house he and his wife seem to have been harboured) he main-
tained his son the young Kodolnh first at Cambridge, and then at
Oxford and in other places, while he was in England at his sole
expence," &c. — Ibid. p. 508. It happened that after I had published
these Essays, in clearing out a closet in the MSS. Room at Lambeth, 1
found a parcel, which had been tied up before I was born, and probably
never opened since. Its superscription was not particularly inviting, or
such as to give it a preference in a collection where it was impossible to
pay due attention to so many things that were obviously and highly
interesting. One only learned that the dirty brown paper contained
" Old Petitions," &c. which the person who put them up characterized as
"Useless." Being however at that time very desirous to know as accu-
rately as possible the contents of the room I opened the parcel ; and,
among old petitions and the like, I found the autograph Account Book

;e,
of

and some subsequent numbers. Among the pupils whose accounts were
kept by the Master in this book was this " young Rodolph," and it seems
to render the statement in Strype somewhat doubtful. I do not here
repeat what I said in the magazine for February, 1848 (vol. xxxiii.

L 192,) but it is curious that while the Master acknowledges and accounts
monies received for the young foreigner's support from "my 1. of
London " [Sandys] and " my 1. of York " [Grindal], there is no reference
of any kind to my Lord of Norwich.

m.] STYLE OF THE AGE. 35

land it would be the language of earnest intercession for those
brethren — that if they wrote to those brethren themselves,
it would be to excite them to faith, hope, and charity, to long-
suffering, patience, and resignation, and to invite them to
those safe and pleasant cites of refuge which a merciful God
had provided and prepared for them.

Those who have penetrated at all beneath the general and
superficial statements of the popular historians, need not be
told that the real case was much otherwise. But I cannot
help thinking, that none but those who have paid some at-
tention to the works which were written by the exiled party
during the reign of Mary, — I mean the works themselves,
in contradistinction to selections, extracts, modernizations,
and generalizing accounts, — can properly estimate the effect
which they were calculated to produce on the measures of
the English government in church and state during that
period. Before, however, I come to speak particularly of
these works, as regards their design and effect, I would offer
a few remarks of a more general nature on the style of some
of the more popular puritan writers. It is a matter which
has certainly been misrepresented, principally, I believe,
though not entirely, by ignorance ; but it is one which, if we
wish really to understand the history of the period, we must
look fairly in the face.

It must be considered that those parts of the works of
writers of ^this class and period, which are the most contrary
to good taste and good manners, have been very seldom,
very sparingly, and then commonly with some preface or
apology, brought forward by their admirers ; — and further
that through those admirers almost exclusively, these writers
are known to protestants of the present day ; and further
still, that when any such matter as admirers would not wish
to find does come into notice, it is frequently purified from
its grossness by the omission of words or sentences, with or
without notice to the reader, who thus forms a very im-
perfect and erroneous opinion of the author whose work he
is reading. Of course, I do not mean to find fault with such
omissions, as things wrong in themselves, or as less than
absolutely necessary in some cases. Occasions may arise on
which it may be very right to reprint a work, or extract a
passage, of an old writer, containing words or phrases so
obscene or profane that common decency requires them to be

36 STYLE OF THE AGE [ESSAY

expunged. This too, may probably be done without any
injury to the purpose for which the reprint or extract is
made, and if it be fully acknowledged, it is hardly likely to
lead to any ill consequence. But when without notice, or
with a notice that is false, and even with the very best
intentions, that which would disgust is tacitly altered, or
omitted, and a coarse, obscene, or scurrilous writer is weeded
and cleared of his offences, and made to look quite innocent,
it is obvious that whatever informatian or instruction we
may gain from his waitings thus garbled, we shall get a very
wrong idea of himself, his style, and his admirers.

But where this expurgation of a writer cannot be fully
effected, there is one standing excuse for a favourite writer
which may pass current for everything that is offensive, what-
ever be its kind or degree — that is, the manners of the age.
Only take that with you — take it, perhaps, from some
writer who repeats the phrase like a parrot, without know-
ing anything about the age or its manners or language —
take it only on trust as a phrase to which you do not,
perhaps, yourself affix a very clear idea, and it is sufficient
to cover any sin against propriety and decorum, and almost
religion. With this salvo you may be expected to read with
edification such things as if spoken or written in the present
day would be considered absolutely ungodly and profane.

If, however, we wish to form a true judgment, this point
must be looked into and settled. It is quite clear that some
words and phrases which were in common use three hundred
years ago, and which had then no character of coarseness,
would be considered intolerably gross in the present day ;
but this, really, has nothing to do with the matter now under
consideration. No more has any notion that may have been
set on foot respecting the free, blunt, plain speech of our
forefathers. It is not with coarse words or plain speech as
such that we are concerned ; though, at the same time, the
use of coarse language in particular circumstances and to
particular persons must be taken into account. I suppose,
for instance, that there never was a period in the history of
the iinited Church of England and Ireland when it would
have been thought quite common-place and Christian for the
Bishop of Ossory deliberately, and in print, to address the
Bishop of London as a " beastlye belly-god and dampnable
donge-hille."

in.] OF THE REFORMATION. 37

But one of the most material, and in an historical point
of view most injurious, effects of this sort of misrepresenta-
tion is, that it comes to be taken for granted that the fierce
and virulent scurrility of some of the puritan libels, which
cannot be entirely concealed or defended, even by the most
thorough-going partizans, was not characteristic of the
writers, but of the times. Bishop Burnet is even kind
enough to make a sort of an excuse for Sir Thomas More,
by saying, " he wrote according to the way of the age with
much bitterness2 ;" and so the bishop's readers may naturally
infer that, whatever may be meant by " much bitterness,"
and whatever degree of it may be found in Sir Thomas
More's works, it belonged not to the man, but was " the
way of the age" — that it was the way of people in those
days ; very wrong, no doubt, but at the same time as good
for one as for another ; the puritans abused the papists, and
the papists abused the puritans, tit for tat. As if Sir
Thomas More and John Bale were as like as two peas.

Now, as far as I have yet been able to learn, this is really
a false view of things. It is true enough that each party
abused the other, and that many keen, severe, false, and
malicious things were put forth by the Romish party ; but
for senseless cavilling, scurrilous railing and ribaldry, for
the most offensive personalities, for the reckless imputation
of the worst motives and most odious vices ; in short, for all
that was calculated to render an opponent hateful in the
eyes of those who were no judges of the matter in dispute,
some of the puritan party went far beyond their adversaries.
I do not want to defend the Romish writers, and I hope I
have no partiality for them, or for the errors, heresies, and
superstitions which they were concerned to maintain ; but it
really appears to me only simple truth to say that, whether
from good or bad motives, they did in fact abstain from that
fierce, truculent, and abusive language, and that loathsome
ribaldry, which characterized the style of too many of the
puritan writers. Specimens will frequently appear as other
occasions may require ; but here, and merely for the sake of
illustrating what I have already said on the subject of
style, I will give a few extracts from the works of three
eminent puritan writers, who may fairly be classed among

2 Hist, of Ref. vol. i. p. 31.

38 PURITAN STYLE. [ESSAY

the leaders of the party, not only on account of the eminent
stations which they held, but for the talents and learning
for which they have had credit, both among their own
contemporaries, and from more modern writers. These
extracts may probably suggest a good many things of various
kinds to the reflecting reader, but it must be observed that
they are here given only as specimens of style, denoting the
character of certain waiters ; and those who are previously
acquainted with the works of the writers in question, will
be aware that, for obvious reasons, I do not quote passages
which would but too broadly confirm what I have stated.

As I have already alluded to John Bale, Bishop of Ossory,
and as he may perhaps be on the whole the fittest person to
take the lead on such an occasion, I will first give some
passages from his pen. Let not the reader who knows him
be startled. I am not going even to mention some of his
filthiest productions, or to extract the worst parts of that
one work from which I now take specimens of his style.
It is perhaps hardly necessary to state that Bale, after-
having been a Carmelite friar, attached himself to the party
of the Reformation, married, became chaplain to Ponet,
Bishop of Winchester, and was afterwards, by King
Edward VI., appointed Bishop of Ossory. On the accession
of Queen Mary, he was glad to fly from Ireland. During
her reign he remained in exile beyond sea, and after her
death, instead of going back to his diocese, he " contented
himself," as Strype expresses it, "with a prebend at
Canterbury."

We are, however, at present concerned with his per-
formances while he was in exile, and when the Marian
persecution in England was, as it turned out, only beginning.
Whether it was mitigated or aggravated by such perform-
ances, is a question which cannot fail to force itself on the
reader's mind while he reflects on the extracts now laid
before him, but I cannot too often repeat that they are not
here brought forward as proofs of any facts, or of any
hypothesis, but merely as specimens of style.

Bishop Bonner, having been released from imprisonment
and reinstated in the see of London, on the accession of
Queen Mary, saw fit to visit his diocese; and "for this
purpose," says Strype, " he prepared a book of Articles,
' containing thirty-seven in number ; according to which

in.] BONDER'S ARTICLES. 39

1 Articles six men in every parish were to make inquiry, and
' to bring in their presentments by the 23rd of September,
' of all that had offended against them3." Fox having said
much the same, adds, "which Articles, partly for the
'tediousness of them, partly for that Master Bale in a
'certain treatise hath sufficiently painted out the same in

* their colours, partly also, because I will not infect this book

* with them, I slip over4." Certainly* as a matter of policy,
this was the best thing he could do ; but I cite the passage
as his testimonial in favour of the work in which Bale
attacked them.

It appears that as soon as these Articles were published,
Bale, who was at Basil, out of the reach of the Bishop of
London, and the English government, fell upon them with
a petulant ferocity which is really ludicrous. He wrote a
book entitled "fj A Declaration of Edmonde Bonners

* Articles, concerning the cleargye of London dyocese,
'whereby that excerable [sic] Antychrist is in his right

* colours reueled, in the year of our Lord a. 1554. By John
' Bale." How soon it came into England, and whether in
print or manuscript, I do not know. If Bishop Bonner's
Articles were printed (as they probably were) some little
time before his visitation began, it seems just possible that
Bale's book might be one of those mentioned by Fox as
creating disturbance about that time. At all events, it was
very fit company for them. He says, " About the v. day of
' October, and within a fortnight following, were diuers as
'well housholders as servants and prentises apprehended
' and taken, and committed to sundry prisons, for the hauing
' and selling of certaine bookes which were sent into England
' by tlie preachers that fled into Germany and other countreys,
' which bookes nipped a great number so neere, that within
' one fortnight there were little less tlvan threescore im-

* prisoned for this matter5."

Be this as it may, however, it is reasonable to suppose
that Bale's " Declaration " was put in circulation either then,
or very soon after. The long preface begins thus : —

" C Ihon Bale to the faithful bethren of London diocese, and so
fourthe to all the christen beleuers within England, Irelande, and
Scotland.

3 Mem. III. i. 216. 4 Ed. 1596, p. 1339.

5 Fox, ubi sup.

40 BALE'S DECLARATION [ESSAY

C From Basyle

Consider (dere Christians) in these most wycked articles of Edmond
Bonner the blody biteshepe of London, the exceading and horrible
fury of Sathan in these latter daies and end of the world. The
more nighe he approcheth to his ful iudgement of eternal damp-
nation, the more fearce and cruell are his enforcements, seking as a
furious roring Lyon, by his two horned instrumentes and shauen
souldiers whom he maye, through their shamelesse tirannye, for
Christes uerities sake devoure."

Having then explained that Satan most commonly works
by the agency of wicked men, who have become his members
and instruments, he proceeds : —

" If ye axe me howe or by what meanes they become Sathans
members, hys apte instrumentes and slaughtermenne, I answer you
by Christes owne wordes in the sayde viii. chapter of Jhon. By that
they persiste not in the manifest truthe of God, they become like to
hym and are his naturall members, for he (saythe Christe) abode not
in the truthe, for there is no truthe in hym. Thys toucheth all the
tyraunts and cruel persecuters of Gods holy worde sence the worldes
first foundacion, and out taketh[i.e., excepteth] not in this our time,
gagling Gardiner, bocherly Bonner and trif eling Tunstall, with other
bloudy biteshepes and franticke papistes of England.

After stating that our Lord and his apostles had warned
the church to expect enemies, and that in fact she had
suffered from "tirannous Emprours, Idolatours, heretikes,
hipocrites, popes, bishops, priestes, monkes, friers, harlots,
antichristes," he adds, —

"Of whose wicked nombre, one here doth offer himself in these
Articles to be sene, take good hede of hym, for it standeth youjn
hand.

This limme of the deuel and working tole of Sathan, bloudy
Bonner, seeketh here to depriue you of faith, true doctrine, and
Gods religion, all after the mischeuous example of Cain and the
other rake hels, his franticke predecessoures afore rehearsed, and so
to brynge you into hys most damnable snares. He pretendeth a great
reformacion in the cleargye and laitye, but marke the good stuffe
that he bringeth forth for it, and ye shall well perceyue, to what
end he dryueth. Even to make all to the deuel], by the old rusty
rules of Antichriste his own generall vicare."

These morsels are extracted from the Preface, which in
the copy before me occupies nineteen pages. After it we
come to the " Declaration " itself, which is in fact a com-
mentary or exposition on the Articles. Bale seems (I say
seems, because I have not the means of testing him, and I
have no great faith in his honesty6) to behave very fairly in

6 H. Wharton said, " I know Bale to have been so great a liar, that I

in.] OF BONNER'S ARTICLES. 41

giving the Title of Bonner's Articles and all the Articles
themselves at full length, with the " Declaration " of each
appended to it.

" C The title of Boners whole boke.

" Articles to be enquyred of, in the generall visitacion of Edmund
bishop of London, exersiced by him in the yeare of oure Lord 1554,
in the citye and diocese of London, and set f ourthe by the same for
hys owne discharge towardes God and the worlde, to the honour of
(rod, and his catholicke churche, and to the commodity and profyte
of al those that eyther are good whyche he wold were al, or deliteth
in goodnesse (which he wysheth to be manye) withoute anye
particular grudge or displeasure, to any one good or badde within
this realme, which articles he desyreth all men of theyr charitye,
especially those that are of his diocese, to take with as good intent
and mynde, as he the sayed byshop wysheth and desyreth, whiche
is to the best. And the sayd byshop wythall desyreth all 'people to
vnderstande, that what so euer opinyon, good or bad, hath bene
deceiued 7 of him, or what so euer vsage or custome hathe bene here
to fore, his onlye entent and purpose is, to doe his duety charitably,
and with that loue, fauoure and respect, bothe towardes God, and
euery christen person, which any bishop shuld shew to his flock in
any wise.

C The Declaration.

An infallible truthe is it, that Ihon Salisbury, the Bishop of
Carnote, wrote in his Policraticon, about iiii. hundreth yeres ago.
In the churche (saithe he) do the Scribes and Pharisyes syt, layinge
vppon mennes shoulders importable burthens. So franticke are the
byshoppes in theyr visytacions, as thoughe wycked Sathan were
goyng once againe from the face of the Lord, to whyp or to punyshe
the Churche, lyke as he flagelled the mooste pacyent manne Job.
Canne any thynge be spoken more plainly, concernynge these
blasphemous Articles, and thys bloudye byte sheape theyr prac-
tyser ? His visitation (he saith) is generall, for the citye and Diocese
of London.

Woe is that citye and countrye, whyche hathe no better in-
structyons, than thys theefe and soule murtherer here bryngeth.
But where finedeth thys bellye beaste, that wyckednesse shall
dyscharge him afore god? The world he fynedeth in theese dayes,
lyke to hym selfe, blasphemous and beastlye. God is not honoured
by suche abhominatyons, as theese Artycles contayne, neyther yet

am not willing to take anything of that kind upon his credit." — Strype's
(Jr. II. 1052.

[Since this was written it has been stated in a very popular work, that
Wharton was at one time a papist. If I felt no duty after being his
successor in office, and the guardian of his papers, for so many years, I
should still deem his testimony so important that I should think it right
to notice the mistake. He was a bitter enemy of popery, but he loved
truth.]

7 So it stands ; and it is so like Bale's humour slily to pretend little
mistakes of this sort, that I do not venture to treat it as a mere misprint.

42 BALE'S DECLARATION [ESSAY

hys holye Catholicke chnrche furthered, thoughe the synagoge of
Sathan hathe thereby a presente commodity."

It would be tedious to quote all the similar cavilling
which follows ; but one more extract relating to this Article
I must give, for I feel quite convinced, that not one of my
readers has discovered the prodigious and horrible blasphemy
which the holy jealousy of Bale has detected at the very
end of it. And indeed, as our present business is with
style, the passage is very much to our purpose ; —

" In the conclusyon, he f awneth like a wilye Foxe, and desyreth
al menne to haue a good 'opynion of hym. Wherein he semeth to
dout of hym selfe, as dyd that cursed Apostata Caine, to whome in
the Preface he is most aptlye compared. His purpose is (he sayth)
to do all thinges charitably, wyth loue and fauoure, respecting both
God and his neighboure. And all these are manifest lies. In the
end whereas he claimeth Christes herytage for hys owne flocke, and
so bosteth it without al shame, he is an vsurper, an Antichriste, a
thef e, and a beastly blind bussard, Christe sayd not to Peter, go f eede
thyne owne flocke, but, go fede my shepe. Ihon xxi. Fede Christes
flocke (saith S. Peter) not for desyre of filthy lucre nor yet as ye wer
lordes ouerthem, &c. But, as gentle ministers, i. Pe. v. Take hede
(saith s. Paule) to all the flocke, which Christ hathe purchased with
his bloud. Ac. xx. Than is it Christes purchase, and not yours.
His flocke, his congregacion, hys church and not yours. O wicked
Antichristes and papistes, be once ashamed of your most beastly
ignorance and blindnesse," &c. — f. 3.

Let us, however, proceed from the Title to the Articles
themselves ; —

" C The fyrste Article.

" Firste, whether the clargy, to geue example to the laity, haue in
their liuynge, in their teachinge, and in theyr doynge, so behaued
themselves, that they (in the iudgement of indyfferent persons) haue
declared them selues, to searche principally the honor of God, and
hys churche, the health of the soules of suche as are commytted to
theyr cure and charge, the quyetnesse of theyr Parishyoners, and the
wealth and honour of the kynge and Quene of this realme.

C The Declaration.

Here is as wise an order towardes, as maister Harry my Lord
May res foole had been of counsell therin, or at the making therof.
Ihon Popam the churche warden, and Saunder Waspe the constable,
of euery paryshe, in some places as wyse as theyr mothers Apron
strynges, muste answer for the clargies behauiour through al the
whole diocese. For here he saith, the clargy, and not the person,
Vicar, or Parishe Priest. Who euer see a more manifest mocker ?
An abhomination to the Lord (saith Salomon) is euery mocke. Prov.
iii. In the latter dayes (say the S. Peter) shall come mockers in
deceitefulnesse, whyche wyll walcke after theyr owne lustes, dis-

in.] OF BONDER'S ARTICLES. 43

daininge the Lordes promises, ii. Peter iii. The Apostle lude
sheweth euen the same in his Epistle also, by thys worde Illusores.
Go we forwarde, and marke by the way, the illusions of this deceit-
full iuggelar. Ihon Popam and Saundre Waspe, muste forth abrode,
to seke the iudgements of personnes indifferent, ere they make
answer to this firste article. A relygyous progresse. And who are
these persons indifferent ? Not scripture searchers, not bible readers,
nor nienne of christen knowledge. Neyther yet faynte Gospellers,
whyche neyther are hote nor cold, for al these they greatly mistrust.
But persons indyfferent, are old cankred Papistes, ignoraunte
bussardes, wilful Idolatoures, and mooste wycked haters of al truthe
and godlinesse. Yea, such as moste commenlye haue wiues obedyent
to holy church bothe at bed and at borde, S. Cuckold saue them.
For these are the good benefactours of that holy mother of theirs.

But what is the matter, that here must be so effectually answered?
whether the cleargye to geue example &c. as aboue in the texte.
But thys worde doynge, my Lord byteshepe maye put in hys purse,
as superfluous, for it is included in the word, lyuing, which goeth
afore, I see it well, I muste take paynes amonge, to teache his
fatherede more wytte in orderinge his matters, wel syr, as for your
liuings or doyngs, whether ye wil, we knowe them to be most fylthy
and abhomynable, and youre teachinges therwith most pernicious
and hurtefull to the goule. To muche tyme woulde it aske at this
present to describe them. In deede your persons indifferent had
nede to make aunswer to youre behoue in those poyntes, with lye
and all. To search principally (ye saye) the honour of God, and the
health of his church, ye would saye. I must teach ye ones again to
frame your sentences, els wold ye couple your sorcerous masmongers
with Gods maiestye in one honour, which we wil not take at your
lucif erus perswasyons. And truelye your blasphemous and Idolatrous
Synagoge, is no more hys churche, than your hipocrisyes, ambicions,
lies, lecheryes, and Idolatries, are hys commaunded workes. Ye
seke the health of soules, euen as the deuyll hymself dothe, by the
vtter contempt of Gods commaundements to bryng them to the lake
of hel."— f. 6.

" C The Seconde Article.

Item, whether your person, vicare, or any other ministrynge as
Pryest within your Paryshe haue bene, or is marry ed, or taken for
maryed, not yet separated from hys concubine or woman taken for
wife. Or whether the same woman be deade, or yet liuynge, and
beinge liuinge, whether the one resorteth to the other : openlye,
secreatly, or slaunderously, maintaining supporting or findeinge the
same in any wise, to the offence of the people."— f. 10.

Part of the " Declaration " of this Article is as follows : —

" The holy Ghost spake it plainly to s. Paule, and told him, that
the forbidding of marriage was a manifest doctrine of deuils. And
should be taught by them that were fallen from the faithe, and gaue
hede to sprites of error and lies, in hipocrisye, having their con-
syences marked with an whote yron. i. Timo. iiii. Than is it a
most fit office for baudye Bonner. Is not he a brockish bore of

44 BALE'S DECLARATION [ESSAY

Babylon, a swilbol, a blockhed, a belly god? And maye not the
deuils enter once again into the swine, as they did in Christes time ?
Matt. viii. No wher shall they find better stabilling, then 'with such
a glorious glutton. An apter instrument to worke his cursed f eates,
then such a puffed up Nabal, shall sathan never obtain." — f. 12.

" C The Ninth Article.

Item, whether they or any of them, doth haunt, or resorte to ale-
houses or tauerns otherwyse then for hys, or their honest necessity
and reliefe, or repair to any disynge houses, commen bowling allies,
suspect houses or places, or do haunt or use commen games or
Plaies, or behave them selues otherwise unpriestly and unsemely."
— f. 30.

In the " Declaration " Bale says ; —

'"Whether they (saith Bonner) or any of them' &c. Than
foloweth, the ghostlye exercise of these worthye curates, the greate
studyes, cares, paynes, and labours, which they dayly take for the
Christen soules commen wealth, and for their wholsome governaunce,
no more vnknowen to Bonner and hys good officers, than the yonge
wolues condytions, to the olde grand father wolf. Whether they do
haunt tauernes (saith he) or resorte to ale houses ? He speaketh
not this I warand you, without greate experience of that matter
neyther yet withoute remembraunce of his owne religyous doyngs,
whan he was yet but yonge in that arte. And therefore full prudente-
lye, as one verye louinge to his marked cattell, and. fauorable to hys
oyled flock, he hath made a verye gentle prouiso, by these tearmes
in the text. ' Other wyse than for his or their honeste necessity and
relief.'"— f. 30. b,

Further on (after some grossness which I omit) he adds,
in a way remarkably characteristic of the spirit in which the
whole is written ; —

" These curates notwithstanding, may not repaire to anye Disynge
houses, what so euer they doe elsse in the ale houses, neyther yet
resorte vnto bowlynge alleys. And a reason whye. Lest they so
lose their mony, as they shall not be able to pay vs and our offycers
our duetyes of couenaunt." — f. 31, 6.

" C The xi Article.

Item, whether ther be dwellynge, within any your paryshes, any
Prieste, forrener, straunger, or other, who not (sic) presented to the
byshop of thys diocese, or his officers, examyned and admytted by
some one of them, doth take vpon hym to serue any cure, or to
mynyster any Sacramentes or sacramentals within the sayde
paryshe." — f. 34. b.

" C. The Declaration.

I thought that a forrener and a straunger had bene all one. But
bylike it includeth som great mistery, knowne only to his Lord-
shyppes politicke wisdome, that they be here reckned two. As he
is a man of a great fore fatche. A Scot should not seme to be a

in.] OF BONNER'S ARTICLES. 45

forrener by reason, being an Indigena or a man bred & borne wythin
the yle of Britaine. Neither yet ought an Irish man to be counted
a straunger, being an ancient subiect to the crowne of Englande.
And as for Jack Spaniard, being as good a Christian as is eyther
Turke, Jewe, or pagane, sine lux, sine crux, sine deus, after the
chast rules of Rome and Florence, he must be a dweller here, ye
know causes whye. Than remaine there none other forreners and
straungers to be loked vpon, but Dutchmen, Danes, Italians, and
frenchmenne. And they for the more parte, as much regarde the
Poopes priesthode, as the deuel doth holy water after the olde pro-
uerbe. And as for those priestes whom his Lordship calleth the
' other,' we know that by them he meaneth his own naturall countrye
menne of the Englyeh nacyon. They in thys miserable age, must
come last of al and within theyr owne soyl, must be reckened the
inf erioures to all forreners and strangers, & may dwell in no paryshe,
wythin London diocese. Marke hys Lordshypps honourable texte
here, and ye shall soone perceyue hys good meanynge. But such is
alwaies the fortune whyche Englande hath had of her vnnaturall
bastards, as hys Lordshyppe is one amongest other S. Quintine
bless him."— f. 35.

The charge of illegitimacy thus brought against Bonner
will be found repeated again in one or two extracts which
follow. The object of it was not merely to annoy the Bishop
of London, but to furnish a ground for denying the validity
of his orders, and, therefore, of all acts performed by him in
his episcopal character. This may appear more plainly by
and bye, for Bale was not the only writer who used the
weapon, and Bonner not the only prelate against whom it
was used. In the meantime, however, it is right to say,
that it seems to have been a mere fiction; and that its
falsehood appears to be unquestionably established by the
testimony of Boiiner's most bitter enemies. It seems,
indeed, as if for the clearance of truth and the confusion of
his friends, Fox had been constrained to record the follow-
ing facts, by which he only intended to illustrate " the
courtesie of Ridley and the currishness of Boner." He tells
us that he had them from George Shypside, the husband of
Bishop Ridley's sister. In his account of that prelate he
says, " now remain eth a word or two to be declared of his

* gentle nature and kindly pitty in the vsage of an olde

* woman called Mistres Boner, mother to Doctour Boner,
{ sometime Bishop of London ; which I thought good to
' touch, as well for the rare clemency of Doctour Ridley, as
t the vnworthy immanity and vngratefull disposition againe

* of Doctor Boner. Bishop Ridley being at his manor of

46 BISHOP BONNER'S PARENTAGE. [ESSAY

* Fulham, alwayes sent for the sayd Mistres Boner, dwelling
' in an house adioyning to his house, to dinner and supper,
' with one Mistres Mungey Boners sister, saying : go for

* my mother Boner, who comming, was euer placed in the
4 chayre at the tables end, being so gently intreated, wel-
1 commed, and taken, as though he had been borne of her
' owne body, being neuer displaced of her seate, althoughe
' the Kings Counsell had been present, saying, when any of

* them were there (as diuers times they were) by your Lord-

* ship's fauor, this place of right and custome is for my

* mother Boner8." That Mrs. Boner and her daughter
were respectable we may perhaps be permitted to hope, for
the sake of Bishop Ridley. At all events, there seems to
have been no disavowal or concealment of parentage on the
part of his predecessor.

After having told this story, Strype, who is generally
prepared to re-echo the sentiments of Fox, cries out in
horror, " But to see the base ingratitude of Boner ; when

* he was restored again in Queen Marys reign, he used
1 Ridley far otherwise than Ridley used him : for he would
1 not allow the leases which Ridley had made, which was in
' danger to redound to the utter ruin of many poor men.
' He had a sister with three children, whom he married to
1 one Shipside a servant of his, and provided for them.
1 This sister Boner turned out of all, and endeavoured the

* destruction of Shipside, had not Bishop Hethe delivered
' him V That is, the reader must observe, " Teste Georg.
Shipsido," as Fox writes his authority ; and it may be well
believed that George Shypside was not so good a witness in
his own cause, as he was respecting his mother Boner's civil
entertainment. He might naturally be sore at the up-
setting of a comfortable, and perhaps not discreditable,
little piece of nepotism. I dare say, however, that it never
once crossed the mind of good Mr. Strype, that while the
mother was thus ostentatiously patronized, the son, whose
deprivation had called for this charitable dole on her behalf,
was lying in gaol. But the strangest thing is, that after
having given this story, Strype should have been so far
carried away by the torrent of base and filthy invective, as
to tell his readers " Boner, bishop of London, was a bastard

8 Ed. 1596, p. 1559. 9 Cranm. vol. i. p. 298.

m.] BALE'S DECLARATION. 47

* all over. He a bastard, his father a bastard, his grancl-
' father a notorious whoremaster. For this was his pedigree,

* as I find it set down in a collection of old MSS.," J <fec.
We are certainly much indebted to Strype for publishing
many manuscripts which he found in old collections, but
we must receive what he says of them, and from them, with
a constant recollection that, in his estimation, one old
manuscript appears to have been about as good as another.
To return, however, to the Articles.

" C The xv article.

" Item whether they, and eueriche of them, to the best of their
powers at all tymes have exhorted & stirred the people to quiet -
nesse and concorde, and to the obedyence of the Kyng and Quenes
maiesties and their officers, rebuking all sedicion and tumult with
all unlawful assemblies, mouing the people to charity and good
order, and charging the fathers and mothers, masters and governors
of youthe, to kepe good rule, and to instruct them in vertue & good-
nesse, to the honor of God and of this realme, and to haue them
occupied in some honest art and occupacion, to gette their living
thereby."— f. 52. b.

In the course of the " Declaration " of this Article, Bale

"To instruct them (ye saye) in vertue and goodnesse. Whie
than haue ye forbidden them Christes Testament, and all other
scriptures both in English and Latine, as in your seuenth articles
folowinge concerninge scholemaisters ? Are there any bokes els in
the worlde, that can shewe more vertue and goodnesse than they ?
I thinke verylye, that there are not greater Deuils, than you be,
neyther yet more manifest adversaryes to the truthe of God. All
this (ye saye) ye woulde haue done to the honour of God and welthe
of this realme, I think ye woulde saye. For if you aduysedly doo
couple God and this realme in one honour (as your wryting
expresseth) I thincke you more than mad. But what honor can
God have at any mans hand, ether yet what health this realm,
wythout the knowledge and obedience of his word ? I would
gladly have this question answeared, which neuer will be done by
you, that haue with so expresse wordes condempned the reading
thereof. Be ashamed of thy blasphemouse doinges thou most
beastly e bellye God and dampnable donge hill, with thy Golden
pyllowes afore thee. And take hede least thou drop to the bottom
of hell with Chore, Dathan, and Abiron, for this presumpcion and
horrible contempt." — f. 55. b.

The xviii Article.

" Item whether they or any of them, sens the Quenes maiesties
proclamacion, hath or doth vse to saye or synge the diuine seruice,

1 Mem. III. i. 172, published many years after his Cranmer.

48 BALE'S DECLARATION [ESSAY

minister the sacramentes or sacramentals, or other thinges in
English, contrarie to the ordre of this realme." — f. 63.

Part of the Declaration is ; —

" These terrible termagants of antichrist, such as is this beastli &
vnlearned bastard Bonner, wil suffer in the churches of England,
no service to be done, neither yet the necessary sacraments of
Baptisme and the Lordes Supper, to be ministred in English," &c. —
f. 64. b.

The xix Article.

" Item, whether they or any of them, in theyr suffrages, collected,
and prayers, doeth vse to praye for the Kinge and Quenes maieste
by the names of King Philipp and Quene Marye according to a letter
and commaundement therin lawfully gyuen nowe of late vnto them
by their ordinary." — f. 66.

C The Declaration.

"See I pray you, how arrogaunt this porkishe papist is here. So
like is he in condicions to his father of Rome, as the yong wolfe is
like to the olde. Here must his underwolfes, or curates as he
calleth them, have suffrages," &c. — Ibid.

In the course of the xx Article, the Bishop enquired,

" Whether anye person have refused or contempned to .... be
confessed and receiue at the priestes hand the benefite of absolucion,
according to the laudable custom of this realme." — f. 70.

On this Bale says,

" Thus have we of the Scriptures, that the benefyte of remyssion,
commeth immediatlye from God and hys Christ, but no mention
have we of the hand of a papyst. I would wonder at it, that thys
Bonner a greate doctoure of both lawes, sometime a kinges
Embassadour, and now a bishop, should appeare by his owne
wrytinges, so beastly a bussarde, and a fole so blockishly ignoraunt.
But that I finde it also wrytten that the wisedome of this worlde, is
a stark folishnesse afore God."— f. 75.

Then, after admitting that " Gods lawe is to be sought at
the mouth of the priest," he goes on to say ; —

" But that we should fetch absolucion at his baudy handes, it is
yet the mooste doltish doggerel that ever I hard. That diuinity
myght have come from jfcffi} ^V\ .tifc?- jfl^ene^Jfoole among all her
cuppes. But what doctrine bryngeth Bonrier to'"tlfe establishment
of this howsel, confession, & absolucion ? The laudable custome of
this realme. That is the Bible which he hath studied, nexte vnto
the beere potte."— f. 75. b.

In the course of his " Declaration " of the xxiv Article,
Bale has this passage ; —

"In their idle doynges they are men spiritual. Though they
have halfe a score of sonnes and doughters abrode, if it be out of

in.] OF BONNER'S ARTICLES. 49

marryage, there is no chastitye broken. The holy order of priesthode
standeth still undefyled, for the character thereof is undeleble, and
the hot yron marke unremoueable. Take glorious Gardiner, blowe
bolle Bonner, tottering Tunstal, wagtaile Weston, and carted
Chicken, and all the other fine Rochet men of Englande. For all
the notable whoredomes which they have don they are styll holye
pastours, and horrible '[sic. I suppose facetiously for honourable]
spiritual men." — f. 90. b.

The xxiv Article begins ; —

" C Item, whether the person or vicar doth repair and maintain
his chauncel and mansion house in sufficient reparation," &c.

In the course of his " Declaration," Bale says, with
reference to this ; —

" Well, these chauncels muste now be repayred, master

* Bonner saith, that their may ones again leade al to the

* deuil with their blind latin patterings and wawlings.
' Wheras one crieth like a pig," — but the rest of this
ribaldry may be found in Strype, who says parenthetically,
and almost pathetically, " (I use the words of John Bale,
who would call a spade a spade.)" Poor dear Bale, that
way of his sometimes made his best friends more than half
ashamed of him, but he would do it, and even Strype, who
considered him " an author of high esteem," was constrained
to acknowledge that "he is sometimes blamed, and blame-
worthy indeed, for his rude and plain language 2." But to
proceed — in the course of his declaration of Article xxvi,
after having stated that the tonsure was brought into the
church by Pope Martin, Bale goes on to say ; —

"It is not than much to be marueled, if this other monster
Bonner after the last preaching of Christes gospell hath brought it
into the Englishe churche agayn, with other supersticions more.
For that wylde brockishe bore in breakynge vppe Gods vyneyarde
there, Psal. 79. hadde rather haue that swyll and drosse of Antichrist,
than the most precyous delycates of the holye scriptures," &c. —
f. 99. b.

On part of Article xxix,

" To quarell at this presente, this beastly fole parauenture would
bring in the professed preasthode of his sodamitycall maister. But
I wyll that he knowe it, that the pedlarye preasthode of that popet,
shall in perfection be neuer lyke that holy presthode, which all we
so many as beleue & are baptysed haue in Christ Jesu, as S. Peter
declareth, 1 Pet. ii. and also S. John in his Reuelation . i . and . v."
— f. 112. b.

2 Mem, III. i. 177, 178.

50 BALE'S DECLARATION [ESSAY

And on the same Article ; —

" The actes of so noble a prince as King Edwarde the .vi. was this
shamlesse bastarde,more vile in those doyngs than any kytchen slaue,
contemptuouslye calleth inuocations [read innouations] meaninge
newe lawes or alterations of the worst sort." — f. 113.

Again, in the same Article ; —

" Such reuerence had King Dauid to the function and offyce of a
kinge, for that it was an authority geuen of God, that he wold lay
no violent handes vppon Saule, being his mortall ennemye, and not
Goddes frende nether at that tyme .i. Regum. xxiiii. And yet
this fylthy swineheard abasheth not obprobriously to reuile his
naturall king, to inuert his most godly actes at his pleasure and also
mooste arrogantly to boast of it. And what is thy idolatrous mas
and lowsye Latine seruice, thou sosbelly swilbol, but the very draf
of Antichrist and dregges of the deuil ? " — f. 113. b.

Bonner having, in his xxxiv Article, spoken of "the
seuen deadelye synnes with their ofspringe, progenye and
yssue," Bale, in the course of his " Declaration," says,

" I wondre therf ore to fynde Bonner such a beastly fole, that he
knoweth no more but .vii. deadly synnes," &c. — Sig. T. iii. b.

The xxxvi Article is,

" Item whether stipendary prests do behaue themselves discretlye
and honestlye in all poynts towardes their parson or vicar, geuing
an othe, and doinge according to the law and ecclesiasticall
constitucions, ordinaunces, and laudable customes in that behalf." —
Sig. V. i.

C The Declaration.

" That Christ discommendeth and rebuketh in his chosen churche,
Joh. x. this bussard this beast, and this bluddering papiste doth
allow, preferre, and place, in his newli errected sinagoge of the
Deuil. And stipendarye preast is he which serveth for lucre and
bely chere, and not for anye spirituall profitte towards the christen
congregacion. And such a one Christ calleth a mercenarye or
carelesse hyrelinge, which in beholdinge the cruell wolfe to come
vpon the flocke, yea, to scatter them and deuour theym, he
regardethe it nothinge at all? Suche rybaldes and brothels hath
Bonner taken into the sheepe foulde, as like to lyke, withoute all
godly and christen respecte. But wyl ye knowe the cause whye 2
Whan he was in the marshallsea, they broughte him in chese,
butter, and bacon for the fyrst course, and for the latter, pigs, gese,
and fat capons. Is not that (think you) honestye, vertue and learn-
inge ynough for a christen minister in the diocese of London ? " —
Sig. V. i. b.

Whatever opinion the reader may form from the fore-
going extracts, I think he will allow that I have given him
full ground for forming one, and will acquit me of having

in.] OF BONNER'S ARTICLES. 51

made Bale an offender for a word ; especially if he knows
anything of the passages which I have passed over in
taking specimens from this one little work. " Bale's pen,
indeed," says the apologetic Strype, " was sharp and foul

* enough sometimes, when he had such foul subjects to deal

* with, as the cruelties and uncleannesses of many of the
1 popish priests, and prelates and cloisterers." 3 But he had
no such " foul subjects " to deal with in Bonner's Articles,
which were quiet, temperate, business-like affairs — chiefly
what might be called official matters, couched in official
language. The plain fact is, that Bale's pen was foul
simply because he was foul himself ; and he had foul sub-
jects to deal with because they were the subjects with
which he delighted to deal ; as is shown in a very marked
way by his bringing into a matter like this a profusion of
foul matter, such as I have not ventured to quote.

Strype has given the Articles at full length 4, and I think
it will be hard to find in them anything to justify the
" sharp and foul " attack of Bale. On the other hand, it is
amusing to see how very sensitive Strype is, when a hard
word had been uttered against those who are the'subjects of
his eulogy. In his life of Cranmer, though he condescends
to reply to some of " the unjust calumnies some hot spirited
papists have cast upon his memory," yet there are others
whom he considers too bad to merit that honour. " I shall
pass over," he says with unmoved dignity, " the unhand-
' some name that Feckenham gave him, calling him Dolt.
... I shall also pass by what Bishop Boner then said of him,

* viz. that he dared to say, that Cranmer would recant so
' he might have his living ; as though he were a man of a
' prostituted conscience, and would do anything upon
' worldly considerations." 5 Imagine Bonner saying such a
thing of Cranmer. What did Bale ever say of Bonner, that
equalled that ? or that was so bad as Bonner's " rude way
of misnaming such as came before him," so that on one
occasion he actually called a tailor pricklouse ? " 6

Perhaps enough has been said to give the reader an
opportunity of judging of Bale's style, and of the spirit in
which he wrote ; but still there are two points which

3 Mem. II. i. 56. 4 Mem. III. ii. 217.

5 Cranm. ii. 659. * Strype, Mem. III. ii. 63.

52 BALE'S DOCTRINE [ESSAY

should be stated, in order to his forming a just estimate of
the matter,

In the first place, there is to us something so revolting in
the very idea of men being put to death for their belief,
even if we suppose it to be heretical, that we are disposed
to sympathize in the indignation of those who saw it as
the real case of others, and had good reason to apprehend
that it might actually be their own. But it must be re-
membered, that when Bale wrote this book, little that
could be called persecution had taken place. Not one
martyr had suffered. The mere date (if not a forgery)
proves that if this fierce ribaldry was not in some degree
a cause, it could not certainly be an effect, of most of
those scenes of cruelty in the reign of Mary, with which
Fox's Martyrology has rendered us familiar.

Again, whatever ideas of toleration we may have, Bale
had none such. He did not, indeed, like to be persecuted
himself, or to have his party persecuted ; but as to perse-
cution itself, and what we should think cruelty, he was
not squeamish. He thought that it would have been a
good thing if there had been a general slaughter of the
massmongering priests, and he made no secret of his
opinion. He even took the liberty to hint to his sove-
reign that he had been remiss on this point, and that
something of the kind was still expected from him.

"Such time as our most worthy souurain Kynge Henry the .viii
now lyuing after the most Godly example of Kynge Josyas visited the
temples of his reame, he perseyued the Sinneful shryne of this
JBecket to be unto his people a moost perniciouse evell, and therefore
in the word of the lord he vtterly among other destroyed it. If
he had upon that and such other abhominable shrines brent those
Idolatrous pryestes which were (and are yet) theyr chef e mainteiners,
he had fulfilled ye godly history throughout. But yfc which was not
than perf ourmed in hope of their amendement, may by chance lyght
vppon them hereafter whan no Gentell warning will seme to be
regarded. I dout not at all but his noble discretion perceyueth
much more in that wicked generation of the pope's norryshing vp,
which alwayes hath mainteined (and yet doth) such manifest errours,
than he ever in his life yet uttered." — Life of /Sir John Oldcastle,
Lord Cobham, p. 53. b.

Bale was, however, disappointed as to King Henry ;
and all he could do was to offer the same suggestion to
his son and successor, and try whether the youthful
Edward might not be tutored into a Josias, who would

in.] OF TOLERATION. 53

persevere and fulfil "the godly history throughout" In
his Epistle Dedicatory, prefixed to " The Laboryouse
Journey" of " lohan Leylande," addressed to the young
monarch, he says ; —

"We fynde Exodi . i. that the mighty magistrate vndre God
Moyses, among his other most worthy actes, droue the deuouryng
locustes, which had in Egypte destroyed al that was greene vpon
the earth, into the reade sea, and there drowned them so that they
were no more sene. The like wrought your highnesses most noble
father of excellent memory Kynge Henry the .viij . though it were
in an other kinde, suche time as he dyscharged this his realme of
Antichristes noyful cattel, Monkes, Chanons, Frires, Nonnes,
Heremites, Perdoners, and soule syngers, with other execrable
sectes of perdicion. Neuerthelesse our Egypcyanes both of the
clergye, and layte, haue soughte euer sens, and yet seketh to this
daye, to leade your Maiesties people in a palpable kynde of darke-
nesse by their masses, and other sorcerouse witchcraftes ; as lately
apered in the last commocyon of Cornewale and Deuenshyre, to
reduce them agayne to the old obedyence of the great Pharao of
Rome, in the stynkyng kyngdome of ydolatry. But your noble
counsell, to withstande thys vyolence, hath hytherto moste worthelye
wrought, in the myghtie worde.of the Lorde, and in the stronge
power of your regall rodde, to dryue this horryble plage of darke-
nesse from the face of thys earthe, and our good hope is, that they
wyl gracyously so styll continue.

"Salomon is commended of Jesus the sonne of Syrach, Eccle.
xlvij. for that the Lorde had hym replenyshed wyth all wysdome,
and for hys sake had dryuen the enemyes awaye farre of, that he
myghte buylde an howse in hys name, and prepare vnto hym a
sanctuary for euer, whych al to this daye we behold in youre
kyngelye persone fulfylled, prayeng vnto God that it may so styl
endure. As in your pryncelye begynnynges ye apere vnto vs a very
Josias both in your tendre youthe and vertuouse educacyon, so our
specyal hope is, that in your dayly procedinges, ye wyl stylperseuer
the same." — Sign. A. v.

To return, however, to Bale's Declaration — there is
another point which is worthy of notice, with a view to
our present inquiry. The book professes (and I presume
truly) to have been written " in the yeare of our Lord a.
1554. By John Bale," who dates the preface " C Wrytten
from Basile in Heluetia. An. 1554." I have already said
that I do not know whether it came over into this country
in print or in manuscript, and, in fact, I do not know
whether there is any edition which purports to have been
printed at that time at Basil or anywhere else. What I
wish the reader to observe,' however, is, that the copy
before me is of an edition " C newlye set fourth and

54 PURITAN STYLE. [ESSAY

' allowed, according to the order appointed in the Quenes

* Maiesties Iniunctions," and " Imprynted at London by
' Jhon Tysdall, for Frauncys Coldocke dwellinge in Lom-
' bard strete, ouer agaynste the Oardinalles hatte, and are

* there to be sold at his shoppe 1561." — that is in the
days of Elizabethan safety and triumph, while the ex-
bishop of Ossory was contenting himself with his stall at
Canterbury, and the ex-bishop of London was in gaol,
" mercifully, I may say, laid in there, to defend him from
the rage of the people."7 Nobody will dispute that there
might be some mercy in putting the aged prelate even in
a gaol as a place of safety, if " the rage of the people " was
to be cultivated by the republication of such virulent invec-
tive ; but what was the object of reprinting it at such a
time? By whom, and with what view, was it done?
Supposing it only a permitted speculation by the booksellers,
whom did they expect to make it worth their while ? These
are points worth inquiring about ; but they must be passed
by for the present while I bring forward the other two
writers to whom I have alluded.

ESSAY IV.

PURITAN STYLE. No. II.

PONET TRAHERON.

THE writer of whom I come now to speak is described by
Strype as "a man of great parts and acquired learning"1 —
"a very ingenious as well as a learned man "2 — in fact, as
" one of the best and eminentest sort of divines."3 Whether
he was of St. John's College in Cambridge, as Strype says
in one place,4 or of Queens' College, as he tells us in another,5
is of little consequence, though I believe the latter is the
truth ; at any rate, he was, according to the same authority,
" one of those many brave shoots that the university of

7 Strype, Grindal, p. 150. * Gran. i. 403.

2 Gran. li. 607. 3 Clieke, 95.

4 Cran. i. 403. 5 Smith, 13.

iv.J PONET. 55

Cambridge then produced,"6 and " one of the greatest orna-
ments of learning then in Cambridge."7

There seem to have been some among his contemporaries
whose opinion resembled this, for when Bishop Gardiner
was deprived of the see of Winchester, Dr. John Ponet, who
was then Bishop of Rochester, and who had previously been
chaplain to King Henry VIII. , and to Archbishop Cranmer,
was selected to fill the vacant see. He held it until the
accession of Queen Mary, when he fled beyond sea, and
became one of that body of exiles whose proceedings form
the subject of our present inquiry.

First of all, however, (and, for the present, exclusively,)
we are concerned with his style as a writer, and perhaps I
cannot illustrate this better than by quoting his description
of his predecessor in the see of Winchester. It is inci-
dentally brought into his account of Sir William Paget, and
is as follows : —

" And how at leinght was P[aget] the maister of practices handled,
that will haue one parte in euery pagent, if he maye by prayeng or
paieng put in his f oote ? But before I procede to speake of this
maister of practices it shall not be amysse, that I tell you somwhat
of his maister, the doctour of practices. For albeit this doctour be
now (but to late) throughly knowen, yet it shall be requisite, that
our poster itie knovve what he was, and by his description see, how
nature had shaped the outwarde partes, to declare what was within.
This doctour hade a swart colour, an hanging loke, frowning browes,
eies an ynche within the head, a nose hooked like a bussarde, wyde
nosetrilles like a horse, euer snuffing in to the wynde, a sparowe
mouthe, great pawes like the deuil, talauntes on his fete like a grype,
two ynches longer than the naturall toes, and so tyed to with sinowes,
that he coulde not abyde to be touched, nor scarce suffre them to
touche the stones.

And nature hauing thus shaped the forme of an outwarde monstre,
it gaue him a vengeable witte, which at Cambridge by labour and
diligence he hade made a great deale worse, and brought vp many
in that facultie : Wriothesley, Germayne Gardiner (whom he caused
spedily to be hanged, least he should haue to muche disclosed his
maisters arte) and among many other this maister or proctour of
practices, whom we are now entred to speake of.

This doctour to geue some signification of his nature and conning
to come alofte, that he might doo the more mischief, betrayeth his
M. Carnall Wolsei8; and more than any other laboureth the diuorse

6 Smith, 159. 7 Cheke, 18.

8 This sort of wit is very characteristic of the school of writers with
which we are concerned, and to which Bishop Ponet belonged. He had
before (Sig. G. iii.) aaid "as Carnal Phoole truly citeth," &c. The

5C> PONET VERSUS [ESSAY

betwene king Henry and the dowager. And by and by he earnestly
sought to haue ridden in the kinges bootes : worse could not content
him. But whan he sawe that wold not be, and considred it better
to haue stoare than one only paire (for so perchaunce he might haue
founde them somtymes not all cleane whan he wolde haue vsed
them, and also it should be a let to bring to passe that he purposed)
he changeth his purpose : and bycause none shoulde remembre his
practices before, nor suspecte the rest to come, he shaueth his
crowne as broade as a sawcer, and decketh him self with a white
smocke like a portour of the Stiliarde. But what nedeth suche
circumlocucion, whan euery body knoweth this doctour of practices
was called D. Stephan Gardiner? After this, his lucke was to be
committed to the towre, whan Tyburne hade ben a place more
worthy his desertes."9— Sig. I. iii. b.

Another passage relating to Bishop Gardiner is as follows.
Speaking of the debasement of the coin he says : —

"Which thing the great deuil and cutthrote of England (the
papistes God) in his sermon that he made at Paules Crosse, upon
this theme (now is the tyme to wake from slepe, my brethren, for
now is our ioie and pompe more nye, than whan we before dissembled
to beleue in Christ. Be of good cheare, my disciples, our trouble is
past, our ioye is at hande) letted not to blustre out. In this sermon
to bring the dead innocent and blessed King Edwarde (whom for his
vertue he hated) in hatred of the people: for he imputed to him
(a childe and a warde) the lewde and wicked behaveour of his cruell

counsailours, &c the same deuil Gardyner was the chief

counsaillour to have the money abased, to maintain the same. And
now lately (whan he hath broken his chayne) devised Rosemary
pence," &c.—8ig. F. ij. b..

It is impossible to quote the passage without directing
the attention of the reader to the irreverent burlesque of
Scripture which it contains, and which was too common,
and too characteristic among the writers with whom we are
now engaged. As to the exiled prelate's power of invec-
tive, however, it is a very inadequate specimen. A much
better may be found in his attack on Bishop Bonner. Let
the reader imagine the ex- Bishop of Winchester from his

reader is probably aware that the name of the Cardinal, now commonly
called Pole, was then generally pronounced as if spelt (and frequently
was spelt) Pool, or Poole.

9 It is strange to find Strype quoting this description of Bishop

left a character of him, con-
is of the doctor of practices"
name occurs so immediately
after the description (as the reader may see by this extract) and is, in the
original book, rendered peculiarly conspicuous by being the only two
words of roman type in the middle of the page of italic.

SIR WILLIAM 1'AGET, FIRST LORD PAGET
(From a Mezzotint)

• "«" •-•••%.•

iv.] GARDINER AND BONNER. 57

place of safety (which he had reached, not as a persecuted
heretic, but as a run-away traitor) breaking out in such
terms on the Bishop of London — on one whom, indepen-
dent of all respect due to office, it might have been
thought right and wise to conciliate, and whom, to say
the least, it could not be Christian, or humane, or politic,
to exasperate ; —

" Were not the ymages and Koodeloftes in Englande destroied by
autoritie of ciuile power ? And dothe not Boner the Archbocher of
London for all that force them that obeied the authoritie (bicause
he saieth, it was not lauful) to make them vp again at their owne
charges ? But Boner, thou that allowest nothing to be well done
(by what soeuer autoritie it be done) except it be lauf ull, nor nothing
to be laufull that is not agreing to thy canon lawes : I haue to saie
to thee . Stande stil a while, whilest I rubbe the. Tell me plainly,
and face not out a lie, as thou arte wont : speake not one thing, and
thinke an other, as thy nature is : ones in thy life tell the truthe,
and shame thy maister the deuil. If thou were the sonne of the
earthe by thy fathers side, and of an erraunt hoore by the mother,
and so a bastarde : by what autoritie saiest thou thy masse, whan
thy lawes suffre no bastardes to be priestes without dispensacion ?
how comest thou to be a bishop, whan thy lawes saie, thou maiest
be no priest ? How be thy iudgements laufull, whan thou by thy
canones maiest be no iudge ? All men knowe, that thy mother whan
thou wast begoten, was an hoore.

The common voice and fame saieth, and the truthe is, that albeit
one Boner (a bare whippe lacke) for lucre of money toke vpon him
to be thy father, and than to mary thy mother, yet thou wast persone
Sauages bastarde : and of that race come thy cousins Wimmeslowe
thy Archediacon of London (a mete eie for suche a grosse head) and
Wimslowe his brother, and a great meany moo notable. These
thinges be so euident and plaine, that thou cannest not (without
blushing) denie them : neither thou wilt (I knowe) denie them. For
thou boastest and braggest muche, that thou comest of gentil
blood.

But thou wilt saye, thou hast a bull of dispensacion from
the pope, I require to knowe, what time it was graunted. Thou
saiest, whan thou wast at Eome. It is euen that I requiered.
Thou wast indede at Rome, proctour for the princes dowager the
Quenes mother, in the cause of diuorce betwene King Henry the viii.
and her.

Whan thou sawest that no prebendes, no Archediaconries, no
bishoprikes were to be goten by continuing on her parte, thou
betraidest her cause, and becamest of counsail with the King. O
noble counsaillour. 0 seuere and lawful iudge.

A mete man to sit in condemnacion of so many innocentes : yea
more mete to ytande on the pillarie, than in a pulpit : to be tied vp
in a boare franke, than walke in a princes chambre : to weare a
Tiburne tippet, than a graie amise." — Sig. D. vii. b.

58 TRAHERON. [ESSAY

One can understand, after reading such a passage as this,
how it came that Bishop Ponet entertained John Bale as
his chaplain. Perhaps their knowledge and estimation of
each other's ability might enable them at times to speak
civilly to each other. To the exiled bishop, however, it
seemed all too little ; he has not done with the object of his
wrath, and he presently returns to the charge ; —

" But Boner, I maye not leaue thee thus ; Geue me leaue (Sauage
Boner) to dispute this mater of laufull and not laufull, a title more
with thee. If thou and the rest of the traitours thy Companiones
should persuade the frendeles Quene of England (whom ye haue
enchaunted) to geue ouer the towne of Calese and Barwike to a
straunge prince, and (contrary to her othe not to diminishe any parte
of the Tightest of the Crowne and liberties of the people, which kinges
of England at their Coronacion in tymes past made, and which she
also made to her subiectes, whan she was crowned before she was a
perfit Quene) she folowed your counsail, som noble personage sent
thider to deliuer the keyes, and the :deputie and garison did not
strike of the messagiers head, and set it on the gates, but obeyed it,
and not resisted it : wer not thou and thi f elowes traitours for per-
suading her so doo ? hade not she broken her othe and promyse ?
were not that-tournay a traitour for doing that he was commaunded?
were not the deputie and garison traitours for suff ring it to be done ?
Answer. What cannest thou saie for thy self and thy folowes 1 [sic]
Giltie, or not giltie ? Thou standest mewet, what not a worde /
Thou art sure, your good will, will stande you in as good stede, as
the dede done. Neither doo ye passe, though the crowes be fedde
with your carion carcases, and the deuil with your soules, so ye maye
leaue behinde you a fame, that by your traytourie, the laitie of
England was destroyed, and the spiritualtie restored to their pompe
and lordly power.

But before the halter stoppe thy winde, Boner, let vs knowe, what
thou canst saye for her. Sayest thou, princes be not bounden by
their othes and premisses ? " &c. — 8ig. E. ii.

These extracts are perhaps sufficient to give the reader
some idea of Bishop Ponet's style, and to lead him to
suspect that where these passages are to be found, he may
find more and worse.

Let us, therefore, proceed to the third writer, of whom I
have to speak on this occasion — that is, BARTHOLOMEW
TRAHERON, whom Strype introduces as "a learned man,
and well studied in the divinity of the gospel,"1 and who
was, according to Anthony a Wood, " a compleat person
and much respected by scholars." 2 He was brought up in

1 Mem. IT. i. 420. 2 Ath. i. 324, ed. Bliss.

iv.] TRAHERON. 59

the university of Oxford by Master Richard Tracy, whom
Strype supposes to have been the son of the Tracy whose
remains were burned3. He was among those who were
detected with John Frith at Oxford in the year 1527 or
15284. He afterwards succeeded Roger Ascham in the
office of librarian to King Edward VI., was made Dean of
Chichester5, and named in a commission for the correction
of ecclesiastical laws6. It does not appear why his name
and some others were soon withdrawn from this commis-
sion7 ; but in a short time after he obtained a prebend at
Windsor.

On the accession of Queen Mary, he fled beyond sea ; and
the leading part which he took among the exiles is thus
stated by Strype : " After the separation of a part of the

* congregation at Frankford, which departed and settled,
' some at Basil, and some at Geneva, those that remained,
' who were for the observation of the English book used

* under King Edward, began to set up an university there

* for the maintenance of learning : wherein the readers
'constituted were, Dr. Horn, late Dean of Durham, for

* Hebrew ; Dr. Mullins for Greek ; and Dr. Bartholomew
4 Traherne or Traheron, late Dean of Chichester, for the

* divinity lecture."

He further tells us that Traheron, " among his other
' readings, read upon the beginning of St. John's Gospel,
' designedly against the Arians, who began much to increase

* in these times (especially among Protestants), and upon

* the fourth chapter of the Revelations, which led him to

* treat of the providence of God. The reason he chose to
1 read upon this subject was, to comfort himself and others
cby the consideration of the Divine Providence in their
' present afflicted condition. But a certain learned person,

* who had been his auditor, impugned some part of what he

* had spoken, urging that he had used irreverend speech, in
' saying, that it was in God's will and ordinance that
' Adam should sin, making God the author of sin." 8

Strype gives some further account of the dissension and

3 Mem. II. i. 421. 4 Mem. I. i. 581.

5 Mem. II. ii. 266, 267.

6 See Strype, Mem. II. i. 530, and II. ii. 205, 206.

7 Strype, ibid., and see Gran. i. 388.

8 Mem. III. i. 54?,,

60 TRAHERON'S ANSWER [ESSAY

of a lecture which Traheron read in defence of his opinion,
but he says nothing of a tract which he published, and
which must, I presume, relate to the same matter. It is,
at all events, directed against one of his " co-mates in exile,"
who had disagreed with him on the same, or a very similar,
point of doctrine ; and as our only object at present is to
gain some idea of the style and spirit of the author, it is
sufficient for our purpose. At the same time we are doing
him rather more than justice by quoting a work written
under such circumstances and on such an occasion, rather
than an invective against those by whom he had been
" chased out " of his country. The title-page gives the key
note of the composition ; and it would be hardly doing it
justice to copy it without an attempt at something a little
like a fac-simile.

VVERE MADE BY BAR. TRA

HERON TO A PEIVIE PAPISTE

which crepte in to the english

congregation of Christian

exiles vndre the vi-

sor of a fauo-

rer of the

gospel,

but at length bewraied him selfe to be one

of the popes asses, thorough his slouche ea

res, and than became a laughing stoc

ke to al the companie, whom

he had amazed before

with his maske

^[ Hereunto is added the subscription of

the chiefest of the companie first, and after-

ward the subscriptio of M. Ro. Watson a-

lone, in special wordes, bicause he was cop

ted the best learned amonge the reste, &

therefore his iudgement was

most regarded and requi-

red.

^l Imprinted Anno. 1558.

iv.] TO A PRIVIE PAPIST. 61

This is immediately followed by an address " To Master-
Gilbert Barckley," (who was a fellow exile, and afterwards
Bishop of Bath and Wells,) which begins thus : —

" I heard with great grief e of mind, how a counterfaite papiste
labored shamelesly to deface your most honest, and godlie behauior
towardes him, with the foule name of simuled frenship and flatterie.
And I know the tendernes of your herte, and how much it euer
iustly grieueth you, that the good name, that god hath giuen you,
should be blemished with false reportes, and impudent lies. But I
trust your wisedom is such, that you wil not be longe trebled, with
the barckinges of so foule a mouthed mastife. Wherefore I exhorte
you to staie youselfe against this open iniurie vpon the ground of
an honest vpright conscience, whereof sondrie, that be here present,
and haue longe time knowen you, giue vndoubted testimonies, and
haue seen most certaine frutes. This mastife, whose name I wil not
uttre, though it signifie that he came of a wilie generation, hath
opened his mouth against me also, and hath enforced himselfe to
scratch, and teare me with his nails. But god of his goodness, hath
giuen me alwaies, wherewith to defende myselfe. The defence that
he hath now ministred vnto me, against this three-headed Cerberus,
bred and long fed in the popes kennel, I dedicate to you my dear
frend master Barckley," &c.

After this letter follows a statement of the matter in
dispute relative to a passage of Augustine. It is all in a
single page, which contains, in addition, the following
title :—

1F TO THIS HEKE FOLOVVETH

MASTER MASKERS REPLICATION

This replication does not occupy a page and a half, and
considering the sort of matter with which we are at present
engaged, it is perfectly temperate ; the only sentence which
could be considered offensive being this : — " If you yet
1 undrestand not .S. Aug. to be manifestly against you, than

* I counsel you, go to a logician, and aske of him and he

* will tell you, that your assertion, which is, that it was the
' wil of god, that Adam should sin, and S. Augustines cen-
1 sure, which is, that man, whan he sinned, did not that god
' wold, be opposita contraria, which strive so sore, that thei
'can not stand to gether, but the one overthroweth the
' other." One would have thought that this, which is really
the worst, might have been received with calmness; but,
says Master Traheron, placing the title in the middle of the
page in manner following —

62 TRAHERON'S ANSWER [ESSAY

H HERE VPON I SENT

HIM THIS LETTRE.

After bringing forward various passages from Augustine
he thus proceeds ; —

" I cold allege innumerable such places, but that it is pitie, to
combre so slendre a doctor, with to manie places at once. If you
had ben as much occupied in reading .S. Au. as you haue ben
occupied in dreaming vain victories to your selfe, in doting after
glorie, and in making your selfe droncken, whith the swetenes
thereof, you shuld haue knowen, that this is a principal proposition
in .S. Aug. which to proue, he driueth his argumentes. But you
haue spent so much time in kissing your faire daughter vaine glorie,
that you haue had no leasure, to know what Saint Aug. goethaboute.
Surely master .N. if you were not to be pitied bicause of your mad-
nes, you were wel to be laughed at, bicause of your fondnes. But I
thincke it rather my duetie, to lament your most miserable state.
But this I wil saie, that if you amend not your maners in time, you
shal giue me occasion, to bewraie your longe eares.

And than though you have longe walked tanqud leo cumanus, it
wilbe knowen what you be in dede. I wold be lothe to make a
farther anatomic of your foule inwarde partes, but if I shal perceaue,
that it shalbe to your welth, I wil not sticke to giue you a launch,
or two. I haue hitherto handled you a great deale more honestly,
than you deserue, for such respectes, as god knoweth, and I haue
labored to couer manie an il fauored spotte, but if you go forth in
your wickednes, I wil strippe you starke naked, and shew your
scabbes to the world. God almightie vouchsafe to driue out that
perte spirite that combreth you. Amen." — Sig. A. iiii. 6.

Master Traheron does not think fit to let us see the
answer which he received to this letter, but he gives us the
following account of it : —

" IT To this lettre master Masker aunswered first, that he wold
differ the aunswere to these places of .S. Aug. vntil I had aunswered
his former interpretation vpon .S. Au. Secondly that I fal to to
raging, and that J. can not iustly charge him with fondnes and
madnes. Thirdly he coniureth me to shew him his scabbes of
iniquitee, if I know anie in him, &c. Whereunto here foloweth my
aunswere."

Our business is obviously with the latter of these divi-
sions ; on which Master Traheron says : —

" You saie that I fal to raging. But you shal finde in the ende,
that it was a good honest zele vttered only to amende your out-
ragious faultes. You ar angrie that I charge you with madnes, and
fondnes, for you ca not see them, in your propre person. But if you

iv.] TO A PBIVIE PAPIST. 63

cal to remembrance your whole behauior in this only matter, that
of late you haue enterprised amonge vs, you shal find more madnes,
and fondnes, than can be expressed. And though you perchauce
can not find it, bicause you be blinded with selfe loue, yet al other
mo haue marked it, more than maketh for your honestie. You ar
not ashamed to saie, that you offred a writing for reconciliation,
which in dede containeth nothing but shameles vaunting of your
selfe, defacing of other far honester than you, railinges. malitious
slaunders, and open lies. And yet you can not see, wherein you
haue broken charitee. Was not that verie charitably don of you,
so gredely, and so malitiously to desire, that M. Rose might be
punished, a man that hath trauailed so long, so painfully, and so
frutef ully in the ministerie of goddes worde, only bicause he rubbed
your gauled backe, in telling you the truthe ? Was not that verie
charitably don of you, to defame that right godlie sobre man,
master Barckley, with most despiteful, and shameles lies ? Was
that verie charitably don of you to accuse, and codemne the hole
copanie of hypocrital praiyng to god, besides your selfe, the greatest
hypocrite of al ? Was not that verie charitably don of you to vtter
such a masse of poison against good men, whan you shuld have pre-
pared your selfe to have receaued the holie communion with them,
if you had not ben a secrete papiste, & an vngodlie man. Wo worth
such charitee as might haue staied so godlie a purpose, if god had
not wrought more strongly for vertue, tha the diuel cold worcke
mischeuously for vice. But now bicause you coniure me, to shew
what scabbes of iniquitie I know in you, I wil discharge my con-
science. First I saie that you ar a visored, and disguised papist, as
you have plainly enough discouered your selfe. Secondly I saie,
that I see in you a proud, arrogant, contentious, vnquiet, and
enuious spirite, which I praie god most hertely, to chase out of you,
that we maie embrace you againe as a brother, who now we have
iust cause to abhorre, as a man voide of goddes feare, and stuffed
with manie horrible vices, besides your subtil secrete papistrie. This
vncleane spirite that I speake of, and know to be in you, is the verie
cause I am sure, why you dissente from vs in this question of goddes
prouidece. For thorough goddes grace we haue not ben obscure,
nor perplexed in this matter, nether can you pretende ignorance.
Enuie, and the loue that stil remaineth in you to your old harlotte
poperie, hath moued you to stirre these coales. Let the feare of
god, and loue of truth moue you again to quench the fier that you
haue kendled, or surely there shalbe a fier kendled in your herte that
no man, nor time shal quenche. But I trust you wil calle to god for
a better minde. And to that ende I wrote before, and now write
to you agayne."

After a good deal more, which it is needless to copy,
M. Traheron proceeds : —

"God giue to you and to me speedie repentance of our
faultes, & ope your eyes in this matter, as he hath vouchsafed
to open ours, that we maie together agree in the truthe, in

64 TRAHERON'S [ESSAY

vnfained humilitee, and in Christian lone, which Christian
loue yet hath hir sharpnes, & wil bite the faultes,
that wil not other wise be amended. Whe-
refore at my handes you shal loke to
haue your boils lauched, & to
haue corrosies & smarting
plaisters laied vpon
them vntil theij
be cured.

Goddes spirite directe vs.

H Bar. Traheron your frend
assone as you can loue the tru-
the."

After this, in a title placed as before, M. Traheron,
without giving us the reply which he received, proceeds to
describe it. One would have liked better to see it, especially
if it was, or could be, such a specimen of railing as he had
a right to complain of : —

1T TO THIS LETTRE OVR

countrefaite protestant sent me an aun-

swer stuffed with an huge heape

of railing wordes, where-

vpon I wrote thus vn

to him againe.

" If you be not sore sicke, and f eoble, after so great thronges,
and after your deliuerance of such a swarme of innumerable railing
wordes, as it were of young diuels, you maie be matched with anie
she giaunt in the world in strong, and lustie trauail, & in your faire
happie childbed. It seemeth to me, that in the middest of your
rauinge traunce, you had a litle witte remaining. For whereas you
despeared victorie in al other thinges, you thought you wold ouer
comme at the lest in railing, scoffing, and tauting. And surely you
haue brought your swete purpose to passe. For I yield vnto you
this noble victorie, & hold vp my handes. And bicause you haue a
meruailous greedie hiiger, & a thirst vnquencheable for vaine glorie,
you shal haue this praise at my hades also, that you ar the ioliest
scold, and the greatest railer, that euer I heard, or shal eare I
thinke."— Sig, B. iii.

Enough has been extracted to show how this lecturer in
divinity conducted a theological dispute with one of his own
brethren, and that too, in circumstances in which it might
have been supposed that there was every motive, from the
highest to the lowest, for brotherly kindness and charity.
How he wrote against those by whom he considered himself
" chased " out of his country may be imagined, and it will

iv.] WARNING TO ENGLAND. 65

be proper to give some specimens when we come to speak of
the politics held and inculcated by the party to which he
belonged, and of their works viewed in connexion with the
Queen and government of England. In the meantime, I
will give one extract from a work which would perhaps
exhibit sufficient evidence, both external and internal, of
having come from his pen, even if he had not, under a thin
veil of Hebrew and Greek, almost put his name to it. It is
entitled, " A Warning to England to repente, and to turne
' to god from idolatrie and poperie by the terrible exemple
' of Calece, given the 7. of March. Anno. D. 1558. By
' Benthalmai Outis " ; and, after quotations from Heb. xiii.
and Joelii., is added " f Imprinted Anno. D. 1558."; but
there is no name of place or printer. Instead of any of
those parts which have a more direct political bearing, and
for congruity with the extracts already given from Bale and
Ponet, I will give a specimen of M. Traheron's way of treat-
ing the clergy and Bishop Bonner. Addressing England,
he parenthetically says : —

" Here I may not let scape the priestes of Calece, a f oule broode
of thy henne. Papistes they were and verie furies of hel. But if
they be compared to thy prelates and preistes, they were but demi-
papistes and demidiuels. For he that wold discouer the foule
inwarde partes of thy shauelinges and filthie smered flocke, shuld
seem to rake vp the bottome of hel, yea he that wold shew the out-
warde partes of them naked should shew the fowlest sight that euer
was sene in the world. For what idolatrie, what pride, what covet-
ousness, what cruetie, what lecherie, what sodomitrie was euer heard
of in anie age, that thei have not far exceded ? Thou canst not name
a bishoppe, but thou shalt see his toungue swollen with blasphemie,
his fingers dropping with the blood of innocentes, his bodie spotted
with most filthie villanie, & the rest of thy AEgyptian shauelinges,
striue which shal passe other farthiest in al kindes of beastlie abomi-
nation."

Then after a passage so gross that it must be omitted, he
adds : —

" So manifolde, so execrable, so outrageous is their filthines, and
wickednes. Who can thinke on that bloodie beast Bonner, but a
most grislie, vgle & horrible monstre shal be presented before his
eyes, such a one as no Polyphemus in boisteousnes, no furies of hel
with their snakie heares in al pointes of mischief, no Cerberus in
blasphemous roaring, no find in raging, in tearing, and in deuouring
innocentes, can ouermatche. But I wil leave that botomles sea of
most filthie stincking vices and passe farther."

Master Traheron passed farther to what was more directly

GG PURITAN POLITICS. [ESSAY

political ; and to the opinions of himself and his companions
on such subjects, I hope to direct the reader's attention in
some succeeding papers. In this and the preceding, my
object has been to give some specimens of the style adopted
by the writers whose particular opinions I hope hereafter to
exhibit and discuss. I think I shall not be charged with
bringing forward for that purpose obscure and unaccredited
men ; and that those who have any acquaintance with the
manners and literature of the period will admit that some-
thing beside the general custom of the age is required to
account for what I have quoted — much more for what I
have omitted.

ESSAY V.

PURITAN POLITICS. No. I.

KNOX — PONET — WYAT'S REBELLION.

IT is well enough known that on the accession of King
Edward VI., it was resolved by those who were really in
power, to carry on the work of Reformation (in the most
comprehensive sense of that term) with a high hand ; and
they acted accordingly.

But it is equally certain, and it is most important to bear
in mind, that all through the reign of that monarch, and
especially during the latter part of it, there was a party, in-
fluential if not numerous, who not only thought that the
government did not go on fast enough in the work, but felt
that the people, whether attached to the old religion, or
only disgusted and alarmed at the selfish rapacity of some
who were forward in support of the new, did not go with
them at all. I earnestly entreat the reader to consider and
reflect on this fact, which is too frequently overlooked.

To say nothing of the space which it would require, it
would lead us from our purpose to enter into details respect-
ing the causes of this ; but one effect I wish to bring before
the notice of the reader, because it has an important bearing
on the subject with which we are engaged. I mean the
agitation (as it would now be called) which was carried on

v.] KNOX'S LETTER TO THE FAITHFUL. 67

by some of the puritan leaders, who with incessant and
urgent vehemency were threatening the judgments of God
upon the land. Those who are at all conversant with the
writers of that period will require no proof or illustration of
this ; but some of them may not have reflected on it.

At all events, for the sake of others, I am tempted to
give an extract from a very rare work by John Knox ; who,
beside his own performance in that kind, has left a remark-
able testimony to the fact, in " A Godly Letter sent too the
fayethfull in London, Newcastle, Barwyke, &c." and which
purports to have been printed in July, 1544. The passage
which I extract is described in a marginal note as a " Com-
paryson betwixte England and Judah before their destruc-
tion ; " and it follows a sketch of the sin and punishment of
the Israelites: —

"But before we proceade further in this matter, it shall be pro-
fytable to se how these procedinges doth agree with our estate and
tyme. And firste that we had not Gods woorde offered vnto vs,
will none (excepte arrant papist) alledge. We had a kynge off so
godly disposition towardes vertew, and chiefly towardes Gods truthe,
that none from the begynninge passed hym, and to my knowledge,
none of hys yeare did euer matche hym in that behalf e, iff he might
haue bene lorde of hys owne will. In this meane tyme, if synnes
did abound, let euery man accuse hys owne conscience for here I
am not mynded to specefie all that I knowe, neither yet is it neces-
sarye, seynge some crymes were so manif este and so heighnous that
the earthe colde not hydde the innocent bloud, nor yet could the
heauens without shame, behold the craft, the deceat, the violens
and wronge, that openly was wrought. And in the meane ceason,
the hande off God was busye ouer vs, and his trew messingers is
kept not sylence. You know that the realme off Englande was
visited with straunge plagues and whether that it was euer prophe-
sied, that the worse plagues were to f olow, I appeale to the testemony
of your own conscience, but what ensewed here vpon ? Alas I am
ashamed to reherse it, vniuersal contempt of all godly admonitions,
hatered of those that rebuked their vyces : Autoresing of suche as
colde invente most vylanye agaynste the preachers of God. In this
matter I maye be admitted for a sufficient witnes, for I hard and
saw, I vnderstood and knew, with the sorow of my hart, the mani-
fest contempt and the crafty deuices of the deuil against those most
godly and learned preachers, that this last Lent, Anno. 1553. were
apoynted to preache before the Kynges maiestie, as also against all
others, whose tounges were not tempered by the holy water of the
courte ; too speake it plainlye, who nattering agaynste their owne
conscience, coulde not saye, all was well and nothinge neded refor-
mation.

What reuerence and audience was geuen vnto preachers, this laste
Lent, by such as then were in autoritie, their owne countinaunces

68 KNOX'S LETTER [ESSAY

declared assuredly, euen suche as was geuen to Jeremye, they hated
suche, as rebuked their vyce, and stubbernlye they sayde : We will
not amende, and yet howe boldely theyr synnes were rebuked, suche
as were presente, can witnes with me, almoste there was none, who
dyd not prophesye and plainly spake the plagues that are begonne,
and assuredly shall ende. Mayster Grindall plainlye spake the death
of the Ky nges maiestie, complay ninge vppon hy s housholde seruauntes,
who, neyther feared to raile againste the woorde off God, and agaynste
the trewe preachers of the same.

That godly and feruent man mayster Leuer, playnlye spake the
desolacion off thys common wealthe. And mayster Bradforde
(whome God for Christes hys sonne sacke comforte to the ende)
spared not the proudest of them, but boldely declared, that Goddes
vengeaunce shortlye shoulde strycke, those that then were in auc-
toritie, because they lothed and abhorred the trew worde of the
euerlastinge God, and willed them to take example by a noble man,
who became so colde in hearing God's worde, that the year before
his death, he wold not disease himselfe to heare a sermon. God
punisshed hym (sayde that godly preacher) and shall he spare you
that be dubble more wicked ? No, ye shal saye, will ye, or will ye
not, ye shal drinke of the cup of the Lordes wrathe, Judicium domini,
Judicium domini. The iudgement of the Lord, the iudgement of the
Lorde, cryeth he with a lamentable voyce, and weaping teares.
Master Haddon, most lernedly opened the causes of the byepassed
plagues, and assured them, that the worse was after to come, if
repentaunce shortly were not founde.

Muche more I harde of these foure, and of others, which now I
maye not rehearce, and that (which is to be noted) after that the
hole counsail had sayd they wolde heare no mo of their sermons
they were vndiscrete felowes, yea, and pratynge knaues. But I
will not speake all ; for yf God contynew me in this treble, I pur-
pose to prepare a dysshe, for suche as then ledde the ryng, yea, who
but they ? but nowe they haue bene at the skoole of Placebo, and
ther they haue lerned amongst ladyes to daunse as the deuill lyst to
pype. Agaynst those whom God hath stryken seing now resteth to
them no place of repentaunce, nothing mynd I to speake. But such
as lyue to this dai, wold be admonisshed that he that hath punished
the one, wil not spare the rest." — Sig. A. vii.

I say nothing here of Knox's own predictions or threaten-
ings, uttered after the time when he considered the restora-
tion of idolatry and superstitution as at once the effect and
the cause of those divine judgments which were in the
course of being poured out on guilty England. My object
is rather to show the strain which had been adopted at an
earlier period, in order that it may be borne in mind and
compared with subsequent matters, and for this the single
quotation which I have given may suffice. Indeed I ought,
perhaps, to apologise for offering such long extracts from
printed books to occupy that part of the Magazine which is

v.] TO THE FAITHFUL. 69

devoted to " original " matter1. But I sincerely believe that
some of the extracts which I have already given, and some
now on my table, are, to most readers, quite as " original "
as anything that could be laid before them ; and I am sure
they are much more interesting and instructive than any-
thing really " original " which I could offer. They are chiefly
taken from books which are not easily obtained, and in fact
so seldom met with, that to many who are well versed in
history they are unknown except by name, or some very few
references or extracts. Some such books, which are even
thus known to but few, and perhaps only imperfectly or
erroneously estimated by extracts which have been given
from them, but which happen (from circumstances which I
need not particularize) to have fallen into my hands, I may
perhaps bring before the reader ; for to say the truth, I
rather wish him to understand that, under pretence of
apology, I am not so much asking forgiveness for past
transgression, as indulgence for the future. For what else
can I do ? We are come to a very important question —
one which, if we desire to understand the history of our
country, and, in particular, of our church, must be fairly
met. What was the real state of the question between the
English Government and the Exiles ? Was the government
simply and purely persecuting the innocent? Were the
exiles simply and purely testifying the truth, and suffering
for the gospel ?

And yet, if anybody asks the question, the first and most
natural answer is to tell him to look at the acts, and read
the works, of the exiles. But if he replies, " Where shall I
learn their acts, and how shall I get their works ? " one can
only answer, " You must do the best you can. If you take
the trouble to pick up information about them, you will
find by degrees that almost everything purporting to be an
account of their actions is very defective, and generally
much discoloured, if not actually depraved, by party and
prejudice on one side or another ; and that in too many
cases, the writer who has preserved the fact, has done it to
serve a turn, and only gives you what suits his own pur-

1 Of course the remarks which follow with reference to this point are
not strictly applicable to the Essays when collected into a volume ; but
I let them stand because I am as desirous now, as 1 was then, to convey
the spirit of them to the mind of the reader.

70 STRYPE'S ACCOUNT [ESSAY

pose ; and as to their works, you must go to public libraries,
or to the few collectors of scarce books, who have gleaned a
few handfuls. Sometimes you may pick up one or two from
booksellers at less than their weight in gold." So that it
really does appear to me, that any one who undertakes to
write about those persons and that period, cannot, in justice
to his reader, his subject, or himself, do otherwise than
extract largely from books which, though now scarcely
known except by name, are the sources of that knowledge
which we have, and may be made to furnish a great deal
more.

Let me, however, before I proceed to any such extracts,
say a few words in illustration of what I have just now
remarked on the difficulty of collecting and clearly under-
standing even the historical facts connected with those who
took a very prominent part in ecclesiastical affairs ; for this
is a point that is quite worth a page of exemplification ; and
a striking instance is offered in the case of a prelate whom I
introduced in the preceding paper, and whose principal work
is one of the very first that should be noticed in an inquiry
respecting the politics of the exiles. Dr. John Ponet, as I
have already told the reader, on the authority of Strype,
after having been chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer and
King Henry VIII., was elevated to the see of Rochester,
and thence, on the deprivation of Bishop Gardiner, trans-
lated to Winchester. I gave also Strype's statement that
he was " one of the best and eminentest sort of divines," and
" one of those many brave shoots that the university then
produced2." I am not aware that any life of Bishop Ponet
has been written ; and Strype is of course the writer to whom
most readers would look for information ; and I believe that
his works furnish more than is to be found collected any-
where else. That they contain a good deal will be obvious
from the following extract from the General Index to Strype's
works : —

2 I might have added, on the same authority, that on his going to
Winchester, he " had 2000 marks settled upon him : the rest of the tem-
poralities of this rich benefice being taken into the king's hands." —
Mem. II. ii. 166 ; but we were then only concerned with his style as a
writer ; and any little arrangement that might have been made with
regard to his preferment had nothing to do with that question. Coming
to look at him as a politician the case is somewhat different.

v.] OF PONET. 71

" Ponet, Poynet, John. C. 99. M. II. i. 65, 536. C. 444. 513. 631.
955. 1056. A. II. ii. 500. quoted, Ch. 108. a Kentish man, and of
Queen's college Cambridge, C. 607. bred up under Sir T. Smith at
Cambridge, S. 20, 159. adopted Cheke's mode of pronouncing Greek.
13. Ch. 18. chaplain to archbishop Cranmer, S. 20. C. 240. 607,
translated Ochin's Dialogues against the Pope's primacy, M. II. i.
309. consecrated bishop of Eochester, C. 363. M. II. i. 403. parti-
culars of the ceremony, C. 363. the first bishop consecrated accord-
ing to the new form of ordination, 274. assisted at the consecration
of bishop Hoper, 364. allowed a benefice in commendam, and why,
M. II. i. 343. in a commission against anabaptists, 385. ii. 200.
made bishop of Winchester, i. 483. ii. 166. 260. 263. 264. 266. C.
323. one of the commissioners to reform the ecclesiastical laws, 388.
consulted about allowing princess Mary to have mass, M.II. i. 451.
notice of his book in favour of the marriage of priests, ii. 54.
answered by Martin, 55. notice of the answer to Martin's answer to
this book of his, III. i. 233. 524. P. i. 67. II. 446. C. 75. 473. 474.
1058. Day has a license to print his works, M.II. ii. 114. cordially
favoured Keligion, 166. his chaplains, ib. has a license to preach and
to license preachers, 262. a difference between him and archdeacon
Philpot, caused by Cook, his registrar, III. i. 439. deprived and
imprisoned, tem. queen Mary, C. 443. fled abroad, 449. M.II. ii.
166. ch. 95. resident at Argentine, M.III. i. 232. his character of
bishop Gardiner, 450. notice of his book of Politic Power, 535. died
in exile, P.I. 67. A. II. i. 350. bishop Parkhurst's epigram to him,
ii. 501. devised the summer-house at Lambeth palace, P. II. 26. 79.
conjectured by some to be the author of Catechismus Brevis Christ-
iana Disciplines, &c. C. 422."

It is clear that a good deal may be learned about this
bishop merely from this Index ; and even the reader to
whom all these references to the various works of Strype
are simply unintelligible, will understand, that those works
must contain a great deal more. Yet I believe, that if he
doggedly turns out every one of these numerous references,
he will find but one allusion of any kind to that which was
undoubtedly one of the most remarkable events in the life
of Ponet. If there had been no allusion at all, I should
have felt bound to suppose (strange as such a supposition
might be) that Strype really did not know anything about
the matter ; but as there is a distinct reference, and that in
one of Strype's earliest works, it does seem strange that in
all his subsequent notices of "one of the best and emi-
nentest sort of divines," there should be no hint of the fact
— or, perhaps the historian would have said, the charge —
that he " fled abroad," because he was a rebel and a traitor,
and was afraid of being taken in arms against his sovereign,
and hanged at Tyburn. Whether one form or other of

72 PONET'S POLITICS. [ESSAY

religion had, or had not, anything to do with the matter, it
seems clear that the proximate cause of his exile was the
fear of the gallows ; or perhaps, mixed with it, some notion
that he might meet with unpleasant treatment as a deserter
— seeing that when his leader got into difficulty he left him
to shift for himself, promising to pray for his success — a
good office which might be performed out of gunshot, and
in such a manner that, if the worst happened, it could not
be proved at Guildhall. He seems, in short, to have been
deeply engaged as a leader, if not as an original plotter and
instigator, in Sir Thomas Wyat's insurrection ; and to have
been actually with that unhappy rebel on the morning of
the very day on which he was taken prisoner, Feb. 7th, 1554.
Stow describes with graphic simplicity the distress of the
rebel leader, when, about six miles from London, " a piece
of his great Ordinance " was most unluckily " dismounted
by breach of the wheeles ; " and proceeds to tell us that,
" Whilest Wyat and his counsell were deuising how to raise

* his ordinance dismounted, many of his society slipped from

* him, among the which, M. Harper was one, who went to

* the Court, and opened all the premises aforesayd to the

* Queene and Counsell ; where Wyat was, what had chanced,

* and what was his intention. The breaking of the said Gun
' was such an hinderance to his enterprise, that all about
' him were amazed, and at their wits end, because by that

* meanes the houre was broken of appointment. Where-
'fore, Vaughan, Bret, and other approoued souldiers and
' counsellors, such as had wise heads in other affaires, as
' Doct. Poinet and other, did counsell the said Wyat to

* march forwards and keep his appointment, and to let the

* Gun lie, which in no wise hee could be perswaded to do.
' Doct. Poinet Bishop of Winchester, therefore, considering
' how many of his confederacy was stolne away from him,

* he began to persuade with Captain Bret and other his
' friends to shift for themselves as he would doe ; and, at
' that very place where the Gun did breake, he tooke his
' leaue of his secret friends, and said he would pray vnto
' God for their good successe, and so did depart, and went

* into Germany, where he died."

Now all this is passed over by Strype in one single, cool,
easy sentence ; and that, too, in a passage in which he is
professedly giving some account of Bishop Ponet — a pro-

v.] PONET AND BALE. 73

fession which perhaps extorted the bare mention of a circum-
stance which is, as I have already said, to the best of my
knowledge, nowhere else even hinted at by him. Strype's
sentence is this — " One of our historians writes that he was

* with Sir Thomas Wyat in his insurrection : and after his
' defeat, fled into Germany, where, in the city of Strasburgh,
< he died about the year 1556. But Bale speaks not a word

* of his being with Wyat."

This is very likely. It would have been very ungracious
in the chaplain to have said anything about the discomfited
treason of his patron, though he might, and probably did,
himself love and respect him for it. Indeed, if Bale had
not had a " Vocacyon " to the bishopric of Ossory in Ireland,
and if l " his harde chaunces therein and finall delyuerance"
therefrom, had not landed him in another part of Europe
shortly before Wyat's rising, it seems not unlikely that he
would have been in the thick of it. To say the truth, I
should not be much surprised to find that he actually was
there ; for I have tried in vain to find where he was just
at that time. In his own account of himself, this point
appears to be involved in studied obscurity. It is, however,
only justice to him to add that there is one circumstance in
the proceedings of Wyat's party, while they lay in South-
wark, which seems as if Bale's hand was not in it. What-
ever may have been his faults and vices, he had a sincere
love of letters. One can imagine that he might have
approved of Wyat's laying one " peece of ordinance " out of
the five, " toward the Bishop of Winchester's house," and
have offered no great opposition when, as Stow quaintly
observes, " diuers of his company being Gentlemen (as they
said) went to Winchester place," and " made havocke of the
Bishops goods ; " but I think he would not have sanctioned,
and the more I see of him and his times, the more I am
disposed to believe that he would have had influence to pre-
vent, one feature of barbarism which characterized the
pillage. Stow tells us that they made havock " not onely
' of his victuals, whereof there was plenty, but whatsoeuer
' els, not leaving so much as one locke of a doore, but the
4 same was taken off and carried away, nor a book in his
' gallery or library vncut, or rent into pieces, so that men

* might have gone vp to the knees in leaues of bookes, cut
' out and throwne vnder feete."

74 STOWS AUTHORITY, [ESSAY

However, whether Bale was there or not — and after all
I should not be surprised to find that he was not far off,
though he might not know of, or be able to prevent, a
sudden act of barbarism — it is, I believe, perfectly true, as
Strype observes, that he " speaks not a word " of Ponet's
being with Wyat ; but then a very slight acquaintance with
Bale's works is enough not only to convince one that he
says many things which he should not say, but that he
" speaks not a word " about a great many matters on which
he could have given most ample and important information.
Indeed, on all accounts, there is something very pleasant in
the idea that a statement made by Stow respecting a matter
of fact (to say nothing of the nature of this fact) is to be set
aside, or in any degree discredited, or damaged, because it
is not noticed by Bale. One is strongly reminded of the
culprit who complained of the injustice of convicting him
of stealing potatoes on the testimony of three or four wit-
nesses who had seen him do it, when he was prepared to
bring forward twice as many who had not seen him. But,
of course, the reader must consider, in balancing authorities,
that Stow's account is one given by a Londoner (the man of
all others entitled to that name) of things which happened
in London when he was at least twenty-eight years old ;
and that if he was not "pars magna," or any part at all,
(as an honest tailor had certainly no business to be in such
a fray,) yet that he undoubtedly saw with his own eyes, and
heard with his own ears, many of the events of those most
singular, and now obscure, days. Why, " the noyse of

* women and children, when the conflict was at Charing

* Crosse, was so great that it was heard at the top of the
1 white tower, and also the great shot was well discerned
' there out of St. lames field ; " and do you think John Stow
was out of sight and hearing ? or sitting cross-legged at his
needle ? Truly his whole narrative, and his whole after-life,
leads one to think it much more likely that he was peering
about, and saw with his own eyes Sir Thomas Wyat when,
after being repulsed from Ludgate, " he stayed and rested
him awhile vpon a stall ouer against the Bell Sauvage gate."
Perhaps it would be no violent exercise of imagination to
suspect that he took a walk the next day to see the " great
Gun " which had caused so much trouble, and which, grin-
ning destruction even as it lay dismounted in the ruts, so

STEPHEN GAKUINEK, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
(From an Engraving by P. a Gmist )

v.] PONET'S POLITIKE POWER. 75

affected his peaceful mind, that he invariably honours it
with a capital letter. A slight, and perhaps involuntary,
tribute to fallen greatness ; but what more could a mer-
chant-tailor do for the " Gun," when all Wyat's horses, and
all Wyat's men, could do nothing ?

But seriously — for this matter of authorities is a very
serious one — if this period of history is to be studied,
recourse must be had to Strype's works ; and this, not only
because they contain many things not to be found else-
where, and correct many things which have been misstated
by others, but because they are the most accessible, and
readable, and stretch over so long a period, that, voluminous
as they are, they may still be said to offer " multum in
parvo " when viewed in reference either to shelf-room, or
purchase-money. They must be, they will be, and they
ought to be, read by all men who profess to have, or to
desire, any knowledge of the History of England ; and he
who can study them without being sensible of his obligations
to the writer, without acknowledging and admiring his
good purpose, his integrity, simplicity, and industry, must
be a stupid or a bad man. At the same time, he who takes
Strype for his authority, without being aware of the honest
spirit of prostrate " hero-worship " in which he wrote
biography, and which seems to have rendered him incapable
of estimating, or almost of considering, the genuineness,
authenticity, or weight, of documents on which he relied, or
the character and authority of writers whom he quoted, will
be sadly misled.

To return, however, to Bishop Ponet. Of course when he
had left Sir Thomas Wyat, the best thing that he could do
was to leave England ; for whether treason prospered or not,
he was likely to be in an awkward predicament if he remained.
So he " fled abroad," and wrote, " A shorte Treatise of
* politike pouuer, and of the true Obedience which subiectes
' owe to Kynges and other ciuile Gouernours, with an Ex-
' hortacion to all true naturall Englishe men : " a work which
is certainly entitled to particular notice, not only because it
emanated from a person of more ability and higher station
than most of his party, but because the author's practice
forms so clear and plain a commentary on his doctrine. He
and his " secret friends " were not closeted schoolmen who
in the perlustration of all things and every thing else, hit

76 PONET'S POLITIKE POWER. [ESSAY

upon the question of ' killing no murder,' and spoke daggers
without a thought of using them. Ponet's valour seems to
have lain chiefly in his tongue and pen, and to have been of
that superior kind which consists in a very high degree of
discretion, suggesting to its possessor, not merely that, " he
who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day ; "
but that he who runs away without fighting, has a better
chance of coming to a future conflict unmutilated. But
what valour he had was unquestionable as to its kind. He
stood by the rebel chief as long as there was any hope that
treason might prosper, and truth prevail, by means of great
pieces of ordinance. We are not to look for obscure quid-
dities, or dark hints, or dubious imaginations, or mystical
meanings in his book. When this " brave shoot " heads a
chapter " Wether it be lauf ull to depose an euil gouernour,
and kill a tyranne," we know what he is about at once, —
we want no canon of interpretation but the " great Gun."

I have, however, occupied so much more space than I
expected by this prefatory, but I believe very necessary
matter, that instead of entering into any discussion of
Ponet's work in this paper, I will but add two remarks
with general reference to such extracts as I hope to offer
hereafter.

Two modes of arrangement immediately present them-

First, the order of time ; and this I should be very glad
to follow ; but in dealing with books of this kind and period,
it is not easy, if possible, to do it. For, in the first place,
some have no dates, and offer no precise internal evidence.
Secondly, some may be very reasonably suspected of wrong
dates, as it is beyond all question that they bear the names
of wrong places. Thirdly, in dealing with works intended
for clandestine circulation among a particular sect or com-
munity, we must calculate on the probability of their having
been passed from hand to hand, and circulated for a consider-
able time, in manuscript before they were printed at all.
Fourthly, (and I would take the liberty of throwing it out
as a hint to the editors of books belonging to this period,)
we must be cautious how we judge of the date of a fact,
or of the date of a book, because the fact is recorded in the
book. The volume, without bearing any mark of it, may
be a reprint with alterations, or interpolations, which may

vi.] PURITAN POLITICS. 77

lead to mistakes in opinions respecting dates formed upon
them.

A second order which suggests itself is that of subjects ;
but this it would be difficult to accomplish, and if it were
done it would only mince the matter into unintelligible or
uninteresting scraps, and on the whole convey an indistinct,
and in some degree incorrect, impression. For, in fact,
there is only one great subject ; or, to speak more strictly,
it is to what I consider as the great subject of the books,
and the great object of the writers, that I wish to call the
attention of the reader. I mean the promotion of a revo-
lution in the government of England by the dethronement
of Queen Mary. As to the subdivisions which it may be
right to make in considering this point, I hope to speak
hereafter.

ESSAY VI.

PURITAN POLITICS. No. II.

RELATING TO THE DUTY OF SUBJECTS TO THEIR RULERS
GENERALLY.

KNOX GOODMAN WHITTINGHAM KETHE BECON THE

SUPPLICACYON BRADFORD PONET.

IT has been already stated, that a great object of the books
which were written and sent over to this country by the
protestant exiles, was to promote a revolution in the English
Government by the dethronement of Queen Mary. The
only difficulty in proving this, is that which arises from
having to make a selection amidst a superabundance of
evidence.

It is true, that much which would have increased that
difficulty is lost. Many of the worst productions of that
period — the worst, not only in a moral and religious point
of view, but as being the most prejudicial, passing from
hand to hand or from mouth to mouth, amongst the worst
people, and such as were most easily excited to the worst
practices — the profane ballad, that regaled the devotees of

7* PURITAN POLITICS. [ESSAY

the .ale-house ; the seditious broadside, scattered in the
streets by unseen hands ; the interlude, that amused a simple
and untaught audience with blasphemous ribaldry concern-
ing the holiest and most sacred mysteries of religion — these
are now seldom to be met with. But for our purpose the
loss is the less to be regretted, because they mostly lie open
to the objection, that as there probably never was a time
when their authorship could be certainly fixed, so it is alto-
gether impossible at this distance of time to attempt anything
of the kind ; and, also, that for anything we can prove, these
very abominations may have been forged by the enemies of
the puritans for the express purpose of bringing them into
trouble. I lay no stress, therefore, on works of this descrip-
tion, though it may, on some occasions, be worth while, for
the sake of illustration, to refer to them1. But I will beg
the reader to bear in mind, that however obscure our in-
telligence respecting them may be, these things were in
existence, and in active operation, while I quit them to
speak, as Doctor (afterwards Archbishop) Parker did to the
Lord Keeper Bacon, of certain books, " that went then
' about London, being printed and spread abroad, and their

1 This is not the place to enter into details on a very curious subject,
but it may be to the purpose to refer to the case of Bartlet Green, whose
history occupies a considerable space in Fox's Martyrology. (Vol. VII.
p. 732. 8vo Ed.) He was a young Templar, the ground of whose appre-
hension Fox states very obscurely. " The cause hereof," he says, " was
'a letter which Green did write unto the said Goodman, containing as
' well the report of certain Demands or Questions, which were cast
' abroad in London, (as appeareth hereafter in a letter of his own pen-
' ning)," &c. Green, in the letter thus referred to, in which he gives an
account of his having been examined as to the cause of his imprisonment,
says, " I said that the occasion of mine apprehension was a letter which
' I wrote to one Christopher Goodman, wherein (certifying him of such
' news as happened here) among the rest, I wrote that there were certain
'printed papers of questions scattered abroad. Whereupon, [was this
' quite all?] being suspected to be privy unto the devising or publishing
' of the same, I was committed to the Fleet," &c. Perhaps, however,
the reader may hereafter come to doubt whether the very circumstance
of correspondence with " one Christopher Goodman " was not enough to
raise some suspicion of any man, and whether the " whereupon " might
not admit of considerable expansion and illustration. Unfortunately for
our curiosity, Bishop Bonner waived that matter altogether on the ground
the prisoner was sent to him only on account of heresy spoken or written
since his committal to the Fleet. "Whether Green knew more or less
of these Questions, how much do we know? I am not aware of any
testimony to their existence, but this obscure notice.

vi.] KNOX— GOODMAN. 79

* authors ministers of good estimation At which, said

* Parker, exhorrui cum ista legerem. Adding, ' if such prin-

* ciples be spread into men's heads, as now they be framed,
' and referred to the judgment of the subject to discuss

* what is tyranny, and to discern whether his prince, his
' landlord, his master, is a tyrant by his own fancy and
' collection supposed ; what Lord of the Council shall ride
' quietly-minded in the streets among desperate beasts ?
' what minister shall be sure in his bedchamber ? ' " Im-
portant questions. I do not know what the Lord Keeper
answered.

Three of these exiled " ministers of good estimation "
— Bale, Ponet, and Traheron — have been already intro-
duced to the reader ; and I will now briefly mention four
others.

JOHN KNOX is a person so well known that it is
needless to waste room in describing him. At the same
time, it is probable that most readers know more of him as
the Reformer in Scotland, than as the exile in Geneva and
Frankfort.3 It is enough, however, for our purpose, to say
that during his exile in the former place he published his
famous work, entitled, " The First Blast of the Trvmpet
against the monstrvovs regiment of women." It is a little
book of 112 pages, in sixteens, and in a type about the size
of that which is here used. It is chiefly to this work of
his that we have occasion, at present, to refer.

CHRISTOPHER GOODMAN is not so popularly known as his
friend Knox ; but he was a person of eminence and im-
portance among the exiles. " He was born," says Anthony
a Wood, " in Cheshire, particularly y as I conceive, within
the city of Chester ; " but he can add little more than that
he became a student of Brasenose in 1536, aged seventeen
or thereabouts, and took one degree in arts. In 1544, he
proceeded in that faculty, and in three years after became
a senior student of Christ Church, then newly founded. In
1551, or thereabouts, he was admitted to the reading of the

2 Strype, Life of Parker, I. 85.

3 Every one who wishes to understand this period must read " The
Troubles of Frankfort ; " and the public is much indebted to Mr.
Petheram for having reprinted that rare and valuable book with so much
accuracy, and in such a cheap and readable form.

80 GOODMAN ON OBEDIENCE. [ESSAY

sentences, " at which time he was (as 'tis said) reader of
' the divinity lesson in the university, but whether of that

* founded by the Lady Margaret or by K. Henry VIII.

* seems as yet doubtful."4 From this Wood passes at once
to his exile, which according to this account seems to have
begun when he was about thirty-five years of age. The
precise time or occasion of his flight I do not find.5 He
first appears among the exiles, I believe, by his signature to
a letter dated from Strasburgh, the 23rd of November,
1554. Parsons, in his Three Conversions6, charges him
with having been implicated in the conspiracy against the
queen's life, for which William Thomas was executed on the
17th of May in that year. "Whether this is true or not, it
is certain that Goodman highly approved of Wyat's rebel-
lion, and was anxious to have it known how much he
deplored its failure. Whether, like Ponet, he was actually
in the rebel party, does not appear ; but, like him, when he
got on the safe side of the water, and had " pen, ink,
paper, and quietness,"7 he abused those blessings by
writing a book on politics, intituled, " How svperior powers
oght to be obeyd of their subiects : and wherin they may
lawfully by Gods Worde be disobeyed and resisted. Wherein
also is declared the cause of all this present miserie in
England, and the onely way to remedy the same" This

4 Athena?, I. 171. Ed. Bliss.

5 His friend Bartlet Green, already mentioned, in his " Confession and
Saying," (Fox, "VII. 738,) vouches for his having been in England on
Easter Sunday (March 25), 1554; for "he the said Bartlet, two times,

to wit, at two Easter tides or days, in the chamber of John Pulline, one
' of the preachers in King Edward's time, within the parish of St.
' Michael's, Cornhill, of the diocese of London, did receive the communion
' with the said Pulline, and Christopher Goodman, sometime reader of
'the divinity lecture in Oxford, now gone beyond the sea." As there is
some ambiguity in Fox's language, I may add that it was the chamber
which was in the parish of St. Michael, Cornhill. John Pulline, or Pulleyn,
had been rector of St. Peter's, Cornhill, before his exile, and was re-
instated on his return, and afterwards had the archdeaconry of Colchester,
with other preferment. Perhaps this may be the place to which Wood
refers when he tells us " 'tis said " Goodman was reader of the divinity
lesson in Oxford. As we have had occasion to notice Green's letter to
" one Christopher Goodman " it may be added, that beside the news about
the " printed papers of questions '' it informed him that the queen was
"not yet dead."

6 Vol. II. p. 220.

7 Strype, Mem. III. i. 234.

vi.] WHITTINGHAM. 81

book, like that of Knox, is printed at Geneva in sixteens,
but with a smaller type, and consisting of 238 pages, so that
it is, in fact, a much larger work.8

WILLIAM WHITTINGHAM, fellow of All-Souls' College,
Oxford, in 1545, and two years after a senior scholar of
Christ Church on its foundation, is said by Anthony a
Wood to have had leave to travel for three years, com-
mencing on the 17th May, 1550, and to have married a
Frenchwoman, and remained abroad till the latter end of
King Edward's reign. Whether this necessarily implies
that he then came to England, and if he did, why, or
precisely when, he returned to the Continent, I do not
find ; but it is clear that he was one of the first exiles that
came to Frankfort, where he arrived on the 27th of June,
1554 ; being then, if Wood's chronology is correct, about
thirty years of age. He was at this time a layman ; but
being of the more violent party, which in the time of the
Troubles seceded from Frankfort and went to Geneva, and
having, at the urgent solicitation of Calvin, been (as
Anthony a Wood says) "made a minister according to
the Genevan fashion," he took charge of the English
congregation there ; it having been left without a pastor,
by Knox's removal to Frankfort. This, the only ordination
that he ever received, furnished a subject of discussion
when he afterwards became Dean of Durham, and his
fellow-exile, Sandys, was Archbishop of York. But with
these matters we are not at present particularly concerned.
He who wishes to know about " the works of impiety that
he performed while he sate Dean of Durham," may learn

8 Perhaps I may be allowed to append a bibliographical remark on
this rare book, which readers who are not interested in such inquiries
may pass over ; but on which those who are, may be able to give, or glad
to receive, information. Herbert, vol. iii. p. 1597, describes this work
from his own copy, and I doubt not very accurately ; but while there is
perfect agreement on most points, there is one variation in the Lambeth
copy. This has indeed the " pythagorean Y " but no " youth is tumbling
down" from the broad side, and no "laurel crown" decorates the
narrow side. On the other hand, there is (what he does not mention)
a scroll running across behind the upper part of the Y, and streaming
down the side opposite to Pythagoras, bearing in capital letters the
motto INTRATE PER ARCTAM VIAM so divided that the two former words
appear between the branches of the Y, and the two latter in the part of
the scroll which streams down. Were there two editions, or was the
device changed in the course of the impression ?

82 KETHE. [ESSAY

somewhat from Anthony a Wood, who says, generally, that
they were " very many " ; and a great deal more from
Strype, who enters farther into detail. Our business is
with his proceedings at an earlier period, and how important
a person he was among the exiles, the fact just stated of his
appointment at Geneva, and many other things related in
the " Troubles of Frankfort," sufficiently testify ; and the
particular fact which we have to notice is, that when Good-
man published the book which has just been described,
Whittingham prefixed an epistle, headed by his name, not
only committing himself to the contents of the work, but
actually claiming for it that kind and degree of deferential
respect which is due to none but the inspired writings.
How strangely do extremes meet ; but it is really a puritan
who speaks : —

" Remembering that the worthy people of Beroe were commended
by the holy Gost, because they tryed by God's worde whether the
ministers preaching agreed with the same or no. Seing then by
these examples we are bonde to seke the wil of God manifested
vnto vs in his Scriptures, what excuse shal we alledge for our pre-
tended ignorance ? Beliolde here tJiou hearest the Eternal speaking by
his minister, in whose mouthe he hath put his worde, and whose lippes
must Jcepe tJie Lawe and the understanding thereof, as wryteth the
Prophet Malachie. Beware therfore that thou neglect not him that
bringeth the worde of God, but quichely gyue eare and obey. For if
thou desirest to knowe thy duetie to thy Prince, and his charge
likewise ouer thee, read this book and thou shalt wel vnderstande
both : If thou wishe for Christian libertie, come and se how it may
easely be had : If thou woldest loue God aboue man, here thou shalt
knowe how to obey God rather than man. Let the Apostles of
Christ here be thy schole maisters, and then the more thou learnest
the lesse occasion shalt thou haue to repent. " — Pref. p. 7.

WILLIAM KETHE is said to have been a Scotchman; and
this seems to be all that is now known of his condition
previous to his appearing among the exiles. His name is
subscribed to a letter dated from Frankfort as early as
December 3, 1554, and the whole history shows that he was
a person of weight and influence ; especially the important
and delicate mission with which he was entrusted among
" the congregations and companies that were dispersed in
sundry places off Germany and Helvetia," when the acces-
sion of Elizabeth, and the consequent prospect of return,
made it so desirable that the divisions among the brethren,
sometimes characterized by bitter wrath " so boilinge hott

vi.] BECON. 83

that it ran ouer on bothe sides, and yet no fier quenched,"0
should be assuaged, or at least made the best of. To many
readers the names of Kethe and Whittingham are unknown,
and it might create surprise if I should speak of them as
two of the English poets, whose compositions have passed
through more editions, had more readers, and are even at
this day laid up in more memories, than those of almost any
other writers — yet what is there of Milton or Pope, of
Scott or Byron, that can in these points vie with, " My
soul praise the Lord, speak good of his name," and " The
Lord is only my support, and he that doth me feed?"1
Whittingham, as I have already said, prefixed a prose epistle
to his friend Goodman's book. Kethe appended a copy of
verses, and how far they made him responsible for the
doctrine of the work the reader will be enabled to judge for
himself.

I have now mentioned six writers who were all undeniably
men of consideration, and leading influence, in the exiled
party ; and for the present I add a notice of only one more.
Him, moreove^ I name rather on account of his character
and station both before and after Queen Mary's time, than
because he can be proved to have taken any leading or active
part in the affairs of the banished protestants. Indeed,
except the mere statement of the fact, I have found but
little about his exile, and cannot help supposing, that at this
period (as he had done in the reign of Henry VIII.) he
must have lived, whether at home or abroad, under some
feigned name. It will, however, be sufficient for our present
purpose to quote a few lines from Strype's Memorials of
Archbishop Cranmer.

" THOMAS BECON, a Suffolk man, seems to have been his
' chaplain. To Cranmer, Becon dedicated his treatise of
i Fasting : wherein he mentioned several benefits he had
'received from the Archbishop; one whereof was, his
' making him one of the six preachers of Canterbury. He

9 Troubles of Frankfort, f. 185.

1 I am not comparing their poetry ; though really the Old Version has
been so modernized, that few persons would be prepared to form a. judg-
ment on this point. Kethe, I believe, versified six Psalms, the 104, 107,
112, 113, 122, 125. Whittingluun fifteen, 23, 37, 50, 51, 114, 119, 121,
124, 125, 126, 127, 130, 133, 134, 137. They are distinguished by the
versifier'a initials.

84 BECON. [ESSAY

' was deprived, in Queen Mary's reign, as all the other five

* were, for being married. He was a famous writer, as well
' as preacher, in the reigns of King Henry, King Edward,
' Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. So eminent, that he
' was one of the three (Vernon" [read Yeron] " and Bradford
' being the other two) that were sent for by Queen Mary's

* council, and committed to the Tower in the beginning of

* her reign, viz., August 16, 1553 2 : from whence he was not
' delivered till March 22 following. During which time, as

* he complained himself, he underwent a miserable imprison-
' ment. To conceal himself in those dangerous times, he
'went by the name of Theodore Basil3: and was one of
'those authors, whose names were specified in a severe
' proclamation put forth by King Philip and Queen Mary,

2 That is, on the Wednesday after the Sunday of the tumult at Paul's
Cross, when a dagger was thrown at the preacher. See Mr. Haweis's
most valuable /Sketches of the Reformation, p. 35. I do not mean to say
that Becon was implicated in that disturbance, nor do I know that the
alleged ground of his apprehension is anywhere stated. These dates are
given by himself.

3 Strype seems here to say that he took this name in the time of Queen
Mary, which would, I believe, be a mistake. That he published works
under that name in the reign of Henry VIII., and that, in that reign, he
was caused to recant and burn his books, is clear ; but that would hardly
form a ground for his reassuming the name in the time of Queen Mary.
Moreover, I know of no reason whatever for imagining that he did
assume it at that time. I do not recollect that the name of either
Thomas Becon, or Theodore Basil, once occurs in the Troubles of Frank-
fort, or in any list of exiles with which I am acquainted. Yet if he was
amongst them, everything renders it probable that he would have taken
an active part, and that a prominent place would have been assigned to
him. The circumstance brings to one's mind certain words used by the
Protector Somerset in writing to Bishop Gardiner, to whom, of all men,
it was least necessary to explain them, but on which no doubt either of
the parties could have given a commentary which would be very interest-
ing to us — " They which already be banished and have forsaken the
' realm, as suffering the last punishment, be boldest to set forth their
' mind ; and dare use their extreme licence or liberty of speaking, as out
' of the hands of rule or correction, either because they be gone, or
1 because they be hid." There can be little doubt that some who were
really in the latter class, were supposed to belong to the former. If one
believed, that the little book which I quote was really " Imprynted
at Stragburgh in Elsas at the signe of the golden Bibell, In the moneth
of Auguste, the yeare of our Lord 1554," it might throw some" light on
the matter ; but that seems very doubtful. It will be found among
those works of Becon which have been recently reprinted by the Parker
Society.

vi.] THE SUPPLICACYON— BRADFORD. 85

* 1555, as being writers of books, which, as contrary to the

* Pope and Roman-catholic religion, were forbidden to be
' brought into England, or used, and commanded diligently
' to be searched for, and brought to the ordinary, upon
' penalty of the statute of Henry IV. against heresy. After

* his delivery from prison, skulking about for some time, at
'length he saved himself by exile."4

As far as I am aware, the only work of Becon to which
I have occasion to refer at present is, " An humble suppli-
' cation vnto God, for the restoringe of hys holy woorde, vnto
1 the churche of Englande, mooste mete to be sayde in these
'oure dayes euen with teares of euery true and faythfull
1 Englyish harte." It is a little book, in the small octavo
size then common, printed in black letter, and consisting of
thirty-six leaves. Although the title imports as much, it
may be proper to add, that it really is written in the form
of one long prayer, from beginning to end.

It is not necessary to delay our progress by adding any
account of other authors or works which may be hereafter
incidentally mentioned, and which it will be sufficient to
notice as they come before us; except only that I would
mention two works — one anonymous, and the other, if not
pseudonymous, written by somebody not much worth in-
quiring about, if we may credit his own account of himself.

" A SUPPLICACYON TO THE QUENES MAIESTIE " is the whole

title of the first of these works, and the publisher had the
impudence to add at the foot of the title-page, " Impryntid
at London, by John Cawoode Prynter tho (sic) the quenes
Mayestie wyth here most gracyns (sic) lycence." It is dated
at the end, "Anno M.D.L.j" which seems obviously a
misprint for MDLY., as on f. 24, the author dates the
work, "2G January 1555," and then adds a postscript, in
which he mentions the martyrdom of Bishop Hooper, and
the others who suffered in the month of February in that
year. It consists of twenty-eight leaves, the last of which is
blank ; and is printed in that modern gothic, or German,
type which is best known from its having been used in
printing Coverdale's Bible.

JOHN BRADFORD, if there was such a person — for nobody,
I believe, supposes it to have been the well-known martyr

4 Strype's Mem. of Gran. Vol. II. p. 607. 8vo Edit.

86 BRADFORD'S LETTER. [ESSAY

of that name — wrote a book to put his countrymen on their
guard against the Spaniards. It was not, however, after
the puritan model, but with a professed abhorrence of the
heretics and their new religion. The author was, or pre-
tended to be, a staunch Romanist, and does not spare the
"pestiferous bokes and letters lately printed in Englyshe
1 under the cloke of a fervent zeale, or loue towardes our
'country against Spaniardes, by the deuelishe deuice of
'certayne heretykes thinking thereby to grounde in the
' hartes of all people according to the olde accustomed and
' most cursed polices of the deuill, many abominable heresies,
'and moste detestable errors, stinking before the face of
' God, and man. One of the which bokes," he adds, " hath
' come to my hands, entitled., A Supplicacion to the Queries
1 maiestie," &c.

It is of no great consequence for our purpose, but I must
confess myself inclined to suspect that this little book might
possibly come from the same quarter as the ' Supplication
to the Queen's Majesty ' and other things of a like nature ;
and that the profession of orthodox popery, joined to such
zealous patriotism, and hatred of strangers, might be all a
pretence. It is curious that Strype does not seem to be
aware of its having been printed, and gives it, or a great
part of it, from the " Foxii MSS.," a miscellany of very
curious matter, and to say the truth, a source which tends
to heighten my doubt of the genuineness of the work.
What he gives, however, differs a good deal from the
printed copy which is now before me, very appropriately
bound up in one volume with Knox's " Blast " and Good-
man's " How to obey." I am sorry to add that the title-
page is lost, and therefore I am obliged to be content with
giving the following from Herbert, who possessed the
book : — " The Copye of a letter sent by John Bradford to
' the right honorable lordes the Erles of Arundel, Darbie,
' Shrewsbury, and Penbroke, declaring the nature of
1 spaniardes, and discouering the most detestable treasons,
'which they haue pretended moste falselye againste our
'moste noble Kyngdome of Englande. Whereunto is
' added a tragical blast of the papistical trompet for maynte-
' naunce of the Popes Kingdome in Englande, by T.E." &c.5

5 Herbert, III. 1582.

vr.] T. E.'S TRAGICAL BLAST. 87

The name of the modest poet who has only favoured us
with his initials, I do riot pretend to conjecture ; but under
the introduction of his friend Bradford, he may perhaps be
allowed to give us his verses, which are worth reading, on
the ground that there is not much of them, and that what
there is particularly concerns our inquiry. How such verses
came to be appended to such a book, on any other supposi-
tion than that it was published, if not written, by the
puritan party, I do not understand.

From the works, then, which I have mentioned, I offer to
the reader some extracts ; and although, as I have already
observed, to dissect them into the minute fragments which a
strict classification might require, would render them unin-
teresting, if not unintelligible, yet it may be worth while to
adopt some degree of arrangement, and at least to specify
the various points to which I wish to direct the attention of
the reader, several of which may sometimes be found in a
single paragraph, or perhaps even a single sentence. He
will not therefore expect a rigid adherence to system, though
I venture to class the passages which belong to our inquiry
under four heads.

I. Those which have generally a revolutionary tendency
— which discuss the subject of government in such a way as
to inculcate, not only the doctrine that the people have
a right to resist the ruler whenever in their opinion he
commands what is wrong, but that they are the source of
power, and are answerable to God, not only for their delega-
tion of it to fit persons as rulers, but for the use which they
allow to be made of it by.those to whom they have delegated
it ; and from whom upon the misuse of that power they are
bound to resume it — these ideas being illustrated, enforced,
and familiarized by perpetual repetitions of, and allusions
to, histories respecting rulers deposed and killed by their
subjects.

II. Those which were specially directed against Queen
Mary individually, and which were of two kinds. (1.) Those
which denied her right to the throne on the general ground
of her sex, or on the more particular ground of illegitimacy.
(2.) Those which were directed against her personal charac-
ter, and which, by charging her with cruelty, oppression,
&c., were calculated to render her odious.

III. Those which were directed against foreigners, and in

8* KETHE'S « APPROBATION " [ESSAY

particular against the Spaniards, and the Spanish match ;
and which, under a profession of patriotism, urged that the
people and the country had been, or would be, betrayed and
sold into the hands of strangers and foreigners of the basest
description, by whom they would be enslaved and oppressed
without mercy, unless they rose up and expelled them.

IV. Those relating to the change in religion — represent-
ing it both as a judgment in itself, and as a sin which would
bring down further judgments — and generally threatening
judgments on the people of the country for rejecting the
word of God, and embracing or tolerating idolatry and
superstition.

On the first of these points Goodman's book claims pre-
cedence ; both because of its general scope and pretension,
and because, as Strype observes, " Though a little book in
decimo sexto, it is full of bitterness, and encourageth to take
up arms against Queen Mary, and to dethrone her." Strype
adds, (and the reader will bear in mind,) that, " as it had
' Whittingham's preface at the beginning of it, so had it
' William Kethe, another divine at Geneva, his approbation
* in verse at the end " — " which verses," as Strype also very
truly observes, " will show the intent of the book ; " 6 and
therefore they shall here be given by way of preface : —

" William Kethe to the Header.

1. The vayne harte of man, full frayle is and blynde,
vncerteynely setled, and rest can none fynde :
Whose hap is in wandring, to wade the wronge way,
As one apte by kinde to runne still astraye.

2. For, what thinge so good by truethe hathe bene wroght,
Or what so well framed hath nature forth brought,
Which man is not prone by crafte to accuse,

And nature's good gyftes dothe not sore abuse ?

3. Thus see we how man, contemning Gods grace,
Is wholie inclyned, that ill shulde take place :
Whose will (truethe reiectinge) delitth that to haue,
Which nature corrupted woulde seeme still to craue.

4. Sith man then in iudgeinge, so thwartly is bente.
To satisfie fansie, and not true intente :

How hardly in this case, can such iudge vpright,
When trueth doth but peepe out, as semth to our sight.

6 Mem. III. ii. 131.

vi.] OF GOODMAN'S BOOK. 89

5. Ful nedefull then were it, we had this respecte,
Before we receaue oght, or oght to reiect :

The thinge to decide so with ludgement and skill,
That trueth may be stickler, and not our one will.

6. Beholde here a trueth drawne forthe of her graue,
By power sore oppressed, and made a bonde slaue :
Whose chains, thogh this Autor could not rent or teare,
Yet hath he forth broght hir, in to moste clere ayer.

7. With whome now to reason, whoso wil assaye,
Shal learne how ill Eulers we oghte to obeye,
Whiche kill, how they care not, in their cruell rage,
Eespecting their will more, then lawe, othe, or charge.

8. Whose fury longe fostered by suffrance and awe,
Haue right rule subuerted, and made will their lawe :
Whose pride, how to temper, this truthe will thee tell,
So as thou resiste mayste, and yet not rebell.

9. Rebellion is ill, to resiste is not so,

When right through resisting, is donne to that foo,
Who seeketh, but by ruine, agaynst right to raigne,
Not passinge what perishe, so she spoyle the gayne I7

10. A publick weale wretched, and to farre disgraste,
Where the right head is of cut, and a wronge in steed plaste
A brut beast vntamed, a misbegot then,

More meete to be ruled, then raigne ouer men.

11. A maruelous madnesse, if we well beholde,
When sighes shall assaut men to see themselues solde :
And yet when from slauery, their friends woulde them free,
To stick to their foes so, still slaues to be.

12. For France spiteth Spayne, which Englend doth threat,
And England proud Spanyards, with salte woulde fayne eat :
Yet Englande proud Spayne aydeth with men, ships, and botes,
That Spayne, (France subdued once) may cut all their throtes.

13. A people peruerse, repleate with disdayne,

Thogh flattrie fayne hide wolde their hate, and vile trayne.
Whose rage, and hotte luste, disceate, crafte and pride,
Poor Naples their bondeslaue, with great gref e hath tryed.

14. Lo, these be the byrdes which Englande muste feede,
By plantinge of whom, to roote out their seede

Their owne landes and lyues, by them firste devourde,
Their maydes then and wyues, most vilelie deflourde.

15. Is this not stronge treason, ye vnnoble bloudds ?
To ayde such destroyers, both with landes and goods ?
But when they thus pinche you, and ye put to flight,
To what forte then flee you ? or where will you light ?

7 So it stands ; but it seems as if the words " spoyle the " should be
transposed.

90 GOODMAN'S BOOK [ESSAY

16. For Englande thus solde, for Spaniardes to dwell,
Ye maye not by right, possesse that ye sell.

They seinge your treason, agaynste your owne state,
Wil not with theirs truste you, which they know ye hate.

17. To Skotlande or France, yf ye then shulde cry,
Your vile deeds now present, they may well reply,
And Dutchland abhorth you : this then doth remayne,
When Spaniards are placed, ye muste to newe Spayne.

18. But, oh dreadfull plague, and signe of God's wrothe,
On such noble Gnatos, stronge foes to Gods trothe.
Whom fonde feare hath framed, to prop such a staye,
As countrie and people, so seekth to betraye.

19. Which thinge herein proued, to be with out doute,
All such full well finde shall, as reade it throughout.
Yf then their hartes fayle them the right to defende,
Confusion remayneth for suche a meete end."

Perhaps the reader may be disposed to agree in the quiet,
but very pregnant remark which Strype makes after extract-
ing the eighth and three following of these verses : " Such
' treating of the Queen as this was, did, no question, irritate

* her much, and provoke her to issue out such angry declara-

* tions of her mind, and resolutions of taking vengeance of
1 all suchlike book-writers or book-readers."8

Having, however, learned from Whittingham the autho-
rity, and from Kethe " the intent," of Goodman's book, let
us come to the book itself, which is of all others the most to
our purpose for the first part of the subject, not only because
it bears this triple voucher, but because it is written pro-
fessedly on the general subject of obedience to rulers.
Knox was the best man to tell people why they should not
obey Queen Mary, but Goodman the best tutor for those
who wished conscientiously to obey nobody. Here are some
extracts of a general nature ; —

8 Mem. III. ii. 132 ; where the 8, 9, 10, 11 verses are given. The
seven verses which follow are at p. 104 of the same volume. The 8th
verse is repeated more correctly in his Ann. II. i. 151 ; for in the former
place it begins, " Whom fury." Indeed, whoever compares the above
with Strype's quotations will perceive that they have several other
corrupt variations. For instance, in v. 9, "right true resisting" — in
v. 11, "we will behold," and " What sighs shall assure men" — in
v. 12, "England doth treat "—in v. 13, "Through flattery," and "their
head and vile train" — in v. 15, " yea, unnoble ; " beside many minor
variations.

vi.] ON OBEDIENCE. 91

"CHAP. VI.

How it is not inouyh to denye wicked commandements of all kinde of
fiulers, except we withstand tJtem also, euery man accordinge to his
vocation, in doing the contrary.

" As by this answere afore mentioned, we haue bene taught not to
geue place to the vnlawf ull commandementes of Magistrates, in what
auctoritie so euer they be, because it is nothing but rebellion in the
iudgement of God : euen so may we learne by the same answere and
example of the Apostles, how God requiereth more at our handes,
that is, to withstands their preceptes, in doing the contrary : euery
man accordinge to his office and estate wherein God hathe placed
him." — Goodman, p. 63.

" For thogh the Apostle saith : There is no power but of God : yet
doth he not here meane anie other powers, but such as are orderly
and lawfullie institute of God. Ether els shulde he approue all
tyranny and oppression, which cometh to anie common welth by
means of wicked and vngodlie Eulers, which are to be called rightlie
disorders, and subuersions in common welthes, and not Gods
ordinaunce. For he neuer ordeyned anie lawes to approue, but to
reproue and punishe tyrantes, idolaters, papistes and oppressors.
Then when they are suche, they are not Gods ordinaunce. And in
disobeying and resisting such, we do not resiste God's ordinaunce,
but Satan and our synne, which is the cause of such. Or els, if we
shall so conclude with the wordes of the Apostle, that all powers
what so euer they be must be obeyed and not resisted, then must
we confesse also, that Satan and all his infernall powers are to be
obeyed. Why? because they are powers, and haue their powers
also of God, which cannot touche man any farther than God
permitteth. But S. lames geuethe vs, contrarie commandement,
saing: Resiste the deuel and he will flee awaye from you." —
Goodman, p. 110.

" In like case may we conclude of Princes and Magistrats, thogh
they be rough and f rowarde : yea, thoghe before God they are
wicked, vngodlie, and reprobate persons (as was Saule) yet so longe
as their wickednesse brasteth not out manifestly agaynst God, and
his Lawes, but outwardly will see them obserued and kept of others,
punishing the transgressors, and defending the innocent : so longe
are we bounde to render vnto such, obedience, as to euill and roughe
Maisters : because we may not take Gods office in hande to iudge of
the harte any farther then their outwarde deedes do geue manifest
testimony. Otherwise, if without feare they transgresse Gods
Lawes them selues and commande others to do the like, then haue
they lost that honor and obedience which otherwise their subiectes
did owe vnto them : and oght no more to be taken for Magistrates
but punished as priuate transgressors, as after I haue promised to
proue." — Goodman, p. 118.

"But where as the kinges or Eulers are become altogether
blasphemers of God, and oppressors and murtherers of their
subiectes, then oght they to be accompted no more for kinges or
lawfull Magistrats, but as priuate men : and to be examined,
accused, condemned and punished by the Lawe of God, wherunto

92 GOODMAN'S BOOK [ESSAY

they are and oght to be subiect, and being conuicted and punished
by that Lawe, it is not mans, but Gods doing : who as he dothe
appoynte such Magistrates ouer his people by his Lawe, so doth he
condemne aswel them as the people transgressing agaynste the
Lawe. For with God ther is no respecte of persones, as here after
folowith more largely." — Goodman, p. 139.

"Neither is this ynough, rather to suffer iniurie and losse, then
that thou wouldest be a worker of iniurie to others by any means :
but more ouer it is thy parte to be a withstander of euil, and a
supporter of the Godly, to the vttermoste of thy power, as thou hast
partly harde all ready, and partly shalt heare now folowing. For as
God hath not creadted vs for our selues, but to seke his honor and
glorie, and the profit of our neighbour, especially of such as be of
the householde of faithe: euen so are we indetted to God, to
bestowe all those gyftes, be they spiritual or corporal, wherewith
God hath blessed vs to the self same end, stryuing agaynst all
impediments, helping, defending, comforting, and delivering to the
vttermoste of our poiver all such as we are assured do fear e God, and
stande in nede of our ayde and supporte. Otherwise we shewe our
selues to haue more compassion vpon brute beastes, as our neigh-
bours oxe, asse, or shepe, which Gods Lawe dothe charge vs to helpe,
saue, or drawe forthe of the diche, althoghe it were the beaste of our
enemie.

" Are we then bound to do this to vnreasonable and brute beastes,
yea to any thing belonging to our neighbour, and shall we be
afrayde to do the like to him self, what tyme he is in necessitie ?
Yf his shepe or other of his cattel were readie to be deuoured in
our presence of wolues, or suche wilde beastes : are we not bounde
as wel in conscience as by the Lawe of God, to driue the wilde
beaste awaye and saue his cattel, who can deny this to be our
duetie ? Can we be excused then in suffringe the soules and
bodies of the children of God our brethren, to be moste pitifully
distroyed of Gods enemies, by false doctrine and cruel murthering,
and put not to our handes and power to deliuer them ? " — Goodman,
p. 89.

" You haue synned moste greuouslie agaynst the Lorde : knowe
your transgressions, and with teares confesse them, euery man
vnfaynedlie vnto the Lorde, who is redie to mercie and slowe to
anger. You haue despised an abused the worde of his dearely
beloued Sonne Jesus Christ, the Author of saluation, in the dayes of
our Godlie kinge Edwarde (which is the cause why God hath thus
plaged vs with a tyrant) seke after the worde agayne and receaue
it with all reuerence. By geuing auctoritie to an idolatres woman
ye haue banished Christe and his Gospell, and in his place restored
Antichriste with all his infections, wherin your owne consciences
condemne you of euil. Then in takings againe the same auctoritie
from her, you shall restore Christe and his worde and do well. In
oibeyinge her, ye haue disobeyed God. Then in disobeying her, ye shall
please God. Because you haue geuen place to her and her counsells,
you are all become idolatrous hypocryts, and also traytors to your
owne Countrie : then by resisting her and her wicked decrees^ you must

vi.] ON OBEDIENCE. 93

be made true worshippers of God, and faithfull Englishemen." —
Goodman, p. 103.

These extracts may suffice as to the general theory of
obedience and disobedience ; and the following will illus-
trate the writer's doctrine as to the source of power, and
the duty of those by whom, according to his account,
" princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth."
The beginning of his eleventh chapter is very clear on the
subject of the " Sovereignty of the People."

" CHAP. XI.

It apperteyneth not onely to the Magistrates and al other inferior
officers to see that their Princes be subiect to Gods Lawes, but to the
comon people also : wherby the tyrannie of the Princes and rebellion
of the subiects may be auoyded.

" To resiste euill and to mayntayne goodnesse, to honor God
truely and to expel idolatrie, euery man will confesse to be a good
and godly acte and cannot but highlie commende the workers
therof, as men acceptable to God, and worthie members of a comon
welthe : but when men consider the daungers and displeasures, which
commonly happen to such, then is there great curtesie made who
first shall take the enterprise in hand : and longe disputations made
whither it be their duetie or no : and to what sortes of men it doth
belong, as thogh any were exempted out of that nomber which do prof esse
the Name of God." — Goodman, p. 142.

" But as touching the comon and symple people, they thinke them
selues vtterly discharged, whither their Prince be godlie or vngodlye,
wise or foolishe, a preseruer of the comon welthe or ells a distroyer,
all is one to them, they muste be obedient, because they are ignorant,
and muste be led themselues, not meete to leade others. And
because their doinges are counted tumultes and rebellion (except
they be agreable to the cornmandmentes, decrees, and proceadinges
of their superior powers and Magistrates, and shal in doing the
contrary be as rebells punished) therfore of all others (say they) we
haue least to do, yea nothing at all withe the doinges of our Eulers.
Yf they rule well, we shall fare the better : if they be vngodly they
haue the more to answere for their vngodlinesse. What haue we to
do with their matters ? Thus do all sortes of men from the highest
to the louest slyppe their heades out of the coller : and as careles
persones not passing which end goeth forwarde, geueth the brydle
wholie to their Rulers till destruction remediles ouerflowe all." —
p. 145.

Of the thirteenth chapter it might be sufficient, so far as
regards our immediate purpose, to give the title ; but it
begins with one of those singular admissions which the
writers of Goodman's party could not always avoid, and we
may as well take it in by the way, for it is very illustrative

94 GOODMAN'S BOOK

of our subject — namely, that the people <&f the country were
not so ready to take part for them, as against them. This
is not the place to enter into the subject, but it is worth
while to direct the reader's attention to the point.

"CHAP. XIII.

The redinesse of the people to defende idolatrie, superstition, and
earthly commodities : and their slouthfulnesse in maynteyning
the contrarie. Hoiu they are charged to see the Lawes of God kept,
and the transgression of the same punisJied, if their rulers do neglecte
them. And that they may lawfully punish their Magistrates as
priuate persones transgressing the Lordes preceptes.

" Bvt what remedie ? (saye you) we being but subiectes with out
power, and wisdome cannot helpe it. The more pyttie deare
Countriemen, that you haue so stoutly or rather stubbernely shewed
your willes and power in the dayes of Godly kynge Edwarde the VI.
your late Prince and gouernour, and the zelous seruant of God : who
soght to rule you in Gods feare, and vnder whom you had the
comfortable worde of God, and were deliuered from the Eomishe
Antichrist, and from all superstition, for the most parte, hauing your
Eealme free from strangers, and quiete from all enimies, enioying
your goods and freinds in peace with out all force, imprisoning,
reuiling, banishing, or murthering.) It is to be lamented (I saye)
that then receauing all these blessinges of God, by the means of so
worthie a Prince, ye were able to conspire, rise and rebell with the
daunger of bodies, goods and soules, agaynst your godlie and lawfull
kinge : and that chiefly to defende the deuelishe Masse, and all the
puddels of poperie with the Caterpillers and rable of all vncleane
spirites, as Cardinalls, Bishopps, Priestes, Monkea, Freers, Nonnes,
&c. And now in these matters wherein consisteth the glorie of
God, the preseruation of your owne liues, and defence of your
countrie you are without all will, power and helpe.

" To restore Antichrisht agayne, whom ons God had banished to
all your comfortes, you were not ashamed to terme it obedience,
and to count yourselues therin no rebells, but lawfull resisters : but
to defende Christe and his confortable Gospell (which then you had
in possession) that are you persuaded to be open rebellion. To arme
your selues agaynst your superiors, to defend your commons and
earthly commodities with holden from you, by the greedy desier of
new vpstarte gentlemen, how willing and redie haue you shewed
your selues ? But to holde and reteyne your spiritual possession
not promised onely, but geuen into your handes, you are moste slowe
without all hope and courage. Shall not this be to your iuste con-
demnation ? When God calleth you to a rekening, what can you
have to answere?" — Goodman, p. 175.

The direct reference, and the manner and spirit in which
that reference is made to the open rebellions of the former
reigu, may surprise some readers ; but the trio who under-

vi.] ON OBEDIENCE. 95

took to instruct the Christian church on the subject of
loyalty, did not mean to mince matters ; witness the follow-
ing defence of Wyat, and lamentation over the miscarriage
of his " great Gun " and his rebellion.

" Therefore yf they did well in demandinge succour, and he dis-
charged his conscience in graunting their request, why is it not also
lawfull for you to seeke helpe of them that be able and willing : and
for them likewise to graute helpe, to whom God hath lente it for
that vse especially ?

" But I know your answere : experience (saye you) hath taught vs
the contrary. For if God had bene pleased herein withe Syr Thomas
Wyat that valiant Capitayne taking in hande the like enterprise :
it shulde vndoubtedly haue had better successe. But he being a
man, and of God, of great estimation amongest all goodmen, was
notwithstandinge apprehended, condemned, and at the last (althogh
he was promised his pardon) as a traytor beheaded. And besides
him Sir Henry Isley knight, with many godely men for the same
facte, hanged, and murthered. The like also ye will affirme of that
Noble man Henry Lorde Graye, Marques Dorset, and Duke of
Suffolke ; who onely for the zeale that she had to promote Gods
glorie, and the libertie of his countrie, prepared him self with that
power he coulde make to the ayde of the sayed Wyat, aceordinge
to his promisse. But being deceaued, or rather betrayed by such as
he trusted vnto, was in the ende also apprehended, and with his
brother the Lorde Thomas Gray (a Gentleman of great courage, and
towardnesse), likewise beheaded.

" Althogh I minde not to stand long in the praise of these worthye
mens factes, who most cowardly were of many betrayed, which since
perchance haue felt some parte of worse misery : yet so muche must
I nedes confesse in their behalf, that none butpapistes, or traytorscan
iustly accuse them of treason or disobedience. Of whom to be misdained
or slandered, is in the eyes of the godly, no small commendation,
and prayse. For to passe ouer with silence the duke of Suffolke
(whose noble parentage and ernest love that he bare to the promoting
of Christes Gospell, and the welth of his countrie, is all to Englishe
men sufficiently knowne) what I beseche you moued Wyat that
worthy knight to rise ? Was it his pouertie ? Beholde, he was a
famous Gentleman of great landes and possessions, stowt and
liberall in the seruice of his Prince, faithefull to his countrie, and
mercifull to the poore. Soght he ambitiously honour ? Which of
his enemies coulde herewith iustly charge him ? Did he this bicause
he was of a troublesome and busy nature, which coulde not be vnder
lawfull gouernement. His great wisedome, modestie, and gentle
behauiour at all tymes, and to all persons, did well declare the
contrary : euer more being f ounde a f aythf ull capitayne to his Prince
in the fielde, and an obedient subiecte at home. What then moued
him to this dangerous entreprise ? Verely, the zeale of Gods trueth
and the pitie that he had to his Countrie, for the miseries he saw to
approche by the vsurped power of vngodly lesabell, and her merciles
papistes the sowldiars of Antichriste. Yf it be treason to defend

96 GOODMAN AND PONET [ESSAY

the Gospel and his Countrie frome cruel strangers and enemies, then
was Wyat a traytor and rebell ; but if this was his duetye, and all
others that professed Christe amongest you, then are all such tray-
tours, as did deceaue him : and^wc/fc at toJce not Ms parte also, when
tyme and occasion by him was justly offered.

" And thogh his enterprise had not such successe, as we woulde
haue wisshed : yet was it no worse then our cowardnesse, and
vnworthinesse deserued. Whiche nether oght of anie therfore to
be condemned, nether shulde be anie discouragement to others in
the like. For some tymes we see the verie seruantes of God to
haue euill successe in their doinges, according to man's iudgement :
and yet God is well pleased therwith. As the example of the
Israelites, wherof we made mention before dothe moste manifestlie
approue : at what tyme they armed them selues agaynst the
Beniamites, and that at the commandement of God, and yet were
twise disconcfyted, losing the first tyme 22. thousand men : and the
next day folowing 18. thowsand : bothe tymes, consulting with the
Lorde, and folowing his commandement." — Goodman, p. 201.

Whether this affords ground for supposing that Goodman
was in Wyat's rebellion, I do not know ; but it naturally
reminds one of Ponet, aud a few words from him may be
quite in place, though they are too much in the same strain
to afford much variety.

" If nature, reason, honestie and lawe dothe so greviously punishe
him, and cast him out of all honest mennes companies, that is
negligent in a trifle, how muche more ought he to be punished and
cast out of all mennes sight, that is necligent in the greatest
matiers ? If he ought so sharpely to be vsed, that deceaueth one
poore man, how much more sharpely ought he to be punished, and
of all men to be abhorred (yea cast to tJie doyges) that deceaueth a
hole realme of ten or twentie hundred thousaunt persones ? If he be
thus to be abhorred and punished, that is required to doo an other
mannes busynesse, and deceaueth him, how muche more ought they
to be abhorred and hated that take vpon them to doo for others not
desired but suying for it, not called thereto but thrusting in
themself, not prayed but payeing, geuing many lyuereyes, procuring
and making frendes to geue them their uoices, obteynying of great
mennes lettres, and ladies tokens, feasting freeholders, and making
great banketting oheare, not by the consent of the parte, but by
force and streinght, with tropes of horsemen, billes, bowes, pykes,
gonnes, and such like kynde of qualityes." — Ponet, Sig. A vii. b.

Surely Ponet had forgotten the great " gonne "; or else
he thought that such things were lawful on one side only.
He gives indeed a hint in one place, as if he thought that

Sc-actices generally esteemed more discreditable than " great
uns " in broad daylight, might be lawfully used for the
removal of obnoxious persons. At least I know not what
was the meaning of continually picking out scraps of history,

vi.] ON OBEDIENCE. 97

unless these writers expected and intended every man to be
his own Croxall and moralize forth the inference, " We see
by this story that when a man is a very wicked man, it is a
good thing to go and kill him." There are too many such
passages ; and one, though somewhat out of place, may be
here given as a specimen. As to Caligula ; —

" Many other noble actes by his absolute power he wrought : and
at leynght he commaunded that his ymage should be set vp in the
temple at Jerusalem, and ther worshipped : as not vnlike Saint
Gardiners (for he hathe done no smal thinges) shalbe shortly by
Anticipacion in England. But what was thende of Caligulaes
absolute power ? whan he had reigned three yeares and ten
monethes, his owne householde seruauntes conspired against hym,
and the general of his owne Armie si ewe him." — Ponet, Sig. B vii. 6.

I must add another from Goodman, which regards the
general subject, because there is something about it which
to those who would be likely to receive and be influenced by
it at the time, might appear argumentative and scriptural,
and my object (I trust I have shown it by the length of
these extracts) is not to catch at a hasty expression, or make
any man an offender for a word, but to show what was the
doctrine quietly and carefully taught by those who were
accredited as teachers by their party.

" The like commandement is also geuen in the 17. and 18 . Chap, "of
the same boke [Deuteronomy] charging all the people of God in
generall, to see idolatrie punished without mercie, and that in all
persones. Wherefore we may moste certaynely conclude, that if
the Rulers and Magistrates in this case, woulde not execute the
Lawes of God where with they are so straightly charged, that then
the people are not discharged, excepte they put it in execution to take
the euil from amongest them, to whom it also belongeth.

" Next, that no persone is exempted by any Lawe of God from
this punishment, be he kinge, Quene or Emperour, that is, either
openly or priuely knowne to be an idolatrer be he neuer so neare or
deare vnto vs, he must dye the death. For God hath not placed
them aboue others to transgresse his Lawes as they liste, but to be
subiecte vnto them as well as others, ouer whom they gouerne.

" And if they be subiecte vnto his Lawes, they muste be subiect
to the punishment also, when they be fownd disobedient trans-
gressors: yea, so muche the more as their example is more
daungerous. For looke what wickednesse reigneth in the Magis-
trates, the subiectes comonly take incouragement therby to imitate
the same, as we see in the examples of lereboam, Achab and wicked
Manasses, who being suffred in the beginnings to commit idolatrie,
and to erecte idoles, made the same likewise lawfull to all their
subiectes. For the same cause God commanded Moyses to hange vp
all the capitaynes and heads of the people, for that by their example

G

98 KNOX'S " BLAST " [ESSAY

they made the people idolatrers also : he had no respect to their
auctocitie, because they were Rulers, but so muche the rather
woulde he haue them so sharplie punished, that is, hanged agaynst
the sunne without mercy : which iudgement, thoghe it was done at
Gods commandment firste, and after at Moyses, yet were the people
executors of the same, and all did vnderstand that it was iuste : and
not for that tyme onely, but to be a perpetuall example for euer, and
a, sure admonition of their duetie in the like defection from God, to
liange vp such Eulers as shulde drawe them from him.

" And thoghe it appeare at the firste sight a great disordre, that
the people shulde take vnto them the punishment of transgression,
yet when the Magistrates and other officers cease to do their duetie,
they are as it were, without officers, yea, worse then if they had
none at all and then God geueth the sworde in to the peoples hande,
and he him selfe is become immedialty their head (Yf they will
seeke the accomplishment of his Lawes) and hath promised to
defend them and blesse them." — Goodman, p. 183.

Perhaps I have given the reader sufficient materials for
judging how the doctrine of loyalty and rebellion in general
was treated by puritan writers ; and we may proceed to
what more particularly concerns Queen Mary personally,
and her government in particular.

ESSAY VII.

PURITAN POLITICS. No. III.

RESPECTING QUEEN MAEY IN PARTICULAR.
KNOX — GOODMAN — TRAHERON PONET — BECON.

JOHN KNOX and Christopher Goodman, as has been already
stated, are the two great authorities with regard to puritan
politics during the reign of Queen Mary. They laid down
the law very plainly ; and I am not aware that, while that
unhappy monarch lived, any one of the exiled party offered
one word in contradiction, qualification, or explanation of
the fierce regicidal libels of those two writers.

As to Goodman, I hope that the reader has been enabled
by the preceding paper to form some opinion of his doctrine
on the subject of loyalty, and obedience to authority, in
general. That doctrine was applied with ferocious zeal to

vii.] ON THE REGIMENT OF WOMEN. 90

the particular case of the Sovereign of England and her
subjects, by Knox, who insisted principally on three points; —
First, that Queen Mary was a woman, and as such a crea-
ture under the curse of God. Secondly, that she was ille-
gitimate, and therefore an usurper. Thirdly, that waiving
the question of her sex and birth, and supposing for the sake
of argument that she had come fairly to the throne, yet she
had shown herself to be a tyrant, and ought to be crushed
like a viper. These points cannot always be kept separate
in discussion ; but they will show themselves plainly enough
in passages which will be laid before the reader.

Knox, indeed, comes to the point at once by beginning
his " Blast " with these words : —

"Wonder it is, that amongest so many pregnant wittes as the He
of greate Brittany hath produced, so many godlie and zelous
preachers as England did sometime norishe, and amongest so many
learned and men of graue iudgement, as this day by IESABEL are
exiled, none is found so stowte of courage, so faithfull to God, nor
louing to their natiue countrie, that they dare admonishe the in-
habitantes of that He how abominable before God, is the Empire or
Eule of a wicked woman, yea of a traiteresse and bastard ; and what
may a people or nation left destitute of a lawf ull head, do by the
authoritie of Goddes worde in electing and appointing common
rulers and magistrates. That He (alas) for the contempt and horrible
abuse of Goddes mercies offred, and for the shamefull reuolting to
Satan frome Christ lesus, and frome his Gospell ones professed, doth
iustlie merite to be left in the handes of their own counsel, and so
to come to confusion and bondage of strangiers.

" But yet I f eare that this vniuersal negligence of such as some-
times were esteemed watchemen, shall rather aggrauate our former
ingratitude, than excuse this our vniuersall and vngodlie silence, in
so weightie a mater. We se our countrie set f urthe for a pray to
foreine nations ; we heare the blood of our brethren, the membres
of Christ lesus, most cruellie to be shed ; and the monstruous empire
of a cruell woman (the secrete counsel of God excepted) we knowe to
be the onlie occasion of all these miseries : and yet with silence we passe
the time as thogh the mater did nothinge appertein to vs. But the
contrarie examples of the auncient prophetes moue me to doubte of
this our fact. For Israel did vniuersalie decline frome God by em-
brasing idolatrie vnder leroboam. In whiche they did continue
euen vnto the destruction of their common welthe. And luda withe
lerusalem did followe the vile superstition and open iniquitie of
Samaria. But yet ceased not the prophetes of God to admonishe
the one and the other. Yea, euen after that God had poured f urthe
his plagues vpon them. For leremie did write to the captiues in
Babylon, and did correct their errors, plainlie instructing them, who
did remaine in the middest of that idolatrouse nation. Ezechiel
frome the middest of his brethren prisoners in Chaldea, did write

100 KNOX'S " BLAST ' [ESSAY

his vision to those that were in Jerusalem, and sharplie rebukinge
their vices, assured them that they shuld not escape the vengeance
of God by reason of their abominations committed.

" The same prophetes for comfort of the afflicted and chosen saintes
of God, who did lie hyd amongest the reprobate of that age (as com-
monlie doth the corne amongest the chaffe) did prophecie, and before
speake, the changes of kingdomes, the punishmentes of tyrannes,
and the vengeance whiche God wold execute vpon the oppressors of
his people. The same did Daniel and the rest of the prophetes euerie
one in their season. By whose examples and by the plaine precept,
which is geuen to Ezechiel, commanding him that he shall say to
the wicked, 'Thou shalt die the death, 'we in this our miserable age
are bounde to admonishe the world and the tyrannes therof, of
their sodeine destruction ; to assure them, and to crie vnto them,
whether they list to heare or not, that the blood of the saintes,
which by them is shed, continuallie crieth and craueth vengeance
in the presence of the Lorde of hostes.

"And further, it is our dutie to open the truthe reueled vnto vs,
vnto the ignorant and blind world, vnlest that to our owne condem-
nation we list to wrap vp and hyde the talent committed to our
charge. 1 am assured that God hath reueled to some in this our age, that
it is more then a monstre in nature, that a woman shall reigne and haue
empire aboue man. And yet with vs all, there is suche silence, as if
God there with were nothing offended. The naturall man, ennemy
to God shall f ynd, I knowe, many causes why no suche doctrine oght
to be published in these our dangerous dayes. First, for that it may
seme to tend to sedition : secondarilie it shal be dangerous not onlie
to the writer or publisher, but also to all such as shall reade the
writinges, or fauor this truth spoken : and last it shall not amend
the chief offenders, partlie because it shall neuer come to their
eares, and partlie because they will not be admonished in such
cases. "

How he pursued the subject thus broadly opened will
appear from the following extracts ; —

" Yf any think that the empire of women, is not of such import-
ance, that for the suppressing of the same, any man is bounde to
hazarde his life, I answer, that to suppresse it, is in the hand of god
alone. But to vtter the impiety and abomination of the same, I say,
it is the dutie of euerie true messager of God, to whome the truth is
reueled in that behalf e. For the especiall dutie of Goddes messagers
is to preache repentance, to admonishe the offenders of their offenses,
and to say to the wicked, ' thou shalt die the death,' except thou
repent. This, I trust, will no man denie to be the propre office of
all Goddes messagers, to 'preache (as I have said) repentance and
remission of synnes. But nether of both can be done, except the
conscience of the offenders be accused and conuicted of transgres-
sion. For howe shall any man repent not knowing wherein he hath
offended ? And where no repentance is founde, there can be no
entrie to grace. And therfore I say, that of necessitie it is that
this monstriferouse empire of women (which amongest all enor-

vii.] ON THE REGIMENT OF WOMEN. iCi

mities, that this day do abound vpon the face of the hole earth, is
most detestable and damnable) be openlie reueled and plainlie
declared to the world, to the end that some may repent and be saued.
And thus farre to the first sorte." — Knox, Pref. p. 5.

"To promote a woman to beare rule, superioritie, dominion or
empire aboue any realme, nation, or citie, is repugnant to nature,
contumelie to God, a thing most contrarious to his reuelled will and
approued ordinance, and finallie it is the subuersion of good order,
of all equitie and iustice." — Knox, p. 9.

" But now to the second part of nature : In the whiche I include
the reueled will and perfect ordinance of God, and against this parte
of nature, I say, that it doth manifestlie repugne that any woman
shal reigne or beare dominion ouer man. For God first by the order
of his creation, and after by the curse and malediction pronounced
against the woman, by reason of her rebellion, hath pronounced the
contrarie.

" First, I say that women in her greatest perfection, was made to
serue and obey man, not to rule and command him : As saint Paule
doth reason in these wordes : Man is not of the woman but the
woman of the man. And man was not created for the cause of the
woman, but the woman for the cause of man, and therfore oght the
woman to haue a power vpon her head (that is a couerture in signe
of subiection). Of whiche words it is plaine that the Apostle
meaneth, that woman in her greatest perfection shuld haue kno wen,
that man was Lord aboue her : and therfore that she shulde neuer
haue pretended any kind of superioritie aboue him, no more then do
the angels aboue God the Greater, or aboue Christ Jesus their head.
So, I say, that in her greatest perfection woman was created to be
subiect to man.

" But after her fall and rebellion committed against God, there
was put vpon her a newe necessitie, and she was made subiect to
man by the irreuocable sentence of God, pronounced in these wordes :
I will greatlie multiplie thy sorowe and thy conception. With sorow
shalt thou beare thy children, and thy will shall be subiect to thy
man : and he shal beare dominion ouer the. Herebie may such as
altogither be not blinded plainlie see, that God, by his sentence,
hath deiected all woman from empire and dominion aboue man.
For two punishmentes are laid vpon her, to witte, a dolor, anguishe
and payn, as oft as euer she shal be mother : and a subiection of her
selfe, her appetites and will, to her husband, and to his will. Frome
the former part of this malediction can nether arte, nobilitie, policie,
nor la we made by man, deliuer womankinde, but who soeuer atteineth
to that honour to be mother, proueth in experience the effect and
strength of goddes word. But (alas) ignorance of God, ambition,
and tyrannic haue studied to abolishe and destroy the second parte
of Goddes punishment. For women are lifted vp to be heades ouer
realmes, and to rule aboue men at their pleasure and appetites.
But horrible is the vengeance, which is prepared for the one and for the
other, for the promoters, and for the persones promoted, except they
speedilie repent. For they shall be deiected from the glorie of
the sonnes of God, to the sclauerie of the deuill, and to the tor-

tG2 KNOX'S "BLAST" [ESSAY

ment that is prepared for all suche, as do exalte themselves against
God.

" Against God can nothing be more manifest, than that a woman
shall be exalted to reigne aboue man. For the contrarie sentence
hath he pronounced in these wordes : Thy will shall be subiect to
thy husband, and he shall beare dominion oner the. As God shnld
say : forasmuch as thou hast abused thy former condition, and
because thy free will hath broght thy selfe and mankind into the
bondage of Satan, I therfore will bring the in bondage to man.
For where before, thy obedience shuld haue bene voluntarie, nowe
it shall be by constreint and by necessitie : and that because thou
hast deceived thy man, thou shalt therfore be no iongar maistresse
ouer thine own appetites, ouer thine owne will nor desires. For in
the there is nether reason nor discretion, whiche be able to moderate
thy affections, and therfore they shall be subiect to the desire of thy
man. He shall be Lord and gouernour, not onlie ouer thy bodie, but
euen ouer thy appetites and will.

" This sentence, I say, did God pronounce against Heua and her
daughters, as the rest of the Scriptures doth euidentlie witnesse.
So that no woman can euer presume to reigne aboue man, but the
same she must nedes do in despite of God, and in contempt of his
punishment and malediction." — Knox, p. 15.

"For who wolde not iudge that bodie to be a monstre, where
there was no head eminent aboue the rest, but that the eyes were in
the handes, the tonge and mouth beneth in the belie, and the eares
in the feet. Men, I say, shulde not onlie pronounce this bodie to be
a monstre : but assuredlie they might conclude that such a bodie
coulde not long indure. And no lesse monstruous is the bodie of
that common welth, where a woman beareth empire. For ether
doth it lack a laufull heade (as in very dede it doth) or els there is
an idol exalted in the place of the true head. An idol I call that,
which hath the forme and apparance, but lacketh the vertue and
strength, which the name and proportion do resemble and promise.
As images haue face, nose, eyes, mouth, handes, and feet painted,
but the vse of the same, can not the craft and art of man geue
them : as the holy ghost by the mouth of Dauid teacheth vs, saying :
they haue eyes, but they see not, mouth, but they speake not, nose,
but they smell not, handes and feet, but they neither touche nor
haue power to go.

"And suche, I say, is euerie realme and nation, where a woman
beareth dominion. For in despite of God (he of his iust iudgement,
so geuing them ouer in to a reprobat minde) may a realme, I conf esse,
exalt vp a woman to that monstriferous honor, to be estemed as
head. But impossible it is to man and angel, to geue vnto her the
properties and perfect offices of a laufull heade. For the same God
that hath denied power to the hand to speake, to the bely to heare,
and to the feet to see, hath denied to woman power to commande
man, and hath taken away wisdome to consider, and prouidence to
forsee the thinges that be profitable to the common welth : yea
finallie he hath denied to her in any case to, be head to man : but
plainly hath pronounced that man is head to woman, euen as Christ

vn.] ON THE REGIMENT OF WOMEN. 103

is heade to all man. If men in a blinde rage shulde assemble to
gether, and apointe them selues an other heade then Jesus Christ,
(as the papistes haue done their romishe Antichrist) shuld Christ
therf ore lose his owne dignitie, or shulde God geue to that counterf et
head power to geve life to the bodie, to see what soeuer might en-
damage or hurte it, to speake in defense, and to heare the request
of euerie subject ? It is certein that he wold not. For that honor
he hath apointed before all times to his onlie sonne : and the same
will he geue to no creature besides : no more will he admit, nor
accept woman to be the lauful head ouer man, although man, deuil,
and angel will coniure in their fauor." — p. 27.

"For nature hath in all beastes printed a certeine marke of
dominion in the male, and a certeine subiection in the female,
whiche they kepe inuiolate. For no man euer sawe the lion make
obedience, and stoupe before the lionesse, nether yet can it be
proued, that the hinde taketh the conducting of the heard amongest
the hartes. And yet (alas) man, who by the mouth of God hath
dominion apointed to him ouer woman, doth not onlie to his own
shame, stoupe vnder the obedience of women, but also in despit of
God and of his apointed ordre, reioyseth, and mainteineth that
monstruouse authoritie, as a thing lauful and iust." — p. 30.

" Albeit I haue thus (talkinge with my God in theanguishe of my
harte) some what digressed : yet haue I not vtterlie forgotten my
former proposition, to witt, that it is a thing repugnant to the ordre of
nature, that any woman be exalted to rule ouer men. For God hath
denied vnto her the office of a head. And in the intreating of this
parte, I remembre that I haue made the nobilitie both of England
and Scotland inferior to brute beastes for what they do to women,
which no male amongest the common sorte of beastes can be proued
to do to their females : that is, they reuerence them, and qwake at
their presence, they obey their commandementes, and that against
God. Wherfore I iudge them not onelie subiectes to women, but
sclaues of Satan, and seruantes of iniquitie. If any man thinke these
my wordes sharpe or vehement, let him consider that the offense is
more haynous, then can be expressed by wordes. For where all
thinges, be expressedly concluded against the glorie and honor of
God, and where the blood of the saintes of God is commanded to
be shed, whome shall we iudge, God or the deuil, to be president of
that counsel ? "—p. 32.

The hint thus1 given to the Queen's Council must not be
passed over without remark. It is, of course, highly im-
portant to notice it in an inquiry which turns so much on
the question how far the proceedings of the government at
home was influenced by the conduct of parties abroad. The
idea is elsewhere repeated and amplified by Knox ; —

" For that woman reigneth aboue man, she hath obteined it by
treason and conspiracie committed against God. Howe can it be

104 KNOX'S «' BLAST" [ESSAY

then, that she being criminall and giltie of treason against God
committed, can apointe any officer pleasing in his sight 2 It is a
thing impossible. Wherefore let men that receiue of women authoritie,
honor or office, be most assuredly persuaded, that in so mainteining
that vsurped power, they declare themselues ennemies to God. If
any thinke, that because the realme and estates therof, haue geuen
their consentes to a woman, and haue established her, and her
authoritie : that therfore it is lauf ull and acceptable before God :
let the same men remember what I haue said before, to wit, that
God can not approve the doing nor consent of any multitude, con-
cluding any thing against his worde and ordinance, and therfore
they must haue a more assured defense against the wrath of God,
then the approbation and consent of a blinded multitude, or elles
they shall not be able to stand in the presence of the consuming
fier : that is, they must acknowledge that the regiment of a woman is a
thing most odious in the presence of God. They must refuse to be her
officers, because she is a traitoresse and rebell against God. And
finallie they must studie to represse her inordinate pride and tyrannic,
to the vttermost of their power.

" The same is the dutie of the nobilitie and estates, by whose
blindnes a woman is promoted. First in so farre, as they haue
most haynouslie offended against God, placing in authoritie suche as
God by his worde hath remoued frome the same, vnfeinedly they
oght to call for mercie, and being admonished of their error and
damnable fact, in signe and token of true repentance, with common
consent they oght to retreate that, which vnaduisedlie and by
ignorance they haue pronounced, and oght without further delay to
remouefrom authority all such persones, as by vsurpation, violence, or
tyrannic, do possesse the same.

"For so did Israel and luda after they reuolted from Dauid, and
luda alone in the dayes of Athalia. For after that she by murther-
ing her sonnes children, had obteined the empire ouer the land, and
had most vnhappelie reigned in luda six years, lehoiada the high
priest called together the capitaines and chief rulers of the people,
and shewing to them the kinges sonne loas, did binde them by an
othe to depose that wicked woman, and to promote the king to his
royall seat, whiche they faithf ullie did, killinge at his commandement
not onlie that cruel and mischeuous woman, but also the people did
destroie the temple of Baal, break his altars and images, and kill
Mathan Baales high priest before his altars.

" The same is the dutie as well of the estates, as of the people
that hath bene blinded.

" First they oght to remoue frome honor and autJwritie, that monstre in
nature (so call I a woman clad in the habit of man, yea a woman
against nature reigning aboue man).

" Secondarilie if any presume to defende that impietie, they oght
not to feare, first to pronounce, and then after to execute against them
the sentence of deathe. If any man be affraid to violat the oth of
obedience, which they haue made to suche monstres, let them be
most assuredly persuaded, that as the beginning of their othes, pro-
ceding from ignorance was sinne, so is the obstinate purpose to kepe
the same, nothinge but plaine rebellion against God. But of this

vii.] ON THE REGIMENT OF WOMEN. 105

mater in the second blast, God willing, we shall speake more at
large." — p. 52.

" Cursed lesabel of England, with the pestilent and detestable
generation of papistes, make no litle bragge and boast, that they
haue triumphed not only against Wyet, but also against all such as
haue entreprised any thing against them or their procedinges. But let
her and them consider, that yet they haue not preuailed against god,
his throne is more high, then that the length of their homes be able
to reache. And let them further consider, that in the beginning of
this their bloodie reigne, the haruest of their iniquitie was not
comen to full maturitie and ripenes. No, it was so grene, so secret
I meane, so couered, and so hid with hypocrisie, that some men
(euen the seruantes of God) thoghtit not impossible, but that wolues
might be changed in to lambes, and also that the vipere might
remoue her natural venom. But God, who doth reuele in his time
apointed, the secretes of hartes, and that will haue his iudgemetes
iustified euen by the verie wicked, hath now geuen open testimonie
of her and their beastlie crueltie. For man and woman, learned and
vnlearned, nobles and men of baser sorte, aged fathers and tendre
damiselles, and finailie the bones of the dead, as well women as men
haue tasted of their tyrannic, so that now not onlie the blood of
father Latimer, of the milde man of God the bishop of Cantorburie,
of learned and discrete Eidley, of innocent ladie lane dudley, and
many godly and worthie preachers, that cannot be forgotten, such
as fier hath consumed, and the sworde of tyrannic most vniustlie
hath shed, doth call for vengeance in the eares of the Lord God of
hostes : but also the sobbes and teares of the poore oppressed, the
groninges of the angeles, the watchmen of the Lord, ^ea and euerie
earthlie creature abused by their tyrannic do continuallie crie and
call for the hastie execution of the same. I feare not to say, that
the day of vengeance, whiche shall apprehend that horrible monstre
lesabel of England, and suclie as maintein her mon&truous crueltie, is
alredie apointed in the counsel of the Eternall : and I verelie beleue that
it is so nigh, that she shall not reigne so long in tyrannie, as hitherto she
hath done, when God shall declare himselfe to be her ennemie, when he
shall poure furth contempt vpon her, according to her crueltie, and
shal kindle the hartes of such, as som times did fauor her with
deadly hatred against her, that they may execute his iudgementes.
And therfore let such as assist her, take hede what they do." —
p. 55.

On this point, too, Goodman and Traheron were equally
explicit ; —

" The counsellors, whose office is to brydle the affections of their
Princes and Gouuernours, in geuing such counsele as might promote
the glorie of God, and the welthe of their contrie by this persuasion
of obedience, haue hitherto sought, and yet apearinglie do, how to
accomplishe and satisfie the vngodly lustes of their vngodlie and
vnlawful Gouernesse, wicked IESABEL : who for our synnes, con-
trarie to nature and the manyfeste worde of God, is suffred to raigne
ouer vs in Goddes furie, and haue therby moste wickedlie betrayed

106 GOODMAN AND TRAHERON [ESSAY

Christe, their countrie, and themselues (so muche as lieth in them)
to become slaues to a strange and foren nation, the prowde
Spaniards."— Goodman, p. 33.

" Turne thyne eyes now to thy counsel England, how fierce tygres,
how cruel wolues, how rauening beares, how lecherous goates, how
wilie foxes, or to speake plainly without figure, what periured traitors
to god, and to the, what murderers, what oppressors of the poore,
what voluptuous Sardanapales, what adulterers, how vile flatterers
shalt thou finde amonge them ? It were a smal faulte, and a verie
peccadulia in them to dissemble the truth of religion. Tbei raile
vpon it, they tosse it with scoffes and mockes, they bloodely, and
tyrannously persequute it. It might be wincked at, if thei toke
bribes, only to oppresse the cause of a few poore men, thei take
bribes to betraie the hole realme. It might be passed ouer with
silence if thei had murdered but one man a peece, the blood of
innumerable sainctes crieth vp to heauen against them and the
groninges of manie thousandes oppressed ar heard euerie where. It
might perchaunce be perdoned, if they spent but some weekes in
pleasures, they wallow continually in vile voluptuousnes, and wanton
daliance, and waste al their vnhappie daies in beastlie delites, nether
can chaunge of women, nor women only satisfie their filthie abomin-
able desires. Breifely there be no vices in the world whereof you
maie not see great buddes, or rather great bounnies, and bunches in
them. Here I maie not lette scape the pristes of Calece, a foule
broode of thy henne. Papistes they were," &c. — Traheroris Warn-
ing to England, (see before p. 84.)

To return, however, to what is more precisely our present
subject — the treatment which the Queen herself met with
from these parties — perhaps enough has been given from
Knox, and it may be time to enforce his doctrine by one or
two extracts from his friend Goodman.

' ' The nexte rule to be obserued is, that he shulde be one of their
brethern, meaninge of the Israelits : partlie to exclude the oppres-
sion and idolatrie, whiche commeth in by strangers, as our contrie
now is an example : and partlye, for that strangers cannot beare
such a natural zeale to straunge realmes and peoples, as becomethe
brethern : but chieflie to auoyde that monster in nature, and disordrc
amongest men, whiche is the Empire and gouernement of a woman,
sayinge expreslie : From the myddle of thy brethren shalt thou
chose thee a kinge, and not amongist thy sisters. For God is not
contrairie to himselfe, whiche at the begynninge appoynted the
woman to be in subiection to her housbande, and the man to be
head of the woman (as saithe the Apostle) who wil not permitte so
muche to the woman, as to speake in the Assemblie of men, muche
lesse to be Ruler of a Realme or nation. Yf women be not per-
mitted by Ciuile policies to rule in inferior offices, to be Counsel-
lours, Pears of a realme, lustices, Shireffs, Baylieus and such like : I
make your selues iudges, whither it be mete for them to gouerne
whole Realmes and nations ?

vii.] ON THE REGIMENT OF WOMEN. 107

" If the worde of God can not persuade you, by which she is made
subiect to her housbande, muche more to the Counselle and
auctoritie of an whole realme, which worde also appoynteth your
kinges to be chosen from amonge their brethern, and not from their
sisters, who are forbidden as persons vnmete to speake in a congre-
gacion, be you your selues iudges, and let nature teache you the
absurditie therof.

" And thus muche haue I of pourpose noted in this matter, to let
you see to all our shames, how farre you haue bene led besydes
your commun senses and the manifest worde of God, in electing,
anoynting, and crowninge a woman to be your Quene and Gouer-
nesse, and she in verie dede a bastarde, and vnlaivfully begotten. But
be it that she were no bastarde, but the kinges daughter as lawfullie
begotten as was her sister, that Godlie Lady, and meke Lambe,
voyde of all Spanishe pride, and strange bloude : yet in the sick-
nesse, and at the deathe of our lawfull Prince of Godlie memorie
kynge Edwarde the sixt, this shulde not haue bene your firste
counsele or question, who shulde be your Quene, what woman you
shulde crowne, if you had bene preferrers of Goddes glorie, and
wise counselours, or naturallie affected towardes your countrie.
But firste and principallie, who had bene moste meetest amengest
your brethern to haue had the gouernement ouer you, and the whole
gouernement of the realme, to rule them carefullie, in the feare of
God, and to preserue them agaynst all oppression of inwarde tyrants
and outwarde enemies. Wher bie you might haue bene assured to
eskape all this miserable and vnspeakable disordre, and shamefull
confusion, whiche now by contrarie counsele is broght worthely
vpon vs." — Goodman, p. 51.

" That wicked woman, whom you vntruely make your Quene, hath
(saye ye) so commanded. O vayne and miserable men. To what
vilenesse are you broght, and yet as men blynd., see not ? Because
you would not haue God to raigne ouer you, and his worde to be a
light vnto your f ootestepps, beholde, he hath not geuen an hypocrite
onely to raigne ouer you (as he promised) but an Idolatresse also :
not a man accordinye to his appoyntment, but a woman, which his
Lawe forbiddeth, and nature abhorreth : whose reigne was neuer
counted lawfull by the worde of God, but an expresse signe of Gods
wrathe, and notable plague for the synnes of the people. As was
the raygne of cruell lesabel, and vngodlie Athalia, especiall instru-
mentes of Satan, and whipps to his people of Israel.

" This you see not, blynded with ignorance : yea, whiche is more
shame, where as the worde of God freethe you from the obedience
of anie Prince, be he neuer so mightie, wise, or politike command-
ing anye thinge whiche God forbiddeth, and herein geuethe you
auctoritie to withstand the same as you haue harde : Yet are you
willingly become as it were bondemen to the lustes of a most
impotent and vnbrydled ivoman ; a woman begotten in adulterie a
bastard by birth, contrarie to the worde of God and your owne lawes.
And therfore condemned as a bastarde by the iudgement of all
vniuersities in Englande, France, and Italy : as well of the Ciuilians,
as Diuines. For now are we freede from that leweshe yoke to

108 PONET AND GOODMAN. [ESSAY

rayse up seede to our brethern departing without issue, by the
comynge of our Sauiour lesus Christe, who hathe destroyed the
walle and distance betwixt the lewes and Gentiles, and hathe no
more respecte to anie tribes (for conseruation wherof this was
permitted) but all are made one in him with out distinction, which
acknowledge him vnfaynedlie to be the Sonne of God and Sauiour
of the worlde. For in Christe lesus there is nether lewe nor
Gentile, Grecian or Barbarous, bonde nor free, &c. And therfore
it must nedes followe, that kinge Henrie the eight, in marying with
his brothers wife, did vtterly contemne the free grace of our
Sauiour lesus Christe, which longe before had deliuered vs from
the seruitude of that lawe : and also committed adulterous
incest contrary to the worde of God, when he begate this vngodlie
serpent Marie, the chief instrument of all this present miserie in
Englande.

" And if any would saie, it was of a zele to fulfyll the lawe which
then was abrogated, he must confesse also that the kinge did not
marie of carnall luste, but to rayse vp seede to his brother : when
the contrarie is well knowne to all men. Let no man therfore be
offended, that I call her by her propre name, a bastarde, and vnlaw-
fully begotten : seeing the worde of God, which cannot lye, doth
geue witnesse vpon my parte. And moreouer, that suche as are
bastardes shulde be depriued of all honor ; in so muche as by the
Lawe of Moyses they were prohibited to haue entrance in to the
Congregation or assembly of the Lorde to the tenth generation.
Consider then your vngodlie proceadings in defrawding your contrie
of a lawfull kinge : and preferringe a bastarde to the lawful
begotten dawghter, and exaltinge her whiche is, and will be a
common plague and euersion of altogether : for as much as she is a
traytor to God, and promis breaker to her dearest frindes, who
helpinge her to their power to her vnlawf ull reigne, were promised
to inioye that religion which was preached vnder kinge Edwarde :
which not withstanding in a shorte space after, she most falsely
ouerthrewe and abolished. So that now both by Gods Lawes and
mans, she oglit to be punished with death, as an open idolatres in the
sight of God, and a cruel murtherer of his Saints before men, and
merciles traytoresse to her owne natiue countrie." — Ponet,^. 96.

"If your IESABELL, thoghe she be an vnlaivfull Gournesse, and
oght not by Gods word and your owne lawes to rule, would seke your
peace and protection as did Nabuchadnezer to his captiues the
lewes : then might you haue some pretence to follow leremies
counselle : that is, to be quiete, and praye for her liffe, if she would
confesse the onelie God of the Christians, and not compell you to
idolatrie no more than did Nabuchadnezer : who acknowledged the
God of the lewes to be the true and euerlasting God, and gaue the
same commandement throughout all his dominions, That what
soeuer people or nation spake euill of the God of Israeli shuld be
rent in pieces, and his howse counted detestable. For (saithe he)
Ther is no other true God that so coulde deliuer his seruantes, as he
did Sidrach Misach and Abdenago.

"But because her doinges tend all to the contrarie, that is to

viz.] PETER FRARIN'S ORATION. 109

blaspheme God, and also compell all others to do the like, what
cloke haue you here to permitte this wickednesse ?

" To be shorte, if she at the burninge of three hundreth Martyrs
at the leste, could haue bene satisfied and vnfaynedly moued to con-
fesse the true Christe and Messias, and repented her former
rebellion in geuing contrarie commandement to all her dominions,
charging them to receaue agayne the true religion and to expell all
blasphemous idolatrie of the pestilent papistes : and that none
shulde speake any euill agaynst Christe and his Eeligion (as did
Nabuchadnezer by the example of three persons onely, whom the
fire by the power of God coulde not touche) then were she more to
be borne with, and reuerenced as a Ruler (if it were lawfull for a
woman to rule at all) then were there also some probabilitie in the
reasons of the aduersaries of this doctrine. Otherwise as you
now see, it maketh nothing at all for their purpose." — Goodman,
p. 130.

I am not singular in viewing Knox and Goodman as the
chief political guides of their party. They were so considered
(and with very good reason) in their own time, not only by
their own friends, but by their Romish enemies; and, to
give one instance, they have been very particularly and
pleasantly set forth as such in "An Oration against the
' Unlawfull Insurrections of the Protestantes of our time,

* vnder pretence to Refourme Religion £[ made and pro-

* nounced in Latin, in the Schole of Artes at Louaine, the

* xiiij of December. Anno 1565. fl By Peter Frarin of

* Andwerp, M. of Arte, and Bacheler of both lawes. And
' now translated into English, with the aduise of the

* Author."1 The book has one peculiarity for which it
deserves to be noticed ; and for which, I presume, it is in-
debted to the translator. I mean, " The Table of this Booke
1 set ovt not by order of Alphabete or numbre but by ex-

* presse figure, to the eye and sight of the Christian Reader,
' and of him also that cannot reade." In fact it has a sort of
pictorial index, each page of which contains two cuts having

1 In the prefatory epistle from " The Translatour to the Gentle
Reader" we are informed that ; — " Among many other laudable customes
' of the noble Vniuersitie of Louaine, this one is yearely observed there,
' that in the moneth of December al ordinarie lessons cease for the space
1 of one whole weeke, and in place thereof some Learned man is chosen
' by common assent to be the President of certaine disputations : wherein
' he proponeth, to such as are thereto appointed, diuerse frutefull ques-
' tions in Diuinitie, Law, Physick, Phylosopbie, Humanitie, and in all
' probable matters," &c. The translation was printed by John Fouler,
Antwerp, 1566, 8vo ; and from his signature to the letter above mentioned
it would seem as if he was also the translator.

110

PETER FRARIN'S ORATION.

[ESSAY

underneath them respectively references to the signature of
the page of the book in which the subject which they repre-
sent is treated of, and two or more verses describing it.
One of these cuts is so much to our purpose that I cannot
help offering the reader a facsimile.

&o ©ueene in fjer feingtrome ran or ongf)t

to sijt fast
If l&nofees or Cuoolnuans tooftes tlotur

ang true fckst.

Few readers will, I suppose, dispute the truth of this
poetical statement; or wonder that Mr. Peter Frarin in-
cluded the " Gospellers of England " among the insurgent
protestants who were the subject of his oration.

"I could," he says, "declare vnto you, how the traiterouse
Gospellers of England gathered a maine hoste againste their moste
vertuouse ladie Queen Marie the rare treasure the peerlesse Jewell,
the most perfecte paterne and Example of our dales. How they
shotte arrowes and dartes againste her Courte gates, conspired her
death, deuised to poison her, to kil her with a dagge at one time,
with a priuie dagger at an other time, reuiled her, called her bastard,
boutcher, printed seditiouse bokes againste her, wherein they railed
at her like Hellhoundes, and named her traiterouse Marie, mis-
cheuouse Marie." — Sig. E. vi.

The reader will guess the parts of this extract which bear
the marginal notes " Wiate's Rebellion" and "Knokes boke."
Indeed Mr. Peter Frarin seems to have had good information
on the former of these points, and some phrases sound as if
he had heard the report of the "great gun ; " for instance ; —

vii.] PONET ON QUEEN MARY. Ill

" Your purpose was, ye say, to refourme the Christian faith. How
then? When you could not therein preuail, nor perswade the
people, that was somewhat stubborn and stiffnecked perhaps as you
iudged, did you think it the best way by & by with gonne shot and
bytels to beat and driue the faith into their heades ? " — 8ig. B. vi.

" O master ministers, it is a very harde word that ye bring vs, for
ye speake gonnestones, your gospel is to hot, ye preache fire and
powder, your religion is to cruel, it breedeth bloud and murder." —
8ig. C. v.

"Ye travailed to bring the world to your Keligion by villany,
railing, and dubble cannons." — Sig. C. vij. 6.

If there be any who think this strong language they will
perhaps feel it difficult to answer the orator when he more
dispassionately asks " Was it meete that because they could
' not freely and frankly preache the worde, therefore by and
' by they should lay hand on the sword ? " — Sig. C iv. b.

But we must go on, for there are other witnesses beside
Knox and Goodman, of whose testimony we must have
specimens. Take the following extract from Bishop Ponet.
A few words at the beginning of it have been given already
at p. 58, and are here repeated to show the connexion of the
passage and render it more intelligible.

"But before the halter stoppe thy winde, Boner, let vs knowe,
what thou canst saye for her. Sayest thou, princes be not bounden
by theyr othes and promisses ? Ynough. What for the rest ? let
them remembre that not long agoo their neighbour Monsieur Veruin,
captain of Boloigne was punished as a traitour, for that by necessitie
and extremitie of force he rendred yp Boloigne to king Henry theight
and did not die in the defense of it : But thou wilt saie, he did it
without commaundement of his maister : and these shall doo it by
commaundement of their maistres. But what if the commaundement
be not laufull doest thou not saie thy self, it is not to be obeied ?
Thou saiest to others, that non male do that is not laufull for any
commaundement. But thou wilt saie : it is the Queues owne, and
she maye laufully doo with her owne what she lusteth. What if it
be denyed to be her owne ? But thou wilt saie : she bathe the
crowne by enheritaunce, and maie dispose of the realme, and euery
parte of the Eealme, as pleaseth her. By I answer : that albeit she
haue it bi enheritaunce, yet she hathe it with an othe, lawe and con-
dicion to kepe and mayntene it, not to departe with it or diminishe
it. If she haue no more right to the Kealme than her father hade,
and her father as much as euer ani king of Englande : what neded
he to require the consent of the Nobilitie and commons (by parlia-
ment) to geue the Crowne to his daughter or any other ?

" But thou will saie, it was more than needed : for without consent
of the parliament, he might doo with the Eealme and euerie parte
therof, what it pleased him. Take hede what thou sayest. If that

112 PONET ON THE KEGIMENT OF WOMEN. [ESSAY

be true, that king Henry might do with it without consent of the
parliament : how is the Ladi mari Quene ? why might not king
Edwarde his sonne (a prince borne in laufull matrimonie, and right
heire to the Crowne) bequeathe the Crowne wher he wolde, and as
he did ? Take hede what thou doest. If the king and Quene geue
thee a thousaunt perdones, yet shalt thou be founde a ranke
Traitour to the Realme of Englande. For albeit the king or Quene
of a realme haue the Crowne neuer [so] iustly, yet maye they not
dispose of the Crowne or realme, as it pleaseth them. They haue
the Crowne to minister iustice, but the Realme being a bodi of
freemen and not of bondemen, he nor she can not geue or sell them
as slaues and bondemen. No, they can not geue or sell awaye the
holdes and fortes (as Calese and Barwike, or such like) without the
consent of the Commones : for it was purchaced with their blood
and moneie. Yea and thine owne popes lawes (wherby thou
measurest all thinges to be laufull or not laufull) saie, that if a king
or gouernour of any realme goo about to diminishe the regalities
and rightes of his crowne, he ought to be deposed. Thus did Pope
Honorius the thrid commaunde tharchebishop of Collossa and his
suffraganes to depriue a king of Vngarie, which went about to
waste, sell and geue awaye the Regalities and rightes of his crowne,
onles in tyme he ceassed and called backe that he hade done. It is
so plaine, thou canst not denie it.

" But I see, Boner, I haue chafed thee to muche : thi chekes
blushe and swell for very angre. M. D. Cheadsei, M. D. Pendleton,
M. Cosins, or som of you chaplaines, get my lorde a cup of secke,to
comfort his spirites. My lorde and I agree almost like belles : we
iarre somwhat but not muche, his lordship meaneth that men ought
to be alwaies but not at all tymes honest. But I saie, thei must be
honest alwaies and at al tymes. His lordeship wolde fayne haue a
placarde or prouiso for him and his, that they might somtimes (tha
is from the beginning to the ende of the weke) plaie their partes.
But I saie, albeit his lordship haue such a priuilege, yet maie no
honest man at any tyme doo that is not honest, iuste, and laufull, bi
kaisers, kinges, Quenes no, neither his commaundement." — P&net,
Sig. E. ij.

The same writer had before laid down this doctrine in a
highly characteristic passage ; —

" Whan Pharao the tyranne commaunded the mydwyues of the
Egipcianes, to kill all the male children that should be borne of the
Israelites wyues : thinke ye, he did only commaunde them ? No
without doubt. Ye maye be sure, he commaunded not only vpon
threatned paynes, but also promised them largely : and perchaunce
as largely as those doo, that being desirous of children, procure the
mydwyues to saye, they be with childe, whan their bely is puffed vp
with the dropsie or molle, and hauing bleared the common peoples
eies with processioning, Te deum singing, and bonfire banketting,
vse all ceremonies and cryeing out, whilest an other birdes egge is
layed in the nest. But these good mydwiues fearing God (the high
power) who hadde commaunded them, not to kill, wold not obeye
this tyranne Pharaoes commaundement, but lefte it vndone.

vii.] BECON'S SUPPLICATION. 113

"Whan the loilye quene lesabel commaunded, that the prophetes
of God should be destroyed, that none should be lefte to speake
against her idoles, but that all men should f olowe her procedinges :
did Abdias the chief officer to the king her husbande saye, * Your
gra£e dothe very well to ridde the worlde of them for those that
worship"' the "true liuing God, cannot be but traitours to my
souerayne lorde and maistre the king your husbande, and to your
grace: and. it is these heretikesj that bewitche and coniure you,
that your grace cannot be delyuered of your childe, nor slepe quietly
in your bedde : let me alone, I will finde the meanes to despeche
them all, only haue your grace a good opinion of me, and thinke I
am your owne?' No. Abdias (a man fearing God, and knowing
this commaundement to be a wicked womans will) did cieane con-
trary to her commaundement, and hidde and preserued an hundred
of the prophetes vnder the earthe in caues. Whan the wicked king
Saul commaunded his howne householde wayters and familiar
seruauntes to kill the priest Ahimelech and his children for hatred
to Dauid : did those his owne nerest wayting seruauntes flattre him
f orewarde, and saye, ' Your Maiestie shall neuer be in sauetie and
quiet so long as this traitour and his prating children (that are
alwayes in their sermones and bokes, meddling of the kinges maters)
be suffred to lyve ? we wil be your true obedient seruauntes, we will
beleue as the king beleueth, we will doo as the king biddeth vs,
according to our most bounden deutle of allegeaunce, we shall sone
ease your highnesse of this grief : other of your graces chaplaynes
be more mete for that rowme than this hipocrite traitour ? ' No.
they vsed no suche court crueltie, but considering God to be the
supreme power, and seing Ahimelech (by his answeres) and his
householde to be giltles of suche mater in forme and intent as (by
Doeges accusation) Saul charged him withal, they refused to kill
any of them, or ones to laye violent handes vpon them, but playnly
and vtterly (being yet the kinges true seruauntes and subiectes)
denyed to obeye the kinges vnlaufull commaundemeDt." — Ponet,
Sig. D. iv.

With regard to Becon, I have not at present access to
many of his original editions ; and it is not to our purpose
to quote those which were afterwards republished with
corrections. In his Supplication, however, which I have
already mentioned, he is equally plain and express as to the
regiment of women. Take the following extract from the
long prayer of which his book consists, and forgive me for
reprinting matter offensive enough in itself, but rendered
tenfold more offensive by the form in which it is presented.
But it must be remembered that the author- was one of
Archbishop Cranmer's Chaplains, and his opinion, especially
as he thought fit to give it in so emphatic and solemn a
manner, must not be overlooked ; —

" But alas for sorow, this most goodly & godly Iinpe, this moste

B

114 THE ;< SUPPLICACYON TO [ESSAY

Christen kyng, this noble yonge Josias was for oure vnthankef ulnes
& wicked lyuing taken awaye from vs, before the tyme vnto our
great sorow & vnspeakable hartes disease. Whose death was the
beginning, and is now still the continuaunce of all our sorowes,
griefes & miseries. For in the steade of that verteous prince, thou
haste set to rule ouer vs an woman, whom nature hath formed to be in
subieccion vnto man, & whom thou by thyne holy Apostle com-
maundest to kepe silence & not to speake in the congregacion. Ah
Lord, to take away the empire from a man, and to gyue it vnto a
woman, seemeth to be an euident token of thyne anger toward vs
Englishmen. For by the Prophete, thou beyng displeased with thy
people, threatnest to sette women to rule ouer them, as people vn-
worthy to haue lauful, natural, and mete gouernors to reign over
them. And verely though we fynd, that women sometime bare rule
among thy people, yet do we rede, that suche as ruled & were quenes,
were for the moste part wicked, vnyodly, superstitious, & c/euen to
idolatry, & to all filthy abhominacion, as we may se in the histories
of quene Jesabel, quene Athalia, quene Herodias and such like. Ah
Lorde God, we dare not take vpon vs to iudge anye creature, for vnto
the alone are the secretes of all hartes knowne, but of this are we
sure, that synce she ruled, whyther of her owne disposicionj or of
the prouocacion of a certayne wylde bore, successor too Ananias
that whyghtie daubed waulle, we know not, thy vineyarde Is vtterly
rooted vp and layde waste, thy true religion is bannished, and popishe
supersticion hath preuayled, yea & that vnder the coloure of the
catholicke churche." &c. — Becon, Supp., Sig. A. vii.

It is conceivable that Becon might imagine it possible that,
in some sort of sense, he, and those whom he expected to use
his " Supplication," might be able to say that they dared not
" to judge any creature ; " and this may perhaps be con-
sidered as consistent with his launching such an anathema
as the following, provided it is believed that he did not mean
it to have reference, or to be applied by his readers, to any
particular persons ; —

" Those, O Lorde, whiche are thy sworne enemyes and of a sett
purpose euen ageynste their owne conscience and contrary to their
knowledge persecute the gloryus Gospell of thy derely beloued
sonne and the tru fauourers of the same, and wil by no meanes be
reconciled, nor leane vnto the truthe, but go f orthe dayly more and
more to hinder the fre and ioyefull passage of thy holy wored, & to
withdrawe so many as they can from beleuyng, receauyng, and
embrassyng the same seyng they synne the synne vnto deathe and
are not to be conuerted, O Lorde haiste the to root theme vp from
the face of the Earthe that they be no more stomblyng blockes to
the weake Christians. Destroie thow them O God, let them peryshe
thoroughe theyr owne irnaginacions. Caste them out in the multitud
of their vngodlynes, for they haue rebelled ageynste the. Eayne
thowe snares fyre, brimston, storme, and tempeste, vpon them, let
this be their porcion to drincke. Let them be confounded and put

vii.] THE QUENES MAIESTIE." 115

to shame, that seke after the lyues of the faithfull. 0 let them be
turned backe and broughte to confusion, that imagine mischefe
ageynste them. Let them be as duste befor the wynd, and the
Angel of the Lord scattering them. Let their way be dark and
slippery, and let thy Angel O Lord persecut them. Yea let soden
distruccion com vpon them vnwares, and the netes that they haue
layde preuely, cathe [sic] themselues, that they maye faull into theyr
own mycheff. Let the swerdes that they drawe out go thorowe
their owne heartes, and the bowes that they haue bended slea them
selues." — JBecon, Sig. E. ij.

Who were "Those"? Let the question be honestly
answered. Was it altogether improbable that such an
anathema should be applied in a way not very likely to con-
ciliate the Queen, the Council, and the ecclesiastical rulers?
The Queen was supposed to be too much in the hands of the
bishops, and the anonymous author of the " Supplicacyon to
the Quenes Maiestie " thought fit to caution her on this
head in no very equivocal terms; —

" We read also in the 18. chapter off the third booke off the
kings, affter that allmighty god at the praier off the prophet Elias,
had shut the heauens that it rainid not in thre yeres and six
monithes, and king Achab meting with the prophet Elias, he sayd
to him: « thou art be that troblest all Israel' (like as steuen
gardener bisshop off Winchester and his feloues, saith to the pour
preachers and professors of Christes gospell now a days) but Elias
words shall answere hym, wherwith he answerid king Achab. It is
he and hys complices, that haue forsaken the liuing god, and do go
a whoring after strang gods, as the matter shall plainly appere when
god will, like as it did appere by Elias, with the 400. false prophets,
which false prophetts had seduced thie quene lesabell, and cawsid
her to sley and distroy all gods holy prophetts (like as our false and
cruell bisshopps intendith to do) so that the prophet Elias was fain
to fly in to the wildernes, to saue his liff, wher god appointid A
Eauen to feed hym : but what was the ende both of the quene and of
all those false prophetts ? Bead the text, and you shal plainly per-
ceiue that the quene was cast down out of a window wher she brake
her necke and was eaten vp of dogs, as the prophet of god had
before said, and all here false prophetts and preastes were vtterly
distroied.

"Let this greuous example moue your grace do beware the tymes
of your false bysshopps and clergye, specyally of steuen gardener
bysshop of wynchester." — 8upp. to the Queen, Sig. A. iv. 6.

It is hardly necessary to ask the reader to consider what
the Queen and the government of England must have
thought of those persons abroad who sent over, and those in
this country who circulated, such books as I have quoted
from, and how they must have felt disposed, not to say com-

116 "THE SPANIARDS." [ESSAY

pelled, to treat them ? The question at present is not how
far the matter was right or wrong, or what we may think of
it in itself, but what did the Queen and her Council think
of it ? I do not say what did the King and his Spaniards
think of it, for they had enough to think of in other matter
more particularly and pointedly addressed to themselves,
and of which I hope to give some specimens presently.

ESSAY VIII.

PURITAN POLITICS. No. IV.

THE SPANIARDS.

WYATT STAFFORD — BRADFORD — BALE KNOX — PONET

G

"TREWE MIRROR.

GOODMAN — THE " SUPPLICATION TO THE QUEEN " — THE

" I AM come vnto you " — said Queen Mary, to the citizens of
London, in the speech which she made to them on occasion
of Wyatt's rebellion — " I am come vnto you, in mine own
' person to tel you that which already you see & know, that
' is, how traiterously and rebelleously, a number of Kentish-
' men haue assembled themselves against both vs & you.
' Their pretence (as they said at first) was for a mariage
1 determined for vs, to the which, and to all the articles
' thereof ye haue bin made priuy. But sithens we have

* caused certaine of our priuy Counsaile to go againe vnto
' them and to demand the cause of this their rebellion, and
{ it appeared then vnto our said counsel, that the matter of
' the mariage seemed to bee but as a Spanish cloak to couer

* their pretensed purpose against our religion ; so that they
4 arrogantly and traiterously demanded to haue the gouer-
1 nance of our person, the keeping of the Tower, and the
' placing of our Counsailers."

" Now louing subiects," continued the Queen, " what I
' am ye right wel know. I am your Queen, to whom at my

* coronation, when I was wedded to the Realme and lawes of

* the same (the spousall ring whereof I haue on my finger,

vm.] "THE SPANISH CLOAK." 117

' which neuer hitherto was, nor hereafter shall be, left off)
' you promised your allegiance and obedience vnto me./'

After an appeal to their sense of duty as subjects, her
Majesty proceeded to say : " As concerning the mariage, ye

* shal vnderstande that I enterprised not the doing thereof

* without aduice, and that by the aduice of al our priuy
'council, who so considered and wayed the great com-

* modities that might insue thereof that they not only

* thought it very honorable, but also expedient, both for the
' welth of the realme, and also of you subiectes. "

And after further declaring that in this matter she was
not following her own self-will, she added : " Certainly, if I

* either did thinke or know that this mariage were to the

* hurt of any of you my commons, or to the impeachment of

* any part or parcel of the roial state of this realme of Eng-

* land I woulde neuer consent thereunto, neither woulde leuer

* mary while I liued. And in the worde of a Queene I pro-
' mise you that if it shal not probably appear to al the nobility

* and commons in the high court of parliament, that this
' mariage shal be for the high benefit and commodity of al the

* whole realm, then I will abstaine from mariage while I Hue."1

This view of the " Spanish cloak " concealing other views
and purposes is taken by the principal historian of Wyatt's
rebellion2, who tells us : —

1 Fox, vol. ii. p. 1289. Ed. 1596.

2 The full title of the work from which I extract is, " The historie of
'Wyates rebellion, with the order and maner of resisting the same,
' wherunto in the ende is added an earnest conference with the degenerafe
' and sedicious rebelles for the serche of the cause of their daily dis-
' order. Made and compyled by John Proctor. Mense lanuarii, Anno
' 1555," It was " Iraprynted at London by Eobert Caly within the
precincte of the late dissolued house of the graye Freers, now conuerted
to an Hospitall, called Christes Hospitall : The x. day of January 1555."
Small 8vo, b. 1., containing N, the two last leaves blank. There is some
account of the book in Brydge's Censura Literaria, (Vol. IV. p. 389,)
where it is said, " Proctor was schoolmaster of the free school at Tun-
bridge, and from his vicinity to the scene of action must have had greater
opportunity of knowing the particulars of the rebellion than many others."
This is I suppose grounded on Anthony a Wood's account, Athence,
Vol. I. p. 235. Lowndes, after mentioning several copies which have
been sold (from the imperfect Roxburghe for 21. 16s. to Mr. Bindley's at
9Z.,) says, "According to Hearne, 'This rare book was much made use
of by Ralph Holinshed in his Chronicle. It was always reckoned a book
of great authority by such as are impartial and are well versed in English
history." — Bibliogr. Man. in v. Proctor,

118 PROCTOR'S "HISTORIE [BSSAI

" Consideringe with hymselfe, that to make the pretence of his
rebellion to bee the restoring or continuaunce of the new and
newelye forged religion was nether agreable to the nature of heresie
(whiche alwaye defendeth it selfe by the name and countenaunce of
other matter moore plausible) neyther so apte to further hys wycked
purpose, being not a case so general to allure al sortes to take part
with him : he determined to speake no worde of religion, but to make
the colour of hys commotion, only to withstande straungers, and to
aduaunce libertie. For as he made hys full reckninge that suche as
accorded with hym in religion, wold wholly ioyne with hym in that
rebellion.3 So he trusted that the Catholikes for the moste parte,
woulde gladlye imbrace that quarel agaynst the straungers, whose
name he toke to become odible to all sortes, by the sedicious and
malicious report, which he and hys hadde maliciously imagined and
blowen abrode agaynst that nation, as a preparatiue to their
abominable treason. Hys Proclamation therefore published at
Maydstone, and so in other places, persuaded that quarell to be
taken in hande only in the defense of the realme from ouerrunnynge
by Straungers, and for thaduauncement of libertie. Where in verye
dede, hys onely and very matter was the continuaunce of heresye,
as by hys owne wordes at sundrie times shal hereafter appeare.

" And to the ende the people should not thinke that he alone
with a fewe other meane gentlemen, had taken that traiterous
enterprise in hand without comfort and ayde of higher powers, he
vntruely and maliciously added further to his proclamation, by
persuasion to the people, that all the nobilitie of the realme, and the
whole counsell (one or two onelye except) were agreable to his pre-
tensed treason, and would with all their power and strength further
the same, which he found most vntrue to his subuersion. And that
the lord Aburgauenye, the lorde Warden, Syr Eobert Southwell,
high shyreffe with all other gentlemen wold ioyne with him in this
enterprise, and set theyr fote by his to repel the straungers.

"This proclamation, and such annexed persuasions made at
Maydstone on the market day, and in other partes of the shire, had
so wrought in the heartes of the people, that diuers which before
hated him, and he them, were nowe as it seemed upon this occasion
mutuallye reconciled, and sayde vnto him. ' Syr, is your quarell
onelye to defend vs ouerrunning by straungers, and to aduance
libertie, and not agaynst the Queene?' 'No,' quod Wyat, 'we
mynde nothinge lesse, then anye wyse to touche her grace : but to
serue her, and honour her accordyng to our dueties.' 'Wei,' quod
they, ' geue vs then youre hande, we wyll stycke to you to deathe in
this quarell.' That done, there came to hym one other of good
wealthe, saiyng : ' Syr,' quod he, ' they saye I loue potage well, I
wyll sell all my spones, and al the plate in my house, rather than
your purpose shall quayle, and suppe my potage with my naouthe.
I truste,' quod he, 'you wyll restore the ryght religion agayne.'

3 That he was not mistaken in his calculations on this point may be
seen by evidence which has been already adduced in these papers ; as
well as by the way in which he and his rebellion are spoken of by the
leading men of the puritan party.

vm.] OF WYATES REBELLION." 110

' Whiste' quod Wyat, 'you maye not so much as name religion, for
that wil withdraw from vs the heartes of manye : yon must only
make your quarel for ouerrunninge by straungers. And yet to thee
be it sayd in counsell, as vnto my frende, we minde onely the
restitution of God's word." — Fol. 3. b.

That the good commons of England might at any time be
worked upon by representations that they were being sold
as slaves into the hands of strangers and foreigners, is very
conceivable : but that the match between the Queen and
Philip of Spain was really disliked by the people in general,
or considered by them as a national grievance, may very
well be questioned. At the same time, we must not be
surprised, that the matter has been represented in that
light by modern historians, who have too generally and too
implicitly followed the statements of the most violent
agitators of the period, who had, as Mr. Proctor observes,
" maliciously imagined and blowen abrode " a " seditious
and malacious report " calculated to render the very name
of the Spaniards " odible to all sortes." Thus Bishop
Burnet tell us :

"It was now apparent, the queen was to marry the prince of
Spain ; which gave an universal discontent to the whole nation.
All that loved the Keformation saw, that not only their religion
would be changed, but a Spanish government and inquisition would
be set up in its stead. Those who considered the civil liberties of
the kingdom, without great regard to religion, concluded that
England would become a province to Spain, and they saw how they
governed the Netherlands," &c. — Hist, of Eef. Vol. ii. p. 249.

And again —

" But great discontents did now appear everywhere. The severe
executions after the last rising, the marriage with Spain, and the
overturning of religion concurred to alienate the nation from the
government." — Ibid. 268.

Of course it is very easy to talk of " universal dis-
content " and " the whole nation," and to tell us that
" discontents " appeared " everywhere ; " but perhaps it
would not be easy to justify the use of such language by
particular details. Certainly there were some discontents,
and some attempts to create more. For instance, Stafford's
rebellion, which it may be worth while to refer to more
particularly, because it not only illustrates our present
subject, but is a good specimen of the manner in which
history is too often made. Strype gives us (from that

120 STAFFORD'S REBELLION [ESSAY

curious miscellany the " Foxii MSS.") the proclamation
which this rebel issued, and which begins thus :

" To all and every singular person and persons, of what estate or
degree soever they be, that love the common wealthe, honoure, and
libertie of this ower native countrye, and moste for the realme of
England, the Lorde Thomas Stafforde, son to the Lorde Henry,
rightfull Duke of Bockingham, sendythe greetinge. Knowe ye,
most dearlye belovyd contrymen, that we travellinge in strange
realmes, and forren nations, have perfectly proved owt manye
detestable treasons, which Spanyardes shamfullye and wrongfullye
have pretended, and at this present have indevered themselves to
worke against ower noble realme of Englande ; we therfore more
tenderlye favouringe, as all trewe Englishmen owghte to do, the
common commodity and weal publycke of this ower natyve contrye,
than ower welthe, treasure, safegarde, health, or pleasure, have with
all possible spede arived here in the castell of Scarborowe, levyng
owr band, wherwith we thoughte to have proved in other affayers,
comyng after us, bycause we had perfect knowledge by certaine
letters taken with Spanyardes at Depe, that this same castell of
Scarborow, with xij other of the moste chefest and principall
howldes in the realme, shalbe delyvered to xij thousand Spanyardes,
before the Kinges coronation : for the Spanyardes saye, it were but
vaine for the Kinge to be crowned, onlesse he maye have certaine
of our strongest castelles and holdes, to resorte to at all tymes, till
he maye be able to bringe in a greate armye to withstonde his
enemyes, that is, to overrun and destroye the wholle realme : for, so
long as Englyshemen have anye power, we truste they will never
submitte themselfes to vile Spanyardes. Which treason we have
disappointed ; trustinge, and firmelye belevinge, by the mighte of
the omnipotente, everlastinge God, with the ayde and helpe of all
trewe Englyshmen, to deliver owr country from all presente peril,
daunger, and bondage, wherunto it is like to be broughte, by the
moste develyshe devize of Mary, unrightful and unworthye Quene
of England, who, both by the will of hir father, Kinge Henrye the
viijth, and by the lawes of this noble realme of England, hathe
forfette the crowne, for marriage with a straunger. And also hathe
moste justly e deserved to be deprived from the crowne, because
she being naturallye borne haulfe Spanyshe and haulfe Englyshe,
bearythe not herselfe indifferentlye towardes bothe nations, but
showinge herselfe a whole Spanyarde, and no Englyshe woman, in
lovinge Spanyardes, andhatinge Inglyshemen, inrichinge Spanyardes
and robbinge Inglyshemen ; sending over to Spanyardes continuallye
the treasure, gowlde, and silver of our realme, to maintaine them
for owr destruction ; sufferinge poore people of England to lyve in
all carefull miserye, manye of them dyinge for verye hunger : and
not contented with all thes myschyfes, she sekynge earnestlye by
all possyble meanes to place Spanyardes in our castelles and
howldes, contrarye to all statutes, custornes, and ordinaunces within
this realme, that they maye burne and destroye the countrye iij or
iiij tymes yerelye, till Englyshemen can be contented to obeye all
their vyle costomes, and moste detestable doinges, wherby the

vm.] AND PROCLAMATION. 121

whole commonaltie of Inglande shalbe broughte to perpetual
captivitie, bondage, and moste servyle slaverye, as evidently shalbe
proved before all men, at our fyrste assemble." — Mem. Vol. III.
P. ii. p. 515.

This rebellious proclamation is given by Strype, in what
he calls the " Catalogue " of documents, annexed to the
Memorials ; and, notwithstanding something almost tauto-
logous, the passage of his history which refers to the matter,
may amuse the reader as a specimen of the unsuspecting
simplicity with which Strype received and adopted every
statement proceeding from what he considered the right
side. If it were not so mischievous, it would be merely
ludicrous to see how the rhodomontade of this rebel pro-
clamation is transmuted into mere matter-of-fact history.

" The Government by this time became very uneasy, not only in
respect of the bloodshed for religion, and the rigorous inquisitions
made every where, but for the domineering of the Spaniards, which
was intolerable. The English were very much disregarded, and the
Spaniards ruled all; the queen, half Spanish by birth, and still
more so by marriage, shewing them all favour ; hating the English,
and enriching the Spaniard, and sending over her treasures to
Spaniards. King Philip also had required twelve of the strongest
castles here in England ; which were to be put into the hands of
twelve thousand of the Spanish soldiers, to be sent over against the
time of his coronation, as was found by certain letters taken with
Spaniards at Diep. This raised a great apprehension in the nation,
that he intended to get this realm to himself by a conquest, and to
reduce it under a tyranny. That nation also had carried themselves
here very disobligingly to the English, and would say, that they
would rather dwell among Moors and Turks, than with Englishmen ;
who sometimes would not bear their insolencies and oppressions
without resistance.

" This, together with a hope of restoring himself to the dukedom
of Buckingham, made Thomas Stafford, of that blood, in April arrive
in England out of France with forces, and possess himself of Scar-
borough castle ; giving out himself to be governor and protector of
the realms ; intending to depose Queen Mary, whom he called, the
unrightful and unworthy Queen of England, as forfeiting her crown
by marriage with a stranger, and for favouring and maintaining
Spaniards, and putting castles into their hands, to the destruction
of the English nation. Stafford, with his party, (who were the
remainders of those who made the insurrection the last year) put
forth his proclamation. But the King and Queen, being greatly
surprised herewith, April 30, sent out a proclamation against him
and the other traitors with him ; and they were soon quelled by the
Earl of Westmorland and others in those parts. Stafford and four
more were taken in Scarborough castle, April 28, and brought up to
the Tower : and twenty-seven more, that assisted in that exploit,
were prisoners in York. May 28, Stafford was beheaded on Tower-

122 BRADFORD'S " BLAST OF [ESSAY

hill ; and the next day three of the accomplices were executed at
Tyburn, viz. Stretchley, alias Strelly, alias Stowel, Proctor, and
Bradford ; that Bradford, I suppose, who wrote a large and notable
letter, mentioned before, against the Spaniards." — Mem. III. ii. 66.

It does not seem to have occurred to Strype that the fact
of these rebels meeting with no encouragement — their
being, as he says, " soon quelled by the Earl of Westmore-
land and others in those parts " — that is, by the English,
who were intrusted with such a business, while "very
much disregarded, and the Spaniards ruled all " — that the
traitors were quietly hanged at Tyburn instead of being cut
into mince-meat by the king and his twelve thousand
domineering Spaniards4 — it does not, I say, seem to have
occurred to him, that these circumstances might justly
excite some suspicion as to the perfect accuracy of some
statements in the rebel proclamation, and his own view of
the state of things in the country generally.

Whether Strype is right in supposing the John Bradford
who suffered for the part which he took in this rebellion, to
be the author of the work of which I have already spoken
at p. 85, I do not pretend to decide ; but his mentioning
him will very naturally introduce some extracts from his
work. First, however, let us have the copy of verses which
are appended to it, and which, as I have already stated, do
not appear quite in accordance with his vehement profession
of fidelity to the old religion.

t(*flA tragicall blast of the Papisticall trompette for maintenaunce
of the Popes kingdoms in Englande.

" Now fil the cup & make good chere,
This golden chaines must neds obei :
England is ours both farre & nere,
No king shall reigne if we say nay.

4 It is of great importance to observe how the rhodomontades of history
are softened down. Strype says, " twelve thousand of the Spanish sol-
diers to be sent over against the time of his coronation." The copy of the
rebel proclamation, which he gives from the Fox MSS. leaves the matter
open. But the royal proclamation against the rebels (which Strype also
gives) distinctly charges the Eebel with having dishonestly stated in his
" shamerull proclamation " that " the Kings Majestic, our sayde soverayne
Lord hath induced and brought into this realm the number of twelve
thousande straungers and Spaniardes." Which of these statements is
correct I do not pretend to decide, but of course it was much more to the
purpose to tell the Englishmen that the Spaniards were actually in the
country, than only that they might be expected.

viii.] THE PAPISTIOALL TROMPETTE." 123

Now all shauen crownes to the standard,
Make rome, pul down for the Spaniard.

" Spare nother man, woman or childe,
Hange and hed them, burne them with fier :
What if Christ wer both meke & mild
Satan our lord wil geue vs hier.
Now al shauen crounes to the stariderd
Make rome, pul down for the Spaniard.

" Pope innocent our father old
When Peters keis cold doe no good :
He cursed them a thousande folde,
And drowned them in Tibers floud.
Now al shauen crownes to the standerd
Make rome, pul down for the Spaniard.

" He said we must pauls swerde now take,
Splay the banner, strike vp the droome,
Fall to aray, pike and halfe hake,
Play now the men, the time is come.
Now al shauen crownes to the standerd,
Make rome, pul down for the Spaniard.

" Our golden hatte we muste defende,
Though Christ say nay, we wil it haue,
And it maintaine vnto the ende,
Al kinges to vs be bonde and slaue.
Now al shauen crownes to the standerd
Make rome, pul down for the Spaniard.

" The Pope our father hathe alrule,
The deuil to him wil neuer say nay,
But maketh him richly to ride on mule.
In worldly pompe, which may not decai.
Now al shauen crownes to the standerd,
Make rome pul down for the Spaniard.

" The Spaniards hath sworn vs to defend,
So that we betraye Englande to them :
Make hauock now the people to spend,
As Herode did once in Bethleem.
Now al shauen crownes to the standerd
Make rome, pul down for the Spaniard.

" Doe you not see this Englishe in feare :
Their hart is driuen into their hose,
xiii we burned of late together :
Thei durst not snuffe once with their nose
Now al shauen crownes to the standerd,
Make rome, pul down for the Spaniard.

" Hey courage, courage, my felowes al,
The getting ship must bere a proud saile,
If we draw backe our kingdom wil fal,
If we be stoute nothing shal vs faile

124 BRADFORD'S LETTER [ESSAY

Now al shauen crownes to the standard,
Make rome, pul down for the Spaniard.
" Lay shame aside, let honesty go,
Beare out al matters be they vntrew :
Say trew men be traitors & the Qu. foe,
Banish al truethe and falshode renew.
Now al shauen crownes to the standerd,
Make rome, pul down for the Spaniard.

" Our iust must we haue, who can sai nay,
This god once said to our father Caine,
The world is our reigne and worldlie staie,
We shal not decaye but alwais remaine.
Now al shauen crownes to the standerd
Make rome, pul downe for the Spaniard.

" The author to Englande his
naturall countreye.

u England repent whiles thou hast space,
If thou couldest repent as Niniuie did,
Then sholdest thou be sure of gods grace
And so might thy enemies quite be rid.
But if thou be blinde, and will not see,
Then hasteth destruction for to destroi the."

But to come to Bradford's own part of the work. He
dedicates it thus,

" To the right

honorable lords &c. the erles of Arun-
-dell, Darby, Shreusebury & Pembrok,
their true and faythfull seruaunt wi-
sheth, as to al other of our nobilitie in
crease of grace in gods fauour, wyth
perfect honor, and the preseruacyon
of their most honorable estates and
country. Thoughe ye reioyce not in
readyng my foolyshe reasons, yet
geue God thankes, that I haue
discouered suche detesta-
ble treasons."

And then, after a passage which has been already partly
quoted, he says ; —

"I wil write nothing to disturbe the trew and most godly state
of oure religion, whiche the Quenes maiestie moste graciouslye
setteth out at thys present, and wherein god hath preserued me :
nor yet, to disturbe the quiete estate of the commonwealth : But in
shewing what is pretended to the contrarye, declare vnto you the
way, if it please you to folowe my counsell, how to preserue youre
lordeshipes, ard the whole realme, from most miserable bondage

vni.] ON THE SPANIARDS. 125

and captiuite. I purpose to declare a part of the naturall dispo-
sicion of Spaniardes : certayne of their premeditate mischeues, and
pretensed treasons, not onely agaynst your most honorable persons,
but also agaynst the whole realme : so farre, as I haue heard, scene
and proued, for the space of two or .iii yeres in their companye.
My frendes putte me to learne their language and compelled me to
Hue amongest them, because I myghte knowe perfectlye, whether
their nature were so vyle, as men reported, or not. And I assure
your lordshipes, and all my frendes, that the vileste reporte, that
euer I heard Englishmen speake, by the worste of all Spaniardes, is
nothinge to the vilenes which remaineth amongest the best of that
nacion, except the kings maiestie. Ye wil say the noble men be
very ciuill persons. In very dede I haue not seen so muche vertue
in all the reste, as in that most noble Prince the duke of Medenazelye.
A Prince, vndoubtedly, endewed with perfect humilitie, trueth, loue,
charite and all other prince like vertues." — Sig. A. viii.

It will be observed that Bradford writes as if he were
under a suspicion that his reader's opinion of the character
and proceedings of the Spaniards, formed on actual observa-
tion, might be somewhat different from what he wished to
inculcate, — " ye wil say the noble men be very ciuill
persons." Indeed, the reader cannot fail to observe in
subsequent extracts, that the evils and abominations of
the Spanish alliance were matters of prediction rather than
of fact.

" But wherfore should I spend my time, in showing so mani of
their vile condicions, as I knowe moste perfectly. For me thinke I
heare some noble man starte at these fewe principall pointes saying':
* What a vyle knaue is this, that raileth so muche against the Quenes
frendes.' Would to god that wer trewe : we know moste perfectly,
they loue her treasure faithfully, and her crowne hartely. But if
her grace worke prudently, she shall perceiue spedely, they loue her
person fainedly. I haue not spoken the worst nor the most, lyke a
rayler, but showed a small noniber of rype rotes, from the which
spring a thousand moe mischeffes, for out of eueri rote spring .vii.
braunches, and out of euery braunche doe spring .vii. worse wormes
or stinkinge serpentes of more mortall poison, then either the rotes
or spitful braunches. As for example, take their pompynge pryde,
and ye shall proue their purpose once obteined, thei wil treade your
heads in the dust, and compel you to Hue at home porely, without
bearing rule in the commen wealth. Thinke you, to Hue at home in
your country : no they knowe perfectly you woulde then haue all
people vpon your part and make insurrections, to driue them out of
the lande : they wil prouide for this matter, and put you to death
louingly, before you make such controuersye, that they may gather
vp againe their great giftcs, vpon youre treasures, and maintain e their
gorgious garmentes, with their false brybrie : their fine Spanishe
brauerye with oppression of the pore people, and bye their lustye
liueries with exceading great excises. There be many other

126 BRADFORD'S LETTER [ESSAY

braunches, but I shewe these for a brefe example, that ye may by
your wisedomes picke out the rest. And yet if ye pull of euery
braunch vii. serpentes, ye shal finde a deuelish companie.

" As for example. When ye bee trodden vnder f oote, marke my
woordes well, euery skurueie knaue shal come to your house and
take the best part, leauing you the worste. Ye must obeie him like
a Senioure, ye must geue them the best beddes, and take the worste
pacientlie for youre selfes : for you haue lord Dannes come againe
of them, and thei^shall putte you?in rememberaunce of the miseres
that your parentes suffered vnder them, whiche ye haue forgot, thei
are so long past.

" The worste of them shall bee better estemed, with the kinge and
his counsel, than the best of your realme, ye must be gladd to geue
them place not of curtesie, but of perforce : they must be set in the
higheste place, and you in the loweste. If one of them be appointed
in your house, by the kinge or his counsel, or els receyued for his
moneie, the house must be his and not yours.

"And yet will he departe without taking leaue or paying for
lodeging.

" Some man will sai, that it is not true : for they haue paide
euerie man iustly the vttermost pennie. 1 spealte not of that, whiche
thei Jiaue done in Englande, but of that which the most parte of them
dooe in these countries, and thei wil dooe, when they maie beare
rule, euen amongest you in Englande.

" And yet, I thinke, there be some, that paid not verie iustlie for
al things when thei were amongest you laste. For I myselfe knowe
manye worshippeful menne, which, if thei durst, woulde take their
othe, and seke for recompence, that lodged, ye that lodged
Spaniardes, in their house a yeare and more, and lette them haue
halfe a dossen beddes and chaumbers with all thinges perteininge
to them, a greate parte of their fyre wood, and such other stuffe for
buttery and chereles kitchen, &c. And yet the Spaniardes at their
departing would nother paye for many thinges that were stollen,
nor for many things that were lost, as thei said, nor for many
thinges that were broken and rente, nor to speak plainly, for many
thinges which were so" [instead of a few words omitted, read
filthy from their diseased state], " that no man could lye in them
afterwardes. I know diuerse of them, that paide their accoumptes
so iustlye, & toke their leave so honestly : that their hostes knew
not of their departing, but left the bakers, bruers, bouchers, wood-
mongers and coliers, one of them to paie anothers skore. Yf thei
departed stoutly in these dayes, when they dissembled al goodnes,
when thei trusted to winne the gouernaunce of the realme and the
crowne with yentlenes and good condicions : what wyll thei doe, I praye
you, when they haue the crowne indede ? But to returne ye muste
geue them leaue to speake when you must holde your peace, ye
must cap to them in all places where ye see them, although it be
not your custome, or rather thers indede yet he is a very rusticall
beast, that doeth it not to them : for ye know, the worste of them
is a Senior : ye must preferre them in all thinges, and geue all the
names of honor, excepte maiestie, to the vilest slaue amongest
them." — tiig. B. ii. b.

viii.] ON THE SPANIARDS. 127

"Some of their false flattering fauorers will saie, that all men
maie perceiue perfectly, that I slaunder Spaniardes wrongefullye :
for they haue holpen many synce their comminy into England. But
remember I tolde you they counterfeited condieions, because they
mighte seme like vnto vs, and the more easely disceaue vs.

" For that whiche thei haue done in Englande, was no part of their
nature, but the greatest part of dissimulation, and a plane prepara-
tion to disceaue our nobilite. For wherefore should thei seke
to maintaine our nobilite, and the honor of the realm in his own
estate : doe ye thinke, if thei obtaine the crown, they will main-
teine the nobilite and the realme vpon. their own charges : were it
not better for them to destroie the nobilite and bring the king-
dome, which thei loue so well, to their own commodities ? "-
Sig. B. v. 6.

The following prediction of what the English court was
to become when the Spaniards had quite got their own way,
is too graphic and too much to our purpose, to be omitted.

" Ye haue heard many euils, but god is witnes I cannot for shame
write or declare the vile, shamefull, detestable, and moste abomin-
able reportes, whiche they haue spoken by the Quens maiestie : and
yet her grace thinketh them to be her very frendes : but this one
trueth I will shew couertlie, and wrappe it in as cleane cloutes as I
can, desiring all men and the Quenes highnes herself most
humbly e, to take it after their words. The Spaniards say, if they
obtaine not the crown, thei may curse the time that euer their
kinge was bounde in mariage to a wife, so vnmete for his maiestie
by natural curse of yeres, but yet if the thing maye be brought to
passe, which was ment, in the mariage in a king, thei shal kepe old
riche robes, for high festifal daies. If there be any man that doth
not vnderstande this saying of Spaniardes, let the Quenes highnes,
so long as her grace wil haue any fauourable frendship of the
kinges maieste, kepe her self e as heigh in auctorite & as rich, as she
is at this present, or els her grace shall perceiue perfectly, as she
maye partly at this present, that Spaniards naturally loue fresh
wares, yong deintie dishes, and chaunge of new things.

" I thinke the Quene will blame me, for showing this one trueth,
but by that time her grace shall be glad, to tie horsses vnderneth
her chamber windowe, to suffer vile stinking donghils at her priuie
chamber staires, to see her garde chamber garnished about with
plaine wals, finely furnyshed with riche pallets, of strong corse
canuas, wel stuffed with strawe, the wals most comly colored with
coles, to see sitting among her graces yemen, curriers, carmen, and
cobblers, woodemonges, vintners, and waggeners, pointers, pinners,
and pedlers, showemakers, surgeaunts, and sadlers, bokebinders,
bakers, brewers, with al kinde of lowsie loiterers, and euery one a
bagge, a budget, or a bottell hanged open beef ore him, tyed vnder
hys arme, or behinde vpon his backe, more like a moste misordered
hospitall then a kynges garde chamber, that nother her highnes,
nor any of her nobilitie, can passe that way. For indede the garde
in the kinges courte be suche bawdye, burly beastes, that they

128 BRADFORD'S LETTER [ESSAY

neuer come in the kinges chappell, excepte for necessitie when
straungers come to the courte and abyde the smell of suche a
stinkinge stue.

" Her grace will say I speake not all. When her pallice gates
shal stand open, without porters, that not only beggers, slaues, and
all kinde of wretches, but also oxen, kine, hoggishe olde swinne,
shepe and lambs, goats, kiddes, and rammes, cattes, dogges, geese,
ducks, cockes, and hennes, with ail other suche good houshold
stuffe, may enter into her courte, and standing, rubbing, rowteing,
diggeng, deluing, and donging, before her chamber windowe, like a
good fermers house in the countrey, when her highnes hall shall be
one daye hanged with riche arreisse, and halfe a year after, ether
shut, and locked vp, or els furnished finely with spinners, silke-
twiners, weuers of laces, ropmakers, coblars, and bochers of olde
hosen, moste shamefullie without all order, and be glad to kepe
within her most princelike palice a vile stinking baudy tauerne,
that euerye one of these fore saied craf tesmen, and all other baudes,
beggers, slaues, and vile dronken wretches, maye bie within her
courte breade, beare, nuttes, apples, and chese, and fetche wine and
water out of the kinges courte, by iiii. penny pintes, and that with
the dearest, accordinge to the olde, auncyente, and moste honorable
customes of the Emperours maiesties courte, and the kinges
maiesties palaies here in flaunders, her maiestie shal wel perceiue,
that I kepe many thinges secret whiche I am ashamed to declare.

" Ye will thinke I speake the worste, but when the Quenes grace
shalbe glad to fetche her wine out of the tauern by eight pense, and
a halfe peny the quarte : as the king and bothe the Quenes doe here
in this courte, her highnes shall well know, that I cold show much
worse orders, and manye thinges more vile, more shamefull, and
more dishonorable than these, and by that time all these thinges be
wrought ordinarely, in the court of Englande, ye shall smell them
more vnsauerly. Al men that be here continuallye, doe see muche
more and many worse thinges, then I write.

" But if these things wil not make your lordships worke wiseli and
be circumspect in deliuering the crowne, looke further vpon youre
proceadinges, and when your lordships shal be glad, if ye might
escape so well, to be at the Spanishe counsels commaundement, and
wander with Spaniardes from one countrey to another, and where
ye liue at this present with all plentiful prouision in your own
houses, be compelled to lie in good tiplinge houses, & rpst halfe a
capone to your supper and kepe the rest for your dinner, with a pinte
of white wine and water, a pigges petitooes, a younge shepe trotters,
halfe a loine of leane mutton and iiii. or. v grene sallettes, as the
best of the kings counsell do liue daily, ye wil say, woulde to god
we had kept the crown in our owne handes, for the right and lawful
heires of the realme to whom it belongeth by iust and lawf ull discent,
and bene trewe to our countrye, so that we might have reigned still
and lyved more honorable in reste, wealth, and quietnes, then any
nacionin the world." — Sig. E. iv. b.

One might, indeed, transcibe the whole book ; but I will
at present give only one more extract from it. I have

viii.] ON THE SPANIAKDS. 129

passed over passages in which Bradford tells the nobility
that their destruction was decided on, and explains how it
was to be effected ; and in the following passage he comes
home to the business and bosoms of the commonalty. The
reader may have perceived his propensity to run into
rhyme ; of which this extract is no bad specimen ; —

" Ye will say the Spaniards kepe their olde rentaking : how can
that be, when euery poore man must pay yerely for euery chimney
in his house, and euery other place that is to make fire in, as ouen,
fornes, and smithes forge, a frenche crowne : wil englishmen, or
can thei, suffer to be poled and pilled moste miserably, in payeng
continually suche polingpence, and intolerable tollages for all
maner graine and breade, befe, beare, and mutton, goose, pigge and
capone, henne, mallard and chicken, milk, butter and chese, egges,
apples and peares, wine white and reade, with all other wines beside,
salt white and graye, al thinges must pay, small nuttes, and wall
nuttes, cheries, and chest nuttes, plumbes, damassens, philbeardes
and al both great & smal whatsoeuer thei maye se to fede the pore
commenalte. Salmon, and hearing, this is a shamef ull thing, tench,
ele or conger, this shall kepe vs vnder, and make vs die for hunger,
flounders, floucke, plaice or carpe, here is a miserable warke, that
Englande must abide to maintaine Spanishe pride : ye paye youre
tenthes for all these things, but I speake not of churche rentes, nor
balif es fees, for that is but the tenthe part, but this shall greue your
harte, to pay the thirde part more, that burthen waieth sorer than
fines or rents, tak hede therfore. Ye wil think their commens be
not so opprest : there is not a yeman, farmer nor husbande man in
these partes, that dare eate a capone in his own house if his frende
come to viset him, but the capone must cost him a noble, if it wer
worth xx. pence and euen so of hennes, pigges, geese, chickins, and
all other thyngs. Dooe ye thinke to make prouises for all these
mischefes, which I haue rehearsed : the best prouiso ye can deuise
to make is, that for the auoiding of all these and innumerable moe
mischefs ye kepe the crowne in your own handes, and geve it to no
forreyne prince." — JSig. F. ii.

Whether our author is the person who was hanged is of
little consequence in our inquiry. I have expressed a
doubt, the .grounds of which it is not worth while to discuss,
whether he was a real person, and at all events I do no
quote him as an authority, but only to show what sort of
writing was then in circulation, for the purpose of render-
ing the King and his countrymen hateful to the people.
But I do not mean to rest the case on such evidence. Let
us see what " ministers of good estimation " said about the
Spaniards, and how far those who were taking the lead in
the religious movement of the time were likely to conciliate
the popish " straungers " towards the protestant faith and

I

180 "MINISTERS OF GOOD ESTIMATION" [ESSAY

its professors. This will be shown by a few brief extracts
from the works already quoted of Bale, Knox, Ponet, and
Goodman.

" Will. Kethe," as Strype says, " a Scot, and exile at
Geneva, endued with a vein of poetry, showed his good will
to the Spaniard " in some stanzas. These have been already
given, at p. 89, verse 12, &c.

As to Bale, too, I have already given one extract from
his Declaration of Bishop Bonner's Articles, in which he
speaks of " Jack Spaniard," whom he describes as " being
as good a Christian as^.is eyther Turke, Jewe, or pagane"
(p. 57) ; and the following may be added without looking
further than that peculiar work ; —

" 0 rare Confession, the Popes fishyng net, the discouerer of
princes hartes, and betraier of christen "kinges and their kingdomes,
thou hast sence thy fyrst beginning wrought wonders. England be
ware in time, for thyne owne Judases are about to betray the to
double straungers, to cruell Spaniardes for filthy lucres sake, and to
the deuils of hel by their daily Idolatries." — Sig. C. i. &.

"Moreover (saith Bonner) they must rebuke all sedicion and
tumulte, wyth all vnlawfull assemblyes. A good pretence, I pro-
mise you. As thoughe that shouen and disguised nation, had never
bene the begynners of sedicyon, the sowers of tumulte, and prouiders

of leude assemblies But I pray ye, lette me axe you

this one question by the v»aye. Is it or no, any hygh waye to sedi-
cyon, or meane to sorowfull tumulte, to suffer so manye newe
straungers to enter into the land ? Yea so filthy, so wicked, and so
cruel as the Spaniardes are knowne to be ? If ye canne not assoyle
me thys question now, I doubte not but ye shal wel do it within a
few yeares with dolors & sorowes inexplycable, whan their vnlawf ul
assmblyes shal be such, as England felt neuer the lyke. At that
day shal ye cal to remembraunce this saiyng of Jeremies lamenta-
cions wyth great heauinesse of harte. ' See 0 Lord what we haue
sufferred, and consider our confusion. Our inheritaunce is tourned
to the straungers, and oure houses to the aleauntes.' " — fo. 54, b.

Bonner having spoken of " the Kinge and Quenes
maiestie," in his xix Article, Bale tells him that
" England had no such king in the moneth of September
when these articles were put fourth," and he afterwards

says —

" ' Here hath Bonner by his absolute power, geuen England an
vncrowned King out of a straunge lande. And agayne he hathe
vnauthoryshed his owne naturall king Edwards the syxte notynge
hym an vsurper, a scismatike, and a slanderous heretick, as foloweth
in the xxxvi Article concerning the laity and in other besydes. So

JOHN HALE, BISHOP OF OSSOKY
(From an Engraving by H. Meyer J

viii.] ON THE SPANIARDS. 131

vnnatural a bastard is this beastly bite shepe to hys most naturall
country of Englande.' "— fo. 68, &.

Knox's view of the matter may be judged of by the
following extract from his " Blast " : —

" If yet, I say, God wold not suffer that the commoditie and
vsuall frute, which might be gathered of the portion of grounde
limited and assigned to one tribe shulde passe on to another : Will
he suffer that the liberties, lawes, commodities and frutes of hole
realmes and nations, be geuen into the power and distribution of
others, by the reason of mariage, and in the powers of suche, as
besides, that they be of a strange tonge, of a strange maners and
lawes, they are also ignorant of God, ennemies to his truth, deniers
of Christ Jesus, persecutors of his true membres, and haters of all
vertue ? As the odious nation of spaniardes doth manifestlie
declare : who for very despit, which they do beare against Christe
Jesus, whome their forefathers did crucifie (for Jewes they are, as
histories do witnesse, and they themselues confesse) do this daye
make plaine warre against all true professors of his holie gospell.
And howe blindlie and outragiouslie the f renche king, and his pesti-
lent prelates do fight against the veritie of God, the flaming fiers,
which lick vp the innocent blood of Christes membres, do witnesse,
and by his cruel edictes is notified and proclaimed. And yet to
these two cruell tyrannes (to France and Spaine I meane) is the
right and possession of England and Scotland apointed. But iust
or laufull shall that possession neuer be, till God do chaunge the
statute of his former lawe : whiche he will not do for the pleasure
of man. For he hath not created the earth to satisfie the ambition
of two or three tyrannes, but for the rniuersal seed of Adam : and
hath apointed and defined the boundesof their habitation to diuerse
nations, assigning diuerse countries as he him selfe confesseth." —
p. 48, &.

Ponet writes in complete harmony with John Bradford.
The reader will observe the very same strain of concession
and prediction ; —

" But ye will saye, ye haue no warres with any forain prince. It
is true : but shall ye haue none ? yes, yes : the tyme is not yet
come, all is not hatched that is vnder the henne. Your winges must
be dubbed, your fethers must be pulled, your combes must be cut,
you must be cleane piked, your substaunce shalbe gotten by littel
and littell out of your handes, by taxes and subsidies, by beneuo-
lences and loanes, and so from a litell to more, and from more to
more : and at leyngth all the marchauntes goodes to be confiscate
in Flaunders by an inquisition, and others in England by an open
excommunication. And whan ye be ones cleane stripped of your
stoare, and thus weakened out of courage, and your harte in your
hose, as they saie : than shall your king returne to his welbeloued
wife, England, with great pompe and power, and shall compell you
(in despite of your hartes) to rendre and deliuer her holly into his
handes. Than shall the easterlinges (vpon hope to recouer their

1 W " MINISTERS OF GOOD ESTIMATION " [ESSAY

olde and greater priuileges) aide him with men money and shippes :
as allready they haue offred and promised, as diuerse credible lettres
haue declared. Than shall they inuade Englande, and shalbe by
shiploades (if no worse happen vnto you) carried into newe Spaine,
and ther not lyue at libertie but bicause ye are a stubburne and
vnfaithfull generacion, ye shalbe tyed in chaynes, forced to rowe in
the galie, to digge in the mynes and to pike vp the golde in the
hotte sande. And so with sorowe to your soppes, your three mannes
songs shall be, Alas, and weale awaye. Than shall ye knowe the
pride and lordelynesse of the Spanyardes, though for a while til they
maie get the ouer Jiande, they crepe and crouche, fede men with swete
wordes (Baso las manos) and women with confettes, swete wynes, plea-
saunt perfumes, gaye apparail, and suche like vayne toyes : but whan
they be ones alofte, ther is no nacion vnder the cope of Christ, like
them in pride, crueltie, vnmercifulnesse, nor so farre from all
humanitie as the Spanyardes be : which thing the realme of Naples,
the Dukedome of Milane, the citie of Siena, many partes of Duche-
lande, and the lande of lulike Cleuelande and Geldre lande can to
theyr coste right well testifie."— Pol. Pow., Sig. L. iij. b.

Goodman, speaking with reference to judgments which
he had just denounced, says,

" And iustly maye the Lorde to all this do you, seinge he gaue you
not this dignitie, makinge you Counsellors, Noble men, Rulers,
Justices, Mayers, Shireffs, Bayliffs, Counstables, or Gaylers to exalt
your selues agaynst his Maiestie, and to fight agaynst Christe and
his members : but to humble your selues in his presence, to promote
his glorie, and to defende all those whom he committed to your
charge. How commeth it then to passe, that ye haue thus betrayde
him and his people, in banishinge his truthe to receaue falsehod,
and haue changed Religion in to superstition, true honoringe of God,
in to blasphemous idolatrie, and now (to finishe your procedinges)
are readye to sell your subiects for slaues to the prowde Spaniards,
a people with out God." — p. 95.

And a few pages farther on he breaks out ; —

" Gods worde she abhorreth, Antichriste hathe she restored, her
fathers Lawes contemned, her promesse broken, and her brother
Godly kinge Edwarde as an heretique condemned, not thinkinge it
ynoughe to expresse her tyranny vpon them that liued, except she
shewed crueltie, or rather a raging madnesse on the bodies of Gods
seruants longe before buried, drawing them forth of their graues to
burne them as heretikes. And in fine vtterly abhorring the Englishe
nation, hath ioyned her self to adulterous Philip, the Spanishe kinge :
to whome she hathe, and dothe continually labor to betray the whole
kingdome. And yet ye cannot, or will not see it, nether yet for all
this be stirred vp to bridell her affections, and withstand her
vngodly doinges, to promote the glorie of God, and to preserne
your brethren, and your selues : but thinking to reteyne your pro-
motions by flattery, do hastelie drawe Gods vengeance vpon your
selues and others.

vm.] ON THE SPANIARDS. 183

" For do you thinke that Philip will be crowned kinge of Englande,
and reteyne in honor Englishe counsellers ? Will he credite them
withe the gouernment of his estate, who haue betrayed their owne 2
Shall his nobilitie be Spaniardes, with out your landes and posses-
sions ? And shall they possesse your promotions and lyuinges, and
your heads vpon your shulders ? Come they to make a spoyle of the
whole Kealme, and leaue you and yours vntouched ? Where is your
great wisdome become ? Your subtile counsels and policies, where
of your bragge so muche, to whome these thinges be hid, that euerie
childe espieth ? " — p. 99.

The " Supplicacyon to the Queries Maiestie," which has
been already mentioned (p. 85), begins thus ; —

" A supplicacyon to the quenes Maiestie.

" In moste humble wise Complaynyth vnto your highnes, that
wher as this noble realm off England, hath of long tyme out of
mynd bene the most fre centre in all Christendome, Now is lyke to
be brought in to bondag and slauery of such a nacyon as all the
world both hatyth ann abhoryth. The only occasion ther off is our
vnthankf ulnes, as our preachers and true prophetes declarid vnto vs
in the tyme off your brother, that most vertues prynce king
Edwardthe vj. That yff we wold not be thankful for that great
benyfyte off godes holy worde, then truly preachyd among vs. God
wold take away our sayd vertues king, and set vp a strang king
raygne ouer vs, for our vnrepentant hartes, who shuld bring in
agayn, popery, ydolatry, and all abhomynacyons, as it is com to
passe this day."

Much more to the same effect might be quoted from this
work, especially from the " Exortacyon to the lords and
comons of the Parliament house " which it contains ; but I
will at present give only two short extracts ; —

" I cannot hold from you my natiue contremen what I haue herde
in other contres, with what policys and feches, the bisshopps and
clergie of this realm, vse for the stablishment of ther kingdom
which yf it come to passe wylbe the vtter decaie, subuercion, and
distruction, of this noble Kealme of England. They intend by one
crafte or other, that the prince of Spaine shalbe crownid King of
England, as is aforesaid, and to haue this noble realme of England
to hym and to hys heires, and so contrary to the statutis made in
the other perlyaments, dysinheryte all the reightfull heyres of the
Realme. And after he hath gotten that quyetlye, then they will not
leaue to prycke hym forward, and to cawse this noble Realm of
England, to be brought into bondage and slauerye, lyke as the
emperoure hath done Naples, Myland, and hys nether contres of
Flanders, Holland, Seland, Brabant, Fryseland and Lytzelburg, &c."
— 8ig. C. iv. 6.

" A lamentable case, that neuer a noble man in England wolcf
serue for the quenes Maiestie, but that England must be fayne to
bestowe all ther treasure and ryches, to bring in a stranger to raine

134 THE "TREWE MIRROUR " [ESSAY

oner them, who with the bisshoppes aduise and helpe will bring this
noble reahne in to beggery and vyle slauerie : And yet for all this,
when he hath goten that he hath sought (that is) the realme into
hys hands, then it will appere, that he will sett asmich by here, as
men sett by ther old showes : Is not the quene and all Englishmen
bound to curse such a wickid gardener, for bringing in to this realm,
such weeds, as will not only ouer grow, and distroye, the noble and
good corne, of this noble realme, but weede out the welth, ye vtterly
rote out the hole state theroff in euery degree. This is a plage
aboue all plages, which is com vpon vs, for our vnthankfullnes,
acording as our trwe prophets and preachers, declarid to vs. Yf we
wold not amend our lyues, and knowledge the tyme of our visita-
cion." — Sig. C. vi. 6.

There is another book of the year 1556, entitled "A
' trewe Mirrour or Glase wherin we may beholde the wof ull
' state of thys our Realme of Englande. Set f orthe in a
' Dialogue or communicacion betweene Eusebius and Theo-
* philus," from which, though it is anonymous, and I do not
find any account of it except a mere transcript of the title
in Herbert's Ames,5 I am tempted to add one or two
extracts, because it is written with more moderation than
most of the works which I have quoted, and I think that
the reader will find in the passages laid before him, some
things strongly confirmatory of the opinions which I have
expressed.

" Eusebius. But yet (ye shal not be offended with me for that I
wil say) there were of your sort, which are called the newe learnynge
many euil men.

" Theophilus. It was most trew brother Eusebius and cannot be
denyed. For there were in hel no veryer deuils then many of them
were that professed the gospel, for otherwyse there could haue ben
no couler of these lyes and slaunders that are now spred, as is said
before. For it was ludas that bare the pouche, and it was ludas
that betraied hys master : and many ludasses in England vnder the
pretence of religion robbed both kynge and realme these iudasses
filled their own pouches, and made themselues rich, and noble, and
they care not who rule so long as they may geat and enioye their
possessions.

"Eusebius. Well brother Theophilus here are no more but you
and I, and I dare be bolde herein to tel you my mind. For I know
you vnderstand in it as muche as I, and more to, and I dare say you
do with a great a gref behold it and sorow it as any English heart
wil doe. I heare say the king of Spayne shal at last be crouned
kyng of England, what say you to that :

" TJieophilus. Alas brother Eusebius what should I say to it : If

5 Vol. III. p. 1595.

viii.] ON THE SPANIARDS. 135

god haue determyned, who maye wythstande : we muste commyt it
to his good pleasure and wyll.

" Eusebius. But do you not thynke it a plage :

" Theophilus. Yes verely and an vtter desolacion of Englishe
bloud."- Sig. A. viii.

" Theophilus. When kyng Henry was deade, kyng Edwarde hys
sonne by the meanes of hys vncle then Lorde protectour subuerted
al the Popes religion, put down masse and altogether, wherewithall
they were well contented, and set forewarde the matter withoute
any scruple of conscyence, I warrante you. And many goodly
lawes they lette make, as wel for the mayntenaunce of that religion,
as also for the preseruacion of a commen wealth, and before kyng
Edwarde was fullye dead, they had concluded also with the Duke
of Northumberlande, vnder pretence of the stablishing of that reli-
gion, and other goodly consideracions as it were to make hym kyng,
contrary to al right, and contrary to all the statutes of parlemente
and so woulde haue disheryted the Quene that no we is, agaynste her
fathers wil, agaynst theyr own lawes, agaynst al their othes and
promise, and without any iust cause, at that time. And all this
notwithstanding, when they sawe how the game would goe : they
were contented toserue the Quenes wyll, and nowehaue they sworne
backe agayne to the holy father I heare say : now agayne wheras the
Quene goeth about not onely to breake her fathers wil and al such
lawes and statutes as were made for the preseruacion and safegarde
of thys realme, but is also determined of a selfe wyll to brynge
England into the subieccion of a foren Prynce, they haue not onely
consented and agreed, but are also chefe doers and procurers there-
of, for god hath blynded theyr eyes, and theyr vnderstanding, so
that they cannot see mor perceaue, their own destruccion, and yet
euery child seeth and euery good heart mourneth at it full
heuely.

" Eusebius. Now surely Theophilus you haue spoken as trewe as
the gospell, for if he be once stablished king, he may without con-
tradiccion furnishe al the fortes in Englande with his owne men,
for I would not thinke him wise to trust straungers so rnuche as his
own countre men : when he hath therefore brought that to passe he
may at all times bring an army either out of flaunders or spain, the
shyppes being also at hys commaundement and thorow Englande may
he goe at hys wyll and pleasure, who wil saye hym naye : Alas
miserable case.

" Theophilus. Nay nay Eusebius he shal nede none army to bryng
this matter to passe, for if the Quene liue seuen yeres to an ende, he
wyll so vse the matter that Englande shalbe easy inough to rule, for
marke ye now how fast the gentle men go to the tower, yea and
some to hanging also. And ye see the gentlemen for the most part
be of this newe learnyng, and therfore ye know vnder pretence of
religion there wilbe matters inough to ridde the most part of the
nobilitie of Englande, and all thys shal we be made to doe within
ourselues, we shalbe inueigled thus to doe one agaynst another by
traynes and baites to seake one anothers destruccion, whereunto
many are very prest, and al to do the Quene a pleasure. Marke how

136 THE CHANGE OF RELIGION. [ESSAY

thys geare commeth to passe, for the Spaniard hath nothing to doe
in al this (as we suppose) but rather getteth pardons, and showeth
great fauour to Englyshe men, but ye maybe sure they haue debated
thys matter in theyr heades, and in all this they make the Quene
serue their turne, and her own fancy also."— JSig. B. i. &.

Let me, without at present burthening him with any
other remarks on these extracts, remind the reader, that
our inquiry is, how far the measures of the English govern-
ment were influenced by the writings of the puritans. Had
the king and his countrymen influence, or had they not ?
did they know of these writings, or did they not ? if they
did, were they conciliated by them towards the party from
which they emanated ?

ESSAY IX.

PURITAN POLITICS. No. V.

THE CHANGE OF RELIGION.

GOODMAN — PONET — TRAHERON — THE " SUPPLICATION "-
BECON.

IN one of the preceding essays1 I stated that those passages
which it would be necessary to quote, in order to give an
idea of the effect which the writings of the Puritans, and
especially the Exiles, were likely to have on the government
in England, might be conveniently distributed into four

First, such as had, generally speaking, a revolutionary
tendency, and were calculated to teach the lawfulness of
insurrection and rebellion of subjects against their rulers.

Secondly, those which were particularly directed against
Queen Mary, on the ground of her sex, her birth, or her
personal character.

Thirdly, those which were intended to render odious the
Spaniards, and the Spanish match. And —

Fourthly, those relating to the change in religion, repre-

1 Seo before, p. 87.

ix.] GOODMAN ON OBEDIENCE. 137

senting it as a judgment in itself, and as a sin which would
bring down other judgments.

As to the first three heads, I have spoken pretty fully,
and in so doing it has been impossible to avoid very direct
and frequent reference to the fourth. Indeed, the subjects
are so naturally, and even necessarily, blended by the
writers of that school and period, that one seldom finds
one of these points discussed by itself ; and sometimes all
are inseparably united. As an instance of this, take the
following extracts from Goodman's treatise, " How superior
Powers ought to be obeyed of their Subjects " : —

' Wei, the day of the Lorde will come, when you shal f ele what it
is to fight for your Masse, and to betraye the Gospell, to rise and
rebell agaynste your lawf ull Prince, and to obeye and defende a
bastarde, and open enimie to God, an vtter destruction of the whole
realme : to murther and banishe your naturall countriemen and
louing brethern, to honor and receaue strangers Gods expresse ad-
uersaries : a cruell people, a prowde nation : a people of a farre
and of a strange langage, whose tongue ye shall not vnderstande, an
impudent nation, and hard harted people, without all pitie and
mercie, which netherwill be moued with the lamentable voyce of
the mothers, nor shewe anie compassion for the pittif ull crye of their
sucklinges and infantes. And whi ? because ye haue chosen to obeye
vile man, yea a raginge and madd woman, rather than the almightie
and mercifull God. Kepent, repent, 6 ye people of England, for your
destruction is at hande. Forsake with spede the vnlawfull obedience
of fleshe and bloude, and learne to geue honor in tyme to the liuing
Lorde, that he maye staye his hande, and drawe to him agayne his
stretched out arme, that you may fynde mercie, and that the bothom
of your cupp be not turned vpwards.

" Alas saye you, what is this we heare ? Be not the people, of
themselues, as sheepe without a pastor ? If the Magistrates and
other officiers contemne their duetie in defending Gods glorie and
the Lawes committed to their charge, lieth it in our power to
remedie it ? Shall we that are subiectes take the sworde in our
handes ? It is indede as you saye, a great discouraging to the
people when they are not stirred vp to godlynesse by the good
example of all sortes of Superiors, Magistrates and officers in the
faithefull executing of their office : and so muche more when they
are not defended by them in their right and title, as wel concerning
religion, as the freedome of their naturall countrie : but moste of
all when they, which shuld be their guydes and Capitayns, are
become instrumentes to inforce them to wicked impietie. Neuerthe-
les, all this can be no excuse for you, seing, that euil doinges of
others, whether they be Lordes, Dukes, Barons, knights or any
inferior officers, may not excuse you in euil. And thoghe you had
no man of power vpon your parte : yet it is a sufficient assurance for
you, to baue the warrant of Godds worde vpon your side, and God
him self to be your Capitayne who willeth not onely the Magistrates

138 GOODMAN ON THE [ESSAY

and officers to roote out euil from amongest them, be it idolatrie,
blasphemie, or open iniurie, but the whole multitude are therwith
charged also, to whom a portion of the sworde of iustice is com-
mitted, to execute the iudgementes which the Magistrates lawfully
commande. And therefore if the Magistrates would whollye
despice and betraye the iustice and Lawes of God, you which are
subiectes with them shall be condemned except you mayntayne and
defend the same Lawes agaynst them, and all others to the vtter-
moste of your powers, that is, with all your strength, with all your
harte and with all your soule, for this hath God required of you, and
this haue you promised vnto him not vnder condition (if the Kulers
will) but without all exceptions to do what so euer your Lorde and
God shall commande you." — p. 178.

Here the reader will find all the points, briefly indeed,
but rather forcibly touched on. At the same time this
point — the change of religion — was one so obvious, so
important, and so avowedly that which gave weight and
interest to all the rest, that we may reasonably expect to
find it treated of in particular. So it was in more ways
than one, though to one only I must confine myself on the
present occasion, because the evidence, which appears to me
to be extremely interesting, and (though I pretend to no dis-
covery) too little known and regarded, would exceed the
limits of a single essay. I, therefore, at this time, content
myself with putting together some extracts, which will
show the reader how the question was treated, if not with-
out some passion, yet with political gravity, and a show of
argument by the puritan divines. Take the following
specimens from the work of Goodman, already mentioned ; —

"Art thou then, being a subiecte commaunded to worshipp
stockes and stones which this day to our shame are erected agayne
in Englande? Beholde thou hast Gods commandement for thy
defence : Thou shalt commit no idolatrie, nor make to thy self any
grauen image, &c.

"Art thou charged to be at the idolatrous Masse, wherin Christe
thy Lorde is blasphemed ? Beholde he hath geuen thee an other
charge : that is, to celebrate his Snpper, according as he left in
example, saying : Do you this, that is, which ye se me do, and not
which the powers of the worlde, or the pestilent papistes commande.
Also do it (saith Christe) in remembrance of me, and not of your
frindes alyue or departed, as teache the Papistes. For none of them
died for you. Moreouer do it to shewe forth the deathe of Christe,
til his coming, as witnesseth the Apostle : and not to make a new
sacrifice for synne, as the Papists blasphemously both teache and
preache.

" Art thou commanded by men to dishonour the Sabbathe day in
worshipping of Sainctes and abstayning vpon their dayes and euens

ix.] CHANGE OF RELIGION. 139

from thy lawf ull busines ? Beholde, God thy Lorde chargeth thee
no further then onely with his daye of reste, saying : See thou keepe
holie the Sabbath of the Lorde thy God : and not of Peter, Paule,
Marie, James or John.

"Art thou commanded to sweare in the name of Marie and all
the Saincts in heauen ? (which is the papistical othe) Beholde, the
Lord saithe, Thow shalt onely sweare in the Name of thy Lorde
and God.

"Art thou commanded not onely to take the Name of the Lorde
in vayne, but also to forswere thy selfe moste shamefully agaynst
Gods glorious Maiestie, and the honour of our Sauiour Christe ? (as
all they haue done which lately haue sworne to acknowledge
Antichriste the bloudy butcher of Rome to be their head and
gouernour) Beholde, The Lorde will not suffer his house vnpunished
that taketh his Name in vayne : muche lesse such periured and
forsworen wretches.

"Art thou commanded to persecute thy parentes and frendes,
charged not to succour them in their necessitie, because they
prof esse the doctrine of saluation ?

" Art thow forbidden lawf ull mariage, because thou art a minister
of Gods worde, and permitted to lyve in all kind of filthie vnclen-
nesse, as do the Sodomiticall Priestes, Monkes, Freers, Nonnes,
Cardinales, Deanes, Archdeacons, and all other orders of Satan :
beholde such dothe the Lorde God as most abominable of all other,
commande to be put to death.

" To be shorte, when they contrarie to their othe and profession,
commande thee to receue Antichriste, the beastlie Bishoppe of
Rome, with all his filthie dregges of damnation : to burne the worde
of God and the faithful interpreters and professors of the same : to
forgo the comfortable preaching of the Gospel, and reading of the
Scriptures : to persecute Christe in his members : to ayde the
enimies with thy goods and bodie agaynst the deare children of
God : to fight in other countries without any iuste cause or occasion,
and to suffer thy wiffe, children, kinsfolkes and countryemen to be
moste cruelly spoyled, oppressed and murthered for want of thy
defence at home as they most shamfully haue done of late, which
at the commandement of that cruel tyrant, prepared them selues
to fight agaynst the Frenche kinge, and their owne brethern the
Skottes, whiles the Spaniards put them selues in a redinesse to
entre the Realme and make a generall spoyle and pray of all.

"These thinges and many such like are playnly forbidden you by
the manifest worde of God : and therfore to do them for feare or
pleasure of anie Prince or power, is playne disobedience and
rebellion agaynst the Almightie. And contrarie wise, to answere in
this case, and to do as the Apostles haue taught, that is, to obeye
God rather then man, is the onely waye to discharge your con-
sciences, to do your dueties, and to please God : no more to be made
by ignorance the instrumentes of his sworen enimies (what title so
euer they beare) to subuerte Gods glorie, oppresse your brethern,
and dibtroye your countrie : but repenting your former ignorance
and impietie, 'to be made instrumentes of the contrarie to the vttermost
of your power, least you be taken in your synne, and preuented with

140 GOODMAN AND PONET [ESSAY

the bitter cup of Gods indignation, alreadie prepared for the
workers of iniquitie, and all such, as are ayeders, and partakers
with them, when nether power can defend the superiors, nor their
commandmentes excuse the subiectes." — p. 170.

" Matathias that worthie Captayne of the Jewes, as it is wryten
in the firste boke of the Machabees, coulde not so lightly excuse
him self when he was commauded by the cruel officiers of wicked
Antiochus (which had spoyled their Tempel, rased their waules,
murthered their brethern, and set vp idolatrie, in so muche as all
for the moste parte, applied them selues to their wicked parsuations)
that he, with the residue shulde forsake the Lawes and sacrifices of
their God, to worshipp strange Goddes : he made answere, to the
officer of Antiochus the kinge (which would to God our Noble men
had perfetly learned) : That thoghe all Nations apparteyning to
kinge Antiochus shulde obeye him, so that euery man would
declyne from the Lawes of his countrie : yet I, (saieth he) my
children, and brethern, wil stand in the conuenant of our fathers
&c. Which thing he performed in dede to the glorie of God, to
his owne saluation, and comforte of his brethern and countrie for
euer.

" And euen at the self same tyme he slewe, not onely a Jewe, one
of his owne brethern, which came to sacrifice in his presence at the
alter Modim, according to the prescript of Antiochus : but killed
also the kinges officer, that compelled him therto, and afterwarde
distroyed the altar, and folowed the Lawe of God with a zeale, as
did Phinees. Matathias had then a little power amongest his
brethern, but nothing to defende himself agaynst the kinge, and
also being charged with children and kinsfolk (which semed to be
all his power) woulde nether pollute him self, nor suffer them to be
polluted with wicked idolatrie, nor causeles, to be oppressed with
tyrannic. And yet we reade of no auctoritie or office he had to
excuse him by : but onelie this one thing which was comon to all
other of his nation, the Lawes of their countrie, and couenant of
their fathers. Which cause he thoght sufficient to discharge his
conscience before God, and to approue his doings. For as muche
as God had commanded him not onely to denie to do the com-
mandement of the cruell tyrant Antiochus (vnder whom all
Jerusalem then was by conqueste) but manfully to professe him and
liis, as open adversaries to his Lawes and to resiste idolatrie by force,
in killing the idolatrer and the hinges seruant (by wliom he was
compelled) and in subuerting the altar, where vpon the idolatrous
sacrifice shuld haue bene done. Which was, as you see, manifesto
resisting of the superior power, being but man, to the intent he
might shewe true obedience to his Lorde and God, in defending
and maynteyning his Lawes (which he calleth the couenant of their
fathers) yea and with the temporal sworde to the vttermost of his
power. Then if Matathias herein did discharge his conscience
before God and man, in resisting by temporal power the kinge, his
commandements and officiers : it is not onely the office of Apostles
and preachers, to resist, but the dewtie likewise, of all others
according to their estate and vocation. ' ' — p. 75.

ix.] ON THE CHANGE OF RELIGION. 141

u Repent, repent you miserable men : for your synnes be at the
highest, your cupp of iniquitie is full, and the houre of your heuy
visitation is come : when it will be too late for you to flee from the
great wrath of Gods indignation, whiche shortlye is like to be
powred vpon you. Then shall you well perceaue that there is no
saluation but vnder Gods protection, no comforte with out Christ,
no obedience agaynst God, no power that can dispence with the
charge of the Almightie and his commandements : especiallie when
all your counsels agaynst him and his poore seruants shall fall vpon
your owne heades : your wisedome turned to follie, your noblenesse
to vilenesse, your rule and dominion taken from you, and you made
slaues to others : your fayre howses and gorgeous buildinges de-
stroyed, your great possessions geuen to your enimies, your wiues
to be ravished, your mayds deflowred, and children murthered with
out mercy, your pride and hie lokes abated, your welthe turned to
miserie, your delicate faare and costlie aparell to extreame hunger
and beggerye, your ioye and pastance to weepinge and continuall
sorrowe, and in the end sharnefull deathe as you haue deserued.
And why? Bycause you haue chosen to obeye man rather then
God, and sought rather to mayntayne your owne pride and dignitie,
then his honor and glory.

"And therefore beholde 6 prowde man, I am come to thee (Jere.
50) saithe the Lorde of hostes because thy daye is come, and the
tyme when i will visite thee. For the prowde shall fall and be dis-
troyed, and there shall be no man to lift him vp. I will kindle a fire
in his cities, that shall consume all thinges about them," &c. —
p. 93.

To "obeye man rather than God," was (in the language
of these writers) simply to permit the Queen to reign
instead of rebelling and dethroning her ; and while Good-
man thus expostulated with the council and magistrates,
Ponet, in his book on " Politike Power," appealed to the
most vulnerable parts in the great body of the commons —
their fears and their stomachs.

" The Preachers and ministers of Goddes worde, in the tyme of
the godly losias King Edwarde the Sixthe, preached and prophecied
vnto you what miseries and plages should certaynly come to you :
the foode of Goddes word to be cleane taken away from you, famyn
of the body, pestilence, warres, and losse of your goodes, the
deflouring and rauishing of your wyues and daughters before your
eies, the captiuitie of your bodies, wyues and children : the sub-
uersion of the policie and state of the Realme : that a straunge
King and straunge people (not only in countrey, but also in con-
diciones and maners in respecte of your owne) shoulde reigne and
rule by force ouer you, if ye in tyme repented you not of your
wickednesse, amended your lyues, and called to God for mercy.

" But than ye passed nothing on it, but as the Jewes being downed
in sinne, mocked, scorned and murthered the prophetes of God which
long before prophecied vnto them their captiuities and vtter destruc-

142 PONET ON THE [ESSAY

tion : so ye laughed and iested at your preachers wordes, nothing
regarding the threattes of God, but contemnyng them, yea increace-
ing in your wickednesse, and now at lenght murthering most cruelly
the ministers of God.

" And seeing wordes of warnyng toke no place with you, God for
his louing mercie hathe warned you by monstrous marualies on the
earthe, and horrible wonders in thelement, to put you beside all
maner of excuses. What wonderful monstres haue ther now lately
ben borne in Englande ? What celestial signes most horrible ? A
childe borne besides Oxforde in the yeare, M.D.LTI. with two heades
and two partes of two euil shaped bodyes ioyned in one. A childe
borne at Couentree, in the yeare M.D.LV. without armes or legges.
A childe borne at Fulham by London euen now this yeare, with a
great head, euil shaped, the armes with bagges hanging out at the
elbowes and heles, and fete lame. A childe newe borne at London
furthewithe speaking as a prophet and messager of _ God. An
horrible comete this year, besides diuerse eclipses, which folowe.
But what were these ? only bare signes ? No certaynly, they dpo
and must signifie the great wrathe and indignacion of God." — /S%.
K. iij. 6.

" The childe of Oxforde what did it betoken, but that our one
swete head, King Edwarde should be taken awaye (as he was in
dede) and that ther should be in his place two headdes, diuerse
gouernours, and a towarde diuision of the people, but not all to-
gether : which so manyfestly followed that no man can denye it :
or two people should be knytte together, but not in god [sic] pro-
porcion nor agrement.

"The child of Couentrie without the principal •membres to helpe
and defende the bodye, must nedes signifie, that the natural body,
that is, the people of Englande shalbe helples, ready to be troden
vnder the f ote of euery creature, and non to releue or succour it.

" The childe of Fulham, what can it signifie, but that the natural
body of England shalbe weake, the chief membres (tharmes and
legges) which is the nobilitie, so clogged with chaynes of golde, and
bagges of money, that the hande shall not be hable to drawe out the
sweorde, nor the heles to spurre the horse, to helpe and defende the
body, that is the commons. And as the head of it is the greatest
part, and greater than it ought to be, with to muche superfluitie of
that it should not haue, wherfore it must pull from the other
membres to conf ort it, and lacke of that good proporcion it ought to
haue : so shall the gouvernours and headdes of Englande sucke out
the wealth and substaunce of the people (the politike body) and
kepe it bare, so that it shall not be hable to helpe itself, yet shall
the head neuer come to that nature requireth.

" What is to be gathered of the yong child, I doo not saie it is
true, bicause the father was forced (onles he wold haue lost his life)
to recant it : but might it not be true ? Is ther not as muche to be
saied for it, as for the popes transubstanciacion ? " — Sig, K. iv. &.

And how could even those who were unmoved by these
statements resist the appeal by which the writer followed it

ix.] CHANGE OF RELIGION. 148

up, and which showed the practical effects of idolatry and
the mass in a way which might touch the feelings of those
who had never heard of the " euil shaped " child at Ful-
ham, or any other of the " monstrous maruailes " on which
he grounded his argument for discontent and rebellion ?

"Whan were euer thinges so deare in Englande, as in this time of
the popish masse and other Idolatrie restored ? Who euer hearde or
redde before, that a pounde of beefe was at iiij.d. A shepe xx.s. A
pounde of Candelles at iiij.d. A pounde of Buttur at iiij.d. ob. A pounde
of Chese at iiij.d. two egges a penie,aquatreof wheat Ixiiij.s. A quatre
of malt at i.s. or aboue : the people driuen of hongre to grinde accornes
for bread meale, and to drinke water in stede of ale ?" — Sig. K. viii.

Some cautious persons might have thought this line
rather dangerous while the suppression of the monasteries
was still recent ; but Ponet was a bold writer ; he was quite
awake to this, but he had his answer ready, and even those
who may not think it quite satisfactory, will allow that it
was highly characteristic ; —

" But me thinkes I heare your papistes bishoppes, priestes, friers,
and suche like Antichristian monstres saie, that these plages
which haue fallen and shal come to England (for they knowe, they
cannot be a voided, no they are occasioned and holpen f orewarde by
them) haue growne for thinges done in king Henry and king
Edwardes time, for that their abominacion was disclosed, their buries
and dennes digged vp, their monasteries throwen downe, and the
landes diuided and solde to the laitie. Ah hipocrites, Ah subtil
wolues, ah viperous generacion, Whan the foxe preacheth, beware
your geese. Wher in scriptur do they finde that any suche bely
Goddes as they are should be maintened ? No, scripture wold haue
such marchauntes whipped out of the churche, such buiers and
sellers of mens soules, wo be vnto you hipocrites (saieth Christ) for ye
swalowe vp the houses of the poore and miserable, that is, that which
should be converted to the relief of the poore and nedy : and that vnder
pretense of long praiers. Wo be vnto you (ye masking Mahoundes)
which goo from place to place, by sea and by lande, to make a nouice
of your owne ordre, and whan ye haue him, ye make him the childe
of hel fire two folde more than your selfe. I knowe you no t( saieth
Christ) awaie from me, ye workers of iniquitie. It is only their God
the bely, that they seke to serue, they nother passe on the God in
heauen, nor the deuil in hell, so they maie haue wherwith to main-
tene themselues on earthe, in their hooredome," &e. — Sig. L. v. 6.

I do not know that a better place can be found for the
remainder of a passage from Bartholomew Traheron,
" Warning to England," the former part of which has been
already given in the fourth of these essays2.

2 See before, p. 65.

1 14 KNOX'S LETTER. [ESSAY

"But I wil leaue that botomeles sea, of mostfilthie stincking vices
& passe farther. The commons of Calece consisted partely of
papistes, and partely of men reformed in religion. The papistes
were there, as they be euerie where, murmurers against god, gredie
scrapers, emiious, lecherous, ful of secrete vices, but they were few
in nombre, and lesse besprincled with innocent blood. The Chris-
tianes were weaklinges, dissemblers, quenepleasers, worldlinges,
riotous, wanton & giuen to al fleshlie lustes for the most parte. I
comme now to thy commons England, of which some be gentlemen,
& those either papistes, or protestantes. The papistical gentlemen
ar slaues to poleshorne priestes, to exequute their boucherie, folow-
ing therein parte of thy nobilitee, in bloodie crueltie worse than
Shythians, in oppressing the poore Neroes hellish offspringe, in
greedie conuetousnes verie Harpyes, in malice, and enuie yonge
diuels, traitors to their countree, open deceauers, vile flatterers,
filthie lechers, herteles cowardes, shameles braggers, godles Epi-
cures. The gentle men protestantes for the most parte differ from
thother in knowledge only, and not in life, in wordes, and not in
worckes. The like conuetousnes, the like malice, and enuie, the like
craftines, the like cowardise, and vnfaithfulnes in defending their
countree, the like flatterie, the like lecherie, the 3 in fleshlie

pleasures, the like liynge is found in both sortes. And the commune
people to be shorte so countrefait the beastlie, and abominable
maners of theyr superiors, that they maie be compted their awne
children, their awne brode aswel as their countremen. I speake of
the great multitude. For I know that in euerie sorte, and condition
of men, there be some that truly feare god. But in the order of thy
nobilitee al the godlie maie be grauen in one ringe. Amonge thy pre-
lates, and priestes I know not one, and yet I exclude not al of that
most filthie swinestie."

Clearly, however, as this belongs to our subject, we may
perhaps be keeping more closely to that part which is more
immediately before us, by reflecting on one or two speci-
mens of the denunciations of John Knox. In his " Godly
Letter sent too to the fayethf ull in London, "&c., he says : —

" Playne it is, that the soule hath neither lyfe nor comfort, but by
God alone, with whome Idolatours, hath no other participation then
hath the deuils, and albiet that abominable Idolatours, for a moment
tryumphe yet approcheth the houre when Gods vengeaunce shall
stryke, not onely their soules, but evin their vile carcasies shalbe
plagued, as God before hath threatned. Their cyties shalbe burned,
their lande shalbe layd wast their enemies shall dwell in their
stronge holdes, their wyues and doughters shalbe defyled their
chyldren shall fall in the edge of the swerd, mercy shall they fynde
none, because they haue refused the God of all mercye, when louingly
and longe he called vpon them. You would know the time & what
certitude I have here off. To God wil I appoint no tyme, but that
these and mo plagues shall fall vpon England, and that ere it be

* A word or two cut off in the binding.

ix.] THE « SUPPLICACYON." 145

long, I am so sure, as that I am that my God lyueth. This my
affirmacion shall displease many, and shall content few, God knowith
the secretes of all bartes, knoweth that also, it displeaseth myselfe,
and yet, lyke as before I haue been compeled to speake in your
presens (& in presens of others) suche thinges, as were not pleasable
to the eares of men, whereof (alas) a great part this daye are come
to passe, so I am compelled now to wryte with the tears of my eyes,
I know to your displeasur. But deare brethren, be subiect vnto
God and geue place vnto his wrath, that ye may escape his euer-
lastinge uengeaunce." — Sig. A. iii.

Again, in his " Confession " : —

" Beholde our trebles and apparant destruction, and staye the
sworde of thy vengeaunce before it deuowre vs. Place aboue vs o
Lorde for thy great mercies sake, such a head with suche rulers and
maiestrates as feareth thy name, and willeth the glory of Christ
Jesus to spred. Take not from vs the light of thy Euangely, and
suffer thou no papistrie to preuaile in this realme." — Sig. F. ij.

"0 Englande, let thy intestiue battellesand domesticall murther,
prouoke the to purety of lyfe, according to the worde, whiche openly
hath bene proclaymed in the, other wise the cuppe of the Lordes
wrathe, thou shalt shortly drynke of. The multitude shall not
escape, but shall drynke the dregges, and haue the cuppe broken
vpon their heades, for iudgement beginninge in the house of Lorde,
commonly the least offender is fyrst punished, to prouoke the more
weked too repentaunce. But O Lorde, infinite mercye, yf thou
shalt punishe, make not consumacion, but cut awaye the proude and
luxuriant braunches, which beare no fruyte, and preserue the
common wealths of suche as geue succour and herber, to thy con-
tempned messengers, which longe haue suffred exile in deserte, so
be it."— p. 17.

The same strain is pursued in the " Supplicacyon to the
Quenes Maiestie," which has been already quoted : —

" But they wold not obey goddes holy prophetes but murtheryd
them as playnly apperyth (lyke as our bysshopes will murther gods
true preachers and prophets now adays which haue preachid the
lyke message of god) but what folowid for ther vnthankfulnes, dyd
not god plage them by sending strangers among them whych
destroyed many hundryd thousands in ther former tymes off ther
captyuytes and changes off ther comon weale, and at the last vtter
dyssolucyon : namely, at the destruccyon off Jerusalem, by Titus
and Vespacianus the emperours, and also dystroyed ther goodly
cytes, caryed them out off ther own centres, wher they be now
scateryd abrode, made slaues, dyspysyd off all nacyons as it is mani-
fest and playne afc this day. This is a goodly example for your
grace and for all chysten prynces to marke and to haue all wayse
before your eyes, least ye and they be found vnthankful." — /Sig.
A. ii. 6.

The reader will not fail to observe the significant and
pregnant hint with which this extract concludes. The

S

146 BECON'S SUPPLICATION [ESSAY

simple fact was, that the intent of that publication was to
represent the queen as a mere tool in the hands of the
clergy, and in particular, of Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of
Winchester. A little further on it cautions her majesty: —

" for gods sake beware of hym betimes, least ye be partaker of
hys wikidnes, and so both you and the whole Kealme repent it, and
com to vtter distraction, for hys doings declare that he is at a
point with hymselff and hath made conuenannte with death and
hell, Esa. 28. and beleuith that ther is no resurrection of the flesche
nor lift after this : and therfore what carith he yf he help to bring
this noble realm into bondage and slauery, seing he thinkith ther is
no nother waye, to maintein hys pomp, pride, and vain glory with
all, And therfore the greater shalbe hys dampnacion, besids gods
great plages which shall come vpon hym sodenlie, when he thinkith
all is well, and in quiet, them shall sodenly com his confucion and
vtter distruction, becawse all his doings be so directly against god,
and all right, as his own consciens knowith the same, to his damp-
nacion, yf he haue any conscience or feling of god, and therfore
beware that ye be not partaker with him." — Sig. A. vi. &.

Again,—

" Euen so I think that your grace doth this ygnorantlie, that ye
haue done, and being thereto perswadid by your false dissembling
bisshopes and clergie : Whom now that your grace hath warning,
what they are : beware from henceforth that ye folowe ther counsel
no more in persecuting Christes poure membres, which haue bene
the trewe prechers of his holy and blessid worde, but do ye as
S. Paul dyd when he was callid, And submitt your selff, vnder the
mighty hand of god, and turne to the lord our god who is able and
wyll receyue you to grace and mercye as he dyd .S. Paul, of ye
repent and do as he dyd, wherby you shall saue your selff and the
whole Ealme from Ruyne and vtter distruccion. But yf you wyll
not submitt your selff vnder the mighty hand of god, and turn to the
lord our god vnfainidlie, and folowe no more, the wyckid counsell
of your bloudy bisshoppes and clergie, in persecuting Christes pour
members, and wyll not receyue and knowledge the time of your
visytacion. Then be ye assuryd, that lyke as it happenyd to the
Jewes for persecuting Christe and hys pour members, so shall it
happen to you and to the whole Realme, as in the beginnyng of this
supplicacion is declaryd at large."— Sig. B. viii. 6.

The same line is taken, both as it regards the clergy
generally, and Bishop Gardiner in particular, by Becon in
his Supplication, and when we consider all the circum-
stances of the case — that is, those of the writer, as well as
those of the persons of whom he wrote — it seems quite
necessary to give some specimens. I do it indeed with
some hesitation, because to my own feelings the passages
are very disgusting, from the form into which the doctrine

ix.] ON THE CHANGE OF RELIGION. 147

is thrown. The idea of thus making up prayers, and pro-
fessedly addressing such matter to the Almighty, appears to
me in the highest degree revolting. But the simple fact is,
that this is what was then written and circulated by a man
of station and influence in the party — what then found
readers, — what is even now not so universally disliked but
that it has admirers, and has been recently reprinted as
matter worthy of preservation, not merely in an historical
and antiquarian point of view. We may, therefore, safely
assume that it was not without readers, admirers, and influ-
ence when it was written. Our business, however, is to
inquire whether, supposing all contained in these extracts
to be quite true and good, — supposing that the Queen and
her Council and Bishop Gardiner were, in themselves, and
in all their circumstances, just what Becon supposes and
describes — whether this mode of writing about them was
likely to have any effect 011 their feelings and course of
action ? was there any good in writing thus ? Was it really
a holy and Christian love of the truth which led men who
had been happy enough to escape into quiet resting places, to
send over such missiles as could only aggravate the fierce-
ness of persecution on the one hand, and the wildness of
fanaticism and the wilf ulness of rebellion on the other ?

"But now the shepehardes, yea, rather the wolfes, which are
braste into thy shepefolde, and with violence haue vniustly thrust
out the faythfull and fatherly pastores out of their cures, are
lordely, cruel, bloud-thyrstye, maliciovs and spyteful agaynste thy
shepe.

" They are such wolfs as spare not the flocke but scatter and
destroye the flocke.

"They are theues, robbers, murtheras & soule slears. thei fede
them selues with the fattest & clothe them selues wythe the
fyneste wolle, but thy flocke thy noryshe not, the foode, wherwith
they pasture thy shepe, is the drowsye dreams and idle imaginacions
of Antichriste.

"In stead of the preachy ng of thy lyuely worde, the fede
thy flocke wythe latin mumblynges, wythe dume Images wyth
Hethnyshe cerymonies wyth vayne syghtes, and suche other apysh
toys.

" In sted of the ministracion of the holy and blessed Communion
the fede thy shepe wythe vile stynckyng, abhominable deulyshe,
blasphemus & Idolatryous Masses.

" And vnto thes vnwholsome and pestilent and poysonfull pastures
the dryue thy shepe, wyll they nyl they . & if any of thy flocke refuse
to come and'taste of those their pestilent poysons & poisonf ul pesti-
lences, him they accite to appere bef or that greate wolfe, whose face

148 BECON'S SUPPLICATION [ESSAY

is lyke vnto the face of a she beare that is robbed of her younge
ones, whose eyes continually burne withe the vnquencheable flames
of the deadly cockatrice, whose teethe are lyke to the venomous
toshes of the rampyng lyon, whose mouth is full of cursed speaking
& bitternes, whose tong speakithe extrem blasphemes agaynst the &
thy holy annointed, whose lippes ar ful of deadly poisonne, whose
throte is an open sepulchre, whose breathe fomethe & bloweth out
threatenyng & slaughter agaynst the disciples of the Lorde, whose
harte without ceasyng imaginethe wickednes, whose handes haue a
delighte to be embrued with the bloode of the Sainctes, whose fete
are swifte to shed bloode, whose whole manne bothe bodye and
soule go alwaies vp & down musyng of myschyff.

" This wolfe, o Lorde, is so arrogante, haultie and prowde, seyng
the gouernement of the whole Kealme is committed vnto hym, that
he hathe caste awaie all feare of the. He makethe boste off hys
awne witte learnyng and pollecye. His wayes are alwaye fylthye,
thy iudgementes are farre out of his syghte, he defyethe all hys
enemies, For he saythe in his hearte : tushe, I shal never be caste
downe, theyr shall no harme happen vnto me. He syttethe lurking
lyke a lyon* in his denne, that he maie priuely murther the innocent
& sucke hys bloode.

" Whan suche, o Lorde God, as will not obeye their popish and
deuelyshe procedyngs, are broughte before that grevous wolffe, they
are miserably taunted, mocked, schorned blasphemed, as tbi derely
beloued sone was in Bishope Caiphas howse, and afterwarde cruely
committed to preson, to the towre, to the flete, to the marshalseas,
to the kynges benche, to the Counters, to Lollardes towre, to New-
gate &c. Where they are kepte as shepe in a pynnefolde appointed
to be slayne.

" And as thys cruel and bloudy wolf dealeth with the poore
lambes, euen so do the residue of that letcherous litture. He with
all other of that wolfyshe kynde, hunger and thyrste nothing so
greatly, as the deuouring of the bodies, and the sucking of the
bloude of thy poore and innocent lambes.

" Ah, Lorde, whyle the vngodly haue the ouerhande, the poore are
moste wretchedly handled. They are prayes vnto the wolfes.

" Arise, therefore, o Lorde God, lyfte vp thine hande, and forget
not the poore, whiche geueth them selfe ouer into thy hande,
and committeth hym vnto thy defence. Breake thou the arme of
the vngodly and malicious, search out the wickednes, whiche he
hath done, that he may shortly perish from the lande of the living."
— Sig. C. vii.

" Thou callest thy self a iealous God, why than doest thou suffer
thy people, thy congregacion, thy flocke, thyne heritage, to be thus
seduced & ledde awaye from the vnto all kynde of spiritual fornica-
tion, and abhominable whordome by that Antichriste of Rome, that
greate Baal, that stoute Nemroth, that fals prophet, that beast, that
whore of Babylon, that sonne of perdicion, and by hys abhominable
adherentes, Cardinalles, Archebisshoppes, Bisshoppes, Suffraganes,
Archedeacons, Deanes, Prouostes, Prebendaries, Commissaries, Par-
sonnes, Vicares, Purgatorierakers, Priestes, Monkes, Friers, Chanons

ix.] ON THE CHANGE OF RELIGION. 149

Nonnes, Anckers, Anckresses, Pardonners, Proctors, Scribes, Officialls,
Sonners, Lawers, Massemongers, Canonisters, Papistes, Antichristes,
Marnmonistes, Epicures, Libertines, with all the rable of beastlye
hypocrites that haue receued the beastes mark, which do nothing
els than seke,how they may establishe their Antichristian kyngdom,
by suppressinge thy holy worde, and leadinge thy people into all
kynde of blyndenes, errours and lyes.

" Thou callest thy self a Lorde, and thou sayeste, that thou wilt
gyue thy glory to none other, nor thy grayse vnto grauen Images,
howe commeth it than to passe, that thou suffrest thy glory so too
decaye in the realrae of Englande, so many to steale awaye thy
prayse and honoure, by sayenge their idolatrous and deuelishe
masses, by ministeringe a sorte of Heythenish and Jewishe cere-
monies, by prayenge vntoo dead sainctes, by blottinge oute of the
temples, thy holy lawe there written, according to thy com-
maundement, for the edifyenge of thy people, and by settinge vp in
the steade therof Idols and Mawmettes, cleane contrary to thy
blessed worde ?

" Thou callest thyself a Lyon & a consuming fyre and threatenest
vtter destruccion vnto thin aduersaries, whi suffereth thou than
these Antichristes thus to ryse, rore, & rage, against the testament
of thy most dere sonne, to beat doune thy trueth, to call thy holy
lawe heresy, to banishe the preachinge of the Gospel, and the true
vse of the Sacramentes, & to seke the destruccion of so many as
vnfaynedly loue the and thy blessed worde." — Sig. A. iv. &.

" Thus seist thowe (0 moste mercifull father) Howe miserabli the
face of the Chryste common weale of England is beyond all measure
defamed.

" Thus seist thoue, howe thy godly doctrine and most holy ordi-
nances are vtterly abolyshed, and menes tradicions set vp in the
place of them.

"Thus seist thowe, howe thy glorie & honore that is due to the
alone is attributed and geuene to an Idole of bread and to their
wicked Maumets.

" Thus seist thowe, howe the Saluacion, whiche is thorow faithe
to be hoped & looked for onlye in the glorious passion, precius
deathe, & triumphant Resurrecion of thy most dere son and our
alone Sauiour & Lord Jesus Christ is nowe reposed in the sinfull
merites of hipocrites, in the intercession of Saintes, in ceremonies,
in the obseruances of menes idle imaginacions &c.

" Thus seist thow, how thy holy worde is set aside, and mans
doctrin hathe the vppermost hand.

" Thus seist thow how thy holy mysteries are to moch filtheli
denied of the swynyshe Papistes.

" Thus seist thowe, howe all thynges in the temples be done with-
out edifieng. Nothyng is herad in them but boyng, bellowyng and
blearing (sic).

"Thus seist thowe, howe the fatherli Bishoppes and faithfull
pastores are vniustli put out of their cures, depriued of all that they
haue, banyshed and handled like shepe appoynted to the slaughter,
and in the steade off them whyte dawbed walles, paynted Sepulckers

150 THE PURITAN PALINODIA. [ESSAY

full of all filthines & abhominacion, blynde Phareseis, subtile Hypo-
crites, vnlearned asses, Romyshe foxes, Rawenyng wolues, Lordly
Tyrantes, and such Lyke pestilences are appoynted to rule ouer thy
flocke."— Sig. D. ii.

" And that thy blessed worde may haue the more fre passag, take
away from vs those Idolatrus Massmongers, those idle latyne Mum-
biers, those shauen Madianites, those Lordly loyterers, those Wolues,
those Theues, Robbers, and Murtherars, whiche do nothyng elles
than poyson thy flocke, whom thy moste dere Sonne purchased withe
hys moste Precious dere hearte bloode, and mak hawocke of thy sely
simple shepe by leadyng them awaye frome the, throwe their vayne
sophistrie vnto the Dewill & the pope, from thy holy worde and
blessed ordenances vnto thetrifeling tradicions&croked yea cankered
constitucions of Hipocrites : And in the stead of them place thow
godly Byshopes, learned Preachers, Christen Ministers, faithful
teachers, True spirituall Fathers, Louyng pastors euen suche as will
diligently seke vpe the loste shepe, whom the woulyshe Papistes in
the tyme of their tiranny haue most wrechedli scattered abrode." —
Sig. D. vi.

But though I have thought it necessary to give these
extracts relating to the change of religion in the country,
and illustrating the mode in which that subject was treated
by the writers of the Puritan party, yet they would do very
imperfect justice to that part of the subject. There was
another method of treating the matter which requires more
particular notice, and of which I hope to speak in a separate
essay.

ESSAY X.

THE PURITAN PALINODIA.

"THE HARBOROUGH FOR FAITHFUL SUBJECTS."

WHEN the preceding essay went to the press it was ray
intention to proceed immediately to the consideration of
what may be called the popular course pursued by the
puritan party with regard to the change of religion in Eng-
land. Argument is a fine thing for fine people; and
learning is better than house or land, especially for those
who possess the means of comparison, and are therefore best
qualified to judge of relative values. But where the ener-
gies of the million are wanted there is a more compendious

x.] THE PURITAN PALINODIA. 151

and effective method of rousing them, and one that was
appreciated and well understood by the parties with whose
proceedings we are concerned. It is indeed a curious matter,
and one which has been, as far as I know, very little noticed.
At all events it has not received the attention which it
deserves. But as it is one which extends over a consider-
able period, and comprehends a good deal of matter, it has
appeared to me best to say a few words on a point relating
more immediately to the exiled party, while some of their
proceedings having been recently subjects of discussion, are
fresh in remembrance.

I have given copious specimens of the doctrine propounded
or sanctioned by Knox, Goodman, Whittingham, Kethe,
Traheron, Becon, and others, on the subject of female
monarchy. I have shown the grounds on which these lead-
ing men of the party denounced it as " monstruous," and I
am not aware that as long as Queen Mary lived any one
of them, or of their party, published one word of reply, or
repudiation. It is obvious, therefore, that when they came
to see the lady Elizabeth actually stepping into the throne,
they must have felt themselves in an awkward predicament.

To refer to no other points which had been discussed, she
was a woman as well as her sister ; and no one who has read
the foregoing pages can doubt that she would consider many
of the passages which I have quoted, as capable of a very
clear and unpleasant application to herself. Of course, if
Mary was a thing accursed because she was a woman, so was
Elizabeth ; and if the " regiment " of one of these creatures
was " monstruous," so would be that of the other. It must
have puzzled the party extremely; and we cannot doubt
that it was the subject of much thought and consultation ;
and judging from the result, we may suppose that they who
were most concerned in the matter came to a decision that,
as what had been done could not be undone, and what had
been said could not be unsaid, it would be best to put a good
face on the matter — to throw John Knox, the most violent
and notorious maintainer of the opinion, overboard at once
and for ever — to say as little as possible about the way in
which the subject had been treated by Goodman and others,
of whom it could not be pretended that they were " Scots "
and " straungers " — and to say as much as could be said in
the way of denial, explanation, apology, contradiction, &c.,

152 ORIGINES LITERARI^E. [ESSAY

by the pen of some staunch member of the party, who was
not particularly and personally committed on the subject of
female goverment. Happily for their need, they had among
them a man " sharp in his discourse, facetious, bold, free in
speech, blunt in words, stout and courageous ; " and it does
credit to their sagacity, or his, that he was immediately in
the field as the champion of the party.

Surely there was something chivalrous in the act ; for it
was not as if he had turned round upon his old friends ;
and though the business which he undertook naturally

reminds one of

" the valiant rat

Who undertook to bell the cat,"

yet he really is not to be accused of anything like what is
called " ratting," even allowing to that term all the improper
latitude with which it is nowadays employed. I do not
know that he said a word which could inculpate or disparage
any one of his friends, or noticed any one word, written or
spoken on the awkward subject with which he had to deal,
except the "lytle booke strangely written by a straunger;"
and supposing this to have been entirely his own doing, it
certainly was, all things considered, very creditable to him.
Every one must be glad to know something of one who per-
formed so singular a feat ; and it is curious that, but for
what seems in human estimation a very casual and trifling
circumstance, very little would have been recorded of a man
who is not known to have written any thing but this small
book, now seldom heard of, and more rarely seen. But as
to the man himself, what library is without his " Life and
Acts," a volume " wherein are explained many transactions
1 of the Church of England, and what methods were then
' taken to preserve it, with respect both to the Papist and
1 Puritan " ?

Did the reader ever meet with a book intituled " Origines
* Literariae \ or a Treatise on the causes of Books ; wherein
4 is, by occasion, somewhat touched, the effect which such
' grounds and causes have had on the frame and tenor of the
1 works themselves " ? I never did ; and I do not believe
that there ever was such a thing ; but I have often wished
that there had been. It would be a most curious and valu-
able addition to literary history. In many cases we should
learn how it happened that a certain author was led to take

x.l LIMBORCH'S INQUISITION. K>3

up a certain subject, and to treat it in a certain way. We
should sometimes find that it arose from no peculiar quali-
fication or addiction, from no predilection, no particular
knowledge of the subject or notion of its importance, but
from some accidental circumstances which have never been
generally known, or have become quite forgotten ; and
which, nevertheless, if present to the mind of the reader,
would prepare him better than any other preface for the
perusal of the work, and greatly help ' him to understand
and appreciate it1.

1 Perhaps there are few better specimens than Litnborch's History of
the Inquisition. It is so long since I looked at the history of that work
that I do not recollect the minute particulars, but I think that "The
Book of Sentences " came into the hands of Locke, during his secession
on the continent towards the end of the seventeenth century. This book,
being an undoubtedly genuine document, containing the proceedings of
the Inquisition at Toulouse, for about sixteen years (1307 — 1323), was
very properly considered a great curiosity ; but, I apprehend, that so far
as history and truth were concerned, it might have lain obscure, if it had
not seemed probable that it might do some good in the way of political
agitation. Whether it did, or did not, in fact, people would suppose that
it must, contain such revelations of a mystery of iniquity as would be
appalling. At all events it would offer a good opportunity for exciting
public feeling on the subject, and for any declamation that might be
desirable. Who would read the original dog-latin document of four
hundred close printed folio pages? In the hundred and fifty years since
it was published who has read it? 1 verily believe no one individual.
Gibbon looked at it, and lamented that it had not had a more learned and
critical editor ; but no matter for that ; Limborch was a man of the right
sort, which was much more important than that he should know about the
Inquisition. So he made a great book, and prefixed a fierce dedication
to Archbishop Tillotson assuring his Grace, and all other readers, in great
words, and great letters, that he had in the great book thoroughly exposed
Popery in its true colours, and that they might make up their minds on
that subject, before they set out on their journey of some eight hundred
folio pages of Latin, supposing that they had any idea of encountering
that fatigue. What was to have been an introductory Treatise to " The
Book of Sentences " grew, as the author learned his lesson, into the more
ambitious form and title of "Historia Inquisitionis." "This History,"
says his biographer Morgan (in Aikin's General Biography), " he
' executed with such ability that Mr. Locke, that incomparable judge of
' men and books, pronounced it to be a work in its kind, ABSOLUTELY
' PERFECT. And in a Letter to Mr. Limborch himself '' [though not per-
haps intended to be quite private and confidential] " he told him that he
' had so fully exposed the Inquisitors' secret arts of wickedness and
' cruelty, that if they had any remains of humanity in them, they must
' be ashamed of that horrid tribunal, in which ever}* thing that was just
' and righteous was so monstrously perverted ; and that it ought to be
' translated into the vulgar language of every nation, that the meanest

154 STRYPE'S LIFE OF [ESSAY

I remember being once asked by the man to whom of all
others I should have looked for an answer to the question,
" How came Strype to write the life of Bishop Aylmer ? "
I could not tell ; and I suspect that not one reader in ten
could assign any specific reason that would satisfy his own
mind. Of course, if he has Strype's preface by heart, he

' persons " [the best judges in such a case] " might understand the anti-
' Christian practices of that execrable court." As to the original cause of
all, " The Book of Sentences "itself ; the sequel of its history is amusing
and fortunate, and I hope I shall be pardoned if I seem to go a little out
of the way to record the pious care of Archbishop Seeker, of which, I
believe, no man has so much right or so much reason to speak as myself.
While he was bishop of Oxford, he was informed that the manuscript,
which had served its turn, was for sale, and he was pressed to buy it lest
(of all things in the world) it should fall into the hands of the Roman
Catholics, who would of course be on the watch to seize and destroy such
a witness against them. One is glad that it should have been bought,
though it seems to have been under a delusion ; for, unless misled by
popular clamour, no Romanist could have wished that book to be
destroyed. I think Mr. (afterwards Bishop) Butler was the negociator ;
but any reader who likes may see all the particulars for himself. They
were preserved by the care and business-like habits of Seeker, and are
deposited with the Manuscript in the British Museum.

But to come to the point for which this History of the Inquisition is
here referred to. Whatever Mr. Locke and his party might say of the
book, and whatever face the author might put upon the matter in his
dedication to the liberal Primate of England, Limborch was quite sensible
that he had got out of his latitude. In the letter which he sent to
Dr. Spencer (then the Head of C. C. College, Cambridge, but best known
now as the writer De Legibus Hebroeorum, &c. ), and which is among the
MSS. at Lambeth, he acknowledges to his learned friend with admirable
simplicity, that he had allowed himself to be drawn into a matter quite
out of his way. That purposing to edit the Book of Sentences, he deter-
mined to prefix a dissertation on the Inquisition, but coming to look at
the writers on that subject he found that there was so much to be said
about it, that he had changed his mind and made a full History, though
nothing could have been a greater bore to a person of his line of study
than patching together the bits from various writers of which he made his
book ; but the book was made, and it is a great book, and a book of great
authority. I suppose that similar apologetic letters were sent with it to
other scholars, but as I am not aware that this one to Dr. Spencer has
been printed I subjoin the beginning of it: — "In laborem a studiis meis
' plane alienum me pertrahi passus sum. Editurus Librum sententiarum
' Inquisitionis Tholosanse dissertationem de Inquisitione prsemittere sta-
' tueram : Verum cum autores qui de Inquisitione scribunt evolverem
' adeo uberem deprehendi materiam ut mutato consilio integram Inqui-
' sitionis Historiam conscripseram. Ego studio Theologico adsuetus mo-
' lestissimam sane expertus sura lucubrationem quse laciniarum ex variis
' :mtoribus conquisitarum et in aptum methodum congestarum, collectione
'constat," &c. — MS. No. 674.

x.] BISHOP AYLMER 155

may say that Bishop Aylmer was a prelate " within whose
' diocese lay both The Court, Westminster Hall, and Lon-

* don, the great metropolis of the nation : and by whom the
' Archbishop of Canterbury passed all his injunctions and

* mandates to the rest of the bishops and clergy of his pro-
' vince." All this is undoubtedly matter of fact ; much of
which may be proved by the maps of dioceses somewhile
since published in the British Magazine ; and so, perhaps,
we may assent to the inference of the biographer when he
adds ; — " and therefore we may reasonably look for matters

* of great moment to be occasionally recommended to the

* Bishop in this busy reign, and to fall into the accounts we

* give of him." No doubt many things might be made to
fall into the accounts of a man who lived from 1521 to
1594. Many matters of interest might be brought into a
biography of Bow Bells, if it professedly included a full
account of all that has happened within their sound ; and a
clever writer might make even the Life and Times of the
Pump at Aldgate very lively, notwithstanding its stationary
character, and the washy monotony of its involuntary
performances. But we should be surprised to find any
writer of such enlarged views choosing such a nucleus ;
and it is much the same in the case of Strype's Life of
Aylmer. It is curious to read his laboured preface intended
to convince himself, and his readers, that it was very proper
to write the work, and that it might be made interesting,
and that if a biographer could not say a great deal, or what
was so good as he might have wished, of a prelate whose
diocese, locally considered, contained so much, yet still it was
highly proper that the life should be written ; and even if
anybody should think that the biographer went out of his
way in selecting "Queen Elizabeth's third Bishop of
London," and passing over his predecessors, Grindall and
Sandys, it was enough to say that it would be more proper
to treat of them, if at all, as Archbishops of Canterbury and
York.

But supposing Strype to have persuaded himself of all
this, and believing, as I do, that he had not the least idea
of anything like concealment or false colouring, it must be
observed that the simple matter of fact which, it can scarcely
be doubted, furnished the chief reason for writing the book,
is not once hinted at throughout the preface ; and is one

15(5 STRYPE'S LIFE OF AYLMER. [ESSAY

which the shrewdest reader of the preface would never
guess. It does not come out, I believe, until Strype has
told the whole history of the prelate's life, and proceeds to
speak of his descendants. It then appears that Bishop
Aylmer married Judith Buers — that Samuel, the eldest of
their seven sons, married Ann, daughter of Lord Brabazon
— that Anthony, the third son of this marriage, had a son
named "Brabazon Aylmer, the bookseller and publisher of
' this book, who," Strype adds, " out of due and honourable
* respects to the memory of his great-grandfather the
Bishop " [not of course with any eye to business] " put me
' upon exposing these collections, and communicated some
4 considerable papers and notices relating hereunto." — p. 116.
So that after all, though in Bishop Aylmer's time his
diocese really did contain the Court, and Westminster Hall,
and a world beside, yet if it had not long afterwards
contained the " Three Pigeons over against the Royal
Exchange," even like as the Three Pigeons contained, and
were controlled by, his great-grandson Brabazon, Bishop
Aylmer's life might never have been written. If Brabazon
really prevailed on Mr. Strype to undertake the task of
" exposing " his collections, (not to say the bishop,) from
pious regard to his ancestor, he is to be commended and
pitied ; if it was done merely to get renown, or to turn a
penny by the family papers, one can only wish that his
great-grandfather had been at hand to have " soundly cud-
gelled him for his baseness," as he did his son-in-law — the
unhappy " divine and preacher," Dr. Squire, who had mar-
ried and ill treated his daughter, the great-aunt of the said
Brabazon.

But so it is, that for some reason or other, the Life of
Aylmer was written; and (to borrow Strype's words re-
specting a sermon preached at Paul's Cross by a son of
" this loose man," Dr. Squire, who was cudgelled) it " hath
a great deal of reading in it ; " and some of the reading is
very curious ; but our particular business lies with that
which concerns Aylmer's performances before his return
from exile, and of course a good while (much longer than he
liked) before he was a bishop. Strype tells us,

"When Queen Mary was extinct, whose reign was deeply be-
smeared with blood, and her sister Elizabeth, a lady of other prin-
ciples, succeeded to the crown, Aylmer with the rest of the exiles

x.] BISHOP AYLMER'S « HARBOROUGH." 157

came home to their native country, with no little joy and thankful-
ness to God, to enjoy the quiet profession of that religion they had
suffered for before, and endured the loss of all. But before he
returned home he printed an English book at Strasburgh, called
'An Harborough for faithful Subjects,' (an account whereof is
-given towards the conclusion of the book ;) which he wrote upon a
consultation, as it seems, holden among the exiles, the better to
obtain the favour of the new Queen, and to take off any jealousy
she might conceive of them and the religion they professed, by
reason of an ill book a little before set forth by Knox, a Scotchman
and fellow exile ; who had asserted therein, that it was unlawful for
women to reign, and forbid by God in his word. This doctrine was
seasonably confuted by Aylmer, and learnedly. And for Queen
Elizabeth, he gave her a great character, concluding that there
would be all peace and prosperity under a princess of such admir-
able parts and godly education." — p. 11.

Most of this is true as to the facts. With a degree of
assurance which has perhaps never been equalled, and
which, even with the book before one, seems hardly credible,
Aylmer undertook to refute the "lytle booke strangely
written by a straunger." He had, as has been already
hinted, some personal qualifications for the work — being (as
we may learn among other things from the " Contents " of
Strype's biography) " zealous for the true religion ....
' diligent and painful. Not to be tempted by bribes ....
1 quick and hot in his temper .... sharp in his discourse
' . . . . facetious .... Bold. Free in speech. Blunt in
i words. Stout and courageous .... a man of both for-
' tunes ; " by which last characteristic Strype seems to have
meant much the same as Dogberry did when he spake of " a
fellow that hath had losses" — but beside these personal
qualifications, which do not meet in every man, there was
one circumstance which renders it probable that he was
rightly selected as " the most desartless man to be constable,"
and cany the lantern on this occasion. He had been tutor
to the Lady Jane Grey ; and it is but charitable to believe
that among the bull-dog virtues for which his biographer
vouches (to say nothing of that eye to his own interest which
seems to have been as sharp, as it was near, sighted) he had
so much fidelity as, if it did not fully and indissolubly unite
him in the fortune of his ill-fated pupil, yet so far com-
mitted him as that it would have been impossible for him
(or at least for anybody else in his circumstances) to have
denounced the regiment of women. I do not know where

158 BISHOP AYLMER'S [ESSAY

he was, or what he was doing, during the few days that
Queen Jane was on the throne, or why he felt it necessary
to fly the country after her deposition ; but it is only justice
to him to say that if he had merely come forward to disavow
for himself the opinions maintained by Knox, he could not,
as far as appears, have been charged with inconsistency, or
any fault except that which he himself suggests as apt to be
laid to the charge of all those who under particular circum-
stances allow opinions to circulate without public contra-
diction.

Indeed it would seem as if it was chiefly to this point that
he felt called upon to address himself ; for what had he and
his companions to do with the thoughts or works of a "Scot,"
and a " straunger," except that they had unluckily and un-
accountably let the time run on without expressing their
abhorrence of them until Queen Elizabeth was actually on
the throne ? For his own part, " chaunsing upon a boke "
of such a nature, for it would appear that his coming to
know of it was quite accidental — " happening," as he says,
" not long agone " to read this book — he " wished that some
notable learned man would haue answered it," and was only
hindered from doing it himself by the expectation that some
more competent person would undertake the task. But it is
impossible to do the writer justice except in his own words.
In his dedication, which is " To the right honorable and his
4 singuler good lordes, Francis Earle of Bedford, one of the
' Quenes Maiesties priuie Counsell, and the Lord Robert
' Duddeley, Master of her highnes horsse and Knight of the
' honorable order of the Garter," he says, after enumerating
' the heretical sects of antiquity—

"And in these our latter dales, the old festred sores newly broken
out, as the Anabaptistes, the freewillers, or rather frowardewillers,
the iusticiaries, &c., and others that be new, as Adiaphoristes,
Oserianistes, Maroranistes, Papists, with infinit other swarms of
gods enemies, by whom our aduersari Satan seketh to disturb the
true vnitie of Christes church, to choke the good corn of late sown
in gods field, and to dim that excellent lighte, whiche according to
his secreate counsell and decree, he determined shuld shine to the
vnspeakable comfort of his elect, in these our dais. Among these
vgglie monsters and brodes of the deuils brotherhead, hath of
late krept out, I can not tel whether by wil or ignorance certain
Tro\i<f>6dp/j.a.Ta which haue called into question among vs such thinges
as good subiectes before neuer doubted of, whether it wer lawful for
women, inker itours of kingdoms, to youern and guid the same, or no.

X.]

"HARBOROUGH" 159

"Although this error may appeare, not to touch so neare the
soule and saluacion of man, as some of the fore named: do : yet con-
sidering that the quiet of common weales is the nurse of religion,
and bulwark of good and faithful men ; and that the apostle
pronounceth against the rebellious vtter damnacion ; we can not
think it to be a trifle to disturbe the common ordres of pollicies, to
sondre the mindes of subiectes, by new inuented contrauersies,
and briefly to make men to muse, of that they neuer before mis-
trusted. Wherf or chaunsing vpon a boke, about a yere past, intitled
' THE FIRST BLAST,' conteining new broched doctrine to disproue
the regiment of women. After I had red it, I wished that some
notable learned man, wold haue answered it, that, like as those
which be stonge of Scorpions vse to fetch remeady of the same : so
this cause being wounded, or rather a little scratted, with some
shewe and apparance of learning : might be again healed with
suche plaisters as through the truthe of the matter, true lerning
ministreth. And for as much as I hoped of this at som mens hands,
and hard of one, which is now gon to God, that he had taken it
vpon him, I ment not my self for a time to medle with it, least that
a good cause by il handling shuld, in the iudgment of som, seme the
worse. But whan the length of time taught me that he that ment
it was taken from it, and such as could haue throughly don it,
made no hast to it : I thoughte it better rather by my sclendre
handling of it to shew mi good wil, than by the common silence to
seme to winke at it. And so much the rather I toke it in hand,
because, if no man shuld do it, all our side shuld seme to bear with
it ; which I knowe to be so far of, that NONE that 1 know (1 speak
of the learned) be further gilty in this poynt, than that by ther
declaration they haue not shewed themselues giltles. I know the
credit, the old prouerb hath, qui tacet consentire videtur, he that
winketh at a matter, semeth to think the same. And therf ore as it
was necessary that som in the behalf of al, shuld vtter the minds of
the rest, so ment I, though more boldly then wisely, yet not so
rashly as necessarily, nor as I trust more rudely then profitably, to
let the world vnderstand that this infection is not blown in by the
blast to al mens breasts, yea I dare be bold to saye that at the best
learned be of the same iudgement herein that this my simple treatise
shall vtter me to be of. So that neither our sworn enemies the
papists shal haue any longer leasure to belie vs, nor our half frends
which are indifferent to beleue any thing of vs, hereafter to mis-
trust vs, nor the highe powers them selues in this point to feare vs.
We haue lerned and taught, we loue and like, we honor and esteme
true obedience to the high ministres of God ; and, on the contrarye,
we can no skil of seditious disturbers of wel satled policies of rashe
vnbrideled brekers of holsome and godlye lawes. Thus me thinke
I may saye in the name of al, because 2 know the contrary opinion
to be in fewe or none. Wherf ore let our enemies leaue of thus to
charge vs, in that we deserue not, and our frindes to mistrust vs, in
that they certainlye knowe not, or els they shall be reproved of
loude lying, and these of to vnfrendly misiudging."— 7Ve/. Sig.
A. iij.

160 BISHOP AYLMER'S [ESSAY

And this is followed up on the first page of his book,
thus ; —

"And as in great Cities, great hede is geuen, that neither by
negligence of the Citezins, nor malice of euil vvillers, it be consumed
by fyre, or hurt by any other casualtie, so in common vvelthes must
it be prouided, that no fyre brandes of Sedition be cast into the
houses of mens hartes, to impayre thobedience of good Subiectes, to
kindle the harts of the froward, and to destroy honest, godly, and
comly order. For mans nature being such, as it can hardly be
brought to stupe, and easely stirred vp to disturbe, all occasions
must be cut of, vvherby the euyll may be encoraged to cast of the
yocke of obedience, and the simple brought into doubt what thei
ought to follow. Happening therfore not longe agone to rede a
lytle booke strangely written by a Straunger, to proue that the rule
of Women is out of Kule, and not in a common vvelte tollerable :
And waying at the first what harm might come of it, and felying
at the last that it hath not a lytle wounded the conscience of some
symple, and almost cracked the dutie of true Obedience : I thought
it more then necessary to lay before mens eyes the vntruth of the
argument, the vvekenes of the proufes, and the absurditie of the
whole. In the siftyng vvherof, I mynde to vse suche modestie,
that it shall appere to all indifferent men, that I seke to defend the
cause, and not to deface the man ; Being this errour rose not of
malice but of zele, and by loking more to the present crueltie, that
then was used : then to the inconuenience that after might follow."
-Sig. B.

It is, indeed, probable that if Knox had been aware of the
" inconvenience that after might follow," he would not have
said some things which he did say ; but is quite clear that
Aylmer, while he did not mean " to deface the man," meant
to remove the " inconvenience " as much as possible from
his own party, by repudiating the "straunger" and his
performances.

But we come to the argument from authority and pre-
cedent— we soon see how easily two could play at that game.
This " small but truly learned piece," as Strype calls it, shows
that history is a witness whom it is sometimes worth while
to cross-examine. It is curious to see how completely the
dramatis persona are changed. " Jolye Jesabel," and wicked
Athalia, and Herodias, and all the bad women who had been
congregated, are disbanded and sent about their business —
they kre straunge women, and may go with the " straunger,"
and he may make what he can of them — exeunt omnes, and
enter Deborah, and Judith, and Esther, and Theodora, and
all the mothers in Israel that could be collected on short
notice ; and doubtless nothing but want of time hindered

x.] " HARBOKOUGH." 161

the mention of Hannah More and Mrs. Fry. How happy
would the latter have been to be placed beside the " fyrst
preacher " to the Samaritans.

But this is rather anticipating. Aylmer, as will be seen,
was far from maintaining that women generally, and as such,
were stronger and wiser than men ; but then he marvelled
how any man could fail to see that it had ever been the
divine pleasure to choose weak things to confound those
which were mighty. Whether he was not rather too "dili-
gent and painful," (to borrow Strype's words,) as well as
" free in speech/' in working out this argument may, per-
haps, be doubted. Notwithstanding abundance of that gross
flattery which she loved, it may be questioned whether this
line of argument could be rendered altogether agreeable to
the Queen. Her highness did not perhaps receive unmixed
gratification from comparisons, or even illustrations, founded
on the ass of Balaam, the jaw-bone of Sampson, the earthen
pots of Gideon, and other " mostebase meanes " and "folysh-
nes " by which wonderful works have been wrought. One
would like to know how she looked and felt while reading
the following passages : —

" Placeth he a woman vveake in nature, f cable in bodie, softe in
courage, vnskilf ull in practise, not terrible to the enemy, no shilde
to the frynde, vvel, Virtus mea (saith he) in infirmitate perficitur. My
strengthe is moste perfight when you be moste weake ; if he ioyne
to his strengthe, she can not be vveake ; if he put to his hande, he
can not be feable ; if he be with her, who can stande against her ?
Thou shalt not take with the any great power (saith he to Gedeon)
lest you thinke to ouercome your enemies by your own strength, and
prowes, and not by my wurking and might. It is as easy for him to
saue by fevve as by many, by vveake as by strong, by a woman as
by a man. Yea his moste wonderf ull vvorkes are alvvayes wrought
in cure moste weakenes, as infinite examples and testimonies do
shevve." — Sig. B. ii. &.

" He saued his people by the hande of a woman poore Deborah.
He aduanced them and ouerthrevve the enemies by a poore shepherde
and his sling. He cut of the head of the proude captayne Olophernes
by the hande of a weake woman. It was, in reason a poore helpe
to Sampsons strengthe, a nomber of heares growing vpon his bed,
or an Asses iavve bone in his hande, to destroye so many enemies
and bring the people to libertie. The breaking of. 300, earthen
pottes, was a sclender pollycie to make so many Myriades to flee
and one to kille another." — Sig. B. iii. 6.

" Was not Quene Anne the mother of this blessed woman, the
chief, first, and only cause of banyshing the beast of Home, with all

L

162 BISHOP AYLMEB'S [ESSAY

his beggerly baggage ? was there euer in Englande a greater f eate
wrought by any man, then this was by a woman ? I take not from
kyng Henry the due praise of broching it, nor from that lambe of
God king Edward, the finishing and perfighting of that was begon,
though I giue hir, hir due commendacion. I know that that blessid
martir of God Thomas Cranmer byshop of Canterbury, did much
trauaile in it, and furthered it : but if God had not gyuen Quene
Anne fauour in the sight of the kynge, as he gave to Hester in the
sight of Nabucadnezar, Haman, and his company, the Cardinall,
VVynchester, More, Roches : and other, wold sone haue trised vp
Mardocheus with al the rest that leaned to that side. Wherfore
though many deserued muche praise for the helping f orwarde of it :
yet the croppe and roote was the Quene, whiche God had endewed
with wisdome that she coulde, and gyuen hir the minde that she
would do it. Seing then that in al ages God hath wroughte his
moste wonderfull workes, by moste base meanes : and shewed his
strengthe by weakenes, his wisdome by f olyshnes, and his exceding
greatnes by mans exceding feblenes, What doubt we of his power,
when we lacke pollycie, or mistrust his helpe which hath wrought
suche wounders ? Who is placed aboue him saieth lob : to teach
him what he shuld do? Or who can say to him, thou hast not
don iustly ? He sendeth a woman by birth, we may not refuse
hir by violence. He stablisshetlrher by lawe, we may not remoue
hir by wronge. He maketh hir a head, we may not make hir a
hande or foote." — Sig. B. iv. &.

" Now thou seest, good reader," says our author (after
some time spent in discussing history from the Old Testa-
ment) "howe this matter stode among the lewes;" — and
of course there is not so much difficulty about "poore
Deborah " and the rest of her nation ; but when he comes
to "run over a few recordes in like manner, among the
Christians," some qualification and explanation are required ;
for beginning with Theodora, he is obliged to confess that
" she was superstitious and wilfull (through the lewde per-
swasions of her clatteringe Clargie, in the defence of
images) " — but then as he says : —

" Wherfore, though there be some faultes to be found in this
Theodora, and other : yet proueth it not that thei may not reigne,
for it is afallax ab accidents to say, she was nought, ergo, she might
not rule ; for that hangeth not vpon the rule, that she was nought,
but vpon the persone. As if you should saye, my L. lubber of
London is a tyraunt : ergo he is no bysshop. I warrant you, though
he graunted you the antecedent whiche he can hardly denie : yet
he would denye the consequent, or els he would call for wylie
Watson to helpe him. In Fraunce, tyl of late yeares, women
enherited the crown as in Englande, and Scotlande, vntil that they
ment by the lawe salique, rather to defeate vs of our title, then to
condempne the succession as vnlaufull, as you may now see by the

x.] « HARBOROUGH." 1 08

Frenche king. He neither thynketh it vnlaufull or vnnaturall to be
Jorde of your contrie by that womans tytle. I woulde you coulde
perswade either him or your countrey men, to thinke that the
quenes title bycause she is a woman is vnlaufull, and so do your
own countrey good first, and let vs alone with ours. And as you
speede there, you might perchaunce encourage vs to follow when it
may be done laufully. Tully saith, ne sis curiosus in aliena rep.
The voyce of a straunger, is to be hard in the pulpit, so long as he
speaketh Gods worde : But a straungers voyce is not alowed in foro,
in the parliament about pollycie, bycause he is not a citezen. This
I saye not to philip you, as though you ment euil to vs (for I am
pers waded that you loue England as well as your own contrey) but
I meane to monish you, that being a straunger you disturbe not our
state : lest you giue occasion to them that know you not, of
suspicion. It is a great enterprise (and as they say no balle playe)
to pulle a quenes crowne of his (sic) head : and specially such a
ones, as many ages haue not sene, nor many countreis enioyed, or
many histories recorded the lyke. I would -not be wounded in
conscience, with any attempte against hir, if I might be lord of all
that Philippe, and the french king haue. VVel, I must leaue hir
for this tyme, lest the remembraunce of her vertues make me to
forget my matter." — Sig. F. i. 6.

There is something propitiatory in the idea of the writer's
being carried away from his subject by the remembrance of
the Queen's virtues ; and especially in seeing (if her majesty
ever did see) that nothwitstanding his consciousness that it
interrupted his argument, and his good resolution to avoid
it, he so soon fell again and more deeply into the same error.
In fact it seemed as if he was so fascinated that he could
not keep out of it. In the course of a very few pages he
says —

" Vndoubtedly in the whole number of men, might be founde
some one that shoulde in all respectes passe the beste among
women in wisdome, grauite, learning, vnderstanding, sobrietie,
temperauncie, hablenes to take paines, warlykenes, iustice, fortitude,
&c. But when it standeth in no mans election, but in his hande
that shapeth male or female in the wombe of the mother at his
pleasure: Then hath mans voyce no authoritie bycause he hath
gyuen ouer his right in chusing by common consent vnto God, that
he according to his inscrutable wysdome may chuse and dispose as
he pleaseth. This being doone, shall man pull back his graunt, or
call God to accompt and say, 'Nay when we agreed, the matter
should be referred to your iudgement, we ment not that you should
send vs a women to rule ouer vs : or we had forgette to put that in
the condicions, and therfore you must geue vs leaue to reuoke our
graunt, for we can prouide better than thus, our selfes.' Were not
this a folyshe plea (thinke you) and a mad enterprise ? wold he not
sone aunswer vs, 'Oh you presumptuous fooles, that haue suche
opinion of your own wyt : who made empires and kyngdomes,

164 BISHOP AYLMER'S [ESSAY

dominions and rules? who preserueth and mainteineth them?
whose be they ? yours or myne ? must you haue the orderyng or I ?
If they bee myne why let you me not alone with them ? If they be
yours : shewe your euidence howe you came by them : shall not I do
with myne what I liste? Is therfore your eye ill because I am
good ? Murmur ye at myne anoynted, because she is a woman ?
who made man and woman, you or I ? yf I made hir to lyue : may I
not make her to reigne ? If I apoynt hir to the office ? can I not
adourne hir, and make hir hable to discharge it ? Why then (you
of litle faithe) eyther feare you my good wil, or mistrust you my
power ? you are muche worse then Saule in this poynte, whome I
reiectyd for disobedience. For when I sent my seruaunt Dauid,
yonge of age, and no Gyante in stature, with his shepe hoke and his
slyng: Saule woulde haue armed hym wyth hys owne armoure?
But when Dauid threwe it of and wente his waye naked against his
enemye, a great hyghe monstre, in comparison of hym, Saule
mystrusted not as you do : murmured not as you doo, sayinge, ' Ah
this poore boye is not hable to be our champion, and to defende our
libertie ; ' but he prayed for him, and wyshed him well in the name
of lehouah the lorde of hostes. It is, I tell you, all one to me, to
saue with many or few, with armour or without, by a woman or by
a man. What letteth, that she may not as well represent my
maiestie, as any of you all ? If I be best represented by the shining
ornamentes of the mynde, and not the outwarde sturdines of the
body : why may not she haue at my hande that any of you haue ?
wisdom to gouerne, iustice to punish, clemencie to pardon, dis-
crescion to iudge. I that coulde make Daniel a sucking babe, to
iudge better then the wisest of the lawyers: A brute beaste to
reprehende the follie of a Prophet : and poore fisshers, to confound
the great clarkes of the worlde, can not I make a woman to be a
good ruler ouer you, and a mete minister for me ? What vnlykelihod
se you in hir ? are your eyes so dulle ? or your myndes so malycious ?
that you can not or wyll not see those lewelles, wherwith I haue
decked hir? is that rare learning, that singulare modestie, that
heauenly clemencie, that christiane constancie, that loue of religion,
that excellent wysdom with many more of my graces, nothing in
your sight ? I shewed you the lyke towarde in a man of late : but
for your owne vnworthines, I toke him from you : And wil you,
nowe I haue geuen you this, make yourselues vn worthy to enjoy
hir ? Leaue of, leaue of, your owne pollycie, which is but folly, and
embrace my ordinaunce, as it is your dutie. For I pulle down
whome I will, and set vp whome I wil.'

"Though God speaketh not thus to vs audibely : yet suer, he
nedes must thus speake in our conscience inwardly. Wherfore let
vs leaue of to dispute, and beginne to praye, that it maye please
hym to stablyshe hir seat amonge vs, and to send hir longe lyfe and
quiet reigne, to defende hir and vs from inuasions abrode and
conspiracies at home, to giue hir grace to seeke his honour, and
maynteine the truthe, to guide hir harte in the choise of hir
husbande, and to make her frutefull, and the mother of manye
chyldren, that thys Realme maye haue the graftes of so goodly a
tree, That cure chyldren and posterite maye see hirs occupying hir

x.] " HARBOROUGH." 165

throne, with honour, ioye, and quietnes. The remembraunce of her
vertues 'carieth me awaye from my matter : wherefore I return." —
Sig. I.

This passage of involuntary gratulation has a pithy side
note in the margin — " We must praye for the Quene's
estate and not dispute of hir right " — but perhaps there is
no one passage in the book more observable, both on account
of the gross flattery which it contains, and of the coarse
(one would think unwelcome and disgusting) ribaldry by
which it is accompanied, than the following, of which Strype
has quoted a part : —

" The ii. reason out of Esay maketh as muche as for debarringe of
yonge Princes rule, as loas, losias and our swiet kinge Edwarde (as
his sister Marye helde) as it dothe againste women, for they be
ioigned together, but in dede it maketh againste neither. For
Esaye being worthelye called the Demosth : of the Hebrues, vseth
suche goodly figures of speaking, as all the scripture hathe not
beside, as in this place, I will take from you your honorable
Senators, and your wise counselors, and I will geue you boyes and
women, or effeminate persons to reigne ouer you, not boyes in age
but in maners (as Aristotle saithe of yonge men, that to heare
Philosophic it maketh no matter for their yeares, but for their
maners) not women in sexe, but in feblenes of wit, and not suche as
some women be, wiser, better learned, discreater, constanter, then a
number of men : but such as women be of the vvurst sort, fond,
folish, wanton, flibbergibbes, tatlers, triflers, wauering, witles,
without counsell, feable, careles, rashe, proude, deintie, nise, tale-
bearers, euesdroppers, rumour raisers, euell tonged, worse minded,
and in euerye wise doltefied with the dregges of the Deuils dounge
hill. As these minions be, such shall your senatoures and rulers
be, that shall be neither hable to rule them selfes nor you. No
Deborahes, no Judiths, no Hesters, no Elyzabethes. For sure wher
such be: ther is no token of Gods wrath, whiche the Prophet
threatneth here : but of gods fauoure, whereof we may be assured."
— Sig. G. iii.

It may be doubted whether any man ever recommended
himself to a woman by complimenting her at the expense of
her sex. However, in this case, the compliments were only
subordinate, or meant to be so, to the more important
matters which Aylmer had in hand, and which were parti-
cularly two — first, to show that Elizabeth had a right to be
Queen ; and secondly, (not so plainly avowed, but obvious
enough) that though her majesty as head of the church
would have full right to do every thing that was to be
done in it, in her own proper person, yet she could not be
expected, and would not in fact be able, to do all the work

166 BISHOP AYLMER'S [ESSAY

of the bishops and clergy, and must have a body of men in
some shape, and under some name or other, to take their
place, and perform their office. In a passage which has at
the beginning the marginal note, " What is requyred in a
pulpit man," and which after a few lines has another such
note to the effect that " Preachers must be no milck soppes,"
he thus writes : —

" For in such as shall occupy the pulpit, is required these things,
that they be mete to teach, to reproue, and conuince. In teaching
is required grauitie, learning, and eloquence. In reprouinge
courage and sounde iudgemente, and in conuincynge Artes,
memorye and muche science. And because the bringinge vppe of
womenne, is commonlye suche, as they canne not haue theese
thynges (for they bee not broughte vppe in learnynge in Scholes,
nor trayned in disputacions ; Or if they were yet because nature
hathe made them softer and milder then menne, yet bee they not
suche as are mete for that function.) Therfore be they vnmete for
this calling.

" For those that be preachers, must be no mylke soppes, no white
lyuered gentlemen, that for the frowning and cloudy countenaunce
of euery man in authoritie, will leaue his tackle and crie Peccaul.
They must be of such nature, as the Poet saieth of Crito, in vultu
grauitas, in verbis fides. They may not be afrayed to rebuke the
proudest, no not kynges and quenes so farfurth as the two tables
reacheth. As we see in Samuel, Nathan, Elie, Jhon Baptist, and
many other. They may not stoupe to euery mans becke, and study
to please man more then God. If heresies arise, they must haue
their tooles ready to mete with thaduersary and to ouerthrowe
hym: whiche he can not haue, onles he haue trauayled in many
sciences, harde and redde much, which thinges (because they be
huswyues) women can not haue commonly, and therfore they be
vnmete hereunto.

" Yea God knoweth so be many men to : for it is not inough for a
man to tell a fayre tale in the pulpit, and when he commeth down
is not able to defende it. If preachers and spirituall ministers be
suche, where be we when we come to handgripes ? They must not
only florishe, but they must know their quarter strookes, and the
waye how to defende their head, their head Christe I saye, and his
crosse. And specially in these dayes, wherein Sathan spiting the
happy grouthe and grenes of Gods field, soweth tares and fytches of
heresies and sectes continually, to choke or to empayre the good
corne if it may be.

"What ennemies haue we of the Papistes? vnlearned thinke
you ? nay, who so encountereth with them, had nede haue his
harnes wel bucked to hym, or he may chaunce to take a wipe. I
would they were aswel mynded, as they be learned. What saye
you nowe to the Arrians ? which suer, are lyke to enfect the best
heads in Europe (I meane the Italyans) if God prouide not remedy.
Shall it be easy thynke you for euery man to ioyne with them ? I
can not tell howe simple they be. But one man of that sect so

x.] « HARBOROUGH." 167

distourbed a whole vniuersitie in Germany, that all the learned
men there, and the Prince himself, was not hable to scrape out that
he had wickedly grauen. The Swingfieldians, the Maioranes, the
Pelagians, the fro ward freewyll men, the Adiaphoristes, the
Osdrianistes, the newe Marcionistes, the Anabaptistes, with infinite
other swarms of Satanistes, do you thinke that euery pulpit man
wyll be hable to aunswer them ? I pray God there be many that
can2.

" I saye therfore because there is so muche required in a spirituall
minister : that all men bee not mete for the office. And therfore
that with good reason women bee debarred from it. Albeit, at
some tymes it pleaseth God to vse their ministrie euen in this poynt,
as the woman of Samaria, whiche was the fyrst preacher to hir
cytezens of the Messias, and the women, the fyrst Apostles and
messengers of the resurrection. And as we reade in the Ecclesi-
asticall historic, A certen woman vnder Const. Mag. was the Apostle
of the Iberians, whiche turned first the Kynge and Quene, and then
the whole countrey to the fayth of Christe. This coulde not be
done without some talke in thassemblies, nor without a kynde of
preachyng. Yea, Theodoretus sayeth, that she dyd preache to
them: wherfore me thinke euen in this poynte wee must vse
eineiKda a certen moderacion, not absolutelie and in euerye wyse
to debarre them, herein (as it shall please God) to serue Christe.
Are there not in Englande women thynke you, that for their
learnynge and wysdome, coulde tell their householde and neigh-
bours, as good a tale as the best Sir Ihon there ? And what if by
occasion, not by common office, they shoulde sumtyme make their
neighbours partakers of their giftes : were it so heinous a matter 2 "
-Sig. G. iv. 6.

But of course such pulpit men could not be had without
considerable expense; and, therefore, it was necessary to
show her Majesty, not only that there were very fit persons
who were willing and desirous to stir up the nation to pro-
vide her freely and amply with the means of paying all her
servants, (bishops among the rest, if she chose to have any,)
but also that these very fit men would take the office on
very moderate terms. In a passage which has a side note
informing the reader that " Obedience spryngeth from the
hart," he says —

" The hart (I say) must be framed and brought into the circle of
obedience : and then wyll all the reaste f ollowe. Thy knee shall
bowe, thy cap shall of, thy tongue shall reuerently speak of thy
soueraign, when and wher thou oughtest. For lyke as the fountain
being clear, or trobled, the water that goeth from it, must be good
or bad : so the hearte beynge in order, the reaste canne not bee out
of order. Thy tong must be dedicated to God, to speke wel and

2 It might be some comfort to her Majesty to think that he could pro-
bably tell her of one.

168 BISHOP AYLMER'S

reuerently of his minister ; for els, as Salomon saith, he will make
the birdes of the ay re to vtter thy rebellion.

" Furthermore, it is thy bounde duti to geue her, when she calleth
for part of thi goods that as Demosth. saith, by parting with a
little, thou maist keepe the whole. Is it not better to healpe the
mother and mistres of thy country, with thy goods and body : then
by withholding thy hande, and nigging, to make her not hable to
kepe out thine ennemy ? haddest thou rather that thy auncient
ennemy, the proud french man, or vntrusty scot should come to
ransake thy coffers, to deflour thy wife, to rauish thy daughters, to
beat thy children's brains vpon the walles, to fire thy house, to
spoile thy goodes, driue away thy cattle, enioy thine inheritaunce,
cut thine own throte, and bring thy country to naughte : then that
the Quenes officer should take the .20. parte of thy possessions, for
thy defence ?

" If thou wilt not haue these mischiefes to happen, thou must do
thy dutye in paying with a franke and free hart, without grutching
or groning, specially, seeing thou gatherest all that thou hast, in her
peax. Shuldest thou that arte a husbandman follow thy tillage,
reape thy corn, and enioy it : if thou wart not defended by her
diligence ? Shouldest thou that arte a grasier kepe thy fat Bullockes
and flockes of shepe, til they were fatte, if she were not thy shep-
hearde ? Shouldest thou that arte a marchant cary out, and fetch
home, to thy exceding gain, thy merchaundise, onles she were thine
Admirall? Could the Lord or gentleman enioy his rents, if she
defended not the tenauntes ? Coulde the bishops ruffle in their
robes, kepe their great houses, and haue their thousands yerely,
withal the rest of ther superfluitie, if she wer not their bulwarke,
and took care for them, while thei care not for her ? And to be
short there is none that should enioy his owne : if her protection
were not." — Sig. M. iv.

And as it was very important that one point, which had
been, to be sure, rather strongly hinted at in this extract,
should be fully understood, he reverts to it, and gives what
he calls in his margin " Aduise to the Bishops " in very
plain language. After stating that Philip of Macedon
managed to settle his empire though he came to it dis-
ordered, and had " the Illyrians, the Psenyans, the Thessa-
lonyans, the Boetians, and the Athetians, in his neck ; " he
adds : —

"In like maner Dauid entred into his kingdom, when the Philis-
tins had made a meruelus slaughter in Israel, and killed king Saul
and his sonnes in the field ; and yet with in a while, he recouered
the losses and had the better of al his enemies round about him :
So I doubt not, but God shal send this Judith grace and power, to
cut of Holophernes hed, and this Deborah to saue her people, and
knock out Siceras brains, come he either out of fraunce, or out of
Scotland. But so much the soner, if al men like true subiectes, put

x.] "HARBOROUGH." 169

to their helping hande, knowinge that it is theyr quarrell aswell as
hers.

" Come of you Bishoppes, away with your superfluities, yeld vp
your thousands, be content with hundreds as they be in other
reformed Churches, where be as greate learned men as you are. Let
your portion be priestlike and not princelike. Let the Quene haue
the rest of your temporalties, and other lands, to maintain these
warres which you procured, and your mistresse left her, and with
the rest to builde and f ounde scholes thorowoute the realm : that
euerye parishe church may haue his preacher, euery City his super-
intendent to Hue honestly and not pompously, whiche wil neuer be,
onles your landes be dispersed and bestowed vpon many, which now
feadeth and fatteth but one. Kemember that Abimeleck, when
Dauid in his banishment wold haue dined with him, kept such
hospitaliti, that he had no bread in his house to geue him, but the
Shewbred. Wher was all his superfluity to keepe your pretensed
hospitalitie ? for that is the cause that you alledge, why you must
haue thousands as though you were commanded to kepe hospitalitie,
rather with a thousande, then with a hundreth. I would our
country man Wicliefes boke whych he wrote De Ecclesia, were in
print, and there shoulde ye see that your wrinches and cauillations,
be nothing worthe. It was my chaunce to happen of it in ones
hand that brought it out of Bohemia.

" Lay to youre handes, you Noblemen, and rather sel a pece of
your enheritance to help the Quene, then by a little backwardnes
to ventre all, and to se a proud French man your heir, or a Scot the
steward of your Landes. Learn you of thauncieut senators of
Rome, and let your wiues, take example by theirs, to sette more by
youre Prince, then your pomp, by your country, then by your
curiositie and vnfitting superfluitie in apparel, dyet, and other
vnnecessaries. These Komaines of whome I speake being stressed,
and almoste brought to the last cast, by the long and daungerous
warres of Hanibal, and the Frenche, did not only lyke louing fathers
to their countrey, bring in their mony and goodes, without hinching
or pinching, to relief e the charges of their common welth, But also
partly by honest perswasion, and partly by their good example,
prouoked the noble matrones their wiues to bring in their ouches,
ringes, chaines, bracelettes, and other iewelles, to be bestowed in the
necessary defense of their countrey.

" Oh you Englishe Ladies, learne here rather to weare Komain
hartes, then Spanish knaks, rather to helpe youre countrey, then
hinder youre husbandes, to make your quene ryche for your defense
then your husbandes poore for your garish gainesse. If euery one of
you would but imploy your ringes and chaines, or the price of your
superfluous ruffes, furres, fringes, and suche other trinkettes, vpon
the necessary defence of your countrey, I thinke you shuld make
the quene much richer, and habler to mete with your enemies, and
your selfes much the honester, and reddier to withstande Satan,
whiche this waye goeth about to sift you. Leaue of your pride,
and leaue a good example, as the Remain ladies did, to your pos-
terite, of loue to your countrey, loyaltie to your quene, and honestie
towardes God and man.

170 BISHOP AYLMER'S [ESSAY

"Be liberal you Gentlemen and thinke it not inough to serue the
quene with your bodies, but helpe also with your goodes. Suffer
not the Gentlemen of Fraunce to make you their slaues. Some of
you knowe what natured men they be, beware that the rest feele
not. It wilbe a shame and to great a vilanie for you, which in al
ages haue bene hable to holde their nose to the grindstone, nowe
either for sparing of your goodes, which is niggardie, or f eare of your
liues, which is cowardise, to be their pezantes, whose lordes your
Auncettors were.

" Loke to this geare you Lawyers, whiche for a lyttle spending
of your breath in chatering in the Chancery, and Common Place,
become the Lordes of your cuntreis, and leaue your sonnes so great
liuelodes as thei be noble mens matches. Some in sport cal you
drudges and not iudges ; but I thinke in god earnest that it is con-
trary, that you make you and your lordes and al other drudges.
In this your so gret gain forget not what you owe to your
prince, by whose protection you haue had leasure to study, and
now time to plead. If your countrie be not kept in peax, your
law wilbe litle worth, neither your copes nor coifes wil serue to
any vse. I would you could al finde in your hartes to be as liberal
toward your prince as some of you haue bene of late to the orders
of Friers.

" Be no niggardes you Marchauntes of your gaines to releue the
quene, for if you be : the vengeaunce of God wil come vppon your
hurdes and bankes, the tratling Scot shal knocke out your chestes
botoms, shal enioy your machaundize, meete out your veluets and
silkes, carry awaye your clothes, brenne your fayre houses, and rule
in your citie of London, which the Lord forbyd.

" In like maner you Farmers and Franklins, you yomen and rich
Cobbes, abroad with your rusty ryals and your old Angels, which
you hourd vp : for the ruste of them shalbe to your condempnacion,
because you couetously kepe Gods creatures from their true vse,
wherfore thei were made. They are called curraunt, and not
slepaunt. Helpe your countrey with them, let the quene haue part
of them, that you may peaceably enioy the rest, wherfore hourd you
them vp, and for whome 1 Tliesaurizas nescieiis cui congregas. I am
sure your meaning is thereby to leaue your sonnes and heires, landes
and possessions, pastures wel stored, houses wel furnished, and
honest soms of money to marry your daughters. But if thou best
not liberal towardes the defence of thy country, who shal be thine
heire ? The pocky frenche man and the scoruy Scot : thyne olde
gold shalbe caried away into Fraunce, thy sonne and thou shalt be
made gaily slaues. And where thou thinkest to marry thy daughter
richelye : thou shalt see both hir and hir mother defiled before thy
face miserably. Thy sonnes enheritaunce shalbe chaines in the
gaily, wherewith he shalbe fettered, a whippe vpon his bare skinne,
if he row not to the death, and an horse lof e and water for his dayly
dyet. Oh thynke vppon this, thynke vppon it, you hourders and
hyders of Gods creatures. Lette not that mucke of the molde,
those rustye Koyalles be dearer to you, then your countrey, your
Quene, your wyf e, and children, your owne bodies and lyues. VVhat
a spyte were it, that you shoulde be the Treasurers of your mortall

x.] "HARBOROUGH." 171

foes, that you shoulde keepe for them to carry awaye, and hyde
from your Quene to enryche the robber.

" And you Husbande men which haue Gods plenty, abundaunce of
his blessinges. Sticke not to helpe your natural countrey so muche
as you can. God is beneficiall vnto you, be not vnthankfull to his
chefe minister. For like as the springes and brookes renne into
the sea, so must all mens trauail tourne to the defence of his coun-
trey."— tiig. O. iv.

So earnest is Aylmer's loyalty and patriotism, that he
becomes absolutely pathetic in, what may be called, a sort
of charity sermon for the new monarch ; and, long as the
extracts already given are, a part of his peroration must be
added.

" Do you not heare how lamentably your natural mother your
country e of England, calleth vpon you for obediences saying, ' Oh,
remember remember my dear children in what case you stande ;
your enemies be round about you, like vnsaciable rauenours to pluck
me from you, to cast you out of my lap where I haue this .110. yeres
lyke a faithful mother nourished you, a tyme sufficient for me I trow
to know you, and you me. I haue bene and am glad of you, I
delight and reioyce in you, aboue all other peoples. In declaration
wherof I haue always spued out and cast from me Danes, Frenche,
Norwegians, and Scottes. I could brooke none of them for the
tender loue that I bare vnto you, of whome I haue my name. I
neuer denyed to minister to you my singular commodities, which
God hath lent me for you, as corne and cattell, lande and pasture,
wull and cloth, lead and tynne, fleshe and fishe, gold and siluer, and
all my other treasures : I haue poured them out among you, and
enriched you aboue all your neighbours about you : which make
them to enuie you, and couet me. Besides this God hathe brought
forthe in me, the greatest and excellentest treasure that he hath, for
your comfort and al the worldes. He would that out of my wombe
should come that seruaunt of his your brother Ihon Wyclefe, who
begate Husse, who begat Luther, who begat TRUTH. What greter
honor could you or I haue, then that it pleased Christ as it were in
a second birth to be borne again of me among you ? And will you
now suffer me, or rather by your disobedience purchase me, to be a
mother withoute my children, and to be made the nurse of a sorte of
infideles, Idolaters, and Turkes ? Can I abide to be without you, or
can you be content to be without me ? Oh God graunt that I neuer
se the day that the basterdly brode of ambytious frenche men, eate
and enioy the frutes whiche I prepare for you, my deare chyldren.
Lette me rather satisfie my thirste with their effeminate bloud, then
they should pluck from you my motherly breastes. Sticke to your
mother, as she sticketh to you. Let me keepe in quiet and feede,
as I haue done, your wyues, your children, and your kinsfolkes :
Obey your mistres and mine which God hath made lady ouer vs,
bothe by nature and lawe. You can not be my children, if you be
not her subiectes : I wyll none of you, if you will none of hir. If
you loue me you can not hate hir, as my hope is you doo not : if

172 BISHOP AYLMER.

you obey her, honour hir, and loue hir, be you assured that I wyll
not fayle you at your neede, with any of my good frutes that you
can requyre: I wyll fiill your bosomes and your mouthes, your
wyues, and your children, with plentie." &c. — Sig. K.

That this appeal, eloquent and affecting as it was meant to
be, did not lead the people to cast their living into the trea-
sury or the privy purse, we know from history ; but surely
it must have " moved the stout heart of England's Queen."
Strype, indeed, introduces Aylmer in the first page as " one
of the excellent bishops made choice of by Queen Elizabeth
to assist in the government of the church of England."
But if so, it is obvious that she concealed her feelings, and
delayed her choice for a long time. It seems that for four
years all but eleven days — what an age to a keen suitor —
she sat upon her throne, and slept in her bed, unmindful of
her eulogist ; or, to say the least, before he received any
reward for his panegyric. Then he was made Archdeacon of
Lincoln ; and, as Strype says, " being Archdeacon, he was

* present at the famous synod, anno 1562, where the doctrine
' and discipline of the church, and the reformation of it
1 from the abuses of popery, were carefully treated of and

* settled." It seems probable, that Aylmer received the
preferment with a view to his being of service on that occa-
sion ; for the synod or convocation actually met in January,
and he only became archdeacon on the 6th November pre-
vious. This is the more likely, because almost all that we
know of him during those first four years of Elizabeth's
reign is that, " he was but newly come home when he was
appointed to hold a disputation in Westminster." — p. 11.
What he did on that occasion does not appear, but in the
convocation of 1562, "when the bandying happened in the
lower house .... Aylmer was absent ; whether," says
Mr. Strype, " by chance, or on purpose, I know not." —
p. 13. It does not much matter ; but it looks as if his con-
duct had dissatisfied those whom he wished to please ; and
Strype was obliged to put in his margin " Sticks at Lin-
coln ; " and, what was worse, to explain in the text, that he
1 'stuck a long while" there. How he got away, after
sticking some fifteen years, it is not our present business to
inquire. He is produced here as the champion of the
puritan party, and the author of what was, as far as I know,
the only public apology of those who had written or coun-

xi.] THE RIBALDS. 173

tenanced the most ferocious libels on the late queen and her
government.3 The book and the man seem to have been
treated with as much contempt and neglect as was conve-
nient in the circumstances of the state. It was clear that
the government could not do without the exiles, and it was
sufficiently understood that they were not going to insist on
any punctilios which might disqualify them for the service
of her majesty, whom they were prepared to receive and
acknowledge, not only as the lawful Queen of England, but
as the Head of the Church and the Vicar of God.

All this is, indeed, made clearer to us by Aylmer's book,
but it would probably have come about quite as soon, with
less scandal to others, and less discredit to himself, if he had
not interfered in the business.

ESSAY XL

THE RIBALDS. No. I.

THE preceding Essay carried us forward into the reign of
Queen Elizabeth. In order to return properly to the period
and the subject with which we were engaged, we must now
go back for a few moments to the reign of her father, for
then began those seeds to spring which ripened into such a
harvest of sin and misery in the days of Queen Mary.

We were considering the mode which the puritan party
adopted in meeting the change of religion which then took
place ; and it has been shown that much plainness of speech
was used by them in opposing the false doctrine and super-
stitious practice of the Church of Rome. They contended
that the Pope was Antichrist — that his faith was false, his
practice idolatrous, his mass devilish, and everything about
him, or in any sort of communion with him, utterly abomi-
nable in the sight of that God whom he blasphemed by
pretended worship.

8 The " recantation " of Goodman, given by Strype, he supposes to
have been made either " before the queen's privy council, or her bishops
of the ecclesiastical commission." (Ann. I. i. 184.) I do not know that
it was made public until he printed it from the Petyt MSS.

174 THE RIBALDS. [ESSAY

If they were right, the matter was surely very sad, as
well as serious. One would think that the sight of such an
abomination of desolation as they professed to see, must
have filled all who had anything like the love of C4od in
their hearts, or even the fear of God before their eyes, with
grief and consternation — that if such men came to know
that Chemosh and Ashtaroth had been set up in the Lord's
House, they would have entered its courts in sackcloth and
the spirit of heaviness, to displace them ; and have passed
them from hand to hand, without a word or a look ex-
changed, till the abominable things were clean out of the
holy place, cast to the moles and the bats, or buried in
outer darkness for ever.

But the matter was far otherwise. If there were men
who acted under such feelings in grave, and quiet, and
grateful pity — if there were others who mistook passion for
zeal, and sincerely believed themselves authorised, nay,
called upon, to do and say all that prophets or apostles had
ever said or done, and even to assume the purifying scourge
which One greater than the Temple made for Himself— if
there were men who, with whatever mixture of human
infirmity, wrote and spoke and acted as servants of God,
pleading his cause and maintaining his truth before his face
— if there were, as we may believe, some of all these classes,
there were, at the same time, other partisans of the Refor-
mation, very noisy and very numerous, of quite a different
spirit, whom, to say the least, they did not keep at a proper
distance, or repudiate with sufficiently marked detestation.
I mean those who used a jeering, scoffing humour, to turn
the ministers and the services of religion into ridicule — men
who employed themselves in raising a laugh against popery,
at whatever expense, and in providing for the eyes and ears
of even the rude multitude who could not read, gross and
profane pictures, jests, songs, interludes — all, in short, that
could nurse the self-conceit of folly, and agitate ignorance
into rebellion against its spiritual pastors and teachers.

Of course no historian of the Reformation could entirely
pass over this very obvious and startling feature; but it
seems to have been noticed and inquired into less than it
should have been ; and without pretending, on an occasion
like this, to remedy the defect, I think it may be of some ser-
vice to the cause of truth to point it out, and to offer some

XT.] SACKING OF ROME A.D. 1527. 175

facts and observations which may tend to show its import-
ance. But to do this ever so imperfectly and superficially,
we must, as I have said, turn back to the time of Henry
the Eighth.

It would be an affront to the reader to suppose him
less than quite familiar with everything in Robertson's
Charles V. ; and, therefore, I assume his recollecting that,
in the month of May, 1527, the city of Rome was assaulted
and taken by the imperial army under the command of the
Duke of Bourbon. The pope was a prisoner in the Castle
of St. Angelo, his troops were dispersed, and " it is impos-

* sible to describe or even to imagine the misery and horror

* of that scene which followed. Whatever a city taken by

* storm can dread from military rage unrestrained by disci-
' pline ; whatever excesses the ferocity of the Germans, the

* avarice of the Spaniards, or the licentiousness of the

* Italians could commit, these the wretched inhabitants

* were obliged to suffer. Churches, palaces, and the houses
'of private persons were plundered without distinction.

* No age, or character, or sex was exempt from injury.

* Cardinals, nobles, priests, matrons, virgins, were all the
' prey of soldiers, and at the mercy of men deaf to the voice
1 of humanity. Nor did these outrages cease, as is usual in

* towns carried by assault, when the first fury of the storm
' was over ; the imperialists kept possession of Rome several
'months; and during all that time, the insolence and

* brutality of the soldiers scarce abated."1

If the historian had been writing with a view to the
religious and ecclesiastical aspect and bearing of the matter,
he might perhaps have added, that among the victors there
were some at least who had in them an element distinct
from "the ferocity of the Germans, the avarice of the
Spaniards, or the licentiousness of the Italians," which
manifested itself, not merely in the desecration of sacred
places, but in ridicule of the ministers and services of reli-
gion ; in mock processions, and a mock election of Luther
for pope.

I refer, however, to this historical event principally in
order to observe that there is said to have been among the
followers of the Duke of Bourbon (whether he was among

1 Robertson's Charles V., vol. ii. p. 28G.

176 CARDINAL WOLSEY AND [ESSAY

the mock cardinals who rode in procession on asses, I do not
know) an Englishman, of low birth, vicious habits, and
infidel principles, who afterwards became of terrific import-
ance to the Church of England. His friends tell us that,
in after life he described himself as having formerly been a
" ruffian ; " and it is likely that at the time when this hap-
pened whether he was there or not, he had no preference,
and no respect, for either popery or protestantism, and
acted under no principle but that which taught him to do
the best he could for himself. If he was at the sacking of
Rome, it seems more likely that he was there in the service
of Wolsey than as " a trooper of the Duke of Bourbon."
Certainly he was soon afterwards a servant of the cardinal,
and continued to serve him until his disgrace in October,
1529.

The fall of Wolsey was, of course, felt by his household ;
but there was a considerable difference between the circum-
stances of the two bodies of which that great multitude of
servants and retainers consisted. The ecclesiastics were all
more or less provided for. The cardinal had so enriched
some of his chaplains that they might dispend a thousand
pounds by the year, — a princely income in those days, — and
the poorest of them had an ample provision in preferment
yielding an annual sum of at least three hundred marks ;
and these preferments, whether more or less, were their
own, and would remain to them. On the other hand, the
laymen had no prospect but that of being turned adrift,
with only such provision as they might have had the unna-
tural prudence to make in a house where they were not
likely to learn lessons of thrift and economy, and where, as
it regarded many of them, the honour of the service, and
the probability of its leading to promotion, formed the only
remuneration.

It is likely that no man saw this more clearly, or felt it
more keenly, than Thomas Cromwell — the rather, we may
imagine, because there seems to have been a very current
and well-credited report — one, therefore, not likely to have
been entirely without foundation — that when his master
was disgraced he would be hanged. The fact cannot, I
imagine, be doubted ; though, as far as I know, it is not
anywhere clearly explained, or, indeed, explained at all,
except by the supposition that he had rendered himself

CARDINAL WOLSEY
(From a Lithograph after Holbein by T. R. I ''ay)

XL] HIS SERVANT CROMWELL. 177

unpopular, both to the people and the king, by some
"ruffian "-like conduct in the business of the monasteries,
which the cardinal suppressed for the benefit of his colleges,
in the management of which Cromwell had been a chief
instrument. It is not improbable that his zealous service
may have carried him so far beyond the letter of the law in
this matter, as to make the power and protection of his
great master very necessary for his personal safety. But,
however this may be, by the time that the Cardinal had
been driven to his house at Esher, and " was of necessity
1 compelled to borrow of the Bishop of Carlisle and of Sir
'Thomas Arundell, both dishes to eat his meat in, and
* plate to drink in, and also linen clothes to occupy,"
Thomas Cromwell began to think that it was time to look
about him ; and accordingly, on Nov. 1, 1529, at Esher
aforesaid, he was found by George Cavendish, in what he,
who knew the man well, considered very peculiar circum-
stances— but it were a pity not to let that quaint and right
entirely beloved old gentleman-usher tell the story in his
own inimitable manner.

"It chanced me upon All-hallowne day to come into the great
chamber at Asher, in the morning, to give mine attendance, where
I found Mr. Cromwell leaning! in the great windowe with a Primer
in his hand, saying our Lady mattens ; which had bine a strange
sight in him afore.2 Well, what will you have more ? He prayed no
more earnestly, than he distilled teares as fast from his eyes. Whom
I saluted, and bad good morrowe. And with that I perceived his

2 I give this extract from Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, as it stands in
the third edition of Dr. Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography, vol. i.

E. 568. Singer, in his edition of Cavendish, (I have only that of 1827 at
and,) prints this passage "which had been since a very strange sight."
In a note he says, " Dr. Wordsworth's edition and the later manuscripts
read : ' whiqh had been a strange sight in him afore; ' but this can hardly
be right." This mode of writing looks as if Mr. Singer had either con-
jecturally amended his text, or been doubtful of it. Dr. Wordsworth in
his third edition (ut supra), quotes these words of Mr. Singer, and adds :

' may have been a man to have given occasion for such a remark being
' made as that objected to ; especially by a writer of George Cavendish's
* principles," &c. The reader may find more discussion iu the places
cited. For my own part, the variety of readings seems to be of little
importance, though 1 have thought it right to mention that it exists.
That Cromwell had before that time avowed infidel principles is beyond
a doubt.

178 CAVENDISH'S ACCOUNT

[ESSAY

moist chekes, the which he wiped with his napkine. To whom I
saide, ' Why Mr. Cromewell, what meaneth this dole ? Is my Lord
in any danger, that ye doe lament for him ? or is it for any other
losse, that ye have sustained by misfortune ? '

" 'Nay,' quoth he, 'it is for my unhappy adventure. For I am
like to lose all that I have laboured for, all the daies of my life, for
doing of my master true and diligent service.' 'Why Sir,' quoth I,
' I trust that you be too wise, to do anything by my Lord's com-
mandment, otherwise than ye might doe, whereof you ought to be
in doubt or daunger for losse of your goods. ' ' Well, well,' quoth he,
' I cannot tell ; but this I see before mine eyes, that everything is as
it is taken ; and this I knowe well, that I am disdained with all for
my masters sake ; and yet I am sure there is no cause, why they
should doe so. An evill name once gotten will not lightly be put
away. I never had promotion by my Lord to the increase of my
living. But this much I will say to you, that I will this afternoone,
when my Lord hath dined, ride to London, and so the courte, where
I will either make ormarre, or ever I come again. I will put myself
in prease, to see what they be able to lay to my charge.' 'Mary,'
quoth I, 'then in so doing you shall doe wisely, beseeching God to
send you good lucke, as I would myselfe.' And with that I was
called into the closet, to see and prepare all things ready for my
Lord, whoe intended to say masse there that day himselfe ; and so
I did."

I have no wish to do injustice to Cromwell, or to repre-
sent him as acting on lower or worse motives than those by
which some have supposed him to be influenced in his
general conduct, and particularly in his support of the
Reformation ; but^E must say that I cannot give him credit
for a sincere desire to help his patron, or even acquit him of
deliberate malice against that order to which the cardinal
belonged, and a settled purpose to degrade and ruin it. This
is not the place to inquire whether he went to London to
solicit for his patron or himself, or whether he thought he
might do both at once ; but it is most important to notice
the account which Cavendish gives of the circumstances
immediately preceding his departure from Esher. It
seems to me impossible that without some such design as
I have suggested, he could at such a time have broached
such a subject, pressed it in such a manner, and got up such
a scene as he did. Could he have done^it without a pre-
meditated danger of imparting to others the feelings of
discontent, envy, and jealousy, which he had just avowed, j
and of sowing discord among those whom he was leaving ?
Immediately after the passage already quoted, Cavendish
proceeds : —

XL] OF THOMAS CROMWELL. 179

"Then my Lord came thither with his chaplaine, one doctor
Marshall, and first said mattens, and heard two masses in the time
of his mattens saying. And that sayd, he prepared himself to
masse ; and so saide masse himself. And when he had finished all
his service, incontinent after he was returned into his chamber, he
called for his dinner, who was served into his privy chamber, and
there dined among diverse his doctors, among whome this master
Cromwell dined ; and sitting at dinner, it came to passe [that he fell]
in communication of his gentlemen and servauntes, whose true and
faithful service my lord much commended. Whereupon Mr. Crom-
well toke an occasion to tell my Lord, that he ought in conscience
to consider the true and good service that they did him in this his
necessity, the which doe never forsake him in weale ne in woe, and
saide,

" ' Sir, it should be well done for your Grace to call them before
you, bothe gentlemen which be worthy personages, and also your
yeomen, and let them understande, that ye righte well consider their
paines and truthe with their faithful service ; and to give them your
commendation, with good words, the which shall be to them great
courage to sustaine your misery with paines and patience, and to
spend their life and substance in your service.'

"'Alas, Thomas,' quoth my lord, 'ye knowe I have nothing to
give them, and wordes without deeds be not often well taken. For
if I had but as I late had, I would departe with them so frankely, as
they should be well contente : but nothing, hath no savor ; and I am
bothe ashamed, and a. so sorry that I am not able to requite their
faithful service. And although I doe rejoice as I may, to consider
the fidelity I see in a number of my servants, who will not forsake
me in my miserable tate, but be as diligent and as serviceable about
me as they were in my great triumphe and glory, yet I doe lament
againe, as vehemently, the want of substance, to distribute among
them. '

" ' Why, Sir,' quoth master Cromewell, ' have ye not here a number
of chapleines, to whom ye have departed liberally with spirituall
promotions, in so much as some may dispend, by your Grace's pre-
ferment, at housande pounds by yeare, and some five hundred marks,
and some more and some lesse ; you have not a chapleine within all
your house, or belonging to you, but he may spend well at the least
(by your procurement and promotion) three hundred markes yearely,
who have had all the profit and gaines at your handes, and other
your servauntes nothing : and yet have your poore servauntes taken
much more paines in one day, than all your idle chapleines have done
in a yeare. Therefore if they will not frankely and freely consider
your liberality, and departe with you of the same goods gotten in
your service, now in your great indigence and necessity, it is a
pitty that they live ; and all the world will have them in indignation
and hatred, for their ingratitude to their master. '

" ' I think no lesse Thomas,' quoth my lord, 'wherefore, I pray
you, cause all my servants to assemble without, in my great cham-
ber, after dinner, and see them stand in order, and I will declare my
mind unto them.'

'• After that the borde's end was taken up, master Cromewell

180 CAVENDISH'S ACCOUNT [ESSAY

came to me, and saide ' Heard you not,' quoth he, * what my Lorde
saide ? ' 'Yes Sir, that I did,' quoth I. ' Well then,' quoth he, ' call
all the gentlemen and yeomen up into the great chamber ; ' and even
so I did, commanding all the gentlemen to stand on the right side of
the chamber, and all the yeomen on the other side. And at the laste
my lord came out in his rochet upon a violet gowne, like a bishop,
who went streight to the upper ende of the saide chamber, where
was the great windowe. Standing there a while, his chapleins
about him, beholding this goodly number of his servaunts, he could
not speake unto them, untill the teares ran downe his chekes :
which fewe teares perceived by his servants, caused the fountaines
of water to gusshe out of their faithfull eyes, in such sorte as it
would cause a cruell harte to lament. At the last, after he had
turned his face to the windowe, and dried his moisted chekes, he
spake to them in this sorte in effect."

Of the Cardinal's speech, which his good gentleman usher
gives at some length, it is sufficient for our purpose to notice
the few sentences at the end of it, which elicited the reply
of Cromwell : —

" ' If the King doe not shortly restore me, then will I write for
you, either to the King, or to any noble man within this realme, to
retaine your service ; for I doubt not but the Kinge or any noble
man within this realme, will credite my letter in your commenda-
tion. Therefore, in the meantime, I would advise you to repaire
home to your wives, such as have wives ; and some of you that have
no wives, to take a time to visit your parents in the country. There
is none of you all, but would once in a yeare, require licence to see
and visit your wife, and other of your friends : take this time there-
fore in that respect, and in your retourne I will not refuse you, to
beg with you. I consider that your service in my house hath been
such, that ye be not apt to serve any man under the degree of a
king ; therefore I would advise you to serve no man but the King,
who I am sure will not refuse you. Therefore I shall desire you to
take your pleasure for a month, and then ye may come againe, and
by that time, I trust the King will extend his mercy upon me. '

" ' Sir,' quoth master Cromewell, ' there be diverse of these your
yeomen, that would be glad to see their friends, but they lacke
money : therefore here be diverse of your chapleines that have
received at your hands great benefices and livings ; let them show
themselves unto you as they be bound to doe. I think their honesty
and charity is such that they will not see you lacke anything that
may doe you good or pleasure. And for my parte, although I have
not received of your graces gifte one penny towards the increase of
my livinge, yet will I give you this towards the dispatch of your
servantes,' and therewith delivered unto my lord five pounds in
gold. 'And now let us see what your chapleines will doe. I think
they will departe with you, much more liberally than I, who be more
able to give you a pound than I a penny.' ' Goe to my masters,'
quoth he to the chapleines; insomuch as they gave to my lord
liberally, some ten pounds, some twenty nobles, some five pounds,

XL] OF WOLSEY AND CROMWELL. 181

and so some more and some lesse, as their powers would extend, at
that time ; " &c.

Certainly different persons view the same thing in very
different lights, and receive very opposite impressions from
the same facts. Dr. Fiddes, with reference to the words of
Cavendish just quoted, says, f< Cromwell having observed,
' that several of the servants, who were ready to obey the

* commands of their master, wanted money to this end, did

* himself propose a contribution, and recommended it after
1 a very handsome insinuating manner, especially by an act

* of his own liberality. His example was followed by the

* chaplains, and by that means a competent sum was raised
4 for the benefit and present supply of the servants."3 But,
whatever judgment the reader may form of Cromwell's
motive or action in this case, it is certain that when " my

* lord returned into his chamber lamenting the departure

* from his servants, making his mone to master Cromewell,
' who comforted him the best he could," he, the said master
Cromwell, " desired my lord to give him leave to goe to
1 London, whereas he would either make or marre (the

* which was alwaies his common terme.)" It was clearly not
from George Cavendish that Shakespeare got the idea that
the Cardinal told Cromwell to " seek the King."

" Good Cromwell,

Neglect him not ; make use now, and provide
For thine own future safety."

" Good Cromwell " stood in need of no such advice ; and
had it been given he seems as if he would not have been
likely to answer : —

" O my Lord,

Must I then leave you ? Must I needs forego
So good, so noble, and so true a master ?
Bear witness, all that have not hearts of iron,
With what a sorrow Cromwell leaves his Lord.
The King shall have my service ; but my prayers
For ever and for ever shall be yours."4

It was clearly his own scheme ; and having obtained per-
mission of his Lord, away he rode that same afternoon,
with Kafe Sadler, who was " then his clerk," at his heels,
and the resolution to " make or marre " in his heart ; and

3 Life of Wolsey, p. 476.

4 Henry VIII., act iii. scene vi...

182 THE PATRON OF THE RIBALDS. [ESSAY

what he made and what he marred, has long been matter
of history.

But why all this — why anything — about Thomas Lord
Cromwell? Simply because he was the great patron of
ribaldry, and the protector of the ribalds, of the low jester,
the filthy ballad-monger, the alehouse singers, and " hypo-
critical mockers in feasts/' in short, of all the blasphemous
mocking and scoffing which disgraced the protestant party
at the time of the Reformation. It is of great consequence
in our view of the times, to consider that the vile publica-
tions, of which too many remain, while most have rotted,
and the profane pranks which were performed, were not
the outbreaks of low, ignorant, partisans, a rabble of hungry
dogs such as is sure to run after a party in spite even of
sticks and stones bestowed by those whom they follow and
disgrace. It was the result of design and policy, earnestly
and elaborately pursued by the man possessing, for all such
purposes, the highest place and power in the land. We
know this, not because his enemies have charged him with
conniving at, or even countenancing, these detestable pro-
ceedings ; it is a hearty partisan and admirer, one likely to
be well informed too on such a point, and glorying in it,
who tells us that,

" This valiant soldier and captain of Christ, the aforesaid lord
Cromwell, as he was most studious of himself in a flagrant zeal to
set forward the truth of the gospel, seeking all means and ways to
beat down false religion and to advance the true, so he always
retained unto him and had about him such as could be found helpers
and furtherers of the same ; in the number of whom were sundry
and divers fresh and quick wits, pertaining to his family ; by whose
industry and ingenious labours, divers excellent ballads and books
were contrived and set abroad, concerning the suppression of the
pope and all popish idolatry. Amongst which, omitting a great
sort that we might here bring in, yet this small treatise here follow-
ing called, ' The Fantassie of Idolatrie,' we thought not to pass over,
containing in it, as in a brief sum, the great mass of idolatrous pil-
grimages ; for the posterity hereafter to understand, what then was
used in England."— Fox's Mart., Vol. V. p. 403, replaced from the
first edition.

As Fox gives us his testimony that he was selecting from
" a great sort " of this stuff, and not picking out an eminent
and singular specimen of profane jesting, it is, perhaps, quite
as well that he has preserved only one of the vile ballads.
It is of course quite sufficient to give us a correct general

XL] BURNET'S HISTORICAL SINCERITY. 183

idea of the article, and it is not a little remarkable that we
should at this day be able to lay our finger upon it, and say,
" this is one of Cromwell's ballads." It answers a thousand
cavils which might otherwise be raised as to whether he
would have approved of this or that ; for it would be hard,
I think, to conceive of anything too profane for the patron-
age of one to whom we are indebted for the " Fantasie of
Idolatrie." There would be no use in quoting the more in-
offensive parts of the ballad, while those which really bear
on our argument are too bad for repetition ; and it is un-
necessary to enter into any discussion of them, unless some
respectable person should come forward to defend them ;
which is, perhaps, hardly to be expected. Fox had, I
believe, the decency, or the policy, to omit the ballad, and
this fact respecting the Lord Cromwell, in every edition
after his first ; but both have been replaced, in the recent
edition of Mr. Cattley, published by Messrs. Seeley. The
ballad may, for anything I know, be greatly relished by the
admirers of Fox. A note at the end of it tells us that it
was " made and compiled by Gray." Who he might be, I
know not, except as it is here implied, that he was one of
the "quick wits" pertaining to Cromwell's family, and
" retained unto him " for the purpose of making excellent
ballads and books. That with such a manufactory, and
under such high patronage, all sorts of ribaldry should
nourish and abound, was natural enough.

Bishop Burnet, speaking of Bonner's Injunctions to his
Clergy in the year 1542, one of which was, " no plays or
interludes to be acted in churches," says : —

" The Injunctions take notice of another thing, which the sincerity
of an Historian obliges me to give an account of, though it was indeed
the greatest blemish of that time."

Surely a more quaint acknowledgment of party views was
never made. A man need not set up to be the historian of
any particular time ; but if he does, the " greatest blemish
of that time " can hardly be passed over with any pretension
to common honesty ; but he proceeds : —

"These were the Stage-plays and Interludes which were then
generally acted, and often in churches. They were representations of
the corruptions of the monks, and some other feats of the popish
clergy. The Poems were ill-contrived, and worse expressed: if
there lies not some hidden wit in these ballads (for verses they were
not) which at this distance is lost. But from the representing the

184 THE RIBALDS. [ESSAY

immoralities and disorders of the clergy, they proceeded to act the
pageantry of their worship. This took with the people much, who being
provoked by the miscarriages and cruelties of some of the clergy,
were not ill-pleased to see them and their religion exposed to public
scorn. The clergy complained much of this ; and said it was an
introduction to Atheism, and all sort of Irreligion. For if once they
began to mock sacred things, no stop could be put to that petulant
humour. The grave and learned sort of Eeformers disliked and con-
demned these courses, as not suitable to the genius of true religion ;
but the political men of that party made great use of them, encouraging
them all they could; for they said, Contempt being the most opera-
tive and lasting affection of the mind, nothing would more effectually
drive out many of those abuses, which yet remained, than to expose
them to the contempt and scorn of the people." 5

I believe this statement to be false, and I find great
difficulty in understanding how the historian could possibly
believe it to be true. If he did, and did so on evidence, it
is a pity that he should have given no authority for a fact
so important as it respects those persons whose character
and actions he was so anxious to vindicate. There is, how-
ever, a clear issue. We are not here disputing about any
matter of feeling or opinion. Burnet admits that ribaldry
and mocking, filthiness, and foolish talking, and jesting such
as was not convenient, were made great use of, and encou-
raged in every possible way by the " political men of that
party," but he states that these courses were " disliked and
condemned " by the " grave and learned sort of reformers."
Here is a plain matter of fact. Who were the grave and
learned reformers who opposed these courses ? What did
they do to put a stop to them ? Where is their dislike and
condemnation recorded ? There may be protests and con-

5 History of the Reformation, Book III., vol. i. p. 303. If the reader
looks at the Injunction itself as it stands in Burnet's Collection of Records,
(No. 26, p. 238 of the same volume,) he will find a few words in it which
will give him a little more light as to the state of things at that time —
" And if there be any of your parishioners, or any other Person or
' Persons, that will obstinately or violently inforce any such Plays, Inter-
' ludes, or Games to be declared, set forth or played in your churches, or
'chappels," &c. — then they were to report such persons to the bishop.
Will the reader give one minute's quiet consideration to these words, and
try to imagine the state of things which they indicate ? Surely they speak
volumes. Yet it is necessary to prefer a specific request for this con-
sideration, because there is, to readers in the present day, something so
very unimaginable in the idea of a party of puritans coming m et armis
to act a play in a church, that it may require more trouble than most wi"
take to realize it.

XL] THE RIBALDS. 185

demnationa in the writings of some of the reformers ; but I
know not of them. God forbid that I should suppress them
if I did0. It has seemed to me that too many whom Burnet

6 The only thing bearing the least resemblance to an exception which
occurs to me, is Strype's statement, (in connexion with the treatment of
certain anabaptists who " spake contemptibly of the holy Sacrament of
the Lord's Supper " in the year 1547,) that " though Kidley were not for
' that gross, corporeal popish presence in the Sacrament, yet he approved
' of treating that holy mystery with all devotion and honour ; because
' [what an odd reason] there were many in those times, who, that they
' might run the farther from Popery, gave it little or no respect at all.
' Wherefore he in a sermon at Paul's Cross, preached earnestly for giving
' great reverence to the Sacrament : rebuking the unreverend behaviour
' of many towards it : for there had been fixed upon the cathedral church
' doors, and other places, railing bills against the Sacrament, terming it,
' Jack in a box, the tiacrament of the halter, Hound Robin, and such like
' unseemly terms. Though they meant not these contemptible expres-
'sions, 1 suppose, against the holy Supper of our Lord, but only against

* the papal mass." — Mem. II. i. 108. One is really almost tempted to
envy good Mr. Strype his powers of supposition — but this, I repeat, is the
only instance that I recollect of a protestant voice raised in condemnation
of even the rankest and most hideous works of the ribald spirit which was
abroad in those days.

[In consequence of this statement a correspondent, who did not favour
me with his name, pointed out to me a passage in Coverdale's preface to
his translation of Calvin's treatise on the Sacrament, lately published by
the Parker Society, in which, after speaking rather strongly of the cere-
monies observed by the Romanists in the celebration of the Eucharist,
Coverdale says, " I will speak no more as concerning their fond inven-
' tions about the ministration of this most sacred sacrament, lest I should
' thereby be an offence or stumbling-block to the weak brothers, whose
' consciences are not yet fully satisfied as concerning the true belief of this
' holy mystery ; I mean, lest I should give them occasion to do, as certain
' fond talkers have of late days done, and at this present day do invent
' and apply to this most holy sacrament names of despite and reproach, as
' to call it ' Jack-in-the-box ' and ' Bound Robin/ and such other not only
4 fond, but also blasphemous names, not only void of all edification, (which
Bought to be the end of all our doings and sayings,) but very slanderous
' also. For though the thing being so turned from the right use, as it is,
' be abominable, so that it is lawful for us to speak unreverently of it in
' the abuse ; yet it is not meet for them that profess charity, nothing to
' refrain for conscience' sake : the conscience, I say, of the weak brothers,
' not yet strong in the truth ; and so much the more, for that many godly-
' minded persons, which by the persuasions of certain discreet and modest

* brothers have been made, of Romish idolaters and diligent students of
1 duncical dregs, disciples of great hope in the sincere and true evangelic
' doctrine, have by the hearing of these names of reproach and despite
1 taken occasion to think, that the knowledge which these men did pro-
' fess, which would be so outrageous as to mock and jest at the remem-

* brance of our redemption, could not proceed of the Spirit of God ; and

186 BURNET AND FOX [ESSAY

would have placed among " the grave and learned sort of
reformers," were so far from expressing dislike and condem-
nation, as that, if they did not give direct encouragement
and praise, they could stand by and laugh in their sleeves,
while others were doing what it might not have beseemed
the " grave and learned sort " to do themselves. To say the
truth, I cannot but think that any one who observes how
Burnet himself, when not particularly engaged in perform-
ing the sincere historian, relates the profane and irreverent
pranks which some of " the party" indulged, will doubt
whether, if he had lived at the time, he would have been
very forward or very fierce in trying to stop or to punish
" these courses." For instance, he relates an incident which
occurred shortly after the accession of Queen Mary, in a
tone which reminds me very much of the " mixture of glee
and compunction " with which Edie Ochiltree dwelt on the
exploits of his youth. The passage, not only for this, but
for the historical fact itself, is much to our purpose, and
quite worth quoting : —

" There were many ludicrous things everywhere done in derision
of the old forms and of the Images : many Poems were printed, with
otherridiculous representations of the Latin service, and the pageantry
of their worship. But none occasioned more laughter, than what fell
out at Pauls the Easter before ; the custom being to lay the Sacra-
ment into the Sepulchre at Even-song on Good Friday, and to take
it out by break of day on Easter morning : At the time of the taking
of it out, the Quire sung these words, « Surrexit, non est hie, He is
risen, he is not here;' But then the priest looking for the host,

' have through this persuasion returned to their old leaven again ; think-
' ing them to be the true teachers of God's doctrine, which offend in the
' contrary ; making it so divine a thing, that it should be of no less im-
' portance than the whole Trinity, the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost :
' for so they affirm, saying, that forasmuch as it is the body of Christ, and
' that Christ is in all places at once with his Father, and his Father with
' him and the Holy Ghost, it must needs follow, that in it is the whole
' Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. For these are not
' nor cannot be separated." — p. 426. I may add that my unknown cor-
respondent mentioned it as the only instance which he had observed ; and
that nothing of the kind has since come under my observation. At the
same time, I need hardly say that it would require many more, and much
stronger and weightier to counterbalance the single, pregnant voluminous
sentence of Strype, — " Wherefore he consulting with the Lord Crumwel
his CONSTANT ASSOCIATE AND ASSISTANT in SUCH matters ; and by bis and
other his friends, importuning the King, a commission was issued,'' &c. —
Oran. I. 72. A little farther on Strype tells us that the Archbishop
" required direction from him [Crumwel] in everything." — Ibid. p. 79,

XL] ON THE LUDICROUS. 187

found it was not there indeed, for one had stolen it out ; which put
them all in no small disorder, but another was presently brought in
its stead. Upon this a ballad followed, That their God was stolen
and lost, but a new one was made in his room. This Kaillery was
so salt, that it provoked the clergy much. They offered large
rewards to discover him that had stolen the host, or had made
the ballad, but could not come to the knowledge of it." — Vol. ii.
p. 270.

I do not know where Burnet got this story, because, as
in too many other cases, he gives no authority. Fox relates
the same thing as happening on the same day at St. Pancras
in Cheap, and perhaps it is the same story 7 ; and in the next
paragraph Fox tells us a story that should not be separated
from the other, and which Bishop Burnet might have con-
sidered equally " ludicrous : " —

" The 8th of April there was a cat hanged upon a gallows at the
Cross in Cheap, apparelled like a priest ready to say mass, with a
shaven crown. Her two fore-feet were tied over her head, with a
round paper like a wafer-cake put between them : whereon arose
great evil-will against the City of London ; for the Queen and the
Bishops were very angry withal. And therefore the same afternoon
there was a proclamation, that whosoever could bring forth the
party that did hang up the cat, should have twenty nobles, which
reward was afterwards increased to twenty marks ; but none could
or would earn it." — Vol. vi. p. 548.

It is needless to say that the story is told by Fox without
any mark of dislike or condemnation, for he has given
ample proof that he enjoyed such things amazingly. Indeed
it seems probable that his troubles first began, while he was
yet at college, from the indulgence of that jeering, mocking
spirit which so strongly characterizes his martyrology. Take
a specimen that occurs only ten pages after the story of the
cat, and which he introduces by saying, " But one thing, by

* the way, I cannot let pass, touching the young nourishing

* rood newly set up against this present time to welcome

* King Philip into Paul's Church ; " and having described
the ceremony of its being set up, he proceeds : —

" Not long after this, a merry fellow came into Pauls, and spied
the rood with Mary and John new set up ; whereto (among a great
sort of people) he made a low courtesy, and said : Sir, your master-
ship is welcome to town. I had thought to have talked further with
your mastership, but that ye be here clothed in the Queens colours.

7 If Burnet took the story from Fox one would like to know what led
him to omit one point which is stated by the martyrologiet — namely, that
" the crucifix " as well as " the pix " was stolen.

188 RIBALDS DISTINCT FROM [ESSAY

I hope ye be but a summer's bird in that ye be dressed in white and
green, £c."8

Another brief specimen may be found in a story of a
" mayor of Lancaster, who was a very meet man for such a
purpose, and an old favourer of the gospel," who had to decide
a dispute between the parishioners of Cockram and a work-
man whom they had employed to make a rood for their
church. They refused to pay him because, as they averred,
he had made an ill-favoured figure, gaping and grinning in
such a manner that their children were afraid to look at it.
The " old favourer of the gospel," who seems to have been
much amused by such a representation of his Saviour being
set up in the church, recommended them to go and take
another look at it, adding, " l and if it will not serve for a

* god, make no more ado, but clap a pair of horns on his

* head, and so he will make an excellent devil.' This the
' parishioners took well in worth ; the poor man had his
' money ; and divers laughed well thereat — but so did not
' the Babylonish priests."9 Strange that the priests did not
join in the fun ; and stranger still that those blind papists
did not seize on the skirts of the " old favourer of the
gospel," and say, " We will go with you, for we see that God
is with you."

But the subject, which I have scarcely opened in this
paper, requires a more full and regular inquiry and con-
sideration ', and some hints and extracts which may assist
in this, I hope to furnish.

ESSAY XII.

THE RIBALDS. No. II.

THOSE who have any acquaintance at all with the history, of
the Reformation, even if they have not made themselves
particularly acquainted with the class of persons and works
to which I am now endeavouring to direct attention, will

8 Ed. 1596, p. 1338. I quote this old edition rather than that of Mr.
Cattley, because he omits the " &c." at the end of the extract, which
seems to be doing injustice to the " merry fellow," not to say to the
reporter, 9 YI. 564.

xii.] POLEMICS AND ENTHUSIASTS. 189

not so far misunderstand me as to suppose that I am speak-
I ing with reference to the controversies, and contentions,
which naturally arose at that period ; and which, even
among the learned, were too often carried on in language
which would not now be used, and in a temper which could
never be lawful and right. Such is our nature, that when
even good men are excited, and injured, and provoked, we
must expect some wrath, and clamour, and evil speaking ;
and we must not take it as a proof either that these were
not good men, or that wrath, and clamour, and evil speak-
ing, by good men in a good cause, are really good things,
which we ought to admire in our forefathers, while, for our
own part, we claim the higher grace and praise of what is
called " a sweet spirit."

It will, I hope, be equally obvious that I do not refer to
the outbreaks of fanaticism which naturally accompanied
such a period of excitement ; and which, I suppose, none of
the modern admirers of Fox would think of defending,
though the actors in them are still permitted to swell his
calendar of Martyrs. Take, for instance, " The history, no
'less lamentable than notable, of William Gardiner, an

* Englishman, suffering most constantly in Portugal, for the

* testimony of God's truth." It would be worth while to
extract the graphic account which Fox has preserved, were
it only that it might help us to judge of the light in which
the English reformers, and their proceedings, were likely to
be viewed in foreign countries. Imagine such a scene as
Fox here describes occurring in Lisbon, where William
Gardiner, the Englishman, was living as the agent of a
mercantile house : —

" It happened that there should be a solemn marriage celebrated
the first of September in the year above said, betwixt two princes ;
that is to say, the son of the king of Portugal, and the Spanish king's
daughter. The marriage day being come, there was great resort of
the nobility and estates. There lacked no bishops with mitres, nor
cardinals with hats, to set out this royal wedding. To be short,
they went forward to the wedding with great pomp, where a great
concourse of people resorted, some of good will, some for service
sake, and some (as the matter is) to gaze and look. Great prepara-
tion of all parties was there throughout the whole city, as in such
cases is accustomed, and all places were filled with mirth and glad-
ness. In this great assembly of the whole kingdom, William
Gardiner, albeit he did not greatly esteem such kind of spectacles,
yet being allured through the fame and report thereof, was there

190 THE STORY OF GARDINER. [ESSAY

also ; coming thither early in the morning, to the intent he might
have the more opportunity, and better place, to behold and see.

" The hour being come, they nocked into the church with great
solemnity and pomp!; the king first, and then every estate in order ;
the greater persons, the more ceremonies were about them. After
all things were set in order, they went forward to the celebrating of
their mass ; for that alone serveth for all purposes. The cardinal
did execute, with much singing and organ-playing. The people
stood with great devotion and silence, praying, looking, kneeling,
and knocking ; their minds being fully bent and set, as it is the
manner, upon the external sacrament. How grievously these things
did prick and move this young man's mind, it cannot be expressed
—partly to behold the miserable absurdity of those things, and
partly to see the folly of the common people ; and not only of the
common people, but, especially, to see the king himself, and his
council, with so many sage and wise men as they seemed, to be
seduced with like idolatry as the common people were ; insomuch
that it lacked very little, but that he would, even that present day,
have done some notable thing in the king's sight and presence, but
that the great press and throng that was about him, fetted that he
could not come unto the altar. What need many words ? When
the ceremonies were ended, he cometh home very sad and heavy in
his mind, insomuch that all his fellows marvelled greatly at him ;
who, albeit upon divers conjectures they conceived the cause of his
sadness, notwithstanding they did not fully understand that those
matters did so much trouble his godly mind ; neither yet did he
declare it unto any man : but, seeking solitariness and secret places,
falling down prostrate before God, with manifold tears he bewailed
the neglecting of his duty, deliberating with himself how me might
revoke that people from their impiety and superstition.

" In this deliberation and advice his mind being fully settled, and
thinking that the matter ought not to be any longer deferred, he
renounced the world, making up all his accounts so exactly (as well
of that which was due unto him, as that which he owed unto others)
that no man could justly ask so much as one farthing. Which
thing done, he continued night and day in prayer, calling upon God,
and in continual meditation of the Scriptures, that scarcely he would
take any meat by day, or sleep by night, or at the most above one
hour or two of rest in the night ; as Pendigrace, his fellow com-
panion both at bed and board, being yet alive, can testify.

" The Sunday came again to be celebrated either with like pomp
and solemnity, or not much less, whereat the said William was
present early in the morning, very cleanly apparelled, even of pur-
pose, that he might stand near the altar without repulse. Within a
while after, cometh the king with all his nobles. Then Gardiner
setteth himself as near the altar as he might, having a Testament in
his hand, which he diligently read upon, and prayed, until the time
was come, that he had appointed to work his feat. The mass began,
which was then solemnized by a cardinal. Yet he sat still. He
which said mass proceeded : he consecrated, sacrificed, lifted up on
high, showed his god unto the people. All the people gave great
reverence, and as yet he stirred nothing. At last, they came unto

xii.] THE STORY OF BERTRAND. 191

that place of the mass, where they use to take the ceremonial host,
and toss it too and fro round about the chalice, making certain
circles and semicircles. Then the said William Gardiner, being not
able to suffer any longer, ran speedily unto the cardinal ; and
(which is incredible to be spoken) even in the presence of the king
and all his nobles and citizens, with the one hand he snatched away
the cake from the priest, and trod it under his feet, and with the
other hand overthrew the chalice. This matter at first made them
all abashed, but, by and by, there arose a great tumult, and the
people began to cry out. The nobles and the common people ran
together, amongst whom one, drawing out his dagger, gave him a
great wound in his shoulder ; and, as he was about to strike him
again to have slain him, the king twice commanded to have him
saved. So, by that means, they abstained from murder." — Fox
vol. vi. p. 277.

It is not wonderful that the blind papists of Portugal
misunderstood this aggressive piety, and supposed the bold
foreigner to have some political views, as well as some
abettors in the matter, whom it was important to discover.
This they attempted by the cruel practices too commonly
used in those days ; but learning nothing by these means,
they put him to death, while he constantly declared, even in
the flames, that "he had done nothing whereof he did
repent him."

Again, " the story of Bertrand," who was martyred at
Dornick (or Tournay) in 1552, is similar, and as the intro-
duction truly states it is " lamentable." It is one of a large
class, which, looking merely to the acts, and the actors,
might well be suffered to pass into oblivion. It is, to be
sure, not without use and interest to know what was done
by some, but it is much more important to know what was
said of it by others — that is, not merely how it was per-
formed, but how it was taken. We learn something far
beyond the mere facts by observing whether they are
recorded as the extravagancies of fanatics, the infirmities of
good men, the sins of bad men, or the exploits of heroes.

" This Bertrand, being a silk-weaver, went to Wesel, for the cause
of religion, who being desirous to draw his wife and children from
Dornick to Wesel, came thrice from thence to persuade her to go
with him thither. When she in no wise could be intreated, he,
remaining a few days at home, set his house in order, and desired
his wife and brother to pray that God would establish him in his
enterprise that he went about. That done, he went upon Christmas
day to the high church of Dornick, where he took the cake out of
the priest's hand, as he would have lifted it over his head at mass,
and stamped it under his feet, saying that he did it to shew the

192 WILLIAM FLOWER. [

glory of that God, and what little power he hath : with other words
more to the people, to persuade them that the cake or fragment of
bread was not Jesus their Saviour. At the sight hereof the people,
being struck with a marvellous damp, stood all amazed. At length
such a stir thereupon followed, that Bertrand could hardly escape
with life." — Fox, vol. iv. p. 393.

In this, as in the case of Gardiner, the authorities seem
to have supposed that there was some secret which it was
worth while to find out by tormenting the prisoner. Like
Gardiner, however, he confessed nothing, (I presume had
nothing to confess,) and declared his satisfaction in the act,
affirming " that if it were a hundred times to be done he

* would do it ; and if he had a hundred lives he would give

* them all in that quarrel."

Another case of much the same sort may be added from
the account of what took place in our own country. I
mean that of William Flower, " the martyr of God," who,
as he said, " compelled by the Spirit," went into St. Mar-
garet's, Westminster, on Easter Sunday, 1555 ; and finding
the priest at the altar, and on the point of giving the
sacrament to the people, drew his hanger and attacked him,
cutting at his head and his arm, so that " the chalice with
consecrated hosts being in his hand were sprinkled with his
blood."1 In this case, as in that of both the others, the act
did not proceed from sudden impulse, for he stated that he
had gone to " Paul's church (so called) upon Christ's Day,
in the morning, to have done it," but had been prevented
from fulfilling his intention.

Such cases as these may, I suppose, be considered as
instances of honest and straightforward enthusiasm ; which,
though they are to be deplored, and perhaps blamed, do yet
command pity, if not something like respect, for the un-
happy actors. Had they lived at a later period, it is prob-
able that they would have been treated neither as felons
nor martyrs, but as persons irresponsible at the moment,
but who might perhaps by time and patient teaching be
brought to see that whether their opinions were right
or wrong, their mode of enforcing them was injurious
to their fellow men, and must be displeasing to Almighty
God.

This bold and honest style of aggression, practised by

1 Fox, vol. vii. p. 75.

xn.| MR. STAFFORD'S CIZBR. 193

men as sad as they were fierce, was the fruit of something
altogether different from the sly spirit of insult and provo-
cation which suggested " many ludicrous things everywhere
done in derision of the old forms and of the images," of
which I have already given a specimen in the preceding
essay. Another may be here briefly mentioned, which is
more to our immediate purpose, because it occurred as early
as the first year of Edward VI.

" In this year 1547, and in the month of October, there fell out an
accident in St. John's College in Cambridge, which made those of
that College that favoured learning and religion (as that house was
the chief nursery thereof in that university) judge it highly neces-
sary to apply themselves to the Archbishop, to divert a storm from
them. The case was this ; a french lad of this college, cizer to one
Mr. Stafford there, had one night, in hatred to the mass, secretly cut
the string, whereby the pix hung above the altar in the chapel.
The like of which was indeed done in other places of the nation by
some zealous persons, who began this year, without any warrant, to
pull down crucifixes and images out of the churches : as was parti-
cularly done in St. Martin's, Ironmonger-lane, London." — Strype's
Cranmer, I. 231.

It is of the next year that Strype tells us —

" There were not a few, who, towards the declining of this year,
did, more openly and commonly than before, speak of the holy
Sacrament with much contempt. Which, to speak the truth, the
former idolatrous and superstitious doctrines thereof had given
great occasion to : so that men condemned in their hearts and speech
the whole thing, and reasoned unreverently of that high mystery :
and in their sermons, or readings, or communication, called it by
vile and unseemly terms. They made rhymes, and plays, and jests
of it. And this occasioned chiefly by the misuse of it : as it is
expressed in the Act of Parliament of the first of Edw. VI. cap. 1.
Therefore was that Act of Parliament made, being the very first act
of this King. And to back this act, especially when these contemp-
tuous dealings with the Sacrament continued still, and ceased not,
the King sent forth a severe proclamation, December 27, against
these irreverent talkers of the Sacrament."— Strype, Mem. II. i.
126.

Again, the same writer says —

" Sacred places, set apart for divine worship, were now greatly
profaned ; and so probably had been before by ill custom : for in
many churches, cathedral as well as other, and especially in London,
many frays, quarrels, riots, bloodsheddings were committed. They
used also commonly to bring horses and mules into and through
churches, and shooting off hand-guns : • making the same which
were properly appointed to God's service and common-prayer, like
a stable or common inn, or rather a den or sink of all unchristmess ;
as it was expressed in a proclamation which the King set forth

194 THE HOOD OF [ESSAY

about this time, as I suppose, (for I am left to conjecture for the
date,) by reason of the insolency of great numbers using the said
evil demeanors, and daily more and more increasing : ' therein for-
bidding any such quarrelling, shooting, or bringing horses and
mules into or through the churches, or by any other means irrever-
ently to use the churches, upon pain of his Majesty's indignation,
and imprisonment.' For it was not thought fit that, when divine
worship was now reforming, the places for the said worship should
remain unreformed.

" Beside the profanation of churches, there prevailed now another
evil, relating also to churches, viz. that the utensils and ornaments
of these sacred places were spoiled, embezzled, and made away,
partly by the churchwardens, and partly by other parishioners.
Whether the cause were, that they would do that themselves, which
they imagined would ere long be done by others, viz., robbing the
churches : which, it may be, those that bore an ill will to the
reformation might give out, to render it the more odious. But
certain it is, that it now became more or less practised all the
nation over, to sell or take away chalices, crosses of silver, bells, and
other ornaments."— Strypc's Cranmer, vol. i. p. 251.

It may perhaps be proper to speak of these public acts of
the government hereafter. In the meantime we must, as I
have already said, go back to a still earlier period to get a
right view even of the times of which Strype is here speak-
ing. The reader is not to suppose that when Strype said
that some over-zealous persons " began this year, without
any warrant to pull down crucifixes and images out of the
churches," that he meant to represent this as something
previously unthought of. The thing, whether right or
wrong, was not new. The spirit which gave rise to it, as
well as this peculiar manifestation, had long been familiar.
Fox's story of the Kood of Dover Court, and the other
events which he mentions, as either earlier or contemporary
with it, will illustrate this. They belong, it must be ob-
served, to the years 1531 and 1532, and therefore bring us
back very nearly to the time when Thomas Cromwell rode
to London to " make or marre." Fox tells us —

"In the same year of our Lord 1532, there was an idol named the
Rood of Dover-court, whereunto was much and great resort of
people : for at that time there was great rumour blown abroad
amongst the ignorant sort, that the power of the idol of Dover-
court was so great, that no man had power to shut the church-door
where he stood ; and therefore they let the church-door, both night
and day, continually stand open, for the more credit unto their
blind rumour. This once being conceived in the heads of the vulgar
sort, seemed a great marvel unto many men ; but to many again,
whom God had blessed with his Spirit, it was greatly suspected,

xii.] DOVER COURT. 105

especially unto these, whose names here follow : as Robert King of
Dedham, Robert Debnam of Eastbergholt, Nicholas Marsh of Ded-
ham, and Robert Gardner of Dedham, whose consciences were sore
burdened to see the honour and power of the Almighty living God
so to be blasphemed by such an idol. Wherefore they were moved
by the Spirit of God, to travel out of Dedham in a wondrous goodly
night, both hard frost and fair moonshine, although the night
before, and the night after, were exceeding foul and rainy. It was
from the town of Dedham, to the place where the filthy Rood stood,
ten miles. Notwithstanding, they were so willing in that their
enterprise, that they went these ten miles without pain, and found
the church-door open, according to the blind talk of the ignorant
people : for there durst no unfaithful body shut it. This happened
well for their purpose, for they found the idol, which had as much
power to keep the door shut, as to keep it open ; and for proof
thereof, they took the idol from his shrine, and carried him a
quarter of a mile from the place where he stood, without any resist-
ance of the said idol. Whereupon they struck fire with a flint
stone, and suddenly set him on fire, who burned out so brim, that
he lighted them homeward one good mile of the ten.

"This done, there went a great talk abroad that they should
have great riches in that place : but it was very untrue ; for it was
not their thought or enterprise, as they themselves afterwards con-
fessed, for there was nothing taken away but his coat, his shoes, and
the tapers. The tapers did help to burn him, the shoes they had
again, and the coat one sir Thomas Rose did burn ; but they had
neither penny, halfpenny, gold, groat, nor jewel.

"Notwithstanding, three of them were afterwards indicted of
felony, and hanged in chains within half a year after, or thereabout.
Robert King was hanged in Dedham at Burchet ; Robert Debnam
was hanged at Cataway-Cawsey ; Nicholas Marsh was hanged at
Dover Court : which three persons, through the spirit of God at
their death, did more edify the people in godly learning, than all the
sermons that had been preached there a long time before.

"The fourth man of this company, named Robert Gardner,
escaped their hands and fled ; albeit he was cruelly sought for to
have had the like death. But the living Lord preserved him ; to
whom be all honour and glory, world without end !

" The same year, and the year before, there were many images cast
down and destroyed in many places ; as the image of the crucifix in
the highway by Coggeshall, the image of St. Petronal in the church
of Great Horksleigh, the image of St. Christopher by Sudbury, and
another image of St. Petronal in a chapel of Ipswich.

" Also John Seward of Dedham overthrew a cross in Stoke park,
and took two images out of a chapel in the same park, and cast them
into the water."— Vol. iv. p. 706.

But without entering on the task of tracing this spirit in
our country in earlier periods, or even when first it flourished
under the fostering care of Cromwell, we may get a glimpse
of what it grew to be under his patronage, by looking at the

19C THE OBJECT OF [ESSAY

very meagre record, or rather the scattered and not always
perhaps impartial notices, which we have of the proceedings
that took place under the celebrated Act of Six Articles ;
which, whatever other reasons may have been assigned for
it, appears to have been passed principally to meet and
repress the rampant spirit of blasphemy which seemed to
have been let loose upon the country for its destruction.
But as this is a matter of great importance, and one which
has been, I believe, somewhat misrepresented, let us in the
first place inquire respecting the facts.

It is not necessary to take up room with a repetition of
the Act of Six Articles, which the reader who wishes it may
easily find, as there is no intention to deny that it required
the belief (or at least forbade the questioning, which really
is rather a different question) of several Romish doctrines,
especially that of the real presence, under the severest
penalties. Our inquiry is not doctrinal but historical ; not
so much what the Act might have done, as what it was
intended to do, and what it actually did. It was passed in
the parliament which sat in the year 1539, and came into
force as law on the 12th day of July in that year. Accord-
ing to Strype, it " was intituled An Act for abolishing of
' Diversity of Opinions : and because of the rigorous Penal-
4 ties, and the Blood that was shed thereupon, was called,
* The Bloody Act of Six Articles."*

Burnet tells us —

" This Act was received, by all that secretly favoured Popery, with
great joy ; for now they hoped to be revenged on all those who
had hitherto set forward a Reformation. It very much quieted the
Bigots ; who were now perswaded that the King would not set up
Heresie, since he passed so severe an Act against it ; and it made the
total Suppression of Monasteries go the more easily through. The
Popish Clergy liked all the Act very well, except that severe branch
of it against their unchast practices. This was put in by Cromwel,
to make it cut with both edges. (Some of our inconsiderate Writers,
who never perused the Statutes, tell us it was done by a different
Act of Parliament; but greater faults must be forgiven them who
write upon hearsay.) There was but one comfort that the poor
Reformers could pick out of the whole Act, that they were not left
to the Mercy of the Clergy, and their Ecclesiastical Courts, but were
to be tryed by a Jury ; where they might expect more candid and
gentle dealing. Yet the denying them the benefit of Abjuration,
was a severity beyond what had ever been put in practice before : so

2 Mem. I. i. 543.

xii.] THE ACT OF SIX ARTICLES. 197

now they began to prepare for new storms and a heavy persecution."
—Hist. ofRef., vol. i. p. 248.

Perhaps if it had been the reader's own case, he would
not have exactly liked to represent it as a very great hard-
ship, that he was not allowed to utter his opinions with the
comfortable consideration, that if they got him into trouble
he might slip out by abjuring them. He would have hesi-
tated about saying to his friends, <{ I should like to preach
the gospel amazingly, but the fact is, that under this atro-
cious, newfangled statute, what you say you must stand to."
But without stopping here to discuss Bishop Burnet's ideas
of honesty and martyrdom, it should be observed, and I
think it will hereafter more fully appear, that this law was
principally made to repress the fUthiness and foolish talking
of those who had no reverence for sacred things, who lived
by railing and scoffing at them, and who had no principle
which should prevent their abjuring or perjuring anything
that might come in their way. But as to " new storms, and
a heavy persecution," for that is the principal point at
present, let us have the testimony of Holinshed : —

" In this parlement the act of the Six Articles was established.
Of some it was named the bloodie statute, as it proved indeed to
manie. And euen shortlie after the making thereof, when the first
inquest for inquirie of the offenders of the same statute sat in Lon-
don at the Mercers chappell, those that were of that inquest were so
chosen foorth for the purpose, as there was not one amongst them
that wished not to have the said statute put in execution to the
vttermost, insomuch that they were not contented onelie to inquire
of those that offended in the Six Articles conteined in that statute,
but also they deuised to inquire of certeine branches (as they tooke
the matter) belonging to the same," &c.

After some further account of the Inquest in London,
and of some persons who were troubled by it, but received
the royal pardon, and of whom I hope to speak more par-
ticularly presently, he goes on to say —

"But although the King at that present granted his gratious
pardon, and forgaue all those offenses : yet afterwards, during the
time that this statute stood in force, which was for the space of
eight years insuing, they brought many an honest and simple person
to death. For such was the rigor of that law, that if two witnesses,
true or false, had accused anie, and aduouched that they had spoken
against the sacrament, there was no waie but death ; for it booted
him not to confesse that his faith was contrarie, or that he said not
as the accusers reported, for the witnesses (for the most part) were
beleeued."— Vol. iii. p. 946.

198 THE ACT OF [ESSAY

Strype says, that " very sad and amazing were the resent-
ments of the sober and religious side, while this was trans-
acting, and hardly yet compleated," and he afterwards puts
as a marginal note, " many burnt upon this act," though the
text to which that note is annexed tells us that

" The Lord Crumwel did his endeavour to protect the gospellers
from burning, the punishment appointed in this act, lut could not :
yet the Penalty of these Articles did not so much take place during
his life, who died about a year after : but after his death a cruel time
passed. Commissioners were appointed in every Shire, to search out
and examine such as were refractory. And few durst protect those
that refused to Subscribe to the Articles ; so that they suffered daily,
as we shall see under the next year. But it was the Lord Herbert's
observation, * Their punishment did but advance their religion ; and
it was thought they had some assistance from above, it being im-
possible otherwise that they should so rejoice in the midst of their
torments, and triumph over the most cruel death.' " — Mem. I. i. 545.

It is true that this statement has the authority of Lord
Herbert, who, in his Life of Henry VIII., says —

** And now a cruell time did passe in England ; for as few durst
protect those who refused to subscribe to the 6. Articles, so they
suffered daily, wherof Fox hath many examples : neither was it easie
for any man to escape (Commissioners being appointed in every
Shire to search out and examine those who were refractory) never-
thelesse, their Punishments did but advance their Eeligion ; for as
they were notified abroad, and together their constancy represented,
who were burnt. It was thought they had some assistance from
above, it being impossible otherwise that they should so rejoyce
in the midst of their torments, and triumph over the most cruell
death."3

Surely a reader who knows no more of the facts than what
he may gather from these writers, would expect to find, as
the story went on, that torrents of blood were shed, and the
number of the slain incalculable. He might, indeed, con-
sider the fact, that " the cruel time," (not to say any enforce-
ment of the Act,) did not begin till more than a year after
the " bloody Six Articles " had passed, as indicating a strange
degree of moderation, or impotence, in those who had framed
it in bloodthirsty vengeance, and this might lead him to
suspect exaggeration in the historians. But would he not
think that he made all due allowance, if he dated the perse-
cution from after the death of Cromwell, and finding that
thenceforth " they suffered daily," he assumed the charitable

3 Life of Henry VIII., p. 466, in the edition of 1649. I do not know
what edition Strype used, but his reference is to p. 530.

THOMAS CKOMWEI.I., EAKI. OF ESSEX

From a Lithograph after Holbein by T. R. II 'ay)

xii.] THE SIX ARTICLES. 199

minimum of one sufferer per day for all England, and so
limited his idea of the number of martyrs to somewhat more
than five-and-twenty thousand ? Would he not be startled
if one told him that he would have to look sharp for
five-and-twenty, and might dismiss the thousands as being
figures, not of arithmetic, but of speech ? It may be a con-
fession of ignorance, but I must say that I have not found
so many. I have not indeed made such inquiry as would
authorize my speaking positively and with precision. But
precision is not wanted in such a matter. If, beside the
cases which I am about to mention, twice or ten times
as many others can be produced of persons undeniably put
to death under the Act, it will in no degree invalidate my
argument, or justify the writers whose language I have
quoted.

It will be observed that Lord Herbert refers us to Fox ;
and there can, I presume, be no doubt that his Martyrology
is the original authority of all. Let us then turn to it, and
see what testimony it gives. Fox tells us : —

"In this parliament, synod, or convocation, certain articles, mat-
ters, and questions, touching religion, were decreed by certain pre-
lates, to the number especially of six, commonly called ' The Six
Articles,' (or 'The Whip with Six Strings,') to be had and received
among the King's subjects, on pretence of unity. But what unity
thereof followed the groaning hearts of a great number, and also
the cruel death of divers, both in the days of King Henry, and of
Queen Mary, can so well declare as I pray God never the like be felt
hereafter."— Vol. v. p. 262.

After having given the " sum and effect of the doctrine of
these wicked articles in the BLOODY ACT contained," he adds,
by way of preface to the penalties of it,

" After these Articles were thus concluded and consented upon,
the prelates of the realm craftily perceiving that such a foul and
violent Act could not take place or prevail unless strait and BLOODY
penalties were set upon them, they caused, through their accustomed
practice, to be ordained and enacted by the King and the lords
spiritual and temporal, and the commons in the said parliament, as
followeth," &c.

But after all this, what does Fox give as the result ? I
may have missed some cases of martyrdom in turning over
his pages ; but as it will not occupy much room, I will give
a list of all the martyrs whom Fox mentions as hamng been put
to death during the time tliat the Act was in force — that is,
during the last seven years of Henry the Eighth's reign.

200 MARTYRS UNDER THE [ESSAY

How far some of them had any thing to do with the Six
Articles, the reader who chooses may inquire ; but if they
are all set to that account, they will go a very little way
towards justifying the romance of history; or to speak
more properly, the declamatory falsehoods of party and
passion.

(1) Barnes, (2) Garret, and (3) Jerome, were burned two days after
the death of Crumwell, and therefore more than a year after the Act
came into force. Strype says in one place that Barnes " suffered
death upon the six articles." — (Cran. I. 93.) But elsewhere, "In
this year without any trial, or sentence of condemnation, cr calling
him to answer, and two others with him, was Dr. Barnes burnt at
Smithfield.5' — (Mem. I. i. 568.) And it seems that they were in fact
burned upon a special act of attainder. Fox says, " there ensued
process against them by the King's Council in Parliament. " — (Vol. v.
p. 434.) Burnet says, "They lay in the Tower till the Parliament
' met, and then they were attainted of heresie, without ever being
' brought to make their answer. And it seems for the extraordinari-
' ness of the thing, they resolved to mix attainders for things that
' were very different from one another. For four others were by the
' same act attainted of Treason, who were Gregory JSuttolph, Adam
1 Damplip, Edmund Brindholme, and Clement Philpot, for assisting
' Keginald Pool, adhering to the Bishop of Home, denying the King
' to be the supreme Head on earth, of the church of England, and
'designing to surprise the town of Callice. One Derby Gunnings
'was also attainted of Treason, for assisting one Fitz -Gerald, a
' traitor in Ireland. And after all these, Barnes, Gerard, and Jerome,
' are attainted of heresie, being, as the act says, ' detestable heretics,
' who had conspired together to set forth many heresies ; and taking
' themselves to be men of learning, had expounded the Scriptures
* perverting them to their heresies, the number of which was too long
' to be repeated : That having formerly abjured, they were now incor-
' rigible heretics ; and so were condemned to be burned, or suffer
' any other death, as should please the King.'" (Hist, of Ref. vol. i.
'p. 283.) That is, I suppose, they were treated just as relapsed
heretics would have been centuries before the Six Articles were
heard of, except that, perhaps, as Collier remarks, ''By the Act of
Attainder, upon which they were burnt, it appears, the Parliament
had for once, taken the cognizance of religious belief from the
bishops courts, and made themselves judges of heresie." — (Vol. ii.

L183.) The Act for "Thattaynder of Butolph, Damplipp, Brind-
me, Philpot, Gynyng, Barnes, Geratt* Jerome, and Carew" is speci-
fied in the chronological table prefixed to the Statutes of the Realm,
published under the Record Commission, vol. iii., p. (xxxvi.) as
the 32. Hen. VIII., cap. 60, but it is among those which are "not
printed." My reason for saying so much of it here will be apparent
presently.

(4) Melcins.— Fox gives "A Note how Bonner sat in the Guildhall
in commission for the Six Articles: also of the condemning of
Mekins ; " and therefore without stopping to inquire exactly when,

CARDINAL POLE
(From an Engraving after Titian by H. T. Ryall)

xn.] ACT OF SIX ARTICLES. 201

or where, or why he was burned, none of which points are very
clearly set forth in Fox's narrative, we will suppose that he suffered
under the Act. — Fox, V. 440, — and somewhat improved, JSurnet, I.
285.

(6) Spencer, (6) Bamsey, (7) Hewet. — "About the same time," says
Fox, referring, I suppose, to the untold time when Mekins suffered,
"also a certain priest was burned at Salisbury, who, leaving his
papistry had married a wife, and became a player in interludes,
with one Ramsey and Hewet, which three were all condemned and
burned ; against whom, and especially against Spencer, was laid
matter concerning the sacrament of the altar. He suffered at
Salisbury."— Fox, V. 443. This is all the account. Short as it is,
Burnet has prudently abridged it to, " Three others were also burned
at Salisbury, upon the same statute, one of whom was a priest."
(Vol. i. p. 286.) By the time that Burnet wrote, the stage-playing
would not have added to the respectability of a priest, though the
priesthood might add to that of a martyr.

(8) Bernard, (9) Morton. — "About the same time," says Fox, though
it does not clearly appear with what reference, "John Longland,
Bishop of Lincoln burned two upon one day, the one named Thomas
Bernard, and the other James Morton ; the one for teaching the
Lord's Prayer in English, and the other for keeping the Epistle of
St. James translated into English."— Fox, V. 454. This is all the
account ; and however heinous these offences might seem to Bishop
Longland, or any one else, it is plain that they had nothing to do
with the Six Articles. Burnet only says, " Two also were burned
at Lincoln in one day." (Vol. i. p. 286.) He was probably ashamed
to assign so absurd a reason as that given by Fox. However we
will count them in.

(10) Testwood, (11) Peerson, (12) Filmer, were burned at Windsor
on July 28th, 1543 ; that is, rather more than four years after the Act
of Six Articles had come into operation. Fox, V. 486. Strype says
that they were condemned "upon the Six Articles." (Gran. I. 157.)
Burnet tells us that Gardiner " moved the King in Council, that a
Commission might be granted for searching suspected houses at
Windsor, in which it was informed there were many books against
the Six Articles." (Vol. i. p. 311. )4

4 I do not understand this, though it is probable that there was such
a search, and that it led to the prosecution of these persons under the
Act ; because, though, on the one hand, (as I have just observed with
reference to the case of Morton,) it does not appear that the possession of
heretical books was an offence under the Act, yet, on the other, that Act
gave the fullest power to the Commissioners to search for heretical books,
and destroy them. Surely there was no need for Bishop Gardiner to
move the King in Council for any such Commission while the Act con-
tained this clause : "And it is also enacted by thanctoritie abovesaid that
' the said Commyssioners and every of them, shall from tyme to tyme
' have full power and auctoritie by vertue of this acte to take into his or
' their kepinge [or] possession all and all manner of books, which bene
' and hath bene, or hereafter shalbe, set forth read or declared within this
' Eealme, or other the King's Dominions, wherein is or ben contoyned or

202 MARTYRS UNDER THE [ESSAY

(13) Damplip. — Fox tells us that, after one narrow escape, "the
good man was again apprehended by the miserable inquisition of the
Six Articles ;" and therefore it is right that I should mention him ;
but I apprehend that his case is sufficiently illustrated by what has
been just said of the Act of Attainder in the notice of Dr. Barnes,
and that whoever looks into his history will find, not that he suffered
as a protestant martyr, but that he was hanged as a popish traitor.
See Fox, V. 520. But let us count him.

(14) A poor labouring man was "reported" to Fox as having been
burned in Calais, apparently some time before the return of
Damplip.— Fox, V. 523 5.

(15) Dodd, a Scotchman, suffered also at Calais about a year
afterwards. His history is comprised in seven lines, which inform
us that he was found to have German books, and "standing con-
stantly to the truth that he had learned was therefore condemned
to death, and there burned in the said town of Calais." — Fox,
V. 524.

(16) Saxy. — " Coming now to the year of our Lord 1546," (that is
seven years after the passing of the Act), Fox either affects merit,
or makes apology, I really know not which, for " passing over the
priest whose name was Saxy, who was hanged in the porter's lodge
of Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and that, as it is supposed,
not without the consent of the said bishop, and the secret
conspiracy of that bloody generation." This is all that I find
about it ; whether, if anything of the sort occurred, it was done
by virtue of the Six Articles, the reader will judge for himself. —
Fox, V. 531.

' comprised any clause article matter or sentence repugnant or contrarie
' to the tenor forme or effecte of this present acte or any of the articles
11 conteyried in the same : And the saide Commissioners, or thre of them
' at the least to burne or otherwise destroy the saide books, or any parte
' of them, as unto the saide Commissioners or unto thre of them at the
' lest shalbe [thought] expedient by their discrecions." — /Stat. of the
Realm, vol. iii. p. 743. (See also the bottom of p. 271, forward.)

5 At p. 498 of the same volume of Mr. Seeley's (or as it might really
be called the Comic) edition of Fox, this and the preceding case are
crushed into one ; and we read of " Adam Damlip, a poor labouring
man." The unfortunate editor does not seem to have observed, that
only a few lines below, on the very same page, he was editing a further
account of " Adam Damlip, who had been, in time past, a great papist,
and chaplain to Fisher Bishop of Kochester ; and after the death of the
bishop his master, had travelled through France, Dutchland and Italy."
Indeed, if the editor had observed all this, it probably would not have
engendered in his mind any suspicion that the man might not be quite
protestant on the point of the Supremacy. But this is not the place to
go into the subject of the Calais treason and troubles, on which the
reader may find much interesting matter in Fox, and also in Mr.
Nichols's valuable and interesting Chronicle of Calais, lately published
by the Camden Society, to which I have before had occasion to refer ;
und probably much more in the authorities which he indicates, but which
I have not Keen.

xii.] ACT OF SIX ARTICLES. 203

(17) One Henry and (18) Ids servant are also passed over by Fox in
the same sentence. He merely says, " to pass over also one Henry,
with his servant, burned at Colchester ; I will now proceed to the
story of Kerby," &c. I am not aware that in any other part of his
history he gives any further explanation.

(19) Kerby, and (20) Clerke, for whose sake the two preceding
martyrs are passed over in less than six lines, were apprehended at
Ipswich. The former suffered at that place on the 29th, and the
latter at Bury on the 31st of May, 1546. Fox, V. 530.

(21) Anne Askew suffered in the month of July in the same year
1546.— Fox, V. 537.

(22) Lacels, (23) Adams, and (24) Belenian were burned with Anne
Askew. Fox, V. 550. I do not see that he gives any account of
their opinions, or of the circumstances which led to their suffering.
Burnet, on what authority I do not perceive, says, " they were all
convicted upon the statute of the Six Articles, for denying the
Corporal presence of Christ in the Sacrament." — I. 327.

(25) One Rogers, is stated by Fox to have " suffered martyrdom for
the Six Articles" "much about the same year and time," (as Anne
Askew I suppose) by means of Bishop Kepse's influence with the
Duke of Norfolk.— Fox, V. 553.

(26) Jolin^ a painter, (27) Giles Germain, (28) Launcelot one of the
king's guard. Fox recollects, somewhat out of place, that " about
the year of our Lord 1539 " (and therefore probably before the Act
of Six Articles was enforced, if, indeed, it had been passed) the two
former had been "accused of heresy." The third coming in " by-
chance" while they were under examination, and seeming "by his
countenance and gesture to favour both the cause, and the poor
men," they were all three burned. — Fox, V. 654.

This is, I believe, a list of all the persons whom Fox
mentions as having been condemned to death in the eight
years between the passing and the repeal of the Act. If
I have overlooked any, or more can be furnished from
another source, I shall be glad to be informed. It is not
worth while to prolong an essay already so prolix, with any
additional remarks respecting the truth or the relevancy of
any of the stories; or after having so long detained the
reader on the subject of what the Act did not do, now to
break into the important question respecting what it did.
I hope in another essay to pursue this inquiry, and to
show, by some observations on its origin, design, and eftect,
that though the law did not do what it was never meant to
do, and what party writers pretend that it did, yet it was
not a dead letter, but was meant to do, and actually did, a
great deal.

204 THE ACT OF SIX ARTICLES. [ESSAY

ESSAY XIII,

THE RIBALDS. No. III.

IF it should have appeared to any reader of the preceding
Essay, that the Act of Six Articles was almost inoperative,
he may be inclined to inquire how that came to pass. The
Act did not drop from the clouds, or spring out of the
earth, but issued from a government composed of various,
and even jarring elements, and in which every enactment
relating to this class of subjects, indicated at least the
temporary predominance of a certain party — that is, in fact,
of a certain and very small number of individuals.

Whatever degree of influence the Commons might have
then attained, nobody supposes that the statute was extorted
from the Crown by the people.

Neither does anybody think that it was the work of the
Reformers; or, in other words, a trick of Cromwell and
Cranmer.

But many persons do suppose, and naturally enough if
they adopt the statements and suggestions of Fox and his
transcribers, that it was the work of the popish party, and
that its object was to exterminate the Reformers, root and
branch. Take, for instance, the flourish with which Fox
begins his account of the martyrdom of Doctor Barnes and
his companions, which, as has been already stated, took
place immediately after the fall of Cromwell : —

" Like as in foreign battles the chief point of victory consisteth in
the safety of the general or captain, even so, when the valiant
standard-bearer and stay of the church of England, Thomas
Cromwell I mean, was made away, pity it is to behold what
miserable slaughter of good men and good women ensued thereupon,
whereof we have now (Christ willing) to entreat. For Winchester,
having now gotten his full purpose, and free swing to exercise his
cruelty, wonder it was to see that 'aper Calydonius,' or, as the
scripture speaketh, that ' ferus singularis,' what troubles he raised
in the Lord's vineyard. And lest, by delays, he might lose the
occasion presently offered, he straightways made his first assaults
upon Eobert Barnes, Thomas Garret and William Jerome, whom in
the very same month, within two days after Cromwell's death, he
caused to be put to execution." — Vol. v. p. 414.

xiii.] HENRY VIII.'S PROTESTANTISM, 205

But if Gardiner and a party with him had such a
purpose, and were strong enough to procure a statute which
gave them their "full swing," how are we to account for
their doing so little with it ? If, despite their opponents,
they had power to carry the measure, and keep it un-
repealed for eight years, surely when the measure was
carried they must have had power to make use of it.
Surely, if things had really been such as would justify Fox's
language, the popish party must have done much — very
much — more than he has thought of charging them with.

But there was another — and in the popular view, a
distinct — power, which had, I apprehend, the most to do
with it. I speak of this power as distinct in the popular
view, rather than in reality, because I believe that, if ever
two men with as much difference of nature, knowledge,
aims, and circumstances, could be said to concur in any-
thing, then were Gardiner and his Royal master of one
mind in the business of the Six Articles. At the same
time, whatever Gardiner might suggest, or agree to, or do,
in the matter, there seems to be no doubt that it was truly
and properly the king's own act and deed, performed by his
own lusty will, without much anxiety as to what either
papist or protestant or parliament thought about the
matter.

Few things have had a greater tendency to involve the
history of the English Reformation in obscurity than the
loose way in which the king's own personal feelings, and
opinions, and his proceedings with regard to religion, have
been estimated and represented. With reference to the
present case, even Lord Herbert says, " But that it may
* seem lesse strange why the King, who before was much
' disposed to favour the Reformers, did on a sudden so
' much vary from them, I have thought fit to set down
' some of the motives as I conceive them."1 But it seems
hardly worth while to follow him into his ideas respecting
the jealousy of the foreign Reformers, and the emperor,
and other remote reasons which he suggests, while it is so
apparent that he is only troubling himself to solve a
difficulty which never existed. Undoubtedly Henry " was
much disposed to favour the Reformers " who took his part

i Life of Hen. VIII, p. 448.

206 THE PROTESTANTISM [ESSAY

in the divorce question — he "was much disposed to favour
the Reformers " who maintained that he was the supreme
head of the church, and sided with him against the unjust
usurpations of the Bishop of Rome — he " was much dis-
posed to favour the Reformers" who carried through the
suppression of the monasteries, and thereby not only
humbled the pride of those who might be more strictly
called the popish clergy, but filled his exchequer, or enabled
him to be profuse with an empty one. For the same
reason, and because the thing was somewhat scandalous,
and sometimes supported by disgraceful trickery, he thought
it right to stop the lavish offerings which were heaped on
the shrines of some of the more popular saints, and to turn
those treasures to more useful purposes — and we cannot
wonder if, with these views and feelings, he did not alto-
gether dislike or disrelish some things having a tendency
to lower the papal power in his dominions, by rendering the
pope and his adherents ridiculous. All this was certainly
very antipapal ; and if to be antipapal was to be protestant,
this was very protestant, and the king was very protestant ;
and it might be very protestant to give his subjects the
bible in the vulgar tongue — a circumstance very curious and
much to be remarked in connexion with the matter now
before us ; because, that it was the work of Cromwell (or
perhaps we may say of Cromwell and Cranmer) admits of
no doubt. But how would Henry have stared if anybody
had inferred from any or all these things that he had any
heretical misgivings or doubts about transubstantiation, or
purgatory, or the invocation of saints, or other doctrines
which we justly consider as errors or heresies peculiarly
characteristic of the Church of Rome, and which in the
modern popular view of the Reformation in England are
commonly mixed up with the doctrine of papal supremacy,
in the general notion of "popery." This point is well
stated by Hooper in a letter which he wrote to Bullinger,
several years after the Act of Six Articles had passed, and it
is highly worthy of our attention.

"Accept, my very dear master, in few words, the news from
England. As far as true religion is concerned, idolatry is nowhere
in greater vigour. Our king has destroyed the Pope, but not popery ;
he has expelled all the monks and nuns, and pulled down their
monasteries ; he has caused all their possessions to be transferred

xiii.] OF HENRY VTII. 1>(>7

into his exchequer, and yet they are bound, even the frail female
sex, by the king's command, to perpetual chastity. England has at
this time at least ten thousand nuns, not one of whom is allowed to
marry. The impious mass, the most shameful celibacy of the clergy,
the invocation of saints, auricular confession, superstitious absti-
nence from meats, and purgatory, were never before held by the people
in greater esteem than at the present moment." '2

Again, nearly a year afterwards he says ; —

"The bearer will inform your excellence. of the good news we
received yesterday from Strasburgh. There will be a change of
religion in England, and the King will take up the gospel of Christ,
in case the Emperor should be defeated in this most destructive
war : should the gospel sustain a loss, he will then retain his impious
mass, for which he has this last summer committed four respectable
and godly persons to the flames."3

Very pregnant was the exclamation of Latimer before
Edward the VI., " The bloud of Hales, woe worth it ; what
*a doe was it to bring it out of the King's head! This
'great abomination of the bloud of Hales could not be
'taken for a great while out of his minde."4 But without
multiplying illustrations where they are unnecessary, I will
just add one, not only because it is curious and characteristic
in itself, but because it may be well to refer to it on
another account hereafter. It is from a work intitled,
"The Lamentacyon of a Christen againste the Citye of
London, for some certaine greate vyces vsed therin."5
After speaking of the sums given to priests " to synge in a
chauntrie to robbe the lyuynge God of hys honoure," the
author proceeds ; —

"Ye wyll saye vnto me, what arte thou, that callest these thinges
vncommaunded tradycyons and popyshe ceremonyes, seyinge the
Kynges Grace forbyddeth them not, and vseth parte of them hym

2 Original Letters relative to the English Kefornmtion, First portion,
lately published by the Parker Society, p. 36, where the Editor gives the
date as " probably 1546."

3 Orig. Lett, ubi supra, p. 41. These persons the Editor states to have
been Anne Askew, and those who suffered with her.

4 Sermons, fol. 84. 6. edit. 1584, quoted in Wordsworth's Eccl. Biog.,
2nd edit., vol. ii. p. 281.

5 The copy from which I extract is said on the title-page to have been
printed in 1548. I do not see that Herbert mentions the edition ; but
he specifies two others, one said to be " printed at Jericho in the land of
Promise," 1542, the other, at Nuremberg, 1545.— Herbert's Ames, III.
1553, 1558. (xxx. 8. 14.)

208 ACT OF SIX ARTICLES. [ESSAY

selfe? I answere that ye vse manye thynges contrary to the
kyngs iniunccyons. And yf it be that God through the kynge hath
caste out the deuell out of this realme, and yet both he and we
suppe of the broth in which the deuell was soden, and that God
hath yet not opened the eyes of the kynge to set all thynges in
right frame, and vtterly to breake downe the serpent, as Ezechias
the kynge dyd .iiii. Reg. ix. and as kynge Asa dyd .ii. Chro. xiiii
take it thus, that euen your iniquytye wyth callynge vpon vayne
Goddes, and sekynge saluacion by a wronge waye, is the veri cause
that God closeth vp the eies of the kynge, as of one that heareth
and vnderstandeth not, and seeth and perceyueth not." — Sig. b.
iiii. 6.

It seems plain that though the king was persuaded to
consent to the abolition of some things clearly super-
stitious, yet it was done with difficulty; and it evidently
required all the power and address of those who wished
him to go much farther, to get him to go as far as he did.
But Cromwell might have tried in vain to get him to join
in railing at the mass, and Cranmer as vainly to get his
approbation of a married clergy. I believe that he was
roused by an idea that the church, of which he was resolved
to be the supreme head, was likely to be overthrown by a
torrent of what he considered infidelity and blasphemy, and
that he devised, and insisted on, and would have, and
carried, such a measure as he thought was suited to check
the frightful evil.

Such, I believe, to have been the origin of the Act.
Subsequent events show that it was meant to frighten
rather than to hurt, to intimidate and quiet the people
rather than to destroy and slaughter them by wholesale.
Nothing but the spirit of party and passion, the withering
blight of all truth in history, can represent it as a statute
seriously intended to be executed according to the letter.
But it did much without proceeding to such extremities as
it threatened. It was meant to frighten the people, and it
did frighten them; and by that means it did two things
which, whether right or wrong, good or bad, were un-
doubtedly of very great importance at that time, and in
their consequences. In the first place, it caused many of
the more violent partizans of the Reformation to quit the
country ; and secondly, it made those who stayed at home
more quiet and peaceable. Fox has given us " A brief table
of the Troubles at London in the time of the Six Articles,"
which he prefaces by saying ; —

xiii.] " TROUBLES AT LONDON." 209

"Although this inquisition above mentioned was meant properly
and especially concerning the Six Articles, yet so it fell out, that in
short space doubts began to arise, and to be moved by the quest :
whether they might inquire as well of all other opinions, articles,
and cases of Lollardy, or for speaking against holy bread, holy
water, or for favouring the cause of Barnes, of friar Ward, Sir
Thomas Hose, &c. : whereupon great perturbation followed in all
parishes almost through London in the year aforesaid, which was
1541, as here ensueth in a brief summary table to be seen." — Vol. v.
p. 443.

It is very principally on account of the curious light
which this Table throws on the state of things at the
time, that I have been induced to say so much of the
Statute which gave rise to it. And therefore, as Fox

says ; —

"Having discoursed the order of the six articles, with other
matter likewise following in the next parliament, concerning the
condemnation of the lord Cromwell, oE Dr. Barnes, and his fellows,
let us now (proceeding further in this history) consider what great
disturbance and vexations ensued after the setting forth of the said
articles, through the whole realm of England, especially among the
godly sort: wherein first were to be mentioned the straight and
severe commissions sent forth by the king's authority, to the
bishops, chancellors, officials, justices, mayors, and bailiffs in every
shire, and other commissioners by name in the same commissions
expressed ; and, amongst others, especially to Edmund Bonner
bishop of London, to the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of the same,
to inquire diligently after all heretical books, and to burn them.
Also to inquire after all such persons whatsoever, culpable or
suspected of such felonies, heresies, contempts, or trangressions, or
speaking any words contrary to the aforesaid act, set forth, of the
Six Articles."— Vol. v. p. 440.

Strype, who generally follows Fox, and sometimes,
without meaning to falsify, rather improves his statements,
tells us —

"Upon the Six Articles, commissions were granted out by the
King to the Bishops, and their Chancellors and Officials, and to all
Justices of Peace, Mayors, and Sheriffs in every shire, and others
named in the same commissions; to inquire diligently upon all
heretical books, and to burn them, and upon all persons suspected
of such felonies, contempts, or transgressions against the act of the
Six Articles.

"To London, and the diocese thereof, was a particular com-
mission sent for this purpose. The Commissioners were the Bishop
of London, Roche the Mayor, Allen, Warren, Richard Gresham,
Knights and Aldermen, Roger Cholmley, Knight, Sergeant at Law,
John Gresham, Michael Dormer, the Archdeacon of London, the
Bishop's Commissary, Chidley, Crayford, Edward Hall, Brook,

o

210 "SPARE NONE." [ESSAY

Morgan. And that these might be sure to do their office, a letter
was procured from the King to Boner the Bishop, or his Com-
missary, to give all these their oaths for the execution of the said
act. The form of which oath was prescribed in that act. The
Bishop accordingly, at Guildhall, administered the said oath to
them. And then the jury were sworn; when the Bishop ad-
monished them to SPAEE NONE. So in all parishes throughout
London almost, some were summoned and accused, and brought
into trouble, to the number of near two hundred. Several also of
Calais, and of divers other quarters, were brought into trouble. So
that all the prisons in London were too little to hold them." — Hem.
I. i. 565.

Perhaps, when it had been stated that "commissions
were granted out by the King to the bishops" it was hardly
necessary to specify that "to London, and the diocese
thereof, was a particular commission sent" — or, as Fox
oddly expresses it in a passage already quoted, "amongst
others, especially to Edmund Bonner bishop of London."
But it must be remembered that this bishop of London was
"bloody Bonner," who ought by all means to have the
" bloody " act saddled upon him in some peculiar manner,
though he does not appear to have had more to do with it
than the other official persons named in the act itself, and
thereby appointed to carry it into execution. Still it is so
natural, and so like the "butcherly" bishop, that we should
almost have taken it for granted, even if Strype had not
told us, that when he had sworn the jury, he admonished
them to " SPARE NONE." Burn them all. Men, women, and
children. The ignorant and those that are out of the way.
The misled, the faint, the feeble, even the penitent — SPARE
NONE.

It is really almost enough to put one out of conceit with
all history, when one sees so good a man as Mr. Strype
undoubtedly was, writing in such a way as this ; and what
reader goes to Fox, the only writer whom Strype quotes, to
see whether he has fairly represented his authority ? Eox
tells us that "When the two juries were sworn, Bonner
' taketh upon him to give the charge unto the juries, and
' began with a tale of Anacharsis, by which example he

* admonished the juries to spare no persons, of what degree

* soever they were." Now it seems to me that this most
materially alters the state of the case. One can hardly
doubt that the " example," which the bishop quoted from
Anacharsis, was his well-known saying, that laws were like

xin.] " TROUBLES AT LONDON." 211

cobwebs, which caught flies while they were easily broken
through by stronger insects. Surely there was no presump-
tion in the Bishop of London's taking upon him to charge
the juries, and the tone of the charge, even on Fox's show-
ing, was very different from that which a reader of Strype
would suppose. If " bloody " Bonner had been a favourite,
we should probably have been told, that he faithfully and
conscientiously warned the jury against a pharisaical show
of zeal in haling to the judgment-seat the defenceless poor,
the weak, and the foolish, while they took bribes from their
rich neighbours to connive at their heresy, or " spared "
them because they had the means, not only of defence, but
of retaliation.

But what if, instead of these miserable, and tiresome, and
invidious explanations, one were fairly to take the bull by
the horns, and ask Mr. Strype and all the world, whether
it was the duty of a sworn jury to exercise the prerogative
of " sparing " persons, when they were simply sworn to find
and present facts ? What should we think of a jury who
should come into court and say, " We find that A has robbed
B ; we are quite sure that he is a felon — but in our discre-
tion we spare him — and our verdict is * Not Guilty ' ? "
Was Bonner requiring from the juries more than all the
commissioners themselves were bound to ? Their oath, as
given by Fox, was ; —

" Ye shall swear, that ye, to your cunning, wit, and power, shall
truly and indifferently execute the authority to you given by the
king's commission, made for correction of heretics and other
offenders mentioned in the same commission, without any favour,
affection, corruption, dread, or malice, to be borne to any person or
persons, as God you help, and all saints." — Vol. v. p. 264.

But to come to the more immediate subject of inquiry —
what did these juries do, what did they find, and what sort
of crimes did they present ? for the object is to get some
idea of the real state of things in the year 1541, and of
what was actually passing in the houses and churches, in
the taverns, and by the firesides, of London. One is tired
of being told over and over again, in general terms, that
the furious bishops destroyed all who favoured the gospel
without mercy ; and one would like to know the grounds,
or even the alleged grounds and pretences, on which they
did it.

212 " TROUBLES AT LONDON " [ESSAY

We must, however, always bear in mind, that we have
this account from a friendly hand ; and considering that
Fox tells us, that the good Lord Awdley assured the king
that all the people were presented out of malice, I may (and
truth absolutely requires that I should) add, one that was
not very scrupulous. But we must take the matter as Fox
gives it, and form our ideas of " the persons presented,
with the causes of their presentation," as well as we can
from the information which he has seen fit to give on the
subject.

Of course a great many of these causes of presentation
are given by Fox in such brief and general terms, and often
in terms so purely descriptive of negative offences, that we
gain but little light from them. But there are a good many
others which are more particular ; and even from such as
are couched in rather indefinite language, we may learn
something. We do not, for instance, get very accurate
knowledge from the word " despising," as it is used in this
Table. When we read that Mrs. Cicely Marshall of St.
Alban's parish, was accused of " despising holy bread and
holy water ; " and her fellow-parishioner, " Anne, Bedikes
wife, of despising our Lady ; " of three in St. Giles without
Cripplegate, presented for " despising auricular confession,"
and five others in the same parish for " despising holy bread
and holy water ; " of ten in the parish of St. Martins at the
Well with two buckets, for "contemning the ceremonies of the
church ; " of John Humfrey of St. Giles's, Cripplegate, for
"speaking against the sacraments and ceremonies of the
church ; " and also (unless it was some fellow-parishioner of
the same name) with three others for " depraving of matins,
mass, and even-song ; " there is room for a charitable hope
that in any particular case the offence was nothing more
than that of withholding some of the external marks of
devotion which the heresies and idolatries sanctioned by the
church of Home had rendered customary. We cannot tell
how these persons manifested their despite ; none, we may
hope, so grossly as Richard Bigges of St. Magnus parish,
who showed that he was guilty of " despising holy bread "
by " putting it in the throat of a bitch."

Perhaps, too, we can hardly judge of such cases as Brisley's
wife of St. Nicholas in the Flesh Shambles, who was pre-
sented " for busy reasoning on the new learning, and not

xm.] UNDER THE SIX ARTICLES. 213

keeping the church ; " but it gives occasion to remark (what
will be obvious to any one who looks over the Table), that
so great a proportion of the offenders were females. We
have had one or two instances already ; and one of the ten
parishioners of St. Martin's (just mentioned by only that
description) stands in the Table as " Mother Palmer."
Whether she obtained this title of respect from her being in
any way considered a " mother in Israel," I do not know ;
but Mrs. Elizabeth Statham of St. Mary Magdalene's in
Milk-street, seems to have been something of the kind, for
her offence was "maintaining in her house Latimer, Barnes,
Garret, Jerome, and divers others." Perhaps she was con-
tent to sit as a learner in the prophet's chamber which she
had made ; but Margaret Ambsworth of St. Botolph's
without Aldgate, was presented, not only " for having no
reverence to the sacrament at sacring time," but also " for
instructing of maids, and being a great doctress." One is
inclined to suspect something of the same spirit in Martyn
Bishop's wife, of St. Benet Finck, who "did set light by the
curate " when he spoke to her about her not confessing in
Lent, and receiving at Easter. Mrs. Castle, too, of St.
Andrew's, Holborn, was presented " for being a meddler,"
as well as for another species of conduct, very naturally
concomitant, and of which I shall say more presently, but
in the meantime, she was, as I have said, a " meddler," and
so no doubt, in the estimation of the jurors, were her fellow-
parishioners, Robert Plat and his wife, who " were great
reasoners in scripture, saying that they had it of the Spirit;"
and so the eight parishioners of St. Mary Woolchurch, who
were " great reasoners and despisers of ceremonies ; " and
Thomas Aduet, John Palmer, and Robert Cooke of St.
Michael, Queenhithe, for " the cause laid to these persons
was for reasoning of the scripture, and of the sacraments ; "
and John Cockes of the same parish, for " this man was
noted for a great searcher out of new preachers, and mam-
tamers of Barnes's opinions." All these persons, and many
others, were no doubt considered as " meddlers," though not
described by that name ; but we have no proof that they
" meddled," as Mrs. Castle did, in a way that was then very
common, and requires more particular notice.

Let us give — who, even of the thoughtless and the worth-
less, can help giving? — not merely pity, but he-nour arid

214 "TROUBLES AT LONDON." [ESSAY

respect to the man who suffers for conscience' sake, even if
he is ignorant, weak, or mistaken ; but let us not be so far
imposed on by the declamation of party, as to imagine that
the protestantism with which Henry the Eighth had to deal,
was simply a system of meek endurance and patient suffer-
ing— a pure spirit of heaven dragged from its hiding-place
on earth by fiends infernal, whose only mission was to find
and torment it. It cannot be denied that there was some-
thing aggressive in its character ; and one of its modes of
displaying this quality was by disturbing the services of the
church. I have already noticed cases in which this was
done by some fanatics with great force and violence, by
striking the priest, and overthrowing or trampling on the
elements. But these were extraordinary cases. It is not
fair to make any cause responsible for all the fanatics whom
it may engender; for no cause which does not engender
some is worth maintaining. But there were milder, and
more common modes of aggression. Thus the four parish-
ioners of St. Giles's, Cripplegate, who have been already
noticed as " despising holy bread," were also presented for
" letting divine service." How they did it we are not told ;
nor do we get more precise information respecting four
parishioners of St. Mildred in Bread-street, who "were
presented for interrupting the divine service." Master
Pates of David's Inn, and Master Galias of Bernard's Inn,
both of the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, were presented
" for vexing the curate in the body of the church, in de-
* claring the King's Injunctions, and reading the bishop's
' book, so that he had much ado to make an end ; " and
beside being included in this joint accusation, Master
Galias was individually presented "for withstanding the
curate censing the altars on Corpus Christi Even, and
saying openly that he did naught." If the reader has not
lost sight of Mrs. Castle the " meddler," he may remember
that she belonged to the same parish, and it must now be
added that she was presented, not only as a meddler, but as
" a reader of Scripture in the church."

To a modern reader, that is, a reader acquainted with
only modern feelings and usages, it may seem odd to find a
woman charged with such an offence ; and, indeed, the
whole matter is so alien from that with which we are
familiar in practice, that it requires a little illustration.

xm.] TAKING BOOKS TO CHURCH. 215

The idea of taking any book to church, except a Bible or
Prayer Book, would seem strange to us. Some readers
may not at once think of the Companion to the Altar as a
singular exception, and a relic of old times, and others may
be surprised to learn that the Statutes of Trinity College,
Cambridge, given by Queen Elizabeth in the second year of
her reign, distinctly recognize the right, and thereby imply
the custom, of carrying into chapel at service time, not only
the Scriptures and books containing devout prayers or
meditations, but the sermons of any holy father or doctor".
We must not therefore think that the reformers did any-
thing very strange when they took books with them to
church; and, saying nothing of any little demonstration
such as human nature when it is sectarianized cannot help,
we must confine the offence to the taking in of unlawful
books, or the using them to disturb the service.

It may have been observed in a preceding essay, that
when William Gardiner went to the church at Lisbon, he
was occupied during the service with reading on his New
Testament. This was probably an English Testament, and
he might have pleaded (as we shall see that William Hastlen
did) that he was employing his time more profitably than in
listening to service in a language which he could not under-
stand. There was not the same excuse for Thomas Benet
of Exeter, who " wrote his mind in certain scrolls of paper,
4 which, in secret manner, he set upon the doors of the
; cathedral church of the city ; in which was written * the
' Pope is Antichrist ; and we ought to worship God only
' and no saints.' " Fox tells us, " there was no small ado,"
and " the bishop and all his doctors were as hot as coals,
* and enkindled as though they had been stung with a sort

6 I do not know what may have been the law or custom at other col-
leges. The statute to which I refer, however, was in force at Trinity
College till very lately ; certainly till within these ten years. How long,
and to what extent, it was acted on in this particular, I do not know.
At the only period when I had much opportunity of observing, the taste
of the young men generally did not lie that way ; but I presume that a
procession of undergraduates, with folios of Taylor, Barrow, Tillotson, &c.,
under their arms, would have had little to fear from .the dean. " Nemo
' ad sacellum tempore rei divinse faciendae alios librps adferat quam
' psalterium, aut alios hujusmodi libros, qui pias precationes meditation -
' esse contineant, aut Sacra Biblia, aut pias conciones alicujus sancti
1 patris aut doctoris,"— Cap. XVI,

216 TAKING BOOKS TO CHUECH. [ESSAY

' of wasps. Wherefore, to keep the people in their former
1 blindness, order was taken that the doctors should in haste
' up to the pulpit every day and confute this heresy.
' Nevertheless, this Thomas Benet, keeping his own doings

* in secret, went the Sunday following to the cathedral
1 church to the sermon, and by chance sat down by two

* men, who were the busiest in all the city in seeking and

* searching for this heretic ; and they, beholding this Benet,

* said the one to the other, ' surely this fellow, by all likeli-
' hood, is the heretic that hath set up the bills, and it were
' good to examine him.' Nevertheless, when they had well
' beheld him, and saw the quiet and sober behaviour of the

* man, his attentiveness to the preacher, his godliness in the
< church, being always occupied in his book, which was a
' Testament in the Latin tongue, they were astonied, and
1 had no power to speak unto him, but departed, and left

* him reading in his book." 7

It is not exactly to our precise point, perhaps, but it con-
tributes somewhat to illustrate the manners and spirit of the
times and persons with whose history we are engaged, to
observe that Anne Askew tells us, that when she was
brought before Bishop Bonner, " he commanded his arch-
deacon to commune " with her, and " then," she adds, that
is, after a general inquiry as to the cause of her trouble,
" took he my book out of my hand, and said, ' Such books

* as this have brought you to the trouble that you are in.
' Beware/ said he, * beware, for he that made this book, and
' was the author thereof, was a heretic I warrant you, and
' burned in Smithfield.' And then I asked him, if he were
4 certain and sure that it was true that he had spoken.

* And he said, he knew well the book was of John Frith's

* making." She afterwards says, that she opened the book,
and showed the archdeacon that it was not that which he
supposed, but she does not tell us what it was. I mention

7 Vol. v. p. 19. How a man who was "always occupied in his book,"
could be remarkable for "his attentiveness to the preacher," it is not easy
to understand, unless we suppose the narrator to mean, that when he was
not attending to the preacher, he was occupied in his book — or, in other
words, that he showed himself remarkably attentive to the sermon, and
remarkably occupied by his Testament during the prayers. This seems
probable in itself, and there must of course have been some sort of
demonstration to waken the suspicion, arid elicit the suggestion, of his
neighbours.

xm.] READING DURING DIVINE SERVICE. 217

the circumstance chiefly as showing, that at such a time and
place she had her book in her hand ; for our business is at
present with those who, like Mrs. Castle, were readers of
the Scripture in the church ; and the Table before us, beside
the general statements already cited about letting and inter-
rupting divine service, mentions several cases in which it
was done in this particular manner. Andrew Kempe,
William Pahen, and Richard Manerd of St. Albari's Parish,
were presented " for disturbing the service of the church
with brabbling of the New Testament," and one of the
offences charged against William Plaine was, that " when
he came to the church, with loud reading the English
Bible, he disturbed the divine service."

One of the most interesting and instructive accounts of
such a case, however, is recorded in the Appendix to Fox's
Martyrology, under the title of "A Note of a certain good
man troubled in Boulogne the first year of King Edward
the Sixth, for the Gospel." It begins thus : —

" The examination of me, William Hastlen, gunner in the castle
of High Boulogne, in the year of our Lord 1547, and the first year of
the reign of king Edward the sixth. As I was in the church of
Boulogne, called the Stals, upon the 12th of April, being Easter Tues-
day, reading of a godly book, called ' The Lamentation of a Christian
against the citizens of London,' between the hours of three and four
at afternoon, there came certain men to me as I stood at an altar in
the church reading to myself, and asked me what good book I had ;
and I said, they should hear if they pleased. Then they desired me
to read out that they might hear, and so did I very gladly ; but I
had not read long (the priests and clerks were at their Latin even-
song, I reading mine English book) but there came a tipstaff for me,
taking my two books from me, and commanded me to go with him ;
for he said I must go before the council of the town.

" Then went I forth with him ; and a little without the church
door, sir John Bridges met us, and bade the tipstaff carry me to sir
Leonard Beckwith, knight, to be examined ; and coming before his
presence, he asked me what books they were that I had at the church :
and was reading of one of them openly in the church to the people.
And I said, so far as I had read them they were good godly books.
And he said, they were heresy. And with that he asked me how I
did believe of the sacrament of the altar, whether I did not believe
that to be the very body of Christ, flesh, blood, and bones : and I
asked him whether he meant that that was in the pix or no ? and he
said, Yea, even that in the pix. And I said, that since I had sure
knowledge of Scriptures, I did not believe it to be the body of
Christ, but a bare piece of bread ; nor by God's help will I ever
believe it otherwise to be. Then he said, I was a heretic, and asked
me what I made of the Sacrament : and I said, if it were duly

218 WILLIAM HASTLEN, THE [ESSAY

ministered according to Christ's institution, that then I did believe
that the faithful communicants, in receiving that blessed sacrament,
did receive into their inward man or soul, the very body and blood
of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Then said he, ' Dost thou not believe
it to remain the very body of Christ after the words of consecration
pronounced by the priest? ' And I said, No. Then said he, 'What
dost thou make of the Church ? ' I said, ' As it is now used, it is a
den of thieves, and the synagogue of Satan.' 'Thou heretic,' said
he, 'there remaineth the very body of Christ. But I said, that
Christ being God and Man, dwelleth not in the temples made with
men's hands. Much other communication had we at that time, but
this was the effect that day. Then he asked me whether I would be
forthcoming till to-morrow. And I said, ' Sir, if you think that I will
not, you may lay me where I shall be so.' Then he let me go for
that night, and said, ' We shall talk further with thee to-morrow ; '
so I departed home.

"And about the space of two hours after, master Huntingdon the
preacher (which did much good with his preaching in Boulogne at
that time) came to me, and said, that he heard me spoken of at my
lord Gray's, who was then lord deputy of the town and country of
Boulogne ; ' and I perceive,' said he, ' that you are in great danger
of trouble, if you escape with your life : for there are some of the
council marvellously bent against you.' I said, 'The Lord's will be
done.' 'Well,' said he, ' without you feel in yourself a full purpose,
by God's help, to stand earnestly to the thing that ye have spoken, you
shall do more hurt than good. Wherefore,' said he, ' if you will go to
Calais, I will send you where you shall be well used, and be out of
this danger.' Then I thanked master Huntingdon, saying, ' I purpose
by God's assistance to abide the uttermost that they can do unto
me.' 'Well then,' said he, 'I can tell you you will be sent for to-
morrow betimes before the whole council.' 'That is,' said I, 'the
thing that I look for.'

" Then rose I betimes in the morning and went into the market-
place, that I might spy which way the officer should come for me.
I had not tarried there long, but I spied a tipstaff, and went toward
him, and asked him whom he sought; and he said, 'a gunner of the
great ordnance in the castle of Boulogne ; ' and I said, ' I am he : '
then said he, ' You must go with me to my lord's : ' and I said,
'Therefor Hooked.'

"When I came there, I saw my lord and the whole council were
assembled together in a close parlour. Doing my duty to them, my
lord said to me, ' It is informed me that thou hast seditiously con-
gregated a company together in the church, and there in the time
of service thou didst read unto them an heretical book, and hast not
reverently used silence in the time of the divine service. What
sayest thou to this ? '

"I said, 'If it please your honour, I was in the church a good
while before any service began, and nobody with me, reading to
myself alone, upon a book that is agreeable to God's word, and no
heresy in it that I read ; and when it drew towards service time,
there came men to the church, and, some of them coming to me
whom I knew not, asking me what good book I had, I said it was a

xni.] GUNNER OF BOULOGNE. 2>l'.i

new book that I had not yet read over. Then they prayed me that
I should read so that they might hear some part with me ; and so I
did, not calling, pointing, nor assembling any company to me. And
the service being in Latin, that for the strangeness of the tongue,
besides much superstition joined with it, was not understood of the
most part of them that said or sung ifc, much less of them that stood
by and did hear it ; whereas, by the word of God, all things in the
church or congregation should be done to the edifying of the people,
and seeing I could have no such thing by their service ; I did endea-
vour to edify myself, and others that were desirous of reading godly
books. And because the church is so abused contrary to the word
of God, being beset round about with a sort of abominable idols,
before whom no man ought to kneel, nor do any manner of reverence,
because the scriptures do curse both the idol and the idol-maker,
and all that do any worship or reverence unto them, or before them,
for that cause I used no reverence there.'" — Vol. viii. p. 715.

I have already (at p. 207) given the reader some account
of this book which William Hastlen was reading aloud in
the church at Boulogne, and one extract from it, which
might perhaps suffice to show that it was not exactly what
a Christian, guided by the pure and peaceable wisdom that
is from above, would have chosen for his lecture at such a
time and place ; but it is quite worth while to give some
further extracts, which will more fully illustrate its cha-
racter, and show that the offence taken by the popish party
was, to say the least, very natural. Imagine the " gunner
of the great ordnance " opening such a fire as this, in the
church, and during the service : —

" Thynke ye that God hath not as moche to laye to the charges of
London for killinge hys seruantes, as he had agajTnst Jerusalem for
killinge hys Prophetes ? Yes, yes ; For Goddes sake ye that be
elders repent and geue your selfes to readinge the lawe of the Lord,
that ye may be an example to the commons in godlye conversacion :
And in the scriptur ye shall lerne what to do, ande what to leaue
vndone, and howe to knowe false Prophetes, and how to cast them
out of your conscyens, where they haue sytten a long time, euen in
the stede of God : I meane not the Byshoppe of Eome alone, but he
and all hys marke wyth him, and specialy his owne generacion,
which are all in forked cappes,

" What a plage is this, that in no mans tyme aliue was euer any
Christen Bisshope raininge ouer the Citye of London, but euery one
worsse then other ? I thynke theyr can now come no worsse, except
the same Lucyfer that fell from heauen, come himselfe, whyche is
the very father of all Popyshe Byshops."— Sig. c.

"O ye Babylonyshe Bishoppes and generacion of Vipers, where
haue ye yovr auctoryte ? or how dar ye be so bold to kyll a man for
his faith whych Christ neuer ded nor hys Apostelles ? For it is a

220 JOHN PORTER MARTYRED [ESSAY

gyf te which no man can eyther gene an other or yet hym self e. No
no, it is the gyft of God onely. Ande that must be geuen a man
before he can eyther do or thynke goode. For all that is done with-
out fayth is synne. Koma. in the xxiiii. and Hebre. xi.

" No, nor ye put no man to death for Christes sake, but for that
that no man should either preache teache or wrytte Chryst aryght,
which he can not do, but he shall by force be constrained of the
holye Ghost to wryte agaynst your pompe, pryde, vyle lyuinge, and
against your abhomynable sedusing of the people, leadynge them in
an endlesse mase of dyrtye tradicions and folyshe ceremonyes.

' And why can not a man set f orthe Christ but he must write
agaynst yow ? Euen bycause ye be the very Antichristes. No I
saye it is not possible for anye man sent of God, either to preache
or wryte, but he must open hys mouthe against that moost wycked
abomynable, and detestable Antychryst, of EOME, as agaynste the
enemy of Chryst, which be you false Bysshops, false Prophetes, that
beare the false signe of the newe lawe and the olde lawe, with stoute
stronge and sturdie Archdeacons, Deanes, and Chanons of Cathedrall
Churches and other your pytymembers prestes of Baal." — Sig. d.
vii. &.

" O ye deuelles, ye blind guides and seducers of the people, howe
of late bewitched you the Parlament house ? Euen by your inuen-
cions and deuelishe studie haue ye caused actes and decrees to be
made, so cleane contrarye to the lawes of the lyuinge God, that I
saye vnto you, the verie bearewolfe, that abhominable whore of
Rome neuer made so cruell actes. He neuer made it dethe for a
preste to marye a wife, &c." — Sig. e. iiii.

This is perhaps a sufficient specimen, and it brings us
back to the Act of Six Articles; and therefore, very
naturally, to a case of which I wish to take some notice, for
several reasons. That is, not merely as furnishing an
instance of reading the Bible in church, but as giving us a
cautionary hint that it is necessary to read such stories
with care and attention, lest we fall into misconceptions of
their real nature. I mean "The Story of John Porter,
cruelly martyred for reading the Bible in Pauls," which I
do the rather, because those who look cursorily at that part
of Fox's work with which we are at present engaged, may
read, " In the number of those before named,8 cometh the

* remembrance of John Porter, who, in the same year (A.D.

* 1541), for Reading the Bible in Pauls Church was cruelly
' handled, and that unto death, as you shall hear."

Of course there is something to surprise even those who
are not very suspicious, in the statement that a man was

8 That is, it would seem, in the Table so often mentioned of those who
were persecuted for the Sis, Articles, though I do not observe his name.

xni.] FOR READING THE BIBLE, 221

put to death for reading the Bible in Paul's Church, when
they have just been told that the Bible had been placed
there by the bishop of the diocese, in order that anybody
who chose might read it. Indeed, Fox continues his story
by saying —

" It was declared in this history above, how Edmund Bonner,
bishop of London, in the days of the Lord Cromwell, being then
ambassador at Paris, was a great doer in setting forward the printing
of the Bible in the great volume; promising moreover, that he
would, for his part, have six of those Bibles set up in the church of
St. Paul in London ; which, also, at his coming home, he no less
performed, according to the King's proclamation set forth for the
same, whereof read before." — Vol. v. p. 451.

And he adds ; —

"The Bibles thus standing in Paul's, by the commandment of the
king, and the appointment of Bonner the bishop, many well-disposed
people used much to resort to the hearing thereof, especially when
they could get any that had an audible voice to read unto them,
misdoubting therein no danger toward them ; and no more there
was, so long as the days of Cromwell lasted. After he was gone, it
happened amongst divers and sundry godly-disposed persons, which
frequented therein the reading of the aforesaid Bible, that one John
Porter used sometimes to be occupied in that godly exercise, to the
edifying as well of himself, as of other. This Porter was a fresh
young man, and of a big stature ; who, by diligent reading of the
scripture, and by hearing of such sermons as then were preached by
them that were the setters-forth of God's truth, became very expert.
The Bible being then set up, by Bonner's commandment, upon
divers pillars in Paul's church, fixedjinto the same with chains for
all men to read in them that would, great multitudes would resort
thither to hear this Porter, because he could read well, and had an
audible voice. Bonner and his chaplains, being grieved withal (and
the world beginning then to frown upon the gospellers), sent for the
said Porter, and rebuked him very sharply for his reading. But
Porter answered him that he trusted he had done nothing contrary
to the law, neither contrary to bis advertisements, which he had
fixed in print over every Bible."— Ed. 1596, p. 1100.

The reader who has got thus far in the history of John
Porter, probably thinks that he has made a considerable
progress towards understanding his case. He may wonder
to find a man brought before Bishop Bonner for the simple
act of reading the Bibles which Bishop Bonner himself had
set up, and still (Cromwell or no Cromwell, it seems) kept
up, in his cathedral ; and to learn that the bishop put him
to death for it. He may, however, consider that it would
be mere folly to attempt to account for the cruel freaks of

222 JOHN PORTER MARTYRED. [ESSAY

such a sanguinary monster ; and that the only way to meet
the difficulty is to say, " Whether Bonner put the Bibles
up, or put the Bibles down, his object was blood. No doubt
his secret orders to the myrmidons whom he sent to spy out
the proceedings of the Bible-readers in Pauls were to
' SPARE NONE.' "

But, whatever surmises may have arisen in the minds of
those who have read the matter contained in the preceding
pages of this essay, the unprepared and confiding reader of
Fox will, by what has been hitherto said, learn absolutely
nothing (one might almost say less than nothing) of the
real case. It may be hard to say, particularly, and in
detail, what was the charge against the prisoner ; for, so
far, it has been studiously suppressed in the story ; and it
only just crops out in the sequel sufficiently to show us,
that to represent John Porter as " cruelly martyred for
reading the Bible in Pauls " is historically (and yet more
verbally) as untrue as to say that John Thurtell was put to
death for firing a pistol. Whatever were John Porter's
offences, we may safely join issue with Fox, and deny that
it was " for reading the Bible ; " and that, too, on his own
showing, for he immediately goes on to say, " Bonner then
laid unto his charge that he had made expositions upon the
text, and gathered great multitudes about him to make
tumults."

These were the very things particularly forbidden in the
" Admonition " set over the Bibles, to regulate the behaviour
of those who should see fit to use them. It directed " that
no number of people be specially congregate therefore to
make a multitude^ and that no exposition be made there-
upon ; " and these were the very things which the Bishop
laid to the charge of John Porter. And he charged him,
not only with these things, forbidden in themselves, but
with a much more serious offence — namely, with doing
these things in order to make tumults. We have only the
ex parte statement given us by Fox ; but does he venture
to say that the charge was false ? Not at all. Does he
represent John Porter himself as denying it ? Not at all.
When Bonner made the charge, " he answered, he trusted
that should not be proved by him." A most prudent and
characteristic reply. But, having recorded this discreet
answer, not a word more does Fox say of the charge, or the

xiv.] ACT OF SIX ARTICLES. 223

examination, or the defence. He seems as if he suddenly
felt that he had said quite enough, or too much ; and he
huddles up the story, leaving his readers in a state of great
ignorance, but surely not without a strong suspicion that
there was a good deal more in the matter than he chose to
tell. His very next words to those which I have just
quoted are, " But, in fine, Bonner sent him to Newgate,
where he was miserably fettered in irons." — " In fine,"
surely his jumping to such a point, when the reader natur-
ally supposed that he was at the beginning of a story, is
very suspicious : and this instance, among many others,
may very usefully instruct us not to receive the stories of
party writers without some care and examination.

But as to the matter which has led to its being brought
forward on this occasion — namely, the reading in churches
to which the Reformers were addicted — perhaps enough has
been said for our present purpose ; and I hope to proceed
to the notice of some persons whose offences still more
urgently called for the interposition of authority.

ESSAY XIV.

THE RIBALDS. No. IV.

PERHAPS I have given enough specimens to show the
nature of a spirit which was abroad when the Act of Six
Articles was passed, and which that statute was particularly
intended to meet.

We may readily believe Fox when he tells that " great
perturbation followed in all parishes almost through
London." The Table given by him, and from which the
foregoing cases are quoted, contains the names of more
than two hundred "persons presented," and one would
naturally suppose that, thus presented by those who were
charged to " SPARE NONE " to those who gave the cruel
Charge, the next thing must have been, that they were put
to death without mercy.

Let the reader look back to Holinshed's statement, that
" such was the rigour of that law, that if two witnesses, true

224 NICHOLAS CANON OF EYE. [ESSAY

* or false, had accused anie, and advouched that they had

* spoken against the sacrament, there was no waie but
' death ; " l and to the statements of Lord Herbert and
Strype, that they " suffered daily," and did " triumph over
the most cruel death." 2

Really, after all this preparation for the sublime and
terrible, the simple facts of the case must seem, to any
candid inquirer, to approach the ridiculous. He will
hardly credit me when I tell him that as to the whole of
this motley assemblage of offenders, the Chancellor was
" content that one should be bound for another ; " — and
that upon this pleasant and commodious bail, " they were
all discharged" being bound only to appear in the Star
Chamber, the next day after All Souls, there to answer, if
they were called ; " but," Fox honestly and quaintly adds,
" neither was there any person called, neither did there any
appear." 3

Add to this what I have already said respecting the real
number of persons who suffered under the statute during
the eight years that it was law, and I think we may form a
tolerable opinion of the reason which led to its being origin-
ally passed, and subsequently maintained without being kept
in fierce operation.

But we have not yet the whole case before us ; nor even
the worst part of it. There was, as I have already stated,
another class of even more gross offenders, against whom
the Act of Six Articles was particularly directed. So many
instances have been given of what may be described as a
mocking and jesting spirit intruding itself into churches
and deriding the divine service, that I should not have
added more on this occasion, had it not occurred to me to
give one which, by its date, will show that there was such
a spirit in action long before the time which we usually
understand by the period of the Reformation. " We
find," says Fox, "that in the year of our Lord 1431, one
Nicholas Canon of Eye, was brought before the Bishop of
Norwich for suspicion of heresy, with certain witnesses-
sworn to depose against him touching his manners and
conversation ; which witnesses appointing one William
Christopher to speak in the name of them all, he deposed

1 Cited p. 256. 2 Cited p. 257. » Vol. v. p. 451.

xiv.] NICHOLAS CANON OF EYE. 225

* in manner and form following : " and then he gives the
depositions, from which it is worth while to make one or
two extracts.

"First, That on Easter-day, when all the parishioners went about
the church of Eye solemnly in procession, as the manner was, the
said Nicholas Canon, as it were mocking and deriding the other
parishioners, went about the church the contrary way, and met the
procession. — This article he confessed, and affirmed that he thought
he did well in so doing.

*****

" Item, That on Corpus Christi day, at the elevation of high mass,
when all the parishioners and other strangers kneeled down, holding
up their hands, and doing reverence unto the sacrament, the said
Nicholas went behind a pillar of the church, and turning his face
from the high altar, mocked them that did reverence unto the
sacrament. — This article he also acknowledging, affirmed that he
believed himself to do well in so doing.

" Item, When his mother would have the said Nicholas to lift up
his right hand, and to cross himself from the crafts and assaults of
the devil, forasmuch as he deferred the doing thereof, his mother
took up his right hand and crossed him, saying, 'In nomine Patris,
Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.' Which so ended, the said
Nicholas, immediately deriding his mother's blessing, took up his
right hand of his own accord, and blessed him otherwise ; as his
adversaries report of him. — This article the said Nicholas acknow-
ledged to be true.

" Item, That upon Allhallows-day, at the time of the elevation of
high mass, when many of the parishioners of Eye lighted many
torches, and carried them up to the high altar, kneeling down
there in reverence and honour of the sacrament, the said Nicholas,
carrying a torch, went up hard to the high altar, and standing
behind the priest's back saying mass, at the time of the elevation,
stood upright upon his feet, turning his back to the priest, and his
face towards the people, and would do no reverence unto the sacra-
ment.— This article he acknowledged, affirming that he thought he
had done weU in that behalf."— Vol. iii. p. 599.

Coming, however, to the class of offenders to whom I
have referred, and recurring to Fox's Table, so often quoted
in the foregoing Essay, we find that William Plaine, of
whom it has been there stated, that " when he came to the

* church [a phrase which seems to indicate that it was not
1 often] with loud reading the English Bible be disturbed
4 the divine service," was also charged, that " seeing a
priest going to mass" he " said, ' Now you shall see one in
masking.' " This jingle of words was common in the party,
and appears to have been particularly popular in his parish
of St. John's, Walbrook, where William Clinch seems to

P

22G "TROUBLES AT LONDON" [ESSAY

have made it a standing joke ; for the presentment (which
is for using nearly the same words) runs, " for saying when
he seeth a priest preparing to the mass," &c. By indulging
the same vein of humour, John Hardyman, priest of St.
Martin's in Ironmonger-lane, came to be presented for
"preaching openly that confession is confusion, and4 defor-
mation ; " and John Mailer, grocer, of St. Botolph's,
Billingsgate, " for calling the sacrament of the altar * the
baken god,' and for saying that the mass was called beyond
the sea miss, for that all is amm in it." These things may
be considered trifles, but they are genuine, even if they are
to be considered mild, emanations of the ribald spirit ; and
I mention them here as such, and as illustrative of the state
of society at the period.

But a more open and more flagrant manifestation of this
spirit was given by Henry Patinson and Anthony Barber,
of St. Giles's-without-Cripplegate, who were presented " for
maintaining their boys to sing a song against the sacrament
of the altar," and Thomas Grangier and John Dictier, of
the same parish, were " noted for common singers against
the sacraments and ceremonies." Nicholas Newell, a
Frenchman, of St. Mary Woolchurch, was "presented to
be a man far gone in the new religion, and that he was a
great jester at the saints, and at our Lady." Shermons,
Keeper of the Carpenter's Hall, in Christ's parish, Shore-
ditch, "was presented for procuring an interlude to be
' openly played, wherein priests were railed on and called
' knaves." " Giles Harrison, being in a place without Ald-

4 One cannot but suspect that much of the jest is lost by the reporter,
or the printer, having here left out a word — perhaps confirmation. Should
any reader think it improbable that confirmation should be so disrespect-
fully spoken of, he may be referred to George Marsh's account of " How
the Bishop [of Chester] came to Lancaster, and of his doings there in
setting up Idolatry." He tells us that " The Bishop being at Lancaster,
'there set up and' confirmed all blasphemous idolatry; as holy-water-
' casting, procession-gadding, inattins-munibling, children-confirming,
' mass-hearing, idols-upsetting, with such heathenish rites forbidden by
' God." It is sad to read such ribaldry as this ; but even more melan-
choly to see such an absurd comment on it as Mr. Cattley has appended
in the form of a note : " As the Romish church continues to this day the
' idolatry of the mass, which ought to be made a service tending to God's
' glory, so it appears that even the holy rite of Confirmation was made
' an offence to some, in the manner in which it was administered." — Fox,
Vol vii. p. 47.

xiv.] UNDER THE SIX ARTICLES. 227

* gate, merrily jesting in a certain company of neighbours,

* where some of them said, ' Let us go to mass : ' * I say,

* tarry,' said he ; and so taking a piece of bread in his

* hands, lifted it up over his head : and likewise taking a

* cup of wine, and bowing down his head, made therewith a

* cross over the cup, and so taking the said cup in both his
1 hands, lifted it over his head, saying these words, < Have

* ye not heard mass now ?' for the which he was presented

* to Bonner, then Bishop of London."

I presume, however, that Giles Harrison was one of those
who became bail for each other ; and certainly there was a
moral beauty and fitness in making that good office mutual
— indeed, a sort of necessity ; for if they had not done it for
each other, how would they have got it done at all ? But
is it not strange, after all we have read, to find Fox writing
thus ? —

"In declaring the dreadful law, before set forth, of the Six
Articles, which was A.D. 1540, ye heard what penalty was ap-
pointed for the breach of the same, in like case as in treason and
felony ; so that no remedy of any recantation would serve. This
severity was a little mitigated by another parliament, holden after-
wards, A.D. 1544, by which parliament it was decreed, that such
offenders as were convicted in the said Articles for the first time,
should be admitted to recant and renounce their opinions. And if
the party refused to recant in such form as should be laid unto him
by his ordinary, or, after his recantation, if he eftsoons offended
again, then, for the second time, he should be admitted to abjure,
and bear a faggot : which, if he deny to do, or else, being abjured,
if he the third time offended, then he to sustain punishment accord-
ing to the law, &c. Although the straitness and rigour of the
former act was thus somewhat tempered, as ye see, and reformed
by this present parliament, yet, notwithstanding, the venom and
poison of the errors and mischief of those Articles remained still
behind ; not removed, but rather confirmed by this parliament
aforesaid. By the same parliament, moreover, many things were
provided for the advancement of popery, under the colour of reli-
gion ; so that all manner of books of the Old and New Testament,
bearing the name of William Tyndale, or any others, having pro-
logues, or containing any matters, annotations, preambles, words, or
sentences, contrary to the Six Articles, were debarred. In like
manner, all songs, plays, and interludes, with all other books in
English containing matter of religion tending any way against the
said Articles, were abolished." — Vol. v. p. 526.

This brings us back to the subject of songs and interludes,
of which something has already been said, and on which a
great deal that is curious and illustrative might be added

228 PURITAN ALLIANCE OF [ESSAY

but for the present I pass it over briefly, merely observing
that it requires some effort in the minds of men of this
generation to conceive such a state of things. We have
just read of men in London charged with " maintaining
their boys to sing a song against the sacrament of the
altar," and of two others who were stated to be " common
singers against the sacraments and ceremonies." They
might be unjustly accused, but there is no reason to
suppose so, for the thing was evidently common enough.
Take, by way of specimen, a case mentioned by Fox, as not
at all out of the common way, and as one which in his
opinion should engage the sympathy of the reader.

" Here might also be recited the hard adventures and sufferings
of John Cornet, and at length his deliverance, by God's good work-
ing, out of the same ; who, being a prentice with a minstrel at Col-
chester, was sent by his master, about the second year of Queen
Mary's reign, to a wedding in a town thereby, called Bough-hedge,
where he being requested by a company there of good men, the con-
stables also of the parish being present thereat, to sing some Songs
oftlie Scripture, chanced to sing a song called 'News out of London,'
which tended against the Mass, and against the Queen's misproceed-
ings. Whereupon the next day he was accused by the parson of
Kough-hedge," &c. — Vol. viii. p. 578.

But of all things, it is most remote from modern ideas
and feelings to find the puritans rejoicing in their alliance
with the stage. Bishop Gardiner, in his letter to the Lord
Protector, says, "Certain printers, players, and preachers
' make a wonderment, as though we knew not yet how to

* be justified, nor what sacraments we should have ; " and
Fox puts a sly note in the margin, " Printers, players, and
preachers, trouble Winchester ; " 5 and afterwards, in com-
menting on his letter, he says, " He thwarteth and wrangleth

* much against players, printers, preachers. And no marvel
' why : for he seeth these three things to be set up of God, as
' a triple bulwark against the triple crown of the Pope to bring
' him down ; as, God be praised, they have done meetly well
already ;" and lest this "triple bulwark" should escape the
particular notice of the reader, it also has its marginal note,
" Preachers, printers, players." °

The Protector's answer is well worthy of notice, though
to understand it we must observe, that among the offences
of these three united professions, Gardiner had particularly

5 Vol. vi. p. 31. «Ibid. p. 57.

xiv.] PREACHERS, PRINTERS, PLAYERS. 229

specified their railing against Lent. " What rhymes," says
the Bishop, " be set forth to deprave the Lent, and how
1 fond (saving your grace's honour) and foolish ! and yet
'the people pay money for them;" and he afterwards
adds —

" The public defamation and trifling with Lent is a marvellous
matter to them that would say evil of this realm ; for there is nothing
more commanded unto us Christian men in both the churches of the
Greeks and Latins, than Lent is, if all men be not liars. In the
king our late sovereign lord's days, this matter was not thus spoken
of. And I think our enemies would wish we had no Lent. Every
country hath its peculiar inclination to naughtiness : England and
Germany unto the belly, the one in liquor, the other in meat ; . . . .
and let an English belly have a further advancement, and nothing
can stay it. When I was purveyor for the seas, what an exclama-
tion was there (as your grace showed me) of the bishop's fasting-day,
as they called Wednesday, and 'Winchester, Winchester, grand
mercy for your wine ; I beshrew your heart for your water 1 ' Was
not that song, although it was in sport, a signification how loth men
be to have their licence restrained, or their accustomed fare abated ?
unless it were in extreme necessity.

" I hear say that the Lent is thus spoken of by Joseph and Tonge,
with other new (whom I know not) as being one of Christ's miracles,
which God ordained not man to imitate and follow ; at which teach-
ing all the world will laugh. For Christian men have Christ for an
example in all things," &c. — Fox, Vol. vi. p. 32.

After arguing this point at some length, the Bishop
proceeds ; —

" If any man had either fondly or indiscreetly spoken of Lent to
engrieve it to be an importable burden, I would wish his reformation ;
for I have not learned that all men are bound to keep the Lent in
the form received. But this I reckon, that no Christian man may
contemn the form received, being such a devout and profitable
imitation of Christ to celebrate his fast ; and in that time such as
have been in the rest of the year worldly, to prepare themselves to
come, as they should come, to the feast of Easter, whereof St.
Chrysostom speaketh expressly. And for avoiding contempt, a
licence truly obtained of the superior serveth. And so I heard the
king's majesty our sovereign lord declare, when your grace was
present : and therefore he himself was very scrupulous in granting
of licences. And to declare that himself contemned not the fast, he
was at charge to have (as your grace knoweth) the Lent diet daily
prepared, as if it had been for himself ; and the like hereof I hear
say your grace hath ordered for the king's majesty that now is ;
which agreeth not with certain preaching in this matter, nor the
rhymes set abroad. Lent is, among Christian men, a godly fast ; to
exercise men to forbear, and in England both godly and politic,
such as without confusion we cannot forbear, as the experience shall
show, if it be ever attempted ; which God forbid. And yet Lent is

230 PURITAN ALLIANCE OF [ESSAY

buried in rhyme, and Stephen Stockfish bequeathed not to me,
though my name be noted ; wherewith for mine own part I cannot
be angry, for that is mitigated by their fondness. But I would
desire of God to have the strength of this realm increased with
report of concord, which doth quench many vain devices and
imaginations." — Ibid. p. 33.

A few words of the Lord Protector's answer to this I
have already quoted in a former essay for another purpose ;
but it is not worth while on that account here to omit them
from a very pregnant and characteristic passage. Perhaps
it is possible, and at least it is charitable to hope, that the
Protector Somerset did not know that the " magistrate "
Cromwell had been anything but " unawares of " the
wretched ribaldry which was the subject of the Bishop's
complaint.

" The world never was so quiet or so united, but that privily or
openly those three which you write of, printers, players, and preachers,
would set forth somewhat of their own heads, which the magistrates
were unawares of. And they which already be banished and have
forsaken the realm, as suffering the last punishment, be boldest to
set forth their mind ; and dare use their extreme licence or liberty
of speaking, as out of the hands or rule of correction, either because
they be gone, or because they be hid.

" There have foolish and naughty rhymes and books been made
and set forth, of the which, as it appeareth, you have seen more
than we ; and yet, to our knowledge, too many be bought : but
yet, after our mind, it is too sore and too cruelly done, to lay all
those to our charge, and to ask as it were account of us of them all.
In the most exact cruelty and tyranny of the Bishop of Eome, yet
Pasquill (as we hear say) writeth his mind, and many times against
the bishop's tyranny, and sometimes toucheth other great princes ;
which thing, for the most part, he doth safely : not that the bishop
alloweth Pasquill' s rhymes and verses — especially against himself ;
but because he cannot punish the author, whom either he knoweth
not, or hath not. In the late king's days of famous memory, who
was both a learned, wise, and politic prince, and a diligent executor
of his laws — and when your lordship was most diligent in the same
— yet, as your lordship yourself writeth, and it is too manifest to be
unknown, there were that wrote such lewd rhymes and plays as you
speak of, and some against the king's proceedings, who were yet
unpunished, because they were unknown or ungotten. And when
we do weigh the matter, we do very much marvel, why that about
Jack of Lent's lewd ballad, and certain, as it was reported unto us,
godly sermons (which be evil in your letters joined together,) you
be so earnest, when against Dr. Smith's book, being a man learned
in the doctors and scripture, which made so plain against the king's
highness's authority, and for the furtherance of the Bishop of Rome's
usurped power, your lordship neither wrote nor said anything. —
Ibid. p. 34."

xiv.] PREACHERS, PRINTERS, PLAYERS. 231

"Writers write their fantasy, my lord, and preachers preach what
either liketh them, or what God putteth in their heads. It is not by
and by done, that is spoken. The people buy those foolish ballads
of Jack-a-Lent. So bought they in times past pardons and carols,
and Eobin Hood's tales. All be not wise men, and the foolisher a
thing is, to some (although not to the more part) it is the more
pleasant and meet. And peradventure of the sermons, there is (and
indeed there is, if it be true that we have heard) otherwise spoken
and reported to you, than it was of the preachers then and there
spoken or meant. Lent remaineth still, my lord, and shall, God
willing, till the king's highness, with our advice and the residue of his
grace's council, take another order, although some light and lewd men
do bury it in writing ; even as the king's majesty remaineth head of
the church ; although, through sinister ways, and by subtle means,
some traitors have gone about, and daily do, to abuse the king's
majesty's supremacy, and bring in the Bishop of Rome's tyranny,
with other superstition and idolatry." — Ibid. p. 35.

The view of things which we have obtained from the
writings of protestants might be much farther illustrated
from Strype, and from the various public documents of the
period, but that I do not wish to reprint here more than is
necessary of matter so easily accessible to all who take any
interest in the subject. It is better worth while, if we are
willing to hear both sides, and judge fairly, to take one or
two extracts from Roman-catholic writers ; and if we see
anything in them that looks like party feeling, exaggeration,
or prejudice, we shall have been prepared to confess that
such infirmities were not all on their side, and that too
much ground for their complaints was afforded by some
who, with no right to be considered reformers themselves,
were not sufficiently distinguished from, or repudiated by
those who had a better claim to the title.

"JOHN CHEISTOPHERSON," says Strype, under the year
1554, "ere long to be preferred to the deanery of Norwich,
' published also an exhortation upon occasion of the late
' insurrection, directed to all men to take heed of rebellion :

* wherein were set down the causes that commonly move

* men to rebel ; and showing that there was no cause that
' ought to move a man thereunto. Printed in 8vo by

* Cawood."7 The title-page tells us to " Reade the whole,

7 Mem. III. i. 273. He was an* eminent Greek scholar, and Master of
Trinity College before he was Dean of Norwich. Whether he held his
mastership with the deanery I do not know ; but Strype seems to have
been mistaken in supposing that he obtained the latter preferment after
the publication of his book. According to Le Neve, he was installed as

232 BISHOP CHRISTOPHERSON'S [ESSAY

and then judge ; " and this it will really be worth the
reader's while to do, when he gets the book and has leisure;
for it contains much curious matter illustrative of the
times; but a few extracts will suffice for our present
purpose.

" Besides this, it wold pitie anye good mans hart, to thinke, what
disorder and disobedience came of this liberty. Wold not the ser-
uauntes controll their maysters, and tel them, when they were
chekked for leaning their busines vndone, that they had bene occu-
pied eyther in readynge God's word, or in hearing some sermon, yea
and so godly lessons hadde they learned, since they had tasted of
this newe doctrine, that very few of their maysters could after
truste them. And if the mayster were a Catholike man, and one
that feared God, then wold his seruaunte, if he were of a contrary
iudgement, handel hym like a warde, and in maner make a lout of
him, and do his busynesse as he list, and when he lyste, and lette it
be vndone, if he list. For the mayster fearing, that he shuld have
displeasure by him, durst neyther put hym away from hym, nor
ones as much as rebuke hym for any matter.

" After the same sorte dyd children order their parentes, wyues
their husbandes, and subiectes their magystrates : So that the fete
ruled the head, and the cart was set before the horse. For children
when they had bene brought vp in schole a while with some lewd
Lutherane then would they write letters to their Catholike parentes,
and exhorte them in the lordes name to leaue their papistry and
blind ignoraunce, that they were in, and fall at lenght to folow
goddes worde, and gladly to receaue the truth. And if the parentes
would not f olowe this their childishe aduise streight way would they
not let to talke with their companyons, and tell them, that their
parentes were blinde papistes. Yea and make a mery mockinge
stocke of them, and say : my father is an old doting f oole, and will
fast vpon the fryday, and my mother goeth alwayes mumblinge on
her beades. But you shall see me of another sorte, I warraunt you.
For I will neuer folowe no suche superstitiouse folye, nor walke in
the Papisticall pathes of my parentes. Were not men well at ease,
trow you, when they had bestowed a great deale of money vpon
suche graceles graf tes, who neyther feared god, nor reuerenced their
parentes ?

" Thus did mens wyues to, that were become systors of the new
fraternitye, order their husbandes. For where as the husbande dyd
not fauoure their secte, then would the wyfe no longer go to schole
with hym in silence, as Saynt Paule byddeth her, but would boldlye
fall to teach hym, and tell hym of his duety. And many of them

dean on April 18, 1554, and if Strype got his information as to the printer
from the book itself, one would think he must have seen that it was " Im-
prynted at London in Paules cburcheyarde, at the signe of the holy Ghost,
by John Cawood, Prynter to the Queenes highnes. Anno Domini. 1.5.5.4.
24. lulij. cum priulegio Reginae Mariae." ; the day of the month actually
forming a line by itself.

xiv.] BOOK ON REBELLION. 233

were offended with Saynte Paule, that hadde commaunded them,
that they shuld holde their peace in the churches. For gladly would
they haue preached, if they might haue bene suffred, as some of
them neuertheles did in corners.

"At which tyme also the deuil, for the better furtherance of heresy,
piked out two sorts of people, that shuld in tauerns and innes, at
commen tables, and in open stretes set forwarde his purpose, as wel
as false preachers dyd in the pulpet ; that is to say, minstrels and
players of enterludes. The one to singe pestilente and abhominable
songes, and the other to set forth openly before mens eyes the
wicked blasphemye, that they had contriued for the defacing of all
rites, ceremonies, and all the whole order, vsedin the administration
of the blissed Sacramentes.

" Then the scripture being in suche f olkes handes, was sore studied
not for amendement of life, which they neuer mynded, but partly to
mayntayne their f onde heresye, wherwith they were infected, partlye
to controll the priestes, whome they had in great derision, and
partlye to find faulte with other, when they had anye occasion at
all. For yf a man were a good vertuous priest, he had bene better
a great deale to haue liued amonge Turkes and Saracenes, then
amonge this kind of folke : by reason that whensoeuer they mette
with him in anye place, they woulde aske him : Now Syr John where
fynde you your masse in scripture, or who gaue you aucthoritie to
make god ? As though the prieste by his owne power had made
Christes blessed body in the holye Sacramente of the aultare, and
not the holye worde of God. And then wolde they say beside, it is
pitie, that anye suche popishe wretches lyues, that thus haue
deceaued Christes flocke. But nowe I warrante you must you turne
your tippet, and laye away your olde mumpsimus, and shutte vp
youre portesse and your Masse boke to, and putte awaye cleane your
purgatory Masses. You must now olde foole go to schole agayne,
and learne a newe lesson. And agayne whensoeuer they see one of
his cote walke by the strete they wolde whistell and hemme at him,
and say, go walke in a mischiefe you bald headed knaue. Yea and as
yet thys maliciouse mockers cease not in many places, when they can
spie a prieste, to play the like part. But thinke you, that suche
mockers shal not at length be plaged for their tauntinge of God's
ministers, euen as the children were, that mocked Heliseus the
Prophete ? "— Sig. T. i.

" And to make up their malicious mischief withal, plucked they
down the pix, wherein the very body of our Lord and Saviour was
reserved and kept, and some vile varlets to thintent they might do
the Devil their master better service, hurled the same blessed sacra-
ment under their feet, and certain of them would not let to say as
the Jews said to our Saviour hanging upon the cross, ' If thou be God
save thyself.' " — Sig. Vv. 6.

" As for such as have most wickedly called the Mass a Maskarye,
and the priests' vestments, masking clothes, and mocked all the cere-
monies thereof, and spit at them and did smite the priests, may well
be compared with Pilates men, who (as we read in S. Matthew's

234 HUGGARD'S "DISPLAYING [ESSAY

Gospel) bowing down their knees, mocked our Saviour Christ, spit at
him and smote him upon the head. " — Sig. Xii. &.

"But to return to our former purpose, concerning the wretched
fruits that came of this doctrine, when altars were pulled down, and
mass put away, then were all churches without any law, spoiled of
all their ornaments, as of copes, vestments, altar clothes, corporaxes,
chalices, crosses, candlesticks, censers, cruets, books, and all other
things belonging thereto, and the same put to profane uses, as hang-
ings of beds, curtains, cushions and other such like. And some men
made jolly mocking and jesting, and called them the priests' masking
clothes, as we told you before."— /%. Y. iii. b.

" There was also," says Strype, " one MILES HOGHEARD or

* HUGGAED, a tradesman in Pudding-lane, who set forth a

* book about this time, (or rather the year after,) bearing for

* its title, Against the english protestants\ a piece written
' with much bitterness and scurrility ; laying to their charge

* the famine, and the other miseries of England. This man
' made some pretence to learning ; but Bale laughs at him

* for going about to prove fasting from Virgil's ^Eneis and
' Tully's Tusculan questions. But he set himself to oppose
' and abuse the gospellers, being set on and encouraged by
' priests and massmongers, with whom he much consorted,
4 and was sometimes with them at Bishop Bonner's house.1

* And the protestants were even with him, and made verses
' upon him, not sparing him at all : some whereof, in Latin,
1 may be seen in Bale's Centuries. Against him wrote Laur,
' Humphrey, Crowley, Kethe, Plough, and others. When
' Mr. Hawks, a gentleman of Essex, was Bonner's prisoner,
4 because he would not permit his child to be christened after
1 the popish rites, this Hogheard was in company with Dr.

* Richard Smith, and others of the Bishop's chaplains, who
' came to confer with the said Hawks. Then did this trades-

* man take upon him to talk with Hawks, but he was not his
' match. He asked Hawks, where in Scripture he proved

9 I take it for granted that Strype had never seen the book. Its title
is, ' ' The displaying of the Protestants and sondry their Practises, with
' a description of divers their abuses of late frequented within their
' malignaunte church. Perused and set forte with thassent of authoritie,
' according to the order in that behalf appointed. Excusum Londini
' sedibus Roberti Caly Typographi Mense Junii 1556. Cnm privilegio."
16mo.

1 An odd way of expressing that a tradesman of Pudding-lane was
received as a guest, and treated with familiarity and confidence by the
Bishop of London.

xiv.] OF THE PROTESTANTS." 235

* that infants were baptized, thinking thereby to drive him
' to acknowledge the authority of the Church. But Hawks

* readily answered, 'Go and teach all nations, baptizing

* them,' &c. To which Huggard replied, * What, shall we go

* teach children ? ' Hawks again briskly, ' Doth that word

* trouble you ? It might be left out full well.' [speaking

* ironically, as they would have it, to save themselves the
4 pains of teaching.]2 'It is too much for you to teach.'
' He added, « Is not your name Huggard ? and be you not a

* hosier, and dwell in Pudding-lane ? ' And when the other
' had confessed it, Hawks replied, * It should seem so, for

* you can better skill to eat a pudding, and make a hose,
1 than either to answer or oppose.' With which he was in

* a great rage, and did chafe up and down, whereat Hawks

* desired some good man to take the pains to walk the
' gentleman, he fretted so." 3

We must remember that the " gentleman of Essex " is the
reporter of his own performance, and taking him on his own
ground, some may doubt whether he, or the hosier, had the
best of it — if, indeed, Huggard was a hosier in Pudding-
lane, for which fact I know of no other authority than that
of the facetious " gentleman of Essex," who was perhaps
only answered according to his folly. But whether or no,
it is plain that Huggard was noticed by very leading men
among his opponents, and it is worth our while to take a
specimen of his book. I fear that too much of what follows
is corroborated by what we have already extracted from the
statements of writers on the other side.

" The ancient trade of this realm in education of youth, (before
the late time replenished with all mischief,) was to yoke the same
with the fear of God, in teaching the same to use prayer morning and
evening, to be reverent in the church, at their first entrance into the
same to make the sign of the cross in their foreheads, to make bey-
saunce to the magistrates, to discover their heads when they meet
with men of ancient years, and of hoar hairs, according to Ovid's
verses,

" ' Age in time past, was had in great price
And to a hore head each child did arise.'

Fast. lib. v.

"But now clean contrary, nothing is less used than morning and
evening prayer, more unreverence in the church never more fre-

2 This is Strype's insertion in his quotation of Fox.

3 Mem. III. i. 441.

236 BARLOW'S " DIALOGS " ON [ESSAY

quented, nor disobedience to magistrates and aged men at no time
more practised. And as for repairing to the church, [it] is counted a
thing of no importance. For how can the child put that in practice
which the parents themselves neglect ? The parents being infected
with heresy, the child must follow the same, and must do as the
young crab did, whereof we read a pretty tale in JEsop's Fables : who
being commanded of his dame not to go so crooked, but to go more
straight : ' O mother,' quoth he, 'go thou before, and I will follow.'
In like manner, if the parents would walk more duly in their voca-
tion and duty, the children would do the same. But as the fathers
are, so are the children. The ill life and heretical trade of the
parents maketh such unhappy and disobedient children, who in the
end, unless they be looked unto in time, will be the father's bane.
For the child, if his father be a catholic, will not be ashamed to say,
he hath a papist to his father, or an old doting fool to his mother.
A pitiful hearing, that heresy the regent of mischief should bear such
rule without correction . . . Here also were worthy of remembrance
the correction which ought to be done to apprentices and other ser-
vants, who being noselled in liberty are not only odious to the world,
bnt also unthrifty towards their masters, and in manner become
masters themselves. Whose bringing up is so lewd that they be
grown to such insolence that no good man or priest passing by them
in the streets can escape without mocks. But let their masters take
heed, for I believe when they see their time they will mock them too
in the end, hoping one day to have the spoil of their goods. Besides
this their dissolute lives are such, that no regard they have at all to
repair to the church upon the holydays, but flock in clusters upon
stalls, either scorning the passers by, or with their testaments utter
some wise stuff of their own dovise. So that prayer is seldom seen
to proceed out of their graceless mouths." — p. 85.

But this paper has run to such a length, that I will only
prolong it by one extract from BARLOW'S Dialogue4. The
author is perhaps too well known to require any introduc-
tion, and how far his being known should lead to his being
trusted, is a question which need not be here discussed.
He is not cited as an authority, and whether his graphic
sketch is in all points true or not, it is worth our attention.

" Mark it then substantially in cities and towns where ye see the
people most rifest and most busy to prate of the gospel, whether
they be or be not as great usurers, deceivers of their neighbours,
blasphemous swearers, evil speakers, and given to all vices as deeply
as ever they were. This I am sure of, and dare boldly affirm, that
sith the time of this new contentious learning the dread of God is
greatly quenched and charitable compassion sore abated.

" Shall ye not see there a cock-brained courtier, that hath no more

4 The full title is, " A Dialoge describing the original ground of these
Lutheran faccions, and many of their abuses. Compyled by Sir William
Barlow chanon, late byshop of Bath. 1553."

xiv.] THE "LUTHERAN FACCIONS." 287

faith than a Turk, and less Christian manners than a Pagan, with
lordly countenance and knavish conditions, which taking the name
of God in vain, shall unreverently alledge the gospel with scoffing
and scorning in reprehension of the clergy : whereas his own lewd
language is so unthrifty that ye cannot espie one good point in him,
except it be upon his hosen, nor one inch of honesty beside his
apparel, nor scantly there one neither, being all so hacked and
jagged with double weapon ready to fight, and single wit busy to
brawl and chide, more like a furious tormentor of Herod than a
patient disciple of Christ.

"Shall ye not also see there a merchant peradventure made a
gentleman by promotion ere ever that he had a good yeoman's
conditions ; which getting his chief substance, as many do there, by
usury, false deceit of true people, and other wrongful ways, will
take upon him to preach the gospel against the avarice of religious
persons ; how they, having their bare necessary food, ought to part
the residue of their goods with poor people, whereas he himself hath
thousands lying by him in store unoccupied, and will neither help
his poor neighbour, nor scarcely give a galy halfpenny to a needy
creature in extreme necessity.

"And at their belly-festing days, among such of their affinity
which are not so wise nor well-learned as they would be seen,
if it chance them to have in company some simple priest, it is a
wonder to hear how he is apposed, and after that their spirits be a
little kindled in gluttony, how they lash out the gospel. Then
beginneth one or another with his potycarye formality, and holiday
gravity, to move some subtle question, saying : ' Master parson, how
say ye to such a text of Paul ?' and if the priest be ignorant for lack
of learning, or maketh not an answer satisfying his mind, he is
mocked and jested upon with scornful derision. Then begin they
to canvass the scripture among them with filling the cups, and jolly
gentyl cheer, and by the time they have eaten more than enough,
and have drunken too much, they be ready to wade forth in the
deep mysteries of scripture, willing to be teachers of things whereof
they understand not what they speak, nor what they affirm. Then
are they full-armed to talk of abstinence and sober diet of the
apostles, their table being furnished with sumptuous dishes and
exquisite dainties ; and whereas their cupboards be really garnished
with costly plate, and the tables full of cups and pieces of silver
and gold, then make they exclamations against the rich jewels of
churches, as crosses and chalices, saying that better it were to
make money of them and to be distributed unto poor people than
they should perish for lack of succour. Likewise, when they be
served at their solemnities with counterfeited courtesies and bowing
the knee, and vailing the bonnet, having sewers and carvers after a
most stately manner of service, wherein if the officers fail never so
little, though it be but the setting of a saucer amiss they shall be
rebuked, yet their pettish patience cannot break the honest cere-
monies of the church to be laudably done, calling them foolish
fantasies, and inventions of ideots. And though some of these new
gospellers occupy truly and justly with their neighbours in the face
of the world behaving themselves charitably, yet are they very

238 GARDINER AND THE KING. [ESSAY

few in comparison of the other which be railers and jesters, vicious
livers and false hypocrites, without any conscience." — Sig. L. ii. b.

These extracts, I repeat, are not given as authorities,
and the reader must deduct what he thinks fit on the score
of party and prejudice ; the object is to illustrate the history
and the spirit of the period, and in order to this we must
hear both sides patiently, and become familiar with what is
wrong as well as what is right.

ESSAY XV.

BISHOP GARDINER AND THE KING.

THE will of Henry VIII., under which Somerset and his
colleagues took the reins of government, has been suspected
of being a forgery. Whether it was, or was not, it is
certain that it did not contain the name of Gardiner, who
might have been expected to be one of the persons in whose
hands the king would place the responsibility of govern-
ment ; and it is equally certain that, whether that omission
was made by actually fabricating a will, or by the king
(either spontaneously or through persuasion or manage-
ment), or by any other means, it was highly agreeable to
the Somerset party. Gardiner, however far he might have
gone in the way of Reformation, was, after all, an " un-
clubbable man," who would not go heartily into the
measures which they intended to pursue, and they did not
wish to be troubled with him. Perhaps it would be plainer
and truer to say, they meant to put him down.

But let us look at the history of the matter so far as it is
recorded ; and, in the first place, at the reasons popularly
assigned for this omission. It is said that at the time of
Henry VIII.'s death, and long before, Gardiner was out of
favour with the king. If we look at the testimony on
which Gardiner was deposed from his See, we find the Lord
Paget stating that the bishop was " the man at that time
1 whom the said Lord Paget believeth his majesty abhorred
c more than any man in his realm : which he declared
* grievously at sundry times, to the said lord against the

EDWARD SEYMOUR, DUKE OF SOMERSET, LORD PROTECTOR
(From an Engraving after Holbein by Goldar)

xv.] GARDINER AND THE PERSECUTION. #!9

' said bishop ; ever naming him with such terms as the said
' Lord Paget is sorry to name. And the said Lord Paget
Hhinketh that divers of the gentlemen of the privy

* chamber are able to depose the same."1 On the same
occasion, the Earl of Wiltshire said that he had " heard the

* late king of famous memory, King Henry the Eighth,
4 declare his misliking of the said Bishop of Winchester
' sundry times."2 The Lord Riche, too, " saith that he hath

* heard divers times of sundry persons, whose names he
1 remembereth not, that King Henry the Eighth did think
1 the said bishop not to be well pleased with the proceedings

* of the realm in matters of religion ; and therefore this
4 deponent hath heard say, that the said late king did
'mislike the said bishop."3 If that were the case, one
would think there should not be much doubt about the
matter; for Henry was not usually ambiguous in his
conduct to a disgraced favourite. He was one " who," as
Burnet says, " never hated nor ruined any body by halves."4
But when and why was the king displeased with Bishop
Gardiner ?

The earliest reason that I find assigned is his conduct in
" the persecution at Windsor," under the Six Articles, in the
year 1543. Even Fox distinctly states, that up to that time
Gardiner was in high favour and power. Indeed, he begins
his account of the Windsor business by saying, " When the

* time drew nigh that the king's majesty (who was newly

* married to that good and virtuous lady, Katherine Parr)

* should make his progress abroad, the aforesaid Stephen
' Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, had so compassed his
matters, that no man bare so great a swinge about the king as
he did"5 This is very plain and very important information ;
and it would be much more so if it came from a writer who
could be better depended on ; but such as it is, we must
take it with us in our inquiry.

I do not indeed see why the origination of the Windsor
persecution is attributed to Gardiner in particular, rather

1 Fox, vol. vi. p. 164. 2 Ibid. p. 173.

3 Ibid. p. 176. The depositions of the Earl of Bedford, p. 181, and Sir
Ed. Carne, p. 185, may be consulted, but are not worth quoting, except
for the fact that the latter, of all men, said that he could not depose to the
fact.

4 Hist, of Ref. i. 331. 5 Fox, vol. v. p. 486.

240 GERMAIN GARDINER [ESSAY

than to the rest of the council. They were informed that
Anthony Peerson was preaching strange doctrine and dis-
tributing unlawful books in that town, and sent an order
for a search. Forbidden books were found, and the issue of
the inquiry thus originated, was that Peerson, with three
others, named Testwood, Filmer, and Marbeck, were con-
demned to be burned. Gardiner went to the king and
begged the life of one, and the other three were executed.
Fox tells us, that the king riding one day in Guildf ord Park,
and " seeing the Sheriff with Sir Humf rey Foster sitting on
1 their horsebacks together, he called unto them, and asked

* of them how his laws were executed at Windsor. Then

* they, beseeching his grace of pardon, told him plainly, that

* in all their lives they never sat on matter under his grace's

* authority that went so much against their consciences as
1 the death of these men did ; and up and told his grace so

* pitiful a tale of the casting away of these poor men, that
' the king, turning his horse's head to depart from them,
' said, * Alas ! poor innocents.' After this," adds the
historian, " the king withdrew his favour from the Bishop
of Winchester."6 This is rather too strong even for Strype,
who dilutes it into, " observing how Winchester was the
great agent in all this, never liked him after."7

Another cause assigned for the king's dislike of Gardiner
is, the suspicion of his fidelity, which arose out of the affair
of Germain Gardiner, the bishop's secretary, who was con-
victed and executed as a traitor, for his practices with the
court of Rome. " Germain Gardiner," says Strype, " was,
a year after" [that is, in 1544] "hanged, drawn, and
' quartered, as a traitor, for denying the king's supremacy.
4 And the Bishop of Winchester, after this, never had favour
' or regard of the king more."8 This is of course slaying
the slain, for he had told us the year before that the king
" never liked him after " the matter of Windsor. But here
he outruns his usual authority Fox, who gives the story in
a manner somewhat different. He says — " Upon the detec-

* tion of this Germain Gardiner, being secretary to Gardiner,

* Bishop of Winchester, his kinsman, it seemed to some, and
' so was also insinuated unto the king, not to be unlike, but
'that the said Germain neither would nor durst ever

0 Fox, vol. v. p. 490. 7 Gran. i. 158.

8 Gran. i. 176.

xv. 1 GARDINER AND THE KING. 241

' attempt any such matter of popery without some setting
' on or consent of the bishop, he being so near unto him,

* and to all his secrets, as he was. Whereby the king began
' somewhat more to smell and misdoubt the doings of the
4 bishop ; but yet the bishop so covertly and clearly con-
'veyed his matters, playing under the board, after his

* wonted fetches, in such sort that (I cannot tell how) he
1 still kept in with the king, to the great inquietation of the
' public state of the realm, and especially of Christ's

* church."9 It is curious to see how quietly, and I am quite
willing to add unconsciously, some writers contradict them-
selves, and how easily their self-contradictions pass off with
their readers, if only a few pages intervene ; but when the
passages are placed in juxtaposition, and one tries to
imagine the facts, what a puzzle they make. As to mere
matter of fact, was Gardiner in favour, or was he not ? was
the court of Henry the Eighth a place where great men
could long be in doubt themselves, or deceive others on that
point ?

Following the order of time, we ought here to notice a
fact which goes far to prove that all the foregoing pretence
of the king's mislike of the bishop is false. As late as the
year 1545, Gardiner was ambassador to the Emperor.
Bishop Burnet tells us that " Cranmer had, at this time,
' almost prevailed with the king to make some further steps

* in a reformation. But Gardiner, who was then ambas-

* sador in the emperor's court, being advertised of it, wrote

* to the king, that the emperor would certainly join with
4 France against him, if he made any further innovation in

* religion. This diverted the king from it."10 This was
doing a good deal for a man misliked and mistrusted — for
one who had been proved to be a false knave, and had got
very near to be thought so. The Bishop of Norwich, too,
deposed that " after this deponent was sent ambassador in

* residence to the Emperor, the said Bishop of Winchester

* was sent over with commission, in which this deponent and
1 Sir Edward Carne " [who, as I have already stated, was
afterwards unable to speak particularly to the point which
we have in hand] " were joined," to treat with the Emperor
and the French ambassador, " wherein the said bishop was

9 Fox, vol. v. p. 526. 10 Hist, of Bef. vol. i. 317.

Q

242 GARDINER AND QUEEN [ESSAY

the chief doer, and chief in estimation."1 Another proof
that the bishop was employed in public business transpires
incidentally in a letter which he wrote to the Protector,
after the king's death. It is dated, " At the Fleet, the
14th of October," 1547. "In which matter," he says, "I
' was very much troubled, even this time twelvemonth, when
* I was in commission with my Lord Great Master and the
' Earl of Southampton, for altering the Court of Augmenta-
' tions."2 So that at least as late as October, 1546, Gardiner
was occupying a place of credit and confidence. Whether
that was a little before, or a little after, the circumstances
which I proceed to state I do not know, and it is not ma-
terial ; but I suppose what here follows to be the more recent
of the two.

The third occurrence which is said to have alienated the
king from Gardiner, is one which, even supposing it had
that effect, contains unanswerable evidence that up to the
time when it occurred, the bishop must have enjoyed, in a
high degree, the royal favour and confidence. Indeed, the
story, as it is popularly told, is one of those which pass
current without any strict examination, and are rendered
more and more probable by being (perhaps I ought to say,
instinctively) smoothed and softened in some small degree
by each writer, as he repeats them. Perhaps every man
who really believes a story which contains some improba-
bilities, is liable to soften it in the relation, not merely as
an apology for his own belief, or to conciliate the belief of
others, but because the little matters dropped, or the explana-
tory suggestions inserted, have been put out, or put in, during
the process of his own reception of the story ; so that the
story really exists|in his mind in the modified form, in which
he hands it over to the next relater, that he may take his
turn at probableizing, and pass it on. Such writers are not
to be charged with anything like intentional falsehood ; but
that they are in fact the cause of much misconception, arid
mistake of facts, and therefore of all the false reasoning and
false philosophy that is built on such false imaginations, is

1 Fox, vol. vi. p. 190. This the Bishop of Norwich deposed, in answer
to the IVth article. It is curious that in Sir Edward Game's deposition
that article is entirely passed over, (p. 185,) and indeed he does not seem
to have been examined upon it. See p. 136.

2 Fox, vol. vi. p. 44.

xv.] KATHERINE PARR. 243

beyond all doubt. It is only by tracing stories back that we
can judge how far they have been subjected to this process.
The reader, who for the first time meets with an anecdote
in its hundredth edition, and its most mitigated and swal-
lowable form, may very naturally receive it in simple good
faith, without the least idea that if he were to strip it down
to its foundation facts and authorities, it would show itself
to be an incredible and monstrous lie.

The story, however, with which we are concerned at
present, as forming the third reason why Bishop Gardiner
was abhorred by Henry VIII., and which may be found in
Fox3, is, as to its facts, (if they are facts,) pretty much as
follows: — At the time of the king's last illness, Queen
Katherine Parr was, and indeed from the time of her
marriage had been, a decided favourer of the Reformation.
This, of course, excited the jealousy, and fear, and malice,
of the Popish party in general, and of Gardiner in
particular; and it was determined to get her put to death.
She had been in the habit of arguing with the king on
religious subjects, and he had taken it well, " until, at the
* last, by reason of his sore leg, (the anguish whereof began
' more and more to increase,) he waxed sickly, and there-
' withal froward and difficult to be pleased." He had left
off his custom of going to visit her, and she used from time
to time, either being sent for, or having found that it would
be agreeable, to go to see him. On one occasion of this
kind, we are told, she found Gardiner, who though dis-
graced and abhorred (or, to say the very least, mistrusted
and disliked), seems, nevertheless, to have been either so
much at home in his royal master's chamber, or else under
such orders from him, that he outstaid her Majesty. " At
this visitation," says Fox, " chanced the Bishop of Winchester
aforenamed to be present, and also at the queen's taking
her leave."4 She seems to have been urging the king
"zealously to proceed in the reformation of the church,"
and to have been startled at his somewhat testily changing
the conversation. But he showed her no sign of anger;
and, " after other pleasant talk, she for that time took her

3 Vol. v. p. 533.

4 No doubt it was a mere matter of chance who was in the king s
chamber, the companion of the froward patient in his anguish, at the time
when his royal consort came to visit him.

244 GARDINER AND QUEEN [ESSAY

'leave of his Majesty; who, after his manner, bidding her
' ' Farewell, sweetheart,' (for that was his usual term to the
* queen,) licensed her to depart."

As soon as the queen was gone, however, Henry gave vent
to his impatience, and opened his mind to the mistrusted and
detested bishop. " The king, immediately upon her departure
'from him, used these or like words," [one wonders who
reported them.] " < A; good hearing,' quoth he, ' it is when
' women become such clerks ; and a thing much to my
'comfort, to come in mine old days to be taught by my
'wife.'"

It was, perhaps as strange that the king should say all
this to the most " abhorred " of all his subjects, as it was
that the " abhorred " should be in such a place at such a
time7 to hear it ; but how incomparably (may not one say,
incredibly?) strange does it seem, that the disliked and
mistrusted bishop should have had the boldness, especially
at a time when the irritable king was already in anger, to
enter on a long oration, wound up with a plain warning to
his majesty, how perilous a matter it was "to cherish a
serpent within his own bosom." Whatever we may think
of Gardiner in other respects, we must (unless his enemies
have belied him) give him credit for singular boldness and
straightforward honesty. He might be (and no one is
more convinced than I am that he actually was) most
decidedly and fearfully wrong in being a papist — in believing
many of the doctrines, and following many of the practices,
of popery; but surely, if he knew that the queen was
" bold (being, indeed, become very zealous toward the
4 gospel, and the professors thereof) frankly to debate with
' the king touching religion, and therein flatly to discover
' herself ; oftentimes, wishing, exhorting, and persuading the
' king, that as he had, to the glory of God, and his eternal
' fame, begun a good and a godly work in banishing that
' monstrous idol of Rome, so he would thoroughly perfect
' and finish the same, cleansing and purging his Church of
' England clean from the dregs thereof, wherein as yet
'remained great superstition," — if he also knew that
" besides the virtues of the mind, she was endued with very
' rare gifts of nature, as singular beauty, favour, and comely
' personage, being things wherein the king was greatly
'delighted: and so enjoyed she the king's favour, to the

xv.] KATHERINE PARR. 245

'great likelihood of the setting at large of the gospel
' within this realm at that time," — if, I say, he knew this,
and feared and hated it, as he must have done, was it not
a good honest step thus, in the presence of other courtiers,
to denounce the queen to the king as a " serpent " ? Imagine
a disgraced favourite, standing up before a tyrant in anguish
with a sore leg, and saying all this of his consort, who " so
enjoyed his favour," that notwithstanding a momentary
irritation, (and that concealed from herself,) he had not
only left her head on her shoulders, but had " knit up all
arguments with gentle words and loving countenance," and
dismissed her, " after other pleasant talk," with " Farewell,
sweetheart ! "

Strange, however, as the whole of such a scene must have
been, the effect, we are told, was, that on the spot the
king gave a commandment, "with warrant, to certain of
4 them,5 made for that purpose, to consult together about
' the drawing of certain articles against the queen, wherein
her life might be touched." Having obtained this warrant,
it is said, the popish party used all means, good and bad, to
obtain evidence against the queen ; but, as they could " not
upon the sudden, but by means, deal with her," they deter-
mined first to attack, on the ground of the Six Articles,
" some of the ladies whom they knew to be great with her,"
and they selected Lady Herbert, Lady Lane, and Lady
Tyrwit, all of her privy chamber. It was thought that in
searching their coffers and closets, something might be found
that would criminate the queen, whom they might then
instantly seize and carry off in a barge by night to the
Tower. The king "was forthwith made privy unto the

* device by Winchester and Wriothesly, and his consent

* thereto demanded; who, (belike to prove the bishop's

* malice, how far it would presume,) like a wise politic
« prince, was contented dissemblingly to give his consent, and
« to allow of every circumstance ; knowing, notwithstanding,
' in the end, what he would do."

I find it somewhat difficult to imagine that a " wise,
politic prince," (indeed, any but a fool or a madman,) and
most especially such a man as Henry, should be so absurd

5 That is, I presume, of "them of that sect there present." One would
like to know who they were.

246 GARDINEB AND QUEEN [ESSAY

as to act thus. But if the king's conduct was strange, that
of the queen was at least equally absurd. Though she had
been "somewhat amazed" at the way in which the king
took her discourse on the occasion already mentioned, yet
she continued her " accustomed manner " of talking to his
majesty on the subject, which so irritated him ; and he
wishing " to try out the uttermost of Winchester's fetches,"
suffered her to say what she pleased without contradiction.
Just, however, before what Fox calls " Winchester's final
date," the king disclosed the matter to one of his physicians,
" either Dr. Wendy or else Owen, but rather Wendy, as is
supposed ; " at the same time " charging him withal, upon
peril of his life, not to utter it to any creature living."
Happily for the queen, the councillor who had charge of
the bill of articles, drawn up on purpose that " her life
might be touched," and signed with the king's own hand,
carried it about him so negligently that it dropped from his
bosom, and, being picked up by a godly person, was carried
to the queen. Her majesty knowing probably that she was
liable to be called to account for transgressions of the law
which have not been particularly recorded, (though we
know enough to account for her being in some alarm,) " fell
incontinent into a great melancholy and agony, bewailing
and taking on in such sort as was lamentable to see." The
successor of Anne Boleyn might well have trembled, even
if she had known herself to be perfectly innocent.

However, the king hearing of her illness, sent his
physicians, and among the rest Dr. Wendy ; who of course
understood the case better than any of the others, and who
could not, though at the peril of his life, refrain from
letting his patient know something of the secret which had
been confided to him. His prescription was, "somewhat
'to frame and conform herself unto the king's mind,
' saying, he did not doubt but if she would do so, and show
'her humble submission unto him, she would find him
t gracious and favourable unto her." The king having soon
after visited her, and behaved with kindness, the queen
determined to follow Dr. Wendy's advice. She resolved to
return his majesty's visit ; having first, with more prudence
than she had shown in her previous conduct, taken one
very proper precaution : — " the queen remembering with
' herself the words that Master Wendy had said unto her,

xv.] KATHERINE PARR. 247

* devised how, by some good opportunity, she might repair

* to the king's presence. And so, first commanding her
1 ladies to convey away their books which were against the
1 law, the next night following, after supper, she (waited

* upon only by the Lady Herbert her sister, and the Lady

* Lane, who carried the candle before her) went unto the

* king's bedchamber, whom she found sitting and talking
'with certain gentlemen of his chamber." He welcomed
her very courteously, and proceeding " to enter into talk of
religion," she lost no time in making a full abjuration, and
humble apology, and assuring his majesty that if she had
ever appeared to differ from him it had been not so much
to maintain opinion, as to pass away the time of his
majesty's sickness, and to gain some instruction from his
majesty's learned discourse ; " wherein," she added, " I
assure your majesty I have not missed any part of my
desire."6

This dissimulation and flattery, was, we are told (some-
what inconsistently as it regards the historian), successful.
It seems as if the instinct to which I have already alluded,
and by which people not only modify, but alternately, as it
were, believe and disbelieve the incredible stories which
they tell, had led Fox into very absurd self-contradiction.
He has told us repeatedly, and is at pains to keep in our
minds, that the king never meant to hurt the queen. If
he gave her enemies directions to draw articles "wherein
her life might be touched" it was "to see belike what they
would do " — if he pretended acquiescence, it was " belike to
prove the bishop's malice how far it would presume " — the
king only wanted " to try out the uttermost of Winchester's
fetches." All this, however, and all its meaning, the reader
must forget before he comes to Fox's glorying over the
politic submission of the queen, which wrought such a
wonderful change in his majesty's feelings, "Now then,
' God be thanked ! the king's mind was clean altered, and he

6 Every reader of what Fox calls in his margin " The Queen's politic
submission to the King " must hope that the unhappy woman did not dis-
grace herself by the false and fulsome oration which he has put in her
mouth. But I trust the reader bears in mind that I am not relating what
I believe to be true, but only telling a tale as it is told to me, in the hope
that by the discussion of it truth may be elicited. With this view we
must, in the first instance, take it as it stands.

248 GARDINER AND QUEEN. [ESSAY

'detested in his heart (as afterwards he plainly showed)
4 this tragical practice of those cruel Caiaphases," who, how-
ever, knowing nothing " of the king's well-reformed mind,"
were intending to have carried the queen to the Tower the
very next day.

On the afternoon of that morrow, and just as the
appointed hour drew on, the king went to walk in the
garden, and sent for the queen, who came attended by the
three ladies whose arrest was to have been the prelude to
her own. Happily, however, for them, though the un-
lawful books were hidden, that part of the plan had been
abandoned. But there they were, taking the air with the
king and queen, and two gentlemen of the bedchamber,
"when suddenly in the midst of their mirth7, the hour
' determined being come, in cometh the lord chancellor into
1 the garden with forty of the king's guards at his heels,
'with purpose indeed to have taken the queen, together
'with the three ladies aforesaid, whom they had before
' purposed to apprehend alone, even then unto the Tower."
The king, however, had a little private conversation with
his chancellor, of which the only words recorded are,
" knave, yea, arrant knave, beast, and fool ; " and then sent
him about his business. The queen, in real or pretended
ignorance of the nature of the chancellor's offence, pleaded
for him; and as Fox says, "by God's only blessing,"
(perhaps impartial truth might have required him rather to
say, by falsehood, flattery, and the influence which she had
over the king's affections, if he had any,) she " happily for
that time and ever, escaped the dangerous snares of her
bloody and cruel enemies for the gospel's sake."

" One has, however," says a writer in the Biographia
Britannica, " some reason to wonder, that when John Bale
' wrote his article of Queen Katherine Parre, in which he

7 Imagine the mirth of such a party. The king with his sore leg, and
the fullest conviction that either the queen by his side was a detestable
heretic, or his chancellor who was coming to fetch her to gaol, a " knave,
beast, and fool." The queen, intensely pondering Dr. Wendy's prescrip-
tion, and every now and then involuntarily feeling whether her head was
on her shoulders. Her ladies with consciences^ burdened by a load of
unlawful books, and the broken Act of Six Articles. Surely anything
like genuine mirth must have been limited to the two unmindful gentle-
men of the bedchamber ; but perhaps their innocent gambols diverted the
others.

xv.] KATHERINE PARR 249

* celebrates her learning, piety, and zeal for true religion, at

* the time all parties were living, and when anything against
1 the Bishop of Winchester would have been well received,
*he should say nothing of this iniquitous contrivance.
'(Bale, Script, edit. 1548, 4to, fol. 238.) Nor is it less
4 strange that when matter was sought much further back
1 to charge him with, this should not be remembered in the

* proceedings at his deprivation under the succeeding reign."
— Art. Gardiner, p. 2104.

These few plain and sensible words seem to me quite
sufficient to settle one's opinion as to the truth of a story
which has, beside these considerations, such very suspicious
marks of falsehood and absurdity. If it had been true,
would not John Bale, or the Lord Paget, have alluded to
it ? for no doubt they did sometimes speak truth to serve
their purposes. Or if it was at that time a popular lie (even
suppose it a known, contradicted, confuted lie), where would
you have found two men more unscrupulous in using such a
thing, or more particularly and personally hostile to Gar-
diner ?

The reader will, however, bear in mind that, so far as the
object of this particular essay is concerned, I am under no
temptation to decide against the story. If it is false, it may
add another to many cautions which those who read the
works of party writers are sure to get in the course of their
studies ; but for our present inquiry it is just nothing at
all. If, on the other hand, it is true, it shows (beside some
other things which I may perhaps hereafter find occasion
to notice) that up to a very late period of Henry's reign,
Bishop Gardiner was about the person, and shared the
confidence of his royal master, and was on very familiar
terms with him. This, too, I hope to corroborate by other
evidence of a different kind.

250 THE EARL OF HERTFORD [ESSAY

ESSAY XVI.

GARDINER AND PAGET.

THE facts already stated should probably lead us to doubt
whether all that has been said of Bishop Gardiner's disgrace
is to be believed ; and the evidence furnished by those facts
is confirmed, and carried forward to a still later date, by
some documents which I will lay before the reader as soon
as I have reminded him of certain things of which it is
quite necessary that he should have a present recollection,
in order that he may form a right judgment on the case.
Some of these documents have been very often and
familiarly referred to ; but even those which have been
quoted I have never seen given with that fulness, or in the
juxtaposition, which is necessary in order to our deriving
the information which they really offer,

It is not, I believe, doubted that from the time when
Henry VIII. began to be incapable of interfering strenu-
ously with public business — or, to say the least, from the
time when it had become pretty clear that there was no
chance of his ever calling to account those who used his
name and power — the party of which the Earl of Hertford
was the head determined to make way for themselves by
getting rid of their opponents in a very summary and un-
ceremonious manner.

It is very well to say that the infirm king was jealous of the
Howards, and fearful of their giving disturbance to his son,
for it is likely that he should think of this ; and it is toler-
ably certain that, if it did not occur to him, the notion
would be brought before him, and forced on him, by some
persons who undoubtedly did fear the Duke of Norfolk and
his family ; and who, whatever they might think about
young King Edward, thought much more, and more
intensely and affectionately, about themselves. The arrest
of the Duke of Norfolk and his son was a bold (under other
circumstances than those of the king, one would have said
a desperate) stroke. The party succeeded, however, so far

xvi.] AND SIR WILLIAM PAGET. 251

as to kill the son; but, though far from slack in their
proceedings, they were not quick enough by a few hours
to destroy the father. The old Duke of Norfolk was
saved by the king's dying on the very morning when he
was to have been executed ; but he was a prisoner, con-
victed, condemned, and attainted, who might be safely
kept in the Tower; and there he was kept during all
Edward's reign.

But before that time — while King Henry was yet living,
though probably without his privity — the plan of the future
government had been settled ; and the two persons whom
we find so early, and most deeply, concerned in these
arrangements — the persons who, though in very different
circumstances and positions, seem to be united together
in an alliance capable of overruling all resistance, and even
the attempt at any — are the Earl of Hertford and Sir
William (afterwards to be Lord) Paget. Even before the
king was actually dead, they were in consultation; and
within a few hours after the royal demise, and before the
event had been declared to the parliament — in fact while
it was kept a secret even from the young Successor —
these two men had the royal will in their custody, and
were consulting together how much of it they should
make public. One does not know how to speak of such
things without asking the reader to pause a moment and
consider. Will he endeavour to realize such a state of
affairs as a mere matter of fact ? for without some such
effort it is impossible to understand the history of the
period, even though one reads over what is so called a
thousand times.

As to the Earl of Hertford — how he became Duke of
Somerset and Protector — what he did and what became of
him — every reader of English history knows, or easily may
know ; and it is not to our present purpose to inquire.
But probably the history and character of his " inward
friend and counsellor," Paget, is not so generally known ;
and a few particulars respecting him — as the chief, if not,
indeed, the original and only voucher for King Henry's
abhorrence of Gardiner — will not be out of place. I ought
perhaps rather to say, will be absolutely necessary.

Sir William Paget, as I have already said, was the pecu-
liar adviser and confidential agent of the Earl of Hertford.

252 THE EARL OF HERTFORD [ESSAY

This has been stated by Strype, in a passage which is worth
extracting.

"While King Henry lay on his deathbed in his palace at West-
minster, Sir Edward Seimour, Earl of Hertford, and Sir William
Paget, among others, were at Court ; and Paget, being Secretary of
State, was much about his person : whom, being a man wise and
learned, and well versed in the affairs of state, both by reason of his
office and his several embassies abroad, the earl prudently made
choice of for his inward friend and counsellor. By the king's
desperate condition, the earl well perceiving the crown ready to fall
upon Prince Edward his nephew's head, before the breath was out
of his body, took a walk with Paget in the gallery ; where he held
some serious conference with him concerning the government. And
immediately after the king was departed they met again, the earl
devising with him concerning the high place he was to hold, being
the next of kin to the young king. Paget at both meetings freely
and at large gave him his advice for the safe managery of himself,
and of the mighty trust likely to be reposed in him ; and the earl
then promised him to follow his counsels in all his proceedings more
than any other man's. To his failure in which promises, the said
Secretary attributed those miseries which afterwards befell the
nation and himself ; as he plainly told him in one of his letters." —
Mem. vol. ii. pt. i. p. 17.

We are not, indeed, told how long before the king's death
this walk in the gallery took place ; but it is scarcely pos-
sible to doubt that what was thus settled with Paget, was
understood and agreed to by the rest of the council. Mr.
Tytler has given a letter from the Earl of Hertford to Paget,
written within twenty-six hours after the king's death, in
reply to one already received from that inward friend and
counsellor, which contained suggestions as to whether the
will should be opened before another consultation, and also
as to the propriety of considering how much of the will it
would be expedient to make public. In this reply the Earl
expresses his concurrence in those suggestions, and adds as
a brief postscript, " I have sent you the key of the will ; "
by which it appears that the keeping of that most important
document lay with Hertford, and that he did not scruple
to transfer the trust, without, so far as appears, any security,
or even the privity of any third person, to the sole keeping
of Paget.

On another letter, written the next day, to the Council
— and that, too, before the fact of the king's death had
been published — Mr. Tytler very justly observes, " When
1 parliament and the nation yet believed Henry to be alive,

xvi.] AND SIR WILLIAM PAGET. 253

' the measures which were to be adopted under the new
' reign were already secretly agreed on by a faction to whom

* no resistance could be made. It is worthy of remark also,
' that Hertford, although still bearing no higher rank than
' one of the executors of the late king, is consulted by them
'as their superior, and already assumes the tone and

* authority of Protector, another proof that all had been

* privately arranged amongst them."1

We see something, then, of the position which Sir William
(afterwards Lord) Paget occupied ; and we may naturally
be led to ask, " What sort of man was he ? " His life
sesms to have been (as far as circumstances gave him oppor-
tunity) a tissue of ingratitude, treachery, and falsehood.
At the time to which I have just referred, he was the crea-
ture of the Earl of Hertford, and he continued so as long
as the sunshine lasted ; but before the time when he gave
his evidence at the deprivation of Bishop Gardiner, (to
which I have before alluded, and which is indeed the matter
which leads to our being concerned with him,) he had,
with circumstances of peculiarly disgusting hypocrisy and
treachery, betrayed his old master Somerset, and sold him-
self to his deadly enemy, the Earl of Warwick. And when
this new master Warwick had wholly made away with that
old master, and had set up Lady Jane Grey, the faithful
Paget signed the declaration that he would stand by her ;
but the next day, a letter being written to the Lady Mary
by the privy council, he was so obliging as to become the
bearer of it, and left his new master to shift for himself —
though perhaps I should say his old master — for he seems
to have been under early obligations to Warwick, which
preceded, in point of time, his devotion to Somerset. When,
however, the Lady Mary had shown that she really was, and
was to be, Queen of England, Paget seems to have forgotten
all these old stories. One scarcely recognizes the " earnest
gospeller," the partizan of Barnes the martyr, in the lively
papist who received again in this reign the garter which
had been stripped from him as a convicted and confessed
scoundrel, and figured as Lord Privy Seal as long as that
reign lasted. Elizabeth would have nothing to do with
him.

1 England under the reigns of Edward VI. and Mary, vol. i. p. 19.

254 PAGET, GARDINER, AND HENRY VIII. [ESSAY

Now, at the latter part of the reign of King Henry VIII.,
this same Sir William, or Lord, Paget was undoubtedly the
bitter enemy of Gardiner — that is, he was one of the per-
sons most fully determined to put Gardiner down, and
prevent him from being troublesome. I am not aware that
there is (nor do I know that we should look for) anything
to account for this enmity beyond the plain facts that Paget
was an unprincipled man, who had attached himself to the
fortunes of the Earl of Hertford, and was driving on with
all his might a cause which that leader wished to see carried,
without, for his own part, particularly caring whether any
man whom it might seem expedient to ruin had, or had not,
been his own early friend and benefactor, and was or was
not at the moment confiding in his good will and affection 2.

Thus much it seemed necessary to premise before I could
properly lay before the reader some further evidence re-
specting the relative position of Bishop Gardiner and his
royal master in the latter part of his reign. The facts
stated in the preceding essay (if they are facts) must have
belonged to a very late period of the king's life ; but I do
not know that their date can be accurately fixed. If we
should ever find the Articles which were to touch the
queen's life, and which the careless official dropped from
his bosom, they may perhaps have dates. In the mean
time we may go on with some documents which happily
furnish us with those indispensable requisites for under-
standing history ; and which require very little preface.

2 Strype, after no very flattering account of Gardiner, adds, " Yet let
' me subjoin one or two things to his commendation : he afi'ected learned
' domestics, and countenanced learning in his family : he would take in
' young university men, such as were of good parts & great hopes ; several
' of these so entertained by him were afterwards Bishops, as White &
' Brokes, and two were Secretaries of State, and advanced to the honour
' of Barons, and employed by the state in great embassies. One of these
' was Sir William Paget, to whom Leland thus writ ;

1 Tu Gardineri petiisti tecta diserti,
' Eloquii sedem, Pieriique chori.

' That is, that being young, c he went into learned Gardiner's family,
1 which was the very seat of eloquence & of the muses.5 From his family,
' as he had been of his college of Trinity Hall in Cambridge, so he went
' to study in the University of Paris. And after some stay, returned
' again into the bishop's house ; and soon after became secretary of state."
— Mem. III. i. 466.

xvi.] GARDINER'S LETTER TO HENRY VIII. 255

It is enough to say that in the course of the proceedings
for his deprivation in the year 1551, Gardiner put in a
letter which he had formerly received from the king. The
reader may remember that Henry died on the 28th January,
1547, and the letter is dated on the 2nd of December pre-
ceding. Having been thus made a part of the record of the
proceedings of the commissioners for depriving Gardiner,
that letter was preserved ; and it was printed by Fox in the
first edition of his Martyrology 3. It was not a particularly
interesting, perhaps not a very intelligible, document as it
stood there by itself ; but that was probably of very little
consequence, partly because very few persons cared to read
it, and partly because the few who did read it, knew that it
was originally put in as evidence not to give information
respecting the subject matter to which it referred, but
simply to show the terms which the person who received it
was on with the person who wrote it. Making, however,
due allowance for the scarcity of the only book which con-
tained it, we may say that the king's letter to Gardiner had
thus been before the public more than two centuries and a
half, when, in the year 1830, the government printed for
the first time, from the stores of the State Paper Office,
Gardiner's letter to the king, (to which that letter of the
king given by Fox was an answer,) as well as a letter of
Gardiner to Paget, requesting him to convey it to the king.
The three letters thus singularly brought together after so
long a separation are as follows : —

" CCLX. Gardyner to King Henry VIII.

" Pleasith it your most Excellent Majeste to pardonne me, that
having noo such opportunite to make humble sute to your Highnes
presence, as the trouble of my mynde enforcyth me, I am soo bolde
to moleste your Majeste with thiese my letters which be oonly to
desyre your Highnes, of your accustumed goodnesse and clemencie,
to be my good and gratious Lorde, and to continue such opinion of
me, as I have ever trusted, and, by manyfold benefites, certaynly
knowen your Majeste to have had of me, and not to empayre it, as I

3 It was, I believe, omitted in all others, until the comic Edition of
Messrs. Seeley was published. In that the process has been reprinted—
of course not very correctly, and therefore I quote the original edition, of
which I happen to possess a portion sufficient for that purpose. But those
who possess the more modern edition only, may find the passages which
I quote by the figures in the margin of their own copies, vol. vi. p. 86,
ct seq.

256 GARDINER AND [ESSAY

veryly trust your Majeste wyl not, tyl your Highnes knowith, by
myself, my dedes and bihavour to deserve the same, which I trust
never to see your Majeste hath bounde noon other of your subgettes
in, thenne me, and I have ever, and doo make thaccounpte of your
Majestes benefites, soo as I esteme them worthely, asmoch as any
other hath receyved, wherwith I have and doo rejoyse and counf orte
myself, with a mynde, desire, and entent in service, which is al of
duetie, in sum parte, to declare myn inward rejoyse of your Highnes
favour, and that I wold not wyllingly offende your Majestic, for noo
wordly thing. This is my harte, afore God, and noo man hath harde
me saye to the contrary ; and if, for want of circumspection, my
doinges or saynges be otherwise taken, in this matier of land,
wherein I was spoken with, I must and wyl lamente rnyn infelicite,
and most humbly, on my knees, desire your Majestic to pardon it.
I never said naye to any request made, wherwith to resiste your
Highnes pleasour, but oonly, in most humble wise, toke upon me to
be a suter to your Highnes goodnes, wherunto I have ben bolded by
thaboundaunce of your Majestes favour, heretofore shewed unto me.
Your Highnes hath made me, without my desertes ; and though I
deserve not the continuance of that favour, yet I wold gladly, by
humble prayour and intercession, supplie my want, if I coulde, to
have such help at your Highnes handes, as I knowe others to have
had, to be entertaigned for reputacion, whenne ther service hath
fayled ; wherin I have had as gratious answer from your Majestie,
as I coulde wishe, for the which I most humbly thanke your
Highnes. And yet, bicause I have noo accesse to your Majestie,
ne hearing of late any more of this matier, I cannot forbere to
open truly my harte to your Highnes, with most humble request to
take the same in most gratious parte, for whose most prosperous
felicite I shal, according to my duetie, praye duryng my life. At
London, the seconde of Decembre.

' ' Your Majestes most humble

"and obedient Subget, Servaunt,

"and dayly Bedeman,
(Signed) "SiE: WINTON.

(Superscribed)
" To the Kinges most Excellent Majestie."

"CCLXI. Gardyner to Paget.

"Master Secretary, after my right harty commendacions. I
trusted to have seen youe here, or this tyme, and to have knowen
by youe the Kinges Majestes pleasour ; but your letters may be
diverse, and therf or, as I thought to have wryten by youe to the
Kinges Majeste at your beinge here, soo not hearing from youe, I
have thought requisite to wryte to his Majeste, to supplie my pre-
sent sute to his Person, which'l wold gladly make, if it might stand
with his pleasour. In the meane tyme, I praye youe deliver my
letters, and also knowe, whither I maye cumme myself ; which I
have forborn, bycause I have been here appointed for execution of
a commission, wherunto I attende, as the tyme requireth ; and of
the rest, such as came uowe to the Courte, wer specially sent for.

xvi.] KING HENRY VIII. 257

I* I here no specialte of the Kinges Majestes myscontentement in
this matier of landes, but conf usely, that my doinges shuld not be
wel taken ; whirof I am sory, if it soo be, and al other cares set
aparte, care oonly for this, that it shuld be thought I wanted
discretion, to neglecte the Kinges Majestes goodnes towardes me,
which, as ye knowe, I have evor estemed oonly, and therupon made
my worldly foundation. Nihil ambio, nisi Principis gratissimi
benevolentiam, ne videar ingratus, a quo crimine semper longissime
abfuit animus. Wherin to the rest of the worlde, I knowe myself
purged, quo nomine me duco infelicissimum, ut ingratitudinis
nomine veniam in suspitionem Principi de me optime merito. I
praye youe send me sum worde. And so fare ye hartely wel. At
Southwark, the 2d of Decembre.

" Your assured loving Frend,
" (Superscribed) (Signed) STE. WINTON.
" To the Right Worshipful Sir William Paget Knight,
oon of the Kinges two Principal Secretary es."4

"$gr° The Coppie of a letter, sentefrom Kyng Henry the, eyght to the
Byshop of Winchester.

" Right reuerend Father in God, ryght trustye and wel-beloued,
we grete you wel. Understandyng by youre letters of the seconde
of this instante youre mynde touchyng suche matter as hath lately
on our behalfe bene opened vnto you by certayne of our counsell,
we haue thought good for aunswere, to signifye, that yf your
doynges heretofore in this matter had bene agreeable to such fayre
woordes as ye haue nowe written, neyther you should haue had
cause to wryte this excuse, nor we anye occasion to aunswere the
same. And we cannot but maruayle of this part of youre letters,
that you neuer sayd nay to any request made vnto you for those
landes : considering, that being this matter propounded, and at
good length debated with you aswel by our Chauncelor and Secre-
torye, as also the Chauncelor of our Court of Augmeutacions, both
ioyntly and aparte, you utterly refused to growe to any conformity
in the same, sayeing, that you would make your answere to our
owne persone : which as we can be well contented to receive, and
will not deny you audience at any mete tyme, when you shall make
suite to be harde for your said answer, so we muste in the meane
thinke that if the remembraunce of our benefytes towardes you, had
earnestly remayned in your harte in dede, as you haue now touched
the same in wordes, you would not have ben so precise in such a
matter, wherein a great nomber of our subiects, and emongst others

4 Part II. p. 883, of " State Papers published under the authority of his
Majesty's commission, Vol. I., King Henry the VIII., Parts I. and II.,
1830." A note on the Bishop's letter says, "This letter is holograph, and
a contemporary indorsement fixes its date to 1546." Another note says,
" The tenth instrument signed by stamp in December, 1546, is a letter to
the Bishop of Winchester in answer to his letter to the king concerning
an exchange of land desired by the king " — that is, the letter here given
above from Fox.

R

258 GARDINER AND PAGET. [ESSAY

many of your owne cote (although they haue not had so good cause
as you) haue yet without indenting delte both more louingly, and
more frendly with vs. And as touching you, our opinion was, that
if our request had ben for a free surrender, as it was for an ex-
chaunge only, your duty had ben to haue done otherwise in this
matter then you haue : wherin if you be yet disposed to show that
conformity you write of, we se no cause why you shoulde molest vs
any further therewith, being the same of such sorte, as may well
enough be passed without5 officers there.

"Yeuen vnder our signet at our maner of Otelands, the iiii. of
December the xxxviii yere of our reigne."6

These letters, perhaps, taking them all together, are not
very intelligible as to their subject-matter. It only appears,
and that (to use the bishop's phrase) somewhat "confusely,"
that an application had been made to him on the part of
the king for an exchange of land, and that, by some hesita-
tion, he had given, or was said to have given, offence to his
majesty ; but it is absolutely impossible to avoid gathering
from the documents two things most important to our
inquiry.

First — that if Gardiner really was, and for years had
been, a cast-off courtier, hated and abhorred, the fact was
very imperfectly known, or very oddly appreciated and
dealt with, by the parties interested in it, and most likely
to know all about it. Gardiner certainly does not write as
if he thought it of himself ; the king, (if we suppose the
letter to have really come from him,) though secluded by
illness so that none then came to the court but such as were
" specially sent for," has no hesitation in granting him an
audience in answer to his independent claim to make answer
to his " owne person " — or if we suppose the letter to have
been written by the Council without the knowledge of the
king, and even by those who wished and intended to bring
Gardiner into trouble, it is equally worthy of notice that they
did not venture to represent his majesty as adopting the
style of one who so hated and abhorred his correspondent.

Secondly, it is obvious (and it adds greatly to the force of
what has been already said) that up to that time " wily
Winchester," as the puritan party loved to call him, was
simple enough to believe that his old pupil Paget was his
friend. He evidently had full confidence in the viper whom

5 So it stands ; perhaps it should be " with our."

6 Fox. First Edition, p. 801.

xvi.] GARDINER AND PAGET. 259

he had cherished in his bosom, when he wrote this letter to
him.

Of this misplaced confidence indeed we have other evi-
dence, which shows that it continued even after the accession
of King Edward. Mr. Tytler gives us a letter which, as he
says, " introduces to us the celebrated Gardiner bishop of
1 Winchester, in a collision which took place a week after

* Henry's death, between the prelate and my Lord of Ox-

* ford's players ; " who had " advertised an entertainment in

* the Borough of Southwark, at the very time, it seems, that

* Gardiner and his parishioners resolved to have a dirige, or

* dirge, for his departed master ; " 7 that is, on the first
Sunday after the fact of the king's death was known. The
letter is curious ; but our only business with it is to observe
that the bishop, not being able to make anything of the
justice of the peace to whom he had applied, wrote an
account of the matter to Master Secretary Paget, in a
familiar, and even playful, style, adding, " If ye will not,
propter invidiam, meddle, send me so word, and I will my-
self sue to my Lord Protector," and subscribing himself
" your assured loving friend."

But in less than a month the bishop appears to have
begun to find out his mistake. We have not his letter
to Paget which elicited the reply, dated March 2, which
Mr. Tytler has published, and which plainly shows that by
that time Mr. Secretary had begun to be saucy and show
his teeth. It is as follows : —

" My Lord, — After my right hearty commendations. I thank you
for your good advices in your letter, and trust you will think, what-
soever some bodies shall (for that they want some piece of their own
wilfulness) unjustly and slanderously either conceive or report of
me, that I neither mean nor do nip or snatch any person, nor that
unwisely I would usurp a greater power upon me than I have indeed
(which is not great,) — when that I could tempre myself from using
of all that which I might have used, when time served me, with the
favour and consent of him from whom all our powers were derived,
provoked by him oftentimes to use it, (as he testified to divers,) and
having his promise to be maintained in the same8.

? " England under the reigns of Edward VI. and Mary," vol. i. p. 1§.

8 If the reader is conversant with the depositions made against Gar-
diner at the time of his deprivation, he will understand the insolence and
impudence of this allusion. If not, it is better to let it pass for the present,
than to deviate into an explanation which would occupy a good deal of
room, and for which we may find a better opportunity.

260 GARDINEK AND THE KING. [ESSAY

"In his days that dead is, (God have his soul !) I never did that I
might have done. I never loved extremes, I never hindered any
man to him but notable malefactors, and yet not to the extremity.
I have borne much with divers men, and caused divers men to be borne
withal; and by the judgement of mine own conscience have deserved
benevolentiam of all. If any man will bear to me malevolentiam
without cause, God judge between him and me. For private
respects, I will not do anything wherein the public cause may be
hindered. And in public causes I will say and do, as I have done
always since I have been in the place, according to my conscience,
without lending the same either to life, honour, wife, children,
lands, or goods9 ; and yet not with such a frowardness or \vilf ulness
but that a good man or a better conscience may lead and rule me.

" I malign not bishops, but would that both they and all other
were in such order as might be most to the glory of God and the
benefit of this realm ; and much less I malign your Lorship, but wish
ye well ; and if the estate of bishops is or shall be thought meet to
be reformed, I wish either that you were no bishop, or that you
could have such a pliable will as could well bear the reformation
that should be thought meet for the quiet of the realm.

" Your Lordship shall have your commission in as ample manner
as I have authority to make out the same, and in an ampler manner
than you had it before ; which I think you may execute now with
less fear of danger than you have had cause hitherto to do. No
man wisheth you better than I do, which is as well as to myself ; if
you wish me not like, you are in the wrong ; and thus I take my
leave of your Lordship. From Westminster this 2nd of March,
1546.

" Your Lordship's assured to command,

UW. PAGET."

Thus much, then, brings the history fairly into the reign
of Edward VT., and to a period when the enemies of Gardi-
ner felt themselves secure in power, and able to say and do
what they pleased with him. But I have already quoted a
very sensible remark of a writer in the Biographia Britan-
nica, who, after expressing his surprise that Bale, in his
memoir of Katherine Parr, had said nothing of the bishop's
atrocious attempt on the life of that queen, adds — " Nor is

* it less strange that when matter was sought much further

* back to charge him with, this should not be remembered in

* the proceedings at his deprivation under the succeeding
' reign." l This observation is very just, and very impor-
tant; and its only fault is that it does not go half far

9 On this passage Mr. Tytler adds the following note, " Good set words
these of Master Secretary Paget's, and yet in 1552 he was deprived of
his office and fined 2000Z. for peculation. Haywood, Life of Edward VI.
Kennet, vol. ii. p. 319." l See before, p. 248.

xvi.] GARDINER'S " LONGE MATTER." 261

enough. It is strange, if any such thing ever happened,
that it should have been unnoticed by his enemies at a time,
and under circumstances, when there seemed to be every
temptation to bring it forward, and press it against the
obnoxious bishop. But is it not more strange — almost in-
credible, if the popular story is true — that in the proceed-
ings for the deprivation of Bishop Gardiner no hint whatever
was thrown out of his ever having lost the favour of the late
king, or of his being put into or put out of his will, until he
himself provoked it, by adopting a line of defence which no
man in his senses could have thought of, unless he knew
that he was on safe ground, and that what he stated was not
only true but notorious ? In the document which is entitled
" A longe matter proposed by the Bishop of Winchester,"
and which he exhibited to the commissioners at Lambeth,
at the fourth session, Jan. 8, 1551, are the following
articles : —

" 2. Item, that the sayd bishoppe being charged with manye and
sondrye commaundements, to be by him executed, doone and
obserued in oure late soueraygne Lordes time that dead is, was
neuer found faulty nor any fault obiected and proued agaynste him,
but hathe beene alwayes, and yet is a true, paynfull, and iuste
seruaunte, and subiecte in that behalfe, and so commonlye had,
accepted, taken, reputed and accompted amonges the best sorte,
and wyth all sortes of Personnes of all degrees, beynge not hys
aduersaryes nor ennemyes, ponit vt supra.

" 3. Item, that the said bishop hathe bene alwaies hetherto, and
yet is estemed, taken and reputed a manne iuste of promyse,
duelye obseruynge the same, and hath not bene called or troubled
heretofore by any maner of sute, or other vexatyon in any Courte of
thys Kealme, spirituall or Temporall for anye suche pretence or
occasyon as is aforesayd, vntil the time he was sente to the Tower
the morrow after he preached, before the Kings maiesty in hys
manor or pallace called the Whitehal at Westminster, being the
next day immediatly folowyng, and the laste daye of June which
shall be full iii. yeres at the same day next comming, and thys was
and is trew, publyque, notoryous, manifest and famous, ponit vt
supra.

11 4. Item, the sayd Byshop was in such reputacion and estimation
of the counsellors of our late souereigne Lorde that dead is, as being
one of his maiestyes pryuy counsel til his maiesties death, that he
was by their good contentment vsed in counsayll to haue the speach
in their name to the Embassadors of Scotlande, the french kinge,
and the Emperoure, within xiiii. dayes or there about of the death
of our late souereign Lord, ponit vt supra" — Fox, p. 783, 1st Ed.

This " longe matter," as I have already said, was pro-
posed by the bishop himself on the 8th of January, and it

262 PAGET'S ANSWERS. [ESSAY

seems to have been in order to meet it that, " Thinteroga-
tories ministred by thoffice " were issued on the 20th of the
same month. Two of them were as follows : —

" 4. Item, whether you know or haue hard saye that the said late
King expresly willed him the sayd B. no more to be of the priuy
counsell with the kinges maiestye our soueraigne Lord that now is,
and omitted and expresly refused to haue him named emonges
other counsayllors in his testament, to be of the counsel as is
aforesayd.

"5. Item, whether ye know or haue hard say, that the said
Bishop being aforenamed as an executor in the testament of the
sayd late King, was a litle before his death at his declaring of his
last will put out by his bighnes, and so by him refused to be any
of his sayd executors : for what causes the sayd bishop was so put
out, and what the said late kyng sayd of the sayd byshop at the
same tyme."— Fox, 1st Ed., p. 793.

It was necessary that the Lord Paget should meet these
Interrogatories. Let us see how he did it.

"The xi. Session vpon the matter -of Gardiner bishop of Win-
chester in the house of the Lord Paget, without temple barre,
before the foresaid commissioners iudicially sitting, T. Argall
Notary being present the day aforesayd, that is, the. xxiii. of
January.

"At which sayd time and place, M. Davy Clapham and Jhon
Lewis promoters of the office, did product Sir William Paget of the
order of the Garter Knight Lorde Paget, vpon the articles layd in
by the office, whome they desired to be sworne and examined as a
witnes, according to the lawe, the sayd Lord Paget declaring that
Jionourable personages being of dignity as he was, ever by the lawes of
this realme priuileaged not to be sworne in common forme, as other
witnesses accustomely, did sweare. Promising neuertheles vpon his
truth to God, his allegeance to our soueraigne Lord the Kinges
maiesty, and vpon his fidelity, to testify the truth that he doth
knowe in this behalf," &c. — Fox, p. 797.

Being thus secure from the formal sin of perjury, this
honourable personage, being of dignity, as he was, made
answer—

" To the fourth, and fifte, he aunswereth that he knoweth that the
sayde late kynge of moste worthy memory mislyked the sayde
byshop, euer the lenger the worse : And that in his conscience, if
the sayde kyng had lyued any whyle Jenger then he dyd, he would
haue vsed estremytie against the sayde byshop, as farre forth as
the law would haue borne his maiestie : thynkyng to haue iuste and
sore matter of olde against the sayde byshop in store, not taken
awaye by any pardon : and at dyuers tymes asked the sayde Lord
Paget for a certaine wryting touchyng the sayd byshop, com-
maunding hym to keepe it, sane that he myght haue it when he

XVL] PAGET'S ANSWERS.

called for it. And touching the putting of the sayde bishop out of
his testament, it is true that vpon sainte Stephans daye at night,
four yeares now past, his maiesty hauing bene very sick and in some
perill : after his recouery, f urthwith called for the Duke of Somersets
grace, for the Lorde priuie scale, for my Lorde of Warwicke, for the
late M. of the horse, for maister Denny, for the maister of the horse
that now is, and for the said Lord Paget, at that time his secretary :
And then willed Maister Denny to fetch his testament: Who
bringeth fourth firste a forme of a testament, which his maiesty
liked not, after he hard sayinge, that was not it : but there was
a nother of a later making, written with the hand of the lord
Wriothsly being Secretary : which when Maister Denny had fetched,
and he heard it, he seemed to maruaile that some were left out
vnnamed in it, whome he sayd he ment to haue in, and some in,
whome he ment to haue out : and so bad the sayd lord Paget, in the
presence of the f oresayd lordes, to put in some that were not named
before, and to put out the bishop of Winchesters name, which was
done. And then after his pleasure declared in soundrye thinges,
which he caused to be altered and entred in the will, his maiestye
came to the naming of counsellors assistantes to his executors :
Wherupon the sayd lord Paget and the others, beginning to name
my Lord Marques of Northampton, my lord of Arundell, and the
reast of the counsell, not before named as executors : When it came
to the bishop of Winchester, he bad put him out, sayinge he was a
wilf ull man, and not mete to be aboute his son the kinges maiesty
that now is : Whereupon we passed ouer to the bishop of West-
minster, whome his maiestie, bad put out also saying, he was scholed
(or such like term) by the bishoppe of Winchester. And so passinge
vnto the rest, he admitted all of counsell without stoppe, sauinge
one other man, at whom he made some stick. But neuertheless
vpon our suites, relented : and so he was named as a counsellor.
This all done, the sayd lord Paget redde ouer to his maistye what
was written, and he came to the place of counsellors. Heading
their names, he began to moue the kyng agayne for the B. of
Winchester : and the reste then presente set foote in with him, and
did ernestly sue to his maiesty for placing of the sayd bishop
emonges the counsellors : but he would in no wise be intreated :
saying, he marueled what we ment, and that all we knew him to be
a wilful man : and bad vs be contented, for he should not be about
his sonne, nor trouble his counsell any more. The sayd lorde Paget,
and the other were in hand also for the B. of Westminster : but he
woulde in no wise be intreated, alleaging only agaynst him, that he
was of Winchesters schooling, or such a like terme." — Fox, 1st Ed.,
p. 815.

We may well suppose that Gardiner was startled by the
cool impudence of this reply; but he was not daunted, and
evidently determined to go the bottom of the subject which
he had introduced, probably without expecting exactly such
a result. Accordingly we find that there were in the Thir-
teenth Session, and on the 26th day of the same month, six

264 GARDINER'S INTERROGATORIES. [ESSAY

" Interrogatories ministered to the Lord Paget " in particu-
lar, by the bishop; three of which are as follows : —

"5. Item, Whether the sayd Lorde Paget, incontinentlye vpon
the attaintment of the late Duke of Northfolke, did not do a
message from the kings maiesty to the said bishop, that he would
be content, that maister Secretary Peter might haue the same
hundreth pounde by yere of the sayde bishops graunt, that the
sayde Duke had.

" 6. Item, Whether after the sayd B. had aunswered himselfe to
gratifye the kinges maiestye to be content therewith, the sayd
Lord Paget made relation thereof, as is said, to the kings maiesty.
Who answered, that he thanked the Bishop very hartelye for it, and
that he mighte assure himselfe, the kinges maiesty was his very
good Lord.

" 7. Item, Whether the sayd Lord Paget knew the sayd Bishop to
haue bene in the counsell within xiii. dayes of the kinges departure
to be there mouth to mouth to common [commune] with the Ambas-
sadours, or no." — Fox, p. 798, 1st. Ed.

Here I must beg the reader's attention to dates, and his
excuse if I repeat them. The letters between the bishop and
the king respecting the exchange of land which I have al-
ready given bear date respectively the 2nd and 4th of Decem-
ber. The Duke of Norfolk was arrested on the 12th of that
month. " The bill of attainder was read for the first time on
1 the 18th of January, and on the 19th and 20th it was read

* a second and third time. And so passed in the House of

* Lords : and was sent down to the Commons, who on the
' 24th sent it up also passed. On the 27th, the Lords were
i ordered to be in their robes, that the royal assent might be
' given to it ; which the Lord Chancellor, with some others

* joined in commission, did give by virtue of the king's letters
' patent. And it had been executed the next morning, if

* the king's death had not prevented it." 2

The reader will see that, strictly speaking, the attainder
of the Duke of Norfolk had scarcely been completed during
the life of Henry VIII., and therefore, that when Gardiner
speaks of occurrences after that attainder, he is speaking of a
period obviously later than any at which any quarrel or dis-
grace with the king could have taken place. Paget's assur-
ance, however, did not fail him ; he replied —

" To the v. and vi. articles, the sayd lord Paget answereth, that
after thattainder of the Duke of Norfolke, (as he remembreth) in
the vpper and nether house of the parliament, the late kyng of

2 Burnet, Hist, of Reformation, i. 332.

xvi.] PAGET'S ANSWERS. 265

moste worthy memorie, willed hym the sayde lorde Paget to require
the sayde byshops graunt of the hundreth poundes, mentioned in
the articles : but in suche sort his maiestie willed it to be requyred,
as he loked for it rather of dutie, then of any gratuitie at the
byshops hand : to whome the sayd lord Paget sayeth of certayne
knowledge (as men may knowe thynges) he the sayde kyng woulde
haue made request for nothyng, beyng the sayd byshop the man at
that time, whome the sayde Lorde Paget beleueth, his maiestie
abhorred more then any man in his realme : whiche he declared
greuously at sondrie tymes to the sayde lorde against the said B.
euer namyng him with such termes as the said lord Paget is sory to
name. And the said lord Paget thynketh, that dyuerse of the
gentlemen of the pryuie chamber are able to depose the same.
Neuerthelesse it may be, that he the sayde lorde Paget, did vse
another forme of request to the said B. then the said king wold
haue lyked yf he had knowen it : which if he clyd, he dyd it rather
for dexteritie, to obteigne the thyng for his frend then for that he
had such speciall charge of the sayd kyng so to do : And also the
sayde Lord Paget saith, that afterward it irujrjlit be, that he vsed
such comfortable words of the kynges fauourable and thankefull
acceptation of the thyng, at the sayde byshoppes hande, as in the
article is mentioned : whiche if he dyd, it was rather for quyete of
the sayde Byshoppe, then for that it was a thyng in dede.

" To the seuenth article, the sayd Lord Paget sayth, that it may
be, that the sayd bishop was vsed at the time mentioned in the
article, with the Ambassadours, for the counsels mouth, because
that none other of the Counsell that sate aboue hym, were so well
languaged as he, in the french tonge. But the sayde Lorde Paget
beleueth, that if the sayde kyng that dead is, had knowen it, the
Counsell would haue had litle thankes for their labour."— Fox,
1st Ed., p. 816.

The unfortunate bishop had clearly met with more than
his match. What could he do with such a man but remind
the Commissioners that in his case, as in that of some
others who had not been sworn, " the sayde othe-geuing

* was not by speciall consent remitted, but especially and

* expressly by the parte of the sayd byshop requyred," and
that therefore "their deposition by thecclesiastical lawes
' hath no such strength of testimonie, as the Judge should
' or might for the knowledge of truthe, haue regard to
' them." He added, however, and it seems to me to show
both that he knew his enemy, and that he did not fear
him : —

" The sayde byshop dare the more boldely alleage this exception ;
and so much the rather, that the Lord Paget hath in his deposition
euidently, and manifestly neglected honor, fayth, and honestie, and
sheweth hym selfe desirous beyond the necessarie aunswere, to that
it was demaunded of him, (onely of ingrate malyce) to hyndre, as

26G GARDINER AND BONNER. [ESSAY

muche as in him is, the sayd byshop, who was in the sayd Lordes
youth, his teacher, and tutor : afterwarde his maister, and then his
beneficiall maister, to obtayne of the kynges maiestie that dead is
one of the roomes of the clerkshyp of the Signet for him : whiche
ingrate malice of the sayd Lord Paget, the sayde byshop sayth in
the depositions manifestly doth appeare, as the sayde byshop
off ereth hym self e readie to proue and she we. And moreouer the
sayd byshop against the Lord Paget allegeth at such tyme, as the
said Lord Paget was produced against the saide byshop, the same
Lorde Paget openly in the presence of the iudges, and other there
present, sayde howe the sayde byshop did flic from iustice, whiche
made him notoriously suspected, not to be affected indifferently to
the truthe (as semed him) and without cause therein to speake, as
enemy to the sayde byshop." — Fox, 1st Ed., p. 864.

Much that is interesting might be added on this point,
from the evidence in this process ; but perhaps what has
been given from it, and from other sources, may lead us to
believe that Bishop Gardiner did not indulge in vain
boasting, when, in his letter to the Protector Somerset, he
referred with affectionate recollection to old times, and his
old master, and boldly added, " NO MAN COULD DO ME HURT

DURING HIS LIFE."3

ESSAY XVII.

GARDINER AND BONNER, No. I.

EVERY one who has paid attention to the examinations of
the reformers, as they are recorded by Fox in his
Martyrology, must have observed how frequently they
were characterized by a spirit of retort and recrimination
which, though it might sometimes be very smart and
clever, certainly was not more politic than it was Christian.
It seems as if common sense might suggest that the
argumentum ad hominem is not for one who stands at
Caesar's bar, and who is being tried, not by the man, but by
the law. A prisoner who is indicted for stealing a horse,
will not entitle himself to an acquittal by proving that the
judge has stolen two. And, indeed, though he may be

:; Fox, 1st Ed., p. 73G.

NICHOLAS RIDLEY, BISHOP OF LONDON
(From an Engraving by /'. a Gunstj

xvii.] GARDINER AND BONNER. •><;;

sure of his proofs, and feel bound in conscience to publish
them, yet, if he is a wise man, he will certainly, both for
his own sake and for the purposes of justice, let the matter
stand over till he has got out of the dock.

In the cases here alluded to, however, the pleasure of
having a hit at a papist persecutor — especially a bishop —
and most especially one of those two bishops who had pro-
vokingly come out of gaol, and reseated themselves in the
chairs lately occupied by Ponet and Ridley — was so great,
and the thing was so congenial with the mocking and jeer-
ing spirit of which too many popular writers and preachers
of the party had set examples to their followers, that the
temptation seems to have been irresistible. But after the
specimens which I have given (considering, too, that for
decency's sake I have passed over the worst) it is unneces-
sary here to offer any general reflections on this matter.1

One very favourite course of this kind was (if I may so
misapply terms to carry on the figure which I have used)
something like filing a cross bill against the Lord Chancellor
himself. It was the taking the opportunity of being
brought before him, to tell him to his face, that whatever
his poor orator might be with regard to such matters of
treason, sedition, or heresy, as he was charged with, his
lordship himself with his great seal and mitre, and his
pomp, and pride, and papistry, was an unprincipled turncoat,
and a perjured rascal. A weathercock, too, they called
him ; though, if he was, he had certainly got rather rusty
in the time of Edward.

1 1 need not remind the reader of the styles of Bale and Ponet ; but as
we are at present principally concerned with Bishop Gardiner, I am
tempted to quote what he says with particular reference to Barnes, but
with a more general application to the body to which he belonged. It is
in the preface to " A Declaration of such true Articles as George loye
hath gone about to confute as false," printed in 1546.

" Barnes whom I knewe fyrst at Cambridge, a trymme minion frere
' Augustine, one of a merye skoSynge witte frerelike, and as a good
' felowe in company was beloued of many, a doctour of diuinitie he was,
' but neuer like to naue proued to be either martyre or confessor in christes

' began, and to please suche of the lower sort as enuieth euer auctontie)
4 cheflye againste my lorde Cardinal!, then, vnder the Kinges maiesty,
'hailing the high administracion of the realme."

268 AUTHENTICITY OF EXAMINATIONS. [ESSAY

And Bonner came in for his share in all this though he
was as rusty as Gardiner ; and, in particular, it was charged
upon these two bishops, that in former times they had
joined in making a book to deface the Pope, and set up the
king's supremacy; and the taunt against them was, that
now, with shameful (or rather shameless) inconsistency,
they were setting up the Pope. Whether those who made
this an offence meant that Gardiner and Bonner, having
once maintained the supreme headship of King Henry,
were bound to maintain that of Queen Mary, they did not
clearly explain. The matter was done rather in the way of
what Fox calls " privy nips " — sly hints and innuendoes —
which were understood by those who were present, and
which being, of course, wholly irrelevant, and obviously
intended only to aggravate the judge and render him odious
in the eyes of the assembly, were not dwelt upon, and
therefore never (as far as I know) so fully explained as one
could wish.

One word, however, I must say about these Examinations
before I quote from them — namely, that I do not look
upon them in quite the same light as I do upon reports of
trials " taken in short-hand by Mr. Gurney." The accounts
which we have are in many cases given by the parties
themselves ; and it is not impossible, or even unlikely, that
some of the writers might be rather bolder, and wiser, and
wittier, — and perhaps a little more moderate in invective,
not to say less scurrilous — after reflection, and on paper,
than they had been at the moment, and by word of mouth.
In these cases, and also where we are simply indebted to
the observation and memory of friends who were present,
we must not forget that we are reading ex parte statements.
Some of them, too, by persons who, giving them all credit
for honesty of purpose, were not qualified to understand
and report long discussions, not unfrequently relating to
matters involving a good deal of abstruse and subtle disqui-
sition. And it must be added, for it is a still more important
consideration, that many of these documents passed through
the hands of men who did not hesitate to give to the public
what, in their opinion, should have been said, instead of
what really was said, by the champions of their party.2

2 The following extract from Strjpe's Life of Grindal will explain and

xvii.] AUTHENTICITY OF EXAMINATIONS. 260

With the recollection of this fact, we must of course look
on these reports with suspicion ; but bearing it in mind,
and considering that we have nothing better, we must take
things as we find them, and run the risk of sometimes
appearing inconsistent by being obliged, as the truth is
developed, to abandon statements which have, in the first
instance, been acquiesced in, because there did not seem to
be sunicient evidence to contradict them.

A striking illustration of what I have been saying is
offered to us in what may perhaps be considered as one of
the first overt acts of Protestantism which led to severe
punishment after the accession of Queen Mary. The reader
will remember that she came to the throne in July, 1553,
issued a proclamation against preaching in August, and was
crowned on Sunday, the 1st of October. On the next
Sunday but one " Master Laurence Saunders preached at
'Allhallows, Bread-street, in the morning; where he

attest this, and by those who really desire truth it should be most deeply
pondered. The brackets are Strype's.

"Philpot, Archdeacon of Winchester, and Martyr, his Examinations
also were soon come over from England. Which, when Fox had spoke
' somewhat concerning, and consulted with Grindal, Whether they ought
c not to have a review, and some Corrections of them made, before they
' were exposed to the Publick ; Grindal freely thus exprest himself in this
1 Matter, * That there were some things in them that needed the File ;
' that is, some prudent Hand to usher them out into the World. ^ For,
' that Philpot seemed to have somewhat ensnared himself in some Words,
1 not so well approved ; as, That Christ is Really in the Supper, &c. And,
' That if the English Book had not been divulged, some Things might be
'mitigated in it. And next, That he sometimes cited the Ancients
4 Memoriter, being void of the Help of Books ; where one might easily

* slip : [as he did.] As when he said, That Athanasius was Chief of the
' Council of Nice ; when as he at that Time was only the Deacon of the

* Bishop of Alexandria, as he [Fox] had remembred rightly. But Atha-
' nasius, he said, laboured in Disputes more than the rest, and in that
1 Sense, indeed, he might be said to be the Chief. But there the Contro-
1 versy was of Honour and Primacy. [And therefore Philpot could not
1 be brought off by that Means.] Grindal also supposed, that Fox him-
1 self might in like Manner espy some other Oversights ; wherefore he
' bad him use his Judgment. Grindal subjoined, that he had heard, that
1 Peter Martyr and Bullinger had wished, that in the Writings of Bishop
1 Hooper, he had had time and Leisure to recognize what he wrote.
« For being wrote suddenly, and under confinement he had not warily
'enough writ concerning the cause, that had been tossed about by his
' Disputations with so many, as such an envenomed Age required. -
Fol. Ed., p. 20.

270 GARDINER AND SATJNDERS. [ESSAY

* declared the abomination of the mass, with divers other
' matters, very notably and godly." 3 This led to his being
brought before his diocesan Bonner, accused of treason,
sedition, and heresy. The Bishop declined entering into
any inquiry respecting the first two charges ; but in refer-
ence to the third, examined him on the doctrine of the
eucharist, and then let him go to the Lord Chancellor, (that
is Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester) who was out when he
arrived, but —

" At last the bishop returned from the court, whom as soon as he
was entered, a great many suitors met and received : so that before
he could get out of one house into another, half an hour was passed.
At last he came into the chamber where Saunders was, and went
through into another chamber : where, in the mean way, Saunders's
leader gave him a writing, containing the cause, or rather the accu-
sation, of the said Saunders ; which when he had perused, * Where
is the man ? ' said the bishop. Then Saunders, being brought forth
to the place of examination, first most lowly and meekly kneeled
down, and made courtesy before the table where the bishop did sit ;
unto whom the bishop spake on this wise :

" ' How happeneth it,' said he, ' that notwithstanding the queen's
proclamation to the contrary, you have enterprised to preach ? '

" Saunders denied not that he did preach ; saying, that forsomuch
as he saw the perilous times now at hand, he did but according as
he was admonished, and warned by Ezekiel the prophet — exhort his
flock and parishioners to persevere and stand stedfastly in the
doctrine which they had learned : saying also, that he was moved
and pricked forward thereunto by the place of the apostle, wherein
he was commanded rather to obey God than man ; and moreover,
that nothing more moved or stirred him thereunto than his own con-
science.

"'A goodly conscience, surely,' said the bishop. ' This your con-
science could make our queen a bastard, or misbegotten : would it
not, I pray you ? '

" Then said Saunders, ' We,' said he, ' do not declare or say, that
the queen is base, or misbegotten, neither go about any such matter.
But for that, let them care whose writings are yet in the hands of
men, witnessing the same, not without the great reproach and shame
of the author : ' privily taunting the bishop himself, who had before
(to get the favour of Henry the Eighth) written and set forth in
print a book of ' True Obedience,' wherein he had openly declared
queen Mary to be a bastard. Now master Saunders, going forwards
in his purpose, said, ' We do only profess and teach the sincerity
and purity of the word ; the which, albeit it be now forbidden us to
preach with our mouths, yet notwithstanding, I do not doubt, but
that our blood hereafter shall manifest the same.' The bishop,
being in this sort prettily nipped and touched, said, 'Carry away

3 Fox, vol. vi. p. 541.

xvii.] DE VERA OBEDIENTIA. 211

this frenzy-fool to prison.' Unto whom master Saunders answered,
that he did give God thanks, which had given him at last a place of
rest and quietness, where he might pray for the bishop's conversion "
—Fox, vol. vi. p. 616.

This the martyrologist calls in his margin, " A privy nip
to Winchester ; " and of course by the time when Fox
wrote, it was merely a good joke. But if we consider the
manners and feelings of the age, and endeavour to realize
the idea of a priest accused of treason and sedition most
lowly and meekly kneeling and making courtesy before the
Lord Chancellor (to say nothing of the bishop), and then
talking to him in this way, we shall not be surprised to find
that he was treated as one out of his wits, and sent to
prison. It may indeed surprise some of those whom (if I
may without offence borrow a phrase from a passage which
I am about to quote) I will call the " Foxie generation," to
learn that Laurence Saunders was not instantly racked with
insufferable torments, and then burned out of hand. But
instead of this, for some cause or other, which, whatever it
might be, seems inconsistent with a raging thirst for blood,
he seems not to have been brought up again for examina-
tion, or rather, never to have been formally examined at all,
until after an interval of about fifteen months.

The object, however, to which I wish more particularly to
draw the reader's attention, is the book to which Saunders
on this occasion referred, as written, and set forth in print,
by Gardiner. There is a mystery about this book De vera
Obedientia which I have not yet been able to fathom, and
do not pretend to understand. There has been so little
inquiry about the matter that I may perhaps be able to give
some information ; but I write also with a view of obtaining
it, and with a consciousness that under such circumstances
I am very likely to make mistakes. If I do, the correction
of them will not only be a satisfaction and benefit to myself,
but a contribution towards our knowledge of a portion of
our ecclesiastical history which is peculiarly worthy of study,
and which offers to the inquirer many little mysteries which
even when they are not intrinsically worth investigation,
yet frequently repay that trouble by throwing light on other
matters of greater importance, and which have been supposed
to be better understood than they really were.

Others have probably sympathized with Mr. Stevens, who

272 GARDINER AND BONNER. [ESSAY

has lately reprinted this work of Bishop Gardiner ; and who
tells us, " the extract which Fox gives of this very scarce and
' extraordinary tract of Gardiner's, with its no less extra-

* ordinary preface by Bonner, had often excited in our mind
' a great desire to see the originals, and that desire was
1 considerably increased by the frequent appeal to it by
' almost all the reformers upon their examinations." 4 Yet
it must be confessed, that no such curiosity seems to have
induced the two most recent biographers of Gardiner and
Bonner even to look at the title-page of the tract, or at least
to get by heart its short and simple title " De vera Obedi-
entia." The former writer tells us that Gardiner "not
only acknowledged the King's supremacy, but wrote a book
in defence of it, entitled, ' De vera et falsa, Obedientia ; ' ':
the latter says, " Stephen Gardiner's famous book, De Vera
' Differentia regice potestatis et Ecclesiasticce, was published
' in 1534 it was reprinted in 1536, and a stringent

* preface was prefixed to it by Bonner." 5

4 Life of Bradford, App. p. Ixi.

5 Since this was published, a passage has been pointed out to me in
Southey's Book of the Church, which I feel it right to notice on more
than one account. He says of Laurence Saunders, whom I have just
now mentioned, "In Edward's reign, he married, and obtained prefer-
ment ; now when the persecution began, he was soon selected as a victim,
and brought before Bonner, who bad replaced Ridley in the see of London."
(Vol. ii. p. 149.) It is almost impossible to imagine a more complete
misrepresentation of the particular matter, or one more calculated to
mislead the reader as to the general state of things. When Queen Mary
came to the throne Saunders was holding the two livings of Church
Langton in Leicestershire, and of Allhallows, Bread-street, in London.
Fox tells us that when the troubles began he was in the country, only in
order to discharge himself of his cure there ; but that finding he could
not resign either living into the hands of any but a papist he continued
to hold both. This is most probably a charitable afterthought of the
martyrologist to excuse the mention of his plurality, for (if Newcourt is
correct) Saunders became Hector of Allhallows, Bread-street, in March,
1553, and one would think might have had time to resign, and have been
in no doubt about finding a fit successor, before King Edward died in
July. However, he was in fact doing the duty at his country living,
when in the month of August the proclamation against preaching was
issued. He set it at defiance and preached on ; of course not unnoticed,
though it does not appear how or by whom. Some of his friends coun-
selled him to fly, but he refused to hear of it. On the contrary, " seeing
he was with violence kept from doing good in that place, he returned
towards London to visit the flock of which he had there the charge."
The " violence " which Fox talks of was, I suppose, somewhat like the

xvii.] DE VERA OBEDIENTIA. 273

Yet surely it must have struck both writers and readers
as rather an odd thing, and one not altogether unworthy of

"rage" and "fury" which he so commonly ascribes to persons who
appear to be acting and speaking very collectedly ; for it seems to have
left Saunders a free agent, and quite at liberty to pursue his way to
London or anywhere else. And so what he was prevented from doing by
violence at his living in the country, he resolved to do in London almost
under the eye, and in the hearing of his ferocious diocesan. On the 14th
of October, therefore, he drew nigh to London, and so doing he fell in
with Sir John Mordant, one of the Queen's Council, who seems to havo
been acquainted with him, and who on learning his purpose urged him to
desist. He would listen to no advice, and when they entered the city
they parted. The Councillor, going to the Bishop, informed him of
Saunders's intention ; and Saunders, going to his lodging, told " one who
was there about him," and who perceived that he was troubled, " In very
deed I am in prison till I be in prison."

If, as I have said on Fox's authority, " Master Mordant, of an un-
charitable mind, went to give warning to Bonner " on Saturday, it does
not appear that the Bishop took any step until the next day, when the
Rector of Allhallows, Bread-street, had preached the morning sermon,
and " in the afternoon he was ready in his church to have given another
exhortation to his people." Then he was sent for to the Bishop's palace,
where he found Sir John Mordant with Bonner and his chaplains. It
seems as if the Councillor had been present at the morning sermon, or, at
least, as if he was the person who then and there preferred the formal
charge respecting it. That charge, as Bonner explained to the preacher,
comprehended treason, sedition, and heresy. Of the two former heads
the bishop waived all consideration ; not, I apprehend, as Fox represents
it, "until another time," but as things with whicli he had nothing to do,
and to which the prisoner must answer before another tribunal. In the
mean time they had "much talk" about the ceremonies of the "church
papistical," and how they were " partly blasphemous, partly unsavoury
and unprofitable." And after that (as Southey quotes from Fox cor-
rectly enough, except that he represents it as it' the Bishop had done it
without a word of preface or reference to anything else) " Bonuer desired
'him to write his opinion concerning tran substantiation : he obeyed
4 without hesitation, saying, as he delivered the writing, ' My Lord, ye do
' seek my blood, and ye shall have it. I pray God that ye may be so
' baptized in it, that ye may thereafter loath bloodsucking, and become a
' better man.' " The reader will bear in mind that, at this time, no sub-
ject of Queen Mary had been put to death on the charge of heresy, nor
do I know that such a thing was even threatened or talked of for a twelve-
month afterwards ; and he will not be surprised to find that Bonner is not
recorded to have made any answer. Fox says that the Bishop " sent
Laurence Saunders to the Lord Chancellor ; " and this may be allowed
to pass ; though I suppose it would be more correct to say that the Coun-
cillor took his prisoner there ; for Fox tells us that, when they came to
the Chancellor's, " Saunders stood very modestly and soberly at the screen
or cupboard bareheaded, Sir John Mordant his guide or leader walking up
and down by him." Then followed the scene which I have just given

s

274 GARDINER AND BONNER. [ESSAY

inquiry. Familiar as we are with the united names of
Gardiner and Bonner, and natural as it would seem to most
modern readers to meet with them joined in an order to
burn a heretic, one is not quite prepared to find them
forming a sort of literary firm or partnership. Of course,
we know that there have been such unions between
distinguished writers at all times, from the days of Beaumont
and Fletcher to those of Mant and D'Oyly ; but in this case
of Gardiner and Bonner, the relative position of the parties,
and the division of labour, is so very strange. The Bishop
of Winchester, both personally and officially one of the
most eminent and powerful men in the kingdom, writes a
little book on a political subject of the utmost delicacy and

above from Fox ; and that issued as I have already stated in the prisoner's
being treated simply as a rebellious fanatic, who could not be allowed to
proceed in his work of agitation, and who was sent into confinement,
where he lay, so far as appears untouched, if not actually forgotten, for a
year and a quarter.

Is it not too much to represent this man, as one who " was soon selected
as a victim?" Should it not make people cautious how they adopt
historical statements from popular writers on party subjects, especially
when for some reason or other they are writing about matters of which
they are ignorant ? I do not mean to charge Southey with intentional
falsehood, but so little care did he take to be accurate in the superficial
compilation which he presumed to call " The Book of the Church," that
in telling this story he was absolutely not aware of the transfer of the
prisoner from Bonner to Gardiner; and, after the words of Saunders
which I have just quoted in this note, he goes on (supposing it to be all
one conversation and repeating what the reader will find, in my quota-
tion from Fox in the text just before, were Gardiner's words) " When
he spoke of his conscience Bonner exclaimed, ' A goodly conscience
truly,'" &c., and this makes it necessary for him to explain to the
readers of "The Book of the Church," who could not be supposed to be
prepared with so much learning as her champion, that " Bonner had, in
' Henry's reign, written and printed a book, wherein he declared the
' marriage with Catherine unlawful, and the Princess Mary illegitimate.
' This retort touched him, and he immediately said, 'Carry away this

frenzy fool to prison.' "

The reader will see that (beside the blundering between the Bishop of
London and the Lord Chancellor) there is here a gross falsification in
representing the Chancellor as immediately giving a passionate order
because he was touched by a personal retort. It does not appear that he
took any notice whatever of the insult, or that anything was done to
prevent the prisoner from " going forwards in his purpose," how long, or
in what language, it might be hard to say, until he began to state how
he and others would, find a way of doing with their BLOOD what the state
forbade them to do with their mouths.

xvii.] DE VERA OBEDIENTIA. 275

highest importance. The Archdeacon of Leicester, a man
of no particular personal importance, and comparatively of
no consequence at all, issues a new edition of it, with a
fulsome puffing preface of his own. To be sure it may be
said that strange things of this sort have happened in
modern times, and that in our own days popular writers
have bestowed the same sort of prefatory patronage on
eminent authors. But that I believe was generally sup-
posed to be rather an affair of the Trade ; and besides, it
was not done in the lifetime of the authors, or to their
faces, or while they were (for indeed they never were)
among the greatest men in the church and state.

But if we can get over all this, there is one thing more,
according to Fox, which is quite enough by itself to puzzle
the matter. He declares that the archdeacon and the
bishop (the puffer and the puffed) hated each other. He
tells us in the plainest terms, that Bishop Gardiner continued
to favour the reforming party, and was firm and forward in
it, "so that who but Winchester during all the time and

* reign of Queen Anne. After her decease that time by

* little and little carried him away, till at length the

* emulation of Cromwell's estate, and especially (as it

* seemeth) for his so much favouring of Bonner, whom
' Winchester at that time in no case could abide, made him an

* utter enemy both against him, and also his religion. "•'
Fox had previously told us, that "so long as Cromwell

* remained in authority, so long was Bonner at his beck,

* and friend to his friends, and enemy to his enemies ; as

* namely at that time to Gardiner Bishop of Winchester,
' who never favoured Cromwell, and therefore Bonner could
' not favour him, but he and Winchester were the greatest
1 enemies that might be. But so soon as Cromwell fell,
' immediately Bonner and Winchester pretended to be the
' greatest men that lived."7 What are we to say to this?
Perhaps we need not say anything immediately. Perhaps
we may be allowed, in such a trifling matter as this, to
reverse the usual mode of writing history, and defer
speculation until we have inquired respecting facts. What
are they ?

Under the year 1534, Strype says, "This year also

« Vol. vii. p. 587. 7 Vol. v. p. 414.

276 GARDINER AND BONNER. [ESSAY

4 Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, put forth his
* book De vera Obedientia ; Of true Obedience, which he
1 wrote to justify the parliament in giving the king the title
1 of Supreme Head of this church."8 Anthony a Wood
gives as one of the works of Bonner, " Preface to the
Oration of Stephen Bish. of Winchester concerning true
Obedience. Printed at London in Lat. 1534, 35 ; "9 but his
account is in other respects so palpably incorrect, that it is
not worth while to criticise the date which he gives.
Herbert1, however, also represents the book as having been
printed by Thomas Berthelet, the king's printer, in the
year 1534. He is entitled to the highest respect and
confidence when speaking of those books which he dis-
tinguishes as having been in his own possession, or under
his own eye ; but as this is not one of them, and as I do not
find any other grounds than those which I have mentioned
for supposing that there ever was such an edition, I am
inclined to suspect that there has been some mistake.
Perhaps the same confusion which I have already noticed,
between Bishop Gardiner's book De vera Obedientia and
Bishop Fox's De vera Differentia ; the latter of which really
was printed by Thomas Berthelet in the year 1534 ; but of
Bishop Gardiner's work I suspect he printed only one
edition, and that not until the next year.

This edition of 1535 is mentioned by Herbert as one of
the books in his own possession, and correctly, though
briefly, described by him2. There is a copy in the British
Museum3. It is a small quarto of thirty-six leaves, numbered
in a large Roman type. The only words on the title-page are

STEPHANI VVINTON . EPISCOPI DE VERA OBEDIENTIA OEATIO.

They are within the well-known Holbein border, having in

8 Mem. I. i. 264. 9 Ath. Ox. ed. JBiiss, vol. i. p. 370.

1 That is, Herbert the bibliographer, (Typ. Ant. vol. i. p. 425,) for
Lord Herbert has been quoted as an authority about this book, which he
describes as Gardiner's "latin Sermon De vera Obedientia." I cannot
imagine that it has any right to be called a " Sermon," and I do not
know why it is called an "Oration," for the language seems obviously
addressed, not to hearers, but readers. It is probable, however, that Lord
Herbert was not very accurately acquainted with the book, for he tells us
that it had a "preface of Dr. Bonner, Archdeacon of Liekfield, " instead
of Leicester.— Life of Henry VIII. p. 389.

2 Ubi sup. p. 246.

a It appears by the catalogue of the Bodleian Library that there is one
there also.

xvii.] DE VERA OBEDIENTIA. 277

the bottom piece (which Dibdin has copied4) what Herbert
calls, "boys in procession to the left." The back of the
title is blank, and the work begins on the following page.
On the back of the thirty-sixth leaf is the colophon,

" LONDINI IN AEDIBUS THO. BERTHELETI REGII IMPRESSORIS
EXCUSA. AN. M.D. XXXV. CVM PRIVILEGIO." I do not 666

anything which looks as if it was a second edition ; and as I
have mentioned Bonner's preface, I ought to add, that it con-
tains only Gardiner's Oration, with no mention of Bonner,
no preface by anybody, no dedication, no addition whatever.
Then there is an addition, which is said to have been
printed at Hamburgh the next year, with this title5:—

STEPHANI WINTONIEN-

SIS EPISCOPI DE VERA OBE
dientia, oratio.

VNA CUM PRAEFATIONE EDMVN-
DI BONERI ARCHIDIACONI LEY

cestrensis sereniss. Regise ma.

Anglise in Dania legati,

capita notabili-

ora diet se

ora-

tionis com-
plecten

te.

IN QUA ETIAM OSTENDITVR

caussam controuersiae quae inter ipsam sereniss.

Eegiam Maiestatem & Episcopii Ko-

manum existit, longe aliter ac

diuersius se habere, q ; hacte

nus a vulgo puta-

tum sit.

Hamburg! ex officina Francisci

Bhodi. Mense lanuario
1536

4 Typ Ant. Prel. Disq. Vol. i. p. xliv. The lower of the two engravings.
6 This, and two subsequent title-pages, are not to be considered i
perfect facsimiles ; but they will furnish the reader with such a knowledge

278 GARDINER AND BONNER. [ESSAY

This is, I believe, the first appearance of Bonner's
Preface ; but I shall have occasion to speak more particu-
larly of this edition presently.

Another edition is said to have been published in this
year at Strasburgh, in 8vo. I have never seen a copy, or
met with a particular reference to one6.

I do not know of any other edition, until in the year
1612, the tract was reprinted by Goldastus, who does not
tell us what edition he followed7; but if there was] one
printed at Strasburgh, it was probably that one ; for a long
address to the reader which is prefixed to the Oration is
subscribed by, " W. F. Capito, C. Hedio, M. Bucer et caeteri
Ecclesiastse Argentoratenses." This address bears no other
mark of time or place that I see ; and (what is most to be
remarked) in the whole reprint I do not find one word of,
or about, any Preface by Bonner.

The only other edition of the original Latin with which
I am acquainted, is that published by Dr. Brown in his
" Fasciculus Rerum expetendarum," &c. The reader who

of the words used, and of the spelling, disposition, and arrangement of
them, and of the general appearance of the title-page as to capitals,
figures, &c., as will enable him to identify any copy which he may meet
with. Should he meet with any that materially varies from them, I
shall be much obliged if he will let me know.

6 In Simler's edition of Gesner's Bibliotheca, in the article on Bishop
Gardiner (in v. Steplianus), it is stated that an edition was published at
Strasburgh, in 1536, in 8vo. Bauer says — " Gardineri (Stephani) de vera
Obedientia oratio. Argentor. 1536. in 8° Karissima et notabilis est.
Schelhorn Amoen. H.E. T.I. p. 837. sqq. Gerdes. p. 133." BiblLibr.
Bar. Tom. ii. p. 10. I have not at present the means of referring to
these authorities, but the latter of them elsewhere says — " Hunc libellum
Argentorati curante W. F. Capitone 1536 8° recusum excerpsit doctiss.
Schelhornius in Amcenit. Historico-Eccles. Tom. i. p. 837. seq." Introd.
in Hist. EC. Tom. iv. p. 237.

7 In his Monarchia. S. Rom. Imp. Vol. i. p. 716. Printed at Hanover.
There is at the beginning of the book a " Dissertatio de Auctoribus,"
which professes to give an account of the authors whose works follow.
But after going through a good many, and before we come to the Oration,
we are told " Qui sequuntur Tractatus nulla indigent dissertatione, quod
et recentes sint eorum auctores, et scrip ta ad amussim polita," &c. The
authors of the prefatory address begin by saying " Nacti nuper orationem
de vera obedientia R. P. Stephani Episc. Wintoniensis, committere non
potuimus, quin earn tibi communicaremus ; " but I do not see that they
throw any further light on the question.

xvii.] DE VERA OBEDIENTIA. 279

turns to p. 800 of the second volume, will find both the
Preface and the Oration, with a title almost literally the
same as that of the Hamburgh edition, of which I have
just given a copy, except that the humorous editor, having
copied as far as " Archidiac. Leicestr.," relieved his feelings
by inserting in a parenthesis, after those words, " (postea
uero Episc. Londinensis pinguissimi et sanguinolenti,)" and
also that "Hamburgi" is altered to " Juxta editionem
Hamburgensem." This latter annunciation in the title
would, of course, lead the reader to suppose that the whole
work (Preface and Oration) were printed from the Ham-
burgh edition. And as he would be quite right in so doing,
it would not be necessary to say anything about it here if
Dr. Brown himself had not taken pains to tell him the
contrary. As if to keep up the puzzle about the book,
though, at the same time, with a real wish to be accurate,
he has particularly specified that he printed the Oration
from the London edition ; while nothing can be more clear
(to me, at least, with the very copy which he used on my
table), than that the Oration in the Fasciculus is really
reprinted from the Hamburgh edition, and not from the
London*. What difference it may make, or whether any, I

8 In Dr. Brown's preface is the following passage—" Boneri praefatio
in Stephani Gardineri librum de vera obedientia Oxonio mihi missa est
' a viro doctissimo Georgio Hickes ecclesia Vigorniensis Decano, qui ilium
' meis precibus diutius in omnibus academise bibliothecis, qusesiverat, in
' Baliolensi vero solum invenit : ipse autem Gardineri liber excuditur
' juxta veterem editionem Londinensem, cui deest ista praefatio (callide
' enim earn editioni illi subtraxerathypocritacrassus, quasi rei pudefactus)
' quam nobis suppeditavit perhumaniter vir de ecclesia nostra et omnigena
' literatura bona prseclare meritus Thomas Tenisonus S.T.P. et S. Martini
' in Campis Vicarius." There is something very humorous in the idea of
the stupid hypocrite Bonner's withdrawing a preface in the manner here
suggested. Dr. Brown was, however, mistaken in supposing that the
copy from which he printed (though it does want the Preface) was of the
old London edition. The copy in the Lambeth Library cannot be doubted
to have belonged to Archbishop Tenison. In the "List of early -printed
books " which I printed in 1843,1 mentioned this volume. I was ^ not
then aware of this passage in Dr. Brown's preface, but it was so obvious
that the book had been through a printer's hands, that I said, *' It appears
to have been used in printing some larger edition, in which it began on
the Signature K 2, and went on to M 3, the signatures being here noted
in the margin with a pen," p. 252. I ought to have said 5 K 2 and 5 M 3,

280 GARDINER AND BONNER. [ESSAY

do not know. On a very cursory comparison of the two
editions I did not perceive any variation ; but it is not im-
probable that they may differ, and at any rate, the mistake
should be corrected.

These are, as far as I know, all the editions of the
original Latin ; and they purport to have been printed
respectively in the years 1535, 1536, 1612, and 1690.
Whether there is any material, or even verbal, difference
between these various editions, I am not able to say. Nor
do I know whether, during the first eighteen years after
its publication, the work attracted any degree of public
attention, or was translated into any modern language. Of
course, I say this merely taking the dates as they stand in
the various title-pages, and keeping the question of their
truth and accuracy quite open for future discussion.

There is, however, an English translation of the work,
which has undergone (one may properly use the word in
speaking of such very barbarous books) three editions. The
earliest dated, and I believe, though it has been ques-
tioned, really the first of them, presents the following title-
page : —

but I did not then, I suppose, observe, or make out the 5, which is
plainly enough written over the references, to save the trouble of writing
"K k k k k," and so on to " M m m m m," as the signatures actually
stand in Brown's Fasciculus. Should this meet the eye of any one who
can give me information with reference to what is here said respecting
Baliol College, I shall be thankful for it. It does not appear from Dr.
Brown's statement whether what he obtained from that source was printed
or manuscript.

xvii.] DE VERA OBEDIENTIA. 2H1

DE VERA OBEDIENCIA

RAtion made in Latine, by the ry-
ghte Reuerend father in God Ste-
phan B. of Winchestre, nowe lord
Chancellor of england, with the
preface of Edmunde Boner, som-
time Archedeaco of Leicestre, and
the kinges maiesties embassadour
in Denmarke, & sithence B. of Lon
don, touchinge true Obedience.
Printed at Hamburgh in La-
tine, In officina Fracisci Rho

di Mense la. M.D.xxxvi.

And nowe translated into english

and printed by Michal Wood :

with the Preface and con

elusion of the traun-

slatour.
fl From Roane. xxvi. of

Octobre. M.D.liii.
In Readinge marke the Notes

in the margine

A double mynded man, is incon
stat in al his waies. lac. i.

It is a small octavo, in fact not larger than the common
duodecimo size. The first twelve leaves are occupied with the
title and translator's preface. Then Bonner's Preface and the
Oration occupy sixty leaves. After this, the Translator again
addresses the Reader, and occupies eleven pages. The body of
the work is in Roman type ; the letter w being of uncouth
shape, and wrong size, either because it was printed abroad,
or it make it look as if it had been ; and the marginal notes
are in a small genuine black letter". Without prejudice to

9 It will be seen that the three large letters in the second line of the
title do not answer to this description. They belong to the German
type into which the Gothic letter passed. I give them because they are

I
282 GARDINER AND BONNER. [ESSAY

any question which may be raised as to the place of its
birth, we may, for distinction's sake, call it the " Roane "
edition.

A second edition of this English version professes to have
followed the first very speedily, and has the following title-

De vera obedientia

oration ma

t in fLattne / 6g

rtgJjt Eeumtie fatfjer in
fctsfjop of

gtte nofo
cslout of
lanfce

tfje preface of <£trmottire iSonner tfjan

&rcl)ilreacon of Heicestre, antr t^e fttnges

Jttaiesties ^mbagsatrour in Henmar

fer, anlrnoUj tt'ssfjov of Hontron: ton

cfjtttg true otelrience, ^rtntetr

at f^aiwrgt) in Hattne, tit

offictna jFransctsci Wotri

Jlanuan'o,
1536.

nom transla-
tetr in to <£njjlts|)e, antr
prtntetr eftsoneg, in Home,
before j)f castle of .$. ^ngel, at tf>e signe of jb.
In nobemfcre, ^nno tro. |H. 13.

This edition is, like the former, in a small octavo form,
though with a page considerably larger than the other. It
is printed, both text and marginal notes, in a sharp, thin,
and not genuine, black letter, on fifty leaves, the last of
which (notwithstanding the announcement on the title-page)
bears the well-known device of a London printer, Hugh
Singleton. It is hardly necessary to say that there is no
more probability of its having been printed by him, than of
its having been printed at Rome ; though, perhaps, we
might find some grounds for suspecting that it (perhaps I
might say the Roane edition, also) was printed in England.

what were used in printing Coverdale's Bible, and by several English
printers afterwards,

xvii.] DE VERA OBEDIENTIA. 283

But, without discussing or prejudicing this question, we may
call this the " Rome " edition.

The third edition, being a reprint from this second, was
published by Mr. Stevens, in London, as lately as the year
1832, by way of Appendix to his Life of Bradford. It is
right to mention this reprint, not only because I am en-
deavouring to give a list of all the editions both of the
original and of the translation, but because all the old
editions, whether Latin or English, are scarce books ; and
the reader who feels any curiosity to look at the work, is
more likely to have access to this modern edition than to
any other ; and he should be premonished that it is executed
with astonishing ignorance and incorrectness1.

1 Many readers will feel that I can hardly say more in a few words
than by stating, that this piece of " Martyrological Biography," as the
author entitles it, is quite worthy to take its place with the Seeley
edition of Fox. I speak, of course, with reference to the reprint of
Gardiner's work which it contains, for I have not had occasion to look at
any other part. Take the following specimens of what seems almost
unaccountable carelessness — " do not go about traitorously," for " do not
only go," &c., page Ixvi., line 28. "If their works and writings," for
"if their words," &c., hdx. 27. "To worship a pretty white coated
casket," for " cake," Ixxii. 8 from bottom. " Therewith the consent of
the whole church," for "than with the consent," Ixxvii. 25. "And
prefaced the same also in his deeds," for " and performed the same,"
&c., Ixxxvii. 24. " Giveth us more plain meaning of this," for " warn-
ing," ibid. 28. "If he had to call him," for "if ye lust to call him,"
xcv. ult. " This indeed is the most special way," for " the most spedy,"

penult. "It was meet to mistake," for "to mislike" cxii. 5. "Inhalj
estate of worldly power," for "Jiault estate," cxvii. 5 from bottom.
" Therefore take away the other from the cause, for the other ought to
be a servant of truth, and cannot nor ought not to be prejudicial ;" for
other read othe twice, and put out not, cxxxvi. 24. Much more might
be adduced in proof of the very negligent and careless way in which the
reprint has been made ; but there are other blunders of a grosser cha-
racter, indicating, not only negligence, but such a degree of ignorance
as should have prevented the editor from meddling with the matter, and
as is quite fearful when thus combined with a free and easy method of
altering the text at his discretion. For instance, at p. Ixvii., (where, by
the way, there is a good deal left out,) we read of " piurours," a class of
persons of whom few people, I suppose, have ever heard. The editor
was so entirely unacquainted with books belonging to the same period
as that which he was editing, as not to know that a p with a transverse
stroke across its tail (£>), was a most common contraction for "per," and
that the "double-faced" people of whom his author spake were "per-

284 GARDINER AND BONNER. [ESSAY

The Roane and Rome editions, however, though gener-
ally considered as (and substantially, I suppose, they really
are) one and the same version — perhaps, by the way, one of
the most barbarous versions of Latin into a sort of English
that ever was perpetrated — present a great many variations,
some of which may be just worth mentioning.

In the first place, at the very outset, instead of a blank
page at the back of the title, the Rome edition has in black-
letter—

" The Contentes
of Winchesters boke.

e

The Kinge supreme head of y churche
The Bishop of Home hath non au
toritie in Englande
The Kinges mariage with the la
dy Anne, chaste and lauf ull

iurours,'' or " perjurers." But he was content to print nonsense which
he could not himself pretend to understand. And so he was two pages
farther on — who or what are "kabies? " One would imagine they must
be the people who used the celebrated " kimes " — but no, it is merely that
the reprinter of a printed book is so little acquainted with the type of
the time, as to take a capital R for a capital K, and so, from being
" ruffling Eabyes," the papistical prelates who made sermons and
orations have been turned into "Kabies," instead of "rabbies." He
modernized it as far as he could, explain it he could not, but he was
content to let it stand, and say nothing about it. A still grosser and
more absurd specimen of the same sort of ignorance and absolute
incompetency to read the book which he had undertaken to edit, is
afforded by a note on p. cxi., which is literally as follows : —

" If the Bishop of Rome were Christ's Vicar, he would not have
practised ing-gliges. — WOOD."

The reader will understand that in the original this is a marginal
note, and the narrow margin required the last word of it to be divided.
It is hardly worth the trouble, but if the reader will turn the i into a
j, invert the n, remove the hyphen, and supply the common mark over
the next i, to indicate that an n is omitted, he will arrive at the word
" jugglinges." How could any man, especially one who so freely used
his discretion about inserting the marginal notes of the translator, think
of disfiguring his book by what he must have felt to be nonsense ? But
superadded nonsense is not the worst effect produced by this tampering
of ignorance, as the following specimen may show. In the old edition,
the translator speaks of certain valiant soldiers, who loved to sleep in
a whole skin, and he compares them to " Gnatoes." This the editor
(guiltless of Terence) did not understand, and so he has actually stripped
the poor parasite of his capital, and printed the passage thus — " like
gnats with ait, aio, negat, nego," p. Ixx. What did he think the gnats
did, and how did they do it?

xvii.] DE VERA OBEDIENTIA. 285

The Diuorce of the lady Katheri-

ne donne by Goddes lawe. etc.

The autoritie of Goddes worde,

only to be obeyde.

Mennes traditions repugne in most

thinges to Goddes truthe

The word of truth lay buried,

whan the bish. of Kome ruled here.

The coming agayne of light

confessed

Folishe and vnlaufull othes and

vowes not to be kepte

And other which these incar
nate deuilles impudently
arid traitorously goo about
to subuerte at this day."

In the Roane edition, as I have already said, the trans-
lator adds an appendix of eleven pages, addressed to " the
Christen Header." In the Rome edition this is all omitted,
and there are only two leaves after the end of the Ora-
tion, two pages and a half of which are occupied by matter
headed — e

" C Kesistaunce of y Gospells is a most
manifest sygne of dampnacion."

But the minor variations are numberless ; and it may,
perhaps, be sufficient to quote one specimen, and to make
one general remark, the tendency of both being to give the
reader a clearer idea of the difference between the two edi-
tions, and a ground for forming an opinion as to which was
published first. It is this — that as far as I have compared
them, the phraseology of the Rome edition is generally (not
quite always) less rude, coarse, and scurrilous, than the
Roane text ; and I think that whoever reflects on even the
specimen which follows, will believe, though an opposite
opinion has been maintained, that the passage, which I here
give according to the Roane text, was the original, and that
the Rome text, which substitutes what is here in italics for
what is here in brackets, was the corrected edition. I do
not know whether the mode of printing which I have
adopted is the best for the purpose ; but I trust that the
reader will understand, that if he reads straight forward all
that is in Roman type, as if there were no brackets, and
omits what is in italics, he will have the passage as it stands
in the Roane edition ; if he reads it, omitting what is

286 GARDINER AND BONNER. [ESSAY

included in brackets, and taking instead what is in italics,
he will have the Rome text.

€ The Preface of the Translatour to the gentle Reader.

1 haue hertofore (with no smale admiration) readde a certaine
Sermon made in English, before our late souereiene Lorde King
Henry the .viii, about .xiiii. yeres past, by D, Tonstal than B. of
Duresme, and set furthe in print (by like) for his owne glorye, or
rather purgation, beyng suspected (and not witlwut cause) to be a
fauourer of the pretensed autoritie, and Antichristian power [and
detestable enormities] of the B. of Rome whereof he [semeth at this
daye to be] is bent at this day with other his complices to shew him-
self (that Sermon notwithstanding) not onely to be [no hinderour,
but also] a frindelye fauourer, but an open diligent [a trustie] proc-
tour, and [an open defedour, much to be lamented, in respect of his
excellente giftes, and vertues otherwise.

Ther is also] a certc Oratio also written in latin [made] by D. Sam-
son, [late] than B. of Chichester, and now the double faced epicu-
reous bite shepe of Coventry and Lichfield [which Sermon and Oratio,
proue and make learned assercion] aswel for the proof and assertion
of the kinges supremacy, by the vndoubted truth of Gods vnfayling
worde as of the [necessary and] iust abrogation of the sayde b.islwp
of Romes fained power out of england. [And albe it men iustlye
maruaile at these mennes inconstancy, seyinge howe they sayde and
wrote than, and how slepperli thei speke and doo nowe, yet thei are
not muche compted vppon. because that lyke as Doresme was] By
which /Sermon and oracion 2 beige indifferently instructed in the truthe
for those dayes in som poyntes cannot chose but marvaile somwhat at
this their so sodayne alter acion of mynde and procedlges presently sene
to al menes understanding. Howbeitfor as muche a Tostall hathe ben
longe [a goo] reputed a still dreamynge Saturne, alwaies imagininge
mischiefe, [so is] and Samson [known to be] an idelbellied carnal
epicure, [that] which for worldly honour, and paltring pelfes sake
hath euer holden with the hare, and runne with the hounde as tJiey
say : and [as he hath theuishlye spoiled and made away pore mens
liuings, the patrimonye of his bishoprike, so would he] (if he were
bidden) would saye Christ [was] were a hangman and his father a
thief e. [Therefore, it forceth not what suche dubble mynded mar-
chauntes 3 write or speak, seing (as saint lames sayth) thei are in-

2 This word may appear as strange to some readers of modern books as
it did to an anonymous writer who, four or five years ago, published a
very large joke in the form of a burlesque Life and Defence of Bishop
Bonner, " By a Tractarian British Critic." When this writer found that
Bishop saying of Latimer, " as for this merchant I know him well," and
adding, " as touching the other merchant Hooper, I have never seen him
before," he did not know what to make of it, having probably been led
by something which he had seen or heard to connect the names of Lati-
mer and Hooper with ecclesiastical, rather than mercantile, affairs.
Accordingly, with the characteristic boldness of ignorance, he struck out
the word merchant from the text, and substituted mechant ; showing that

xvii.] DE VERA OBEDIENTIA. 287

constant in all their waies, and of no satled] 1 compted not muclie
vpon them, nor thought that their Sermon and Oracion proceeded of any
perswasion of coscience but [forecast altogether, howe] to serue the
time, as the comon [study &] practice of [al] that foxie genera-
tion is.

[And in like sort] But now of late I chaunced [lately] to read an
excellent, and a right notable [learned] Oration, entitled De vera
Obediecia, made in latine [nere] about .xx. yeres past by D. Stephan
Gardener, than B.isshop of VVinchestre, [and] now Lord Chancellour
and comon cutthrot of England, touchinge as well the kinges supre-
maci and absolute power (vnder God) of the church of England, and
the necessary diuorce (as he calleth it) of the said king Henry the
eighte from the quenes [graces] Mother that now is, [and] together
with the lauf ul and chast mariage (for so he termeth the matter)
[solemnised] had betwene the sayde Kynge and quene Anne, to con-
sist by the vnfailynge almightie word or GOD : as also concernynge
the false fained authoritie and vsurped power of the bishoppe of
Rome, and vnlaufull or vnadvysed othees and vowes : ioyned with
the [pleasaunte] preface of doughtie Doctoure Boner, then archdeaco
of Leicestre, [and the kynges Embassadoure in Denmarke], gaping
to be [made] a bishop as he is now by the way of usurpation [was
afterwarde] of London for the commendacion and praise of the same
Oracion.

I think the reader will believe that these two editions

if he did not understand English, he was not altogether ignorant oi
French, and knew how to adorn his work with some such flowers of con-
jectural criticism and humorous emendation as should render it worthy
of the Seeley press from which it was to issue. It might be vulgar, but
it would be not only truth, but good English, if a reviewer were to say of
this author, that it was "hard to deal with such a chap ;" and perhaps
most readers would pass over the phrase without once thinking of the
words " dealer and chapman," which still linger amidst our phraseology
in a sense which has now become obsolete with respect to " merchant."
This work is anonymous ; but in case any future Placcius should be
inclined to inquire about its authorship, three marks may be mentioned as
possibly offering a clue. First, some other exhibitions of ignorance, such
as I have mentioned — as for instance, in support of his assumed character
of an ultra-traotarian, the author dates his dedication, " October 23, Feast
of St. Ignatius Loyola." As a piece of humour this is, perhaps, equal to
anything in the whole book ; but not being much at home in the Calendar,
he has unluckily got hold of St. Ignatius the Patriarch, instead of St.
Ignatius the Jesuit, whose day is the 31st of July. Again, any man who
should affect to write a life of Bishop Bonner, though only in a solemn jest
of less than four hundred pages, while under a belief that the Cotton
MSS. are at Oxford, should really be himself placed in the British Museum
as a national curiosity. See p. 13 ; and it is likely that where there are
such things, there are plenty of such like. A second mark is, that the
book is printed at Durham. A third, and the most observable, is, that it
quotes a " charge " delivered by one " of the Dignitaries of the church,"
named Townsend.

288 THE STORY OF HAMBURGH. [ESSAY

were printed in the order which their title-pages suggest ;
but, supposing their dates to be relatively true as to the
order of precedence between them, do we not begin to feel
some surprise at those dates themselves ? The former
edition purports to have issued "from Roane, xxvi. of
Octobre," in the year 1553 ; and the later from Rome " in
Novembre " of the same year. It will be seen, therefore,
that the date of this Roane book is only eleven days after
Laurence Saunders's sermon, at Allhallows, Bread-street.
To be sure, Gardiner had been Lord Chancellor ever since
the 23rd of August, but how had he earned the title of
" common cut-throat of England " ? Whose throat had he
or anybody else cut ? What had " Doughtie D. Bonner "
done by that time ? In short, does not this style of
writing, as well as even the coupling together of the names,
rather savour of a later period, and a subsequent state of
things and of feelings ? Does it not look as if there was
something not quite accordant with strict truth in the times
so punctually set forth in the titles of these books, any
more than in the places assigned to them by the same
authority ?

And now that these suspicions are raised, let us go back a
little, and look again at that Hamburgh edition of 1536,
which was the first to present the public with Archdeacon
Bonner's Preface, and from which Dr. Brown's reprint in
his Fasciculus, as well as the English translation, are pro-
fessedly made. I propose this, because there is something
very curious about the early history of printing in Ham-
burgh. I lay the following story, relating to that subject,
before the reader, without pretending to vouch for the truth
of all its particulars ; but at the same time assuring him,
that in such sources of information as I have had oppor-
tunity to consult, I have found nothing to contradict any of
them.

The Story of Hamburgh.

One fine morning, in the year 1491, when all the inhabitants of
Hamburgh were deeply engaged in business and pleasure — that is,
either in actual buying and selling, or in bargaining — so that even
the gate-keeper (it is not known of which gate) had stepped up into
the city to learn the state of exchange between Hamburgh and
Berlin3, two men, whose outlandish appearance afforded no infor-

3 Some readers may think I ought to have said Lubeck, perhaps, or
some other place more known in the early history of commerce. But as

xvii.] THE STORY OF HAMBURGH.

mation as to the place whence they came— indeed, I believe it has
never to this day been even guessed at— contrived to slip in un-
observed. How they managed to bring in with them all the mate-
rials and machinery necessary for establishing a printing-office is not
known ; but it may well be imagined that nobody observed them,
in a city where every man had his hand in his pocket, his heart in
his purse, and his head in his ledger. So John and Thomas Brocard,
or Borchard, or Burchard, with their typographical gear, went for-
ward unmolested, until they came to the vacant space in front of the
Town-house ; where, as it seemed to them that they should have
plenty of room and be in nobody's way, they set up their press, and
incontinently fell to work, printing a folio book in great Gothic type
to the honour of the Virgin Mary.

All that day, as every day, everybody in Hamburgh was minding
his own business, and the Proconsuls and Consuls (as the citizens
loved to call what more modern folks would designate as the Burgo-
masters and Town-Council) were assembled in the Town-house, to
mind the business of every body else. Nobody, therefore, heeded
the printers, until the municipal grandees came forth, after a long
day's discussion on a new tariff, and were struck with amazement
by the strange novelty. John and Thomas, by incredible skill and
diligence at case and press, had just worked off their book, and
hastily gathering and folding a few copies, presented one to each of
the senators who had surrounded them, and were gazing in silent
wonder at their proceedings. Most of the Consuls, indeed, had
little idea of what was going forward ; but two or three of the most
enlightened looked at each other knowingly, and in a way that
plainly said, this will not do. " Aye, aye," said one of the Proconsuls,
at length, giving utterance to the thoughts of the others as well as
his own, "If this is allowed it will be the ruin of the place. The
exchange will be deserted by book-reading fools, and the workhouse
crammed with book-writing beggars. Trade will be ruined, and all
the profit of our exports and imports together will not meet our
poor-rates. We have staved off this new-invented folly during twenty
or thirty years that it has stultified Mentz and Cologne, Frankfort
and Strasburgh, and I know not what places beside, and we must

the exact truth is not known, I do it on purpose to give the good city of
Berlin a lift, as Mr. Cattley has done in his edition of Fox, by telling us
that in the year 1538 it was honoured by the presence of Henry the
Eighth, while his Vicar-General Cromwell was for some inscrutable reason
quartered at Utrecht, or, as the cautious editor (not to depart at once too
much from the ancient orthography which he is correcting,) is pleased to
spell it " Eutrecht." The proof of this is a letter from no less a person
than Archdeacon Bonner, then bishop elect of Hereford, to the Lord
Cromwell. The antiquated mode of spelling, which the editor has so
carefully corrected, would in all likelihood have led some readers to quite
another part of the world. They would have been liable to suppose that
Eyrlingand. Ewridge were the two seats of the Lord Burgavenny in Kent
and Sussex, better known to modern readers (especially the readers of
Nichol's Royal Progresses) by the visits of Queen Elizabeth.— See Fox,
vol. v. p. 152.

T

290 PRINTING IN HAMBURGH [ESSAY

not give way now. In spite of bad example, not a type has ever yet
been set up in the good city of Hamburgh, and we are not going to
begin now."

John and Thomas rubbed their thumbs on their aprons, and looked
sheepishly at each other. It was clear that they had made a great
mistake. But they were sharp fellows, and in great emergencies
great wits jump. They formed a sudden resolution, made a sudden
start, ran off at full speed, and were never more seen or heard of.

The senators stood still and stared after them, but they stirred
not a step. Perhaps they had some sympathy with Dogberry, and
were not sorry to get rid of bad company at so little expence. For
that matter, indeed, when the property which John and Thomas had
abandoned in their flight came to be carried to account as firewood
and old metal, there was a balance of some dollars in favour of the
city chest. But so deeply were the Proconsuls, and Consuls, and
Citizens, and indeed all the inhabitants, impressed with a sense of
the danger which they had so narrowly escaped, that so long as any
one of those senators lived (and it was more than forty years) no
man, woman, or child, ever printed a book, or a bit of one, in the
good city of Hamburgh ; though none of them knew all the parti-
culars which have just been laid before the reader, some of which
have never, indeed, been divulged until this present occasion seemed
to call for them.

I have already said that I do not vouch for the truth of
all things contained in this story, and I hope the reader
does not think that I believe it all myself, or wish him to
believe more of it than he likes. I merely give it as what
may be true — that is, what cannot be contradicted on the
authority of any of the common sources of bibliographical
information, This must, I think, appear to every reflecting
person very remarkable ; and it will, perhaps, be hardly
believed, unless I state the case more plainly and technically.

If the reader will turn to Panzer's "Annales Typogra-
phic!,"4 he will find what that writer has to say of printing
in Hamburgh during the fifteenth century. It is all com-
prised in a notice of one single book, entitled, " Laudes beate
Marie virginis," said, in its colophon, to have been printed
(if not with all the circumstances here stated) by the per-
sons, and at the time, specified in this Story of Hamburgh.
Panzer states that it was the first book, and the only one,
printed there before the year 1500. In accordance with
this, Santander tells us that this book, " est la seule impres-

* sion faite dans la ville anseatique d'Hamburg, avant 1'an

* 1500, et par consequent Joh. et Thomas Borchard sont les

4 Vol. iv. p. 453.

XVIT.] IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 291

'seuls imprimeurs de cette ville."5 Dr. Falkenstein, in his
history of early printing, published so recently as 1840, has
nothing to offer against these statements, and acknowledges
that the ancient city of Hamburgh, so celebrated in the
history of German commerce, can boast of only one book
printed in the fifteenth century 6.

One book, and only one book, and that by printers who
are not known to have printed any other book, there or
elsewhere, before or after. Surely this is very singular.
Dr. Falkenstein gives us a list of 176 places in which print-
ing had been carried on before this year 1491, and it is
strange enough that Hamburgh should not be among them.
But it is incomparably more strange that, when the art had
penetrated that city in the year 1491 — when a press had
been set up and had produced one book — it should have
disappeared and remained unheard of for forty-five years.
And not only did the newly-arrived art disappear, but the
artists also vanished, not from Hamburgh only, but from all
human ken. The migrations of early printers are notorious,
and nobody would have been surprised to learn that John
and Thomas Brocard had been next heard of at the far end
of Christendom ; but I am not aware that their names are
to be found connected with any other time, or place, or
book, than that single one which they are said to have
printed at Hamburgh in 1491, or that there is, or ever was
anything else in the whole world to attest that such persons
ever existed.

Now when we consider how easy it was for any one of the
printers who really were hard at work in so many other
places, to put a false name of place or printer in a book — •
how very possible it is that some one of them may have
been led, by some reason or some caprice which we cannot
fully understand, to do in this case, what we know to have
been done in so many others — shall we not be led to suspect

5 " Essai historique sur 1'origine de I'lmprimerie, ainsi que sur 1'histoire
de son etablissement dans les villes, bourgs, monasteres et autres endroits
de 1'Europe."— p. 433.

6 " Geschichte der Buchdruckerkunstin ihrer Entstehung und Aupbild-
ung, &c. Ein Denkmal zur vierten Sacular-Feier der Typographic." He
says, " Die alte Hansestadt Hamburg, die in der Geschichte des deutschen
Handels eine so ausgezeichnete Kolle spielt, hat nur ein einzigen Druck
aufzuweisen, welcher dem fiinfzehnten Jahrhunderte angchort. Es ist
1 Laudes,' " &c. p. 198.

292 GARDINER AND BONNER. [ESSAY

that the book of "Laudes" bearing the date of 1491 was
not really a native of the city of Hamburgh ? Especially
because, though I have more particularly insisted on the
fact that no book is known to have been printed therefore
before that time, we must also bear in mind that there is no
proof, so far as I know, of anything having been printed
there for forty-five years after.

ESSAY XVIII.

GARDINER AND BONNER. No. II.

"DE VERA OBEDIENTIA."

THE circumstances stated in the preceding Essay are, per-
haps, sufficient to throw some degree of suspicion on the
work which has been handed down to us as the joint pro-
duction of those two well-known prelates, Gardiner and
Bonner.

Briefly recapitulated, so far as is necessary for the pur-
pose of carrying on our argument, the matter stands thus : —
We are told that in the year 1535, Bishop Gardiner pub-
lished a treatise, " De vera Obedientia," in London. That
in 1536 it was reprinted at Hamburgh, with a recommen-
datory preface by Dr. Bonner, then Archdeacon of Leicester,
and afterwards Bishop of London.

This may naturally, for various reasons, appear to reflect-
ing persons a very singular proceeding ; but waiving, for the
present, all other considerations, let us go to the particular
point at which we arrived in the preceding Essay, and
which was this — namely, that it was, to say the least, very
strange that this new edition of the Bishop of Winchester's
book, thus patronised and prefaced by the Archdeacon of
Leicester, should have been printed at a place where there
had previously been so very little printing of any kind. I
stated that no bibliographer whose works I had the oppor-
tunity to consult, had mentioned any book, whatever as
having been printed there before the year 1491.

This, considering how many presses had by that time been

xviii.] EARLY PRINTING AT HAMBURGH. 2D3

set^up elsewhere, and how many years they had been in
active operation, may be considered as not a little remark-
able. Still more wonderful, however, it must appear to
every considerate reader, that if one book was printed there
in 1491, so little should have been done for so long a period
after that time. True it is that things may have been done
which were not recorded, and which are unknown merely
because they had no chronicler. Books may have been
printed at Hamburgh in the beginning of the sixteenth
century which were unknown to Panzer, but certainly not
enough to affect the argument ; and with his Annals before
me, I ventured to express an opinion that no book was
printed there during the forty-five years which succeeded
1491 — that is, until this very year 1536, when the joint
production of Gardiner and Bonner is said to have been
printed. In stating this opinion, however, I felt that who-
ever should look out my authorities might think that they
did not fully support my statement, though I did not bur-
then the matter with details. Indeed those details would
not be worth entering into at all, if it were not that beside
their reference to the particular case before us, they have a
more general, and an important, bearing on the subject with
which we are engaged.

As we have seen what Panzer gives as occurring at Ham-
burgh before the year 1500, (which is only the single volume
of 1491, said to have been printed by artists otherwise alto-
gether unknown,) let us turn to the second part of his
Annals1, and see what he states respecting the period
immediately following — that is, up to the year 1536, being
the forty-fifth after the flight of the Brocards from
Hamburgh.

In the first place, — and I grant in contradiction of the
opinion which I have stated, — he gives under the year 1527
(only the thirty-sixth of the Brocardian Hegira) one single
book which he found to have been supposed by some persons
to be a production of the Hamburgh press. At the same
time, neither he, nor anybody else, has ever pretended that
it bore upon it any name of place or printer. Indeed, I do
not know that it is thought to exhibit anything in type, or
workmanship, or any internal evidence whatever, by which

1 Vol. vii. p. 117.

294 EARLY PRINTING AT HAMBURGH. [ESSAY

the place of its origin might be decided. But there is, I
grant, one circumstance (forming, however, I submit, an
obviously insufficient ground for this opinion) which has led
some persons to think that this book was secretly and clan-
destinely printed in the particularly non-printing city of
Hamburgh. So strange it is that at every step of this
inquiry we meet with some petty mystery. The first book
which we come to after thirty-six years of total barrenness,
is only supposed to have been printed there, if indeed the
mere supposition is still entertained by anybody. And of
all the books in the world, what book does the reader sup-
pose it was that broke the long slumber of the Hamburgh
press ? Not a new edition of the " Laudes " in Latin — the
Proconsuls and Consuls had changed all that, — but Tyndal's
New Testament in the English tongue. All that Panzer has
to say of the year is this :

" MDXXVII.

" 1. PENTATBUCHUS et NOVUM TESTAMENTUM anglice ex versione
GuLielmi Tyndal. 1527.

"Maitt. II. p. 685."

It is hardly worth while to trace the authorities for this,
because it is probable that those who suggested, or accepted,
Hamburgh as the place where that work was printed, were
not aware of any improbability, and only took it for granted
that, as Tyndal was said to have got away from England to
Hamburgh, and also said to have printed his testament soon
after that time, he had, as a matter of course, printed it at
that place. To those who were probably not aware of any
thing to suggest a reason why a book might not as pro-
bably be printed there as anywhere else, this was quite
natural ; but after what we have just seen, and considering
how much more easy, and how much less expensive, it would
be to send a manuscript to some one of the many places where
there certainly were printers and presses at work, than to
introduce secretly into a town in which there seems to have
been no printing, (or, to say the least, none for six-and-
thirty years,) all the materials and persons requisite for the
clandestine printing of a book in a foreign language, which,
after all, for anything that appears, might just as well have
been printed elsewhere — considering, I say, all this, we may,
perhaps, very reasonably doubt whether Tyndal's Testament

^PINUS DE ECCL. ROM. IMPOSTURIS. 205

should stand where Panzer has placed it2. If, however, this
book was really printed at Hamburgh in 1527, it must
stand by itself, an isolated fact, a sort of little Eddystone in
the barren sea of time; for three years elapse before we
come to a notice of another supposed book. The next article
in Panzer is —

" MDXXX.

" 2. JOANNES HBPINUS de Romanae ecclesiae imposturis. Epis-
tola data est Hamburgi MDXXX. octavo Cal. Jun. 8.
" Maitt. Ind. I. p. 477."

Why surely we might as well put down Dr. Brown's
Fasciculus, which we have been talking of, as printed at
Sundridge, in Kent, because the doctor's Epistola data est
"Sundrigise nonis Octobr. MDGLXXXIX." Dr. Brown
was Rector of Sundridge, and Dr. Hiick (who chose to call
himself ^Epinus) was pastor at Hamburgh. If either of
these divines thought fit to write a letter, it is probable
that he would write it at, and date it from, the place where
he lived ; and it is highly probable, that if anybody saw fit,
for any reason, to forge a letter from either of them, he
might be deep enough to think of this. But to put down a
book as printed at a place, merely because the prefatory
epistle is dated from it, is so monstrous, that it would not
be worth while to say another word about the matter, were
it not that the mystery of Hamburgh hangs over this book
also, and involves a point or two which are worth our
notice, because the genuineness- of the literature of that
period and the good faith of the men concerned in it,
(especially of those belonging to the party of the Reforma-
tion,) is a very important matter with reference to our
inquiry.

(1.) In the first place, did this author ever write any
such book ? He was a very well known man, and his works

2 Maittaire, thus quoted as his only authority by Panzer, refers us only
to Le Long's Bibliotheca Sacra ; and Le Long (vol. ii. p. 337) quotes
only "Hollandus in Heroologia Anglicana," which I have not at present
opportunity to consult. Of course this matter has been more fully
investigated since the days of Panzer ; and whoever studies the informa-
tion respecting the history of TyndaPs translation and editions of the
New Testament, which has been zealously and ably collected by Mr.
Offor, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Lea Wilson, will need very little argument
to persuade him of the probability that this work of Tyndal's was not
printed at Hamburgh.

296 ^PINUS DE ECCL. ROM. IMPOSTURIS. [ESSAY

seem to have been popular. But I do not find this one
mentioned either by his biographer or his bibliographer —
that is by Melchior Adam, who wrote his life, or by Simler
who allots him a very respectable space in his edition of
Gesner's Bibliotheca. Both of them give lists of his works,
but neither of them mentions anything that can be mis-
taken for this one. (2.) If ^Epinus did write such a book,
did he print it at Hamburgh, for that is our immediate
question ? It may be said, " Of course he would print it
where he lived;" but there is one circumstance which
strongly forbids this assumption — namely, that all his other
works (as far as I have been able to find) were printed else-
where. Simler, as I have already said, gives a list of his
works, and he distinguishes between those printed at Basil
and those at Frankfort, but says not a word of any one
having been printed at Hamburgh. Why did the Super-
intendent of Hamburgh send away his books from that
place, to be printed elsewhere, long after the year 1580,
(Simler gives no work earlier than 1541,) and why did
other Hamburgh writers do the same ? — as it would be easy
to show they did, if it were needful to follow up this point
with further authorities. (3.) There is something worthy
of notice in the title of this supposed Hamburgh book, or
rather in the description of the author. His name, as I
have already stated, was Hiick, or (as he tells us, some
people pronounced it) Hiich ; and when, after escaping the
danger into which the reforming zeal of his youth had led
him, he saw fit to conceal himself, by hellenizing his name
into durcivbs, he knew better than to prefix an aspirate3.

3 In the prefatory epistle to his " Commentarius in Psalmum XIX,"
printed at Frankfort, 1545, addressed to Joachim IL, Marquis of Bran-
denburg, he gives a notice of his early life which, as the book is not
common, may be worth extracting: —

"Glim adolescens cum formabam juventutis studia, et gubernabam
1 scholam in Marchia, valde foelicem judicassem me, si in hac luce, nunc
' demum ibi exorta, mihi turn age re licuisset, vel etiam in gravi difficul-
' tate : sed Domino turn aliter fuit visum : dedi turn pro meis viribus
1 operam ut Evangeliurn in Marchia innotesceret, sed Satanas cum suis
' mancipiis, monachis et sacrificis, tune et meos, et plerorumque aliorum
' bonorum conatus, qui turn mecum eandem rem ibidem agebant, impe-
' (iivit, et me falsis criminationibus delatnm, apud Tuae Cels. patrem, pru-
' dentissimum Principem, liberaliumque studiorum amantem, mendaciis-
' que deformatum, detrusit in carcerem,objecit morti, et iuvisum reddidit
' Marchise praspotentibus, qui turn zelo quodam, Evangelic.'* etincorruptse

xvni.] JOANNES .3SPINUS AND HIS WORKS. 297

He called himself, and his son continued the name, ^Epinus;
and, though he is, of course, often named by various writers,
I know of only one place beside this where I have seen him
designated Hepinus. (4.) I may as well plainly express
my suspicion that the work is not genuine, and that some
of our countrymen had a hand in the matter. That
^Epinus was known to some of them who would not have
hesitated to borrow his name, is beyond doubt, for he was
over in this country in the year 1534. Some of his works
were subsequently translated into English, and it is in one
of those English translations alone that I find him called
Hepinus. John Day, it seems, printed without date, " A
i very fruitful and godly exposition vpon the 15 psalm of

* David called, Lord who shall dwell in thy tabernacle.
' Made by John Epinus, preacher to the church of Ham-

* borough, and translated into English by N. L. 8vo." *

' doctrines ignari, defendebant Papisticos errores : tandem etiam ex car-
' cere eductura, compulit me e patria commigrare, apud exteraos sedes
' quaerere, et apud ignotos in exilio agere, et cum multis ac magnis
' difficultatibus luctari, ubi ob adversariorum pertinax odium et cupidi-
' tatem mihi nocendi, etiam coactus sum mutare gentilitium nomen, et

* juxta piissimorum, doctissimorum, ac prudentissimorum virorum con-
' silium, pro teutonico gentilitio nomine Huck (quod et Hiich a multis
'effertur, et scribitur) Grseca voce atTreivbs uti, quae magis congruere
' videbatur, et quse tantum uno, aut ad summum immutatis duobus
' elementis, Germanice gentilitium nornern meum souat, quod adhuc re-
' tineo quod omnibus passim notius sit." — (Sig. A. iv.) A. good deal of
curious matter respecting him may be found in the Philocalia Epistolica
of J. H. a Seelen. p. 8—27.

4 Herbert's Ames, vol. i. p. 673. This is the only instance in which
1 have observed his name without the diphthong, except in Sleidan's
Comm. Lib. xxi. p. 658, and, by the way, in Le Courayer's translation
5 text as " Jean Eepin," a blunder which is

(vol. ii. p. 30) he stands in the text

not corrected in the biographical note professing to give an account ot
him. As to this book of his, there seems to be some little puzzle about
it, as about everything connected with this question. Bauer (Bib. Lib.
liar. Supp. Tom. i. p. 21) thus describes the work of which that men-
tioned by Herbert is a translation ; — "^Epini (Joh.) in Psalmum XV.
1 Commentarius, in quo de iustiticatione, de vita christiani hominis, de
' votis et iuramcntis, de consuetudine impiorum vitanda, de contractibus
' &c. agitur - Recens nunc primum seditus. Argentor. 1543. Liber
' perrarus, &c." Now the book from which I have just quoted a part of
the dedication, is his commentary ou the XIX. Psalm. It bears the
date of Frankfort, 1545, (two years, that is, later than this Strasburgh
edition of the Commentary on the XV. Psalm,) aud^yet in that same
epistle to the Marquis Joachim, he professes that he is dedicating to his
highness the first fruits of his labours in the way of commentary on the

298 JOANNES ^EPINUS AND HIS WOKKS. [ESSAY

And Henry Bynneman printed at London, in 1570, a book
entitled " De arte concionandi formulae, vt breues, ita doctae

* et piaa. Joanne Reuchlino Phorcensi, Anonymo quodam
'rhapsodo, Philippo Melancthone, D. loanne Hepino

* Autoribus," &c.5

But enough has been said about this author, and his
works; especially considering that our only question is,
whether a certain book on the Impostures of the Romish
Church, circulated under his name, was (whether genuine or
spurious) printed at Hamburgh. If it really was, the produc-
tion of it seems to have been an effort from which the press
of that city did not soon recover. Of six subsequent years,

Psalms, in terms which make it impossible to believe that he had pub-
lished a similar commentary on a different psalm two years before. After
stating various reasons for publishing, he proceeds : " Hsec et plura alia,
' quse hie prolixius persequi nolo, induxerunt me ut illis morem gererem
' qui a me contendebant meas annotatiunculas in Psalmos in nostra schola
' dictatas, edendas esse ut etiam in illorum manus venirent, quibus non
' fuit data facultas eas coram audire aut calamo excipere, et prsecipue
' commentarium in Psalmum XIX. His monitoribus cum permiserim ut
' commentariolus in Psalmum xix. Typographo ad imprimendum darentur

' constitui inscribere ac dedicare eum Illustr. tuse Gels

' Hie commentarius cum omnium primum sit, quern ipse publicaverim,

' tuaque Celsitudo mese patrise Princeps sit jure quodam videor

' me debere T. Gels, has primitias mearum lucubrationum," £c. — Sig.
bb. ij. It is possible that there may be some force in the "ipse pub-
licaverim," and that he may refer to things with which he had, or had
not, some connexion, being published by others with his name ; but the
whole style of the dedication is not what we should expect from a Super-
intendent of Hamburgh who had fifteen years before printed a book
against the Church of Rome in his own city ; and whether be did that,
or whether somebody else did it for him, is our question. The reader
is requested to remember this, and not to fall into the idea that I am
attempting to deny that a book with that title, or something like it, and
bearing the name of ^Epinus, or Hepinus, was in circulation. Bauer, in
his work already quoted, places among the works of ^pinus, " Pinacidion
de Ecclesiae Rom. imposturis, adversus impudentem Canonicorum Ham-
burg autonomiam 1530. Liber rarissimus. Hennings, p. 17." It is
worth while to add, that he mentions in the same list another work
which does not seem to have been known to Melchior Adam or Simler —
at least it is not in their lists— " Liber de Purgatorio, et multi alii
ejusdem auctoris tractatus. Lond. 1549. 4. Liber maxime infrequens.
Bibl. Solger, ii. p. 169." A copy of this work is also mentioned
in the Bibl. Bunav. Tom. III. p. ii. p. 1265. It is surely somewhat re-
raarkable that the only edition of this work that is known at all (while
none seems to have been known to countrymen of his own who gave lists
of his works) should bear the name of London as its birth-place.
5 Herbert's Ames, vol. ii. p. 970.

HAMBURGH BOOKS. 299

Panzer finds not a word to say. We do not hear of so much
as a single book said, or (what is, indeed, all that he has yet
had to offer us since the year 1491) even supposed to have
been printed at Hamburgh. But after that how does the
torrent of typography burst forth ! Panzer reports no less
than four several and independent works as belonging to
that annus mirabilis 1536. His statement is as follows ; —

" MDXXXVI.

"3. STEPHANI Wintoniensis Episcopi, de vera obedientia Oratio.
Cum prcefatione Edmundi Boneri, Archidiaconi Leycestrensis,
Sereniss. Reg. Mai. Angliae in Dania Legati, capita notabiliora
dictae orationis complectente. In qua etiam ostenditur, causam
controversiae, quae inter ipsam Regiam Maiestatem et Episcopum
Romanum existit longe aliter ac diversius se habere, quam hactenus
a vulgo putatum sit. Hamburgi, 1536. 4.

"von der Hardt, 1. c. 11. p. 194.

"4. Psalmus XL VI I. de regno Jesu Christi doctore Urbano Regio
interprete. Hamburgi, anno 1536. apud Franc. Rlwdum Cakndis
Septembris 8.

" Maitt. Ind. 1. p. 337. Hirsch. Mitten. IV. p. 58. Bibl. Schrv. iun.

"5. Psalmus octuagesimus septimus de gloriosa Christi ecclesia
D. Joachim. Holler Senatpri Hamb. dicatus, cum commentario D.
Urbani Regii. Hamburgi in officina Francisci Rliodi 1536 mense
Octobri. 8.

" Hirsch. MiUen. IV. p. 58. Bibl Sclno. iun.

" 6. Canticum et Ecclesiastes cum Sect. Bibl. et Psalt. hebr.
Occurrunt in Parte II. Machazor germ. Hamburgi 1536. fol.

" Cl. De Rossi appar at. Helraeo-Bibl. p. 65. n. 120. Masch. Bibl.
Sacr. Vol. IV. Supplp. 18."

But magnificent as this statement appears, half of it is
disposed of by observing that the first article is the book of
Bishop Gardiner, which is the subject of our inquiry ; and
the fourth is by Panzer's own direction to be expunged. It
seems a pity to rob a place which has so little to spare, of the
glory of printing a Hebrew book ; but if, while such persons
as Wolfius and Masch dispute, such another as De Rossi
decides that the book was not printed there, but at Augs-
burgh, what can we do 6 ? So there remain only these two
commentaries on two Psalms by Urbanus Regius ; of which

6 In his Supplement, (vol. ix. p. 473,) Panzer says, in reference to this
matter, " Non Hamburgi sed Augusts Vindelicoruin impressum fuisse
hunc librum docet Cl. de Rossi, 1. c. p. 37, n. 238. DeUaturergo hie."

300 HAMBURGH BOOKS. [ESSAY

it would be needless to say anything but that the author
was a favourite with the English Reformers, and that
several of his works (whether any of them were printed at
Hamburgh or not) were translated into English, and printed
in this country7. It will be observed, that these books of
Urbanus Regius, like Bishop Gardiner's, are ascribed to the
press of Franciscus Rhodus ; a printer of whom, as far as I
have been able to find, there is no other memorial whatso-
ever. He is, therefore, a very fit successor to John and
Thomas Brocard, and, I suspect, one of the same inscrutable
family.

But taking matters as they stand, the history of Ham-
burgh typography up to, and including, the time when
Bishop Gardiner's work is said to have been printed there,
is this : — The book of Laudes in 1491 — Tyndale's Testa-
ment, supposed, 1527 — Hepinus's book, supposed, 1530 —
Gardiner's and two of Urbanus Regius, actually said to be
1536. This is the history as far, at least, as it was known
to Panzer. There might be books printed of which he knew
nothing ; and, on the other hand, books which he supposed
to exist, may have been only imaginary. His list for any
given city or town may, it is granted, be either defective or
redundant, but we must take one with another ; and certainly
Hamburgh was not so much out of the ken of the Pastor of

7 It would be tedious to enter into details, but it may be worth while to
give one or two extracts from Herbert's Ames. *' The Sermon which
Christ made on the way to Emaus to those two sorrowfull disciples, set
downe in a dialogue by D. Urbane Regius," with " A brefe ingresse to
the Christian Reader by John Foxe," printed by John Day, 1578. Herb.
p. 664. " A Declaration of the twelue articles of the Christen fayth"
. . . . " by D. Urbanum Regium, printed by Jugge, 1548." Herb. 714.
"An Instruccyon of Christen fayth .... made by Vrbanus Regius ....
dedicated by J. Fox the translator, ' to his reuerende and singular good
father Ric Melton,' " printed by Hugh Singleton without date. Herb. 1 44.
" The olde Learnyng and the new compared together, .... newly cor-
rected and augmented by Wyllyam Turner. Translated from Urban Re-
gius." Printed by Stoughton, 1548. Herb. 750. "A lytle Treatise after

(that is, the work mentioned in the text) "by Vrbanus Regius: trans-
lated by Rich. Robinson." Printed by Richard Jones, 1594. Herb. 1049.
"A homelie or sermon of the good and euill Angell," &c., by Urbanus
Regius, translated by Rich Robinson. Printed by John Charhvood,
1590. Herb. 1101.

xviii.] BONNER'S PREFACE. 301

Nuremberg as many of the places from which he gives much
more numerous lists of books printed in the first thirty-six
years of the sixteenth century. It would, of course, be
absurd to expect from Hamburgh anything like the fecundity
of Paris, which furnishes 2839 articles, or of Venice with
1959, or Basil with 1121. Panzer, however, could find at
Leipsic, 965 ; -at Lyons, 866; at Cologne, 859 ; Strasburgh,
808 ; and (not to speak of places where the numbers are so
far beyond all comparison) he found at Cracow 283, and
even at Thessalonica, he gleaned more than four times as
many as at Hamburgh.8

But after so much talk about Bonner's Preface, I cannot
help thinking some readers may like to see it. It is not
long, and perhaps they may gain some farther ground of
opinion from internal evidence. The following is the
English translation as it stands in the Roane edition <J : —

"EDMVND BONER

" Archedeacon of Leicester, the king

of England his most excellent ma-

iesties embassadour in Denmarke.

" To the sincere, gentle herted,

and godly Reader.

" Forasmuch as ther be som (doubtles) euen at this present, as it
hath alwaies bene the wont of mens iudgementes to be variable and
diuerse, which thinke, the controuersy that is betwne the kyng of
England and of Fraunce his most roial maiestie and the bishop of
Rome, consisteth in this point, Because the Kynges said maiestie
hath taken the most excellent and most noble lady Anne to his wife :
where as in very dede notwithstanding, the matter is far otherwise,
and nothing so. Wherfore, to the intent al that truly and heartelye
fauour the Gospell of Christ (which that most godly and most
vertuous prince, doth with al diligent endeuour, in euery place
aduance, to the honour of almightie God, and to the profuyt and
commoditie of al Christian people) and that are not enemies, but
louers of the truth (which euery where iustly claimeth the vpper
hand, and to her, althinges, though thei struggle with her neuer so
much in the beginning, yet obey and geue place at length as mete it
is thei shoulde) mai the more fully vnderstand the chief point of
that controuersy, and because thei shal not be ignorant, what the
whole voyce and resolute determinacion of the best and greatest

8 These numbers are taken cursorily from the first list of places, without
reference to supplemental additions, by which they might have been very
considerably increased ; which is not the case as it regards Hamburgh.

9 There are several trifling variations between this and the Rome
edition of the preface. But I do not know that there are any of im-
portance.

302 BONNER'S PREFACE [ESSAY

learned byshops with all the nobles and commons of England is, not
onely in that cause of Matrimony, but also in the defending of the
gospels doctrine : This Oracion of the bishop of Winchester (a man
excellently learned in al kind of learning) entiteled De vera Obe-
dientia, that is, concerning true Obedience, whiche he made lately
in England, shal go openly abrode. But as touching this bisshoppes
worthi praises, ther shalbe nothing spoken of me at this time : Not
onely because thei are infinite, but because they ar far better knowne
to all Christendome, than becommeth me here to make rehersal.
And as for the Oration itself, which as it is most learned, so is it
moost elegaunt, to what purpose should I make any wordes of it,
seing it praiseth it selfe inough, and sence good Wine nedeth no
tauerne bushe to vtter it. But yet in this Oration, whosoeuer thou
art most gentle Reader, thou shalt besides other matters, se it notably
and learnedly handeled, of what importannce and how inuincible
the power and excellencie of goddes truth is : which as it may nowe
and then be pressed of enemies, so it cannot possiblye bee oppressed
after such sort, but it commeth again at length behind the scrine,
more glorious and more welcome.

" Thou shalt se also touching obedience, that obedience is subiect
to truthe, and what is to be iudged true obedience. Besides this of
mens tradicions, which for the moost part, are vtterly repungnant
against the truth of gods law. And therby the waye, he speaketh
of the kynges said highnes Mariage, whiche by the ripe iudgement,
authoritie and priuiledge of the most and principal Vniuersities of
the world, and than with the consent of the hole church of England,
he contracted with the most cleare and most noble ladie quene
Anne. After that, touching the kinges maiesties title as pertaining
to the supreme head of the church of England. Lastlye of al, of
the false pretensed supremacie of the bish. of Rome, in the Realme
of England, most iustly abrogated, and howe all other byshopes
being felowe like to him in their f unccion, yea and in som pointes
aboue him also wythin their owne prouinces, wer before tyme bound
to him by their oth.

" But be thou most surely persuaded of this good Reader, that
the bishop of Rome (though ther wer no cause els but this mariage)
wyll easely content himself : specially, hauinge one morsell or other
caste him. But whan he seith so mightie a king, being a right
vertuous and a great learned prince, so sincerely and so heartelie to
fauour the gospell of Christ, and perceiueth the yearly rauenous
pray (yea so large a pray, that it came to asmuch almoost as all the
kinges reuenewes) snapped out of his handes, and that he could no
longer exercise his tiranny in the kinges maiesties realme (alas it
hath bene to cruell and bitter al this while) nor make lawes as he
hathe done many, to the contumely and reproch of the maiestie of
God, which is euident that he hath done in times paste, vnder the
title of the catholike churche, and the authoritie of the Apostles
Peter and Paul (whan notwithstanding he was a verye rauening
wolfe, dressed in shepes clothing, calling himself seruant of ser-
uannts) to the great damage of the christen commen welth: A
manne may say there began the mischeif : thereof rose these dis-
cordes, these discordes, [sic] these deadly malices, and so great

xviii.] TO GARDINER'S BOOK. 303

troublous bustlings. For if it were not thus, no man could beleuc,
that this Jupiter of Olimpus, whiche hath falsely taken vppon him
power,1 wherein is more bragge than hurt, wold haue done his best
that this good and godly and righte gospelike prince shold be
falsely betraied to all the reast of Monarkes and princes.

"Neither let it moue the (gentle reader) that the B. of Win-
chestre, did not afore now, applie to this opinion : for he him selfe
in this Oration sheweth the cause, why he did it not. And if he
hadde saide neuer a word, yet thou knowest well, what a wittie part
it is, for a man to suspend his iudgement, and not be to rashe in
geuing of sentence. It is an old saying : Mary Magdalen profited
vs lesse in her quick belefe that Christ was risen, then Thomas that
was longer in doubt. A man maye rightlie cal him Fabius, that
wyth his aduised taking of leasure restored the matter to his f ul
perfection. Albeit I speake not this, as though Winchestre had not
boulted out this case secretlie with himself before hand (for he
boulted it euen to the branne long ago, out of doubt) but that,
running faire and softlie, he would first with his painful studie,
plucke the matter oute of the darke, althoughe of it selfe, it was
clearelie sound inough, but by reason of sondrie opinions, it was lapped
vp and made darke : and then did he debate it wittily to and fro,
and so at last (after longe and great deliberation had in the matter)
because ther is no better counsailour, then leasure and tyme, he
wold resolutelie with his learned and consummate iudgement con-
firme it2. Thou shouldest (gentle Eeader) esteme his censure and
auctoritye to bee of the more waightie credence, in asmuch as the
matter was not rashlie, and at al aduentures, but wyth iudgement
(as thou seest) and with wisdome examined and discussed. As for
this is no newe example, to be against the b. of Rome : seeinge that
not onelie this man, but many men many times, yea and right great
learned men afore now, haue done the same euen in writinges :
wherin thei both painted him out in his colours, and made his
sleightes, falsehead, fraudes, and disceatfull wiles, openlie knowen
to the world. Therfore if thou at any time heretofore haue doubted
either of true obedience, or of the kinges maiesties mariage, or title,
either els of the b. of Eomes false pretenced supremaci, as if thou
haddest a good smelling nose, and a sound iudgement, I think thou
diddest not : yet hauing red ouer this Oration (which if thou fauour

1 In the original, "mine Jovem Olympium, qui potestatem plane
' Avvn-ctdwov sibi falso arrogavit." I have said that Bonner's preface is
wanting in the Lambeth copy of the Hamburgh Latin book ; and, in order
to do as I would be done by, I should add that I have no copy of the
original Latin of that preface except what is in Dr. Brown's Fasciculus,
and a very beautiful and elaborate MS. copy kindly furnished to me by
Mr. Laing. I here follow the latter, which is, I have no doubt, the most
correct throughout, though I have not collated it with Dr. Brown's
reprint. Certainly it is so in this place, where it reads "ptate plane
a.vviretBvvov,'" which stands in the Fasciculus " pietatem plane 'Avir&j-
Bavov," instead of " potestaiera."

2 " quoniam Stf/t/SouXos cvSets fan pt\riuv \pbvov, docto et consummate
judiciosuo comprobare voluerit."

304 BONNER'S PREFACE [ESSAY

the truth, and hate the tirannie of the bishop of Home and his
deuelish fraudulent falshod, shall doutles wonderfullie content the)
throw downe thine errour, and acknowledge the truth now frely
offered the at length : considering with thy selfe, that it is better
late to do so, than neuer to repent. Fare thou hartelie wel, most
gentle reader, and not onelie loue this most valeaunt king of Eng-
lande and of Fraunce, who vndoubtedlie was by the prouidence of
god born to defend the gospell : but also honour him and with all
thy heart serue him moost obediently. As for this Winchestre who
was longe ago withoute doubt reputed among the greatest learned
men, geue him thy good word with honourable commendations."

On this preface I will here observe only two things.
First, that beside the fulsome flattery of Gardiner, and the
gross abuse of the pope, (both of which, perhaps, assume
rather an exaggerated appearance in this coarse translation),
the whole style of the composition is more rhetorical, not to
say pedantic, than might have been expected from Bonner.
How much Greek the Archdeacon of Leicester carried in
his head, or in his portmanteau, when he went on his
embassy to Denmark, I cannot tell ; but one has not been
used to consider him a person from whom one might expect
stray sprinkles of it in Latin composition. It is odd, that
the very same thing is done by ^Epinus at least half-a-
dozen times, upon very slight provocation, in his prefatory
address to the Marquis Joachim, which I have quoted.
^Epinus really was at Hamburgh in 1536, and a good while
before and after. Is it possible that Bonner may have
taken lessons in composition from him ? or is anything else
more likely ?

Secondly, it is singular that this Preface seems to have
been — I was going to say so little known, but that would
not express my meaning, for, doubtless, it was well known
by those for whom these clandestine books were printed,
and among whom they circulated, and I will rather say — so
much unknown, — or unknown to such persons as those who
do in fact seem to have known nothing about it. For
instance, its existence is not mentioned in the reprint of
Gardiner's Oration by Goldastus, or in the long prefatory
matter by which that Oration is introduced, and which is
signed by Capito, Hedio, Bucer, and all the other ecclesi-
astics of Strasburgh. Had they never heard of Bonner's
Preface ? or did Goldastus know, and omit, a document so
much to his purpose ? Again, I think that the Preface is
never once incidentally hinted at in the Depositions in the

xviii.] TO GARDINER'S BOOK. 305

business of Gardiner's deprivation, though the Oration is
repeatedly mentioned. There is, I admit, no great weight
in this, as the matter there respected strictly only what
Gardiner had done ; though it would not have been strange
if some incidental allusion had been made to the preface.
It is of much more importance to observe, (and as far as
I can see it is true,) that while Gardiner got into the Pro-
hibitory Index for his part, and his Oration was condemned,
Bonner and his Preface escaped all notice ; a circumstance,
which, if the work was avowed, and believed by well-
informed persons to be genuine, seems to me utterly un-
accountable.

Add to this, that although, as I have already said, this
Preface, genuine or not, was undoubtedly well known
among the party for whom books of this kind were secretly
printed, yet I recollect only one instance of its being thrown
in Bishop Bonner 's face by any person under examination.
Gardiner got many "nips," both "privy" and apert, for his
share in the book ; but I do not recollect any other instance
of an attack on Bonner than that which was made by
William Tyms, curate of Hockley, at his examination on the
28th March, 1556, and it is particularly worthy of attention.
How far the reporter was competent to do justice to what
he heard, and how much there was which he did not hear,
we have no means of knowing, for Fox only tells us, " thus

* much William Aylsbury, witness hereof, being present

* thereat, so far as he heard hath faithfully recorded and
'reported. What more was spoken and there said, (for
' they made not yet an end a good while after,) because he
' departed then out of the house, he doth not know, nor did
' hear." He professed, however, to have heard the following
discourse, which, after what we have already seen, may, I
think, lead some readers to suspect that Bonner either did
not write the Preface in question, or else was a much greater
fool than he is generally supposed to have been. He was
not in this case (as he was in many others) engaged with
merely illiterate persons who might be imposed on, for
another of the prisoners was Robert Drakes, "parson of
Thundersley, in Essex." If twenty years before, Bonner
had written that violent invective in Latin, and if, only two
or three years before, two editions of it in English had been
circulated, and Bonner not only knew himself that he had

u

306 BONNEK'S PREFACE [ESSAY

done so, but that the fact was notorious, one can hardly
imagine it possible that he should have replied to the
general charge of Tyms as he did. Bonner had asked him
whether he would submit himself to the Catholic church as
an obedient child : —

" Then Tyms answered and said, ' My Lord I doubt not but I am
of the catholic church, whatsoever you judge of me. But as for
your church, you have before this day renounced it, and by corporal
oath promised never to consent to the same. Contrary to the which
you have received into this realm the Pope's authority, and therefore
you are falsely perjured and forsworn, all the sort of you. Besides
this you have both spoken and written very earnestly against that
usurped power, and now you do burn men that will not acknow-
ledge the Pope to be supreme head.'3

" ' HAVE I ? ' quoth the Bishop ; ' WHEN HAVE I WEITTEN ANY-
THING AGAINST THE CHUKCH OF KOME ? '

" ' My Lord,' quoth Tyms, ' the Bishop of Winchester wrote a very
learned oration, entitled, De vera Obedientia, which containeth
worthy matter against the Eomish authority. Unto the which book
you made a preface, inveighing against the bishop of Home, reproving
his tyranny and falsehood, calling his power false and pretensed.
The book is extant, and you cannot deny it.'"

One can easily imagine that the bishop, if he had written
the Preface, (and still more, if he had not,) might feel
" somewhat abashed " at such a reply. At least he might
exhibit such an appearance to a spectator who, perhaps, was
fully convinced of the genuineness of the Preface, and the

3 It is right to state that, according to William Alsbury's own account,
it does not appear that Tyms was examined about the pope's supremacy,
because such misrepresentations should be pointed out even when they
are only incidentally reprinted in passages quoted for quite different
purposes. Nobody who has studied the examinations of the martyrs,
indeed, would expect to find Bonner taking up that subject, and driving
that point, in the first instance. On the contrary, Fox introduces this
examination by telling us, that on the five prisoners (of whom Tyms and
Drakes were two) being brought before Bonner, " the said Bishop after
Ids accustomed manner proceeding against them, inquired of them their
faith " [not as to the pope's supremacy, but] " upon the sacrament of
the altar. To whom," he adds, " they answered that the body of Christ
was not in the sacrament of the altar really and corporally after the
words of consecration spoken by the priest." This, I say, is Fox's
account of it, but in the course of a page or two, he gives us, " The
Articles for the which William Tyms, of Hockley, in Essex, was con-
demned in the Consistory in Paul's, the 28 day of March ; with his
Answers arid Confession upon the same," and then he gives us, as Tyms'w
own words : " Item, I confessed that in the sacrament of the altar, the
Christ is not present either spiritually or corporally."

xvm.] TO GARDINER'S BOOK. 307

perjured baseness of the bishop. But the candid explanation
which Bonner entered into with his prisoners at a public
examination in " the open Consistory in Pauls," the modest
way in which he proposed himself to them as a model of
conscientious prudence — in short, the whole thing, if we
can only be sure that there was no irony in it, no sense of
the humour of his writing a preface to the " great learned
man's " book, none of that broad, and even coarse, humour
in which he sometimes indulged at the expense of those who
insulted him, and to the amusement of those about him —
if one can be quite sure that he said all that is reported,
and seriously meant all that he said, the passage is very
remarkable indeed. It sets the stubborn old bishop, who
had stuck in gaol all the days of King Edward, in quite a
new light. What a nice peculiarity of conscience there
must have been to prevent his doing for the royal son half
what he had done so freely for the royal father ! But Fox
on: —

" Then was the Bishop somewhat abashed, and looking upon such
as were present, spake very gently, saying, 'Lo! here is a goodly
matter indeed. My Lord of Winchester being a great learned man,
did write a book against the Supremacy of the Pope's Holiness, and
I also did write a preface before the same book, tending to the same
effect. And thus did we because of the perilous world that then
was : for then was it made treason by the laws of this realm to
maintain the pope's authority, and great danger it was to be
suspected a favourer of the see of Eome ; and therefore fear com-
pelled us to bear with the time, for otherwise there had been no
way but one. You know when any uttered his conscience in
maintaining the pope's authority, he suffered death for it.' And
then turning his tale unto Tyms, he said, « But since that time, even
since the coming in of the Queens Majesty, when we might be bold
to speak our conscience, we have acknowledged our faults, and my
Lord of Winchester himself shamed not to recant the same at Paul's
Cross. And also thou thyself seest that I stand not in it, but
willingly have submitted myself. Do thou also as we have done.'

"'My Lord,' quoth Tyms, 'that which you have written against
the supremacy of the pope, may be well approved by the Scriptures.
But that which you now do, is against the word of God, as I can
well prove.'

" Then another (I suppose it was Dr. Cooke) said, ' Tyms, I pray
thee let me talk with thee a little,' &c."— Fox, viii. 10.

I do not pretend to say that others may not have made
reference to this Preface, when under examination by Bon-
ner ; but as I have stated, this is the only instance which I have
observed, though I believe I may say that I have examined

308 GARDINER'S POPERY. [ESSAY

every case in which Bonner had to do with any accused
person. Bishop Gardiner's conduct with respect to his part
of the work was very different, as the reader will perceive.

ESSAY XIX.

GARDINER'S POPERY.

IT may at first be difficult for some readers, but perhaps on
reflection they will find it possible, to imagine a man ardently
denying the Supremacy of the Pope, and avowing a zealous
desire to abolish his usurped authority, and yet at the same
time strenuously maintaining Transubstantiation,Purgatory,
the Invocation of the Saints, and a variety of other doc-
trines and practices which the adherents to the Pope
maintain, but which protestants have rejected. Such men,
however, there were among those who lived in, and survived,
the reign of Henry the Eighth ; and Bishop Gardiner was
one of them. When the person of the king had changed,
and Edward was on the throne, Gardiner not only avowed
that he had in the former reign maintained the King's
Supremacy, but he still maintained it, and in the process for
his deprivation before Edward's Commissioners, he pleaded
in his " Long Matter," which has been already quoted, that
the articles brought forward against him ought not to have
any weight, for various reasons : —

"And, among other things, because the said bishop hath been
always ready, with his best endeavour, diligence, and industry,
according to his bounden duty, to publish, declare, and set forth, as
well the supremacy, and supreme authority, of the king's majesty that
now is, and of the most noble prince of famous memory, the king's
majesty's father that dead is, as the abolishing of the usurped power of
the bishop of Rome, and setting forth of all and singular acts,
statutes, laws, injunctions, and proclamations, made and ordained
in that behalf, and concerning orders of religion in this his majesty's
church of England ; and hath had, hitherto, a very circumspect,
learned, and diligent chancellor under him, who hath duly executed,
and put in execution, the same accordingly : all which things the
said bishop, for his own part, hath likewise always justly, duly, and
obediently done, kept, observed, and executed, and for the approving,
confirming, and stablishing the said supremacy. And of the usurped

xix.] GARDINER'S POPERY. 309

power of the bishop of Rome aforesaid, he hath not only openly
preached, affirmed, and declared the same, in many and divers his
sermons (preaching and teaching always due obedience), but also
hath made and set forth a certain look or work concerning the same,
as by the contents thereof more plainly appeareth, and hath
defended the same in the university of Louvain. And these things
were and be true, public, notorious, manifest, and famous. "—Fox,
Vol. vi. p. 105.

Bishop Gardiner, it is plain, was not anxious to conceal or
disavow, in the reign of King Edward, what he was said to
have written to curry favour with King Henry ; and it is
somewhat curious to see how this one of his Articles is
treated by some of those who were called upon to depose in
reply to the multitude of them contained in his " Long
Matter." A considerable portion of those who were interro-
gated, were, it will be seen, in a state of remarkable igno-
rance concerning the book.

"The Eight honourable Lord Edward Duke of Somerset, being
examined upon the articles ensuing, saith as followeth : —

"To the 1st article his Grace saith that it hath oftentimes
appeared to his Grace, by sundry complaints and informations
made against the said bishop, that he hath not done his duty in
setting forth the King's Majesty's proceedings, in matters of
religion, in such ample sort as his duty required. And as for his
chancellor, his Grace can little testify therein otherwise than that
there hath been of late in him no towardness of conformity ; for
which he doth now remain in prison. And his Grace, also, saith,
that touching the bishop's preaching against the usurped power of
the bishop of Eome, he remembereth not of any sermon by him so
made, saving one, whereof fuller mention is made in his depositions
upon the articles, ministered against the said bishop of office in this
behalf. And as for the book mentioned in this article, his Grace
saith, he hath heard of such a book by him made ; but to what effect
it weigheth, his grace knoweth not, nor also of his defence made in the
university of Louvain." — Fox, Vol. vi. p. 168.

It was hardly to be expected that the minor courtiers of
King Edward should be better informed than his Grace the
Lord Protector. Perhaps it was only a proper compliment
to his station to profess a still more complete ignorance.
Turning over the depositions, we find that,

" As for the bishop's book, and his disputation in Louvain, men-
tioned in this article, his lordship [the Earl of Wiltshire] knoweth
nothing of it," p. 171,— absolutely nothing.

"As touching the said bishop's book, and disputation in Louvain,
his Lordship [the Marquis of Northampton] knoweth nothing
thereof," p. 173,

310 DEPOSITIONS RELATING [ESSAY

" This deponent [the Lord Chancellor Riche] hath heard say (of
whom he remembereih not) that the said bishop did set forth a book
in maintenance of supremacy to be in the king that dead is, his
heirs and successors. And otherwise he cannot depose," p. 175.

The Earl of Warwick passed the matter by, without mention,
p. 177.

" Touching the book made by the said bishop and his disputations
at Louvain, they are unknown to his lordship," [the Earl of Bedford,]
p. 180.

" What book or work the said bishop hath set forth against the
usurped power of the bishop of Rome, or defence he made in the
university of Louvain, this examinate [Sir William Harbert] knoweth
not," p. 182.

Sir John Baker passed over the matter of the book entirely ; and,
indeed, he could say but little about the bishop's opinions on any
subject, "for he never heard him preach but one sermon, the which
was at St. Mary Overys before the house was suppressed. And
whether he treated of such matter, yea or no, he doth not re-
member," p. 184.

" He [Sir Edward Carne] heard say, that the said bishop did make
a book for the king's supremacy, and against the bishop of Rome's
authority. And further this deponent saith, that he, being ambas-
sador in Flanders, heard say that the said bishop of Winchester,
going in an ambassade to the emperor of Germany through Louvain,
communing with certain learned men, there offered to dispute
openly touching the defence of the said book, upon occasion
ministered by the said learned men against the said bishop, touching
the said book. And otherwise he cannot depose ;" though he added,
when examined upon the Interrogatories, that " he heard a talk at
the time the said bishop of Winchester made the book afore deposed
of, that he was loth to write against the said bishop of Rome ; but,
whether the talk was true he cannot tell." — p. 185.

It could not be denied, even by Gardiner's bitterest and
least scrupulous enemies, that there was a sort of hearsay —
a blind rumour — abroad, that Bishop Gardiner had once
written some book, about something, though they did not
know what. How strange that a work by such a person, on
such a subject, at such a time, should have fallen still-born
from the press of the king's printer — to say nothing of its
being (if it was) caught up and puffed and prefaced by the
zealous Bonner, and reprinted at Hamburgh and at Stras-
burgh! How very odd that so many and such persons
should have known so little about it ! One might almost
imagine that the whole thing was an imposture, if we had
not Bishop Gardiner's own acknowledgment, and the testi-
mony of credible witnesses to support it. For some of those
who were examined knew, or professed to know, more about
it than the Lord Protector and his friends. "Cuthbert

EDWARD, LORD HERHKRT OK CHERBURY
(From an Knzra-ving by J. Thomson, after a drawing by I I'm. Dtrby)

xix.] TO GARDINER'S BOOK. :;il

[Tonstal] Bishop of Durham, one of the king's most honour-
able privy council, of the age of 76," deposed that —

" In the king's time that dead is, the said bishop, as one of the
Council, did set forth for his part all such articles, statutes, injunc-
tions, and proclamations, as were then decreed and determined ;
and did set forth at all times the same accordingly. And deposeth
further, that the said bishop did make a book against the usurped
power of the bishop of Home, and setting forth the king's supremacy ;
which book this deponent hath seen ; and all the premises before
deposed, he saith, are true, notorious, and manifest to them that icere
of the Council at that time."— p. 189.

We may presume that the Bishop of Durham was not
aware of some of the declarations which have just been
quoted from the examinations of deponents who " were of
the Council at that time," and who were " of the Council "
at this time also, as they meant to show.

" Thomas [Thirlby] Bishop of Norwich, of the age of 47
or thereabouts," deposed that —

"Although the said Bishop of Winchester (very loth to con-
descend to any innovations) was earnest against alterations, as well
concerning the bishop of Home as other orders in Keligion, yet after
those matters were established and set forth, by the acts, statutes,
and laws of this realm, and the king's majesty's injunctions and
proclamations, this deponent hath known and heard the bishop of
Winchester publish, declare, and set forth, as well the supremacy
or supreme authority of the king's majesty's father of famous
memory, as the abolishing of the usurped power of the bishop of
Rome, accordingly as he was bound : and did set forth a book con-
cerning the, same, as by the contents thereof may appear, which this
deponent hath heard. But how the said bishop of Winchester and
his Chancellor (whom this deponent hath of long time known to be
wise and learned) have executed in his diocese, the king's majesty's
injunctions and proclamations, he knoweth not; for he hath not
been conversant there. Which things, before by this deponent
deposed, be true, notorious, manifest, public, and famous. And as
touching the defence of the bishop's book at Louvain, he hath heard
reported, that he offered to defend the said book then and there ;
and before certain of the doctors, did defend the same, as he heard
say." — p. 190.

"John Pottinger of Winchester, gentleman, where he
hath continued these ten years, of the age of 36 ; sworn and
examined," deposed —

" That the said bishop hath set forth a book in Latin, many years
since, entituled ' De Vera Obedientia,' wherein the said bishop set
forth the king's supremacy, as he remembereth ; and treated against
the usurped power of the bishop of Rome, and of obedience of the
subjects to their prince, as supreme head, very earnestly, to this
deponent's remembrance. For this deponent hath seen and read the

312 BISHOP GARDINER'S [ESSAY

book, and in the same did read of the premises. And, examined
whether he understandeth the Latin tongue, he saith, yea ; and that
once he was fellow of New College in Oxford, and hath the same
book at this present in his study." — Fox, vol. vi. p. 217.

" Master John White, Warden of the college of Win-
chester, of the age of 40," being sworn and examined, among
other things " deposeth as followeth : "

" All the contents of this article, touching as well the bishop as
his chancellor, are true, to this deponent's certain knowledge, saving
the defence of the said bishop's book at Louvain ; which book the
said bishop (as this deponent hath heard say of certain learned men
being then with the bishop) did defend against the rector and cer-
tain divines of the university of Louvain ; which book that he so
defended (as it was said) was the book made by the bishop ' De Vera
Obedientia,' and that book this deponent hath seen and read, which
entreateth of the king's supremacy, and the abolishment of the
bishop of Rome's authority. And saith, that all the premises,
saving the defence of the said book, are notorious, manifest, and
famous, within the diocese of Winchester, to this deponent's certain
hearing and knowledge.

" And for further declaration, this deponent saith, that about
twelve years ago, or thereabouts, as he doth remember, this deponent
(then being schoolmaster of the college of Winton) did by the com-
mandment of the bishop of Winchester, make certain verses extolling
the king's supremacy, and against the usurped power of the bishop
of Eome ; which said verses this deponent caused his scholars to learn,
and to practise them in making of verses to the like argument ; the
said bishop encouraging this deponent so to do." — Fox, vol. vi. p. 223.

One would be glad to have a fuller account of Bishop
Gardiner's proceedings at Louvain in reference to his book ;
and no doubt materials are in existence, though I have it not
in my power at present to avail myself of them. I know of
only two other documents, preserved in Fox's Martyrology,
which tend to throw light on the matter. They add indeed
very little to our knowledge, though they are not without
interest in several points of view. The first is the deposi-
tion of " Master William Medowe, clerk, chaplain to the
* bishop of Winchester, and master of the hospital of Holy
1 Crosses, beside Winchester ; of the age of 60 years," which
begins in the following manner : —

" To the first article of the matter this deponent saith, that the
space of this twenty years he hath been with the said bishop of
Winchester, and is his chaplain, and all the said space, he saith, that
the said bishop, to this deponent's sight and knowledge, hath always
set forth, to the uttermost of his power, the king's supremacy, and
the abolishment of the bishop of Eome's authority. And saith,
that at five several times he hath attended upon the said bishop,

xix.] DISPUTATION AT LOUVAIK 313

when he was sent beyond the seas for ambassador, as well to the
emperor, as to the French king ; at one of which times, the said
bishop was at Louvain, when there was a commencement, wherein
proceeded two doctors of physic ; at which said commencement,
the said bishop was desired to be the Father of the Act, and was at
the same Act present.

"And after the said Act done, in the selfsame day, after dinner,
the rector of the university accompanied with four or five learned
men, came to the said bishop, to his house. And, there and then,
the rector brought with him the book, which the said bishop had
set forth, concerning the supremacy of the king's majesty, and the
abolishment of the bishop of Home's authority ; with the which
book, the said rector, and the other persons, were offended, and
came to the said bishop, to see what he could speak for the defence
of the said book. Unto whom the said bishop said, that he would
gladly hear what they could object against it, and he would make
them answer. And thereupon, the said bishop, with the said rector,
and the other persons, went unto his chamber, and there continued
in disputation ; wherein this deponent heard the said bishop very
earnest and loud in the defence of the said book ; which said book,
this deponent saith, he hath seen and read, and was in the house
with the said bishop, when he did make the same book.

" And further he saith, that the said bishop, within his diocese,
hath set forth all such acts, statutes, injunctions, and proclamations,
as have been made and set forth by the king's majesty that dead is,
and the king's majesty that now is.

" And further saith, that for the setting forth of the same, he hath
had an expert chancellor, Dr. Steward, who hath caused the same
accordingly to be set forth within the diocese, and specially within
the city of Winchester, and within the hospital of the Holy Crosses,
whereof this deponent is master ; and for such a man, the said chan-
cellor hath been and is commonly reputed and taken, within the
diocese of Winchester, to this deponent's knowledge.

"And saith, that the said bishop, at divers and many of his said
sermons whereat this deponent hath been present, hath set forth
the king's majesty's supremacy, and the abolishment of the bishop
of Rome's authority.

"And otherwise he cannot depose upon the statutes of the said
article."— Fox, vol. vi. p. 202.

The second is "a Letter written from Louvain by one
Francis Driander, the contents whereof," says Fox, "are
hereunder expressed in Latin as he wrote it, and the English
whereof, as much as to the present purpose appertaineth,
here followeth translated ; " and for us it will be enough to
extract the English translation, without criticising it, and
only premising that the letter was dated September 22,
1541, and addressed to Edmund Crispin, a person of whom
I believe little or nothing is known, except what is to
be learned from Anthony a Wood's not very complimentary

314 BISHOP GARDINER'S DISPUTATION. [ESSAY

notice of him1. But the value of the letter arises from its
having been put in as evidence by Bishop Gardiner himself,
during the process for his deprivation.

" Before my departure from the city of Paris, I wrote unto you by
our friend the englishman, &c. Now the narration of your bishop
of Winchester, shall satisfy and content you. He (the said bishop)
as appertained to the ambassador of so noble a prince, came to
Louvain with a great rout and bravery, and was there, at a private
man's house called Jeremy's, most honourably entertained and
received ; where the faculty of divines, for honour's sake, presented
him wine in the name of the whole university. But our famous
doctors, and learned masters, for that they would more deeply search
and understand the learning and excellency of the prelate, perused
and scanned a certain Oration made by him, and now extant, in-
titled * De vera Obedientia,' which is as much as to say, in our
english tongue, ' Of true Obedience,' in the which his Oration he did
greatly impair and subvert the supremacy of the bishop of Eome,
and preferred his Lord and King's authority before the holy apostolic
see as they were wont to term it : which being read and considered
by them, they did not only repent them, for attributing such their
honour unto him, but also recanted what they had done before ; and,
like impudent persons, did not so much honour him afore, but now
twice so much with many obloquies and derisions, disabled and dis-
honoured his person.

" But, in conclusion, Richard Lathomus interpreter of the Terms,
with the favourers of this fraternity, and other the champions of the
falling church, boldly enterprised to dispute with him concerning
the pope's supremacy. The Bishop stoutly defended his said
Oration. The divines contrary did stiffly maintain their opinion,
and, divers times openly with exclamation, called the said bishop an
excommunicate person, and a schismatic ; to the no little reproach
and infamy of the english nation.

" I will not here repeat the arguments and reasons which were
alledged on both parts, for the defence of the opinions of each side,
for that lest, perhaps, to learned men, they shall not seem all of the
strongest ; and also, because it becometh me to save and preserve
the estimation of either party. The bishop not long after, minding
to say mass in St. Peter's church, they did deny unto him, as to an
excommunicate person, the ornaments and vestments meet for the
same ; wherewith being highly offended, he suddenly hasted his

1 Under the year 1547 he tells us that " Edmund Crispyne of Oriell
coll. lately a shagling lecturer of physic, now one of the proctors of the
university, did supplicate to be licensed to proceed in physic," and he
adds, that though he found no registration of their license he has no doubt
that it was granted, as he found the supplicant afterwards " written and
stiled" a doctor of physic. Fast. Ox. Part I. col. 126. One would like
to know how the letter came into Gardiner's possession. Strype seems
to take it for granted that this Crispin was the divine of the " popish
stamp " bearing that name, whose services the Devonshire rebels required
in the year 1548. — Gran., vol. i. 265.

xx.] BONDER'S CRUELTY. 315

journey from thence. The dean the next day after, made an elo-
quent oration, wherein he openly disgraced and defamed his person.
I lament greatly their case, who so rashly, without any advisement,
gave themselves to be mocked among grave and witty men. You
have heard now a true story for our doctor was the chief and prin-
cipal doer of that tragedy." — Fox, vol. vi. p. 139.

We may just observe, that in all this, (written several
years after the supposed publication at Hamburgh,) there
is not a word of Bishop Bonner or his Preface ; nor do I
recollect that, when he was in circumstances somewhat
similar to those of Gardiner, he made any such claim as
Gardiner now did, and as he had quite an equal right to
make if the Preface was his. If, however, it be said that
we ought not to expect anything about Bonner's part of the
book in the process relating to Gardiner, it must still be
allowed that it would not have been surprising if some
word about it had escaped ; and that if Gardiner believed
himself to be indebted to Bonner for such fervent co-opera-
tion and patronage, it was ungrateful in him to pass by so
fair an occasion of mentioning it, when it might have been
of service to his fellow-sufferer.

But enough has, perhaps, been said to convince the reader
that if Gardiner did write the Oration, he had no incon-
sistency or tergiversation to be ashamed of ; and that
whether the author of the Preface deserved praise or blame
for his work, was a question that in no way touched Bishop
Bonner.

ESSAY XX.

BONNER'S CRUELTY.

§ 1. GENERAL STATEMENTS AND FULLERS IN PARTICULAR.

THE character of Bonner for cruelty is so established, that
it is superfluous to collect testimonies from the various
writers by whom the charge has been brought ; especially
considering what I have already had occasion to quote in
the course of these Essays1.

1 See what is quoted before from Bale, p. 40 ; from Ponet, p. 57 ; and
from Traheron, p. 65. After them it is almost needless to quote Burnet,
Strype, or even Fox, much less Fuller, Heylin, and more modern writers.

316 FULLER'S ACCOUNT [HSSAT

Indeed, these charges have been so often, and so vehe-
mently repeated, and have so passed into a proverb, that it
is much less necessary to prove their existence, or exhibit
their nature, than to deprecate the appearance of maintain-
ing a paradox by suggesting the idea that they are gross
exaggerations, and in a very great degree false, and
slanderous.

As, however, I do not see that I can be suspected of any
partial motive, in wishing to illustrate this part of our
ecclesiastical history, and as my conscience acquits me of all
sympathy with any person of whatever party or name
(Cranmer, Calvin, or Bonner) in so far as he thought of
maintaining or enforcing Christianity by fire and faggot, I
shall not dilate on this point ; but in order to come to an
immediate understanding with the reader, I will at once
say, that I not only believe those contemporary writers
whom I have quoted, as well as some others, to have
indulged in rhodomontade declamation, and in scurrility as
odious for its falsehood as for its coarseness ; but that I
believe their coloured and exaggerated accounts of facts to
have been still farther coloured and exaggerated — I will
add, perverted and falsified — by more modern copyists. I
do not say that it has been done in most cases with bad
purpose, or in all even knowingly ; I only state my belief
that it has, in fact, been done ; and that stories have been
handed from one careless writer to another, containing
monstrous falsehoods, even beyond what might be warranted
by the statements of the most loose and declamatory writers
of the time. I will give a specimen from one of our most
respectable ecclesiastical historians, which, will not only
explain my meaning, but form a very suitable introduction
to what I wish further to state.

Fuller, in his Church History, gives an account of the
Marian persecution, which he divides according to Dioceses;
and after stating what occurred in several of them he pro-
ceeds : —

" Cross we the Thames to come into Middlesex, and Essex, the
Diocese of London under Bishop Bonner, whom all generations shall
call Bloody. St. Paul mentioneth his fighting with Beasts at Ephesus
after the manner of men, which some expound, his encountering
with people, men for their shape and sex ; but beasts for their cruell
mindes, and manners. In the same sense we may say, that Lion,
Tiger, Wolfe, Bear ; yea, a whole forest of wilde beasts met in

xx.] OF BONDER'S CRUELTY. 317

Bonner, killing two hundred in the compasse of three yeers. And,
as if his cruelty had made him Metropolitan of all England, he stood
not on distinction of Dioceses, but martyred all, wheresoever he met
them. Thus Mr. Philpot belonged to Gardiner's Jurisdiction, and
often pleaded in vain, that Bonner was none of his Ordinary, yet
Bonner (Ordinary, or Extraordinary) dispatch'd him, who cared not
whence men came but onely whither he sent them. No sex, quality,
or age, escap'd him, whose fury reached from John Fetty a lad of
eight yeers old, by him scourged to death ; even unto Hugh Laverock,
a Creeple, sixty eight yeers old, whom he caused to be burnt." —
Oh. Hist. Book VIII. p. 18.

Now, as to the forest of wild beasts one hardly knows
what to say ; it is scarcely tangible ; but I may be allowed
to suggest that if a whole forest of wild beasts, ranging
among a crowd of defenceless sheep, devoured only two
hundred in three years, they must have been, for wild
beasts, rather moderate in their food. But let this stand by
till we have looked at more specific statements.

In the first place it must not be passed over — for the
greatness of the number, and the shortness of the time, are
the points intended to impress the reader — that it would
have been more fair to have said three years and three
quarters ; for there was as much of a fourth year as elapsed
between the 4th of February and the 10th of November.
Again as to the number ; I have no idea why Fuller says
that Bonner killed " two hundred." If he means the whole
number who suffered, that was considerably greater ; and it
would have been better for his reputation if he had stuck
to the old lie, which he might have put off on Fox, without
at all risking his own credit ; —

" This cannibal, in three years space, three hundred martyrs

slew,

They were his food ; he loved so blood ; he SPARED NONE he
knew."2

There is, however, something in this half-hearted modesty
of Fuller which places him in an awkward position ; for as
the magnitude of falsehoods is not calculated by the laws of
arithmetical progression, it is almost as bad to talk of two
hundred as of three. I know of no authority but his own
caprice for assigning to Bonner this lion's share of the prey.
He had enough to render exaggeration perfectly gratuitous.
Hume states (I believe quite correctly, I am sure he is not

2 Fox, vol. viii. p. 482.

318 FULLER'S ACCOUNT [ESSAY

far wrong) that the cases of martyrdom which occurred
during the whole of Mary's reign amounted to 277. If
anybody can show that Bonner had anything to do, directly
or indirectly, with more than about 120 I shall wonder.
Some reader may say " Was it not bad enough to kill 120
in three years and three quarters ? " But I beg him to
observe that I have not made any such admission ; and that
when I speak of Bonner's having " anything to do " with a
case of martyrdom, I wish my words to be taken as strictly
as possible. For instance, no reasonable person would think
of saying that Bonner had anything to do with the martyr-
dom of Cranmer ; yet I include that case in the number of
those with which he was concerned, simply because he was
one of the bishops who went by a special commission to Oxford
to perform the ceremony of degrading the Archbishop.

But this will be clearer presently ; — to proceed with
Fuller : — he tells us that Bonner took upon him as if he had
been metropolitan of all England, " and that he stood not
on distinction of dioceses, but martyred all, wheresoever he
met them." I believe this to be absolutely and entirely
untrue. A caviller might say, though I believe it is the
only case in which he could say anything of the kind, that
when Bonner went, by special commission, to Oxford to
perform the ceremony of degrading Cranmer, he " met "
him out of his own diocese. But except this (which is no
real exception) I suspect it would be impossible to name a
case in which Bonner martyred, or examined, or meddled
with anybody whatever, except upon the particular ground,
distinctly stated in articles officially ministered, that the
prisoner had been " met " in the Bishop of London's dio-
cese, and was under his jurisdiction ; and further that it
was on this ground, and by virtue of this jurisdiction, that
the bishop was interfering in the business.

Moreover, I know of only one case in which that claim
grounded on diocese and jurisdiction was questioned by a
prisoner ; and that is the very one of Philpot which Fuller
quotes ; but which is so far from giving colour to his state-
ment, that it most clearly exposes its gross falsehood.
Philpot, in the course of an examination, said that he had
not offended my Lord of London, and asked why he should
be called before him. Bonner (according to Philpot's own
account of the matter) did not answer by roaring like a

xx.] OF BONNER'S CRUELTY. 319

forest of wild beasts, or by pretending to be a metropolitan,
but soberly and articulately replied "Yes, I have to lay to your
' charge that you have offended in my diocese, by speaking
1 against the blessed sacrament of the altar ; and therefore I
' may call you, and proceed against you, to punish you by

* the law." To this Philpot says he answered, " I have not

* offended in your diocese : for that which I spake of the

* sacrament was in Paul's Church in the Convocation house,

* which (as I understand) is a peculiar jurisdiction, belonging

* to the dean of Paul's, and therefore is counted of your

* lordship's diocese, but not in your diocese." This seems
to have been new light to Bonner, who exclaimed " Is not
Paul's Church in my diocese ? well I wot it costeth me a
good deal of money by the year, the leading thereof." It is
not to our purpose to enter into this dispute, which was
repeatedly renewed between the parties ; but I will add in
a note one specimen which may be enough to show, that
Bonner did not take upon him to examine Philpot either as
a wild beast, or a metropolitan, but (whether right or wrong
in fact or in law) simply on the ground of jurisdiction in
his own particular Diocese3.

3 Fox, vii. 614. The passage quoted in the text occurred at Philpot's
fourth examination. The subject had been repeatedly discussed before,
and was touched on again at his fifth, Ibid. 620 ; resumed in his seventh,
Ibid. 639 ; again in a private conference with Bonner, Ibid. 646 ; and
perhaps on other occasions ; hut by the tenth the Bishop seems to have
got rather tired of it, and the following conversation is reported to have
taken place. The first speaker was one of " two homely gentlemen " un-
known to Philpot, who happened to be present, and seems to have said
nothing but what is here recorded.

" Gentleman. Why do you not require absolution at my lord's hands
' here now ?

"Philpot. Because he is not mine ordinary, neither hath by the law
' any thing to do with me of right.

" London. What an obstinate fool is this ! I tell thec, I will be thine
' ordinary, whether thou wilt or no.

"Philpot. And because of this your unrighteous force towards me,

* I have appealed from you, and require you, master registrar, that my
' appeal may be entered in writing.

" London. Have you heard such a froward fellow as this ? he seemed
' yesterday to be very tractable, and I had a good hope of him. I tell
' thee, thou art of my diocese.

11 Philpot. I am of Winchester diocese, and not of London diocese.

" London. I pray you, may not a man be of two dioceses at once ?

"Philpot. No, that he cannot.

" London. Lo, will you see what an ignorant fool this is in the law, in

320 FULLER'S ACCOUNT [ESSAY

But in dealing with such a story can no one help remark-
ing that it is rather strange, and like the absurdity into
which party writers are apt to be led, to ask our sympathy,
and try to move our feelings, in behalf of a poor pious
puritan who " pleaded in vain " to be put into the hands of
Gardiner? Will it not be thought maudlin nonsense even
by readers, who only know Fox's reports of Philpot's " bold-
ness " in the days of King Edward, and his " divers conflicts
with Gardiner the bishop in the city of Winchester " — by
those who have never been particularly informed that
" Stephen, bishop of Winton, ever bare ill-will against this
godly gentleman," and who have never seen the humourous
"passage Mr. Sternhold, one of King Edward's Privy
Chamber, told afterwards to that King for entertainment's
sake ; " namely, how the said bishop of Winchester (in our
story the defrauded Ordinary) sent for Philpot to meet
certain justices at his house, and called him " rogue," and
then finding that he could dispend ten pounds by the year,
and was his own nephew's landlord, "was afraid and
ashamed for making so loud a lie upon a gentleman, and a
learned gentleman." 4 Whether this account of Strype's is
verbatim the Old Version of our good Psalmist, I do not
know, or how far it is true, but it leads one to think that
there was no particular cruelty in keeping Philpot out of
Gardiner's hands. Indeed I think one hint was dropped
by Bonner at a later period, which seems to look quite a
contrary way. If I remember right, he suggested that
Philpot had been emboldened to imagine that he should

the which he would seem to be seen ? I tell thee , a man may be of
three dioceses at once : as if thou wert born in London, by reason
thereof thou should be of my diocese : or else if thou wert not born
here, but hadst a dignity, also thou art to be counted of my diocese : or
else by reason of thy habitation in my diocese.

" Philpot. In none of these respects I am of your lordship's diocese ;
but for all that, this will not follow, that I, dwelling at Winchester, am
' at that present of London diocese.

" London. What wilt thou lay thereof? wilt thou recant, if I prove it ?

" Philpot. But what shall I win, if you do not ?

" London. I will give thee my bishopric, if I prove it not.

" Philpot. Yea, but who shall deliver it me, if I win ?

" London. Thou art an arrogant fool. Enter their oaths, and take
' these witnesses' depositions. I must be gone to the parliainent-
4 house."— Ibid. p. 655.

4 Strype, Mem. III. i. 438.

xx.] OF BONNER'S CRUELTY. 321

escape burning through the death of Gardiner. But perhaps
enough has been said of this case; only I must beg the
reader to reflect on the almost incredible assurance of
bringing it forward with a " THUS " as if it were given off
hand, and by chance, as the first that came to recollection
from among scores or hundreds, to prove that Bonner " stood
not on distinction of Dioceses, but martyred all wheresoever
he met them."

One remark, however, I must add on the phraseology in
which this falsehood is expressed, because words have their
nods and winks, and frequently exercise a strong, though
subtle influence on readers, even when the objection to them
is such as seems at first sight to be nothing more than cavil
or petty criticism. Fuller says he martyred all " whereso-
ever he met them." Now I have already stated that the
" wheresoever " was, without any real exception that I know
of, within his own diocese and jurisdiction ; but, beside this,
there is something implied in the word " met/' which is not
applicable to the real circumstances of the case. When
bodies are said to be " met," it is implied that the meeting
body, at least, was in motion ; we should hardly think of
saying that a man " met " a post, unless he ran against it ;
and, at all events, we should not use such a word to describe
his contact with a body thrown in his face, or into his lap,
by an external force. Fuller's language would naturally
convey, and of course he meant it to convey, the idea, that
Bonner was on the look out, and went forth, and prowled
like a wild beast to seek his prey. That he desired to meet
with heretics, and catch them, and kill them. What ground
he might have for the suggestion I know not ; but I must
say that from all that I have hitherto learned I am inclined
to believe that Bonner never either by himself, or his agents,
searched for heretics, or was the original cause of any man's
being brought into trouble on the score of religion, except
so far as he might be said to be so by the effect of official
documents set forth by him in his character of a Bishop or
an Ecclesiastical Judge. Or to put the matter in another
form, — what I see leads me to doubt whether he ever
imprisoned, or examined, or even took cognizance of the
existence of any suspected individual on the accusation of
any informer, spy, or private individual, or even on the
reports which he officially monished his clergy to make (and

322 JOHN FETTY [ESSAY

which I presume they did make) to him of those who
refused to go to church, to confess, to communicate, &c. I
cannot prove this (and further inquiry may produce some
cases to show I am mistaken), but I believe that he never
dealt with any alleged heretic who was not brought before
him in his official character as Bishop of London, in due
course of law, by the warrant of some magistrate, or other
person, acting directly under a Commission from the
Government.

These points will appear more clearly hereafter. In the
mean time I am afraid the humane reader will think that I
am postponing, and shrinking from, and not daring to con-
front, the most shocking part of Fuller's account. What are
we to say to the general statement that, " No sex, quality, or
age escap'd him " ? and the particular cases of " John Fetty
a lad of eight years old, by him scourged to death," and
" Hugh Laverock a Creeple, sixty-eight years old, whom he
caused to be burnt " ?

As to the first part of this it is obviously mere declamation.
One knows perfectly, and is tired of being told over and
over again, that the law for burning heretics was a very
bad law ; and ought never to have existed. But, in fact, it
did exist, and it was the law of the country ; and did any-
body ever hear of a country where there were laws and
judges, and where either sex or quality, or age, was con-
sidered as a legitimate ground of escape from the penalty
of the law? Has any nation ever tried the experiment?
Does anybody wish to have it tried ? If they do let them
say so.

To come then to the consideration of John Fetty in
particular. I do not wish to say what is harsh or coarse,
and therefore I will abstain from using some of the words
which I have just quoted from our venerable Psalmist's
narrative, though they run in my mind ; and I really do
hope that if his own book, and Fox's had been held up
before Fuller's eyes, he would have been "afraid and
ashamed for making " such an unfair use of his authority.
If merely the truth of the story were in controversy, instead
of the more serious question of the credit and respect due to
the historian, it would be sufficient to reply that Fox does
not venture to say as a matter of fact, — no, nor even as a
matter of his own belief, — either that the child was

xx.] AND HIS FATHER. 323

scourged to death ; or that, if he was, Bonner ever so much
as saw him.

But as I do not expect the reader either to take my word
for this, or to study the history in Fox, and as it is highly
illustrative of several of the points touched upon in this
volume, I will give what I believe to be a true, though a
brief, summary of the story.

John Fetty, the father of the child in question, was a
simple and godly poor man, "dwelling in the parish of
Clerkenwell, and was by vocation a taylor, of the age of
twenty-four years or thereabout." He seems to have
married at an age when he could not be expected to show
much discretion in choosing a partner; for this (not his
only, and perhaps not his eldest) child was " of the age of
eight or nine years." He suffered for his youthful in-
discretion ; for his wife, disapproving his resolution " not to
come into the church, and be partaker of their idolatry and
superstition," was so cruel, or so zealous, as to denounce
him to " one Brokenbury, a priest and parson of the same
parish." Accordingly "through the said priest's procure-
ment, he was apprehended by Eichard Tanner, and his
fellow constables there, and one Martin the headborough."
Immediately after doing this the poor woman was seized with
such remorse that she became " distract of her wits." Even
the pitiless papists were moved ; the Baalamite priest and
the constables, and headborough, all agreed for the sake of
her, and her two children, that they would " for that present
4 let her husband alone, and would not carry him to prison,
' but yet suffered him to remain quietly in his own house ;
'during which time, he, as it were forgetting the wicked
6 and unkind fact of his wife, did yet so cherish and provide
'for her, that within the space of three weeks (through
' God's merciful providence) she was well amended, and had
4 recovered again some stay of her wits and senses." 5

But strange to say, " so soon as she had recovered some
health," her cruelty or zeal revived, and she "did again
accuse her husband." The steps are not stated ; but we
may reasonably suppose them to have been the same as
before. Now, however, as there was nothing to interrupt
the common course of things, John Fetty was " carried unto

5 Fox, viii. 511.

324 JOHN FETTY [ESSAY

' Sir John Mordant, Knight, one of the Queen's Comrais-

* sioners, and he upon examination sent him by Cluny the

* bishop's sumner, unto the Lollards' Tower." On what
charge (except so far as may be gathered from what has
been already stated) Sir John sent him to prison we are not
told; but there he lay for fifteen days, and probably
Bonner knew no more of his being there, than he knew
of Thomas Green's being twice as long in his own coal-
house6.

Perhaps while her husband lay in prison, the poor woman,
who may so peculiarly be termed the wife of his youth,
relented, and thought herself happy that, owing to their
early marriage, they had already a child of an age to traverse
the streets of London, of "a bold and quick spirit," who
would make his way in search of his father ; and at the same
time, " godly brought 'up," and knowing how to behave
himself before his elders and betters at the bishop's palace.
I own, however, that this is mere supposition, and that I
find no particular ground for supposing that his mother
knew that he was gone out upon what may have been only
a spontaneous pilgrimage of filial piety; but, to come to
facts, it is clearly stated that he " came unto the bishop's

* house to see if he could get leave to speak with his father.
1 At his coming thither one of the bishop's chaplains met
' with him, and asked him what he lacked, and what he
' would have. The child answered, that he came to see his
'father. The chaplain asked again who was his father.
'The boy then told him, and pointing towards Lollards'
' Tower, showed him that his father was there in prison.
' ' Why,' quoth the priest, ' thy father is a heretic.' The
' child being of a bold quick spirit, and also godly brought
' up, and instructed by his father in the knowledge of God,
' answered and said, ' My father is no heretic ; for you have
' BALAAM'S MARK.' "

By this notable speech the unhappy child has gained a
place in the holy army of martyrs. At least (so far as Fox
tells us) he said and did nothing else ; though perhaps we
may take it for granted that the precocious little polemic
showed his " bold and quick spirit," and his godly bringing
up, in some other smart sayings, and gave some other

6 See before, p. 19.

xx.] AND HIS FATHEK. 325

" privy nips " to the Balaamite priest, such as Bishop
Chris topherson and Miles Hoggard would not have
approved7, before he got the whipping, which he is said to
have received ere he reached his father in the Lollards'
Tower. For " the priest took the child by the hand, and
led him into the bishop's house," says Fox ; and he adds,
with the absurdity which so often, and so happily neutralizes
his malice, " whether to the bishop or not I know not, but
like enough he did." " Like enough " — is that all ? and is
there the least likelihood of such a thing ? especially when
Fox proceeds to state that the child as soon as he had been
whipped was taken to his father in the tower, and fell on
his knees and told him his pitiful story, how " a priest with
Balaam's mark took him into the bishop's house, and there
was he so handled ; " but not a word did the child say of
ever seeing the bishop. Fox himself dared not put more in
his marginal note than " The miserable tyranny of the papists
in scourging a child."

The historian, however, tells us that they detained the
boy (whom they probably considered as a go-between) for
three days ; and at the end of that time Bonner makes his
first appearance in the story. And then we are introduced
to him, not burning heretics, but " basting of himself
against a great fire " in his bed-room. There is nothing to
show that he had ever before heard of either John Fetty or
his child ; but on that occasion the father (and as far as
appears the father only) was brought before him. He
quickly showed by his conduct and discourse that he was
either a sort of half-witted person, or else that finding him-
self in awkward circumstances he wished to pass for one.
In that character, whether natural or artificial, he talked
some sad nonsense and impertinence to the Bishop, who
having, of course, gone through the necessary preliminaries
of being in a " marvellous rage " and a " great fury" and
then again being in " fear of the law for murdering a child,"

7 See before, pp. 232, 234. The story of this poor little fellow, a
martyr (if at all) to the cant language of the ribaldry in which he had
been reared, forms an instructive commentary on the statements of
these writers respecting what Fox describes as " being godly brought
up." Perhaps it is due to his mother to believe that his father, under
whose instruction he had so profited, had it in his power to be very
provoking.

JOHN FETTY AND [ESSAY

(for all at once it has come to be quite certain that the child
was killed, and by Bonner too, and therefore he) " discharged
him8." It is remarkable that on one point, Fox says
absolutely nothing, — there is not a word of the prisoner's
being asked to abjure, or recant, or submit, or amend his
evil ways — no hint of his being offered, or signing, any bill
(as Fox calls it), or of anything of the kind, so common on
such occasions. I think, however, that every well-informed
reader will suspect that so far as prudential reasons and
"fear of the law" might weigh with a "bloody wolf,"
Bonner must have known that it would have been safer for
him to whip two taylor prentices to death, and hide them
in his coal-house, than to discharge one prisoner committed
under the warrant of Sir John Mordant without a recanta-

8 As it seems difficult to imagine that Fox could have received his
account of this interview on any authority but that of John Fetty him-
self, it is worth while to subjoin the particulars, especially as it seems
probable that there was no other authority (Fox certainly refers to none)
for any one word of the story.

' At his first entering into the chamber, Fetty said, ' God be here, and
' peace.' ' God be here, and peace ! ' quoth Bonner, ' that is neither God
' speed, nor good morrow.' ' If ye kick against this peace,' said Fetty,
' then this is not the place that I seek for. '

" A chaplain of the bishop's standing by, turned the poor man about,
' and thinking to deface him said in mocking-wise, ' What have we here,
' a player?' Whilst this Fetty was standing in the bishop's chamber he
' espied hanging about the bishop's bed a great pair of black beads :
'whereupon he said, 'My lord, I think the hangman is not far off; for
1 the halter ' (pointing to the beads) ' is here already.' At which words
1 the bishop was in a MARVELLOUS RAGE.

" Then, immediately after, he espied also standing in the said bishop's
' chamber in the window, a little crucifix (before which belike, Bonuer
' used to kneel in the time of his hypocritical prayers). Then he asked

* the bishop what it was ; and he answered that it was Christ. ' Was he
' handled so cruelly as he is here pictured ? ' quoth Fetty.

" ' Yea, that he was,' said the bishop.

" ' And even so cruelly will you handle such as come before you. For
' you are unto God's people, as Caiaphas was unto Christ.'

" The Bishop, being in a GREAT FURY, said, ' Thou art a vile heretic ;
' and I will burn thee, or else I will spend all that I have, unto my gown. '
' ' Nay, my lord,' said Fetty, 'ye were better to give it a poor body, that
' he may pray for you ? '

" But yet Bonner, bethinking himself of the danger that the child was
' in by their ^ whipping, and what peril might ensue thereupon, thought

* better to discharge him ; which thing was accomplished. Whereupon
' after this and such like talk, the bishop at last discharged him, willing
' him to go home, and carry his child with him," &c. Certainly if
Bonner was a wild beast, Fetty was a "Van Amburgh.

xx.] HUGH LAVEROCK. 327

tion or submission, or some sort of voucher, to lay before
the Council. But nothing, I repeat, is said about it.

Our business, however, is rather with the story of the
unfortunate little creature, whom, for his impertinence,
Fox has made a martyr. Within fourteen days after he
had been taken home by his father the child is said to have
died ; and Fox most characteristically adds " Whether
'through this cruel scourging, or any other infirmity, /
* know not ; and therefore I refer the truth thereof unto
' the Lord who knoweth all secrets, and also to the discreet
' judgement of the wise reader ; " discreet and wise historian
— he gives no hint how he picked up the story, and does
not venture to insinuate that the boy, or the father, or any-
body else ever said that the Bishop even knew of the whip-
ping. Such is the authority for Fuller's bold, brief, and, I
suppose I may add, false statement.

But there is also the case of " Hugh Laverock a creeple,
sixty-eight years old, whom he caused to be burned." It is
really not worth while to waste time on such childish stuff.
If Fuller had said that nobody, of any age, lame or not
lame, ought to be burned for heresy, one would fully and
heartily agree with him. The law by which it was done,
was execrable, and should have been altered ; but while the
law existed, while the government enforced it, while public
opinion and even the most violent partisans of the Reforma-
tion supported it, when, as far as I know, nobody had ever
thought of saying a word against it — when things were in
this state what was a judge to do? Half a century ago
people in general, I believe, thought that a man who had
committed forgery ought to be hanged ; and, though our
judges were not bloody wolves, it was a very rare thing for
a convicted forger to escape the gallows. How the court
and jury sworn would have stared if the counsel for the
prisoner had admitted the fact without hesitation, declared
that his client did it on principle, gloried in it, and would
do it again as soon as he was discharged — for discharged he
would of course be, seeing that he was sixty-eight years old,
and could not walk without a crutch ?

Such matter is not worth answering, but I must notice
here again the language in which the statement is made.
He describes the " lame old man of the Parish of Barking,
painter," as one whom Bonner " caused to be burned." Of

328 BONDER'S RAGE AND FURY, [ESSAY

course, if an author were writing history with any particular
spite against the law of forgery and the late Serjeant
Glynn, he might represent Dr. Dodd as a victim whom the
bloody Recorder " caused to be hanged ; " but surely
nothing less than ignorance, or malice, or some particular
notion of language, could lead any one to use such an
expression, unless he meant to imply some particular
causation. Now as to this poor man of Barking, very few
particulars except his age and lameness are recorded by
Fox ; but yet it so happens that he does tell us that Hugh
Laverock was charged with what was considered the
grossest heresy <J ; and what is more to our purpose, we
learn that one of the articles ministered to him and con-
fessed by him, was this; —

" That thou, the said N., being con vented before certain Judges or
Commissioners for thy disorder herein, and being found obstinate,
wilful, and heady, wast by their commandment sent to me and my
prison, to be examined by me, and process to be made against thee
for thy offence herein."

But let us for a while dismiss Fuller's wild beast, or forest
of wild beasts, in order to introduce a very different
character. When the reader of Fox has become sufficiently
familiar with the " MARVELLOUS RAGE " and " GREAT FURY "
that embellish so many of his descriptions of prelatical pro-
ceedings, to treat them as Mr. Burchell would have done1, —

9 "Amongst other things thou hast misliked and earnestly spoken
' against the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacrament of the Altar, and the
' Unity of the Church, railing and maligning the authority of the see of

' Rome and the faith observed in the same Hast heretofore

' refused, and dost refuse at this present, to be reconciled again to the

' unity of the church Hast affirmed expressly that the mass is

' idolatry and abomination/' &c. See Fox, viii. 140, and compare vii.
715.

1 In order even to know what this means, he must have read Fox a
good deal, and not merely as I suspect some admirers of Fox do, but
stopping now and then to think whether the facts which he states are
really such (not merely in degree, but in land) as to warrant the flourish
with which he introduces them, or the comment which he appends to
them. The RAGE and FURY of prelates and persecutors is of course a
constant theme, and affords many ludicrous specimens of nonsense and
falsehood ; none perhaps more so than the following. If the reader
turns to vol. v. p. 765, he will find that, at the " third Session against
Bon ner," after Cranmer had been addressing " the people," and telling
them how Bonner went about to deceive them, and had appealed to the
said people, to judge of the Denunciation against him, which he ordered

xx.] DECLAMATIONS AND DETAILS. 329

when he calmly inquires what these tales so full of rage and
fury really mean, when they mean anything — he finds the
bloody wolf transformed (I will not say into a spaniel, for
that might imply fawning), but into something much more
like a good-tempered mastiff, who might safely be played
with, and who though he might be teazed into barking and
growling, had no disposition to bite, and would not do it
without orders. In plainer terms, setting aside declamation,
and looking at the details of facts left by those who may be
called, if people please, Bonner's victims, and their friends,
we find, very consistently maintained, the character of a
man, straightforward and hearty, familiar and humorous,
sometimes rough, perhaps coarse, naturally hot-tempered,
but obviously (by the testimony of his enemies) placable and
easily entreated, capable of bearing most patiently much
intemperate and insolent language, much reviling and low
abuse directed against himself personally, against his order,
and against those peculiar doctrines arid practices of his
church for maintaining which, he had himself suffered the
loss of all things, and borne long imprisonment. At the
same time not incapable of being provoked into saying harsh

to be read to them by Sir John Mason. — " This done, the Archbishop
said again unto the audience, ' Lo ! here you hear how the Bishop of
London is called for no such matter as he would persuade you.' With
this," continues the Martyrologist, "the bishop being in a RAGING HEAT,
as one CLEAN VOID OF ALL HUMANITY, turned himself about unto the

people [whom the Archbishop had made his judges] saying " Now,

what does the reader suppose he said ? of course, such a torrent of oaths,
and brutal blasphemies, as no scribe, though " clean void of all humanity,"
unless he were also in a " raging heat," could set down in writing. Not
at all — nothing of the kind —the story of the mountain in labour is clean
outdone, unless we can imagine a volcano and a dormouse. Fox's own
words are literally what follow, " The bishop being in a raging heat, as
' one void of all humanity, turned himself about unto the people, saying,
' ' Well, now hear what the Bishop of London saith for his part.' But
' the commissioners, seeing his INORDINATE CONTUMACY, denied him to
' speak any more, saying that he used himself VERY DISOBEDIENTLY ;
' with more like words of reproach." This is only given as one of many
specimens continually recurring, and producing, often insensibly, by
dropping on the minds of thoughtless readers, fixed and obstinate, though
obscure and unfounded, ideas, that they have read dreadful things about
shocking rage, and passion, and inordinate contumacy, and disobedience,
and merited reproach, when in fact they have merely been duped by a
tale "full of sound and fury " — not indeed "signifying nothing," but
signifying something very different from what they have understood, or
were meant to understand by it.

330 BONNER'S "SUBTLE SNARES." [ESSAY

and passionate things, but much more frequently meaning
nothing by the threatenings and slaughter which he breathed
out, than to intimidate those on whose ignorance and
simplicity argument seemed to be thrown away — in short,
we can scarcely read with attention any one of the cases
detailed by those who were no friends of Bonner, without
seeing in him a judge who (even if we grant that he was
dispensing bad laws badly) was obviously desirous to save
the prisoner's life. The enemies of Bonner have very
inconsiderately thrust forward, and perhaps even exagger-
ated, this part of his character, and represented him as a
fawning, flattering, coaxing person, — as one only anxious to
get submissions, abjurations and recantations which would
rob the wild beast of his prey. That he did procure a con-
siderable number of recantations, and reconciled a great
many to the church of Rome, I have no doubt ; some are
incidently mentioned, and we may suspect that there were
a great many more which are not recorded. Of course the
Martyrologists are not to be blamed for this. Their business
lay with those who did not recant. On several accounts we
must not forget that a Book of Martyrs is a record of
extreme cases. This is not the place to enter into details ;
but I do not hesitate to express my belief not only that
Bonner procured the abjuration of a great number, but that
this was one of the causes of that bitter hatred with which
the puritans regarded him. It was not, as I have said, the
duty of their historians to record such matters ; nor could it
be agreeable to the party to have them published either on
the mountains of Gath, or on their own hill of Zion. But
certainly while the public sufferings of their stedfast
brethren formed in every point of view the best subject for
invective, against the papists, for example to the protestants,
and for political agitation of the people, there was, among
the leaders, a great fear of the Bishop's powers of persua-
sion ; or as Fox oddly calls them " the subtle snares of that
bloody wolf" 2

And while it may be proper to say that this phrase did
not relate to traps set for fugitive heretics — for the person
spoken of as " then in danger of the subtle snares of that
bloody wolf Bonner," was already in captivity, and had

2 Vol. viii. 414.

xx.] EVENTS IN A.D. 1553 AND 1554. 831

" been divers times before my lord in examination " — it is
right to add that I do not recollect any instance in which
Bonner was charged with any breach of faith, or promise,
by prisoners whose lives he had saved by his old trade of
persuading. I have found him reproaching some of them
with broken promises ; but on that point I do not recollect
any retort. This however is rather anticipating ; at least
it will be more intelligible if we turn for a few moments
from Bonner himself, to take a very slight and superficial
look at his times ; or rather at that particular period which
preceded the time when he was called more particularly into
public action and notice.

§ 2. SOME OCCURRENCES DURING THE FIRST YEAR AND A
HALF OF QUEEN MARY'S REIGN.

It will enable us more clearly to understand some sub-
sequent events to which our inquiry leads, if we first look at
a brief list of some matters which occurred at the commence-
ment of Queen Mary's reign. The reason for inserting some
things of minor importance, while many of greater conse-
quence are omitted, will be understood by all who consider
that I am not professing to write a history, but merely to
arrange in chronological order, those things to which our
inquiry relates.

1558.
Thursday, July Bth.

On the death of her brother Queen Mary came to the throne.

Ferrar, Bishop of St. David's, had been " kept in prison a long
time, and so remained when Queen Mary entered upon the govern-
ment : upon which occasion he fell into the hands of the pope's
butchers," &c. — Strype, Gran. I. 263.

Sunday, July 9th.

Were sworn unto Queen JANE, at Greenwich, "All the head
officers, and the guard as Queen of England." — Stry. Mem. III. i. 4.

Eidley, Bishop of London, preached at Paul's Cross, " declaring
there his mind to the people as touching the Lady Mary, and dis-
suaded them, alledging there the incommodities and inconveniences
which might arise by receiving her to be their queen ; prophesying,
as it were, before that which after came to pass, that she would
bring in foreign power to reign over them, besides the subverting of
all Christian religion then already established," &c. — Fox, vi. 389.

Thursday, August 3rd.

" Was the splendid day on which the Queen came riding to London,
and so to the Tower."— Stry. Mem. III. i. 26.

332 AUG. 5—16, A.D. 1553. [ESSAY

Saturday, August 5th.

" Cam out of the Marsalsay, the old bysshop of London, Bonar,
and dyvers bysshops bryng hym home unto ys plasse at Powlles." —
Machyn, p. 39 3.

Sunday, August 6th.

John Rogers, prebendary of St. Paul's, "made a godly and vehe-
ment sermon at Paul's Cross, confirming such true doctrine as he
and others had there taught in King Edward's days, exhorting the
people constantly to remain in the same, and to beware of all pesti-
lent popery, idolatry and superstition." — Fox, vi. 592. See Words-
worth's Eccl Biog. ii. 304.

Sunday, August 13th.

" Dyd pryche at Powlles Crosse doctur [Bourn] parson of hehnger
[High Ongar] in Essex, the quen['s] chaplen and ther [was a] gret
up-rore and showtyng at ys sermon, as yt [were] lyke madpepull,
watt yonge pepell and woman [as] ever was hard, as herle-borle, and
castyng up of capes ; [if] my lord mer and my lord Cortenay ad not
ben ther, ther had bene grett myscheyff done." — Machyn, p. 41.
The preacher, who was also a canon of St. Paul's, was apparently in
great danger ; but rescued by ^Rogers (already mentioned) and John
Bradford another of the canons, who pacified the tumultuous part of
the assembly, and led Bourn between them to a place of safety. —
Fox, vi. 391. Stry. Mem. III. i. 32.

Wednesday, August 16th,

" Was master John Eogers preacher commanded to keep himself
prisoner in his own house at Pauls ; "—Fox, vi. 393 ; and the same

3 The work here quoted is "The Diary of Henry Machyn, citizen and
merchant-taylor of London, from A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1563," recently pub-
lished by the Camden Society. The public are much indebted to Mr.
J. G. Nichols, for the ability and pains with which he has edited one of
the most valuable records of the interesting period to which it relates ;
and which has been hitherto scarcely known except by the frequent
references which showed how much Strype was indebted to it, while those
who knew how ill-qualified he was to read, and to copy, MSS. felt that
they could not place full reliance on his extracts. In this particular case,
without meaning to take any liberty with his author, Strypehas so altered
the statement that readers (especially if they knew anything, and reflected
at all) might well be puzzled and misled. Many a student, I dare say,
bas read the following passage witb an uncomfortable consciousness that
he could not name the captive prelates who were said to be set at liberty
at this time. He has wondered what Strype could mean when he said
(evidently following the words of Machyn), " Now came out of the Mar-
sbalsea, Bonner the old Bishop of London, being brought home unto his
place at St. Paul's, and together with him divers other bishops were set at
liberty from their confinements." — Mem. III. i. 27. The " dyvers bys-
shopes " it is obvious were not liberated captives, but brethren who went
to the prison merely to bring out the bishop of London, and conduct him
as a guard of honour and brotherly congratulation "unto ys plasse at
Powlies."

xx.] AUG. 18— SEPT. 16, A.D. 1553. 333

day master Bradford was committed to the charge of the lieutenant
of the Tower.— Ibid. 392. This was under the idea that the influence
which they obviously possessed over the seditious part of the popu-
lace, indicated some connexion or sympathy.

Friday, August 18th.

A Eoyal proclamation was issued which prohibited preaching. —
Fox, vi. 390. But he afterwards assigns it to the 21st of this month,
p. 538, where he seems to be following Machyn, who says " The xxi
day of August was a proclamasyon that no man shuld reson aganst
her grases magesty and her conselle doyng the wych she wyll doe
to the honor of God and ys moder," p. 42 ; but whether this was
the same proclamation that is given at length by Fox I do not
know.

Saturday, August 19th.

" A Letter was sent unto Sir Henry Tirril, Anthony Brown, and
Edmund Brown Esquires, praying them to commit to ward all such
as should contemn the Queen's order of religion or should keep
themselves from church, there to remain until they be conformable,
and to signify their names to the council." — Fox, vi. 538.

Tuesday, Aug. 22nd.

The council dispatched letters requiring the attendance of Bishops
Coverdale and Hooper. — Fox, vi. 393.

/Sunday, August 27th.

Cranmer was "cited to appear the week following before the
Queen's Commissioners in the bishops Consistory within Pauls." —
Fox, vi. 538.

Tuesday, August 29.

Bishop Hooper appeared before the Council. — Fox, vi. 393. See
Aug. 22nd.

Friday, September 1.
Bishop Hooper was committed to the Fleet.— Fox, vi. 393. 647.

Monday, Sept. 4dh.

The Council dispatched letters requiring the attendance of Bishop
Latimer. — Fox, vi. 393.

Thursday, Sept. 7th.

Cranmer " set forth a letter which was also printed in purgation
of himself." It is given at length in English by Fox, vi. 539 ; and
in the original Latin by Burnet.

Wednesday, Sept. IBth.

Bishop Latimer appeared and was committed to the Tower. — Fox,
vi. 393.

Thursday, Sept. Uth.
Cranmer was committed to the Tower. — Fox, vi. 394.

Saturday, Sept. 16.

There were "Letters sent to the Mayors of Dover and Rye, to
suffer all french protestants to pass out of this realm, except such

334 OCT. 1, 1553— JAN. 27, 1554. [ESSAY

whose names should be signified to them by the french ambassador."
— Fox, vi. 394.

Sunday, Oct. 1st.

The Coronation. A pardon proclaimed to all but those in the
Tower, and the Fleet, and 62 other persons. — Fox, ibid.

Sunday, Oct. 8.

Thomas Mountayn parson of St. Michaels in the Tower Eoyal
" did minister all kynd of service " according to the order set forth
by King Edward ; "the whole parish being than gathered together,"
with " many other godly citizens." His own account of his proceed-
ings may be read in Strype, Mem. III. i. 104. The circumstance is
only mentioned here as one of those which illustrate the state of
things at the period.

Sunday, Oct. 15th.

Lawrence Saunders preached at Alhallows Bread Street. — See
before, p. 269, 271.

Monday, Oct. 16th.

The Convocation began ; " in the which convocation master Phil-
pot being present according to his room and degree, with a few
others sustained the cause of the gospel manfully against the adver-
sary part."— Fox, vii. 606.

Wednesday, Dec. 13th.

Is the date of the Queen's precept to the Bishop of London for
dissolving the Convocation. — Fox, vi. 411.

Friday, Dec. 15th.

" There were two proclamations at London ; the one for the
repealing of certain Acts made by King Edward, and for the setting
up of the Mass, for the 20th of December then next following : the
other was that no man should interrupt any of those that would say
Mass."— Fox, vi. 542.

1554.

Saturday, Jan. 13th.

" Dr. Crome for his preaching on Christmas Day without licence
was committed to the Fleet." — Fox, vi. 413.

Friday, Jan. 26.

" Began wachyng at every gatt in arness, for tydyngs cam the sam
tym to the quen and her consell, that ser Thomas Wyatt, ser George
Harper, ser Hare Ysseley, master Cobham, and master Rudston, and
master Knevetts, and dyvers odur gentyllmen and commons wher
up, and tha say because 'the prynche of Spayne commyngin to have
owre quen, for they kepe Rochaster caste!! and the bryge and odur
plases." — Machyn, p. 52.

Saturday, Jan. 27.

Master Rogers committed to Newgate.— Fox, vi. 543.

xx.] JAN. 29— MARCH 8, A.D. 1554. 335

Monday, Jan. 29.
Wyatt at Blackheath.— Ibid.

Thursday, Feb. 1.

Wyatt proclaimed a traitor at Chepe, and elsewhere. About three
o'clock in the afternoon the queen rode from Westminster to Guild-
hall, made an oration to the Mayor and citizens ; and then rode to
the Three Cranes in the Vintry, where she took her barge for West-
minster.— 1 bid.

Wednesday, Feb. 7.

" In the forenoone, Wyatt with his army and ordnance were at
Hyde Park Corner." In the evening he was sent to the Tower. —
Machyn, p. 54. See before, p. 72.

Wednesday, Feb. 14.

" Letters were written to the Lord Rich, and to Sir John Went-
worth to punish some in Colchester, Coxall [Coggeshall] and other
places ; who dissuaded people from frequenting such divine service,
as was then appointed by law to be observed. Upon this, many
were committed, and others put under recognizances to appear." —
Burnet, Part III. B. v. p. 226.

Monday, Feb. 19.

This is the date of " The Declaration of the Bishop of London to
be published to the Lay-people of his diocese concerning their recon-
ciliation " which is given at length by Fox, vi. 708.

Friday, Feb. 23.

The date of Bonner's Monition to his clergy to note and report
those who did not confess in Lent, and receive at Easter. — Fox, vi. 426.

Sunday, Feb. 25.

Sir John Rogers was committed to the Tower. — Fox, vi. 545.
Saturday, March 3.

The date of the Articles sent from the Queen to the Bishop of
London, respecting heresies and crimes in his diocese, and other
matters.— Fox, vi. 426.

Monday, March 5.

The Lord Mayor's prescript to the Aldermen concerning the same.
— Fox, vi. 429.

This is also the date of a commission issued to six bishops (Win-
chester, Durham, London, St. Asaph, Chichester, and Llandaff,) to
hear and consider the cases of Taylor bishop of Lincoln, Hooper
bishop of Gloucester, and Harley, bishop of Hereford, reciting that
in the preceding reign they had received their bishoprics " to hold
during their good behaviors, with this express clause ' quamdiu se bene
gesserint,' " and stating that the Queen was minded to have their
several cases dulie harde and considerid and there uppon such ordre
taken with them as may stand with justice and the lawes. — Bymer,
vol. xv.

Thursday, March 8.

According to Machyn, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer came out of

336 MARCH 16— MAY 8, A.D, 1554. [ESSAY

the Tower, and so to Brentford, where Sir John Williams received
them ; and so to Oxford. — p. 57. Fox says that the letter for their
delivery was sent to the Lieutenant of the Tower on the 10th, and
that they were conveyed from the Tower to Windsor on the 10th of
April, and thence to Oxford. — Fox, vi. 439. Burnet says the order
was sent on the 8th.— Part III. book v. p. 226.

Friday, March 16.

Bishop Ferrar, and Bird bishop of Chester were deprived. —
Machyn, 58.

Saturday, March 17.
Bishop Hooper was deprived. — Ibid.

Sunday, March 18.

The Lady Elizabeth committed to the Tower. — Stry. Mem. III. i.
150. Fox, vi. 548 ; viii. 608. Machyn, 58.

Sunday, March 25.

Easter Day. The Crucifix and Fix stolen at St. Pancras in Cheap.
— See before, p. 187.

Monday, March 26.

" There was a letter directed to Sir Henry Doell, and one Foster,
to attach the bodies of Dr. Taylor, parson of Hadley, and of Henry
Askew, and to send them up to the Council." — Fox, vi. 439.

Sunday, April 8.
The Cat hanged in Cheap.— See before, p. 187.

Friday, April 13.

" A proclamasyon was made that what so mever he wher that cold
bryng forth hym that dyd hang the Catt on the galaus, he shuld
have xx marke for ys labur."— Machyn, p. 60.

Saturday, April 14.
The disputation at Oxford began.

Tuesday, April 24.
Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer condemned.— Strype, Gran. ii. 488.

Tuesday, May 8.

After the disputation at Oxford a report seems to have been
raised that some of the preachers who were then imprisoned in
London were to be sent to Cambridge, to hold a similar disputation
there. At all events they put forth a "Declaration" under this
date, to the effect that if any such thing should be proposed, they
would not dispute otherwise than in writing, except before the
Queen and her Council, or the Parliament Houses. It is given at
length in Fox, vi. 550, and signed by ; —

Bishop Ferrar, Edward Crome,

Rowland Taylor, John Rogers,

John Philpot, Lawrence Saunders,

John Bradford, Edmund Lawrence,

John Hooper, I. P. and T. M.,

Miles Coverdale.

ROBERT FERRAK, BISHOP OF ST. DAVIDS
(From an old Engraving)

xx.] JUNE 1— NOV. 28, A.B. 1554. 337

Friday, June 1st.

" An order was sent to the Bishop of London to send discreet and
learned preachers into Essex, to reduce the people there."4 — Burnet,
Part III. book v. p. 227.

Wednesday, August 15th.

" Letters were writ to the justices of peace in Sussex, to punish
those who railed at the mysteries of Christ's Eeligion." — Burnet,
ibid. p. 228.

Sunday, August 19th.

"Letters of thanks are ordered to Tirrel, and others, for their
care ; ordering them to imprison all such as came not to divine
service, and to keep them in prison till they had the comfort of
their amendment." — Ibid5.

Saturday, Sept. 8th.

About this time Bonner set out on his visitation. — See be/ore,
p. 38 6.— Fox, vi. 559.

Friday, Oct. 5.

On this day and a fortnight after, was the great stir about
seditious books. — See before, p. 39.

Friday, Nov. 9.

"Master Barlow, late Bishop of Bath, and master Cardmaker
were brought before the Council in the Star Chamber, where after
communication they were commanded to the Fleet." — Fox, vi. 563.

Sunday, November llth.

"The Third Parliament was summoned." — Burnet, Part II.
Book ii. p. 270.

Saturday, Nov. 24.
Cardinal Pole arrived in London. — Fox, vi. 567.

Wednesday, 28th Nov.

The Cardinal made his Oration to the Parliament which suppli-
cated absolution.— Foxt vi. 571.

4 Burnet adds, " Bonner seemed to think of no way of reducing any but
by severity and force ; so that the Council found it necessary to put him
in mind of his pastoral care." Bonner might, perhaps, have less turn for
preaching, and less reliance on it, than his predecessor ; and he might
remember the time wheii the Protector Somerset and King Edward's
Council had thought there was too much preaching in Essex, and had
directed Bishop Ridley to take order for moderating it. — See Strype, Mem.
vol. ii. P. i. p. 342.

5 I give this as it stands in Burnet ; but I do not feel sure that there is
not some confusion with what has been given before, under the same day
of the preceding year, in this volume.

6 Where "the 23 " ought to be " the 22nd," Strype haying misunder-
stood Fox's words, "the day after St. Matthew's day, being the 22d of
September," St. Matthew's day itself being the 21st.

Y

338 NOV. 30, 1554— JAN. 1, 1555. [ESSAY

Friday, 3Qth Nov.
The Parliament received absolution from the Cardinal.

Thursday, Dec. 6th.

" St. Nicholas's day, all the whole convocation, both bishops and
others, were sent for to Lambeth to the Cardinal, who the same day
forgave them all their perjurations, schisms, and heresies, and they
all there kneeled down and received his absolution ; and after an
exhortation and gratulation for their conversion to the catholic
church made by the cardinal, they departed." — Fox, vi. 579.

1555.

Tuesday, Jan. 1.

Thomas Hose and a Congregation of thirty were taken in Bow
Churchyard. For "there was a Congregation of godly men at
London, in the very mouth of danger, who met together for religious
worship all the Queen's reign, from the beginning to the very end of
it Upon any cases of difficulty or emergencies, this congre-
gation sent some of their members beyond sea, to some of the learned
exiles there, for their resolution, counsel and advice; and so they
returned again to the flock. And some they had, whom they sent to
the prisons, to visit, counsel, comfort, and relieve those that lay

there for religion Their meetings were at several places, as

it was appointed by themselves ; for they often changed their places
for more privacy and security. Sometimes it was at Black Friars,
at Sir Tho. Cardine's house, who was of the privy chamber to King
Henry VIII. Again sometimes the meeting was somewhere about
Aldgate ; sometimes in a clothworkers loft, near the great conduit
in Cheapside. Once or twice in a ship at Billingsgate, belonging to
a good man of Lee in Essex. Other times at a Ship called Jesus
Ship, lying between Ratcliff and Rotherhith ; there twice or thrice,
till it came to be known. Other times in a cooper's house in
Pudden-lane. Sometimes in Thames street ; sometimes in Bow-
church-yard; and sometimes Islington, or in the fields thereabouts.
These meetings were often in the night times. There would be in
these assemblies forty, and sometimes an hundred, or more met
together; and toward the latter end of the Queen the number
increased, though the malice of their enemies decreased not. At
these meetings they had collections for Christ's prisoners, and would
gather sometimes ten pounds at a night meeting. But they could
not be so private, but that now and then they were discovered and
taken." — Strype's Mem. III. pt. ii. p. 147 7.

7 It seems to be going so far back in history, that I must just remind
the reader that it is not really farther than if we were now to speak of
anything that happened about the time of the Battle of Navarino, if I
eay that this Thomas Eose is the person mentioned in " Fox's story of
the Rood of Dover Court." (See p. 194 of this volume.) He had even
before that time become a person of note, and John Bale (then a zealous
papist) had been sent to preach against him. This affair of Dover Court
seems to have brought him into more notice, and trouble ; and he was

A.B. 1555. 339

Wednesday, Jan. 16.
The Parliament was clean dissolved.

imprisoned in the Bishop of Lincoln's house in Holborn. In the first year
of Cranmer's consecration, he was removed to Lambeth, and dealt with
more courteously, and at length the Archbishop wrought his deliverance
and set him at liberty. His zeal seems to have soon brought him into
fresh difficulties. The Bishop of Norwich inhibited his preaching, and his
adversaries so persecuted him that he was constrained to flee to London,
and use the aid of the Lord Audley, the Lord Chancellor who removed
the matter from them, and called it before him, set Rose free, and " did
send him by a token to the Lord Cromwell, then Lord Privy Seal, for a
licence from the King to preach." Cromwell not only got the licence for
him, but made him his own chaplain. "In the mean time," says Fox,
" such complaint was made to the Duke of Norfolk " that Rose preached
what was contrary to the Six Articles (see before, p. 209), that he " being
lieutenant commanded that whosoever could take the said Thomas Rose,
should hang him on the next tree." However he got abroad, whence he
afterwards returned, and obtained a benefice from King Edward. "But
k at the death of that vertuous and noble prince he was deprived of all, and
' so should have beene of his life, had not God appointed him friends who
' received him in London secretly, as their teacher in the congregation
4 amongst whome for the poore prisoners at their assemblies x. li. a night
' oftentimes was gathered." [The comic edition has turned the ten pounds
into forty-one persons or things, of what nature or kind is not apparent
from the odd device adopted to express them, and reads "assemblies,
forty-one [*] a night oftentimes were gathered." viii. 584. I mention
this, because I was copying from that edition when I was puzzled by this
unintelligible statement. And as my motive for using and referring to
that edition is, that I suppose it to be much more accessible to my
readers than any other, I should be sorry that after reading what I now
copy from the edition of 1597, they should turn to their own books and
think me inaccurate. Fox goes on to say,] "And thus he continued
' amongst them, with the Lady Vane almost a yeare in the raigne of
' Q. Mary. But although he oftentimes escaped secretly whilst he read
' to the godly in sundry places of London, yet at length through a Judas
' that betrayed them, he with xxxv. that were with him were taken in
' Bow Churchyard at a sheermans house on New yeres day at night being
< Tuesday."— Fox, Edit. 1597, p. 1889.

As however Thomas Rose was neither a martyr, nor meddled with by
Bonner (though captured in his diocese), we have no business with his
history, which is very curious and may be found in Fox as cited, or vol.
viii. p. 581, ed. 8vo, and Strype's Cranmer, vol. i. p. 395, where the
author has occasion to notice him as one of the persons whom the Primate
recommended to Cecil for the Archbishopric of Armagh. But, as we have
had so much on the subject, I may just mention that having been thus
taken (evidently in the view of its being a treasonable, rather than an
heretical meeting) he was brought not before the bishop of the diocese, nor
before his own ordinary, but to the Lord Chancellor Gardiner, who " would
not speak with him that night, but committed him to the Clink till Tuesday
after." Fox then goes on to give as his first speech at his first examina-

340 JAN. 22—23, A.D. 1555. [ESSAY

Tuesday, Jan. 22.

"All the preachers that were in prison were called before the
bishop of Winchester, Lord Chancellor, and certain others, at the
bishop's house at St. Mary Overy's : from whence (after communi-
cation, being asked whether they would convert and enjoy the
queen's pardon, or else stand to that they had taught ; they all
answering, that they would stand to that they had taught) they
were committed to straiter prison than before they were, with
charge that none should speak with them." — Fox, vi. 587.

Wednesday, Jan. 23.

"All the bishops with the rest of the Convocation-house were
before the cardinal at Lambeth, where he willed them to repair
every man where his cure and charge lay, exhorting them to
entreat the people and their flock with all gentleness, and to
endeavour themselves, to win the people rather by gentleness, than
by extremity and rigour : and so let them depart." — Fox, vi. 587.

tion ; — " ' It maketh me to marvel, my lord,' quoth he, ' that I should be

* thus troubled for that which by the word of God hath been established,
1 and by the laws of this realm allowed, and by your own writing so
' notably, in your book ' De vera Obedientia ' confirmed ; ' " and in his
reply to the interruption of the Chancellor, he so quoted the book that the
indignant author replied, "Thou liest like a varlet ; there is no such thing
1 in my book, but I shall handle thee and such as thou art well enough.

* I have long looked for thee, and at length have caught thee. I will
' know who be thy maintainers, or else I will make thee a foot longer."
It does not appear that the threat was carried into execution. Thomas
Rose was sent to the Tower and kept there nearly five months, during
which time Gardiner came there twice and " had no great talk " with him,
" but spake friendly." He is his own historian and does not tell us what
they talked about, or whether he gave the Chancellor the information
which he had threatened to extort by the rack. But the issue was,
that about the end of May he was sent from the Tower to his own
diocesan at Norwich, his escape seems to have been rather grossly con-
nived at, he tarried beyond sea during the rest of Queen Mary's days ;
and was, when Fox wrote this history of him, " yet living, a preacher of
the age of seventy-six years, of the town of Luton, and in the county of
Bedford."

The reason for saying so much about Thomas Rose and the Congrega-
tion, may be found in the following extract from Fox, who is giving an
account of this parliament : — " Also the doing of Master Rose, and the
' others that were with him, was communed of in this Parliament ; and
1 upon that occasion an act was made that certain evil prayers should be
' treason against the Queen's Highness. The prayers of these men were
' thus : God turn the heart of Queen Mary from idolatry : or else shorten
' her days ; ' " and he adds this note, " Hereof read the statute an. 1 & 2.
reg. Phil, et Mar. cap. 9." — Fox, vi. 581. The reader who does not take
that trouble will probably imagine that there was something rather more
important in this matter, than a glance at Fox's account of it would
suggest to a careless reader.

xx.] THE COMMISSION IN SOUTHWARK. 341

Friday, Jan. 25.

" The day of the conversion of St. Paul, there was a general and
solemn procession through London, to give God thanks for their
conversion to the catholic church : wherein (to set out their glorious
pomp) there were fourscore and ten crosses, and one hundred and
sixty priests and clerks, who had every one of them copes upon
their backs singing very lustily. There followed also, for the better
estimation of the sight, eight bishops ; and, last of all, came Bonner,
the bishop of London, carrying the popish pix under a canopy.

"Besides, there was also present the mayor, aldermen, and all
the livery of every occupation. Moreover, the king also himself,
and the cardinal, came to Paul's church the same day. From
whence, after mass, they returned to Westminster again. As the
king was entered the church at the steps going up to the choir, all
the gentlemen that of late were set at liberty out of the Tower,
kneeled before the king, and offered unto him themselves and their
services." — Fox, vi. 588.

Monday, Jan. 28.

" The bishop of Winchester and the other bishops had commission
from the cardinal to sit upon, and order, according to the laws, all
such preachers and heretics (as they termed them) as were in
prison ; and according to this commission, the same day the bishop
of Winchester and the other bishops, with certain of the council, sat
in St. Mary Overy's church." — Fox, vi. 588.

§ 3. THE COMMISSION IN SOUTHWAEK.

Thus we have cursorily run over the first year and a half
of Queen Mary's reign, noticing very little beside what
relates to those persons with whose history we are more
particularly concerned. The reader will have observed
several committals for political and religious offences ; and
the number might have been much increased but that the
mention of them would only have served to divert or
encumber us in our present inquiry. The truth seems to
be, that by the latter part of the year 1554, the government
had got a great many prisoners on its hands, and was
anxious to dispose of them as soon as it well could ; which
was not until the Parliament had completed the business of
the reconciliation of the country and the revision of the laws.

On Friday, Jan. 18th, therefore (only two days after the
parliament had been " clean dissolved ") the " Council went
to the Tower, and discharged all or most part of the
prisoners." (Fox, vi. 587.) We may do the same ; for with
those state prisoners we have little, if anything, to do.

It is more to our purpose to observe that the attention

342 THE DECLARATION OF [ESSAY

of the Council was next turned to those who had been
imprisoned on religious and ecclesiastical grounds.

I have already mentioned the Declaration which the
imprisoned preachers put forth on the 8th of May. Whether
there actually was a current report that they were to be
sent to Cambridge, and this Declaration was really intended
to meet it, or whether it was meant to remind those who
seemed to have forgotten it, that they were in existence, I
do not pretend to decide. That there is nothing either
improbable, or uncharitable, in the latter supposition, is
evident from the course which they after pursued. " They
BOLDLY and BRAVELY," says Strype, " made a Declaration to
the Queen and Parliament that sat this year ; " and this
" remarkable Declaration," as he justly calls it, he ascribes
to the pen of John Bradford, and has "reposited in the
Appendix " to his memorials of Cranmer8. In this Declara-
tion the imprisoned preachers went to the point at once by
beginning ; " We poor prisoners for Christ's religion, require
4 your Honours, in our dear Saviour Christ's name, earnestly
' now to REPENT, for that you have consented of late to the
' unplacing of so many godly lawes, set furth touching the

* true religion of Christ before, by two most noble Kings,"
&c. They vouch for it, " that there was not one Parish in
1 al England, that ever desired again to have the Romish
' Superstitions and vaine service, which is now by the Popish,
' proud, covetous clergy placed again in contempt not only

* of God, al Heaven, and al the Holy Ghostes lessons in the
4 blessed Bible : but also against the honors of the said two
' most noble Kings," &c. They declare that, " God's great
plagues must needs follow," and desire the King, Queen,
and Parliament in their assembly, "to seek some effectual
REFORMATION for the aforewritten DEFORMATION in this
Church of England." They request to be brought up before
those authorities, and they add "if we be not able both to

* prove and approve by the catholic and canonical rules of

* Christ's true religion, the church Homilies and Service set
4 furth in the most innocent K. Edward's days : and also to
' disallow and reprove by the same authorities the Service
' now set furth since his departing ; then we offer our bodies
4 to be immediately burned," &c.

8 No, LXXXIV. p. 950, referriog to p. 506,

xx.] THE IMPRISONED PREACHERS. 343

As far as I am personally concerned, it would be uncandid
not to state the doubt which I feel whether this document
was actually presented to the Queen and Parliament in its
present form. Strype however is the authority; and he
gives it, without the least expression or appearance of doubt,
from the Foxian MSS. and remarks upon it, "This now is
the second time a PUBLIC CHALLENGE was made to justify
King Edward's reformation," and he then proceeds to speak
of a " third public challenge " made by these prisoners which,
as it is given by Fox, he does not think it necessary to
transcribe. I confess that I cannot help feeling some sus-
picion that this third challenge which Fox calls a " Supplica-
tion of the persecuted preachers to the King and Queen," is
only a modification of the document already mentioned. It
is enough, however, for our purpose that its principal object
is the same; and the prayer of it is that the petitioners
might be called before the King, Queen, and Parliament, to
answer before them, or "indifferent arbiters" to be appointed
by their Majesties, to such charges of heresy as had been
brought against them. — Fox, vi. 589.

The exact date of these documents I do not find ; but it
is enough to know that they are said to have been delivered
during this session of parliament which (as we have already
seen) began in November, and was clean dissolved on the
16th of January. It has also been stated, that on Friday
the 18th the Council went to the Tower to clear it. On the
following Tuesday the 22nd of January they addressed them-
selves to the business of the " persecuted preachers," and a
meeting at Gardiner's house, which has been already men-
tioned, took place.

In this month of January, a tribunal sat four times in
Southwark, which in order to save trouble I follow many
writers in calling a Commission0. The first session was on
the 22nd of January, when " ALL the Preachers that were

9 It is not worth while to discuss the question whether it was the
Council meeting at the Lord Chancellor's house the first time, and a
Commission afterwards ; or whether it should uniformly be called by one
of the names, or never by either. Its true nature and character will
appear sufficiently from what follows ; and that is all that is of real con-
sequence. Writers have described it variously, but those only require
contradiction who represent it as if Gardiner was sitting in his " ordinary
jurisdiction," and carrying matters out of his own head and with his own
hand, in his own house or Church in Southwark.

344 THE COMMISSION [ESSAY

c in prison were called before the bishop of Winchester Lord
' Chancellor, and certain others, at the bishop's house at
1 St. Mary Overy's."1 Strype says that beside the Lord
Chancellor, there were present the bishops of Durham, Ely,
Worcester, Chichester, Carlisle, the Lord William Howard,
Lord Paget, Sir Richard Southwell, Secretary Bourn2.

While, according to Fox, the persons brought before this
commission consisted of "all the preachers that were in
prison," Strype mentions Bishop Hooper, Dr. Crome, Harold
Tomson, Rogers, beside "divers others, to the number of
eleven persons besides two more that were not then sent
for," as being " arraigned " on that occasion3.

The object in view does not appear' to have been a
scholastic disputation with these preachers, as with persons
whose tenets were unknown or doubtful, but solemnly to
inquire, and obtain a definite answer, whether they meant
to maintain the opinions which they had professed, and to
repudiate the reconciliation with the Church of Rome
which the King, Queen, and Parliament had just made.
Dr. Rowland Taylor, in the letter containing and reporting
" The Talk had between him and the Lord Chancellor, and
other Commissioners" on this occasion, says: — "First, my

* Lord Chancellor said, l You among others are at this
' present time sent for, to enjoy the King's and Queen's
' Majestie's favour and mercy, if you will now rise again
' with us from the fall which we generally have received in
' this realm ; from the which (God be praised !) we are now
1 clearly delivered miraculously. If you will not rise with
1 us now, and receive mercy now offered, you shall have

* judgment according to your demerit.' To this I answered
' that so to rise, should be the greatest fall that ever I

* could receive : for I should so fall from my dear Saviour
1 Christ to Antichrist."4

Of course the men for the most part were well known
and well tried. It was understood that their minds were
made up. It was sinful and hateful to think of burning
them, but it would have been absurd to propose disputing
with them. They were, as they would have phrased it, " at
a point ; " and when the case stood as Taylor had pithily

1 Fox, vi. 587. 2 Mem. III. i. 330.

3 llid. 4 Fox, vi. 685,

xx.] IN SOUTHWARK. 345

stated it, what room was there for argument ? The time
seemed to be come in which, according to the ideas of all
parties concerned in the matter, either the preachers or the
parliament must " repent " — in which the prisoners must be
either acknowledged to be injured innocents, and dismissed
in triumph ; or condemned as heretics, and put to execution.
Yet as far as I can see (except receiving the submission of
two of the party whose names are not specified5) the
Council did nothing but remand the prisoners until the
following Monday.

January the 28th therefore the Commissioners sate again ;
not now however at the Bishop's Palace, but at the church
of St. Saviour, or St. Mary Overy hard by6. Strype names as
present the bishops of London, Worcester, Ely, Bath and
Wells, Gloucester, Bristol, Durham, Carlisle, Lincoln, St.
David's, Norwich, Coventry and Lichfield ; and adds
Anthony Hussey, Robert Johnson and William Say public
notaries being appointed actuaries in this affair. " Besides
' there were present also the Duke of Norfolk, Anthony
1 Lord Montague, Thomas Lord Wharton, Richard Southwel,
1 Francis Englefield, Christopher [perhaps mistaken for
' Robert] Rochester, Thomas Wharton, John Hurleston,
' John Tregonwell, Philip Draycot, and John Germyngham,

5 It seems probable that one of these was Harold Tomson above-
mentioned ; as I see nothing more about him in the subsequent sessions.
Besides, I do not find any account of him except this single notice in
Strype, which is a mere copy from Machyn, who says, "The xxii day of
' Januarii was raynyd [arraigned] at my lord Chansseler plasse by-syd
' sant Mare Overes ser John Hoper latt bysshope of Glosetur, doctur
' C[rome], as the parsun of Wyttyngtun colege, harold Tomson, Rogars
' parsun or veker of sant Pulkers, and dyvers odur." — p. 80. Mr. Nichols
refers to him in the Index as "Tomson, the herald," I dare say that is
what is meant ; though not finding any such herald mentioned in Noble,
I applied to Sir Charles Young, Garter, who kindly informs me that he
finds no trace of him at the College of Arms, but suggests the probability
that he was not properly speaking a herald, but a herald-painter.

6 Strype in one place tells us that " they sat in commission " — that is,
under and by virtue of a Commission from Cardinal Pole dated that same
28th of January, and it is amusing to find him catching at this circum-
stance to expose the eagerness of the bloodthirsty persecutors — "the very
same day (such haste they made) they sat in commission." Cran. ii. 495.
In another place giving an account of the same Session he says " the
bishop of Winton, by his ordinary authority, sat judicially in St. Mary
Overie's church." The reader will see that it is as absurd to talk about
hasty proceedings, as it is to represent the Bishop of Winchester as merely
sitting in his official capacity of Ordinary in his diocese.

346 THE COMMISSION [ESSAY

* Knights, William Coke, Thomas Martyn, Richard Dobbes,

* Knights, besides a very great multitude more present." 7

There seems indeed to have been not only a great multi-
tude present, but another much greater multitude who
wished to be present, but could not get into the Church.
Rogers, who drew up an account of his own examination
there says that " the thousandth man came not in," and that
when he and Hooper were remanded, they " had much to do
to go in the streets."8

On this occasion the Commissioners " called before them

* these three, Master Hooper, Master Rogers, and Master

* Cardmaker, who were brought thither by the sheriffs ;

* from whence after communication they were committed to
4 prison till the next day, but Cardmaker this day submitted
4 himself unto them."9 Bishop Hooper and Rogers were
remanded till the next day.

Tuesday, January 29, the Commissioners sate again at
the same place. Measures seem to have been adopted for
keeping out any such crowd as had been collected the day
before, and Rogers says "they kept the doors shut, and
would let none in but the bishops adherents and servants
in a manner."1 There must however have been a good
many persons present if the assembly consisted (as Strype
says it did) of "the bishops above named, together with
George Bishop of Chichester," beside "those noblemen,
4 and Knights and others before mentioned, and these more-
4 over ; Clement Higham, Richard Dobbes, Knight, Thomas

* Hungate Esq., John Seton, Thomas Watson, professors of

* Divinity, Nicholas Harpesfield, David Pole, Hugh Corens,
'doctors of the laws; Henry Jollif, Philip Morgan
4 bachelors of divinity ; Francis Allen, William Smyth, and
4 John Yaugharu Esqrs. and many more"* Fox tells us
that on that occasion, " Hooper, Rogers, Dr. Taylor and

* Bradford were brought before them ; where sentence of
4 excommunication and judgment ecclesiastical was pro-
4 nounced upon Master Hooper and Master Rogers, by the
4 bishop of Winchester, who sat as judge in Caiaphas's seat;
4 who drave them out of the church according to their law

7 Mem. III. ii. 286. 8 Fox, vi. 598. 599. 649.

9 Fox, vi. 582. l Ibid. 598.

2 Mem. 1II.J. p. 288.

xx.] IN SOUTHWARK. 347

* and order. Dr. Taylor and Bradford were committed to
{ prison till the next day."3

On Wednesday the 30th of January was the fourth
session ; at which, according to Strype, the bishops of
Durham, Worcester, Ely, Lincoln, Bath and Wells, Nor-
wich, Lichfield, and Carlisle were " co-assessors," and there
were also present, " the Duke of Norfolk, the Lord Whar-

* ton ; the Lord Lumley ; Leonard Chamberlayn and Robert

* Drury, Knights ; Thomas Hussey, John Vaughan, Thomas
1 Martyn, Esqrs. R. [it may be Edward] Wotton, and John
4 Warner, doctors in physic ; Hugh Coren, David Poole,

* Nicholas Harpesfield, doctors of law; Thomas Watson,
' John Seton, doctors of divinity ; Philip Morgan, John

* Boxal, Seth Holland, bachelors in divinity ; Richard

* Chandler, archdeacon of Sarum and very many others." 4

On this occasion, according to Fox, " Dr. Taylor, Dr.

* Crome, Master Bradford, Master Saunders, and Dr. Ferrar,
'some time bishop of St. David's, were before the said
4 bishops ; where three of them, that is to say Dr. Taylor,

* Master Saunders, and Master Bradford were likewise

* excommunicated, and sentence pronounced upon them ;

* and so committed to the sheriffs. Dr. Crome desired two

* months respite, and it was granted him ; and Master

* Ferrar was again committed to prison till another time."5

Whatever may have been the precise constitution or com-
position of this Tribunal, the names which I have copied
show that it was not in the nature of a secret Inquisition.
I do not see that it ever met afterwards at Southwark, or
elsewhere in the same form. It seems as if it had been
formed for some special purpose which it either accomplished,
or abandoned; which of the two, it is not our present
business to inquire.

§ 4. WHAT HAD BONNER TO DO WITH THE MARTYRS
CONDEMNED BY THE COMMISSION.

(1.) JOHN ROGERS is one of those who have been already
mentioned as being before the Commissioners. The first

3 Fox vi. 588. Strype says of Taylor, '^The Bishop assigned him to
appear there again between three and four in the afternoon. What was
done then appears not." — Mem. III. pt. i. p. 296.

4 Menu III. i. 290, 5 Vox, vi. 588.

348 BONNER AND THE [ESSAY

occasion in which I find Bonner charged as having anything
to do with him is, that according to Fox, after his second
trouble with the Council " he remained in his own house as
1 prisoner a long time, till at length through the uncharit-
1 able procurement of Bonner bishop of London, who could

* not abide such honest neighbours to dwell by him, he was
' removed from his own house to the prison called New-
1 gate."6

It will be seen by referring to the list of events in the
foregoing section, that Rogers was removed from his own
house to Newgate on the 27th of January, 1554, the day
after preparations began to be made in earnest for the
reception of Wyatt and his rebels. It may have been a
mistake, but certainly since the affair of Bourn's preaching
at Paul's Cross on the 13th of August (to say nothing of
anything previous) Rogers was considered, not simply as a
believer in false doctrine, but as a demagogue, and seditious
person. How much Bonner had to do with his being
removed from his house to a place of greater security, I
cannot tell; but I suppose the bishop is only brought in
here by way of a gratuitous nourish. Certainly Rogers says,
in his own account of his examinations7, " I asked him "
[Gardiner not Bonner\ " Wherefore he put me in prison, He
said, because I preached against the Queen ; " and as far as
I can see he throws the whole blame on the bishop of Win-
chester, and makes no complaint of the bishop of London.

After his sentence on the 29th of January, he made an
application to the Chancellor in the court, for leave for his
wife to visit him ; which was refused (p. 602). I do not
see that Bonner had anything to do with him until the
morning of his execution, when " he was had down first to

* Bonner to be degraded. That done, he craved of Bonner

* but one petition. And Bonner asking what that should
' be ; ' Nothing ' said he ' but that I might talk a few words

* with my wife before my burning.' But that could not be
1 obtained of him. * Then ' said he ' you declare your charity,
' what it is." (p. 609.) Whether Bonner had the power
to grant such a request, even if it had not been previously
made to, and refused by, the Lord Chancellor, I do not
know.

6 Yol. vi. 593. 7 Fox, vi. 598.

xx.] MARTYRS OF THE COMMISSION. 349

(2.) LAURENCE SAUNDERS. The facts relating to the
apprehension and commitment of this martyr have been so
fully stated before (pp. 269, 273) that it is unnecessary here
to repeat them. With regard to Bonner's share in those
transactions, I have endeavoured to represent it fairly, and
I do not see how any bishop of London could have done less
than he did.

It has already appeared that Saunders was brought up
before the Commissioners on January 30. It was I presume
on that occasion8 when Saunders was declaring that he had
been brought up to disbelieve the supremacy of the Pope,
the Chancellor asked him whether it was by " consent and
authority " that he had received all his heresies respecting
the Sacrament of the altar. He tried to evade the question
by an irrelevant answer about the papal supremacy, including
that species of personal reflection which Fox calls a " privy
nip " to the Chancellor. On this Bonner (referring to the
writing made before him some fifteen months before) said
" and it like your lordship I have his hand against the
blessed sacrament. How say you to that ? " Saunders
answered " What I have written, that I have written ; and
further I will not accuse myself."

I do not observe that Bonner had anything more to do
with him, except what is thus briefly recorded by Fox ;
" The 4th day of February the bishop of London did come

* to the prison where he was to degrade him ; which when
; he had done Laurence Saunders said to him, ' I thank God

* I am none of your church/ " (p. 627.) I do not find that
the bishop made any reply.

(3.) BISHOP HOOPER, as has been stated, was " sent for
by a pursuivant to be at London " for two causes ; the first
being the business of Dr. Heath, whom he had succeeded at
Worcester; and "secondarily, to render an account to Dr.
Bonner, Bishop of London, for that lie in King Edward's
time was one of his accusers 9," &c. But Fox tells us that
before he could come to the aforesaid Drs. Heath and

8 If so, Fox calls it erroneously " The first Examination of Laurence
Saunders," and represents him as being "convented before the Queen's
most honourable Council, sundry bishops being present." — Vol. vi. p.
625.

9 Vol. vi. p. 645. See Hooper's Denunciation of Bonner addressed to
the King. Fox, vol. v. p. 747.

350 BONNER AND HOOPER. [ESSAY

Bonner, "he was intercepted and commanded violently
' against his will to appear before the Queen and her

* Council to answer, to certain bonds and obligations,

* wherein they said he was bound unto her." This was on
August 29, 1553, and on the 1st September a second time1,
and was committed to the Fleet.

On the 5th of March in the next year a Commission, as
we have seen, issued ; and on the 19th he was deprived.
Bonner's name is among those of the Commissioners, but it
does not appear that he took any part, or said a word, or
had had any kind of intercourse with Hooper since his own
deprivation about four years and a half before.

After several months more of imprisonment Hooper was,
as we have already seen, brought before the Commissioners
on the 22d, 28th, 29th of January, 1555 ; after which he
" was delivered as close prisoner to the keeper of Newgate,
where he remained six days."

" During this time, Bonner bishop of London, and others at his
appointment, as Fecknam, Chedsey, and Harpsfield, etc. resorted
divers times unto him to assay if by any means they could persuade
him to relent, and become a member of their antichristian church.
All the ways they could devise, they attempted : for, besides the
disputations and allegations of testimonies of the Scriptures, and of
ancient writers wrested to a wrong sense, according to their
accustomed manner, they used also all outward gentleness and
significations of friendship, with many great proffers and promises
of worldly commodities ; not omitting also most grievous threaten-
ings, if with gentleness they could not prevail : but they found him
always the same man, steadfast and immovable." — Fox, vol. vi.
p. 650.

Fox cannot let this pass however without adding what is
illnatured, and probably altogether untrue.

" When they perceived that they could by no means reclaim him
to their purpose with such persuasions and offers as they used for
his conversion, then went they about, by false rumours and reports
of recantations (for it is well known, that they and their servants
did spread it first abroad), to bring him and the doctrine of Christ
which he professed, out of credit with the people. So the bruit
being a little spread abroad, and believed of some of the weaker
sort, by reason of the often resort of the bishop of London and
others, it increased more, and at last came to master Hooper's ears :
wherewith he was not a little grieved, that the people should give so
light credit unto false rumours, having so simple a ground ; as it
may appear by a letter which he wrote upon that occasion, the copy
whereof folio we th." — Ibid.

1 Fox, vi. 393. He makes It the first appearance, p. 645.

xx.] BONNER AND HOOPER. 351

What motive could Bonner and his chaplains have for
spreading such a report ? Fortunately, Fox has also given
Hooper's own account of the matter, and it is not only
written in a tone which shows that he took their proceed-
ings civilly, but that he expected his popish adversaries to
make a candid report of himself.

" Such is the report abroad (as I am credibly informed,) that I,
John Hooper, a condemned man for the cause of Christ, should now,
after sentence of death (being in Newgate prisoner, and looking
daily for execution) recant and abjure that which heretofore I have
preached. And this talk ariseth of this, that the bishop of London
and his chaplains resort unto me. Doubtless, if our brethren were
as godly as I could wish them, they would think, that in case I did
refuse to talk with them, they might have just occasion to say that
I were unlearned, and durst not speak with learned men ; or else
proud, and disdained to speak with them. Therefore, to avoid just
suspicion of both, I have and do daily speak with them when they
come ; not doubting but that they report that I am neither proud
nor unlearned." — Ibid. p. 651.

On Monday2 the Bishop came to Newgate to degrade
him and Rogers. Fox gives a particular account of the
form, and the persons present, but does not intimate that
there was anything done, or a word spoken, except the
ceremonial proceeding. Some pages afterwards, in a rhe-
torical " Comparison between Hooper and Poly carp," he
mentions as a point of difference that Hooper was not only
martyred but " degraded by Bonner with such contumelies
and reproaches, as I think in Polycarp's time was not used
to any," p. 661. This, however, I presume, only refers to
the common order of the ceremonial ; for if Bonner had
done any thing personally uncivil or extra-official we should
have been pretty sure to hear of it. Burnet begins a para-
graph by saying, " It was resolved to begin with Hooper ;
' against whom both Gardiner and Bonner had so peculiar

* an ill-will, that he was singled out of all the bishops to be

* the first sacrifice 3." This, however, like a good deal more
which such writers have said respecting Gardiner and
Bonner, is, I apprehend, nothing but ornamental suggestion,
unsupported, if not clearly contradicted by facts.4

2 So Fox, vi. 651. But on the next page he says on the 4th of
February, which was a Tuesday. Yet he says " Monday " was the 4th
of February. 3 Vol. iii. p. 240.

4 I have really looked in vain for actions which might seem to indicate
vindictive feeling in Bonner towards any of those to whom he might be

352 BISHOP BONNER [ESSAY

(4.) KOWLAND TAYLOR. — I do not find that Bonner had
anything to do with him until he had been condemned
by the Council. Then the Bishop went to the Compter
to degrade him. The scene is thus described by Fox ; —

"Being come, he called for the said Dr. Taylor to be brought unto
him ; the bishop being then in the chamber where the keeper of the
Compter and his wife lay. So Dr. Taylor was brought down from
the chamber above that, to the said Bonner. And at his coming,
the bishop said, 'Master doctor, I would you would remember

supposed to feel a grudge. I know the language of party declamation ;
but when one examines the facts it shows its true nature, and recoils on
the writers. Who, for instance, can read, without feelings more un-
pleasant than those of mere pity, the following Heads of Chapters, as
they stand in the Table of Contents prefixed to Strype's life of Sir
Thomas Smith ?

"CHAP. V.

"Sir Thomas Smith in Commission. Words between Bishop
Bonner and him. His fidelity to the Duke of Somerset . p. 37

" Smith in a Commission against the anabaptists. One of the visitors
of Cambridge. In Commission upon Bishop Bonner who would have
declined him. Smith deals roundly with him. His words to Bonner's
servants. Bonner enters a recusation against Smith. Who charges him
with disobedience. Smith in trouble with the Protector. Deposed
against Bishop Gardiner. Makes a purchase. Goes in embassy to
France."

"CHAP. VI.

" The condition of Sir Thomas Smith under Queen Mary. His
wise advertisements p. 46

" He loses all his places. He hath an indulgence from the Pope.
Bishop Gardiner his friend. Gains Gardiner's favour upon his first
address to him from Cambridge. Ascham favoured by Gardiner. Even
Bishop Bonner pretends to be Smith's friend."

I suppose that if Mr. Strype had been asked what he meant by " pre-
tends," lie would have been as much puzzled as Goldsmith was when
asked the meaning of " slow " in the first line of his Traveller. How, or
what, did Bonner "pretend"? Strype's own account of the matter in
the place referred to by that very table of contents is simply " Nay,
bloody Bonner who had a personal pique against him since the last
reign, as was shown before, let him alone, though he were in his diocese,
admiring the man, and dissembling his anger." — p. 50. But poor Mr.
Strype cannot make this admission without the marginal caution
"Bonner pretends to be Smith's friend."

If Bonner really did let Smith alone, I see nothing of pretence in it ;
and as to his admiring him, I think nobody but Strype would have sug-
gested anything so very simple. If, however, I were writing to eulogize
Bonner, in the servile spirit of hero-worship which sometimes renders
Strype so absurd, I should claim high credit for the restored Bishop's
acknowledged forbearance towards a man who had treated him with most

xx.] AND DR. TAYLOR. 353

yourself, and turn to your mother, holy church ; so may you do well
enough, and I will sue for your pardon. ' Whereunto master Taylor
answered, ' I would you and your fellows would turn to Christ. As
for me, I will not turn to Antichrist. '

" ' Well,' quoth the bishop, ' I am come to degrade you : wherefore
put on these vestures.' ' No,' quoth Dr. Taylor, ' I will not.' ' Wilt
thou not?' said the bishop. 'I shall make thee ere I go.' Quoth
Dr. Taylor, ' You shall not, by the grace of God.' Then he charged
him upon his obedience to do it : but he would not do it for him ; so
he willed another to put them upon his back. And when he was

offensive insolence ; and I should rather ascribe Smith's safety to the
generosity of his enemies, than represent it as "owing to that deference
that that stern and cruel Bishop Gardiner had to his exemplary virtue
and learning : he was struck witfi a kind of admiration of the man^>re-
tending a great love to him ; " though, of course, I should be glad to
represent two such bloody wolves as guarding a forward and sturdy
reformer through times of trouble, out of mere deference to virtue, and
admiration of the man. And, perhaps I should ask, "What did Smith do
to repay his deep obligation to the deprived and imprisoned Bonner, when
he had himself become a great man at the Court of Elizabeth? Did
the spared and screened protestant shew himself grateful for the forbear-
ance which had connived at his bold, uncompromising, zeal, and stood
between him and the stake during all the bloody reign of bloody Mary ?
or did he let his admiring benefactor live and die in a gaol ? '

I might, I say, if I wrote as the eulogist of Gardiner and Bonner very
plausibly claim for them credit to which I really believe they are in no
wise entitled. I do not imagine that Smith had much to thank them
for. I suppose that no reflecting reader of Strype can doubt that
Secretary Smith, like his equally religious, and protestant, colleague,
Secretary Cecil, turned papist on the accession of Mary. He was not
indeed (any more than Cecil) continued as Secretary j but " he fell easy,"
says Mr. Strype, " for his life was saved, though he were a Protestant,
and had 100Z. per annum allowed him for his subsistence, but was charged
not to depart out of the realm." Very droll it is to find this good his-
torian, who has talked of Smith's being a " constant embracer of the
reformed religion," and of his having " had a great hand in the reforma-
tion of the Church of England, in which he so steadfastly persevered,"
admitting that from the circumstances of the time this sturdy protestant
" could hardly keep himself always upon his legs " (though that, I pre-
sume, must mean his official, rather than his religious legs), and afterwards
telling us with a confiding simplicity, what really surprised himself, —
" But that which is strange, he acted his part so dexterously in these
difficult times, that even his enemy the Pope sheltered him under his
bull for many transgressions of his own laws." — p. 47. When such an
example had been set them, can we honestly make much of Gardiner's
courtesy, and Bonner's connivance ? Surely they could afford to be civil
if the Pope was. I do not believe they were possessed by a spirit of
retaliation and revenge ; but, if they were, it must have been sufficiently
gratified by seeing the late insolent Jack-in-office, sunk into " a silent
stander-by " with his 100Z. per annum, the Pope's indulgence, and their
patronage.

z

354 JOHN BKADFOKD. [ESSAY

thoroughly furnished therewith, he set his hands to his side,
walking up and down, and said, ' How say you, my lord ? am not I a
goodly fool ? How say you my masters ? If I were in Cheap,
should I not have boys enough to laugh at these apish toys, and
toying trumpery ? ' So the bishop scraped his fingers, thumbs,
and the crown of his head, and did the rest of such like devilish
observances.

"At the last, when he should have given Dr. Taylor a stroke on
the breast with his crosier-staff, the bishop's chaplain said : ' My
lord! strike him not, for he will sure strike again.' 'Yea, by
St. Peter will I,' quoth Dr. Taylor. ' The cause is Christ's, and I
were no good Christian, if I would not fight in my Master's quarrel.'
So the bishop laid his curse upon him, but struck him not. Then
Dr. Taylor said, * Though you do curse me, yet God doth bless me.
I have the witness of my conscience, that ye have done me wrong
and violence : and yet I pray God, if it be his will, to forgive you.
But from the tyranny of the bishop of Rome, and his detestable
enormities, good Lord deliver us ! ' And in going up to his chamber,
he still said, ' God deliver me from you ! God deliver me from you ! '
And when he came up, he told master Bradford (for they both lay
in one chamber), that he had made the bishop of London afraid :
'for,' saith he laughingly, 'his chaplain gave him counsel not to
strike me with his crosier-staff, for that I would strike again ; and,
by my troth,' said he, rubbing his hands, 'I made him believe I
would do so indeed.' " — Fox, vol. vi. p. 691.

The only other mention that I find of Bonner's name in
connexion with Taylor's, is that Fox says that when the
martyr arrived at the place where he was to suffer, he
" with both his hands rent his hood from his head, and so

* it appeared that his head was notted5 evil favouredly, and
1 clipped much like as a man would clip a fool's head ; which
' cost the good bishop Bonner had bestowed upon him when

* he degraded him." I do not see that Bonner had any-
thing else to do with him.

JOHN BRADFORD6, as we have seen had been imprisoned
from August 16, 1553, till he was brought before the
Council of the 22nd January, 1555, and I do not find

5 «NOTT, for notted, shorn, cut close, or smooth; from to nott, to
1 shear or poll ; .... ( he caused his own head tc bee polled, and from
' thenceforth, his beard to be notted and no more shaven.' — Stowe's

' Annals NOTT-PATED or NOTT-HEADED, a. from the above.

' Having the hair close cut. " — See Nares's Glossary. The comic
edition reads "knotted." What could the editor suppose it to mean?
It is hardly necessary to say that the allusion is to that cutting of the
priest's hair which constituted a part of the ceremonial of degradation.

6 I place him here because he was one of those condemned by the
Commissioners ; but without a number, because, owing to the delay in
his execution, his name will occur again hereafter.

xx.] JOHN BRADFORD. 355

that Bonner had anything to do with him during that
interval.

At his coming before the Council on the 22nd January7,
he began his address to it by stating that in the matter of
Bourn at Paul's Cross, for which he had been imprisoned,
he had done nothing seditiously, but had acted as a faithful
and obedient subject. The Chancellor interrupted him by
saying " There was a loud lie ; for, quoth he, the fact was
seditious, as you my Lord of London can Dear witness."
Bonner, thus appealed to, replied, " You say true my

* Lord, I saw him with mine own eyes, when he took upon
' him to rule and lead the people malapertly ; thereby de-
e claring that he was the author of the sedition." Bradford
protested that, " notwithstanding my lord bishop's saying
and seeing," he had told the truth ; and after a few inter-
mediate words between him and the Lord Chancellor, he
repeated this assertion • adding, " Yea, my lord, I dare say

* that my lord of Bath, master Bourn will witness with me
' that I sought his safety with the peril of mine own life ; I

* thank God therefore." If Bishop Bourn made any reply
it is not reported ; but Bishop Bonner is stated to have said
" That is not true ; for I myself did see thee take upon thee
too much." To this Bradford returned a contradiction;
until the Chancellor proposed that they should "leave this
matter " (which, though Bradford had thought fit to intro-
duce it, really was not the matter in hand) and asked him
point blank, " How sayest thou now ? Wilt thou return
again," &c.

Bradford was again before the Council at the sitting of
the 29th of January, and the only way in which Bonner 's
presence is noticed is this — that Gardiner said in reply to
some observations of Bradford, that he had himself " been
' challenged for being too gentle oftentimes. Which thing

* the bishop of London confirmed and so did almost all
« the audience, that he had been even too mild and gentle."8

He was again before the Council on the next day ; but I
do not see that Bonner took any part in the proceedings,
nor do I find that he had anything more to do with Brad-
ford except at an accidental interview which is thus de-
scribed by Fox : —

7 Fox, vol. vii. 150. 8 Fox, vol. vi. 757.

356 BONNER LEFT TO HIMSELF. [ESSAY

" Upon the 4th of February, that is the same day master Rogers
was burned, Bonner bishop of London came to the Compter in the
Poultry, to degrade Dr. Taylor, about one of the clock at afternoon.
But before he spake to master Taylor, he called for John Bradford
which was prisoner there, whom when he saw, he put off his cap,
and gave him his hand, saying :

" Bonner. 'Because I perceive that ye are desirous to confer with
some learned men, therefore I have brought master archdeacon
Harpsfield to you. And I tell you, you do like a wise man. But I
pray you go roundly to work, for the time is but short.'

" Brad. ' My lord, as roundly as I can I will go to work with you :
I never desired to confer with any man, nor yet do. Howbeit if ye
will have one to talk with me, I am ready.'

" Bonner. ' What,' quoth the bishop in a fume to the keeper, ' did
you not tell me that this man desired conference ? '

" Keeper. ' No, my lord, I told you that he would not refuse to
confer with any ; but I did not say that it is his desire.'

"Bonner. 'Well, master Bradford, you are well beloved, I pray
you consider yourself, and refuse not charity when it is offered.'

" Brad. ' Indeed, my lord, this is small charity, to condemn a man
as you have condemned me, which never brake your laws. In
Turkey a man may have charity ; but in England I could not yet find
it. I was condemned for my faith, so soon as I uttered it at your
requests, before I had committed any thing against the laws. And
as for conference, I am not afraid to talk with whom ye will. But
to say that I desire to confer, that do I not.'

"Bonner. 'Well, well.' And so he called for master Taylor, and
Bradford went his way." — Fox, vol. vii. p. 165.

I believe that I have fairly stated all the concern which
Bonner had with Rogers, Saunders, Hooper, Taylor, and
Bradford ; who seem to have been the only persons actually
condemned by the Council at the sittings of January 1555.
Two others (Ferrar and Cardmaker) did aftewards suffer
martyrdom, and will be mentioned hereafter. Two, Crome
and Tomson, seem to have recanted. This however makes
only nine out of the eleven who are said to have been
brought up, and who probably were far from being all the
persons examined. Who the others were I know not. But
whether there were more or fewer prisoners before these
Commissioners is of little consequence in our inquiry ; for,
if more who afterwards suffered as martyrs, were examined
on these occasions, they will come before our notice again
in the history of their sufferings ; and if they escaped, we
have no business with them.

The point for us to observe is, that after these four sit-
tings of the Council, there seem not to have been any
similar proceedings. The view of the matter given by Fox,

xx.] BONNER, LEFT TO HIMSELF. 357

and followed I believe by most writers, may be seen by the
following extract.

"After that Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, had got the
laws and the secular arm on his side, as ye have heard, with full
power and authority to reign and rule as he listed, and had brought
these godly bishops and reverend preachers aforesaid under foot,
namely, the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Eidley bishop of London,
master Latimer, master Hooper bishop of Worcester and Gloucester,
master Eogers, master Saunders, Dr. Taylor, and master Bradford,
all which he had now presently condemned, and some also burned,
he supposed now all had been cock-sure, and that Christ had been
conquered for ever, so that the people, being terrified with example
of these great learned men condemned, never would nor durst once
rout against their violent religion." — Fox, vol. vi. p. 703.

Then, after a good deal intended to shew that the Com-
missioners were not only as bad as the Turks but particu-
larly and specifically like them, Fox proceeds : —

" And thus condemned they these godly learned preachers and
bishops aforesaid, supposing, as I said, that all the rest would soon
be quailed by their example. But they were deceived ; for within
eight or nine days after that Stephen Gardiner had given sentence
against master Hooper, master Kogers, master Saunders, Dr. Taylor,
and master Bradford, being the eighth of February, six other good
men were brought likewise before the bishops for the same cause
of religion, to be examined, whose names were William Pygot,
butcher ; Stephen Knight, barber ; Thomas Tomkins, weaver ;
Thomas Hawkes, gentleman ; John Laurence, priest ; William
Hunter, apprentice.

" Stephen Gardiner, seeing thus his device disappointed, and that
cruelty in this case would not serve to his expectation, gave over
the matter as utterly discouraged, and from that day meddled no
more in such kind of condemnations, but referred the whole doing
thereof to Bonner bishop of London ; who supplied that part right
doubtily, as in the further process of this history hereafter evidently
and too much may appear. Thus bishop Bonner taking the matter
in hand, called before him in his consistory at St. Paul's (the lord
mayor, and certain aldermen sitting with him,) the six persons afore-
named, upon the 8th of February in the year aforesaid, and on the
next day, being the 9th of February, read the sentence of condem-
nation upon them, as appeareth in Bonner's own registers: such
quick speed these men could make in despatching their business at
once.'' — Fox, vol. vi. p. 704.

A reader would naturally suppose that within eight or
nine days after sentencing the five martyrs of whom we
have spoken, Bishop Gardiner and everybody else was taken
by surprise, and startled, by the apparition of six fresh men
who had suddenly sprung forward to take the places of their

358 SIX MARTYRS WHOM [ESSAY

fallen comrades. Burnet would confirm his notion by tell-
ing him in plain terms " soon after the condemnation of
these men, six others were apprehended on the account of
heresy."9 Wily Winchester one would suppose was not
prepared for anything of the sort, and finding that the five
martyrs had revived in six fresh ones, " as if in death were
propagation too," he turned them over to Bonner, who was
always ready for any cruelty, and called them before him
the very day that they came into his hands, scarcely asked
what they were charged with, sentenced them the next
day, and killed them out of hand without grace or mercy—
"such quick speed these men could make in despatching
their business at once " such care they took to " SPARE
NONE." Strype, who generally lays hold on Fox's skirts,
and follows him blindfold through all sorts of places, even
where one might think that he must have known the way
better, says that Gardiner "left the rest of this bloody work
* to Bishop Bonner ; and those six before mentioned Tie
1 began with ; who having been convented before him but
1 the day before, were condemned this very next dayT^
Savage work certainly; but what can one expect from
bloody wolves, and forests of wild beasts ?

But what if it should turn out that these six new martyrs
whom Bonner "began with" were persons whom he had
known a long time, and with whom he was particularly well
acquainted ? and what if the " quick speed " should prove to
be mere habitual misrepresentation, not meaning to tell an
elaborate and well considered untruth about these particular
facts, but naturally as it were, from long practice, colouring
with different colours, and commenting with fulsome flattery
or childish malice on the acts of different parties, and thus,
in the most unprovoked and reckless manner casting abroad
the firebrands of personal calumny and historical falsehood ?
Facts and dates which Fox himself supplies, afford sufficient
information; and show that Bonner did not first become
acquainted with these persons on the 8th of February, 1555.
Thomas Hawkes had certainly got the character of a heretic,
and committed his alleged heresy, in Essex, and been sent
up with a letter under charge of a special messenger to his
ordinary Bonner from the Earl of Oxford, and was in actual

9 Hist, of Ref. vol. ii. p. 282. J Mem. III. i. 332.

xx.] BONNER "BEGAN WITH." 359

custody in the bishop's house, before Midsummer 1554.
Thomas Tomkins the weaver was also a prisoner there; if
indeed one should so characterize a man making hay at
Fulham, with the bishop sitting by chatting with him.
When he went there I know not, but certainly in or before
July, 1554. As to William Hunter, he had been formally
denounced as a heretic nearly a year before, and had fled
from London on that account. I do not find precisely on
what day he came into Bonner's hands, but he had " con-
tinued in prison three quarters of a year," when he was
brought before Bonner on the 8th of February, 1555. Of
the other three, Pygot, Knight, and Laurence, I do not find
the exact time when they came into Bonner's custody : but
as Bonner in the first conversation that he had with
Hawkes, at Midsummer 1554, asked him if he knew Knight
and Pygot, it is plain that he must by that time have known
something of them himself2. I find also certain " Articles
and Interrogatories objected by the Bishop of London " to
these three jointly, in which the seventh is as follows : —

" 7. Whether is it true, that you being suspected, or infamed to be
culpable and faulty in speaking against the sacrament of the altar,
and against the very true presence of Christ's natural body, and the
substance thereof in the said sacrament ; and thereupon called
before me upon complaint made to me against you ; have not been
a good space in my house, having freely meat and drink, and also
divers times instructed and informed, as well by one being our
ordinary, as also by my chaplains and divers other learned men,
some whereof were bishops, some deans, and some archdeacons, and
every one of them learned in divinity, and minding well unto you,
and desiring the safeguard of your soul, and that you should follow
and believe the doctrine of the catholic church, as afore, concerning
the said sacrament of the altar ; and whether you did not at all
times since your said coming to me, utterly refuse to follow and
believe the said doctrine concerning the said sacrament ? " — Fox,
vol. vi. p. 738.

It would seem as if the same articles had been objected to
the other three, but really Fox's way of writing is such that
it is difficult to get at the bottom of any story. After giving
these articles, he says, " Their answers to these articles were
not much discrepant from Tomkins, and other like martyrs
above mentioned, as here followeth to be seen ;"3 and then
he gives, " The Answers of Pygot and Knight to the afore-

2 Fox, vii. 99. 8 Fox, vol. vi. 738.

360 BONNER AND HIS OWN PRISONERS. [ESSAY

said Articles," omitting Laurence. It is likely that the
latter made a separate confession4.

This is, I think, enough to shew how very unfair and
untrue it is to represent the condemnation of these six men
as having been carried with careless and merciless dispatch.
Bad as it was to burn them, there is no pretence for saying
that it was done in a hurry. Even after Bonner had passed
sentence on them, and they had been delivered to the secular
power, it can hardly be said that " quickspeed " was used in
carrying that sentence into execution. The earliest sufferer
of the six was allowed an interval of five weeks for reflection,
and the others were burned on the 26th, 28th, and 29th
of March and the 10th of June.

I say thus much here respecting these six prisoners, partly
to refute on the spot the idle calumny with which their
history is introduced ; and partly because they are said to
have been (though I know not when or where) before " th 3
bishops," by which I suppose we are to understand the
Commission. They were however, as may be seen, in a
peculiar manner Bonner's prisoners (those " he began with "),
and their cases will come more properly before us in the
history of his dealings with those heretics who were pro-
ceeded against in his court.

§ 5. BONNER'S DEALINGS WITH HIS OWN PRISONERS.

Having seen how much Bonner had to do with the martyrs
examined by the Commission in Southwark, let us briefly
inquire what he did afterwards. Let us allow the King,
Queen, and Council, the Commissioners, and the Chancellor,
to follow their own pleasure unnoticed, while we attend on
the proceedings of Bonner. Let us suppose that (as some
writers represent it) the whole business of the persecution
was turned over to him, and cursorily look at his course,

4 Pygot (as has been already stated) was a butcher, and Knight a
barber ; and they seem as if they had received their opinions from
Dr. Taylor of Hadley. Laurence was a priest, and I do not find any
account of the reason, or the time, of his coming into trouble ; unless he
was the same person as " Master Laurence of Barnhall," who is men-
tioned as " the first " in a list of the " Principal Teachers of Heretical
Doctrine in London by Stephen Morris's Confession " (Fox. viii. 384) ;—
but who Stephen Morris was, or when he made his confession, I do not
know, nor have I found anything more about him in Fox.

xx.] COWPER AND HEYLIN. 361

imagining, as far as we can, that he was acting purely
according to his own will, and upon his own responsibility.

I cannot, however, help suspecting that, by this time,
some readers who have been used to think of Bonner
as a sort of ecclesiastical Autocrat, have begun to doubt
whether in point of power, influence, and position in the
state, he was quite as great a person as they have supposed
— whether he actually had, or desired to have, the unlimited
powers of destruction ascribed to him, or even an intense and
insatiable desire to use to the uttermost those powers with
which he was invested by his office. I should be sorry, how-
ever, for the reader, at this early stage of the business, to
think that I am fighting with shadows. I am not so fond as
to expostulate with the poet who tells us, as a general fact,
that when a martyr suffered,

" Bonner, blithe as shepherd at a wake,

Enjoyed the shew, and danced about the stake."5

But I think it may be well to refresh the reader's memory
and feelings by a curious extract from one of our regular
historians of the Reformation, who writes as if he had actually
been at Bonner's elbow, and heard his soliloquy, on receiv-
ing his appointment as deputy-executioner from the Lord
Chancellor.

" Well then, said Bonner to himself, I see the honour of this
work is reserved for me, who neither fear the Emperor's frowns, nor
the people's curses. Which having said (as if he had been pumping
for a Resolution) he took his times so to make it known unto the
other two, that he perceived they were as willing as himself to have
the Catholick Religion entertained in all parts of the Kingdom,
though neither of them seemed desirous to Act any thing in it, or
take the envy on himself ; that he was well enough pleased with
that reservedness, hoping they did not mean it for a precedent unto
him or others, who had a mind to shew their zeal and forwardness
in the Catholick cause. Have I not seen (saith he) that the Here-
ticks themselves have broke the Ice, in putting one of their own
number (I think they called him by name of Servetus) to a cruel
death ? Could it be thought no crime in them, to take that more
severe course against one of their Brethren, for holding any contrary
Doctrine from that which they had publickly agreed amongst them ?
And can they be so silly, or so partial rather, as to reckon it for a
Crime in us, if we proceed against them with the like severity, and
punish them by the most extream rigour of their own example ? I
plainly see, that neither you my Lord Cardinal, nor you my Lord

5 Cowper, Expostulation, i. 96.

362 THOMAS TOMKINS. [ESSAY

Chancellor, have any Answer to return to my present Argument,
which is sufficient to encourage me to proceed upon it. I cannot
Act Canonically against any of them, but such as live within the
compass of my Jurisdiction, in which I shall desire no help nor
countenance from either of you. But as for such as live in the
Diocese of Canterbury, or that of Winchester, or otherwise not
within my reach in what place soever, let them be sent for up by
order from the Lords of the Council, committed to the Tower, the
Fleet, or any other Prison within my Diocese ; and when I have
them in my Clutches, let God do so, and more to Bonner, if they
scape his Fingers."— Heylin, Hist. Bef. p. 218.

I have already said that I believe the whole number of
Marian martyrs amounted to 277 ; and that those with
whom Bonner was in any way concerned, were 120. We
have seen what he had to do with the five who were before
the Council ; and I suppose that, with their cases, I may
dismiss that of Archbishop Cranmer, of which also I have
already spoken. Let us look, then, at those who may be
more properly called Bonner 's prisoners6.

(5.) THOMAS TOMKINS has been already mentioned, but as
there was a peculiarity in his case which has led to his being
brought forward as an instance of Bonner's cruel disposition,
it is necessary to say something more about him. That he
was an honest, simple, and godly man, who never performed
any act even of his business as a weaver without prayer, and
who showed his kindness to his friends by the freedom with
which he lent his money without interest, was the testimony
of his neighbours to Fox, who says,

" Of whom more than half a dozen at once came to me discreet
and substantial men reporting the same to me, recording moreover
what followeth. That Dr. Bonner bishop of London kept the said
Tomkins with him in prison half a year ; during which time the
said bishop was so rigorous unto him that he beat him bitterly
about the face, whereby his face was swelled. Whereupon the
bishop caused his beard to be shaven, and gave the barber twelve-
pence." — Fox, vi. 718.

6 I take them in the order in which they stand in the Martyrology,
numbering them for the convenience of using a list which I annex ;
referring likewise to the volume and page of the octavo edition ; which,
as I have already said, I quote because I believe it to be the most
accessible to my readers ; and, moreover, notwithstanding its manifold
and ludicrous blunders, it serves as a sort of reference to all the old
editions, and contains many things which are in none of them except the
first. It is curious that, though in very different senses, it may be truly
said that there are tv/o original editions of Fox.

THOMAS CRANMER, AKCHBISHO1' OF CANTERBURY
(Trout an Engraving by Gerbicus Flicais)

xx.] THOMAS TOMKINS. 363

I am afraid that more than half a dozen of Fox's friends
contributed stories to his martyrology, which it is not easy
to understand without some explanation. How much is
afforded by the paragraph which immediately follows what I
have just quoted, I do not take upon me to decide. But
here it is; —

" Touching which shaving of Thomas Tomkin's beard, this is more
to be added : Bishop Bonner, having Tomkins with him prisoner at
Fulham, in the month of July, did set him with his other workfolks
to make hay ; and seeing him to labour so well, the bishop, setting
him down, said, ' Well, I like thee well ; for thou labourest well : I
trust thou wilt be a good catholic.' 'My lord,' said he, 'St. Paul
saith, He that doth not labour is not worthy to eat.' Bonner said,
'Ah ! St. Paul is a great man with thee.' And so, after such other
talk, the bishop inferring moreover, wished his beard off, saying,
that so he would look like a catholic. 'My lord,' said Tomkins,
* before my beard grew I was, I trust, a good Christian, and so I
trust to be, my beard being on.' But Bonner, in fine, sent for the
barber, and caused his beard to be shaven off. The very cause was,
for that Bonner had plucked off a piece of his beard before." — Fox,
vol. vi. p. 718.

But a more serious charge of cruelty has been brought
against the bishop for burning the hand of Thomas Tomkins ;
a feat thought worthy of a large wood cut in the old editions,
which has been copied in the new one.

Whether it was wisely done, people may dispute ; but that
it was kindly meant no person of common sense can doubt.
Fox himself acknowledges that Tomkins's hand was burned
with the taper "to try his constancy."7 For what other
purpose could it be done, but to try whether a poor, simple,
man who was tenacious of opinions which seemed immove-
able by reasoning and argument, and would infallibly cost
him his life, might be saved by rousing his fears, and giving
him a severe foretaste of the suffering to which he was ex-
posing himself ? Fox's account is, —

u Bonner the bishop, being greatly vexed against the poor man,
when he saw that by no persuasions he could prevail with him,
devised another practice not so strange as cruel, further to try his
constancy ; to the intent, that seeing he could not otherwise con-
vince him by doctrine of Scriptures, yet he might overthrow him by
some forefeeling and terror of death. So, having with him master
Harpsfield, master Pembleton, Dr. Chedsey, master Willerton, and
others standing by, he called for Thomas Tomkins, who, coming
before the bishop, and standing as he was wont in defence of his

7 Vol. vi. 718.

364 BONNER AND THOMAS TOMKINS. [ESSAY

faith, the bishop fell from beating to burning : who, having there a
taper or wax candle of three or four wicks standing upon the table,
thought there to represent unto us as it were, the old image of king
Porsenna. For as he burned the hand of Scsevola, so this catholic
bishop took Tomkins by the fingers, and held his hand directly over
the flame, supposing that by the smart and pain of the fire being
terrified, he would leave off the defence of his doctrine which he had
received."

Yet such is the force of nature (for habit really is second
nature) that Fox cannot drop the story without adding (on
the very same page on which he acknowledges that " the
bishop thought by that means to drive him from his
opinions ") that " Bonner hitherto not contented with the
' burning of his hand, rested not until he had consumed his
' whole body into ashes at London in Smithfield8."

But I must call the reader's attention to one fact which
will often recur, and which is very important to notice.
Fox admits that this attempt to " overthrow " Tomkins was
not made until the bishop " saw that by no persuasions he
could prevail with him ; " and he further states, that when
the prisoner was brought up on the 8th of February, " the
* bishop went about to persuade him (with words rather
' than with reason) to relinquish his opinions, and to return

8 The story is very absurdly and instructively introduced by Strype.
After giving an account of Bonner's death in the reign of Elizabeth, he
says of him ; — " This man was commonly reported to be an atheist, and
' to have said secretly, that there was no such place of torment as hell ;
' that he denied God, the scriptures, and any life after this ; and that he
' used conjuring and witchcraft. This was upbraided to him in a letter
' by one unknown, upon his condemnation of Mr. Philpot. But what-
' soever credit is to be given to all that, this that follows is MATTER OF
' FACT ; which I transcribe out of an ancient paper among other AUTHENTIC
' MSS. in my custody : viz.

" Boner burnt Thomas Tomkins's hand with a candle in a most horrible
' manner, as is evidently known. Which Tomkins, before his apprehend-
'ing, dwelt in Shoreditch." — Ann. Vol. I. pt. ii. p. 298.

Jt is worth while to add, that this " ancient paper " gives the history
of John Fetty, jun., and his whipping, without so much as suggesting
that Bonner ever knew of his existence. — Ibid. p. 299.

One thing I believe to be true ; and, if it is, it deserves the attention
of the reader ; namely, that in the stories of Bonner's burning the hand of
one or two of his prisoners, and in those of his scourging others, it is not
pretended that he ever did, or availed himself of, either of these things, or
any things of the kind, as modes of torture, or to induce the confession
of guilt or accomplices, or any confession or consequence except such
as would have tended to save the prisoner from more severe punishment,
which it was not in his discretion to remit.

xx.] WILLIAM HUNTER. 365

* again to the unity of the catholic church, promising if he

* would do so to remit all that was past. But he constantly

* denied so to do. When the bishop saw he could not con-
' vince him" he brought forward interrogatories for him to
answer the next day, and " in the meantime he should
deliberate with himself what to do." The next morning at
8 o'clock, Tomkins went and gave in his answers to the
articles ; and then Bonner drew forth a Confession, which
he had signed as long before as the 26th of September, and
caused it to be openly read ; and then again he "willed him
1 to revoke and deny his said opinions, the which he utterly
' refused to do ; and therefore was commanded to appear
' before the bishop again in the same place at two o'clock in

* the afternoon." When he came up at two o'clock " before
the bishops of London, Bath, and St. David's with others "
. ..." he was earnestly exhorted by the said bishop of
Bath, to revoke and leave off his opinions ;" but he professed
his resolution to continue in them. " Then Bonner caused
all his articles and confession to be again openly read, and
so in his accustomed manner, persuaded with him to recant."
His answer showed that it was useless ; and " the Bishop
seeing he would not recant, did proceed in his law, and gave
sentence of condemnation upon him." What else could the
Bishop do ? what else could have been done by any judge
who did not thirst for blood, in such circumstances ?

(6.) WILLIAM HUNTER. — " The notable history of William

* Hunter apprentice of nineteen years pursued to death by

* Justice Brown, for the Gospel's sake ; worthy of all young

* men and parents to be read," is not less worthy the notice
of those who desire to understand the history of the times,
and especially the history of Bonner and his proceedings.
It is of that class which is for our purpose peculiarly valu-
able. I mean those accounts which were written either by
the martyrs themselves, or by their relations or friends.
It is unnecessary to explain why such documents, though
perhaps partial, ignorant, and even intentionally false, are
of inestimable value, as the flint, or the steel, or perhaps
only the tinder, which properly brought together help to
give real and true light to history. — This is the testimony
of Robert Hunter, the martyr's brother ; no friend, — but,
strange to say, apparently no enemy, — to Bonner.

William Hunter seems to have been born in Essex, of

366 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

parents who held the reformed doctrine, and who appren-
ticed their son to Thomas Taylor, a silk- weaver in London.
At the first Easter after the accession of Queen Mary, he
refused to receive the communion at his parish church;
and the priest threatened to bring him before the Bishop of
London. His master, who is said to have apprehended
danger from keeping him, sent him, either through fear or
kindness, to his friends in Essex.

After he had been with his father at Brentwood five or
six weeks, he went one day into the chapel and began read-
ing aloud. " One father Atwell a sumner " coming in, they
got into a dispute ; in which the Sumner (according to
Robert Hunter's account) not being able to answer the
apprentice, left the chapel " in a GREAT FURY " and fetched
Thomas Wood, the vicar of South Weald, who then took up
the dispute. They got upon the topic of the real presence,
at that time the most dangerous, and after threats and high
words they parted ; Hunter to save himself by flight, and
Wood to denounce him to Justice Brown9.

The Justice sent for Hunter's father, and the constable ;
and when the fugitive, after some days, learned that his
father was likely to be troubled on his account, he sur-
rendered himself. When he was brought up, the Justice
caused a bible to be fetched, and disputed until he was " in
1 SUCH A FURY with William, and so RAGED, that William could

* not speak a word but he crossed him and scoffed at every

* word. Wherefore William, seeing him in SUCH A FURY,
' desired that he would either hear him quietly, and suffer

* him to answer for himself, or else send him away. To the

* which Master Brown answered, ' Indeed I will send thee

* to-morrow to my Lord of London, and he shall have thee

* under examination ; ' and thus left off the talk, and made
1 a letter immediately, and sent William Hunter with the
' constable to Bonner, Bishop of London, who received
William1."

I must remind the reader, and beg him to keep in mind,
that the account of this young man's reception by the Bishop,
which we are about to look at, comes to us from himself,
through the medium of his brother. It is not likely that,

9 See before, p. 333, under Aug. 19th.
1 Fox, vi. 725.

xx.] WILLIAM HUNTER. 367

writing " in SUCH A FURY," Justice Brown framed a very
ingratiating letter of introduction for the prentice to deliver
to the bishop ; but,

" After that he had read the letter, and the constable returned
home again, the bishop caused William to be brought into a
chamber, where he began to reason with him in this manner : ' I
understand, William Hunter,' quoth he, ' by master Brown's letter,
how that you have had certain communication with the vicar of the
Wield, about the blessed sacrament of the altar ; and how that ye
could not agree : whereupon master Brown sent for thee, to bring
thee to the catholic faith, from the which, he saith that thou art
gone. Howbeit if thou wilt be ruled by me, thou shalt have no
harm for anything that thou hast said or done in this matter.'
William answered, saying, ' I am not fallen from the catholic faith
of Christ, I am sure ; but do believe it, and confess it with all my
heart.'

"'Why,' quoth the bishop, 'how sayest thou to the blessed
sacrament of the altar ? Wilt thou not recant thy saying, which
thou confessedst before master Brown, how that Christ's body is
not in the sacrament of the altar, the same that was born of the
Virgin Mary ? ' To the which William answered, saying, ' My lord,
I understand that master Brown hath certified you of the talk which
he and I had together, and thereby ye know what I said to him ;
the which I will not recant, by God's help. '

"Then said the bishop, 'I think thou art ashamed to bear a
faggot, and recant openly ; but, if thou wilt recant thy sayings, I
will promise thee that thou shalt not be put to open shame : but
speak the word here now between me and thee, and I will promise
thee it shall go no further, and thou shalt go home again without
any hurt.' William answered and said, 'My lord, if you will let
me alone, and leave me to my conscience, I will go to my father
and dwell with him, or else with my master again ; and so, if no-
body will disquiet or trouble my conscience, I will keep my conscience
to myself.'

" Then said the bishop, ' I am content, so that thou wilt go to the
church, and receive, and be shriven ; and so continue a good
catholic Christian.' ' No,' quoth William, * I will not do so, for all
the good in the world.' ' Then,' quoth the bishop, ' If you will not
do so, I will make you sure enough, I warrant you.' ' Well,' quoth
William, ' you can do no more than God will permit you. ' ' Well, '
quoth the bishop, 'wilt thou not recant indeed by no means?'
'No,' quoth William, 'never while I live, God willing.'" — Fox,
vol. vi. p. 726.

How are we to account for Hunter's meeting with such a
reception, except by believing, what seems obvious enough,
and is not contradicted, but strongly confirmed, by the
sequel, that, far from thirsting for his blood, and springing
on his prey like a " bloody wolf," the bishop pitied a hope-
ful, but, as he thought, mistaken and headstrong youth,

368 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

who had run himself into such danger, and wished to save
his life?

By this conversation, however, the bishop seems to have
discovered in some degree, though not entirely, and perhaps
not very accurately, what sort of person he had to deal with.
He dropped the persuasive, and assumed the severe. " The

* bishop (this talk ended) commanded his men to put

* William in the stocks in his gatehouse, where he sat two
' days and nights, only with a crust of brown bread and a

* cup of water." But here again Bonner was mistaken, and
his severity seemed to promise as little as his persuasion.
At the two days end, when he went to see his prisoner, he
found the bread and water untouched ; and it appeared as
if the captive meant to starve himself to death. The bishop
ordered his men to set him free, and let him breakfast with
them. It is probable that though William Hunter had not
used his mouth for eating, he had not kept it shut during
his confinement ; for his brother tells us (of course, on his
authority) that the bishop's men so far obeyed their master
that " they let him forth of the stocks, but would not suffer
him to eat with them, but called him heretic." He was not
at a loss for an answer, but told them " he was as loth to be
in their company as they were to be in his."

However, he had a breakfast ; and afterwards the bishop
sent for him and demanded whether he would recant ? and
finding him stedfast (he would have said obstinate) he
appears to have thought that his severity had failed, only
because he had not been severe enough ; and that by
something more terrific the youth might be intimidated
into submission. Accordingly, " the bishop sent him to
' the convict prison, and commanded the keeper to lay
1 irons upon him as many as he could bear .... and then

* he parted, and the bishop allowing him a halfpenny a
' day in meat or drink."

That the order to the gaoler was given in the young
man's presence, or made known to him, either by the
bishop or the gaoler, is obvious; and it seems probable
that, so far as it was executed, it was a part of a system
of rigour that was tried during the early part of his im-
prisonment. There is sufficient reason for believing that
he was not loaded with irons, or harshly treated, during
the greater part of his long captivity ; for his brother

xx.] WILLIAM HUNTER. 369

tells us that, after it was ended, and when the martyr
had been returned into Essex for execution, both his
parents expressed their joy that he had been kept sted-
fast in the faith, and assured him that they had prayed
for it, and never doubted about it. "William's father
' said, ' I was afraid of nothing but that my son should

* have been killed in the prison by hunger and cold ; the
1 bishop was so hard to him.' But William confessed,

* after a month, that his father was charged with his

* board, that he lacked nothing ; but had meat and clothing

* enough, yea even out of the court, both money, meat,

* clothes, wood and coals, and all things necessary."

To go back, however, to the period of his commitment —
his brother says ; —

" Thus he continued in prison three quarters of a year. In the
which time he had been before the bishop five times, besides the
time when he was condemned in the consistory in Paul's, the 9th
day of February : at the which time I his brother Robert Hunter
was present, when and where I heard the bishop condemn him, and
five others."

On that occasion Bonner again inquired if he would recant,
and read his examination and confession. He then entered
into an argument with him on the eucharist ; but, after a
while, seeing he made no impression, " he said, ' I have

* always found thee at this point, and I see no hope in

* thee to reclaim thee unto the catholic faith, but thou wilt

* continue a corrupt member : ' and then pronounced sen-

* tence upon him how that he should go from that place

* to Newgate for a time, and so from thence to Brentwood,
* ' Where,' said he, * thou shalt be burned.' Then the
4 bishop called for another," &c.

Surely it will not be said that this was a hasty sentence,
or one pronounced while there was hope of its being
averted by the prisoner's submission. Was Bonner's con-
duct throughout the affair that of a man who thirsted for
the blood of a victim ? Could he have done more ? At
all events could he do more when the terrible sentence
had been pronounced? Yes, even then he did not give
the matter up. He resolved to make one further effort.
The historian, the affectionate, but honest, brother of the
martyr (whose narrative, by the way, never betrays the
least symptom of animosity against Bonner, while he is

370 BISHOP BONNER WITH [ESSAY

severe enough on Justice Brown by whom his brother was
" pursued to death ") tells us, that when the bishop, having
gone through the cases of the five other prisoners, had con-
demned them all, and thereby, we may add, had given the
apprentice time to realize and consider the punishment to
which he was sentenced, while it was thus repeatedly
awarded to the others,

"He called for William Hunter, and persuaded with him; saying,
' If them wilt yet recant, I will make thee a freeman in the city, and
give thee forty pound in good money to set up thine occupation
withal : or I will make thee steward of my house, and set thee in
office ; for I like thee well. Thou hast wit enough, and I will
prefer thee if thou recant. ' But William answered, ' I thank you
for your great offers : notwithstanding, my lord,' said he, ' if you
cannot persuade my conscience with Scriptures, I cannot find in
my heart to turn from God for the love of the world ; for I count
all things worldly, but loss and dung, in respect of the love of
Christ.'

" Then said the bishop, ' If thou diest in this mind, thou art
condemned for ever.' William answered, ' God judgeth righteously,
and justifieth them whom man condemnetn unjustly.3 Thus
William and the bishop departed." — Fox, vol. vi. p. 727.

1 have given this story the more fully, because it forms a
part of the popular history of England. I am afraid that,
as it stands here, it will meet the eye of very few in com-
parison with the tens of thousands who have read it as it
is more briefly, but I think not more correctly, related in
the pages of Hume.

" One Hunter, a young man of nineteen, an apprentice, having
been seduced by a priest into a dispute, had unwarily denied the real
presence. Sensible of his danger, he immediately absconded ; but
Banner, laying hold of his father, threatened him with the greatest
severities, if he did not produce the young man to stand his trial.
Hunter, hearing of the vexations to which his father was exposed
voluntarily surrendered himself to Bonner, and was condemned to
the flames by that barbarous prelate." — Hist, of JSng., vol. iv.
p. 415.2

2 Hume was probably indebted for a good deal of this to Burnet, who
tells tbe story in a very characteristic manner. " The next that suffered,
' was one William Hunter of Brentwood, an apprentice of nineteen years
' old, who had been drawn on in discourse by a priest, till he brought him
' to deny the presence in the sacrament, and then was accused by him.
' His own father was made to search for him, to bring him to justice ; but
' he, to save his father from trouble, rendered himself. Bonner offered
' him forty pounds if he would change, so mercenary a thing did he think
' conscience to be : but he answered, if they would let him alone, he
4 would keep his conscience to himself, but he would not change ; so he

xx.] CAUSTON AND HIGBED. 371

(7.) THOMAS CAUSTON. (8.) THOMAS HIGBED, are here
brought in by Fox, before the three which remain of those
who were condemned with William Hunter, and I follow
his order. He says that they were " two worshipful gentle-
men in the county of Essex," the one of Horndon on the
Hill, the other of the parish of Thundersley, and therefore
clearly in Bonner's diocese. How soon they were questioned
I do not find ; but Fox says that they were zealous " and
could not long lie hid and obscure ; " and, in fact, they
were committed to Colchester Castle. In that place Bonner
(I suppose on his visitation) accompanied by " Master
Fecknam and others," visited them, "thinking to reclaim
1 them to his faction and fashion ; so that great labour and

* diligence was taken therein, as well by terrors and threat-

* enings, as by large promises, and nattering, and all fair

* means to reduce them again to the unity (as they termed

* it) of the mother church. In fine when nothing could
' prevail to make them assent to their doings, at length they
' came to this point " — the reader of course expects that
Fox is going on to tell how the fire was instantly lighted,
and the prisoners put into it ; — but instead of that, " they "
[that is the said prisoners] "came to this point, that they
' required certain respite to consult with themselves what
' was best to do. Which time of deliberation [what it was

* he does not say] being expired, and they remaining still
' constant and unmoveable in their professed doctrine, and

* setting out also their confession in writing, the bishop
' seeing no good to be done in tarrying any longer there,
' departed thence and [left them for execution ? Not at all]
' carried them both with him to London."

When they got to London they were "committed to

* strait prison, and there attempted sundry ways by the
' bishop and his chaplains to revoke their opinions : at
' length, when no persuasions would serve, they were brought
' to open examination at the Consistory in Paul's, the 27th
' day of February, 15553," where they were asked by the

' was condemned, and sent to be burnt near his father's house, where he
'suffered on the 20th of March. "—Hist. Eef. Part II. B. ii. p. 286.
Good reader, would you rather be known among your friends as the man
who proffered the forty pounds, or the man who thus records it?

3 ft seems as if the 17 and 18, which stand in some editions, should be
27 and 28 for two reasons — one that Fox says (p. 731, bottom), "the

372 BISHOP BONNER WITH [ESSAY

bishop of London, the bishop of Bath and others, whether
they would recant, and on their refusal they were remanded
till the next day.

February 28. They appeared accordingly and " among
many other things there said and passed," Articles were
ministered to them, which they were required to answer the
next day. There is no need to notice any but the first, and
that only because so much has been said of Bonner's going
out of his bounds. It was, I presume, to be found in the
articles of every prisoner brought into that court, " First,

* that thou Thomas Causton (or Thomas Higbed) hast been

* and art of the diocese of London, and also of the jurisdic-
' tion now of me, Edmund, bishop of London."

March 1. They were brought up and exhibited their
answers; after which the bishop said to them, "Because
' ye shall not be suddenly trapped, and that men shall not

* say that I go about to seek snares to put you away, I have

* hitherto respited you, that you should weigh and consider
' with yourself your state and condition, and that you

* should while ye have time and space, acknowledge the
' truth, and return to the unity of the catholic church."
After further examination, they were ordered to appear on
the next Wednesday; but it seems that they did not
in fact appear again for a week ; but were next
brought up

Friday, March 8. The Bishop, Fecknam, and Dr.
Stempe, appear to have reasoned with Causton, and not-
withstanding his refusal to make any recantation, " the
bishop still persuaded with him to recant." But in vain.
Then, " the bishop leaving master Causton calleth for
master Higbed, using with him the like persuasions that he
did with the other." But equally in vain, and both were
again remanded till the next day.

Saturday the 9th of March, they were brought up, the
bishop caused Causton's articles to be read openly and then
"persuaded with him to recant and abjure his heretical
opinions and to come home now, at the last, to their mother
the catholic church, and save himself." Causton answered

next day was assigned them," &c., and then goes on (over leaf) " Upon
that day, being the first day of March" &c. — The other reason is, that the
17th. said to be the day of their first appearance, was a Sunday.

xx.] CAUSTON AND HIGBED. J573

the bishop, that he came there with no such purpose ; and
producing a long confession of faith in the name of himself
and Higbed, " required leave to read the same ; which,
after great suit, was obtained. And so he read it openly in
the hearing of the people." Fox gives it with a title which
states, that it was "delivered to the Bishop of London,
before the Mayor and Sheriffs, and in the presence of all
the people there assembled." How far the proceeding was
quite regular, I do not know ; but I suppose it was a matter
of indulgence, as it is said to have been granted only after
" great suit." And we may very well believe that the suit
was granted on the Confession being previously looked at,
and found to be (for such it really was) temperate, and free
from those personal insults to the bishop, and those attacks
on his faith, which he considered blasphemies, but in which
too many of his prisoners were apt to indulge " in the
presence of all the people." At the same time it cannot be
denied, that the bishop might be influenced by the con-
sideration, that it was so bold, plain, and uncompromising,
that it would clear him, and show " the people " that unless
he should set aside all law there was but one course which
he could pursue.

When the confession had been read, " the bishop, still
' persisting sometimes in fair promises, sometimes threatening
1 to pronounce judgment, asked them whether they would
' stand to this their confession and other answers ? " To
which Causton replied, that they would; "after which
answer the bishop began to pronounce sentence against
him."

But the prisoner interrupted him ; and insisted on his
right to have the confession which had been read, answered
" by the truth of God's word ; " and said that as he could
" not have justice " (so he called a public disputation on
these points of faith, in the Consistory Court, at this stage
of its proceedings) he would appeal to Cardinal Pole. On
this Dr. Smith offered to answer their confession ; but " the
bishop (not suffering him to speak) willed Harpsfield to say
his mind, for the stay of the people ; " and he, according to
Fox's account, " taking their confession in his hand, neither
touched nor answered one sentence thereof." After this
the bishop pronounced sentence on Causton ; and then he
proceeded to the articles and answers of Higbed. It is

374 BISHOP BONDER WITH PYGOT, [ESSAY

needless to repeat the conversation which ended by the
bishop's again asking him " whether he would turn from his
error, and come to the unity of their church ? To whom
he said, ' No ; I would ye should recant : for I am in the
truth, and you in error.' ' Well,' quoth the bishop, ' if
ye will return, I will gladly receive you.' 'No,' said
Higbed, ' I will not return as you will have me, to believe
in the sacrament of the altar, your God.' Whereupon the
bishop proceeded, and gave judgment upon him."
They were then delivered to the sheriffs of London by
whom they were kept in Newgate a fortnight ; after which
(on the 23rd of March) they were delivered to the sheriff
of Essex, and they were burned on the 26th of the same
month.

(9.) WILLIAM PYGOT. (10.) STEPHEN KNIGHT. (11.)
JOHN LAURENCE. After what has been just said (p. 359)
of these three martyrs, it may be sufficient to add, that as
it appeared that no quick dispatch had been made in bring-
ing them to trial, so also, no indecent haste was made in
executing the sentence pronounced against them. On the
9th of February Pygot and Knight were brought before the
bishop " into his great chamber in his palace, where he
persuaded with them to recant, and deny their former pro-
fession."— "The Bishop also used certain talk unto John
Laurence only " — that is, I presume, he conversed with the
priest apart from the butcher and the barber — after which
they joined the other prisoners, Tomkins and Hunter, in the
Consistory whence after talk and " other fair words and
threatenings" they were remanded until the afternoon.
" At that hour they came thither again, and there, after the
accustomed manner, were exhorted to recant and revoke
their doctrine, and receive the faith." But, " when the
bishop saw that neither his fair flatterings, nor yet his
cruel threatenings, would prevail, he gave them severally
their judgments."

They were immediately delivered to the Sheriffs of
London, and Pygot and Knight were burned on the 28th,
and Laurence on the 29th of March.

(15.) WILLIAM FLOWER, alias BRANCH. Of this "rash
indiscreet man 4," who rushed on the officiating priest at St.

4 Barnet, Hist, of Reform, ii. 290.

xx.] KNIGHT, LAURENCE, AND FLOWER. 375

Margaret's, Westminster, and shed his blood upon the con-
secrated hosts, I have had occasion to speak already (p. 192).
Immediately on the commission of his offence, which was ori
Easter Sunday, the 14th of April, 1555, he was committed
to the Gatehouse at Westminster. On the following Friday
he was as Fox states, " convented before Bonner his Ordi-
nary ; " and "the bishop, after he had sworn him upon a
book (according to his ordinary manner) ministered Articles
and interrogatories to him." The Articles and the answers
having been given, Fox proceeds ; — " After this examina-

* tion done, the bishop began after the best sort of his fine
1 divinity to instruct him, and exhort him to return again to

* the unity of his mother the catholic church, with such
1 reasons as he is commonly wont to use to others, promising
' many fair things if he would so do, besides the remitting
1 of what was past." Flower thanked him, but told him
that though he might kill his body he had no power over
his soul, and that he would never go from what he had
spoken concerning the sacrament whatever might be done to
him. The bishop remanded him till the afternoon, willing
him "in the meantime, to advise himself of his former
answers, whether he would stand to the same his opinions or
no : " and when in the afternoon he was again brought up,
" the bishop sitting in his Consistory, spake these words :
' Branch, ye were this forenoon here before me, and made
1 answer to certain articles ; and thereupon I respited you

* till now, to the intent you should consider and weigh with
4 yourself your state ; and to remember while you have
' time, both your abominable act, and also that evil opinion

* which ye have conceived, touching the verity of Christ's

* true natural body in the sacrament of the altar : ' to whom
' the said Branch answered again, and said as followeth :
' ' That which I have said, I will stand to ; and therefore I
' require that the law may proceed against me.' " The
notary having thereupon again read over the articles, and
he having asked, and obtained, leave to make one or two
alterations in his answers, not affecting the principal ques-
tions, "the bishop turning again to his old manner of

* exhorting, went about with words (and words only) to
' persuade him to submit himself to the catholic church,
1 and to the faith therof ; " and remanded him till the next
day.

376 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

- Then, as Fox proceeds to state, he " was brought by his

* keeper belonging to the Warden of the Fleet, before Bonner,
4 who, after his wonted manner of persuasion going about to
' reduce him to his catholic church and the unity thereof ;
' that is, from Christ to Antichrist ; sometimes with fair
'promises alluring, sometimes with menaces and terrors, fearing
« him, etc. ; to this William answering, said on this wise :
' * Do what ye will, I am at a point ; for the heavens shall as
' soon fall, as I will forsake mine opinion, etc.' Whereupon
'the bishop, after he had commanded these words to be
' registered, called for the depositions of certain witnesses ; "
and after they hacl been read, and the prisoner had been
asked what he had to say against sentence being passed, and
he had replied that he had nothing to say but what he had
said, the sentence was passed, and it was carried into execu-
tion on the Wednesday after.

(16.) JOHN CARDMAKER. His history is somewhat obscure.
It appears that he and Barlow had been brought before the
Council in the Star Chamber, on the 9th of November ; on
which occasion he was committed to the Fleet5. That he
was amongst those brought before the Commission on the
28th of January is clear ; for Fox says " Cardmaker this day
submitted himself unto them6;" and he also says, referring
to the same occasion, and respecting him and Barlow " they
both made such an answer, as the Chancellor with his fellow
commissioners allowed them for catholic7." That they really
did so, seems sufficiently proved by their getting away with-
out condemnation ; but Fox, who seems to think that any-
thing is better than the admission that any of the reformers
recanted, or quailed, absurdly suggests " Whether they of

* weakness so answered, or he of subtlety would so under-

* stand their answer, that he might have some forged example
' of a shrinking brother to lay in the dish of the rest, which

* were to be examined, it may easily be perceived by this,
c that to all of them which followed in examination, he objected
' the example of Barlow and Cardmaker, commending their
' soberness, discretion, and learning 8." So then after all that
we have heard of the bloodthirsty Chancellor's rabid zeal to
destroy his victims, especially by striking (fairly or not) at

- Fox, vi. 562. 6 Ibid. 588.

7 Ibid. vol. vii. p. 78. 8 Fox, vii. 78.

xx.] JOHN CARDMAKER. 377

the higher sort, when a Bihhop and a Prebendary made a
bold, plain, and (on that day particularly) public, profession
of the reformed faith, the crafty papist pretended to believe
that they fully consented to rank popery, and would not
understand anything else — and pretended that they had
recanted, when they had done no such thing ; and not only
pretended this to the crowded audience before whom the
examination had taken place, but stated it over and over
again as a known fact to " all them which followed in exami-
nation " — that is to the friends of Barlow and Cardmaker,
not one of whom, as far as I see, denied or even questioned
it. There are few things liable to become so absurd and
inconsistent, as party malice.

But though there can be no doubt that Cardmaker did
submit, in such a way that his life was spared at that time,
yet it seems as if it was either by some conditional arrange-
ment, or else that he immediately got into fresh trouble ; for
when Laurence Saunders was excommunicated and sent to
the Compter on the 30th of January, he found Cardmaker
in confinement there9. He was probably kept as a prisoner
either because he did not fulfil some promise of submission,
or on account of some fresh matter ; but, at all events, as
Fox expresses it, he " remained there prisoner, to be baited
' of the papists, who would needs seem to have a certain hope
' that Cardmaker was become theirs. Continual and great

* conference divers of them had with him, with reasonings,

* persuadings, threatenings, and all to none effect." Dr.
Martin, of whom we have heard before in the case of John
Careless, was the " chief doer ;" but it seems to have been
all in vain, for the " papistical trash " which he had to offer,
" Cardmaker answered largely, learnedly, and substantially."
So the next things that we find in his history (though not
before the 24th of May) are Articles ministered to him by
Bonner ; the first of which is, " that thou wast and art of
the city and diocese of London, and so of the jurisdiction of
me, Edmund, Bishop of London ;" to which the sometime
Prebendary of Wells " answereth and confesseth the same
to be true in every part thereof."

I do not find anything else which shows that Bonner had
to do with him. He suffered in Smithfield on the 30th of

9 Fox, vii. 78.

378 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

May ; and the only other fact which I observe respecting
him is that " two or three days " before that time, " one
Beard " called on him,f professing that he came to him/rom
the Council, to know whether he would recant.

(17.) JOHN WAKNE, an upholsterer in Walbrook, appears
to have been examined at the same time, and to have
suffered on the same day, as Cardmaker ; but to have had
no other connection with him. According to the Articles
ministered against him, which are given by Fox (he " con-
c f essing and granting the articles and contents thereof to be
4 true, according as they were objected in every part ; sub-
' scribing also the same with his hand ") he was not only
what the popish party would consider an old offender, but
one of that class of mockers which have been already de-
scribed. The fourth article was, " that thou hast said, that
-whereas about a twelvemonth ago, and more, a great rough
water spaniel of thine was shorn in the head, and had a
crown like a priest's made in the same, thou didst laugh at
it and like it, though thou didst it not thyself, nor knewest
who did it." Nobody will suppose this to have been the only
thing of the sort in which John Warne was engaged ; and if it
was not very bad in itself, still there was something in it which
was indicative of the animus of the man, and of the company
which he kept. But another article shows us that he must
have begun a course which brought him into notice, and
trouble, at a very early age. He was, we are told, on this
23rd of May, 1555, only twenty-nine years of age ; and it
appears from one of the articles confessed by him, that he
had been convented to the Guildhall for heresy under the
Act of Six Articles, on the Thursday after the burning of
Anne Askew, which must have been about nine years before
the time of this present trouble, and when he could not have
been more than twenty years of age. He seems to have
married the widow of one Robert Lashford, a cutler10, who
must have been a good deal older than he was ; as she had,
at this time, a daughter by her former marriage, who was
twenty years of age. The wife was one of the congregation
of Thomas Rose, which was taken in Bow Church-yard on
New Year's night, as has been already mentioned. Both
she and her daughter suffered at a subsequent period ; but

10 Fox, vii. 749,

xx.] JOHN WARNE. 379

the history is at present confined to John Warne : and Fox
lays the blame of his apprehension and punishment on Dr.
Story, putting in a marginal note, " Story persecuteth his
kinsfolk1" which of course keeps its place in the new edition,
though Fox himself in another page of the same volume
acknowledges his mistake and says, " I understand since of
some, there was no kindred between them, but only that she
was his servant2."

But as to John Warne, it seems that he could only be
considered by the law as a relapsed heretic, seeing that the
article which he subscribed states ; —

" That thou, John Warne, wast in time past here, in the city of
London, con vented in the Guildhall for heresy against the sacrament
of the altar, according to the order of the laws of this realm of
England in the time of King Henry the Eighth, and when Alderman
Barnes was sheriff, and the Thursday after that Anne Askew was
burnt in Smithfield ; and thereupon thou wast sent a prisoner to
Newgate, to whom Edmund Bishop of London did repair with his
chaplains, to instruct thee in the true faith of Christ, touching the
said sacrament of the altar, and to bring thee from thy error, which
was, that in the sacrament of the altar there is not the body of
Christ, nor any corporal presence of Christ's body and blood, under
the forms of bread and wine ; but that in the said sacrament there
is only material bread and wine, without any substance of Christ's
body and blood at all : and because thou wouldst not leave and
forsake thy said heresy therein, but persist and abide obstinately

1 Fox, vii. p. 343.

2 Fox, vii. 749. The passage in which Fox mentions the matter of
Dr. Story in the earlier part of the volume, is characteristic of him and of
his notion of " recognising " his book for different editions. " The chief
' procurer of this her death was Dr. Story, being (as it is thought) of some
' alliance either to her (the said Elizabeth), or else to her late husband :
' who, though he was, at the first apprehension of his said kinswoman,

' a very earnest suitor for her deliverance to Dr. Martin, then one of the
' king and queen's commissioners in matters of religion (himself being as
1 yet not made commissioner), and had by his suit obtained her deliverance
1 for that present, as Dr. Martin himself (the author hereof ) hath reported;
'yet afterwards, upon what occasion God only knoweth, except upon
' some burning charity, the said Dr. Story, obtaining now the room of one

* of the commissioners, caused not only the said John Warne, but also his
' wife, and afterwards his daughter, to be again apprehended, never leav-
1 ing them until he had brought them all to ashes. Such was the rage of
' that devout Catholic and white child of the mother church, that neither
1 kindred, nor any other consideration, could prevail with him, although
' it did (at his request) with others, who in respect of him were but

* strangers unto them. The Lord, if it be his will, turn his heart, or else
' rid his poor church from such a hydra, as, thanked be the Lord, now lie
' hath."— Fox, vii. 343.

380 BISHOP BONNER [ESSAY

and wilfully therein, thou wert, according to the said laws, con-
demned to death and to be burnt ; and thereupon labour being made
for thee to the king and others in the court, thou hadst a pardon of
King Henry the Eighth, and so thereby didst save thy life." — Fox,
vol. vii. p. 80.

As to the proceedings against him when thus again
accused, it is not worth while to repeat how the bishop was
occupied in " exhorting him with many words to leave his
heresies " — how at a subsequent examination " he was
earnestly exhorted by the said bishop to recant his opinions "
— how he was again examined and " the bishop then, seeing
' that notwithstanding all his fair promises, and tenable
* threatenings (whereof he used store), he could not anything
' prevail ; finished this examination with the definitive sen-
' tence." It is, I am aware, tiresome to repeat such matter
as this so often ; but without such repetition how can we
judge of the real case ? Could we without it sufficiently feel
the palpable absurdity of representing the blood-thirsty
bishop as a person foiled, and discomfited, and triumphed
over, whenever a martyr resisted unto death ? The bloody
wolf seems to have saved John Warne's life once, and he
wanted to do it again. But it would not do.

§ 6. BISHOP BONNER'S DEALINGS WITH THE COURT.

We are told that Bishop Bonner's proceedings with his
prisoners were stimulated and quickened — though our
account of them must be interrupted — by a letter which he
received about this time, " directed from the court," and
" sent by a post early in the morning." Fox heads it "A
Letter from the King and Queen to Bonner," but as he
could not himself, perhaps, view it, or wish his reader to
consider it, otherwise than as a matter of confidential corres-
pondence, and privy conspiracy, between the Queen and the
bishop, he used the collateral security of a marginal note,
" QUEEN MARY STIRRETH BONNER TO SHED INNOCENT BLOOD."
This is of course enough for those who run over pages, and
down margins, without inquiring whether the titles, and
notes, agree with the text. But if anybody looks into the
matter he will see that this was not a private and confiden-
tial note to Bonner from the Queen, but a document of a
particularly public nature, under the sign manual. It will

xx.] AND THE COURT. 381

be seen (for the matter is too important to our inquiry to
allow of its being omitted) that it was a circular letter from
the King and Queen to the bishops, informing them of their
concern in another circular letter which had been already
sent to all the Justices of the Peace in the kingdom.

" A Letter of the King and Queen to Bonner.

" To the right reverend father in God, our right trusty and well-
beloved, the bishop of London.

" Eight reverend father in God, right trusty and well-beloved, we
greet you well. And whereas of late we addressed our letters to
the justices of peace within every of the counties of this our realm,
whereby, amongst other instructions given them for the good order
and quiet government of the country round about them, they are
willed to have a special regard unto such disordered persons as
(forgetting their duties towards God and us) do lean to any erroneous
and heretical opinions, refusing to show themselves conformable to
the catholic religion of Christ's church ; wherein if they cannot by
good admonitions and fair means reform them, they are willed to
deliver them to the ordinary, to be by him charitably travailed
withal, and removed (if it may be) from their naughty opinions ; or
else, if they continue obstinate, to be ordered according to the laws
provided in that behalf : understanding now, to our no little marvel,
that divers of the said disordered persons, being by the justices of
peace, for their contempt and obstinacy, brought to the ordinaries
to be used as is aforesaid, are either refused to be received at their
hands, or, if they be received, are neither so travailed with as
Christian charity requireth, nor yet proceeded withal according to
the order of justice, but are suffered to continue in their errors, to
the dishonour of Almighty God, and dangerous example of others ;
like as we find this matter very strange, so we have thought con-
venient both to signify this our knowledge, and therewith also to
admonish you to have in this behalf such regard henceforth to the
office of a good pastor and bishop, as when any such offenders shall
be by the said officers or justices of peace brought unto you, you to
use your good wisdom and discretion in procuring to remove them
from their errors, if it may be ; or else in proceeding against them
(if they shall continue obstinate) according to the order of the
laws ; so as through your good furtherance, both God's glory may
be better advanced, and the commonwealth more quietly governed.
"Given under our signet, at our honour of Hampton-court,

the 24th of May, the first and second years of our

reigns3."

This document is of great historical importance, as show-
ing the conduct of the court at this time towards the
ecclesiastical and civil authorities with reference to the
matter of heresy. But it is of much more consequence in our

a Fox, vol. vii. p. 86.

382 BISHOP BONNER [ESSAY

inquiry ; because, though it is absurd to talk of its being
sent to Bonner personally, or as if it had any particular
application to him, yet it was in fact sent to him as much as
to the rest of the bishops ; and our business is to inquire
what he did with it. The reader may think this hopeless ;
for he will see that Fox, having given the document, pro-
ceeds with his story, dismissing the whole subject of? court
interference with this one remark ; — " This letter coming

* from the court to the bishop, made him the more earnest
1 and hasty to the condemnation, as well of others, as of

* these men of whom now we have presently to entreat, of
' John Simson I mean, and John Ardeley," &c.

We will, however, take leave to understand Fox's
" presently " in the modern, rather than in his sense of the
word ; and first inquire what Bonner did with reference to
this Royal Letter. In order to this an inquirer must have
either the first edition of the Martyrology, or Mr. Cattley's.
Taking for granted that he has not convenient access to the
former very rare volume, I assume with equal confidence
that he can consult the latter, which, owing to its badness
and its being kept imperfect by the publisher, may be had at a
very low price. If then he looks out the King and Queen's
letter at volume vii. p. 86 of Mr. Cattley's edition, and pro-
ceeds to turn over exactly one hundred and ninety-nine pages,
he will find a passage restored from the first edition, and stuck
in (without a word of explanation or any reference but to that
first edition) between "The Godly Letters of John Brad-
ford," and the history of " William Minge," and having no
sort of connection with either ; but which, on reflection and
comparison, he will see to be very important in regard to the
subject of our inquiry. It begins thus ; —

"In the month of May before, mention was made of certain
letters directed from the king and the queen to Bonner, then being
bishop of London. Besides which letters, certain others had been
directed a little before from the Council to the said bishop ; by
occasion of which letters, Bonner, not long after, caused a certain
declaration to be made at Paul's Cross, by Chedsey, unto the
people, to purge and wash himself from the common and general
suspicion of cruelty, which was spread abroad of him among the
common people : the copy of which his declaration I thought here
not to suppress, but, in this place, to set forth." — Fox, vol. vii.
p. 285.

If I understand the matter right, Bonner received the

xx.] AND THE COURT. 383

letter on Friday the 24th, or Saturday the 25th of May, and
Dr. Chedsey made the following declaration on Sunday the
26th ; " such quick speed " did Bonner make in doing what
he saw fit to do on the occasion, and what certainly was
rather a remarkable act ; though I confess myself unable fully
to understand tho whole motive and purpose of it. I shall,
however, be surprised if I find, that any fair and candid
person considers it as the act of a man who thirsted for
blood, and desired nothing more than to drive on the perse-
cution, and be the agent and instrument of its cruelties ; —

" A Declaration made at Paules Crosse by Doctour Chedsey, at the
commaundement of Boner, then By shop of London.

" My lorde maior, maister aldermen, maister shiriffes, and all you
here now assembled : my lorde byshoppe of London, your ordi-
narye, hath desired me to declare unto you all, that upon Friday
last he dyd receive twoo letters from the court ; the one came from
the Kyng and Queenes majesties, the other from their majesties'
privye Counsayle. The effect of that letter whiche came from the
privye Counsell, was concerninge procession and prayer to be made
for the obtaynyng and concludynge of peace betwene the Emperour's
Majesty and the Frenche Kynge ; the effect of that letter that came
from the King and Queenes Majesties was for the charitable in-
struction and reformation for heretickes, if they would amend, and
for theyr punishment if they woulde be wylfyll and obstinate ; and
you shall heare the tenour and woordes of both.

" The superscription of the letter commyng from the privye
Counsell was thys : To our very good lorde the Byshop of London,
wyth diligence. The subscription was: Your lordshyppes lovyng
f rendes, Francis Shrewesberye ; Penbroke ; Thomas Cheyny ;
Wylliam Peter ; Thomas Wharton ; Richard Southwel. The woordes
of the bodye of the letter were these : After our ryght hartye, etc.

" The superscription of the letter comminge from the Kinge and
Queenes Majesties was this : Totherighte reverende Father in God,
our right trustie and well beloved the byshop of London. The
signe manuel was Philip and Marye : the tenor was Right reverend,
etc. ; and Lo, heare is the signet put to the saide letters.

" And where by these letters, comming from the king and Quenes
Majesties, it appeareth that their majesties do charge my Lorde
byshop of London and the rest of the bishops of remisnes and neg-
ligence in instructinge the people, infected with heresye, yf they
will be taught, and in punishing them yf they will be obstinate and
willfull, ye shall understand that my Lorde Byshop of London, for
his part, offereth himselfe redye to do therin hys duty to the utter-
most ; gevinge you knowledge that he hath sent to all the prisons
of the citie to knowe what persons are there for heresye, and by
whose commaundement : and that he will travayle and take payne
with all that be of his jurisdiction for theire amendement ; and
sorye he is that anye is in pryson for any such matter. And he

384 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

willed me to tel you, that he is not so cruell or hastye to sende men
to pryson as some be slaunderous and wilful to do naught, and laye
theire faultes on other men's shoulders.

" Moreover my sayd lord bishop willed me to declare unto you,
that upon Wednisday next at eight of the clocke in the morning,
there shall be heare at Paules a sermon before the generall proces-
sion ; and, that sermon beynge done, there shal be a generall pro-
cession throughe this citye, according to the tenor of the counsail's
letters ; and I do warne here this assemblye, and, by them, al other
of this citye, to be present at the same." — Fox, vol. vii. 286. First
Ed. p. 1217.

This Declaration, as I have already stated, I do not fully
understand ; and I do not pretend to say who they were
whom Bonner in so public a manner charged with doing
naught and laying their faults on other men's shoulders.
The whole passage was, I believe, omitted in every edition
of Fox after the first, until it was restored by Mr. Cattley4 ;
and this, whatever people may think of the story now, looks
as if the martyrologist on reflection, or a hint from some wiser
head than his own, thought that it was one which might as
well be forgotten. I apprehend that we may be indebted
to Mr. Cattley and his odd edition for a good many such
particulars.

§ 7. BONNER'S DEALINGS WITH HIS OWN PRISONERS

RESUMED.

Returning to the account of Bonner's dealings with his
own prisoners, I am anxious to say at once, that it is not
my purpose to weary the reader with a notice of each one of
them in regular succession, though I have thought it
fairest, most convenient, and every way best, to take a few
of the first just in the order in which they occurred.

4 As I have repeatedly said, I ^uote Mr. Cattley's edition for the con-
venience of my readers as well as lor my own. It was however so evident
that the unhappy editor had in this passage (as in others replaced by him
from the first edition) i'wcorrected it into nonsense, that I did not venture
to do what can be of comparatively little consequence where the reader
may refer to older editions. Through the kindness of my friend Mr.
Holmes of the Museum I am enabled to give it as it stands in the first
edition. Mr. Cattley not understanding the end of the third paragraph,
has printed it thus, " he is not so cruel or hasty to send men to prison as
some be — slanderous and wilful to do naught, and lay their faults on
other men's shoulders." This might indicate something omitted, but it is
not so. It is merely that the editor did not understand it. It is obvious
that there should be a comma after " prison. "

xx.] SIMSON AND ARDELEY. 385

I can truly declare that if I were merely desirous to
make out a case, and it could be done without intolerable
prolixity and repetition, I should be glad to go regularly
through all the processes in which Bonner was concerned ;
and that, if I feel it necessary to select a part only, not a
single one is omitted from a fear that it would contradict
any fact which is stated, or any opinion which is maintained,
in this volume.

But, in truth, the cases, as they are reported to us, are
chiefly of two kinds ; namely, those which relate little more
than the capture of the prisoner, his examinations, his con-
stancy in maintaining his opinions and withstanding the
flattering and threatening by which he was assailed, and the
catastrophe which followed — these accounts, given on one
authority or another, or perhaps on none at all, form one
class. The other, and much more valuable, consists of those
narratives which were written by the parties themselves or
their immediate relations or friends. These are not only
more circumstantial, and more graphic, but, what is still more
important, they are plainly the most unexceptionable as it
regards both the facts stated, and the animus of the parties
most interested. The reporter, we are sure, does not write
to eulogize Bonner, or dispraise the subject of his narrative.

The two cases which occur next after the interruption of
the Royal Letter, are fair specimens of this. The first is
the joint one, already mentioned, of ; —

(18.) JOHN SIMSON, and (19.) JOHN ARDELEY. They were
both husbandmen in the town of Wigborough in Essex.
At some time, which is not stated, they were " brought up
both together by the under-sheriff of Essex to Bonner,
Bishop of London, upon the accusation (as in that time it
was called) of heresy5." Afterwards (how long of course
does not appear, but it was on the 22nd of May, 1555)
articles were objected to them. They answered either
on the same day or on some other, and then, " the
bishop, according to the old trade of his consistory court,
respited them to the afternoon." At that time he repeated
the said articles to them, "and beginning with John
' Ardeley, did urge and solicitate him, according to his
* manner of words, to recant. To whom John Ardeley

5 Fox, vii. 86, 88.

2B

386 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

4 again, constantly standing to his professed religion, gave
1 answer in words as followeth : ' My lord,' quoth he,
' * neither you, nor any other of your religion, is of the

* catholic church ; for you be of a false faith : and I doubt

* not but you shall be deceived at length, bear as good a face

* as ye can. Ye will shed the innocent blood, and you have
' killed many, and yet go about to kill more, etc.' "

When a husbandman of Essex, aged thirty, was thus
publicly addressing the Bishop of London, sitting as a judge
in his court, it is more natural to wonder at the patience
which bore with it, than to blame the mistaken and impo-
tent good-will that still persisted in endeavours to procure
an abjuration ; and it is not necessary for us to enter into
the further particulars of the case. It is more to the pur-
pose to notice that of, —

(20.) THOMAS HAUKES, gentleman, who tells his own
story6, with many very interesting particulars, and with a
degree of self-complacency, and undisguised abomination of
all papistry, which make his testimony respecting Bonner's
temper, and mode of dealing with a rather provoking
prisoner, particularly worthy of attention. I sincerely
wish the reader would study the whole of it ; for I believe
it was the reading of this case, many years ago, which first
raised in my own mind a suspicion that the bishop was not
altogether such a person as Fox and some others would have
us suppose him to have been. I could not avoid feeling
that the young man, vaunted of by Fox as one who might
" seem to nobilitate the whole company of other holy mar-

* tyrs, and as a bright star to make the church of God and

* his truth, of themselves bright and clear, more gloriously

* to shine by his example," was, in his conduct and carriage,
very unlike a humble Christian ; while I could not escape
the impression, that within the rough exterior of the bishop
there must have been something more or less resembling
that charity which is not easily provoked, nay even suffereth
long, and is kind. Such an effect must, I think, be pro-
duced by the study of the history in Fox ; and perhaps a
few extracts, if they do nothing more, may show what I
mean ; though of course the prolixity, and repetition, which
we are anxious and constrained to avoid, is a very impor-

6 Fox, vii. p. 97.

xx.] THOMAS HAUKES. 387

tant feature in the case. It is not that the bishop let a
forward young man say his say out, once or even twice, and
then despatched him ; but, that, after such a beginning, he
had him on his hands for near a twelvemonth.

It seems that Thomas Haukes " entered service with the
Earl of Oxford " (in a way which does not preclude his being
qualified as "gentleman" in his history) during the pre-
ceding reign ; and that when, on the change of religion, his
patron conformed, he was not so accommodating, but quitted
the Earl's service and lived at home. "But," says Fox,
" what paradise7 in this world shall a man find so secret for
* himself, whither that old wicked serpent ' [the law of the
4 land, I suppose] * cannot creep, whereby he may have some
' matter to overthrow the quietness of the godly ? " From
what I can learn of Thomas Haukes' character I should
not think that he was a person who concealed his opinions,
or wished particularly for shade and secrecy; but Fox
proceeds : —

"Now in the mean season (as it happened) Haukes, keeping his
house at home, had born unto him a young son, whose baptism was
deferred to the third week, for that he would not suffer him to be
baptized after the papistical manner ; which thing the adversaries
not able to suffer, laying hands upon him, did bring him to the earl
of Oxford, there to be reasoned with, as not sound in religion, in
that he seemed to contemn the sacraments of the church.

" The earl, either intending not to trouble himself in such matters
or else seeing himself not able to weigh with him in such cases of
religion, sent him up to London with a messenger, and letters ; and
so, willing to clear his own hands, put him in the hands of Bonner,
bishop of London ; the contents of which his letter sent to Bonner
be these.

" A Letter of the Earl of Oxford to Bonner.

" Most reverend father in God, be it known unto you, that I have
sent you one Thomas Haukes, dwelling in the County of Essex, who
hath a child that hath remained unchristened more than three

7 So it stands in Mr. Cattley's edition, and perhaps correctly ; for I
have not the edition of 1583 which he professed to follow. The edition
of 1597, which I suppose to be the best text of the Martyrology, reads
" place " instead of " paradise," and it is followed by the edition of 1641,
the only other black letter edition to which I can conveniently refer.
These editions furnish other various readings in the account of Thomas
Haukes, some of which will be noticed as they occur. Of course I shall
not be understood as representing the two editions as of equal authority,
having already said that I suppose the earliest of them to contain the
best text that exists.

S88 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

weeks ; who, being upon the same examined, hath denied to have it
baptized as it is now used in the church ; whereupon I have sent
him to your good lordship, to use as ye think best, by your good dis-
cretion."— vii. 98.

Soon after this we meet with a " Private Talk or Confer-
ence between Haukes and Bonner," in which after some
introductory conversation about the baptism of his child, and
other matter, Bonner inquired whether he knew Knight and
Pygot, and the conversation proceeded thus : —

" Haukes. ' Knight I know, but Pygot I do not know.'

" Bonner. ' I thought ye were acquainted with him : it seemeth so
by your judgment. What preachers do ye know in Essex ? '

" Haukes. ' I know none.'

" Bonner. ' Do ye not know one Baget there ? ' 8

" Haukes. ' Yes forsooth, I know him.'

" Bonner. ' What manner of man is he ? '

" Haukes. ' An honest man, so far as I know.'

" Bonner. f Do you know him if you see him ? '

« Haukes. ' Yea, that I do/

" Then said he to one of his servants, ' Go call me Baget hither.'
And then he said to me, ' You seem to be a very proud man, and a
stubborn.' — He that brought me up stood all this while by.

" Haukes. ' What should move your lordship so to say ? '

" Bonner. 'Because I see in a man that came with you, much
humility and lowliness.'

" Haukes. ' It seemeth your lordship speaketh that to me, because
I make no courtesy 9 to you : ' — and with that came Baget. Then
the bishop said to Baget : ' How say ye, Sir ? know ye this man 2 '

" Baget. ' Yea forsooth, my lord : ' — with that Baget and I shook
hands. Then said the bishop to Baget, ' Sir, this man hath a child
which hath lain three weeks unchristened (as I have letters to show) ;
who refuseth to have it baptized, as it is now used in the church : —
how say you thereto ? '

"Baget. 'Forsooth, my lord, I say nothing thereto,' [with low
courtesy to the hard ground.]

" Bonner. ' Say you nothing thereto ? I will make you tell me
whether it be laudable, and to be frequented and used in the church
or not.'

" Baget. ' I beseech your lordship to pardon me : he is old enough ;
let him answer for himself.'

" Bonner. 'Ah, sir knave ! are ye at that point with me ? ' 'Go
call me the porter,' said he, to one of his men : ' Thou shalt sit in
the stocks, and have nothing but bread and water. I perceive I
have kept you too well. Have I made thus much of you, and have
I you at this point ? '

8 Eector of Fordham since 1554 ; which he seems to have held until
1558.— Newcourt.

9 " No more courtesy," ed. 1597.

XX.]

THOMAS HAUKES.

"Then came the bishop's man, and said, 'The porter is gone to
London : ' then said the bishop to Baget, ' Come with me,' and he
went away with him, and commanded me away, and bade one of his
gentlemen to talk with me (who was one of his own teaching) who
desired, amongst other 10 things, to know of me, with whom I was
acquainted in Essex, and what men they were, that were my
teachers.

" Haukes. ' When I see your commission I will make you answer.'
— And then immediately came the bishop again : but ere he came,
his man and I had much talk. Then the bishop sat down under a
vine in his orchard, and called Baget to him, whom he carried away,
and brought again ; and called me also, and said to Baget : ' How
say ye now, sir, unto baptism ? Say whether it be to be frequented
and used in the church, as it is now, or no ? '

" Baget. Forsooth my lord, I say it is good.'

" Banner. ' I befool your heart ; could ye not have said so before ?
Ye have wounded this man's conscience.5 Then the bishop turned
to me and said, ' How say ye now, sir ? This man is turned and
converted.'

" Haukes. ' I build my faith neither upon this man, neither upon
you, but only upon Christ Jesus ; who (as Paul saith) is the founder
and author of all men's faith.'

" Banner. ' I perceive ye are a stubborn fellow. I must be glad
to work another way with you, to win you. '

" Haukes. ' Whatsoever ye do, I am ready to suffer it : for I am
in your hands to abide it.'

" Banner. ' Well, ye are so ; come on your ways ; ye shall go in,
and I will use you christianlike : you shall have meat and drink,
such as I have in my house : but in any wise talk not.'

" Haukes. ' I purpose to talk nothing but the word of God and
truth.'

" Banner. ' I will have no heresy talked on in my house.'

11 Haukes. ' Why, is the truth become heresy ? God hath com-
manded that we should have none other talk in our houses, in our
beds, at our meat, and by the way, but all truth.'

" Banner. ' If ye will have my favour, be ruled by my counsel.'

"Haukes. ' Then I trust you will grant me my request.'

" Banner. ' What is that ? '

"Haukes. 'That your doctors and servants give me none occa-
sion : for if they do, I will surely utter my conscience. '

" Then commanded he his men to take in Baget, and let not
Haukes and him talk together. And so thus we departed, and went
to dinner ; and I dined at the steward's table. After dinner, his
chaplains and his men began to talk with me. But amongst all
others, there was one Darbishire, principal of Broadgates in Oxford,
and the bishop's kinsman, who said to me, that I was too curious ;
' for ye will have,' said he, ' nothing but your little pretty God's
book.'

" Haukes. ' And is it not sufficient for my salvation ? ' ' Yes,

10 " Amongst all other," ed. 1597.

390 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

said Darbishire, ' it is sufficient for our salvation, but not for our
instruction.'

" Haukes. 'God send me the salvation and you the instruction.'
And as we thus reasoned, came the bishop, who said unto me, ' I
gave you a commandment, that you should not talk. '

" Haukes. ' And I desired you, that your doctors and servants
should give me none occasion.' Then went we into his orchard
again, he and his doctors and I." — vii. 99.

The Bishop then enquired, whether he would have any
objection to have his child christened according to King
Edward's book ; and, on his stating that such was his
desire, the Bishop endeavoured to convince him that the
forms were the same as to what was essential. After this
he asked : —

" Banner. ' Will ye be content to tarry here, and your child shall
be baptized, and you shall not know of it, so that you will agree to
it?'

" Haukes. ' If I would so have done, I needed not to have come to
you : for I had the same counsel given before.'

" Banner. ' You seem to be a lusty young man ; you will not give
your head for the washing ; you will stand in the defence of it for
the honour of your country. Do you think that the queen and I
cannot command it to be done, in spite of your teeth ? '

" Haukes. ' What the queen and you can do, I will not stand in
it : but ye get my consent never the sooner.'

"Banner. 'Well, you are a stubborn young man: I perceive I
must work another way with you.'

" Haukes. ' Ye are in the hands of God ; and so am I.'

" Banner. ' Whatsoever you think, I will not l have you speak such
words unto me. ' — And so we departed until evensong time ; and ere
evensong was begun, my lord called for me to come to him into the
chapel, and said ; ' Haukes ! thou art a proper young man, and God
hath done his part unto thee ; I would be glad to do thee good.
Thou knowest that I am thy pastor, and one that should answer for
thee. If I would not teach thee well, I should answer for thy soul.'

" Haukes. ' That I have said, I will stand to it, God willing : there
is no way to remove it.1

" Banner. ' Nay, nay, Haukes, thou shalt not be so wilful. Kemem-
ber Christ bade two go into his vineyard : the one said would, and
went not ; the other said he would not, and went.'

" Haukes. ' The last went.'

" Banner. ' Do thou likewise, and I will talk friendly with thee.' "
— Fox, vol. vii. p. 101.

After some talk on part of the sixth chapter of the gospel
of St. John, which issued in the bishop's saying, " I trust
that you be sound in the blessed sacrament," and Haukes's

1 "I would not," both ed

xx.] THOMAS HAUKES. 391

answering, " I beseech your lordship to feel my conscience
no further than in that, that I was accused in unto you."
To this Bonner answered : —

" Banner. 'Well, well! let us go unto evensong.' — With that I
turned my back to go out of the chapel.

" Bonner. ' Why, will you not tarry evensong ? '

11 Haukes. ' No. forsooth.'

"Bonner. 'And why?'

" Haukes. « For I will not.'

" Bonner. ' And why will ye not ? '

" Haukes. ' For because I have no edifying thereby, for I under-
stand no Latin.'

" Bonner. ' Why 1 you may pray by yourself. What books have
ye?'

" Haukes. ' I have the New Testament, the books of Solomon, and
the Psalter.'

" Bonner. ' Why, I pray you, tarry here, and pray you on your
Psalter.'

" Haukes. ' I will not pray in this place, nor in any such.'

" Then said one of his chaplains, ' Let him go, my lord ; and he
shall be no partaker with us in our prayers. '

" Haukes. ' I think myself best at ease when I am furthest from
you.' — And so the bishop went to evensong, and I came down and
walked between the hall and the chapel in the court, and tarried
there till evensong was done. And within an hour after that even-
song was done, the bishop sent for me into his chamber where he
lay himself ; and when I came, there was he, and three of his chap-
lains."— Fox, vol. vii. p. 101.

A conversation then ensued on the sacrament ; and, after
a while, Haukes having spoken of the manner in which the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper began, Bonner said, —

" Bonner. * Alas, you know not how it began, neither of the insti-
tution thereof.'

" Haukes. ' Then I would be glad to learn.'

" Bonner. ' Marry, we will teach you : but you are so stubborn
that ye will not learn.'

" Haukes. l Except ye learn me by the word of God, I will never
credit you, nor believe you : ' and thus we concluded. Then the
bishop and his chaplains laughed and said, ' Jesu, Jesu ! what a
stubbornness and arrogantness is this ! ' And this was in his cham-
ber where he lay. Then said the bishop to me, ' Go down, and
drink ; for it is fasting day : it is Midsummer Even, but I think ye
love neither fasting nor praying.'

" Haukes. ' I will never deny fasting, neither praying ; so that it
be done as it ought to be done, and without hypocrisy or vain
glory.'

" Bonner. ' I like you the better for that : ' and so we left for that
night.

" The next day the bishop went to London : for Fecknam was

392 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

made dean that day, and I tarried still at Fulham. Then did the
bishop's men desire me to come to mass, but I did utterly refuse it,
answering them as I did their master. That night the bishop came
home to Fulham again."— vii. 102.

There is one trait in Bonner's character which has been
already brought before us, but which deserves a more
specific notice. That he was a man of considerable talent,
his being employed in public business so much as he was by
those who so well knew how to choose their agents seems to
prove — that he was more than usually learned in ecclesias-
tical and civil law is admitted — and I know of no reason
why we should suppose that he was not as well able as most
of his brethren to defend the opinions which they main-
tained. But, as to the matter of fact, though he seems not
to have avoided entering the lists as a theological polemic
when it either fell naturally, or was forced, upon him, yet
he appears always to have been anxious to get others to
talk with his prisoners, under an idea that they might
persuade and convince where he could not2. This habit led
the bishop very early on the Monday morning to introduce
his prisoner to his chaplain, and gave rise to the "Talk
between Harpsfield and Thomas Haukes," which will be
found in Fox, and which the disappointed bishop at length
put an end to.

11 Then the bishop said to Harpsfield, ' Sir, ye see this man hath
no need of our Lady, neither of any of the blessed saints. Well ! I
will trouble you no longer. I did call you, hoping that you should
do some good on him ; but it will not be.' — And he said to me, ' Sir,
it is time to begin with you. We will rid you away, and then we
shall have one heretic less. '

" Harpsfield. ' What books have you ? '

"Haukes. 'The New Testament, Solomon's Books, and the
Psalter.'

"Harpsfield. f Will you read any other books ? '

" Haukes. ' Yea, if you will give me such books as I will require.'

" Harpsfield. * What books will you require ? '

2 The reader will remember the article already referred to at p. 359,
being the seventh of those ministered to Pygot, Knight, and Laurence, in
which it was enquired whether they had not been instructed and informed
as well by the bishop's ordinary and chaplains, as also by "divers other
learned men, some whereof were bishops, some deans, and some arch-
d.eacons, and every one of them learned in divinity," &c. — Fox, vi. 738.
Some other indications of this practice the reader may have gathered from
this volume : and he may find enough proof of it in the Martyrology.

xx.] THOMAS HAURES. 393

" Haukes. ' Latimer's books, my lord of Canterbury's book, Brad-
ford's Sermons, Kidley's books.'

" Banner. ' Away, away ! He will have no books but such as
maintain his heresies : ' — and so they departed, for Harpsfield was
booted to ride unto Oxford ; and I went to the porter's lodge
again."— Fox, vii. 104.

The next day Bird, who had been Bishop of Chester,
being at Fulham, the same habit led Bonner to introduce
his prisoner to him : —

" The next day's Talk.

" The next day came hither an old bishop, who had a pearl in his
eye ; and he brought with him to my lord a dish of apples, and a
bottle of wine. For he had lost his living, because he had a wife.
Then the bishop called me again into the orchard, and said to the
old bishop : ' this young man hath a child, and will not have it
christened.'

" Haukes. ' I deny not baptism.'

" Banner. ' Thou art a fool ; thou canst not tell what thou wouldest
have ; '—and that he spake with much anger.

"Haukes. 'A bishop must be blameless or faultless, sober, dis-
creet, no chider, nor given to anger.'

"Bonner. 'Thou judgest me to be angry: no, by my faith, am I
not.' — and stroke himself upon the breast.

" Then said the old bishop, ' Alas, good young man ! you must be
taught by the church, and by your ancients ; and do as your fore-
fathers have done before you.'

" Bonner. ' No, no ! he will have nothing but the Scriptures, and
God wot, he doth not understand them. He will have no ceremonies
in the church, no not one. What say you to holy water ? ' " fcc.^—
vii. 104.

After a good deal of further discourse, in which Haukes
had declared that he would " believe no doctrine, but that
which is wrought by miracles," and had referred to the
signs promised to those that should believe, Bonner asked ; —

" Bonner. ' With what new tongues do ye speak ? '

" Haukes. ' Forsooth, whereas, before that I came to the knowledge
of God's word I was a foul blasphemer, and filthy talker, since I
came to the knowledge thereof, I have lauded God, praised
God, and given thanks unto God even with the same tongue : and
is not this a new tongue ? '

" Bonner. ' How do you cast out devils ? '

" Haukes. 'Christ did cast them out by his word ; and he hath
left the same word, that whosoever doth credit and believe it, shall
cast out devils.'

" Bonner. ' Did you ever drink any deadly poison ? '

" Haukes. ' Yea, forsooth, that I have ; for I have drunken of the
pestilent traditions and ceremonies of the bishop of Rome. '

" Bonner. * Now you shew yourself to be a right heretic.'

394 BISHOP BONNEE AND [ESSAY

" Haukes. ' I pray you, what is heresy ? '

" Banner. ' All things that are contrary to God's word.'

" Haukes. ' If I stand in any thing contrary thereto, then am I
worthy to be so called. '

" Banner. 'Thou art one ; and thou shalt be burned, if thou stand
and continue in this opinion. Ye think we are afraid to put one of
you to death : yes, yes, there is a brotherhood of you, but I will
break it, I warrant you.'

" Haukes. ' Where prove you that Christ or his apostles did kill
any man for his faith ?

" Banner. ' Did not Paul excommunicate ? '

" Haukes. ' Yes, my lord ; but there is a great difference between
excommunicating and burning. '

" Banner. ' Have you not read of the man and the woman in the
Acts of the Apostles, whom Peter destroyed ? '

"Haukes. ' Yes, forsooth ; I have read of one Ananias, and Sap-
phira his wife, which were destroyed for lying against the Holy
Ghost, which serveth nothing to your purpose.'

" Banner. ' Well, you will grant one yet.'

" Haukes. ' Well, if you will have us to grant you be of God, then
shew mercy ; for that God requireth.'

i( Banner. ' We will shew such mercy unto you, as ye showed unto
us : for my benefice or bishopric was taken away from me, so that I
had not one penny to live upon.'

" Haukes. ' I pray ye, my lord, what do you give him now that
was in the bishopric or benefice before that ye came again to it ? ' —
Whereunto he answered me never a word ; for he turned his back
unto me, and talked with other men, saying, that he was very sorry
for me, but he trusted that I would turn with St. Paul, because I
was so earnest : and so he departed, and went to dinner, and I to
the porter's lodge again. After dinner I was called into the hall
again, and the bishop desired the old bishop to take me into his
chamber: 'for I would be glad,' said he, ' if ye could convert him.'
So he took me into his chamber, and sat him down in a chair, and
said to me, ' I would to God I could do you some good. Ye are a
young man, and I would not wish you to go too far, but learn of
your elders to bear somewhat.'

" Haukes. ' I will bear with nothing that is contrary to the word
of God.' And I looked that the old bishop should have made me
an answer, and he was fast asleep. — Then I departed out of the
chamber alone, and went to the porter's lodge again, and there saw
I the old bishop last : I suppose he is not yet awake." — vii. 105.

The next thing, happening the next day, and obviously
brought about by the same custom, is a "Talk between
Fecknam and Haukes ; " and the next to that, on the day
following, a " Talk between Haukes and Chedsey," which is
thus introduced : —

" The next day came Dr. Chedsey to the bishop ; and then was I
called into the garden to the bishop and him. The bishop declared
unto him, that I had stood stubbornly in the defence against the

xx.] THOMAS HAUKES. 395

christening of my child, and against the ceremonies of the church,
and that I would not have it christened but in English.

''Then said Dr. Chedsey, 'Then he denieth the order of the
catholic church.'

" Banner. ' Yea, he thinketh that there is no church but in Eng-
land and in Germany.'

" Haukes. ' And ye think that there is no church, but the church
of Eome.'

" Chedsey. l What say ye to the church of Eome ? '

" Haukes. ' I say it is a church of a sort of vicious cardinals,
priests, monks, and friars, which I will never credit nor believe.'

" Chedsey. ' How say ye to the bishop of Rome ? '

" Haukes. ' From him and all his detestable enormities, good Lord
deliver us.'

" Chedsey. ' Marry, so may we say, from king Henry the Eighth,
and all his detestable enormities, good Lord deliver us.'

" Haukes. ' Where were ye whiles that he lived, that ye would not

" Chedsey. ' I was not far.'

" HauJces. ' Where were ye in his son's days ? '

" Chedsey. ' In prison.'

" Haukes. ' It was not for your well doing.'

" Banner. ' He will by no means come within my chapel, nor hear
mass : for neither the mass, neither the sacrament of the altar, can
he abide, neither will he have any service but in English.'" — Fox,
vol. vii. p. 107.

Much talk they had which it is not to our purpose to
extract, but Chedsey having spoken of rejoicing in the
cross of Christ in a way which seemed to Haukes to imply
that the Apostle meant the material cross, and Haukes
having answered " Do ye understand Paul so ? Do ye
understand Paul ? unto which," says Haukes, " he answered
me never a word," the bishop struck in —

" Banner. ' Where can we have a godlier remembrance when we
ride by the way, than to see the cross ? '

" Haukes. ' If the cross were such a profit unto us, why did not
Christ's disciples take it up, and set it on a pole, and carry it in pro-
cession, with " Salve, f esta dies 1 " :

" Chedsey. ' It was taken up.'

" Haukes. ' Who took it up ? Helene, as ye say ; for she sent a
piece of it to a place of religion, where 1 was with the visitors when
that house was suppressed 5, and the piece of the holy cross (which the
religious had in such estimation, and had robbed many a soul, com-
mitting idolatry to it) was called for ; and when it was proved, and

:5 This passage is worthy of notice as furnishing a little light respecting
the previous conditions of Thomas Haukes ; a point on which he and Fox
are not very communicative.

396 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

all come to all, it was but a piece of a lath, covered over with copper,
double gilded as it had been clean gold ! '

" Banner. ' Fie, tie ! I dare say thou slanderest it.'

" Haukes. * I know it to be true, and do not believe the contrary.'
— And thus did the bishop and the doctor depart in a great fume :
and Chedsey said unto me, as he was about to depart, ' It is pity
that thou shouldest live, or any such as thou art.' I answered, 'In
this case I desire not to live, but rather to die. '

" Chedsey. ' Ye die boldly, because ye would glory in your death,
as Joan Butcher did. '

"Haukes. 'What Joan Butcher did, I have nothing to do withal :
but I would my part might be to-morrow.1 — 'God make you in a
better mind,' said they both ; and so they departed, and I went to
the porter's lodge with my keeper. The next day Dr. Chedsey
preached in the bishop's chapel, and did not begin his sermon until
all the service was done : and then came the porter for me, and said
' My lord would have you come to the sermon.' — And so I went to
the chapel-door, and stood without the door.

" Banner. ' Is not this fellow come ? '

"Haukes. 'Yes, I am here.'

" Banner. ' Come in, man.'

"Haukes. ' No, that I will not.' He called again, and I answered,
' I will come no nearer ; ' and so I stood at the door. Then said the
bishop, ' Go to your sermon.' — vii. 108.

The same day there was "Another Communication
between Thomas Haukes and the Bishop." The former
says ; —

"And, after dinner, I was called into the chapel, where were
certain of the queen's servants, and other strangers whom I did not
know 4.

" Banner. ' Haukes ! how like you the sermon ? '

' Haukes. ' As I like all the rest of his doctrine.'

« Banner. * What ! are ye not edified thereby ? '

'Haukes. 'No, surely.'

'Banner. ' It was made only because of you.'

' Haukes. ( Why ? then am I sorry that ye had no more heretics
here, as ye call them : I am sorry that ye have bestowed so much
labour on one, and so little regarded.'

" Banner. ' Well, I will leave you here, for I have business : I pray
you talk with him, for if ye could do him good,' said he, ' I would
be glad.'

" This the bishop spake to the queen's men, who said unto me,
* Alas 1 what mean you to trouble yourself about such matters
against the queen's proceedings ? '

" Haukes. ' Those matters have I answered before them that be in
authority : and unless I see you have a further commission, I will
answer you nothing at all.' Then said the bishop's men (which were
many), • My lord hath commanded you to talk with them. '

4 " I did know," both ed.

xx.] THOMAS HAUKES. 397

"Haukes. 'If my lord will talk with me himself, I will answer
him.' They cried, 'Faggots ! burn him, hang him, to prison with
him : it is a pity that he liveth ! Lay irons upon him ! ' and with a
great noise they spake these words. Then in the midst of all their
rage I departed from them, and went to the porter's lodge again.' —
Fox, vol. vii. p. 109.

Again,

" The next day the bishop called me into his chamber, and said,
' Ye have been with me a great while, and ye are never the better,
but worse and worse : and therefore I will delay the time no longer,
but send you to Newgate.'

" Haukes. ( My lord, you can do me no better pleasure.'
"Banner. * Why, would you so fain go to prison ? '
" Haukes. ' Truly I did look for none other, when I came to your
hands.'

" Banner. ' Come on your ways ; ye shall see what I have written.'
— Then did he shew me certain articles, and these are the contents
of them"— Fox, vol. vii. p. 109.

Then they discoursed somewhat on the Articles in ques-
tion, and Haukes says, " Then did the Bishop with much
flattery counsel me to be persuaded, and to keep me out of
prison, which I utterly refused, and so we departed." He
does not appear to have had any farther communication
with the bishop until the next day, or the day after ; but he
proceeds in a way well worthy our attention, not only as
more fully showing the nature and temper of the prisoner
whom the bishop had to deal with, but the bishop's own
opinion of him as to points on which he is perfectly silent
himself, and which no doubt influenced Bonner, though he
did not wish to burn him, nor to suffer him to go at large.

"The next day in the morning, which was the 1st day of July,
the bishop did call me himself from the porter's lodge, commanding
me to make me ready to go to prison, and to take such things with
me, as I had of mine own. And I said, 'I do neither intend to
bribe, neither to steal, God willing. ' Then he did write my warrant
to the keeper of the Gatehouse at Westminster, and delivered it to
Harpsfield, who, with his own man and one of the bishop's men,
brought me to prison, and delivered the warrant, and me, both to
the keeper : and this was contained in the warrant.

" ' I will and command you, that you receive him who cometh
named in this warrant, and that he be kept as a safe prisoner, and
that no man speak with him, and that ye deliver him to no man,
except it be the council, or to a justice : for he is a sacramentary,
and one that speaketh against baptism ; a seditious man, a perilous
man to be abroad in these perilous days.'

"And thus was I received, and they departed. And there I
remained thirteen days, and then the bishop sent two of his men

398 BISHOP BONNEK AND [ESSAY

' me, saying, 'My lord would be glad to know how ye do.' I
irered them, ' I do, like a poor prisoner. ' They said, ' My lord

unto

answc

would know, whether ye be the same man that ye were when ye

departed.' I said, 'I am no changeling.' They said, c My lord

would be glad that ye should do well.' I said, ' If my lord will me

any good, I pray you desire him to suffer my friends to come to

me.' So they said they would speak for me, but I heard no more of

them.

"This is the first examination of me Thomas Haukes, being
examined by Edmund Bonner, then bishop of London, and by his
chaplains and doctors at Fulham, four miles from London, where I
lay, till I came to prison to Westminster : and after his two men
had been with me, I heard no more of him till the 3d day of
September." — Fox, vol. vii. p. 110.

Then Thomas Haukes was sent for by the bishop of
London, and the Keeper of the prison and his men brought
him to the bishop's palace. He begins his account thus; —

" The bishop of Winchester, then being chancellor, preached that
day at Paul's Cross, and the bishop of London said to my keeper, * I
think your man will not go to the sermon to day.'

" Haukes. ' Yes my lord, I pray you let me go : and that which is
good I will receive, and the rest I will leave behind me ; ' and so I
went. And when the sermon was done, I and my keeper came to
the bishop's house, and there we remained till dinner was done ; and
after dinner the bishop called for me, and asked me, if I were the
same man that I was before.

" Haukes. ' I am no changeling, nor none will be.'

" Bonner. ' Ye will find me no changeling neither. ' — And so he
returned into his chamber, and there he did write the side of a
sheet of paper. — Fox, vii. 111.

There seems to have been a great number of persons
present ; and while Bonner was writing his side of a sheet
of paper, Haukes remained and talked with Dr. Smith, and
also held the conversation with Miles Hoggard which has
been already mentioned at p. 234 of this volume. The
discourse and the way of relating it, are exceedingly charac-
teristic as it regards Haukes ; but our concern is more with
Bonner than with the prisoner, whose confession he seems
to have been preparing for signature. He was so long
about it that Thomas Haukes became somewhat tired of the
company, who wished to dispute with him, and urged him
until he told them that he would not talk " with any man
more." " I said," he tells us, " that I came to talk with my
Lord and not with any of them ; "

"With that came the bishop, bringing a letter in his hand, the
which he had written in my name, and read it unto me after this

XX.]

THOMAS HAUKES. 399

manner. ' I, Thomas Haukes, do here confess and declare before my
said ordinary Edmund, bishop of London, that the mass is abomin-
able and detestable, and full of all superstition ; and also as con-
cerning the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ (commonly
called the sacrament of the altar) that Christ is in no part thereof,
but only in heaven : this I have believed, and this I do believe,' &c.

"Haukes. ' Stop there, my lord : what I have believed, what have
you to do withal ? But what I do believe, to that stand I, and will.'
— Then he took his pen, and said he would scrape it out for my
pleasure, and so he did 5 to my thinking.

" Then he went further with his writing, and said, ' I Thomas
Haukes, have talked with my said Ordinary, and with certain good,
godly, and learned men. Notwithstanding I stand still in mine
opinion.'

" Haukes. ' Shall I grant you to be good, godly, and learned men,
and yet grant myself to stand in a contrary opinion ? No, I will
not grant you to be good, godly, and learned men. '

" Banner. ' Ye will grant that ye have talked with us : the other I
will put out for your pleasure.' Then said all his doctors, ' If your
lordship be ruled by him, he will cause you to put out all together.'
And then he read more to me : ' Here unto this bill have I set my
hand ; ' and then he offered me the bill and his pen, and bade me
set my hand to it.

"Haukes, 'Ye get not my hand to any thing of your making
or devising.'

"Banner, 'Wilt not thou set to thy hand? It shall be to thy
shame for the denying of it."

"And then he called all his doctors, and said, he would have
every man's hand to it that was in the chamber ; and so he had all
their hands to it and said, ' He that will not set his hand to it, I
would he were hanged ; ' and so said all his chaplains and doctors
with a great noise.

" Then the bishop thrust me on the breast with great anger ; and
said he would be even with me, and with all such proud knaves in

"Haukes. 'Ye shall do no more than God shall give you leave.'

"Banner. 'This gear shall not be unpunished — trust to it.'

" Haukes. ' As for your cursings, railings, and blasphemings, I care

not for them : for I know the moths and worms shall eat you, as

they eat cloth or wool.'

"Banner. ' I will be even with you when time shall come.'

" Haukes. ' You may in your malice destroy a man : but, when ye

have done, ye cannot do so much as make a finger; and ye be

meetly even with some of us already.'

"Banner. ' If I do thee any wrong, take the law of me.'

" Haukes. ' Solomon saith, Go not to law with a judge ; for he will

judge according to his own honour.'

"Banner. 'Solomon saith, Give not a fool an answer.'
" Haukes. ' What ! do you count me a fool ? '

5 "So did," both ed.

400 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

j

" Banner. ' Yea, by my troth do I ; and so dost thou me too : but
God forgive thee, and so do I. '

"Hatikes. ' Thought is free my lord.' Then took Bonner the bill,
and read it again ; and when he saw that he could not have my hand
to it, then he would have had me to take it into my hand, and
to give it to him again.

" Haukes. ( What needeth that ceremony ? Neither shall it come
into my hand, heart, or mind.' Then he wrapt it up, and put in his
bosom, and in a great anger went his way, and called for his horse
and went to horse-back ; for the same day he rode in visitation into
Essex. And so went I to prison, from whence I came with my
keeper. And this was the second time of my examination." — Fox,
vol. vii. p. 112.

Let me remind the reader that all he has read passed
more than five months before the time when Bishop Burnet
represents Haukes as being " apprehended ;" and I may add
that during that long period there is, as far as I can find, a
complete blank in his history. At least, all the information
which I have been able to collect, beside what is already
given, is contained in the following extract : —

"After all these private conferences, persuasions, and long de-
batings, had with Thomas Haukes in the bishop's house, as hitherto
hath been declared, the bishop, seeing no hope to win him to his
wicked ways, was fully set to proceed openly against him after the
ordinary course of his popish law. Whereupon Thomas Haukes,
shortly after, was cited with the rest of his other fellows above
specified, to wit, Thomas Tomkins, Stephen Knight, William Pygot,
John Laurence, and William Hunter, to appear in the bishop's
Consistory, the 8th day of February, this present year, viz. 1555.
Upon which appearance, was laid against him in like order as to the
other, first the bill of his confession, written with Bonner's hand, to
the which bill ye heard before how this blessed servant of God
denied to subscribe.

"After which bill of confession being read, and he constantly
standing to the said confession, the bishop then assigned him with
the other five the next day following, which was the 9th of February,
to appear before him again, to give a resolute answer what they
would stick unto. Which day being come, and these foresaid six
prisoners being severally called before the bishop, at the coming of
Thomas Haukes, the bishop willed him to remember what was said
to him yesterday, and now, while he had time and space, to advise
with himself what he would answer, for he stood upon life and
death. ' Well,' quoth master Haukes again, ' I will willingly receive
whatsoever shall be put upon me.' Then were certain other interro-
gatories or articles commenced against him by the said bishop (in
like manner as to the other) to the number of four, with another bill
also, which Bonner brought out of his bosom, containing private
matters against the said Thomas Haukes, which the bishop called
heresies and errors, but we may better call them Christian verities.

xx.] THOMAS WATS. 401

To the which matter being read, the said Haukes answered openly
again, saying that it was true, and that he was glad it was so true
as it was ; with more words to the like effect. And this was in the
forenoon, the 9th day of February.

" In the afternoon again the said Haukes appearing and hearing
the foresaid bill of his confession, with the articles and interro-
gatories read unto him, with like constancy in answering again to
the bishop, 'My lord/ said he, ' as you, being my great friend6, have
caused these my sayings to be written ; so do you cause them to be
read : and yet I will never go from them.' And then, being exhorted
by the bishop, with many fair words, to return again to the bosom
of the mother church : ' No, my lord,' said he, ' that will I not : for
if I had a hundred bodies, I would suffer them all to be torn in
pieces, rather than I will abjure or recant.' And so continuing still
in the same song, notwithstanding that the doctors and lawyers
were ever calling upon him to come again to the unity of the church,
he ever kept them off with this answer, that he would never go from
the belief he was in, so long as he believed 7. Whereupon Bonner,
at the last, read the sentence of death upon him ; and so was he
condemned the same day with the residue of his fellows, which was
the 9th of February. Nevertheless his execution was prolonged,
and he remained in prison till the 10th day of June." — Fox, vol. vii.
p. 113.

(21.) THOMAS WATS. — His case is just one of those which
would illustrate many of the points on which I have insisted,
but to give it in detail would only be tiresome. Briefly, he
was a linen-draper "of Billericay within the county of
Essex of the diocese of London8." On the 26th of April,
1555, he was "brought before Lord Biche and other
commissioners at Chelmsford." At his examination he
"took occasion to speak somewhat of King Philip and of
his coming in; but what it was," says the anonymous
reporter, " I could not justly learn." These interruptions
at such turns in stories like this, are very disappointing,
and make us look rather to those narratives which were
written by the parties themselves, most of whom would
make a great point of setting down those parts of their
testimony which their more prudent friends who were
present would not be particularly careful to hear, or anxious
to record. However " thus much was heard ; that after
* those words spoken the bench among themselves stood up,
' and said one to another ' Treason,' saving one good man
' called justice Gaudy, who a little before was about to

e "My friend." Both ed. '"Lived." Both ed.

3 Fox, vii. 118.

2c

402 BISHOP BONNER AND WATS. [ESSAY

' speak : but when he heard them cry treason he held down
' his head as one grieved and troubled at their doings."
Fox gives the letter signed by the eight Essex justices9
with which Wats was sent up to Bonner. In the course of
it they say " in our opinion he is one of the most arrogant
* heretics that hath been heard to speak, or ever came before
' you, and not meet to be kept here in any gaol as well for
' fear of corrupting others, as for divers and sundry other
1 special causes hereafter to be declared" These special causes
are not, however, stated by Fox; who, immediately after
the letter, goes on to say, "Now when the bishop had
received him, how he used him it is easy (by his common
practices with others) to judge. What his private con-
ferences were / know not" It seems probable that in many
cases the martyrologist was not furnished with all the
particulars respecting those whose story he was to relate;
" but," he adds, " what was publicly done in the consistory
at Pauls (the common stage for these tragedies) you shall
here see," &c. But it is needless for us to go through the
details — how on Thursday the second of May he was brought
up and the bishop " after many persuasions to recant "
ordered him to return the next day — how in the bishop's
absence Dr. Harpsfield his deputy did sit "and earnestly
exhoi'ted him to deny his opinions " — and how on Friday the
10th of May the bishop " privately sent the said Thomas
' Wats into his chamber, and there, with many fair promises
1 tempted and tried him whether he would revoke his errors
1 as he termed them" — and how he was dismissed for another
week, and then " the bishop perceiving his fair nattering
promises nothing to avail, and having no great store of
other reasons to persuade with, put forth his last and
strongest argument of condemnation." What else Bonner
could have done, it would be hard to say. The sentence
seems to have been passed on Saturday the 18th of May,
and executed at Ghelmsford on the 10th of June. It is
right to add, that notwithstanding the tone and manner
in which Fox relates the story, the man himself is not
represented as having used any offensive expression, or said
anything indicative of hostility, either to, or in respect of,

9 Lord Riche, Henry Tyrrel, Anthony Brown, Edmund Tyrrel, Thomas
Mildmay, John Wiseman, Roger Appleton, Richard Westou.

xx.] OSMOND, BRADFORD, LEAF. 403

Bonner ; while at the stake he as bitterly charged his death
upon Lord Riche, as Robert Hunter did that of his brother
on his lordship's colleague Justice Brown.

(22, 23, 24.) THOMAS OSMOND, and five others from Cogges-
hall are next mentioned. They were sent up by Lord
Oxford and Sir Philip Paris Knight, with a letter dated
May 1st, 1555, There are very few particulars respecting
them except that three of them abjured; and the three
others having been " examined and travailed with by fair
and flattering speeches, as well of the bishop as of others his
assistants " in vain, were sent down to Essex for execution,
and suffered on the 14th and 15th of June.

(25.) JOHN BRADFORD. — He has been already mentioned
at p. 354. I do not see any reason assigned for the delay
of his execution which led Fox to postpone the account
of him1.

(26.) JOHN LEAF, aged 19, apprentice to a tallow chandler
of the parish of Christchurch in London, suffered with
Bradford. He was committed (I do not see why) " to the
Compter in Bread Street by an alderman of London, who
had rule and charge of that Ward, or part of the city,
where the said Leaf did dwell," on Friday the 5th of April.
How often he was brought before Bonner in the mean time
does not appear, but he was ordered to appear for sentence
on the 10th of June; and then the bishop "essaying by all

* manner of ways to revoke him to his own trade, that is, from
4 truth to error, notwithstanding all his persuasions, threats,
' and promises found him the same man still, so planted

* upon the sure rock of truth, that no words nor deeds of
4 men could remove him." Still the bishop returned to the
attack, but " being too weak either to refute his sentence or

* to remove his constancy, proceeded consequently to read
1 the popish sentence of cruel condemnation." What else
could he do with a prisoner who, before this, when his
confession and a form of recantation were sent to him in
gaol, that he might set his mark to one or the other, sent
back the former sprinkled with his own blood ?

(33.) DIRICK CARVER and (34.) JOHN LAUNDER. This is
a case which must not be quite passed over on more than
one account. Bishop Burnet says " Dirick Carver was burnt

1 Fox, vii. 143.

404 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

1 at Lewes ; and on the 23rd John Launder was burnt at
' Stening. They had been taken in London, and brought
1 before Bonner ; but he would not meddle with, them, and
* desired they might be sent to their own ordinaries" This
testimony is important though I do not see on what autho-
rity it is given. All that I observe in Fox amounts to this
— that Dirick Carver, a foreigner by birth2, but a wealthy
brewer at Brighton, had private meetings at his house for
the performance of divine service according to King Edward's
book — that at one of those meetings, about the end of
October 1554, twelve persons (of whom Carver himself was
one, and John Launder, and Thomas Iveson or Everson,
were two others) were apprehended by Sir Edward Gage.
He sent them up to the Council in London, who committed
them to Newgate on the 1st of November.

This of course brought them into Bonner's jurisdiction,
for they certainly dwelt in his diocese and if they were
heretics at all had brought their heresies with them ; and I
notice the case because it is one of those which have given
ground, and may seem to give some colour, to Heylin's lan-
guage, " let them be sent for up by order from the Lords of

2 In his confession, as given by Fox, he states, that he had lived at
Brighton "by the space of eight or nine years," having been "born in the
village of Dilson, by Stockom in the land of Luke." On this Mr. Cattley
puts a note, " ' In the parish of Lynch, in the hundred of Eastbourne,
' there was an ancient chapel dedicated to St. Luke, and so called in Speed's
' map of the county. . . . The whole parish maybe estimated at 1084
' acres. Of these, 700 lie compactly and are called Lynch-farm, at the
4 base of the great range of down near the parishes of Didling, Stedham,
' and Bepton.' See Daleaway's West Division of Sussex, vol. i. p. 299.
' How far ' Stockom ' might be identified with ' Scopham ' (the ancient
' name of Shoreham), must remain uncertain. — ED." It may remain un-
certain to the editor, who seems to have taken it for granted that a man
of forty, who leads one to suppose that he had lived in Brighton only eight
or nine years, must have been born in some part of Sussex. But I appre-
hend, that all doubt will be removed from the mind of any reader who
turns to M. Oudiette's " Dictionnaire Ge"ographique et Topographique des
treize Departemens," &c. where he will find " DILSEM, village, depart, de
la Meuse-Inferieure, arrond. de Kuremonde, ci-dev. pays de Liege, Popul.
env. 600 habitans, prts de STOCKEM." vol. i. p. 78. This "pays de
Liege" the man himself probably called, as the Dutch I believe now do,
the land of " Luyk" The place of his birth was probably mentioned to
meet the question of his being a British subject ; and therefore even if he
was commonly known by the name of a place where he had carried on
business, and whence he had come, it would be no less necessary to say
precisely where he was born.

xx.] CARVER AND LAUNDER. 405

c the Council, committed to the Tower, the Fleet, or any
4 other prison within my diocese ; and when I have them in
' my clutches let God do so, and more to Bonner, if they
1 scape his fingers." It may be observed that these six
prisoners do not seem to have been sent for by the Council,
but rather unwelcomely thrust upon it by the zeal of a
Sussex magistrate ; nor do I recollect any case (though such
may be recorded) that would justify Heylin's statement.
As to Bonner, however, the confiding reader will naturally
suppose that he had immediate, if not instinctive, notice of
their setting foot within his jurisdiction, and instantly
sprang on his prey ; but, in fact, he seems to have taken no
notice, if he even knew, of the transaction for eight months ;
when he received a letter from the Marquis of Winchester,
Lord Treasurer (dated the 7th of June) in which his lord-
ship, having discussed some matters relating to the obsequies
of the King's grandmother, in a way which looks rather as
if he wished to put the bishop in good humour, before he
came to business which would be to say the least trouble-
some, and having then had occasion to speak of the martyr-
dom of Bradford, added, " There be divers like prisoners
1 that came from Sussex, that be not yet examined before
4 you, lying now in Newgate, which must be examined by you
' since they be come to London ; and so I pray they may be,
' and I certified of your proceedings, that I may follow ;
1 which I shall do " &c. In the course of a few days they
were examined.

But this matter also deserves attention as furnishing an
example of that which must have forced itself on the notice
of all those who have had any experience in detecting and
tracing out error — namely, how the pen of straightforward
truth seems to have been so guided, even in what may
appear trifling matters of phraseology, as exactly to meet
such falsifications, as he who used it could never have anti-
cipated. The articles ministered to these men, who were
considered, and dealt with, as inhabitants of the diocese of
London, present some differences from those ministered to
most of the prisoners which are worthy of notice, as will be
seen by the following extracts : —

" First, I do object against you, and every of you, that ye and
every of you, being within the said prison of Newgate and ivithvn the
said city of London, are of my jurisdiction (being bishop of London ),

406 BISHOP BONNER AND DENLEY, [ESSAY

and subject unto the same, offending and trespassing within the said
prison and city in matters of religion, and concerning the catholic
faith and belief of the church in any wise.

"2. Item, I do object against you, and every of you, that ye and
every of you, since your first coming and entering into the said
prison, and during your abode there, both there and in sundry places
within this city and diocese of London, have holden, maintained, and
defended sundry opinions against the sacraments of the church,
especially against the sacrament of penance and also against the
sacrament of the altar." — Fox, vii. 324.

*****

" 12. Item, I do likewise object and say, that I the said bishop of
London was commanded, by the authority of the said council, to
make process against you, and every of you, so that it was not my
procuring or searching that ye should be commanded or called
before me in this matter of heresy, but partly your own demerits,
and partly the said commandment, enforced me to call and send for
you to make answer herein ; and hereof to show you the said
letters."— Ibid. 325.

Fox proceeds : —

"Upon Monday, being the said tenth day of June, these two
persons, with others, were brought by the keeper unto the bishop's
consistory (as it was before commanded) at one of the clock in the
afternoon ; where the bishop, first beginning with the said Dirick
Carver, caused his confession with the articles and answers to be
openly read unto him (which order he kept at the condemnation of
every prisoner), asking him whether he would stand to the same.
To whom the said Dirick answered, that he would : ' for your
doctrine,' quoth he, ' is poison and sorcery. If Christ were here you
would put him to a worse death than he was put to before. You
say, that you can make a god : ye can make a pudding as well.
Your ceremonies in the church be beggary and poison. And further
I say, that auricular confession is contrary to God's word, and very
poison : ' with divers other such words 3.

3 The following passage in the work of Miles Hoggard already men-
tioned at p. 234, seems to refer to Dirick Carver, and his companions, and
to attest his foreign extraction : —

" Also about xii monethes past, before the Keverende father the bishop
of London, there were arraigned in the consistorie of Paules for their
* opinions against the Sacrament of the Altar, iiii Sussex men, the one of
' them was a ducheman, and dwelled besides Lewes, who being demaunded
' among others, what baptism was, the one answered it was a sacrament.
1 Then he was demanded whether a man might be a Christian without it,
1 ' Yea doubtles qd he ; for it is but an externe signe and worketh little
' grace. For ' said he ' like as a man doth wash his hands in a bason of
' water signifying that the hands are clean ever, so the child is washed at
c Baptism to accomplish the exterior figure.' Then was objected unto him
' the saying of Christe ' Unles a man be borne agayne with water and the

xx.] NEWMAN, PACKINGHAM, AND SMITH. 407

" The bishop, seeing his constancy, and that neither his accus-
tomed flatteries, nor yet his cruel threatenings could once move this
good man to incline to their idolatry, pronounced his usual and
general blessing, as well towards this Dirick as also upon the said
John Launder, although severally : who (after the like manner of
process used with him) remained in the same constancy, as did the
other, and therefore were both delivered unto the sheriffs, who were
there present," &c. — Ibid.

Carver suffered on the 22nd July, Launder the day after,
and Iveson or Everson about the same month. The other
nine, I presume, were reconciled.

(37.) JOHN DENLEY, (38.) JOHN NEWMAN, and (39.)
PATRICK PACKINGHAM. Their cases seem not to present any
peculiar features ; and may be passed over for the sake of
brevity. The next are those of ten prisoners, all if I mistake
not of the bishop's own diocese, but sent to him by the
commissioners *.

The narratives relating to these would furnish much
ground for remark ; but there is only one which has the
peculiar interest and value that belongs to autobiography ;
and certainly it is so characteristic, and so much to the pur-
pose, that it cannot be passed over ; though only a small
part can be extracted. Moreover it is the history of one
connected with a person of whom we have already heard ;
who, while he contrived to keep himself out of harm in
these troubles, and was the admiration of both Gardiner
and Bonner, appears to have wanted either the will or the
power to save the life of an old servant of his own. As to
Sir Thomas Smith himself, Strype says, " though he thus
escaped this man," [that is Bonner] " yet another of his
name, who was also a retainer to him at Eton when Provost
there, fell into his hands, whom he left not till he had
reduced him into ashes ; namely,

(49.) ROBERT SMITH, who was burnt at Uxbridge in the
year 1555 5." Fox introduces the story in the following
manner ; —

" Robert Smith was brought unto Newgate the 5th of November,

1 holy ghoste he could not be saved.' 'Tushe,' saith he, 'the water pro
1 fiteth nothing, it is the Holy Ghost that worketh ' who, with the rest,
' most worthily were condempned and burned in Sussex." — f. 11. &.

4 With a letter given at length in Fox, signed by Nicholas Hare,
William Roper, Richard Rede, and William Cooke.

5 Life of Sir Thomas Smith, p. 51.

408 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

in the first and second year of the king and queen, by John Matthew,
yeoman of the guard, of the queen's side, by the commandment of
the council. This Smith first gave himself unto service in the house
of sir Thomas Smith, knight, being then provost of Eton: from
thence he was preferred to Windsor, having there in the college a
clerkship of ten pound a year. Of stature he was tall and slender,
active about many things, but chiefly delighting in the art of
painting, which, many times, rather for his mind's sake than for any
living or lucre, he did practise and exercise. In religion he was
fervent, after he had once tasted the truth ; wherein he was much
confirmed by the preachings and readings of one master Turner of
Windsor and others. Whereupon at the coming of Queen Mary he
was deprived of his clerkship by her visitors, and not long after he
was apprehended, and brought to examination before Bonner, as
here followeth, written and testified with his own hand." — Fox.
vii. 347.

It is just one of those puzzles which one constantly finds
in trying to understand stories told by those who do not
mean to tell all. Having been informed, as a mere matter
of fact, without any hint of why or wherefore, that Robert
Smith was brought to Newgate on the 5th of November
1554, the reader is unconsciously carried over a period of
eight months, and finds the prisoner at his first examination
by Bonner on the 5th of July 1555. Not a word of any-
thing that had happened between. One cannot but imagine,
that the original charge against a prisoner thus committed
to Newgate by the Council, through the agency of a Yeo-
man of the Guard, was not mere heresy, but something of
either a criminal, or a political nature. Perhaps even the
slight and scattered notices which we have of the time may
throw some light upon the matter. We are told that on
the evening preceding Robert Smith's commitment, a great
fray " began " at Charing Cross between the Spaniards and
the English, on account of which certain persons were taken
the next day. Of this fray I find no fuller account than
that which I give below6. Though the time of its beginning
is thus specified, I do not discover anything more of its con-
tinuance, end, or consequences. Nor does it appear what
became of those who were " taken," unless they were the

6 " The iiij day of November be-gane a grett fray at Charyng crosse at
viij of the cloke at nyght be-twyn the Spaneardes and Englvsmeu, the
wyche thrugh wysdom ther wher but a fuwe hort, and after the next day
thay wher serten taken that be-gane yt ; on was a blake-mor, and was
brought a-for the lied offesers by the knyght-marshall['s] servandes,"—
Machyn, p. 74.

xx.] ROBERT SMITH. 409

persons who were hanged on that spot on the 26th of April
following7, for robbing of certain Spaniards. If it be
thought strange that the punishment of the prisoners taken
in November should have been so long delayed, I can only
say that I do not see anything that looks like a trial or
execution for the offence in the mean while ; and, further,
that however strange it may seem, it is quite clear that
Robert Smith, whatever might be his offence, was in prison
during all that time, and a good deal longer : and that we
have no account of his being examined at all before July.

It may be worth while to observe, that one of the three
men hanged at Charing Cross for robbing the Spaniards
was John Tooley ; who has been immortalized by Fox for
his testimony against the Pope, delivered at his execution.
He seems to have been a poulterer, and to have been for
some time a notorious character ; for among the depositions
which were taken after his execution, respecting his conduct
at that time, we have one from Philip Andrew, under Mar-
shal of the Marshalsea, of the age of 54 years, who tells us
that, on being informed of what the prisoner was saying,
he went " and rebuked him " calling him " seditious traitor ; "
and telling him that he had been " worthy to be hanged
seven years ago."8 That these were not mere words of
abuse, may be thought probable from the circumstance that
he appears to have received the king's pardon for some
offence sufficient to work a forfeiture of his lands and goods
in the preceding reign9. He seems to have been allowed to
hang at Charing Cross from the Friday on which he was
executed, until the following Monday ; when he was cut
down and buried under the gallows. By whose authority
this was done, I do not see; but it appears that on the
intervening Sunday a letter was addressed to Bonner, signed
by the Lord Chancellor, and six other members of the
Council, informing him that they had heard of Tooley's
heretical proceedings, and praying him " to cause further
4 inquiry to be made thereof, and thereupon to proceed to
' the making out of such process as by the ecclesiastical laws

7 " The xxy] day of Aprell was cared from the Marselsee in a care
thrugh London unto Charyng-crosse to the galows, and ther hangyd,
iij men lor robyng of serten Spaneardes of tresur of gold owt of the abbay
of Vestmynster."— Ibid. 86.

8 Fox, vii. 95. 9 Strype, Mem. vol. II. pt. ii. p. 239.

410 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

* is provided in that behalf." Accordingly on the Tuesday,
Bishop Bonner issued " a writ or mandate " which he caused
to be " set up at Charing Cross, on Paules church door, arid
at St. Martin in the Field, for the citing and further
enquiring out of the case of John Tooley." In consequence
of this process the body of John Tooley was delivered to the
sheriffs of London and burned l.

I mention these circumstances because Robert Smith says
in one of his letters to his wife, written during his imprison-
ment, " I have not yet (tell my brother) spoken with the
' person. There hath come so strait a commandment, that

* no man might come to us, because Tooley cursed the Pope
' at the gallows. They thought it to be our counsel V

But whether Robert Smith had, or had not, anything to
do with the Spanish fray, and whatever might be the cause
of his imprisonment, it seems that it had continued eight
months when he was brought before the Bishop of London
for examination, on the charge of heresy ; an offence which
he had had ample time and peculiar opportunity to commit

1 Fox makes great fun of " the ridiculous handling and proceeding of
Bishop Bonner and his Mates against John Tooley," in which he is
followed by Bishop Burnet, and other writers, who are facetious on the
subject of his citing a dead man to appear in his court, and tell us that
the dead man did not mind him, &c. Where they found any evidence of
his having done so, I know not. Certainly there is nothing that looks like
it in the long mandate given by Fox, which is addressed to the bishop's
*' sworn sumnor," specially and particularly directing what parties he was
to cite. Whether or no, it can scarcely be doubted that the usual practice
of the court was followed ; and even Fox acquits Bonner of having done
any thing in the business until he received this order from the govern-
ment.

2 I may add to this, that part of Tooley's conduct at his execution
which gave offence was, that he read a prayer from a printed book, and
other prayers which were written on paper. With regard to "the said
book of prayers," it is stated by one of the deponents, that the said Tooley
delivered it to one of the Marshal's officers " and willed him to deliver it
to one Haukes saying that it was his book." There seems to be no
doubt that this Haukes is the person with whom we have already been
made acquainted, who was then a fellow prisoner of Robert Smith ; and
one cannot but suspect that the written prayer which was inscribed,
" Beware of Antichrist " at the top, and " Per me Thomam Harold,
prisoner in the Marshalsea, enemy to Antichrist," at the bottom, might
have some sort of connexion with the Harold Tomson who was (as we
have seen) before the Commissioners, and vanished without any notice of
discharge or execution. Except on this occasion I do not find that Thomas
Harold is mentioned by Fox.

xx.] ROBERT SMITH, 411

during his confinement in the diocese of that prelate. " As
1 thou seest him here," says Fox, " boldly standing examina-
{ tion before the Bishop and Doctors, so he was no less com-

* fortable also in the prison among his fellows ; which also is

* to be observed no less in his other prison fellows, who,

* being there together cast in an outward house within New-
' gate had godly conference within themselves with daily

* praying and public reading, which they, to their great com-
' fort, used in that house together ; amongst whom this
' f oresaid Smith was a chief doer : whose industry was always

* solicitous not only for them of his own company, but also
4 his diligence was careful for other prisoners whom he ceased
c not to dehort and dissuade from their old accustomed ini-

* quity, and many he converted unto his religion 3." Our
business is however rather with what passed in his examina-
tions, where, says Mr. Strype, " he spake readily and to the

* purpose and gave that Prelate his own." The meaning of
this will be in some degree apparent by the beginning of his
first examination, which was as follows : —

" About nine o'clock in the morning, I was among the rest of my
brethren brought to the bishop's house ; and I, first of all, was
brought before him into his chamber, to whom the bishop said as
followeth, after he had asked my name.

"Banner. 'How long is it ago since the time that ye were
confessed to any priest ? '

"Smith. 'Never since I had years of discretion. For I never saw
it needful, neither commanded of God to come to show my faults to
any of that sinful number, whom ye call priests.'

3 VII. 356. This may show that the considering a prisoner in New-
gate as a person guilty of heresy in the diocese of London was not a mere
legal fiction ; and the same is apparent from the case of William Andrew,
one of the ten thus sent to Bonner, but whose case does not come within
the limits of our enquiry, as he died in prison. " The first and principal

* promoter of him," says Fox, " was the Lord Riche, who sent him first to

* prison. Another great doer against him also seeraeth to be Sir Richard
' Southwell Knight, by a letter written by him to Bonner, as by the copy
1 hereof appeareth." The Letter begins " Pleaseth it your Lordship to
' understand, that the Lord Riche did, about seven or eight weeks past,
' send up unto the Council one William Andrew of Thorp, within the
' county of Essex, an arrogant heretic. Their pleasure was to command
' me to commit him unto Newgate, where he remaineth, and, as I am
' informed, hath infected a number in the prison with his heresy. Your

* Lordship shall do very well, if it please you to convent him before yon,
' and to take order with him as his case doth require. I know the Council
' meant to have writ herein unto your Lordship, but, by occasion of other
'business, the thing hatu been omitted," &<;. — Fox, vii. 371,

412 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

" Banner. ' Thou showest thyself, even at the first chop, to be a
rank heretic, which, being weary of painting, art entered into
divinity, and so fallen, through thy departing from thy vocation,
into heresy.'

" Smith. ' Although I have understanding in the said occupation,
yet, I praise God, I have had little need all my life hitherto to live
by the same, but have lived without the same in mine own house as
honestly in my vocation, as ye have lived in yours, and yet used the
same better than ever you used the pulpit. '

"Banner. ' How long is it ago since ye received the sacrament of
the altar, and what is your opinion in the same ? '

"Smith. 'I never received the same since I had years of dis-
cretion, nor ever will, by God's grace ; neither do esteem the same
in any point, because it hath not God's ordinance, neither in name,
nor in usage, but rather is set up and erected to mock God withal.' "
— Fox, vii. 347.

In the course of this day's examination he tells us ; —

" We were carried unto my lord's hall, where we were baited of
my lord's band, almost all the day, until our keeper, seeing their
misorder, shut us up all in a fair chamber, while my lord went into
his synagogue to condemn master Denly and John Newman. Then
brought they up my Lord Mayor to hear our matter above in the
chamber, and I, first of all, was called into the chamber, where my
lord intended to sup ; where my Lord Mayor, being set with the
Bishop and one of the bheriffs, wine was walking on every side : I,
standing before them as an outcast. Which made me remember
how Pilate and Herod were made friends, but no man was sorry for
Joseph's hurt. But, after my lord had well drunk, my articles were
sent for and read, and he demanded whether I said not, as was
written ?

" Smith. l That I have said, I have said ; and what I have said, I do
mean utterly.'

" Banner. ' Well, my lord mayor, your lordsdip hath heard some-
what, what a stout heretic this is, and that his articles have
deserved death : yet nevertheless, forsomuch as they report me to
seek blood, and call me 'Bloody Bonner,' whereas God knoweth, I
never sought any man's blood in all my life, I have stayed him from
the Consistory this day, whither I might have brought him justly ;
and yet here, before your lordship, I desire him to turn, and I will
with all speed dispatch him out of trouble ; and this I profess
before your lordship and all this audience.'

" Smith. 'Why, my lord, do ye put on this fair visor before
my lord mayor, to make him believe that ye seek not my blood,
to cloak your murders through my stoutness, as ye call it ? Have ye
not had my brother Tomkins before you, whose hand when you had
burned most cruelly, ye burnt also his body ? And not only of him,
but of a great many of the members of Christ, men that feared
God, and lived virtuously, and also the queen's majesty's most true
subjects, as their goods and bodies have made manifest ? And
seeing in these saints ye have showed so little mercy, shall it seem.

xx.] ROBERT SMITH. 413

to my lord and this audience, that ye show me more favour ? No,
no, my lord. But if ye mean as ye say, why then examine ye me of
that I am not bound to answer you unto ? '

" Banner. ' Well, what sayest thou by the sacrament of the altar ?
Is it not the very body of Christ, flesh, blood, and bone, as it was
born of the Virgin ? '

" Smith. ' I have answered, that it is none of God's order, neither
any sacrament, but man's own vain invention ; ' and showed him the
Lord's institution.

" But when he was so earnest before the audience, declaring that
we knew nothing, bringing out his ' hoc est corpus meum,' to lay in
my dish, I proved before the audience, that it was a dead god,
declaring the distinction appointed between the two creatures of
bread and wine, and that a body without blood hath no life ; at
which Harpsfield found himself much offended, and took the tale
out of my lord's mouth, saying, ' I will approve by the Scriptures,
that ye blaspheme God in so saying,' " &c. — Ibid. 349.

The account of the second examination, which took place
on the following day, begins thus ; —

"Upon Saturday at eight of the clock, I was brought to his
chamber again, and there by him examined, as followeth : —

"Banner. 'Thou, Kobert Smith, etc. sayest that there is no
catholic church here on earth.'

"Smith. 'Ye have heard me both speak the contrary, and ye
have written as a witness of the same. '

" Banner. * Yea, but I must ask thee this question : how sayest
thou?'

" Smith. ' Must ye of necessity begin with a LIE ? it maketh
manifest that ye determine to end with the same : but there shall no
LIARS enter into the kingdom of God. Nevertheless, if ye will be
answered, ask mine articles that were written yesterday, and they
shall tell you that I have confessed a church of God, as well in
earth as in heaven ; and yet all one church, and one man's members,
even Christ Jesus.'

" Banner. ' Well, what sayest thou to auricular confession ? Is it
not necessary to be used in Christ's church, and wilt thou not be
shriven of the priest ? '

"Smith. 'It is not needful to be used in Christ's church, as I
answered yesterday : but if it be needful for your church, it is
to pick men's purses. And such pick-purse matters is all the whole
rabble of your ceremonies ; for all is but money matters that ye
maintain. '

"Banner. 'Why, how art thou able to prove that confession is
a pick-purse matter ? Art thou not ashamed so to say ? '

" Smith. ' I speak by experience ; for I have both heard and seen
the fruits of the same. For, first, it hath been, we see, a bewrayer
of king's secrets, and the secrets of other men's consciences ; who,
being delivered, and glad to be discharged of their sins, have given
to priests great sums of money to absolve them, and sing masses
for their soul's health.'

414 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

"And for ensample, I began to bring in a pageant, that by report
was played at St. Thomas of Acres, and where I was sometime
a child waiting on a gentleman of Norfolk, who being bound in
conscience, through the persuasion of the priest, gave away a great
sum of his goods, and forgave unto master Gresham a great sum of
money, and to another as much. The priest had for his part a sum,
and the house had an annuity to keep him ; the which thing when
his brother heard, he came down to London, and after declaration
made to the council, how, by the subtlety of the priest he had
robbed his wife and children, recovered a great part again, to the
value of two or three hundred pounds, of master Gresham and his
other friend ; but what he gave to the house, could not be recovered.
This tale began I to tell. But when my lord saw it savoured not to
his purpose, he began to revile me, and said, ' By the mass, if the
queen's majesty were of his mind, I should not come to talk before
any man, but should be put into a sack, and a dog tied unto the
same, and so should be thrown into the water.'

"To which I answered again, saying, 'I know you speak by
practice, as much as by speculation : for both you and your pre-
decessors have sought all means possible to kill Christ secretly ;
record of master Hun, whom your predecessor caused to be thrust
in at the nose with hot burning needles, and then to be hanged, and
said the same Hun to have hanged himself : and also a good brother
of yours, a bishop of your profession, having in his prison an
innocent man, whom because he saw he was not able by the
Scriptures to overcome, he made him privily to be snarled, and his
flesh to be torn and plucked away with a pair of pincers, and,
bringing him before the people, said the rats had eaten him. Thus,
according to your oath is all your dealing, and hath been ; and as
you, taking upon you the office, do not without oaths open your
mouth, no more do you without murder maintain your traditions.'

" Banner. 'Ah I ye are a generation of liars ; there is not a true
word that cometh out of your mouths.'

" Smith. ' Yes, my lord, I have said that Jesus Christ is dead for
my sins, and risen for my justification; and this is no lie.'" —
Ibid. 350.

It does not appear at this examination how many persons
were present. But it is clear that Sir John Mordant was
there, for on a very strong statement of Smith's respecting
baptism the Bishop exclaimed ; —

"Banner. 'By the mass this is the most unshamefaced heretic
that ever I heard speak.'

" Smith. ' Well sworn, my lord ; ye keep a good watch.'

" Banner. ' Well, master comptroller, ye catch me at my words :
but I will watch thee as well, I warrant thee.'

" ' By my troth, my lord,' quoth master Mordant, ' I never heard
the like in all my life.' "—Fox, vii. 351.

The argument went on however without much interrup-

xx.] ROBERT SMITH. 415

tion or variation of style, until the bishop thinking enough
had been said repecting the sacrament of baptism went on,

" Banner. ' Well, Sir, what say you to the sacrament of orders ? '
" Smith. ' Ye may call it the sacrament of misorders ; for all
orders are appointed of God. But as for your shaving, anointing,
greasing, polling, and rounding, there are no such things appointed
in God's book, and therefore I have nothing to do to believe your
orders. And as for you, my lord, if ye had grace and intelligence,
ye would not so disfigure yourself as ye do.'

" Banner. ' Sayest thou so ? Now, by my troth, I will go shave
myself, to anger thee withal : ' and so sent for his barber, who
immediately came. And before my face at the door of the next
chamber he shaved himself, desiring me before he went to answer

to these articles.

* * * * *

"With this came my lord from shaving, and asked me how I
liked him 2

" Smith. ' Forsooth, ye are even as wise as ye were before ye were
shaven.'

"Banner. 'How standeth it, master doctors, have ye done any
good ? '

" Doctor. ' No, by my troth, my lord, we can do no good.'

" Smith. ' Then it is fulfilled which is written, How can an evil
tree bring forth good fruit ? '

" Bonner. ' Nay, naughty fellow ; I set these gentlemen to bring
thee home to Christ.'

" Smith. 'Such gentlemen, such Christs ; and as truly as they
have that name from Christ, so truly do they teach Christ.'

" Bonner. ' Well, wilt thou neither hear them, nor me ? '

" Smith. ' Yes, I am compelled to hear you ; but ye cannot compel
me to follow you.'

" Bonner. • Well, thou shalt be burnt at a stake in Smithfield, if
thou wilt not turn.'

" Smith. ' And ye shall burn in hell, if ye repent not. But, my
lord, to put you out of doubt, because I am weary, I will strain
courtesy with you : I perceive you will not, with your doctors, come
unto me, and I am determined not to come unto you, by God's
grace ; for I have hardened my face against you as hard as brass. '

" Then, after many railing sentences, I was sent away. And thus
have I left the truth of mine answers in writing, gentle reader,
being compelled by my friends to do it ; that ye may see how the
Lord hath, according to his promise, given me a mouth and wisdom
to answer in his cause, for which I am condemned, and my cause
not heard."— Ibid. 353.

Whether the reader will form as high an opinion of Robert
Smith's wisdom as he did himself, I do noD take upon me to
decide. Then follows "The last examination of Robert
Smith, with his condemnation in the Consistory," which
begins thus ; —

416 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

"The 12th of July I was with my brethren brought into the
consistory, and mine articles read before my lord mayor and the
sheriffs, with all the assistants ; to which I answered, as followeth :

"Banner. 'By my faith, my lord mayor, I have showed him as
much favour as any man living might do : but I perceive all is lost,
both in him and all his company.'

11 At this word, which he coupled with an oath, came I in, and
taking him with the manner said, ' My lord, it is written, ye must
not swear.'

"Banner. 'Ah, master comptroller, are ye come? Lo, my lord
mayor, this is master speaker,' pointing to my brother Tankerfield,
1 and this is master comptroller,' pointing to me.

"And then, beginning to read my articles." — Fox, vii. 354.

Then after some intermediate matter, the chief purport
of which is to show that Master Mordant told a lie, he
proceeds —

"Then proceeded my lord, with the rest of mine articles,
demanding of me, if I said not as was written. To which I
answered : ' No,' and turning to my lord mayor, I said, I require
you my lord mayor, in God's behalf, unto whom pertaineth your
sword and justice, that I may here, before your presence, answer to
these objections that are laid against me, and have the probation of
the same ; and if any thing that I have said or will say, be to be
proved (as my lord saith) heresy, I shall not only with all my heart
forsake the same, and cleave to the truth, but also recant whereso-
ever ye shall assign me, and all this audience shall be witness to
the same.'

" Mayor. ' Why, Smith, thou canst not deny, but this thou saidst.'
" Smith. ' Yes, my lord, I deny that which he hath written,
because he hath both added to, and diminished from, the same :
but what I have spoken, I will never deny.'

"Mayor. 'Why, thou spakest against the blessed sacrament of
the altar. '

" Smith. ' I denied it to be any sacrament, and I do stand here to
make probation of the same ; and if my lord here, or any of his
doctors, be able to approve either the name or usage of the same, I
will recant mine error.'

" Then spake my brother Tankerfield, and defended the proba-
tion of those things, which they called heresy : to which the
bishop answered, ' By my troth, master speaker, ye shall preach at
a stake.'

" Smith. * Well sworn, my lord, ye keep a good watch."
' ' Banner. ' Well, master comptroller, I am no saint. '
" Smith. * No, my lord, nor yet good bishop ; for a bishop, saith
St. Paul, should be faultless, and a dedicate vessel unto God. And
are ye not ashamed to sit in judgment, and be a blasphemer, con-
demning innocents.'

" Banner. ' Well, master comptroller, ye are faultless.'
" Smith. « My lord mayor, I require you, in God's name, that I
may have justice.' — Fox, vii. 354.

xx.] PHILPOT AND WHITTLE. 417

This his last examination was, as has been already stated,
on the 12th of July; and he was burned on the 8th of
August.

(75.) JOHN PHILPOT. After what has been said, his case
need not detain us; for nobody I suppose will make his
martyrdom the ground of particular charge against Bonner.
If it be done, the discussion will require much more space
than can be allowed for it in a cursory view like the
present.

(76.) THOMAS WHITTLE. Here the martyr is his own
historian ; but the case is so singular, that one cannot but
wish that he had been rather more explicit in some points.
However, as it is one of the stories of Bonner's wanton and
unaccountable cruelty, I must not pass it by ; and really, if
I were writing with more of the spirit of an apologist than
I do, I should not feel anxious to remove the impression
which the facts, even as we receive them, are calculated to
make on any considerate reader. Fox introduces the matter
thus ; —

" In the story of master Philpot, mention was made before, of a
married priest, whom he found in the coal-house at his first coming
thither, in heaviness of mind and great sorrow, for recanting the
doctrine which he had taught in king Edward's days, whose name
was Thomas Whittle of Essex ; and thus lieth his story. This
Thomas Whittle, after he had been expulsed from the place in
Essex 4 where he served, went abroad where he might, now here and
there as occasion was ministered, preaching and sowing the gospel
of Christ. At length being apprehended by one Edmund Alablaster,
in hope of reward and promotion, which he miserably gaped after,
he was brought first as a prisoner before the bishop of Winchester,
who then was fallen lately sick of his disease, whereof not long
after he died most strangely. But the apprehender for his proffered
service was highly checked and rated of the bishop, asking if there
were no man unto whom he might bring such rascals, but to him :
' Hence,' quoth he, ' out of my sight, thou varlet 1 what dost thou
trouble me with such matters ? ' The greedy cormorant being thus
defeated of his desired prey, yet thinking to seek and to hunt
further, carried his prisoner to the bishop of London, with whom
what an evil mess of handling this Whittle had, and how he was by
the bishop ail-to beaten and buffeted about the face, by this his own

4 The place was Kirby-in-le-Soken, of which he had become Eector
during the preceding reign (18 April, 1550). His being found in the
Coal House by Philpot was on the 24th of October, 1555. According to
Newcourt he had been deprived in 1554. The date which lie assigns to
William Parnell, the Successor in the living, is Feb. 1, 1554.

2D

418 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

narration in a letter sent unto his friend, manifestly may appear. "—
Fox, vii. 718.

This is all very well ; but we feel conscious that the
prudent narrator is not telling us the whole story, or even
telling what he does tell, fairly. We might perhaps be
satisfied to believe that one Alablaster, gaping for promo-
tion, accidentally lighted on a heretic ; and, thinking it a
good opportunity to make his fortune, carried him to
Bishop Gardiner; and, being disappointed of a market
there, went on with his prize to the next-best customer,
being pretty sure that if he went the round of the blood-
thirsty bishops, he should find some one who would buy his
bargain, and reward him — we might, I say, take all this as
a matter of course, if we had not just read in the articles
ministered to the seven martyrs of whom Thomas Whittle
was one, " Item, that thou the said N". being convented

' before certain Judges or Commissioners wast by

4 their commandment sent unto me and my prison, to be

* examined by me, and process to be made against thee for

* thy offence herein ; " with the assent of the prisoners
thereto, " Thomas Whittle adding, and affirming, that the
Lord Chancellor that then was, sent him up to the bishop
there present." This gives rather a different view of the
matter, especially as so very little is said of the previous
condition of Thomas Whittle, why he was " expulsed from
the place in Essex where he served," or what he had been
doing in particular when he was apprehended by one
Edmund Alablaster, of whom we should probably have
heard somewhere else if he had been a person possessing
plenary powers to apprehend anybody who came in his way,
without any alledged reason. It seems that Thomas
Whittle, priest, was not merely a person accidentally picked
up by one Alablaster; but one whom the Chancellor, for
some reason or other, thought fit to send to the Bishop of
London. It is however one of the blind stories which we
must take as we find it ; and, without much knowledge of
the man, we must be glad to let him tell his own tale in his
own way, and learn what we can from it ; —

" Upon Thursday, which was the 10th of January, the bishop of
London sent for me, Thomas Whittle, minister out of the porter's
lodge, where I had been all night, lying upon the earth, upon a
pallet, where I had as painful a night of sickness as ever I had, God

xx.] THOMAS WHITTLE. 419

be thanked. And when I came before him, he talked with me many
things of the sacrament so grossly, as is not worthy to be rehearsed.
And amongst other things he asked me if I would have come to mass
that morning, if he had sent for me. Whereunto I answered, that
I would have come to him at his commandment, ' but to your mass,'
said I, ' I have small affection.' At which answer he was displeased
sore, and said, I should be fed with bread and water. And as I
followed him through the great hall, he turned back and beat me
with his fist, first on the one cheek, and then on the other, as the
sign of my beating did many days appear. And then he led me
into a little salt-house, where I had no straw nor bed, but lay two
nights on a table, and slept soundly, I thank God.

"Then, upon the Friday next after, I was brought to my lord,
and he then gave me many fair words, and said he would be good
to me. And so he, going to Fulham, committed me to Dr. Harps-
field, that he and I in that afternoon should commune together,
and draw out certain articles, whereunto if I would subscribe, I
should be dismissed. But Dr. Harpsfield sent not for me till night,
and then persuaded me very sore to forsake my opinions." — Pox,
vii. 719.

In fact Harpsfield succeeded ; and Thomas Whittle sub-
scribed the recantation. But it was followed by almost
immediate remorse, " The night after I had subscribed," he
says, " I was sore grieved, and for sorrow of conscience
could not sleep." And he goes on ; —

"Both with disquietness of mind, and with my other cruel
handling, I was sickly, lying upon the ground when the keeper
came ; and so I desired him to pray Dr. Harpsfield to come to me,
and so he did.

" And when he came, and the Registrar with him, I told him that
I was not well at ease ; but especially I told him I was grieved very
much in my conscience and mind, because I had subscribed. And
I said that my conscience had so accused me, through the just
judgment of God and his word, that I had felt hell in my con-
science, and Satan ready to devour me : ' and therefore I pray you,
master Harpsfield,' said I, ' let me have the bill again, for I will not
stand to it.' So he gently commanded it to be fetched, and gave it
to me, and suffered me to put out my name, whereof I was right
glad when I had so done although death should follow." — Fox, vii.
720.

Fox has preserved copies of two letters which Harpsfield
and the Registrar wrote at this time to the bishop in which
they mention these circumstances. Harpsfield, after what
relates to other business, says ; —

"Master Johnson and I have travailed with the priest and
he hath subscribed his name to this draught which is herein
inclosed, and hath promised he will stand to the same before your
lordship.

420 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

"When I had written thus much, suddenly came tidings to me,
that Jordanis conversus est retrorsum. Cluney coming to the priest,
found him lying prostrate, and groaning as though he should have
died forthwith. Then Cluney took him up, and set him upon a
stool, and came to me, and told me of this revel. It chanced that
master Johnson was with me, and we went to this fond heretic, and
found him lying all along, holding his hands up, and looking hypo-
critically towards heaven. I caused Thomas More and Cluney to
set him on the stool, and with much ado at length he told me, that
Satan had been with him in the night, and told him that he was
damned ; and weeping he prayed master Johnson and me, to see
the bill whereunto he subscribed ; and when he saw it, he tore out
his name, e libro scilicet viventium. Me thinketh by him, he will
needs burn a faggot." — Fox, vii. 721.

The letter of Robert Johnson, the Bishop's Registrar,
begins thus ; —

"My bounden duty premised, pleaseth your lordship to under-
stand, that this last Friday in the afternoon, master archdeacon of
London did diligently travail with sir Thomas Whittle. I being
present, and perceiving his conformity, as outwardly appeared,
devised this submission, and he being content therewith did sub-
scribe the same. But now, this Saturday morning, master arch-
deacon and I, upon Cluney's report, declaring that he feigned
himself to be distracted of his senses, went unto him, to whom he
declared that Satan in the night time appeared unto him, and said
that he was damned, for that he had done against his conscience in
subscribing to the said submission ; with other like words, etc.
And then master Archdeacon, at his earnest request, delivered unto
him the submission. And thereupon the said Whittle did tear out
his subscription, made in the foot of the same, as your lordship
shall perceive by the submission sent now unto your lordship by
master archdeacon ; wherewith the said Whittle was somewhat
quieted." — Fox, vii. 721.

After all this it may be imagined that the case of Thomas
Whittle presents nothing more with relation to the matters
respecting which we are inquiring. Fox gives an account
of his last examination before Bonner on the 14th of
January, and of his execution on the 27th.

(77.) BARTLET GREEN. It is only necessary to add to
the account already given5 of this martyr, what was then
purposely omitted as irrelevant to the matter under discus-
on. Fox tells us that the Council suspected him not only
of treason but of heresy, and therefore " examined him upon
his faith in religion, but upon what points is not certainly
known."

5 See p. 78, n.

xx,] BARTLET GREEN. 421

" Nevertheless (as it seemeth) his answers were such as little
pleased them (especially the anointed sort) ; and therefore, after
they had long detained him in prison, as well in the Tower of
London as elsewhere, they sent him at last unto Bonner bishop of
London, to be ordered according to his ecclesiastical law ; as
appeareth by their letters sent unto the bishop, with the said
prisoner also, wherein it may appear, that sir John Bourne (then
secretary to the queen) was a chief stirrer in such cases, yea and an
enticer of others of the Council ; who otherwise (if for fear they
durst) would have been content to have let such matters alone.
The Lord forgive them their weakness (if it be his good pleasure)
and give them true repentance. Amen.

" A Letter sent unto Bonner, Bishop of London, by the Queen's
Council, dated the llth. Day of November, 1555; but not
delivered until the 17th. of the same Month.

"After our right hearty commendations to your good lordship,
we send to the same herewith the body of one Bartlet Green, who
hath of good time remained in the Tower for his obstinate standing
in matters against the catholic religion, whom the king's and queen's
majesties' pleasures are (because he is of your lordship's diocese),
ye shall cause to be ordered according to the laws in such cases
provided. And thus we bid your lordship heartily farewell.
" From St. James's, the llth. of November, 1555.

Your good lordship's loving friends,
Winchester, Pembroke, Thomas Ely,

William Hayward, John Bourne, Thomas Wharton,

"Postscript. — I, sir John Bourne, will wait upon your lordship,
and signify further the king's and queen's majesties' pleasure herein."
— Fox, vii. 733.

In his own " Rehearsal of his Handling," as he wrote it
in a letter to Philpot, he says ; —

"The 17th day of November, being brought hither by two of the
clock at afternoon, I was presented before my lord of London and
other two bishops, master Deane, master Koper, master Welch, Dr.
Harpsfield archdeacon of London, and other two or three, all sitting
at one table. There were also present Dr. Dale, master George
Mordant, master Dee. Then after the bishop of London had read
unto himself the letter that came from the Council, he spake with
more words, but (as I remember) to this effect ; that the cause of
their assembly was : to hear mine examination, whereunto he had
authority by the Council ; and had provided master Welch, and
another whose name I know not (but well I remember, though he
obtained it not, yet desired he my lord, that I might hear the
Council's letters), to be there if any matters of the common law
should arise, to discuss them : he entreated my lord to determine
all controversies of Scripture ; and as for the civil law, he and
Dr. Dale should take it on them." — Fox, vii. 734.

Then followed the conversation about the cause of his

422 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

imprisonment which has been already mentioned 6. After
this, there was " much talk to no purpose ; " and then a
private discourse with master Welch ; who, he says, " rose
up, desiring leave to talk with me alone." At length,
after Green had told him that he did but lose his
labour, —

" ' Why then,' quoth Welch, « what shall I report to my lord ? '
' Even as pleaseth you,' said I ; ' or else you may say that I would be
glad to learn, if I had books on both sides.'

" So he going in, the bishops (even then risen, and ready to depart)
asked how he liked me ? He answered, ' In faith, my lord, he will
be glad to learn.' Which words when they were taken, lest they
should mistake his meaning and mine, I said, ' Yea, my lord, so
that I may have books on both sides, as Calvin, and my lord of
Canterbury's books, and such others.' 'Well,' quoth my lord, 'I
will satisfy thy mind therein also.' And they all were in great hope
that shortly I should become a good catholic, as they call it.

" Then was I brought into my lord's inner chamber (where you
were), and there was put into a chamber with master Dee, who
entreated me very friendly. That night I supped at my lord's table,
and lay with master Dee in the chamber you did see. On the
morrow I was served at dinner from my lord's table, and at night
did eat in the hall with his gentlemen ; where I have been placed
ever since, and fared wonderfully well. Yea, to say the truth, I
had my liberty within the bounds of his lordship's house : for my
lodging and fare, scarce have I been at any time abroad in better
case so long together, and have found so much gentleness of my
lord, and his chaplains, and other servants, that I should easily have
forgotten that I was in prison, were it not that this great cheer was
often powdered with unsavoury sauces of examinations, exhortations,
posings, and disputations." — Fox, vii. 736.

Fox proceeds to give an account of Green's "Last
Examination," wherein, " using laws as a cloak of his
' tyranny, the 27th day of November the said bishop
'examined him upon certain points of the Christian
4 religion : whereunto, when he had answered, the bishop
' appointed the registrar (as their most common manner is)
' to draw thereout an order of confession ; " which was
signed by the prisoner. But, though this proceeding of
the 27th of November is thus headed, the historian, after
giving the confession, proceeds ; —

" Many sundry conferences and public examinations they brought
him unto. But in the end (seeing his steadfastness of faith to be
such, as against the which neither their threatenings, nor yet their
flattering promises could prevail), the 15th. day of January the

6 P. 78, n. before

xx.] BARTLET GREEN. 423

bishop caused him, with the rest above named, to be brought into
the consistory in Paul's; where, being set in his judgment seat,
accompanied with Fecknam, then dean of the same church, and
other his chaplains, after he had condemned the other six, he then,
calling for Bartlet Green, began with these, or the like words :

" Honourable audience, I think it best to open unto you the con-
versation of this man, called Bartlet Green. And because you shall
not charge me that I go about to seek any man's blood, here you
shall hear the Council's letters, which they sent with him unto me.
The effect whereof is, that whereas he had been of long time in the
Tower of London for heresy, they have now sent him unto me to be
ordered, according to the laws thereof provided. And now to thee,
Bartlet Green, I propose these nine articles,' &c. — Fox, vii. 738.

I think even the reader of these extracts (and still more
any one who studies the whole of Green's long story) will
be of opinion that the reporter had not that admirable
" gift of modesty " which he so admired in the subject of
his narrative. The passage must in fairness be given, as it
contains an account of one of the peculiar cases of cruelty.
Fox indeed affects some difficulty in believing the cruel
part ; but for myself I can easily imagine that, amidst the
" much gentleness " and "great cheer" with which he was
treated, this lively young templar might on some occasion
provoke Bonner to give him as good a threshing as Dr.
Squires got from his father-in-law, or his namesake Thomas
Greene from Dr. Story7.

" So great and admirable was this gift of modesty grafted in the
nature of him, so far abhorring from all pride and arrogancy, that
as he could not abide any thing that was spoken to his advance-
ment or praise ; so neither did there appear in him any show or
brag in those things wherein he might justly glory, which were his
punishments and sufferings for the cause and quarrel of Christ.
For when he was beaten and scourged with rods by bishop Bonner
(which scarce any man would believe, nor I neither, but that I
heard it of him, which heard it out of his mouth), and he greatly
rejoiced in the same, yet his shamefaced modesty was such, that
never he would express any mention thereof, lest he should seem to
glory too much in himself, save that only he opened the same to

7 See before, p. 155 and 21. The " chapter concerning such as were
scourged and whipped by the papists in the true cause of Christ's Gospel,"
viii. 516, is beneath criticism, or it would afford room for a good deal.
All that relates to Bonner, however, is answered by that prelate's simple
and obvious reply to one who reproached him on the subject — which was
to the effect that, if it had been the reprover's own case, he would have
thought it a good commutation of penance to have had his body beaten,
rather than burned. See Wood's Athenae. Bliss Ed. vol. i. 372.

424 BISHOP BONNEK AND [ESSAY

one master Cotton of the Temple, a friend of his, a little before his
death." — Fox, vii. 742.

RICHARD WOODMAN, an iron-maker of Warbleton,
Sussex, who was burned at Lewes on the 22nd of June
1557, does not properly belong to our list. So far as regards
his examinations, and sentence, in respect of the particular
offences for which he suffered, the Bishop of London seems
to have had nothing to do with him. But we must notice
his case, on account of his "apprehension, first by his
enemies, and of his deliverance out of bishop Bonner's
hands," rather than because " of his second taking again by

* the procurement of his Father, Brother, Kinsfolks, and
' friends ; also of his sundry examinations and courageous

* answers before the Bishops," who then took him in hand,
of whom Bonner was not one. The account of him in Fox
is very long and curious ; but with only such extracts of a
small part as can be admitted on this occasion or as indeed
are required for our present purpose it is impossible to do
greater justice to the matter or to present it in a more
interesting form, than by giving one or two specimens of
" A True Certificate " which he wrote, containing a
particular account of his troubles.

"Gentle reader here you shall perceive how the Scriptures be
partly fulfilled on me, being one of the least of his poor lambs.
First, you shall understand, that since I was delivered out of the
bishop of London's hands, which was in the year of our Lord 1555,
and the same day that master Philpot was burned, which was on
the 18th of December, I lay in his coal-house eight weeks lacking
but one day : and, before that, I was a year and a half almost in
the King's Bench after my first apprehension, for reproving a
preacher in the pulpit, in the parish of Warbleton, where I dwelt.
Wherefore I was at two Sessions before I was sent to prison, and
carried to two more sessions while I was in prison, twice before the
bishop of Chichester, and five times before the commissioners ; and
then sent to London's coal-house, and many times called before him,
as it appeareth by my examinations which I have wrote, the which
examinations the bishop of Chichester now hath, for they were found
in my house when I was taken ; wherein is contained all the talk
which I had before them aforenamed. Also there be in London that
had copies of the same of me, when I was in the coal-house.

" And it pleased God to deliver me with four more out of the
butcher's hands, requiring nothing else of us but that we should be
honest men, and members of the true catholic church that was
builded upon the prophets and apostles, Christ being the head of
the true church, the which all we affirmed that we were members of
the true church, and purposed by God's help therein to die. And

xx.] RICHARD WOODMAN. 425

hereupon we were delivered ; but he willed us many times to speak
good of him. And no doubt he was worthy to be praised, because
he had been so faithful an aid in his master the devil's business ;
for he had burnt good master Philpot the same morning, in whose
blood his heart was so drunken (as I supposed), that he could not
tell what he did, as it appeared to us both before and after. For
but two days before, he promised us that we should be condemned
that same day that we were delivered, yea, and the morrow after
that he had delivered us, he sought for some of us again, yea and
that earnestly. He waxed dry after his great drunkenness, where-
fore he is like to have blood to drink in hell as he is worthy, if he
repent it not with speed. The Lord turn all their hearts, if it be
his will 1 "— Fox, viii. 334.

Putting this into plain English it seems to mean that
Richard Woodman had been sent up to London for disturb-
ing divine service in his parish church about Midsummer
1554; that is, at the time when Thomas Tomkins was
making hay at Fulham ; a work in which he might have
been so happy as to share if he had not been confined in the
King's Bench in the diocese of Winchester until long after-
wards. When at length he was brought before the Bishop
of London, and had undergone several examinations of
which we have no account, he appears to have abjured ;
and, after some detention, the cause of which is un-
explained, to have been set at liberty. He does not
however put the matter quite in this light himself, but
tells us,

"After I was delivered, the papists said that I bad consented to
them, whereof they made themselves glad ; the which was the least
part of my thought (I praise God therefore), as they well perceived
and knew the contrary within a while. For I went from parish to
parish, and talked with them, to the number of thirteen or fourteen,
and that of the chiefest in all the country ; and I angered them so,
that they with the commissioners complained on me to my lord
chamberlain that was then to the queen, sir John Gage, shewing
him that I baptized children, and married folks, with many such
lies, to bring me into their hands again. Then the commissioners
sent out certain citations to bring me to the court. My lord cham-
berlain had directed out four or five warrants for me, that if I had
come there, I should have been attached and sent to prison straight-
way ; which was not God's will ; for I had warning of their laying
await for me, and came not there, but sent my deputy, and he
brought me word that the bailiffs waited for me there ; but they
missed of their prey for that time, whereupon they were displeased."
— Fox viii. 334.

It would be long to recount how he concealed himself in
England, tied to Flanders and France, but speedily returned,

426 EXAMINATION OF [ESSAY

and as soon as " it was once known among Baal's priests,
they could not abide it but procured out warrants " against
him and caused his house to be searched, sometimes twice
in a week, till at length he fell into their hands. With all
this Bonner had nothing, and therefore we have nothing, to
do. But a short extract from his first examination before
Dr. Christopherson, bishop of Chichester, Dr. Story, Dr.
Cooke and others on the 14th of April 1557 is somewhat to
our purpose.

" Story. ' My lord, send him to prison, you shall do no good with
him. I will go to church, and leave you here. This is an old
heretic. Wast thou never before me ere now ? '

" Woodman. 'Yes, forsooth, that I have.'

" Story. l Yea, I trow so ; and I sent thee to the bishop of London,
and he released thee ; and thou promisedst him to be an honest
man. and that thou wouldst be of the true catholic church ; which
thou hast not fulfilled.'

" Woodman. ' I promised him nothing but I have fulfilled it. No
man shall be able to prove the contrary.'

" Story. ' Well, it will be tried well enough. My lord, I will take
my leave, I fear me you shall do this man no good.'" — Fox, viii.
340.

It is impossible to pursue our subject more effectively
than by an extract from his account of his fourth examina-
tion which was *i had before the bishop of Winchester,
bishop of Rochester and a certain doctor with divers other
priests and gentlemen, the 25th day of May ; "-

" I was fetched from the Marshalsea to the said bishops and
priests, sitting in St. George's Church in Southwark, by one of the
marshal's men and one of the sheriff's men. When I came before
them, and had done my duty to them as nigh as I could, then said
the bishop of Winchester, ' What is your name ? '

" Woodman. 'My name is Richard Woodman, forsooth. '
" Winchester. ' Ah, Woodman ! you were taken and apprehended
for heresy about three years agone, and were sent to prison in the
King's Bench, and there remained a long time. Mine old lord of
Chichester, being a learned famous man, well known in this realm
of England, and almost throughout all Christendom, I think, came
to prison to you ; and there, and at other places, called you before
him divers times, travailing and persuading with you many times
(because he was your ordinary) to pluck you from your heresies that
you held ; but he could by no means advertise you. Whereupon
you were delivered to the commissioners ; and they could do no
good with you neither. Then they sent you unto my lord of London.
My lord of London calling you before him divers times, labour was
made unto him of your friends, that you might be released. My
Lord, having a good hope in you, that you would become an honest

xx. J RICHARD WOODMAN. 427

man, because he had heard so of you in times past, yea and you your-
self promising him, that you would go home and recant your heresies
that you held, delivered you ; sending also a letter of your recanta-
tion to the commissary, that he should see it done. But as soon as
you were out of his hands, you were as bad as ever you were, and
would never fulfil your promise, but have hid yourself in the woods,
bushes, dens, and caves ; and thus have you continued ever since,
till it was now of late. Then the sheriff of that shire (being a wor-
shipful man) hearing thereof, sent certain of his men, and took you
in a wood, and so carried you to his house. I cannot tell his name.
What is your sheriff's name ? '

" Woodman. ' Forsooth, his name is sir Edward Gage.'

" Winchester. * Well, you were apprehended for heresy ; and being
at master Gage's three weeks or more, ye were gently entreated
there ; he and other gentlemen persuading with you divers times,
little prevailed. Then you appealed to the bishop of Chichester that
now is. The sheriff, like a worshipful man, sent you to him, and he
hath travailed with you, and others also, and can do no good with
you ; whereupon we have sent for you.'

" Then I spake to him ; for I thought he would be long, before he
would make an end. I thought he was a year in telling of those
lies that he had told there against me already. Yea, I kept silence
from good words, but it was great pain and grief to me, as David
said. At length the fire was so kindled within my heart, that I
could not choose but speak with my tongue ; for I feared lest any
of the company should have departed or ever I had answered to his
lies, and so the gospel to have been slandered by my long silence
keeping. So I spake, I praise God there-f or, and said, ' My lord : I
pray you let me now answer for myself, for it is time.'

" Winchester. ' I permit you to answer to these things that I have
said.'

" Woodman. ' I thank God there-for. And I think myself happy
(as Paul said, when he was brought before king Agrippa), that I may
this day answer for myself. My lord ! I promise you there is never
a word of your sayings true, that you have alleged against me.'

" Winchester. ' I cannot tell, but thus it is reported of you. As
for me, I never did see you before this day ; but I am sure it is not
all lies that I have said, as you report.'

" Woodman. ' Yes, my lord, there is never a true word of that you
have said. And further, whereas you said you never saw me before
this day, you have both heard me, and seen me, I dare say, before
this day.'

" Winchester. ' I think I heard you indeed on Sunday, when8 you
played the malapert fellow ; but I cannot tell that I saw you. But
I pray you, were you not taken in the woods by the sheriff's men 1 '

8 " Where," ed. 1597. That is, at St. Mary Overys. As the reader will
see farther allusion to it presently, it may be worth while to quote
Machyn's account ; — " The xxiii day dyd pryche the 1'ysshope of Wyn-
chaster Doctur Whytt at Sant Mare Overes in Sowthwarke, and ther was
a heretyke ther for to here the sermon." — p. 136.

428 EXAMINATION OF [ESSAY

« Woodman. ' No sure, I was taken beside my house, I being in
my house when they came : wherefore that is not true.'

" Winchester. ' Were not you at the sheriffs three weeks ?

" Woodman. ' Yes, that I was, a month just, and was gently
entreated of him, I can say no otherwise ; for I had meat and drink
enough, and fair words.'

" Winchester. ' Ah ! I am well apaid ; it is not all lies then, as it
chanced. For I spake but of three weeks, and you confess a month

" Woodman. 'Yet your tale is never the truer for that. For you
said, I was there three weeks for heresy, the which is not so. For I
was not apprehended for heresy at the first, neither did mine old
lord of Chichester travail with me to pull me from heresy, as you
said ; for I held none then, neither do I now, as God knoweth ;
neither was I sent to the commissioners, nor to the bishop of London
for heresy ; neither was I delivered to him for any such thing, nor
promised him to recant, as you said I did. Wherefore I marvel you
be not ashamed to tell so many lies, being a bishop, that should I
an ensample to others.'

" Winchester. 'Lo, what an arrogant heretic this same is.? He
will deny God; for he that denieth his own hand, denieth God.'

" Woodman. ' My lord, judge not lest you be judged yourself.
For as you have judged me, you shall be judged ; if you repent not.
And if I have set my hand to any recantation, let it be seen to my
shame, before this audience ; for I will never deny mine own hand,

" Winchester. ' It is not here now but I think it will be had well
enough ; but if it cannot be found, by whom will you be tried ? '

" Woodman. ' Even by my lord of London ; for he dealt like a good
man with me in that matter that 1 was sent to prison for. For it was
upon the breach of a statute, as master sheriff here can tell ; for he
was sheriff then, as he is now, and can tell how I was tossed up and
down from sessions to sessions. And because I would not consent
that I had offended therein, they sent me to prison again. Then
my lord of Chichester, being mine ordinary, and I being his tenant,
came to me, to persuade with me that I should have consented to
them, and to find myself in fault, where I was in none. To the
which I would not agree, and I desired him that he would see me
released of my wrong ; but he said he could not, but willed me or
my friends to speak to the commissioners for me, because it was a
temporal matter. And when I came before them, they sent me to
my lord of London ; and my lord of London was certified by the
hands of almost thirty men, esquires, gentlemen, and yeomen, the
chiefest in all the country where I dwelt, that I had not offended in
the matter that I was sent to prison for. Whereupon he delivered
me, not willing me to recant heresies, for I held none (as God
knoweth), neither do I now ; nor do I know wherefore I was sent to
prison, no more than any man here knowetb ; for I was taken away
from my work.'

" Winchester. ' No ? wherefore appealed you then to my lord of
Chichester, if it were not for heresy ? '

" Woodman. * Because there was laid to my charge that 1 had

xx.j RICHARD WOODMAN. 429

baptized children and married folks ; the which I never did, for I
was no where minister. Wherefore I appealed to mine ordinary, to
purge myself thereof ; as I have. Wherefore, if any man have any-
thing against me, let him speak ; for I came not hither to accuse
myself, neither will I.'

Winchester. ' Master Sheriff, can you tell me upon what breach
of the statute9 he was sent to prison first ? '

" The Sheriff. 'Yes, forsooth, my lord ; that I can.'

Woodman. ' My lord, if you will give me leave, I will show you
the whole matter.'

" Winchester. < Nay, master sheriff, I pray you tell the matter,
seeing you know it.'

"The Sheriff. 'My lord, it was for speaking to a curate in the
pulpit, as I remember.'

" Winchester. ' Ah ! like enough, that he would not stick to re-
prove a curate : for did you not see how he fashioned himself to
speak to me in the pulpit on Sunday ? He l played the malapert
fellow with me ; and therefore it was no great marvel though he
played that part with another.'

" Woodman. « Why, you will not blame me for that, I am sure :
for we spake for no other cause, but to purge ourselves of those
heresies that you laid to our charge,' " &c. — Fox, viii. 363.

At his next examination, which was, he says, " had before
' the bishop of Winchester, the Archdeacon of Canterbury,

* Dr. Langdale, with a fat headed priest and others, whose'

* names I know not, with certain also of the commissioners,

* at St. Mary Overy's Church in Southwark in the presence

* of three hundred people at the least, the 15th day of June,

* anno 1557 ; " the subject having been renewed respecting
the original charge brought against him.

" ' Wherefore my lord of London, seeing me have so much wrong,
did like a good man to me in that matter, and released me. Now
when I had told you this matter, you bade the sheriff have me away ;
you said, you were glad I held against priest's marriages, because I
answered to the question you asked me.'

" The fat Priest. ' My lord, do you not hear what he saith by my
lord of London ? He saith he is a good man in that he released
him ; but he meaneth that he is good in nothing else.'

" Woodman. ' What ! can you tell what I mean ? Let every man
say as he findeth ; he did justly to me in that matter. I say, if he
be not good in any thing else, as you say, he shall answer for it, and

not I ; for I have nothing to do with other men's matters.' " Fox

viii. 367.

These extracts, which form but a very small part of more
than forty pages of close printing devoted to the history of

9 "Breach of statute," ed. 1597. * "You," ed. 1597.

430 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

Richard Woodman in the Martyrology2, comprise, I believe,
all that relates to our enquiry ; proceeding in which I am
not aware of anything that should detain us until we come
to the case of,

(217.) RALPH ALLERTON, who is, I think, the next of
Bonner's prisoners to whom we are indebted for an account
of his personal transactions with the bishop. Fox introduces
it by telling us that

" Ralph Allerton was, more than a year before his condemnation,
apprehended and brought before the lord Darcy of Chiche ; and
was there accused, as well for that he would not consent and come
unto the idolatry and superstition which then was used, as also that
he had by preaching enticed others to do the like.

" Being then hereupon examined, he confessed that he, coming
into his parish-church of Bentley, and seeing the people sitting
there, either gazing about, or else talking together, he exhorted
them that they would fall unto prayer, and meditation of God's most
holy word, and not sit still idly : whereunto they willingly con-
sented. Then, after prayer ended, he read unto them a chapter of
the New Testament, and so departed. In the which exercise he
continued until Candlemas, and then, being informed that he might
not so do by the law (for that he was no priest or minister), he left
off, and kept himself close in his house until Easter then next after,
at what time certain sworn men for the inquiry of such matters
came unto his house, and attached him for reading in the parish of
Weeley. But when they understood that he had read but once, and
that it was of obedience (whereunto he earnestly moved the people),
they let him for that time depart. Notwithstanding, for fear of
their cruelty, he was not long after constrained to forsake his own
house, and keep himself in woods, barns, and other solitary places,
until the time of his apprehension.

" After his examination, the lord Darcy sent him up to the council j
but they (not minding to trouble themselves with him) sent him
unto Bonner, who, by threatenings and other subtle means, so
abused the simple and fearful heart of this man (as yet not
thoroughly staid upon the aid and help of God), that within short
time he won him to his most wicked will, and made him openly at
Paul's Cross to revoke and recant his former profession, and there-
upon set him at liberty of body ; which yet brought such a bondage
and terror of soul and conscience, and so cast him down, that
except the Lord (whose mercies are immeasurable) had supported
and lifted him up again, he had perished for ever. But the Lord,
who never suffereth his elect children utterly to fall, casting his
pitiful eyes upon this lost sheep, with his merciful and fatherly
chastisements, did (with Peter) raise him up again, giving unto him
not only hearty and unfeigned repentance, but also a most constant
boldness to profess again (even unto the death) his most holy name

2 Vol. viii. p. 333—376.

XX.]

RALPH ALLERTON. 431

and glorious gospel. Wherefore, at the procurement of one Thomas
Tye, a priest, sometime an earnest professor of Christ, but now a
fierce persecutor of the same (as appeareth more at large before, in
the history of William Mount and his wife), he was again appre-
hended, and sent up again unto Bonner, before whom he was the
8th day of April and sundry other times else examined. The report
of which examination, written by his own hand, with blood for lack
of other ink, hereafter followeth." — Fox, viii. 405.

The beginning of the First Examination is as follows ;

" Bonner. ' Ah sirrah ! how chanceth it that you are come hither
again on this fashion ? I dare say thou art accused wrongfully.'

" Ralph. ' Yea, my lord, so I am. For if I were guilty of such
things as I am accused of, then I would be very sorry.'

" Bonner. ' By St. Mary that is not well done. But let me hear,
Art thou an honest man ? for if I can prove no heresy by thee, then
shall thine accusers do thee no harm at all. Go to, let me hear
thee : for I did not believe the tale to be true.'

" Ralph. ' My lord, who did accuse me ? I pray you let me know,
and what is mine accusation, that I may answer thereunto.'

" Bonner. ' Ah, wilt thou so ? Before God, if thou hast not dis-
sembled, then thou needest not be afraid, nor ashamed to answer
for thyself. But tell me in faith, hast thou not dissembled ? '

"Ralph. ' If I cannot have mine accusers to accuse me before you,
my conscience doth constrain me to accuse myself before you : for
I confess that I have grievously offended God in my dissimulation,
at my last being before your lordship, for the which I am right
sorry, as God knoweth.'

"Bonner. ' Wherein, I pray thee, didst thou dissemble, when thou
wast before me ? '

11 Ralph. ' Forsooth, my lord, if your lordship remember, I did set
my hand upon a certain writing, the contents whereof (as I remem-
ber) were, " That I did believe in all things as the catholic church
teacheth," etc. In the which I did not disclose my mind, but
shamefully dissembled, because I made no difference between the
true church and the untrue church.'

" Bonner. ' Nay, but I pray thee let me hear more of this gear ;
for I fear me thou wilt smell of a heretic anon. Which is the true
church, as thou sayest ? Dost thou not call the heretics' church the
true church, or the catholic church of Christ ? Now, which of these
two is the true church, sayest thou ? Go to, for in faith I will know
of thee ere I leave thee.'

" Ralph. ' As concerning the church of heretics, I utterly abhor
the same, as detestable and abominable before God, with all their
enormities and heresies : and the church catholic is it that I only
embrace, whose doctrine is sincere, pure, and true.'

" Bonner. ' By St. Augustine, but that is well said of thee : for,
by God Almighty, if thou hadst allowed the church of heretics, I
would have burned thee with fire for thy labour. '

" Then said one Morton a priest, ' My lord, you know not yet what
church it is. that he calleth catholic. I warrant you he meaneth
naughtily enough.'

432 BISHOP BONNEK AND [ESSAY

" Banner. ' Think you so ? Now by our blessed Lady, if it be so,
he might have deceived me. How say you, sirrah ! which is the
catholic church ? '

" Ralph. ' Even that which hath received the wholesome sound,
spoken of Isaiah, David, Malachi, and Paul, with many other more.
The which sound, as it is written, hath gone throughout all the
earth in every place, and unto the ends of the world.'

" Banner. ' Yea, thou sayest true before God : for this is the
sound that hath gone throughout all Christendom.' "—Ibid. 406.

This naturally led to a discourse about the catholic church,
in which the prisoner freely expressed his opinion that the
gospel had been preached and persecuted in all lands ; " first
* in Jewry by the Scribes and Pharisees, and since that time
' by Nero, Dioclesian, and such like, and now here, in these
1 our days, by your lordship knoweth whom." Fox enjoyed
this " privy nip " too much to run any risk of the reader's
losing the humour of it, and so he put a marginal note,
" He meaneth belike Bonner and his fellows." But I quote
the following passage, partly because it is alluded to by
Strype, and goes towards forming part of his ground for
what I really believe to be a misrepresentation 3 ; and still
more because it gives the martyr's own testimony on several
points of interest in our inquiry. Allerton went on to
say;—

" For truth it is that the church which you call catholic, is none
otherwise catholic than was figured in Cain, observed of Jeroboam,
Ahab, Jezebel, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, Herod, with innumer-
able more of the like ; and as both Daniel and Esdras make mention
of these last days by a plain prophecy, and now fulfilled, as
appeareth, and affirmed by our Saviour Christ and his apostles, say-
ing, ' There shall come grievous wolves to devour the flock.'

"Bonner. 'Now, by the blessed sacrament of the altar, master
Morton, he is the rankest heretic that ever came before me. How
say you ? have you heard the like ? '

" Morton. 1 1 thought what he was, my lord, at the first, I — '

" Bonner. ' Now, by All-hallows, thou shalt be burnt with fire for
thy lying, thou whoreson varlet and prick-louse, thou ! Dost thou
find a prophecy in Daniel of us ? Nay, you knave, it is of you that
he speaketh, and of your false pretensed holiness. Go to, let me
hear what is the saying of Esdras, and take heed ye make not a lie,
I advise you.'

3 " He was a tailor by trade, as I conjecture by Boner's often calling
him ' pricklouse,' according to his rude way of misnaming those who came
before him." — Mem. Vol. III. pt. ii. p. 63. I believe the word occurs
only in the two passages which I have quoted ; and as to any rude way
of misnaming those who came before him, I shall not believe that the
bishop had any such until I see farther proof than I have yet met with.

xx.] RALPH ALLERTON. 433

" Ralph. ' The saying of Esdras is this : ' The heat of a great
multitude is kindled over you, and they shall take away certain of
you, and feed the idols with you. And he that consenteth unto
them, shall be had in derision, laughed to scorn, and trodden under
foot. Yea, they shall be like madmen, for they shall spare no man ;
they shall spoil and waste such as fear the Lord,' etc.'

" Banner. ' And have you taken this thing to make your market
good ? Ah sirrah, wilt thou so ? by my faith, a pretty instruction,
and a necessary thing to be taught among the people. By my troth,
I think there be more 4 of this opinion. I pray thee tell me : is
there any that understandeth this Scripture on this fashion ? Before
God, I think there be none in all England but thou.'

" Ralph. ' Yes, my lord, there are in England three religions. '

" Banner. ' Sayest thou so ? Which be those three ? '

" Ralph. ' The first is that which you hold ; the second is clean
contrary to the same ; and the third is a neuter, being indifferent —
that is to say, observing all things that are commanded outwardly,
as though he were of your part, his heart being set wholly against
the same.'

" Banner. ' And of these three, which art thou ? for now thou must
needs be of one of them.'

" Ralph. ' Yea, my lord, I am of one of them ; and that which I am
of, is even that which is contrary to that which you teach to be
believed under pain of death.'

" Banner. ' Ah sir, you were here with me at Fulham, and had
good cheer, yea, and money in your purse when you went away ;
and by my faith I had a favour unto thee, bat now I see thou wilt
be a naughty knave. Why, wilt thou take upon thee to read the
Scripture, and canst understand never a word ? for thou hast brought
a text of Scripture, the which maketh clean against thee. For
Esdras speaketh of the multitude of you heretics, declaring your
hate against the catholic church, making the simple or idle people
believe, that all is idolatry that we do ; and so entice them away
until you have overcome them." — Fox, viii. 407.

Allerton went on in a strain of high invective ; telling
the bishop that his was " the bloody church, figured in Cain
the tyrant," till Bonner's patience seems to have been ex-
hausted ; and he cried, " Have the knave away ! Let him
be carried to the Little-Ease, at London, until I come."
This, it appears, was done ; and on the next day Allerton
was again called before the bishop ; his former recantation
was produced; and he was examined whether, since the
time when he had signed it, he had been " at mass, matins
&c." To this he replied that he " had not been at mass,
matins, nor any other strange worshipping of God ; " but

4 I presume it should be " no more," as it is in the editions of 1597 and
1641.

2E

434 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

he proceeded to express his belief in the scripture and his
reverence for it. Upon this a "Dean," who seems not
otherwise to have indicated his presence at the examination,
interfered ; —

" Dean. ' My lord, this fellow will be an honest man, I hear by
him. He will not stand in his opinion ; for he showeth himself
gentle and patient in his talk.'

" Banner. ' Oh, he is a glorious knave ! His painted terms shall
no more deceive me. Ah, whoreson prick-louse ! doth not Christ
say, ' This is my body ? ' and how darest thou deny these words, for
to say, as I have a writing to show, and thine own hand at the
same ? Let me see, wilt thou deny this ? Is not this thine own
hand ? '

" Ralph. ' Yes, my lord, it is my own hand ; neither am I ashamed
thereof, because my confession therein is agreeable to God's word.
And whereas you do lay unto my charge that I should deny the
words of our Saviour Jesus Christ ; O good Lord ! from whence
cometh this rash, hasty, and untrue judgment ? Forsooth not from
the Spirit of Truth ; for he leadeth men into all truth, and is not the
father of liars. Whereupon should your lordship gather or say of
me so diffamously ? Wherefore, I beseech you, if I deny the Scrip-
tures canonical, or any part thereof, then let me die/

" Tye, the Priest. ' My lord, he is a very seditious fellow, and per-
suadeth other men to do as he himself doth, contrary to the order
appointed by the queen's highness and the clergy of this realm.
For a great sort of the parish will be gathered one day to one place,
and another day to another place, to hear him ; so that very few
come to the church to hear divine service. And this was not only
before that he was taken and brought unto the council, but also
since his return home again, and he hath done much harm : for
where both men and women were honestly disposed before, by
St. Anne now are they as ill as he almost. And furthermore, he
was not ashamed to withstand me before all the parish, saying, that
we were of the malignant church of Antichrist, and not of the true
church of Christ, alleging a great many of scriptures to serve for his
purpose, saying, ' Good people, take heed, and beware of these
blood-thirsty dogs,' etc. And then I commanded the constable to
apprehend him, and so he did. Nevertheless, after his apprehen-
sion, the constable let him go about his business all the next day;
so that without putting in of sureties, he let him go into Suffolk and
other places, for no goodness I warrant you, my lord. It were alms
to teach such officers their duty, how they should not let such rebels
go at their own liberty, after that they be apprehended and taken ;
but to keep them fast in the stocks until they bring them before a
justice." — Fox, viii. 408.

At length this examination of the 24th of April was ter-
minated by the bishop's asking, " How say you, sirrah ? tell
4 me briefly at one word : wilt thou be contented to go to
* Fulham with me, and there to kneel thee down at mass,

xx.] RALPH ALLEKTON.

* showing thyself outwardly as though thou didst it with a
' good will ? Go to, speak." Allerton replied, " I will not
say so ! " and the bishop rejoined, " Away with him ! away
with him ! " and so another week passed, and then he tells
us;—

" The 2d day of May I was brought before the bishop, and three
noblemen of the council, whose names I do npt remember.

" Bonner. ' Lo, my lords ! this same is the fellow that was sent
unto me from the council, and did submit himself, so that I had
half a hope of him : but, by St. Anne, I was always in doubt of
him. Nevertheless, he was with me, and fared well, and when I
delivered him, I gave him money in his purse. How sayest thou,
was it not so as I tell my lords here ? '

" Ralph. ' Indeed, my lord, I had meat and drink enough ; but I
never came in bed all the while. And at my departing you gave me
twelve pence, howbeit I never asked none, nor would have done.'

"A Lord. ' Be good to him, my lord. He will be an honest man.'

" Bonner. ' Before God, how should I trust him ? he hath once
deceived me already. But ye shall hear what he will say to the
blessed sacrament of the altar. How say you, sirrah ? After the
words of consecration be spoken by the priest, there remaineth no
bread, but the very body of our Saviour Jesus Christ, God and man,
and none other substance, under the form of bread ? '

" Ralph. ' Where find you that, my lord, written ? ' "— Fox, viii.
409.

I have perhaps already given more space than enough to
the history of Ralph Allerton. What remains of it, as well
as a great deal which has been passed over, is very interest-
ing and instructive with reference to the history of the
times ; but I do not know that it presents anything par-
ticularly relating to the subject of our inquiry, and in fact,
very little of what remains of this martyr's history is his
own testimony. He tells us indeed, in a few words, that,
on Tuesday the 19th of May, he was " brought before the
bishops of Rochester and Chichester with others ; " and that
the former of those prelates asked him, " were you a coni-
' panion of George Eagles, otherwise called Trudgeover ?

* My Lord of London tells me that you were his fellow-
; companion ? " to which Allerton replied, " I know him
very well, my Lord." But after one more question and
answer, relating merely to the character of Eagles, he pro-
vokingly adds, " The rest of mine examinations you shall

* have when I am condemned, if I can have any time after

* my coming into Newgate, the which I trust shall touch
' the matter a great deal more plainly ; for the pithy matters

436 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

' are yet unwritten." What they were I know not, and Fox
professes his ignorance whether the martyr ever was able
to fulfil this promise. And, indeed, I do not see that much
more information to our purpose is to be gained from the
martyrology. Perhaps the government thought that a man
who had recanted once, might do it again ; and therefore
kept him in prison, examining him from time to time, until
the 17th of September, when he was burned as a relapsed
heretic ; his companion, George Eagles, having been in
the mean time apprehended, and executed as a traitor 5.

(230.) JOHN ROUGH had very little to do with Bishop
Bonner, but their intercourse was of such a nature, and has
been so represented by Fox, that his case must not be passed
over. He was born in Scotland, became a black-friar at
Stirling at the age of seventeen, remained so for sixteen
years, until the Earl of Arran sued to the Archbishop of
St. Andrews to have him out of the order for a chaplain,
and accordingly he was set free. After this, he preached
the reformed doctrine in Scotland, and the north of England,
during the reign of Edward the VI. ; and on the accession
of Queen Mary he fled, with his wife, into Friesland and
dwelt at Norden, making caps, hose, and such like things,
until (according to Fox) "lacking yarn, and other such
' necessary provision for the maintenance of his occupation,

* he came over again into England, here to provide for the
' same and the tenth day of November " [1557] "arrived at

* London." It would be less worth while to read Fox's
slip-along stories, if he did not so frequently supply us with
grounds for believing that, even when he is telling the
truth, he is so far from telling the whole truth as to give
all the effect of falsehood. Of course, if one stops to think

5 Strype quotes from the Council-Book "Aug. 3. Where sondrie letters
' had bene before directed to divers justices for the apprehension of one
' Trudgeover, be being taken and executed by Mr. Anthony Browne, Ser-
c geant-at-law, in Essex ; " [of whom we have heard before in the story of
' William Hunter] " a letter as this day was directed to the said Sergeant
' Browne, geving hym thanks for his diligent proceding against the said
' Trudge : willing hym to distribute his head and quarters according to
1 his and his colleagues former determinations, and to procede with his
'complices according to the qualities of their offences." — Mem. Vol. Ill-
pt. ii. p. 43. His body was distributed to Colchester, Harwich, St. Osyths,
and Chelmsford ; at the latter of which places his head was set on the
market cross. — Fox, viii. 396.

xx.] JOHN ROUGH. 437

of it, it is rather strange that a man who had fled from
England on the mere presentiment of persecution, should,
after four years spent in a country resorted to by English
fugitives, have been ignorant that the persecution which he
had anticipated, and the mere idea of which had driven him
into exile, had actually begun, and was raging in England ;
and at least equally strange that if he knew these facts he
should expose himself to such a danger, on such grounds.
Unless he had actually used up all the yarn in Holland,
and could find no agent, no means of communication with
England, no other occupation where he was, one cannot
account for such a step. It does, however, seem as if Fox
would have us understand that John Rough, notwithstand-
ing what he might have seen or heard of the world at
various times and places, did it in perfect ignorance and
simplicity ; for, after the words which I have quoted re-
specting his arrival " at London," he immediately proceeds,
" where hearing of the secret society and holy congregation
' of God's children there assembled he joined himself unto
' them, and afterwards being elected their minister and
' preacher, did continue most virtuously exercised in that

* godly fellowship, teaching and confirming them in the

* truth and gospel of Christ." It is as strange that the
exile of Friesland should only now come to the knowledge
of the secret Congregation in London, as that a society thus
meeting in peril of their lives should at once give the right
hand of fellowship to a stranger dropping in unawares6.
We have seen what took place with regard to his prede-
cessor Thomas Rose7; and we may imagine that during
nearly two years which had elapsed since his apprehension
their fears and their caution had not diminished. Indeed,
the circumstances of Rough's apprehension are very curious,
and characteristic ; but, before we come to them, we may as
well cut this little knot about his introduction to the Con-
gregation by the means which Fox (as I have observed) so
frequently furnishes. If his documents did not sometimes
explain, or even contradict, his history, we should be oftener

6 There is a curious felicity in Strype's brief statement of the matter
which makes it worth copying : " coming into England for yarn, it so fell
out, that he became minister to the congregation of gospellers at London,"
—Mem. Vol. III. pt. ii. p. 45.

7 See before, p. 338.

438 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

at a loss than we are. " The Articles " ministered to John
Rough shew that he was known and watched. Indeed, we
might suppose that the domestic Chaplain of the " gentle-
men who, by the Lord stirred up, brake in suddenly," and
"murdered" Cardinal Beaton8, the old Preacher of the
North in King Edward's time, the friend of John Knox,
was one of whom the government had never lost sight.

These Articles, however, relate to what John Rough had
done since his " last coming into England out of the parts
beyond the sea," (a phrase which looks as if the government
supposed him to have made some previous trips) but the
sixth of them is as follows. " Item, thou dost know, and
' hast been conversant with all or a great part of such Eng-

* lishmen as have fled out of this realm for religion, and

* hast consented and agreed with them in their opinions,
' and hast succoured, maintained, and holpen them, and

* hast been a conveyer of their seditious letters and books

* into this realm." In reply to this article " he confessed
' that he had been familiar with divers English men and
' women being in Friesland, and agreed with them in
' opinion, as Master Scory, Thomas Young, George Roe and
' others, to the number of one hundred persons which fled
' thither for religion, using there the order set forth in the
4 reign of King Edward, and otherwise he denieth the con-

* tents of this article."

Whatever view the reader may take of this he will pro-
bably be led to think that the parties knew something of
each other before the month of November, 1557. It was
not long however before the government interfered. The
new minister had been scarcely more than a month in Eng-
land when says Fox : —

" The 12th. day of December, he, with Cutbert Symsonand others,
through the crafty and traitorous suggestion of a false hypocrite
and dissembling brother, called Eoger Sergeant a tailor, was appre-
hended by the vice-chamberlain of the Queen's house, at the
Saracen's Head in Islington ; where the congregation had then pur-
posed to assemble themselves to their godly and accustomable
exercises of prayer, and hearing the word of God : which pretence,
for the safeguard of all the rest, they yet at their examinations
covered and excused by hearing of a play, that was then appointed
to be at that place. The vice-chamberlain, after he had apprehended
them, carried Rough and Symson unto the council, who charged

8 Fox, V. 636. See Spotiswood, p, 84,

xx.] JOHN ROUGH. 439

them to have assembled together to celebrate the communion or
supper of the Lord : and therefore, after sundry examinations and
answers, they sent the said Rough unto Newgate ; but his examina-
tions they sent unto the bishop of London, with a letter signed
with their hands, the copy whereof followeth.

'"A Letter sent from the Queen's Council unto Bonner Bishop of
London, touching the Examination of John Eough, Minister.

" ' After our hearty commendations to your good lordship, we send
you here enclosed, the examination of a Scottish man named John
Rough, who, by the queen's majesty's commandment, is presently
sent to Newgate ; being of the chief of them that upon Sunday last,
under the colour of coming to see a play at the Saracen's Head in
Islington, had prepared a communion to be celebrated and received
there, among certain other seditious and heretical persons. And
forasmuch as by the said Rough's examination, containing the story
and progress of his former life, it well appeareth of what sort he is ;
the queen's highness hath willed us to remit him unto your lord-
ship, to the end that being called before you out of prison, as oft as
your lordship shall think good, ye may proceed, both to his further
examination, and otherwise ordering of him according to the laws,
as the case shall require. And thus we bid your lordship heartily
well to fare. From St. James, the 15th. day of December, 1557.

" l Your lordship's loving friends
" ' Nicholas Ebor. Edward Hastings, John Bourne,
F. Shrewsbury, Anthony Montague, Henry Jernegam.

" Bonner, now minding to make quick despatch, did within three
days after the receipt of the letter (the 18th. day of December), send
for this Rough out of Newgate, and in his palace at London
ministered unto him twelve articles," &c. — Fox, viii. 444.

Of these articles I have given a sufficient specimen ; and
I only add what relates to his personal ill-treatment by the
bishop ; for that is, indeed, the principal reason for men-
tioning him at all. Fox tells us that " The Friday at night
' before Master Rough minister of the Congregation (of
' whom mention is made before) was taken, being in his bed,

* he dreamed that he saw two of the guard leading Cuthbert

* Symson, deacon of the said Congregation .... the next
4 day following in the night, the said master Rough had
' another dream in his sleep concerning his own trouble ;
' the matter whereof was this. He thought in his dream

* that he was carried himself forcibly to the bishop, and that

* the bishop plucked off his beard and cast it into the fire

* saying these words * Now I may say I have had a piece of

* a heretic burned in my house : ' and so accordingly it came

)

9 Fox, viii. pp. 454, 455,

440 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

Whether it was in any degree one of those popular pre-
dictions which lead to, or only record, their own fulfilment,
or whether John Rough really did dream it, and Bishop
Bonner really fulfilled the dream, I know not. I will give
the reader the story in Fox's words, and do not mean to
waste his time or my own in any comment on it until I
find ground for supposing that some respectable person
believes it.

" And being before Bonner, among other talk, he affirmed that he
had been twice at Home, and there had seen plainly with his eyes,
which he had many times heard of before, namely, that the pope
was the very antichrist ; for there he saw him carried on men's
shoulders, and the false-named sacrament borne before him : yet
was there more reverence given to him, than to that which they
counted to be their god. When Bonner heard this, rising up, and
making as though he would have torn his garments, ' Hast thou,'
said he, ' been at Rome, and seen our holy father the pope, and dost
thou blaspheme him after this sort ? ' And with that flying upon
him, he plucked off a piece of his beard ; and after, making speedy
haste to his death, he burnt him half an hour before six of the
clock in the morning, because the day, belike, should not be far
spent, before he had done a mischievous deed." — Fox, viii. 448. .

(248.) ROGER HOLLAND. There is one more history which
must be given, not merely as connected with the object of
this particular Essay — though even that consideration
would require some notice of it — but, because it is singular
and interesting in itself, and illustrates many points which
have been touched on, or referred to, in the foregoing pages.
We have more than once fallen in with accounts of the
Secret Congregation, which kept its ground during the
whole of Queen Mary's reign ; and its proceedings are cer-
tainly among the most curious matters of ecclesiastical
history during that period. One of its meetings is thus
described by Eox ; —

" Secretly, in a back close, in the field by the town of Islington,
were collected and assembled together a certain company of godly
and innocent persons, to the number of forty men and women, who
there sitting together at prayer, and virtuously occupied in the
meditation of God's holy word, first cometh a certain man to them
unknown ; who, looking over unto them, so stayed, and saluted
them, saying, that they looked like men that meant no hurt. Then
one of the said company asked the man, if he could tell whose close
that was, and whether they might be so bold there to sit. ' Yea,'
said he, ' for that ye seem unto me such persons as intend no harm ; '
and so departed,

xx.] ROGER HOLLAND. 441

"Within a quarter of an hour after, cometh the constable of
Islington named King, warded ; with six or seven others accom-
panying him in the same business, one with a bow, another with a
bill, and others with their weapons likewise ; the which six or
seven persons the said constable left a little behind him in a close
place, there to be ready if need should be, while he, with one with
him, should go view them before; who, so doing, came through
them, looking and viewing what they were doing, and what books
they had ; and so, going a little forward, and returning back again,
bade them deliver their books. They, understanding that he was
constable, refused not so to do. With that cometh forth the residue
of his fellows above touched, who bade them stand and not depart.
They answered again, they would be obedient and ready to go
whithersoever they would have them ; and so were they first carried
to a brewhouse but a little way off, while that some of the said sol-
diers ran to the justice next at hand : but the justice was not at
home ; whereupon they were had to sir Koger Cholmley.

" In the mean time some of the women, being of the same number
of the aforesaid forty persons, escaped away from them, some in the
close, some before they came to the brewhouse. For so they were car-
ried, ten with one man, eight with another ; and with some more, with
some less, in such sort as it was not hard for them to escape that
would. In fine, they that were carried to sir Eoger Cholmley, were
twenty-seven ; which sir Eoger Cholmley and the recorder taking
their names in a bill, and calling them one by one, so many as
answered to their names he sent to Newgate. In the which number
of them that answered, and that were sent to Newgate, were twenty
and two."— Fox, viii. 468.

Among these twenty and two, who did not take advan-
tage of the facilities afforded for escape, one was the subject
of our narrative ; —

" This Roger Holland, a merchant-tailor of London, was first an
apprentice with one master Kempton, at the Black-Boy in Watling-
street, where he served his apprenticeship with much trouble unto
his master in breaking him from his licentious liberty, which he had
before been trained and brought up in, giving himself to riot, as
dancing, fencing, gaming, banqueting, and wanton company ; and
besides all this, being a stubborn and an obstinate papist, far unlike
to come to any such end as God called him unto ; the which was as
f olloweth : —

" His master, notwithstanding this his lewdness, putting him in
trust with his accounts, he had received for him certain money, to
the sum of thirty pounds ; and falling into ill company, lost the
said money every groat at dice, being past all hope which way to
answer it ; and therefore he purposed to convey himself away beyond
the seas, either into France or into Flanders.

" Now having determined with himself thus to do, he called
betimes in the morning to a servant in the house, an ancient and
discreet maid, whose name was Elizabeth, which professed the
gospel, with a life agreeing unto the same, and at all times much

442 BISHOP BONNER AND [

rebuking the wilful and obstinate papistry, as also the licentious
living of this Koger Holland : to whom he said, ' Elizabeth, I would
I had followed thy gentle persuasions and friendly rebukes ; which
if I had done, I had never come to this shame and misery which I
am now fallen into ; for this night have I lost thirty pounds of my
master's money, which to pay him, and to make up mine accounts, I
am not able. But thus much I pray you, desire my mistress, that
she would entreat my master to take this bill of my hand, that I
am thus much indebted unto him ; and if I be ever able, I will see
him paid : desiring him that the matter may pass with silence, and
that none of my kindred nor friends may ever understand this my
lewd part ; for if it should come unto my father's ears, it would bring
his grey hairs oversoon unto his grave.' And so was he departing.

" The maid considering that it might be his utter undoing, ' Stay,'
said she ; and having a piece of money lying by her, given unto her
by the death of a kinsman of hers (who, as it was thought, was Dr.
Kedman), she brought unto him thirty pounds, saying, ' Koger, here
is thus much money ; I will let thee have it, and I will keep this
bill. But since I do thus much for thee, to help thee, and to save
thy honesty, thou shalt promise me to refuse all lewd and wild com-
pany, all swearing and ribaldry talk ; and if ever I know thee to
play one twelve pence at either dice or cards, then will I show this
thy bill unto my master. And furthermore, thou shalt promise me
to resort every day to the lecture at All-hallows, and the sermon at
Paul's every Sunday, and to cast away all thy books of papistry
and vain ballads, and get thee the Testament and Book of Service,
and read the Scriptures with reverence and fear, calling unto God
still, for his grace to direct thee in his truth. And pray unto God
fervently, desiring him to pardon thy former offences, and not to
remember the sins of thy youth ; and ever be afraid to break his
laws, or offend his Majesty. Then shall God keep thee, and send
thee thy heart's desire.'

"After this time within one half-year God had wrought such
a change in this man, that he was become an earnest professor of
the truth, and detested all papistry and evil company ; so that
he was in admiration to all them that had known him, and seen his
former life and wickedness.

" Then he repaired into Lancashire unto his father, and brought
divers good books with him, and bestowed them upon his friends, so
that his father and others began to taste of the gospel, and to detest
the mass, idolatry, and superstition ; and in the end his father gave
him a stock of money to begin the world withal, to the sum of fifty
pounds.

" Then he repaired to London again, and came to the maid that
lent him the money to pay his master withal, and said unto her,
' Elizabeth, here is thy money I borrowed of thee ; and for the
friendship, good will, and the good counsel I have received at thy
hands, to recompense thee I am not able, otherwise than to make
thee my wife.' And soon after they were married, which was in the
first year of queen Mary. And having a child by her, he caused
master Rose to baptize his said child in his own house. Notwith-
standing he was bewrayed unto the enemies, and he being gone into

EDMUND BONNEK, BISHOP OF LONDON
(From an old Engraving)

xx.] ROGER HOLLAND. 443

the country to convey the child away, that the papists should not
have it in their anointing hands, Bonner caused his goods to be
seized upon, and most cruelly used his wife.

" After this he remained closely in the city, and in the country in
the congregations of the faithful, until the last year of queen Mary.
Then he, with the six others aforesaid, were taken in, or not far
from, St. John's Wood, and so brought to Newgate upon May-day,
in the morning, anno 1558." — Fox, viii. 473.

As nothing tends more to make a story intelligible, and
give a true weight to its facts, than a proper understanding,
and present recollection of its chronology, I must beg the
reader to observe that Roger Holland was not a person
accidentally present, or even a new convert. It seems as if
he must have made profession of the reformed opinions for
at least five years, and probably longer ; and that his wife
had done so, admits of little doubt. " Being called before
the Bishop," says Fox, " Dr. Chedsey, both the Harpsfields,
1 and certain others, after many other fair and crafty per-
' suasions of Dr. Chedsey, to allure him to their Babylonical
* church, thus the Bishop began with him ; —

" Holland, I for my part do wish well unto thee, and the more for
thy friends' sake. And, as Dr. Standish telleth me, you and he were
both born in one parish, and he knoweth your father to be a very
honest catholic gentleman. And master doctor told me, that he
talked with you a year ago ; and found you very wilfully addict to
your own conceit. Divers of the city also have showed me of you,
that you have been a great procurer of men's servants to be of your
religion, and to come to your congregations. But since you be now
in danger of the law, I would wish you to play a wise man's part ;
so shall you not want any favour I can do or procure for you, both
for your own sake, and also for your friends', which be men of
worship and credit, and wish you well : and by my troth, Roger,
so do I.'

"Then said master Eglestone, a gentleman of Lancashire, and
near kinsman to Roger, being there present, ' I thank your good
lordship ; your honour meaneth good unto my cousin ; I beseech
God he have the grace to follow your counsel.'

" Holland. ' Sir, you crave of God you know not what. I beseech
God to open your eyes to see the light of his word.'

"Eglestone. 'Roger, hold your peace, lest you fare the worse at
my lord's hands.'

" Holland. ' No, I shall fare as it pleaseth God ; for man can do
no more than God doth permit him.'

"Then the bishop and the doctors, with Johnson the registrar,
casting their heads together, in the end saith Johnson, ' Roger, how
sayest thou ? wilt thou submit thyself unto my lord, before thou be
entered into the book of contempt ? '

'" Holland. 'I never meant but to submit myself unto the magis-

444 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

trate, as I learn of St. Paul to the Romans, chap. xiii. : ' and so he
recited the text.

" Chedsey. ' Then I see you are no Anabaptist.'

"Holland. 'I mean not yet to be a papist; for they and the
Anabaptists agree in this point not to submit themselves to any
other prince or magistrate, than those that must first be sworn
to maintain them and their doings.'

" Chedsey. l Roger, remember what I have said, and also what my
lord hath promised he will perform with further friendship. Take
heed, Roger, for your ripeness of wit hath brought you into these
errors.'

" Holland. ' Master doctor, I have yet your words in memory,
though they are of no such force as to prevail with me."

" Then they whispered together again, and at the last said Bonner,
' Roger, I perceive thou wilt be ruled by no good counsel, for any
thing that either I, or your friends, or any others can say.'

" Holland. ' I may say to you, my lord, as Paul said to Felix and
unto the Jews, as doth appear in Acts xxii, and in 1 Cor. xv.' "—
Ibid. 474.

After a good deal of discussion, Roger Holland seems to
have become somewhat excited. He exclaimed, " As for the
4 unity which is in your church, what is it else but treason,
4 murder, poisoning one another, idolatry, superstition,
4 wickedness ? What unity was in your church, when there
' were three popes at once ? Where was your head of unity,
4 when you had a woman pope ? Here he was interrupted,
4 and could not be suffered to proceed ; 4 But,' saith the
4 bishop, * Roger, these thy words are very blasphemy, and
4 by the means of thy friends thou hast been suffered to
4 speak, and art over malapert to teach any here. There-
4 fore, Keeper, take him away.' "

So the matter rested until his second examination ; the
account of which begins thus ; —

" The day that Henry Pond and the rest were brought forth to be
again examined, Dr. Chedsey said, 'Roger, I trust you have now
better considered of the Church than you did before.'

"Holland. ' I consider thus much : that out of the church there is
no salvation, as divers ancient doctors say.'

"Bonner. 'That is well said. Master Egleston, I trust your
kinsman will be a good catholic man. But Roger, you mean, I
trust, the church of Rome ? '

*' Holland. ' I mean that Church which hath Christ for her head ;
which also hath his word, and his sacraments according to his word
and institution. '

" Then Chedsey interrupted him, and said, ' Is that a Testament
you have in your hand ? '

" Holland. ' Yea, master doctor, it is the New Testament. You

xx.] ROGER HOLLAND. 445

will find no fault with the translation, I think. It is of your own
translation, it is according to the great Bible.'

" Banner. ' How say you ? How do you know it is the Testament
of Christ, but only by the church ? for the church of Rome hath and
doth preserve it, and out of the same hath made decrees, ordi-
nances, and true expositions.'

"'No,' saith Roger, 'the church of Rome hath and doth suppress
the reading of the Testament. And what a true exposition (I pray
you) did the pope make thereof, when he set his foot on the
emperor's neck, and said, " Thou shalt walk upon the lion and the
asp : the young lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy foot ? '

" Then said the bishop, ' Such unlearned wild heads as thou and
others would be expositors of the Scripture. Would you then the
ancient learned (as there be some here, as well as I) should be
taught of you ? '

" Holland. ' Youth delighteth in vanity. My wildness hath been
somewhat the more by your doctrine, than ever I learned out of this
book of God. But, my lord, I suppose some of the old doctors say,
If a poor layman bring his reason and argument out of the word of
God, he is to be credited afore the learned, though they be never so
great doctors : for the gift of knowledge was taken from the learned
doctors, and given to poor fishermen. Notwithstanding I am ready
to be instructed by the church. '

" Banner. ' That is very well said, Roger : but you must under-
stand that the church of Rome is the catholic church. Roger, for
thy friends' sake (I promise thee) I wish thee well, and I mean to
do thee good. — Keeper ! see he want nothing. Roger, if thou lack
any money to pleasure thee, I will see thou shalt not want. '

"This he spake unto him alone, his fellows being apart, with
many other fair promises; and so he was sent to prison again."
—Ibid. p. 476.

The sequel of the story is as follows ; —

[" The last examination of Roger Holland was, when he with his
fellow prisoners were brought into the Consistory, and there ex-
communicated all, saving Roger, and ready to have their sentence
of judgment given, with many threatening words to fear them
withal: the lord Strange, sir Thomas Jarret, master Egleston
esquire, and divers other of worship, both of Cheshire and Lanca-
shire, that were Roger Holland's kinsmen and friends, being there
present, which had been earnest suitors to the bishop in his favour,
hoping for his safety of life. Now the bishop, hoping yet to win
him with his fair and flattering words, began after this manner :]

" Banner. " Roger, I have divers times called thee before home to
my house, and have conferred with thee ; and being not learned in
the Latin tongue, it doth appear unto me thou art of a good
memory, and of a very sensible talk, but something over hasty,
which is a natural disease to some men. And surely they are not
the worst natured men : for I myself shall now and then be hasty,
but mine anger is soon past. So, Roger, surely I have a good
opinion of you, that you will not with these lewd fellows cast

446 BISHOP BONNER AND [ESSAY

yourself headlong from the church of your parents and your friends
that are here (very good catholics, as it is reported unto me). And
as I mean thee good, so, Eoger, play the wise man's part, and come
home with the lost son, and say, I have run into the church of
schismatics and heretics, from the catholic church of Rome ; and
you shall, I warrant you, not only find favour at God's hands, but
the church, that hath authority, shall absolve you, and put new
garments upon you, and kill the fatling to make thee good cheer
withal ; that is, in so doing, as meat doth refresh and cherish the
mind, so shalt thou find as much quietness of conscience in coming
home to the church, as did the hungry son that had been fed afore
with the hogs, as you have done with these heretics that sever
themselves from the church. I give them a homely name, but they
be worse,' putting his hand to his cap for reverence sake, 'than
hogs : for they know the church, and will not follow it. If I should
say thus much to a Turk, he would (I think) believe me. But,
Eoger, 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.'

"At these words his friends that were there gave the bishop
thanks for his good will and pains that he had taken in his and
their behalf.

" Banner. ' Well, Roger, how say you ? Do you not believe that
after the priest hath spoken the words of consecration, there
remaineth the body of Christ really and corporally under the forms
of bread and wine ? I mean the self-same body that was born of
the Virgin Mary, that was crucified upon the cross, and rose again
the third day.'

" Holland. ' Your lordship saith, the same body which was born
of the Virgin Mary, which was crucified upon the cross, which rose
again the third day: but you leave out, which ascended into
heaven ; and the Scripture saith, he shall there remain until he
come to judge the quick and the dead ! Then he is not contained
under the forms of bread and wine, by ' Hoc est corpus meum,' &c.

"Banner. 'Roger, I perceive my pains and good will will not
prevail, and if I should argue with thee, thou art so wilful (as all
thy fellows be, standing in thine own singularity and foolish
conceit) that thou wouldst still talk to no purpose this seven years,
if thou mightest be suffered. Answer whether thou wilt confess
the real and corporal presence of Christ's body in the sacrament or
wilt not.'

"Holland. 'My lord, although God by his sufferance hath here
placed you, to set forth his truth and glory in us his faithful
servants ; notwithstanding, your meaning is far from the zeal of
Christ : and for all your words, you have the same zeal that Annas
and Caiaphas had, trusting to their authority, traditions and
ceremonies, more than to the word of God. '

" Banner. l If I should suffer him, he would fall from reasoning to
railing, as a frantic heretic.'

" ' Roger ! ' saith the Lord Strange, * I perceive my lord would
have you tell him whether you will submit yourself to him or
no.1

xx.] ROGER HOLLAND. 447

"'Yea,' saith Bonner, 'and confess this presence that I have
spoken of. '

" With this, Roger, turning him to the Lord Strange and the rest
of his kinsmen and friends, very cheerfully kneeled down upon his
knees, and said, ' God, by the mouth of his servant St. Paul, hath
said, ' Let every soul submit himself unto the higher powers, and he
that resisteth receiveth his own damnation : ' and as you are a
magistrate appointed by the will of God, so do I submit myself
unto you, and to all such as are appointed for magistrates.'

" Banner. ' That is well said ; I see you are no Anabaptist. How
say you then to the presence of Christ's body and blood in the
sacrament of the altar ?' " — lUd. p. 477.

This led, as usual, to the plain demonstration that all
attempts at agreement and reconciliation were fruitless.
At length Holland said : —

" As for the mass, transubstantiation, and the worshipping of the
sacrament, they are mere impiety and horrible idolatry.

" ' I thought so much,' said Bonner, suffering him to speak no
more, ' how he would prove a very blasphemous heretic as ever I
heard. How unreverently doth he speak of the blessed mass!'
And so read his bloody sentence of condemnation, adjudging him to
be burnt.

" All this while Roger was very patient and quiet ; and when he
should depart, he said, ' My lord, I beseech you suffer me to speak
two words. ' The bishop would not hear him, but bade him away.
Notwithstanding, being requested by one of his friends, he said,
' Speak, what hast thou to say ? '

" Holland. ' Even now 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
for 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 this shall you in short
time well perceive, my dear brethren, to be most true ; for after this
day, in this place, shall there not be any by him put to the trial of
fire and faggot. '

"And after this day there was none that suffered in Smithfield
for the testimony of the gospel, God be thanked.

"After these words spoken, said Bonner, 'Roger, thou art, I
perceive, as mad in these thy heresies as ever was Joan Boucher.
In anger and fume thou wouldst become a railing prophet. Though
thou and all the sort of you would see me hanged, yet I shall live to
burn, yea I will burn all the sort of you that come in my hands, that
will not worship the blessed sacrament of the altar, for all thy
prattling.' And so he went his way." — Fox, viii. 478.

Although none suffered after that time in Smithfield, the
persecution continued ; but I do not know that it is needful
to notice, at present, the cases of any of the martyrs with

448 LIST OF THE MARTYRS. [ESSAY

whom Bonner subsequently had to do. I therefore pass
them over, not merely, as I have done others, to avoid pro-
lixity ; but under the impression that I have perhaps
already extracted more than enough from those cases which
seem to throw most light on the personal character and
conduct of Bishop Bonner ; and particularly as it regards
the charge of cruelty. I am not writing to set him up as a
model of wisdom, piety, and virtue ; but to examine a charge
of blood-thirstiness, which, if it be not true, has been so
made as not only to be a very unjust slander against an
individual, but a gross falsification of history, which every
man who loves truth better than party must wish to see
corrected. I have endeavoured to select the cases fairly ;
but I may probably have passed over, without observing, or
not understanding, them, matters which ought to have been
brought before the notice of the reader ; and which would
go to contradict, or qualify, statements of fact or opinion
which I have made. Such faults, if they exist, will I think
be more easily discovered by the reader, now that I have
taken the trouble of picking up, and putting together, some
points of history which may be clearly made out ; though
they do not at first shew themselves in the loose, rambling,
narrative of Fox. Indeed when it is considered how his
work was at first " hastily rashed up," how it has since been
printed, reprinted, and at length even edited, with omissions,
insertions, dislocations, and almost everything that could
make it puzzling, I shall not wonder to find that I have
fallen into some mistakes in making so much use of such an
authority. I shall, however, be very happy to discuss any
case which I may be thought to have misrepresented or
improperly passed over.

To assist any reader, who is so disposed, in verifying or
correcting my statements — as well as the more general
reader of our ecclesiastical history, in understanding the
Times of Queen Mary, and particularly the very singular
historian to whom we are most indebted for what we know
of them — I here subjoin a List of the Martyrs who suffered
in England under the Marian persecution, in which those
with whom I believe Bishop Bonner to have had any concern,
are distinguished by italics. I am afraid to vouch for its
perfect accuracy, though a good deal of trouble (more per-
haps than some readers might suppose requisite for such a

XX.]

LIST OF THE MARTYRS.

449

matter) has been taken to make it as i'ull and correct as
possible ; and, finding the number as I took them from Fox,
to coincide with that which had been long since given, on I
know not what original authority, I am induced to hope
that my List is not far wrong. The object being, as I have
already stated, to assist readers of Fox — that is, Fox him-
self, not Fox as cooked and served up by Strype or Burnet,
Fuller or Collier, or more modern writers — the names of
the martyrs are given in the order in which the martyrolo-
gist has related their histories l. This course, while it
avoids any difficulty which might arise in settling the pre-
cise date in any case, very seldom and very slightly violates
the order of chronology. For, though it may not be appa-
rent to some readers who dip into Fox, yet those who study
his work will see that he not only professed to follow the
order of time, but (notwithstanding innumerable wander-
ings about, and surprising leaps backwards and forwards) he
actually did it to a much greater extent than is at first
apparent.

A LIST OF THE MARTYRS

WHO SUFFERED IN ENGLAND DURING THE REIGN OF
QUEEN MARY.

1. John ftogers

Smith field

4 Feb. 1555. Vol.vi. p. 591

2. Laurence Saunders

Coventry

8 , „ 612

3. John Hooper

Gloucester

9 , „ 636

4. Rowland Taylor

Hadley

„ , „ 676

5. Thomas Tomkins

Smith'field

17 Mar. „ 717

6. William Hunter

Brentwood

26 , 722

7. Thomas Causton
8. Thomas Higbcd

Ealeigh
f Horndon-on-
{ the-hill

l" I729

)" " " " j

9. William Pyqot

Brain tree

28 „ „ „ )

10. Stephen Knight

Maldon

» „ ,, „ 737

11. John Laurence

Colchester

on

"J » » » ;

1 For the reason mentioned at p. 362, the references are made to the
octavo edition of Messrs. Seeley.

450

LIST OF THE MARTYRS

12. Bp. Ferrar

Carmarthen 30 Mar. 1555. Vol. vii. p.

3

13. Rawlins White

n i./v. ( about )
130 Mar.}"

8

14. George Marsh
15. William Flower

Chester 24 April ,, „
Westminster ,, ,, ,, ,,

39
68

16. John Cardmaker

Smithfield 30 May „ „ >

77

17. John Warne

do. ,, ,, ,, ,, J

18. John Simson

0 , c , f about )
Rochford ilojunej- „

87

19. John Ardeley

Raleigh J about ) „ ,,

87

20. Thomas Haultes

Coggeshall (10 June] „ ,,

97

( 22 May )

21. Thomas Wats

Chelmsford -1 or I ,, ,,

118

( 9 June j

22. Thomas Osmond

Manningtree 15 June „ ,, s

23. William Bomford alias ) Harwicll [ ion
Butler IT " " " " 1

24. Nicolas Chamberlain

Colchester 14 June ,, „ ,

25. John Bradford
26. John Leaf

Smithfield July „ „

[l92

27. John Bland

[287

28. Nicolas Sheterden
29. John Frankish

Canterbury 12 July „ „ •

1306

lib.

30. Humphrey Middleton

(ib.

31. Nicolas Hall

Rochester 19 ,, „ „ '

32. Christopher Wade

Dartford „ „ ,, „

318

33. Dirick Carver

Lewes 22 ,, „ „ <

34. John Launder

Stenning 23 „ „ ,,

321

35. Thomas Iveson

Chich ester „ „

327

36. James Abbes

Bury 2 Aug. „ „

37. John Denley

Uxbridge 8 „ „ „

38. John Newman

\Waldenj 31 "

328

39. Patrick Pacldngham

Uxhridge 28 „ „ „

40. Richard Hook.

Chichester „ „

339

41. William Coker >

42. William Hopper

43. Henry Lawrance
44. Richard Collier
45. Richard Wright

(about)
/-Canterbury •] end of L „ „
1 Aug. j

1

339

46. William Stere j

47. Elizabeth Warne

(Stratford-) T ,
1 le-Bow ) Jul^ » » v

48. George Tankerfidd

St. Albans 26 Aug. „ „

49. Eolert Smith

Uxbridge 8 „ „

50. Stephen Harwood

(Stratford-)
1 le-Bow f " "

-341

51. Thomas Fust

Ware

52. William Hale

Barnet end of Aug. „ ,,

53. Joan Lashford

London 27 Jan. 1556 „ .

54. Rohert Samuel

[Ipswich] 31 Aug. 1555 „

371

55. William Allen

Walsingham „ „

381

IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. 451

56. Roger Coo

Yoxford

Sept. 155;

57. Thomas Cobb

Thetford

»

58. George Catmer

59. Robert Streater

60. Anthony Burward
61. George Brodbridge

• Canterbury

f about )
[ 6 Sept. j ):

62. Jane Tutty

63. Thomas Hayward
64. John Gore way

j- Lichfield

1 about \
mid. [ „
Sept. j

65. Robert Glover

1

66. Cornelius Bungay

Coventry

20 Sept.)

67. William Wolsey
68. Robert Pygot

}-Ely

16 Oct. „

69. Nicholas Ridley
70. Hugh Latirner

| Oxford

» »

71. William Dighel

Ban bury

icfoct } "

end of \

72. John Webbe

1

Oct. or

73. George Roper
74. Gregory Parke

1 Canterbury -

begin- [• „
ning

of Nov. j

75. John Philpot

Smithfield

18 Dec. „

76. Thomas Whittle

77. Bartlet Green

78. John Tudson
79. John Went Condon

27 Jan. 1556

80. Thomas Brow ti

81. Isabel Forster j

82. John Lomaa

83. Agnes Snoth

84. Anne Albright

- Canterbury

31 „ „

85. Joan Sole

86. Joan Catmer

87. Archbishop Cranmer

Oxford

21 Mar.

88. Agnes Potten )
89. Joan Frenchfield J

Ipswich {end of Feb. r
} or Mar. 1 "

90. John Maundrel

91. William Coberley

Salisbury

14 Mar. „

92. John Spicer I

93. Robert Drakes

94. William Tyms

95. Richard Spurge
96. Thomas Spurge
97. John Gavel

-Smithfield

23 April „

98. George Ambrose )

99. John Harpole ) n ,
100. Joan Beach fBochester

1 „ „

101. John Hullier

Cambridge -

^ibout \ ^

102. Christopher Lyster

Colchester 28 ,7 ' „

Vol. vii.

p. 381
382

383

384
399

402
406
583

604
605

715

„ 750

viii.p. 3
101

102

105

130

131
138

452

LIST OF THE MARTYRS

103. John Mace \

104. John Spencer

105. Simon Joyne V Colchester

28 April, 1556.

Vol. viii. p. 138

106. Ricliard Nichols

107. John Hamond )

108. Hugh Laverock (Stratford-)
109. John Apprice \ le-Bow }

15 May „

„ 140

110. Catherine Hutt )

111. Elizabeth Thackwel ^Smithfield

16 „

141

112. Joan Horns )

113. Thomas Drowry i«iAnftMtow

I A A

114. Thomas Crocker

» »

„ 144

115. Thomas Spicer

116. John Denny

Beccles

21 „

„ 145

117. Edmund Poole

118. Thomas Harland

119. John Oswald
120. TJiomas Avinqton

Lewes

( about )
]6 June} "

"1

121. Thomas Read

122. Thomas Whodd } T
123. Thomas Milles |Lewes

20 „ „

124. A Merchant's Servant Leicester

26 „

„ /

125. Henry Adlington "*

126. Lawrance Pernam

127. Henry Wye
128. William Hallywell

129. Thomas Bowyer

130. George Searles
131. Edmund Hurst
132. Lyon Cawch

Stratford- )
' le-Bow /

27 „ „

151

133. Ralph Jackson

134. John Deri/all

135. JohnRouth

136. Elizabeth Pepper

137. Agnes George

138. Roger Bernard |

139. Adam Forster I Bury

157

140. Robert Lawson )

141 Julius Palmer

142. John Gwin

Newbury

16 July „

201

143. Thomas Askin

144. Thomas Dangate

145 John Foreman

Grinstead

18 „ „

„ 241

146. Mother Tree

147. Thomas Moor Leicester

( about 1
"(26 June} "

242

148. Joan Waste Derby

lAug. „

„ 247

( about ]

\

149. Edward Sharp Bristol

1 begin- [

nmg

r 2oO

(of Sept.]

i

I

150. Anonymous May field

24 Sept. „

„ )

IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.

151. Anonymous

152. John Hart

153. Thomas Kavensdale

154. A Young Man

155. John Horn

156. A Woman

157. A Shoemaker

158. One called Hooke

159. John Philpot

160. William Waterer

JMayfield

Bristol

fWotton-j
4 under- L

Northa

163. Thomas Hudson

164. Matthew Bradbridge

165. Thomas Stevens

166. Nicholas Final

167. William Lowick

168. William Prowling

169. Thomas Loseby

170. Henry Ramsey

171. Thomas TJdrteU

172. Margaret Hide

173. Agnes Stanley

174. Stephen Gratwick

175. William Morant

176. One King

177. Joan Bradbridge

178. Waiter Appleby

179. Petronil his Wife

180. Edmund Allin

181. Catherine his Wife

182. John Manning's Wife

183. Elizabeth, a blind

maiden

184. John Fishcock

185. Nicolas White

186. Nicolas Pardue

187. Barbara Final

188. Bradbridge 's Widow

189. Wilson's Wife

190. Bender's Wife

191. Kichard Woodman

192. George Stevens

193. William Mainard

194. Alexander Hosman

195. Thomasin a Wood

196. Margery Moris

197. James Moris

198. Denis Burgis

199. Ashden's Wife

24 Sept. 1556. Vol. viii.
26 ,

27

Wye

ampton Oct. „

n

about Jan. 1557

Ashford
Wye
Ashford
Canterbury

16 „ ^ „

i.J »

" » i>

300

Smithfield 12 April

St. Geo.'s

Fields,
Southwark

( about )
-lend of I
( May)

Maidstone 18 June „

310

315

„ 320

Canterbury 19 June ,,

325

Lewes

22 June

„ 332

45-1

LIST OF THE MARTYRS

200. Grove's Wife

201. Simon Miller

202. Elizabeth Cooper

203. William Mount

204. his Wife

205. Bose Allin

206. John Johnson alias

Alilcer

207. William Bongeor

208. Thomas Benold

209. William Purcas

210. Agnes Silverside alias

Smith

211. Helen Ewring

212. Elizabeth Folkes

213. Kichard Crashfield

214. One Frier

215. A godly Woman

216. Mrs. Joyce Lewis

217. BalphAlhrton

218. James Austoo

219. Margery Austoo

220. Bichard Both

221. Agnes Bongeor

222. Margaret Thurston

223. John Kurde

224. John Noyes

225. Cicely Ormes

226. Thomas Spurdance

227. John Hallingdale

228. William Sparrow

229. Bichard Gibson

230. John Bough

231. Margaret Mering

232. Cutbert Symson

233. HughFoxe

234. John Devenish

Lewes

22 June, 1557. Vrol.

{•Norwich 13 July .,

viii. p. 332
380

) Colchester 2 Aug.

Norwich

} Rochester (5AugJ,,
Lichfield

T v { about }

Islington |17geptJ,,

-Colchester „ „ „

Northampton 20 „
Laxfield 21 „
Nor wich 23 „ „
Bury Nov. „

I 18 Nov. „
-Smithfield 1 22 Dec.

28 Mar. 1558

235. William Nichol ^Waft^} 9 April "

236.
237.
238.
239.
240.
241.
242.
243.
244.
245.
246.
247.
248.

William Seaman
Thomas Carman
Thomas Hudson
William Harris
Ei chard Day
Christian George
Henry Pond
Beinald Eastland
Bobert Southam
Matthew Ricarby
John Floyd
John Holiday
Roger Holland

Norwich 9 May

Norwich 9 ,,

Colchester 26 „

381

398

1 401

405

420

423
424
427
430

433

443

454

1 461

462
467

469

IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. 455

249. Robert Mills \

250. Stephen Cotton

251. Robert Dynes UrPT1tfm,l
252. Stephen Wright
253. JohnSlade

14 July, 1558. Vol. viii.p

479

254. William Pikas or Pikes)

255. Richard Yeoman Norwich

10 „

486

256. Thomas Benbridge

29 „ „

490

257. John Cooke

258. Robert Miles alias
Plummer Bury

1 begin- I

492

259. Alexander Lane

(of Aug.} "

260. James Ashley

261. Alexander Gouch ) T . ,
262. Alice Driver j Ipswich

4 Nov. „ „

493

263. Philip Humfrey )

264. John David fBury

4 „ „

„ 4.07

265. Henry David J
266. Prest'sWife Exeter

»> 5»

- tu I

267. Richard Sharp )

f 7 May 1557

268. Thomas Benion \ Bristol

27 Aug. „

503

269. Thomas Hale )

1 7 May „ „ ;

270. John Corneford

271. Christopher Brown

272. John Herst Canterbury

10 Nov. 1558 „

504

273. Alice Snoth

274. Katherine Knight

275. William Sarton Bristol

18 Sept. 1556 „

737

276. JohnSnel ) Bedale,
277. Richard Snel |" Yorkshire

f latter days |
( of Q. Mary j

739

INDEX.

Act of Six Articles, 196. 379 ; miti-
gated, 227.
Adams, 203.
Aduct, Thomas, 213.
jEpinus, Joannes, 295.
Alablaster, Edmund, 417.
Allen, 210 ; Francis, 346.
Allerton, Kalph, 430.
Ambsworth, 213.
Andrew, Philip, 409.
Andrews, St., Archbishop of, 436.
" Antichrist," the book so intituled,

16 ; extract from, 18.
Appleton, Roger, 401.
Ardeley, John, 382. 385.
Arran, Earl of, 486.
Arthur, Thomas, 2. 3. 6, 7.
Articles, Act of Six, 196. 379 ;

mitigated, 227.
, The Queen's, respecting

heretics, 335 ; Bonner's, 38.
Ascham, .Roger, 59.
Ashwell, John, Prior of Newnham,

3 ; his letter to the Bishop of

Lincoln, 4.
Askew, Ann, 203. 216. 379, 380.

, Henry, 336.

Atwell, one father, 366.
Audley, Lord, 212. 339.
Austins, St., Canterbury, monks of,

9.
Aylmer, Bp., 154; his Harborough,

156 ; tutor to Lady Jane Grey,

157.
, Brabazon, 156.

Bacon, Lord, Abp. Parker's letter
to, 79.

Baget, 388.

Baker, Sir John, his deposition
against Bp. Gardiner, 310.

Bale, Bp., his style, 32. 37 ; his
declaration of Bonner's Arti-
cles, 39. 54. 130 ; his doctrine of
toleration, 52 ; H. Wharton's
opinion of him, 41 ; chaplain to
Bp. Ponet, 38. 57 ; whether in
Wyatt's Rebellion, 73 ; of Jack
Spaniard, 130; his account of
Queen Katherine Parr, 249.

Barber, Anthony, 226.

Barckley, Bp. of Bath, 61.

Barlow, Bp. of Bath, 236. 337.
376.

Barnes, Dr., 9. 200, 205. 209, 213 ;
Bp. Gardiner's account of him,
267.

Sheriff, 380.

Basil, Theodore, 84

Bath and Wells, Bp. of, 345. 347.
365.

Beane, John, 21.

Beaton, Cardinal, murder of, 438.

nard . 217.

lomas, 837113. 147.151.
Bedford, the Earl of, 158. 239 ; his
deposition against Bishop Gar-
diner, 310.

Bedike's wife, 212.

Belenian, 203.

Benet, Thomas, 215.

Bernard College, monks of, 9.

Bernard, Thomas, 201.

Berthelet, Thomas, 276.

Bertrand of Dornick, his history.
191.

458

INDEX.

Bets, of Cardinal's College, 9.

Bible, translated, 207.

Bigges, Kichard, 213.

Bilney, Thomas, 2, 3, 6. 7.

Biographia Britannica, of Katbe-
rine Parr, 249.

Bird, Bp. of Chester, 336. 393.

Bishop, Martyn, 213.

Bocher, or Butcher, 396.

Bonner, Bishop, released from pri-
son, 332 ; on the Commission,
345; visitation, 38. 337 ; articles,
38 ; charge to the jury under
the Act of Six Articles, 210 ;
monition to his clergy, 335 ; in-
junctions to them, 183, 184, n. ;
declaration to the laity, 335;
bis dealings with Thomas Green,
19; with Sir Thomas Smith,
351 ; with Anne Askew, 216 ;
with the martyrs condemned by
the Commission, 348 ; with his
own prisoners, 360. 384 ; with
the Court, 380 ; letter to him
from the Council, 409 ; charged
with cruelty, Essay XX., 315 ;
rage and fury, 329 ; tergiversa-
tion, 267 ; illegitimacy, 45. 47.
56 ; attacked by Ponet, 56, 57.
Ill ; by Traheron, 65 ; his pre-
face to Bp. Gardiner's book, 301.
306 ; burlesque life of, 286, n. ;
with John Rough, 439, 440 ;
with K. Holland, 443—448.

Bonner, Mrs. , 45.

Books, the number printed in the
first 36 years of the XVI. cen-
tury, 300 ; taken to church, 214 ;
seditious, 337.

Bourn, Secretary, 344. 421.

Bourn, Dr., preaching at Paul's
Cross, 332. 348. 355. 439.

Boxal, John, 347.

Bradford, 68. 83. 85, 86. 122.
124. 332. 336. 346, 347. 354.
355, 356, 357. 383. 403. 405.

Bret, 72.

Bridges, Sir John, 217.

Brindholme, Edmund, 200.

Brisley's wife, 213.

Bristol, Bp. of, 345.

Brook, 210.

Brown, Anthony, 332. 365. 401.

436, n.
, Edmund, 332.

-, Dr., his reprint of Bp.
Gardiner's book, 279.

Bucer, M., 278.

Bullinger, 33, n.

Burnet, Bp., of the Spanish match,
119 ; his idea of the ludicrous,
186 ; of honesty, 197 ; on the
Act of Six Articles, 197 ; on the
martyrdom of Barnes and others,
200 ; of the martyrs at Salis-
bury, 201 ; of Lacels and others,
203 ; of Hen. VIII, 239 ; of Gar-
diner's opposition to Cranmer,
241 ; of the martyrs of the com-
mission, 357 ; of William Hun-
ter, 371 ; of Bonner' s meddling
out of his own diocese, 404 ; of
Bonner's character, 336 ; of
Bonner's injunctions, 183.

Butler, Bp., 154, n.

Buttolph, Gregory, 200.

Bynneman, Henry, printer, 297.

Calais, the Chronicle of, edited by

Mr. Nichols, 203 ; troubles from

the Act of Six Articles, 210.
Caly, Robert, printer, 234, n.
Capito, W. F., 278.
Capon, Dr., 6.
Cardine, Sir Thomas, 338.
Cardmaker, John, 337. 346. 356.

376.
Careless, John, examination of, 22,

to.

Carew, 200.

Carlisle, Bp. of, 344. 345. 347.
Carne, Sir Edward, 239. 241 ; his

deposition against Bp. Gardiner,

310.

Carver, Dirick, 404.
Castle, Mrs., 213.
Cat banged in Chepe, 186. 336.
Cattley's edition of Fox, 22. 30.

182. 187, n. 202. 226, n. 283, n.

288. 339, n. 382. 384. 387. 404.
Causton, Thomas, 371.
Cavendish, George, 177.
Cawood, John, printer, 85.
Chamberlayn, Sir Leonard, 347.

INDEX.

459

Chandler, Richard, 347.
Charing Cross, fray at, 408.
Chedsey, Dr., 350. 363; his de-
claration at Paul's Cross, 383 ;
his talk with Haukes, 394;
preaches in Bp. Bonner's chapel,
396 ; with Holland, 443—445.
Cheyney, Sir Thomas, 384.
Chichester, Bp., 344.346. 424. 436.
Chidley, 210.
Children, monstrous, 142.
Cholmley, Sir Roger, 210. 441.
Christopher, William, 224.
Christopherson, Bishop, 231. 426 ;

his book on rebellion, 232. 324.
Churches profaned and robbed,

193.
Clark, of Cardinal's College, 9.

, Baldwin, 24, n.

Clergy summoned to Lambeth, 337.

341.

Clerk, Bp. of Bath and Wells, 2.
Clerke, one, 203.
Clinch, Wm., 226.
Cluney, 420.
Cobham, Master, 334.
Cockes, John, 213.
Coggeshall, puritans at, 335.
Coke, William, 345.
Coldock, see Tyndale.
Cole of Magdalen College, 9.
Commission to six bishops to ex-
amine Bishops Taylor, Hooper,
and Harley, 335 ; at Southwark,
341.
Congregation, the Secret, 338. 437,

438. 440.
Convocation, 334.
Cooke, the Registrar, 71.

, Dr., 426.

, Robert, 213.

f William, 407.

Coren, Hugh, 346, 347.
Cornet, John, 227.
Coronation of the Queen, 333.
Cottisforde, Dr., 11. 12.
Council, Letter from, to Bp. Bonner,

421.
Court, Bp. Bonner's dealings with,

380.

Coverdale, Bp., 22. 185, n. 333.
336.

Coventry and Lichfield, Bp., 345.

Cowper, of Bonner, 361.

Cox, of Cardinal's College, 9.

Cranmer, Abp., 208. 333. 336.
356. 362 ; Bonner's unhandsome
speech concerning him, 51.

Crispin, Edward, 313.

Crayford, 210.

Crome, Dr., 344, 344 n.; his preach-
ing at Paul's Cross, 334 ; signs
the declaration, 347.

Cromwell, Lord, 176. 179. 181,
182. 186, n. 198. 208, 209. 339,
n.

Crowley, 234. t

Dalaber, or Delaber, Anthony, 9.

15.

Dale, Dr., 421, 422.
Damplip, Adam, 200. 202.
Darcy, Lord, of Chiche, 430.
David's, St., of, 345. 365.
Day, John, printer, 297.
Deane, Master, 421.
Debnam, Robert, 194.
Dee, Master, 421, 422.
Delaber, see Dalaber.
Denley, John, 407. 412.
Dictier, Thomas, 227.
Diet of C. C. C., Oxford, 9.
Diocesan jurisdiction regarded by«

Bonner, 318.

Disputation at Oxford, 336.
Dixon, of Birchin Lane, 20.
Dobbes, Richard, 345, 346.
Dodd, a Scotchman, 203.
Dormer, Michael, 210.
Doell, Sir Henry, 336.
Dover Court, the Rood at, 194.

338, n.

Draycott, Philip, 345.
Driander, Francis, his letter of Bp.

Gardiner, 313.

Drum, of Cardinal's College, 9.
Drury, Sir Robert, 347.
Dudley, Lord Robert, 158.
Dunstan, Anthony, 13.
Durham, Bp. of, 344. 345. 347.

E. (K.) Letters to, 22.
E. (T. ) Tragical Blast of the Pa-
pistical Trompet, 87. 122.

460

INDEX.

Eagles, George, 435, 436, n.

Ebor, Nicholas, 439.

Edmonds, Dr., 6.

Education, 232. 235.

Edward VI., Proclamation against
Contempt of the Sacrament, 193.

Eeden, of Magdalen Col., Oxford,
9.

Eglestone, Master, 443. 445, 446.

Elizabeth, the Lady, committed to
the Tower, 336.

, servant to Kempton, 442,

443.

Ely, Bp. of, 344, 345. 347. 421.

Englefield, Francis, 345.

Erasmus, 12.

Estelin, Richard, 24.

Everson, Thomas, or Iveson, 405.

Examinations of the Martyrs, how
far to be trusted, 268.

Exiles, English, 33 ; at Basil, 33 ;
at Frankfort, 59 ; questions be-
tween them and the government,
69. 77. 136; Bp. Gardiner's
letter to Somerset about them,
84.

Fantasie of Idolatrie, 182.
Fayrefaxe, Thomas, 15.
Fecknam, 350. 372. 392 ; his talk
, with Haukes, 394.
Ferrar, Bp. of St. David's, 9. 331.

336. 347. 356.
Fetty, John, 316. 322.
Fiddes, life of Wolsey, 181.
Filiutius on intention, 15.
Filmer, 201. 240.
Fisher, Bp. of Eochester, 2.
Fitzgerald, one, 200.
Flower, Wm.. alias Branch, history

of, 192. 375.
Foster, Sir Humphrey, 240.

, one, 336.

Fowler, John, printer of Antwerp,

109.
Fox, Bp., De vera Differentia,

276.
Fox, John, his martyrology, 2.

10. 17. 22 ; his spirit of mockery,

187 ; on the Six Articles, 209.
"Foxii MSS.,"86. 119.
Frankfort, troubles of, 79, n. 82.

Frarin, Peter, his oration against

the Protestants, 109.
Frith, John, 9. 59. 217.
Fuller, his account of Bp. Bonner's

cruelty, 316.

Gage, SirEdw.,405. 427.

, Sir John, 425.

Galias, Master, 214.

Gardiner, Bp., 3 ; Ponet's descrip-
tion of, 56 ; his house plundered,
74 ; as to the Six Articles, 205 ;
his letter to the Protector, 228.
244 ; and the King, Essay XV.;
was he out of favour, 238 ; am-
bassador, 243 ; and Q. Kathe-
rine, 243 ; and Paget, 323 ;
letter to the King, 255 ; to Paget,
257. 259 ; the King',! answer to
him, 257 ; with Lord Oxford's
players, 259 ; his "Long matter,"
260. 308 ; his answer to Paget's
charges. 266 ; his book De vera
Obedientia, 266. 277. 281. 283.
285. 292 ; charged with ter-
giversation, 267 ; his Declara-
tion against George Joye, 267 ;
his popery, 308 ; his dealings
with Thos. Rose, 340 ; his dis-
couragement, 356, 357.

Gardiner, Germain, 55. 240.

, William, the history of,

189. 215.

Gardner, Robert, 194.

Garret, Thomas, 9. 200. 205.
213.

Gascoigne, Sir William, 6, 7, 8.

Gaudy, Justice, 401.

George's, St., Southwark, Session
of the bishops and others there,
427.

Germaine, Giles, 203.

Germyngham, John, 345.

Giles, St.,Cripplegate, parishioners
of, 214. %

Gloucester, Bp. of, 345.

Goldastus, his reprint of Bp. Gar-
diner's books, 278.

Goodman, Christopher, 78, n. ;
his book, 80. 87. 91. 97.
98. 132. 137. 151 ; extracts,
98. 106; was he in Wyatt's

INDEX.

461

rebellion, 96 ; his recantation,
172, n.

Grangier, Thomas, 227.

Gray, Lord, 218.

Green, Bartlet, 78, n. 79, n. 420.

Greene, Thomas, history of, 15.

Gresham, John, 210.

, Kichard, 210.

— , Master, 414.

Grey, Lady Jane, 246. 254.

Grindall, Abp., 68 ; of filing Phil-
pot's examinations, 269, n.

Gualter, 10, n.

Gunnings, Derby, 200.

Gvpson, 26.

Haddon, Master, 68.

Hall, Edward, 210.

Hamburgh, the story of, 288 ;
books printed there, 290. 293.

" Harborough for faithful Sub-
jects," 150, 156

Hardyman, John, 226.

Hare, Nicholas, 407, n.

Harold, Thomas, 410, 11.

Harper, Master, 72.

, Sir George, 334.

Harpsfield, 346, 347. 350. 363. 392.
402. 412. 419. 421. 443.

Harrison, Giles, 227.

Hart, Henry, 23. 25. 30.

Hastings, Edward, 439.

Hastlen, Wm., 215. 217. 219.

Haukes, Thomas, 234. 357. 359.
386. 396. 410, n.

Haweis's Sketches of the Reforma-
tion, 83, n.

Hay ward, William, 421.

Hedio, C., 436.

Henry VIII., his protestantism,
206 ; hia will, 238 ; letter to
Gardiner, 257.

Henry, one, and his servant burned,
203.

Hepinus, see ^Epinus.

Herbert, Lord, of the Act of Six
Articles, 198. 206. 223 ; of Gar-
diner's book, 275.

, Lady, 245. 247.

, Sir Wm., deposition

against Bp. Gardiner, 310.

Hertford, Earl of, see Somerset.

Hetbe, Bp., 46.

He wet, 201.

Hevlin, of Boiiner, 361. 405.

Higbed, Thomas, 371.

Higham, Clement, 346.

Hoggard Miles of Pudding Lane,
234 ; Strype's Account of him,
ibid. ; bis ideas of education,
324 ; talk with Haukes, 398 ;
of Dirick Carver, 406, n.

Holinshed, of the Act of Six Ar-
ticles, 197. 223.

Holland, Roger, 440—449.
, Seth, 347.

Hooper, Bishop, 85 ; letter to
Bullinger, 207. 333. 336. 344,
n. 345, 346, 349. 351. 356.
357.

Horn, Dean of Durham, 59.

Howards, the jealousy of them in
the Somerset party, 250.

, Lord William, 344.

Hiick, Dr., or ^Epinus, 295.

Huggard, see Hoggard.

Hume, his account of Wm. Hunter,
370.

Humfrey, John, 212.

Humphry, Laurence, 234.

Hun, Master, 414.

Hungate, Thomas, 346.

Hunter, Wm., 357. 359. 365. 366
400.

Huntingdon, Master, 218.

Hurleston, 345.

Hussey, Master, 20. 345. 347.

Jack-a-Lent, ballads of, 231.

Jarret, Sir Thomas, 446.

Jane Grey, the Lady, 332.

Idolatry, Fantasie of, 182.

Jernegam, Henry, 439.

Jerome, Wm., 200, 205. 213.

Jesabel, the name applied to Queen
Mary by Knox, 105 ; by Good-
man, 106. 108.

Illegitimacy charged against some
bishops by Puritans, 45.

Inquisition, Limborch's History of,
152, n.

John, a painter, 203.

Johnson, Robert, 345. 420.

, the Registrar, 444.

462

INDEX.

Jollif, Henry, 346.
Joye, George, 3. 6. 15.
Iveson, Thomas, 405.

Kemp, John, 23. 26.

Kempe, Andrew, 217.

Kempton, Master, 442.

Kerby, 203.

Kethe,William, 83. 88. 130. 234.

King, Kobert, 194.

— , Constable of Islington, 441.

King's Bench, prisoners in, 26.

Knevetts, the Master, 334.

Knight, Stephen, 357. 359. 374.
316. 392. 400.

Kuox, John, his godly letter, 67.
144 ; his first blast of the trum-
pet, 79. 99. 131 ; his con-
fession, 145 ; repudiated by the
exiles, 152 ; mentioned, 156. 160.
438.

Lacels, 203.

Lambert, Francis, 12.

Lamentacyon against London, 207.

Lancaster, Mayor of, his decision
about a Rood, 187.

Lane, Lady, 245. 247.

Langdale, Dr., 430.

Lashford, Robert, 379.

Lathomus, Richard, 314.

Latimer, Bp., 2. 24. 213. 333.
336, 356 ; of the blood of Hales,
207.

Launcelot, one of the King's guard,
203.

Launder, John, 404.

Laurence. Edmund, 336.

, John, 357. 359. 374. 392.

400.

, Master, of Barnhal!,359, n.

Lavater, 33, n.

Laverock, Hugh, 316. 322. 327.

Leaf, John, 403.

Lent, public defamation of, 229.

Letter from the King and Queen
to Bp. Bonner, 381 ; from the
Council to Bonner respecting
Rough, 439 ; of the Prior of
Newnham to the Bp. of Lincoln,
4 ; letters of the martyrs, 22 ; to
K. E.,22.

Lever, 68.

Lichfield, Bp. of, 347.

Limborch's History of the Inquisi-
tion, 152, n.

Lincoln, Bp. of, 345. 347.

Little-Ease, 433.

Lock, John, 153, n.

Lollard's Tower, 18. 20.

London, Dr., 12, 13.

, the Archdeacon of, 210.

, Lamentacyon against, 207.

217.

, Troubles at, from the Act

of Six Articles, 209.

Longland, Bp., 2. 7, 8. 201.

Lou vain, Bp. Gardiner's disputa-
tion there, 309—315.

Lumley, the Lord, 347.

Lungport, monk of St. Austin's,
Canterbury, 9.

Luther, propagation of his opinions
in England, 2. 12.

Machyn, Henry, his diary, edited
by Mr. Nichols, 332, n. ; of
the fray with the Spaniards,
408, n.

Mailer, John, grocer, 226.

Manerd, Richard, 217.

Marbeck, John, 240.

Marsh, George, 306, n.

, Nicholas, 194.

Marshall, Mrs. Cicely, 212.

Martin, Dr., 23. 377. 379, n.

Martyn, Thomas, 345. 347.

Martyrs, letters of, 22.

Mary, St., Overy's, 340, 341. 344 ;
Bp. White preaching there, 427.

Mary, St., Woolclmrch, eight pa-
rishioners of, 213.

Mary, Queen, 254 ; her arrival in
London, 332 ; her oration to the
citizens of London, 116. 335 ;
occurrences in the first year and
a half of her reign, 331.

Mary's College, canons of, 9.

Mass, the two proclamations re-
specting, 334.

Matthew, John, 408.

Medows, Master of the Hospital of
Holy Cross, Winchester, his de-
position respecting Bp. Gardiner,
313.

INDEX.

463

Mekins, 201.

Mildmay, Thomas, 401.

Mildred, St., Bread Street, pa-
rishioners of, 214.

Minge, William, 383.

Mirrour (a trewe), a Dialogue, 134.

Montague, Anthony, Lord, 345.
439.

Mordant, Sir John, 323. 327. 414.
416.

, Master George, 421.

More, Sir Thomas, his style, 37.

, one Thomas, 420.

Morgan, 210.

— , Philip, 346, 347.

Morris, Stephen, 359, n.

Morton, James, 201.

, a priest, 432.

Mount, William, 431.

Mountayri, Thomas, 333.

Muffins, Dr., 59.

Mungey, Mrs., Bp. Bonner's sister,
46.

Newell, Nicholas, 227.

Newman, John, 407. 412.

"News out of London," a song
against the Mass, 228.

Nichols,Mr. , his edition of Machy n's
Diary, 332, n. 344.

Norfolk, Duke of, 345. 347; his
arrest, 264. See Howards.

Northampton, Marquis of, his de-
position against Bp. Gardiner,
310.

Norwich, Bp. of, 241. 345. 347.

Oath of the Commissioners, under
the Act of Six Articles, 211.

Obedieutia, Oratio de Vera, 271.

CEcolampadius, 12.

Origines Literarise, 152.

Osmond, Thomas, 403.

Owen, Dr., 246.

Oxford, disputation at, 336.

Oxford, Earl of, 387, 403; his
players, 259.

Packingham, Patrick, 407.

Paget, Sir William, or Lord, 55.
238. 249. 251. 254. 344; his
answers to the interrogatories

respecting Bp. Gardiner, 262.
264 ; his early life, 254, n. ; his
letter to Gardiner, 259 ; his
boasting and disgrace, 260.

Pahen, William, 217.

Palinodia, the Puritan, Essay X.,
150.

Palmer, John, 213.
, Mother, 213.

Pancras, St., the Crucifix and Pix
stolen at the Church, 336.

Paris, Sir Philip, 403.

Parker, Abp., of seditious books,
79.

Parkhurst, Bp., 33, n.

Parliament summoned, 337 ; ab-
solved, ibid. ; dissolved, 339.

Parnell, William, 417, n.

Parr, Katherine, 239. 243.

Parson's Three Conversions, 80.

Pascal on equivocation, 14.

Pates, Master, of David's Inn, 214.

Patinson, Henry, 226.

Peerson, Authony, 201. 240.

Pembleton, 363.

Pembroke, Earl of, 384. 421.

Peter, Sir William, 384.

Philpot, Clement, 200.

, John, 316. 318. 334. 336.

416 ; his conflicts with Gardiner,
320; his difference with Bp.
Ponet, 71 ; examinations, 269, n.

Plaine, William, 217. 225.

Plat, Robert, and his wife, 213.

Players, Printers, and Preachers,
alliance of, 228.

Plays and interludes, 183.

Plough, 234.

Pole, Cardinal, 200. 337.
— , David, 3467347.

Pond, Henry, 445.

Ponet, or Poynet, chaplain to Abp.
Cranmer and Henry VIIL, Bp.
Rochester and Winchester, 70 ;
Strype's account of him, 71 ; his
style, 54. 70 ; extracts from, 71.
75. 96, 97. 108. 111. 141 ; on
the Spaniards, 131 ; Bale, his
chaplain, 38.

Porter, John, story of, 220.

Pottinger, John, his deposition re-
specting Bp. Gardiner, 311.

464

INDEX.

Powell, William, printer, 22.
Preachers, must be no milk soppes,

166.
, Players, and Printers,

alliance of, 228.
, the imprisoned called

before the commission, 340 ;

their declaration, 341 ; sent into

Essex, 336.
Priests, how treated by Puritans,

233. 237.
Printers, Players, arid Preachers,

alliance of, 228.

Procession on the day of the Con-
version of St. Paul, 341.
Proclamation by Edward VI.

against contempt of the Sacra-
ment, 193.
Proctor, 122.
, John, history of Wyatt's

rebellion, 117, n.
Protestants, allowed to quit the

realm, 333.

Pulline, or Pulleyn, John, 80.
Pulpit man, Aylmer's idea of, 166
Puritan Palinodia, Essay X., 150.
Politics, Essay V. , 66 ; VI. ,

77; VII., 98; VIII., 116; IX.,

229.

Style, No. 1. Essay III.,

32.

54.

-, No. 2. Essay IV.,

— Veracity, Essay L, 1 ; II.,

14.

Pvgot, William, 357. 359. 374.
"388. 392. 400.

Radley, of Cardinal's College, Ox-
ford, 10.

"Rage and Fury" of Bonner and
other prelates, 328.

Rains, Dr., 7.

Ramsey, 201.

Rede, Richard, 407, n.

Redman, Dr., 442.

Regius, Urbanus, 299.

Repse, Bp., 203.

Retort, spirit of, among the Re-
formers, 266.

Ribaldry, Cromwell patron of, 182.

Ribalds, the Essay XL, 173;

Essay XII. , 188; distinct from
polemics and enthusiasts, 189 ;
Essay XIII. , 204.

Riche, Lord, 239. 335. 401. 403.
411, n.

, the Lord Chancellor, his de-
position against Bp. Gardiner,
310.

Ridley, Bp., 266. 336. 356 ; his
courtesie, 45 ; his pitevovs
lamentation, 22 ; his sermon on
the Sacrament at Paul's Cross,
185 ; preached afterwards at
Paul's Cross, 332.

Roche, 210.

Rochester, Bp. of, 427.

, Christopher [or Robert],

345.

Roe, George, 438.

Rogers, John, 332. 334, 335.
336. 344. 345, 346. 348. 356,
357; preached at Paul's Cross,
332.

Rogers, one, 203.

Rome, the sacking of, 175.

Rood, a, newly set up in Paul's,

187.
, of Dover Court, 194.

Roper, Master, 421.

, William, 407, n.

Rose, Thomas, 209. 338. 438. 443.

Rough, John, 436.

Rudstone, Master, 334.

Sacrament, contempt of, 193 ; songs
against, 227.

Sadler, Ralph, 182.

Salisbury, John, Bp. of Chartres,
41.

, of Bury, 10.

Sanchez on mental reservation, 14,
15.

Sandys, Abp., 33, n. 81.

Sauriders, Laurence, brought be-
fore Bonner and Gardiner, 270 ;
Southey's account of the matter,
272, n. ; his preaching at All-
hallows, 334 ; excommunicated,
347 ; Bonner's dealings with
him, 348. 356 ; his going to the
Compter, 377.

Saxy, a priest, 203.

INDEX.

465

Say, William, 345.
Scory, Master, 438.
Scourging, for the sake of the

Gospel, 423.
Seeker, Abp., 153, n.
Sects, abundance of, 22.
Seeley's, Messrs., edition of Fox,

30. 182. 202, n. 255, n. 404, n.

449, n.

Sentences, Book of, 153, n.
Sergeant, Roger, 439.
Seward, John, 196.
Seymour, see Somerset.
Shermons, Keeper of Carpenter's

Ball, 227.

Shrewsbury, Lord, 384. 439.
Shypside, George, Bp. Ridley's

brother-in-law, 45, 46.
Simson, John, 382. 385.
Six Articles, see Act.
Smith, Dr., his talk with Haukes,

398.

, Robt., account of, 408.

, Sir Thomas, 351. 408.

Smyth, William, 346.

Somerset, Protector, 238 ; jealousy

of the Howards, 250; Paget's

devotion to him, 252. 254 ; his

deposition against Bp. Gardiner,

309.

Songs against the Sacrament, 227.
Southampton, Earl of, 242.
Southey's Book of the Church,

272, n.
Southwell, Sir Richard, 344. 345.

384. 411, n.
Spaniards, the, Essay VIII., 116;

Bradford's letter, 86 ; Kethe's

verses, 88; fray with, 408;

Burnet on the Spanish match,

119.
Spencer, Dr., 154.

, a priest, 201.

Squire, Dr., 156.
Stafford's rebellion, 119.
Stafford, Mr., of St. John's, Cam-
bridge, 193.

Stage-plays and interludes, 183.
Standish, Bp.,3.443.
State papers published under the

Commission, 257.
Statham, Mrs. Elizabeth, 213.

Stempe, Dr., 372

Sternhold, Thomas, 320.

Stevens, Mr., his edition of Bp.
Gardiner's book, 271.

Story, Dr., 15, 16. 379. 426.

Stowe, his account of Wyatt's
rebellion, 72. 74.

Stowel, alias ) 1 99

Stretchley, \ L^'

Strange, Lord, 446, 447.

Strype, quoted as to sects, 22 ; of
Bp. Parkhurst, 33, n. ; of Bale,
50 ; of Ponet, 54. 71 ; of Paget,
55 ; of the exiles at Frankfort,
59 ; of Kethe's verses, 88 ; of
Stafford's rebellion, 119; life of
Aylmer, 154 ; of railers against
the Sacrament, 185 ; of the Six
Articles, 198. 210. 223 ; of Bp.
Christopherson's book, 231 ; of
Bp. Gardiner, 240. 254. 275;
of Germain Gardiner, 240 ; of
Henry VIII., 252 ; of the Com-
mission in Southwark, 345, n. ;
of Sir Thomas Smith, 351 ; of
Bp. Bonner, 364, n. 433 ; his
quotation of Machyn's Diary,
332, n. ; his character as a his-
torian, 17. 30, 31. 47. 122. 210.

Style of the age of the Reforma-
tion, 35.

Sumner, of Cardinal's College. Ox-
ford, 9.

Supplicacyon to the Quene's Ma-
jesty, 85. 115. 133. 145, 146.

Sussex, letters to the Justices of,
336.

Symson, Cutbert, 439.

Taverner, of Cardinal's College,
Oxford, 10.

, Master, 12.

Taylor, Dr. Rowland, of Hadley,
336, 344. 346, 347. 352. 356,
357, 359.

, Thomas, 366.

Tenison, Abp., his copy of Bp.
Gardiner's book, 279, n.

Testwood, 201. 240.

Thirlby, Bp., his deposition re-
specting Bp. Gardiner, 311.

Thomas, St., of Acres, 413.
2G

466

INDEX.

Thomas, William, 80.

Thomson, Harold, 410, n.

Tillotson, Abp., 153, n.

Tirrel, 336.

, Sir Henry, 332. 401.

Trinity College, Cambridge, Sta-
tutes of, 214.

Tomkins, Thomas, 357. 359. 362.
400. 412.

Tomson, Harold, 344, 345, n.

Tonstal, Bp., 2, 3. 10, 11 ; his de-
position respecting Bp. Gardi-
ner, 310.

Tooley, John, hanged, 409.

Tottle, Master, printer, 21.

Tracy, Richard, 59.

Traheron, Bartholomew, 58, 59.
151 ; his answer to a privie
papist, 60 ; warning to England
64. 144.

Tregonwell, John, 345.

Trew, one, 26.

Troubles at London, 209.

Trudgeover, 436, n.

Turner, Master, 408.

Tye, Thomas, 431.

Tyrnms, 23. 25. 27.

Tyndale, 3. 9.

's, Testament, 294.

Tyrrel, see Tirrel.

Tyrwit, Lady, 245.

Tysdall, Jhon, and Frauncys Col-
docke, printers, 53.

Tytler, Mr. Fraser, his England
under the reigns of Edward VI.
and Mary, 252, 253. 259, 260.

Vane, Lady, 339, n.

Vanghan, 72 ; John, 346, 347.

Udal, ofC. C. C., Oxford, 9.

Veron, 83.

Veryin, Monsieur, captain of Bo-

loigne, 111.

Unio dissidentium, 9, 10.
Voytey, John, Bp. of Exeter, 2.

8.

Ward, friar, 209.
Warne, John, 378.
Warner, Dr. John, 347.
Warren, 210.

Warwick, Earl of, 254 ; his deposi-

sition against Bp. Gardiner,

310.

Wats, Thomas, 401.
Watson the Scribe, 7.

, Thomas, 346, 347.

Way land, John, printer, 16.
Welch, Master, 421, 422.
Wendy, Dr., 246, 247, 248, n.
Wentworth, Sir John, 335.
West, Nicholas, Bp. of Ely, 2.
Weston, Eichard, 401.
Wharton, Henry, his opinion of

Bale, 41 ; his Protestantism,

ibid.
, Thomas, 345. 347. 384.

421.
White, Bp., preaching at St. Mary

Overy's, 427.
, Warden of Winchester Col-

lege, deposition respecting Bp.

Gardiner, 312.

Whitgift, Abp., his College ac-
counts, 34.
Whittingham, Wm., 151 ; his

Epistle prefixed to Goodman's

book, 81. 83.
Whittle, Thomas, 417.
Wilcocks, Thomas, 24.
Willerton, 363.
Wilmot, Eichard, 15.
Wiltshire, Lord, 239 ; his deposi-
tion against Bp. Gardiner,

310.

Wimmeslowe, Archdeacon, 57.
Winchester, Bp. of, 421. 426.

430 ; preached at Paul's Cross,

398.

, Marquis of, 405.

Windsor, Commission for searching

houses at, 201 ; the persecution

at, 239, 240.
Wiseman, John, 401.
Wolphius, 33, n.
Wolsey, Cardinal, 2, 6. 7, 8;

his disgrace, 176 ; his discourse

with Cromwell, 179; called

" Carnall " Wolsey, 55.
Women, Knox's ' Monstrovs Eegi-

ment ' of, 79. 99.
Wood, Anthony a, of Traheron

58 ; of Bonner's Works, 275.

INDEX.

467

Wood, Thomas, 366.
Woodman, Richard, 423.
Worcester, Bp. of, 344. 345.

347.

Wotton, R. [or Edward], 347.
Wriothesley, 55 ; Lord, 245.
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 334, 335. 348 ;

his rebellion, 72. 110. 116;
Proctor's history of, 117.

Young, Thomas, 438.
Ysseley, Sir Harry, 334.

Zanchy, 33, n.

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