a little too high with relation to the Popes Resentments he makes them as abject as can be in their own particulars since they own that the ground of their courage in serving the Holy Seâ— on dangerous occasions was the Sacredness of their persons which must be maintained otherwise it could not be expected that they would expose themselves any more There is no courage when a man knows he is invulnerable It seems Mr. Varillas thinks that the Colledge of Cardinals have not the spirit of Martyrdom among them now tho it is very likely that this may be true yet Mr. Varillas had shewed more respect if he had suppressed it 6. The Sentence which Mr. Varillas represents as past at this time but not pronounced was passed two years before this the first of September 1535. so little is he exact that he does not examin the days of printed Bulls 7. Mr. Varillas represents this present Negotiation as in the year 1538. which he sets on his Margin yet the final publishing of the Sentence was on the 17. of December 1538. So that all this delay of the Sentence and that which follows could not belong to this year but it must come in here for Amours giving a lustre to Romances our Author thought it was necessary to make them have a large share in all his Relations and if the dates of matters will not agree there is no help for it he must pass over such inconsiderable things 8. Zealous Catholicks again for Rebels XI He goes on to dream and fancies that since the Daughter of France was Christned by King Henry both Francis and he would be obliged to send to Rome for a Dispensation and that the Pope resolved not to grant it but after that England should be reconciled to the Holy See Therefore to facilitate this matter the Pope sent for Pool who was then at Padua and he made him a Cardinal and sent him to France to set on that Design which Pool who loved his Countrey to excess undertook with all possible Zeal But the King of England by a fatal Blindness rejected all this And here he pretends to tell what might be the secret Reasons of it in his way that is to say very impertinently He adds that King Henry sent to Francis to demand Cardinal Pool as a Fugitive and a Traytor and that he cited the examples of Charles the Fifth and of his Father who had delivered up Princes of the House of York to the Kings of England and in conclusion that Henry threatned Francis that if he did not grant his desire he would break the League in which he was with him and would make one with the Emperour against him If Mr. Varillas had seen Card. Pools Book against King Henry which he pretends to have lying before him he would have known that it was printed in the year 1536. in which he had used the King in a stile that no Crowned Head in the World could al ow of but the conclusion of it was beyond all the rest for he conjured the Emperour to turn his Arms rather against the King than against the Turk and it was known in England that he had obtained this Commission to be sent to France only that he might set on a League between the two Crowns against England and so it was no wonder if the King resented his being well received in the Court of France 2. It is not to be imagined that when Charles the fifth was contriving how to make War upon England and was the person that chiefly supported Cardinal Pool that I say King Henry would be so highly displeased with the civility of the Court of France to the Cardinal as to threaten upon that to join with the Emperour who was the Kings chief Enemy and the spring that set Pool in motion therefore all this whole negotiation is to be reckoned among our Authors Fictions since he gives no Proofs of it XII Mr. Varillas says that King Henry set fifty thousand Crowns on Cardinal Pools head and upon this he grafts a new Fable But in the Sentence and Act of Attaindor against Pool there is not a word of any sum set on his head so this was a small decoration that was not to be omitted by a man that does not trouble himself to examin whether what he writes is true or not XIII If Mr. Varillas were not so excessively Ignorant as he is of the History of England he would not have passed over the great advantage he had here of reproaching King Henry with that which was indeed the greatest blemish of his whole Reign and that was first practised on the Countess of Salisbury Cardinal Pools Mother whom by an affectation contrary to our Rules he calls Princess Margaret the Title Princess being affected in England to our Kings Children and not being so much as given to their Brothers Children who are only called Ladies this piece of Tyranny was that she was condemned without being brought to make her Defence or to be heard Answer for herself Now I leave it to the Reader to judge how well informed Mr. Varillas is who is ignorant of that which is to be found in every one of our Writers that have given the History of that time and which would have furnished him with the best Article of his whole Satyr against King Henry XIV He tells us that Calvin writ an Apology for King Henry's conduct in that matter upon which he makes a long excursion But I know nothing of this matter I believe it not a whit the better because Mr. Varillas sayes it and it does not appear among his printed Works He adds that the accusation was false that was brought against Card. Pool as if he had formed a design to raise Troops in Picardy and Normandy and to make a descent with them to assist the Zealous Catholicks of England one reason that he gives to prove it false is that the English were at that time Masters of the Sea The good opinion that Mr. Varillas has of the Rebellions of the Zealous Catholicks of England returns often in this kind Epithet that he bestows on them But for this accusation of Cardinal Pools our Author may very well answer it for I believe it was never made by any before himself yet so unhappy is he that he must discover his Ignorance in every Page and Line of his Book The Kings of England had then no Fleets and so they were not Masters of the Sea unless he means that the Soveraignty of the four Sea 's belonged to the Crown of England in which sense I acknowledg that not only then but at all times the King of England is Master of the Sea XV. Mr. Varillas after he had carried his Romance to make the round to other parts returns back to England but I do not know by what ill luck it is that there is not one single Paragraph that relates to our Affairs that is true
condemning men without hearing them was applied to himself so he was condemned and executed the 6. of Iuly his body being cut up as is usual to Traitors and Quartered And to justify all this he cites on the margin Cromwells Process But that Process or rather the Act of Parliament that condemned him is in print taken from the Record in which there is not one word of all this business of signing a League with Forreign Princes without the Kings orders 2. No such thing can be done according to our forms Amhassadours that have formal powers can sign Leagues but the Ministers about the King cannot bind him nor sign Leagues without him and no Prince would have either asked or accepted any such thing 3. All that is objected to Cromwell in his condemnation is so Inconsiderable that it is plain there was no great matter against him some Malversations and illegal Warrants some high boasting words is all that is to be found in his Attaindor 4. There was no such Law ever made for Parliaments do not make Laws with relation to their own proceedings but this practice was indeed begun not three moneths but a full year before this 5. Mr. Varillas is incurable in his venturing upon Dates for Cromwels Execution was not on the 6. but on the 18. of Iuly 6. Cromwel was only beheaded it is true the Hangman did it in a butcherly manner but all the rest is fiction and I am not much concerned whether Florimond or Mr. Varillas is the Contriver XXVIII He says Anne of Cleves was terrified with a Sentence of Death as being a Heretick and that She was so far wrought on by that as to become the Chief Instrument of her own Degradation for She confessed that She had promised Marriage to another before King Henry had pretended to her upon which her Marriage was dissolved and She was sent back to Germany I have already shewed the falsehood of this from the Sentence it self that dissolved the Marriage Nor did She ever go back to Germany but stayd still in England being contented with the appointments that were set off for her and with the honour of being made the King's adopted Sister which it seems was more supportable to her than to return to her own Countrey with the Infamy of such a Degradation which she indeed bore either with the constancy of a great Philosopher or with the insensibility of one that was extreamly stupid XXIX He tells us of a new project of a Reconciliation with the Pope in which he is so particular as to set down the Articles that were proposed and King Henry's Exceptions to them and he tells us at last That King Henry stood so much on the point of Honour that he thought it below his Dignity to make any Submission to the Pope All this is Fiction without the least proof for it does not appear that after that proposition that was made upon Anne Bullen's fall there was ever the least step made by either side in this matter Our Author had heard there was one made but not knowing where to place it his fancy rambled about Indeed the King was so much alienated from the Court of Rome that Gardiner and Knevet being sent Ambassadours to the Diet at this time one discovered to Knevet some secret Enterviews that had passed between Gardiner and the Legate which Gardiner considered as so great an Injury to him and as that which must have ruined him in the Kings spirit that he prosecuted the Informer as a Slanderer and got him to be put in Prison concerning which his Letters to the King are in print which shew clearly that there was no such Negotiation at this time on foot otherwise those secret Enterviews could not have been such offensive things XXX Mr. Varillas says That the K. who would not submit himself so far as to confess his Sins did a much meaner thing for he accused his Queen Katherine Howard to the Parliament for her disorders both before and after her Marriage with Thomas Culper and Francis Dirham and so her Head was cut off There are few Writers that do not at some time or other tell things true but Mr. Varillas must needs be an extraordinary person and commit such Errors as no other man ever did before him Catherine Howard's Incontinence was discovered and proved many moneths before the Parliament met nor would the King at all appear in the business as it is expresly mentioned in the Record It were too great an Honour to our Author to insist on such small Faults as that he names the Persons wrong XXXI Nor ought I to make any great Account of his Ignorance of our English Families since he calls Catherine Parre Sister to the Earl of Essex who was Sister to the Marquis of Northampton these things might indeed be forgiven him if it were not that he sets them down to shew how well he is informed even in the smallest matters which no doubt will make some Impression on Strangers who do not know our Affairs nor our Pedigrees XXXII He reproaches the Emperour for making a League with Henry against Francis notwithstanding his Schism But why might not Charles the fifth do the same thing that Francis had done for seven years together It is known that Francis was not so scrupulous as to decline the making of any League that might be to his Advantage not only with Schismaticks but even with Mahometans and some have been so malicious as to say that this is a maxim that some of his Successors have thought fit to keep up and put in practise against the House of Austria XXXIII Mr. Varillas tells us That Richer was appointed to set on the King of Denmark against England and that he represented to him that King Henry had taken occasion to come over to Picardy at the same time that Charles the fifth entred into Champaigne with a formidable Army and that K. Henry had besieged Bulloigne and tahen it therefore the K. of France resolved to make England the scene of the War and that since he knew the great pretensions that the Crown of Denmark had upon England which his Subjects had formerly conquered he thought the present conjuncture proper for the renewing these so he invited him to share with him and to accept the Provinces that lay over against Denmark while the French King should seise on those that lay nearer him Now it is to be considered that this was in the year 1542. as he warns us by his Margin and all this is founded as he told us in his Preface on Richers Negotiation of whose Relation he makes so great an account telling us both that he was the first that negotiated according to form with the Kings of the North and owning that he had drawn his thirteenth Book out of his Memoirs in which there are some things that by the order of time had belonged to his fifth Book but he had not seen those
raise himself â—as prevailed on by the same Ambition â—â—w to betray his Master so he went â—â—mself as soon as King Edward exâ—â—ed to give Queen Mary notice of 〈◊〉 design that was laid against her â—â—d he made such hast that he came to â—â—nsden two hours before the body of â—orse so he being well known to those 〈◊〉 kept her was admitted to her and he not only warned her of her dangeâ— but he found a way to convey both 〈◊〉 and himself away Some body in Charity to Mr. Varâ—â—las should have told him that theâ— was at present a Iesuite in great credâ—â— in a certain Court of Europe that is 〈◊〉 neally descended from this Petre yet 〈◊〉 comfort him tho those of that Ordeâ— are not much celebrated for their greâ—â— readiness to forgive I am confident 〈◊〉 Petre will think him below his wrat 〈◊〉 notwithstanding this injury that he do the memory of his Ancestor I dare nâ—â— say his Grand-Father lest he finds oâ—â— as he did in the case of the L. Darnâ—â— that he was his Great Grand-father 〈◊〉 will not call this an irreparable Injuâ—â— to use Mr. Varillas's terms in the case King Henry the Seventh for I do nâ—â— think that he is capable of doing 〈◊〉 Irreparable injury to any body But 〈◊〉 return to Petre he had been long Sâ—â—cretary of State both to King Herâ— and King Edward and so was nâ—â— Northumberland's Secretary 2. 〈◊〉 was always esteemed a Protestant aâ—â— was a vertuous and sincere man if was a Catholick he was a very bad on for his Family to this day feels what a great Estate he made out of the Abbey Lands 3. He continued stile with Northumberland and was one of those who signed the Letter to Queen Mary in the pretended Q. Iean's Name ordering her to lay down her pretensions 4. He was removed from his Office of Secretary as soon as Q. Mary came to the Crown and here I lose sight of him and do not know what became of him afterwards or when it was that the Family was raised to the dignity of being Peers of England 5. It was the Earl of Arundel that sent Queen Mary the notice of her Brothers Death and of the design then on foot against her for she was then within half a days journey of London on her way to see her Brother and it seems that Northumberland durst not venture on so hardy a thing as the seising on her but he intended to make her come as it were to see her Brother and so to get her to throw herself into his hands LXVII He says Northumberland had four things for him King Edward's Testament the Publick Treasure the Army and the Fleet but Queen Mary went to Norfolk where She knew how much he was hated for his having sold Bulloigne to the French But I have already shewed that the Settlement of the Crown was not done by Testament but by Letters Patents And as at that time there was no Fleet nor standing Army at all so there was scarce any Money in the Treasury 2. The Duke of Northumberland was indeed much hated in Norfolk but not for the business of Bulloigne but besides the general Considerations that had rendred him odious to the whole Nation he had subbued the Insurrection of Norfolk of the Commons against the Gentry and had been very severe in his Military Executions 3. Q Mary did not go to Norfolk she went indeed very near it but she staied still in Suffolk LXVIII Mr. Varillas tells us that the Earles of Derby Essex and Hastings were not Inferiour in any respect to those who had married the Lady Jean Gray's Sisters so they declared for Q. Mary on two conditions the one was that She should never marry a Stranger and the other that She should make no change in matters of Religion but tho Q. Mary was absolutely resolved to observe neither of these yet since there are few Examples of those who would lose a Crown rather than not promise the things which they neither can nor will observe She promised all that was asked of her upon which those three Earles being perswaded that they had provided sufficiently for Calvinism took the Field with their Friends and having assured all people that they had received a full Security for the established Religion they quickly brought together an Army of 15000. men Our Author is always unhappy when he comes to particulars for 1. the Earl of Derby was a zealous Papist and had protested in Parliament against all the Changes that had been made 2. He had no hand in the re-establishing of Queen Mary for the business was done before there was any occasion of raising the remote Counties 3. There was no Earl of Essex at this time for that Title was bestowed on none from Cromwels fall till the exaltation of Queen Elisabeth's Favorite to it 4. There was no Earl of Hastings the Earl of Huntingtons Son carries the Title of Lord Hastings and our Author had bestowed on him L. Iean Gray's Sister 5. The Earl of Sussex was the person that did the greatest service of all to the Queen who is not so much as named by Mr. Varillas 6. It was the People of Suffolk and Norfolk that asked those assurances of the Queen in the matters of Religion but it does not appear that any of the Nobility made any such demands 7. Nor is there any mention made of their asking any Assurances of her that she should not marry a Stranger 8. The care that our Author uses here in setting forth Queen Mary's Dissimulation and her granting of Promises that she never intended to observe and the general Reflection that upon that he makes on Crowned Heads looks as if he had a mind to cover the Infamy of some late Violations of Promises and Oaths by shewing that this has been the way of Crowned Heads at all times and perhaps this is to be a part of the Panegyrick but since Mr. Varillas had taxed the zealous Catholicks of England as Imprudent for laying down Arms upon King Henry's word why might not he have put the same Censure here on those zealous Protestants who took up Arms upon Queen Mary's word since as he sets out the matter they had less reason to trust her than the other Rebels had to trust her Father LXIX He tells us that Northumberland marched against her with some old Troops that he had ready fancying that She was but 15000. strong but he found She was 30000. strong two parts of three of his Army refused to fight and some went over to the Queen with flying Colours so he was forced to return to London reckoning that he was still Master of the City and the Fleet but at his return he found the Gates shut upon him and that the City had declared against him whose Example was followed by the Fleet. So seeing all was lost he rendred himself upon discretion ten dayes after he had crowned Jean of Suffolk This Section
Religion that had signalised it self with so much Cruelty I will not take upon me to play the Prophet as to the effects that the present Persecution in France may have tho the numbers that come every day out of that Babylon and the visible backwardness of the greatest part of those who have fallen are but too evident signs that this Violence is not like to have those glorious Effects which Mr. Varillas may perhaps set forth in his Panegyrick one thing cannot be denied that this persecution has contributed more to the establishing the Protestant Religion elsewhere and to the awakening men to use all just precaution against the like cruelty than all that the most zealous Protestants could have wished for or contrived and of this some Princes of that Religion are sufficiently sensible and do not stick to express their horrour at it in terms that they may better use than I repeat In a word Queen Mary in this point will be found to have the better of the French King She found her people Protestants and yet in eighteen months time she overthrew all the settlement that they had by Law She turned them out of their Churches and began to burn their Teachers and Bishops whereas the French King had not of that Religion above the tenth part of his Subjects and yet the extirpating them out of his Dominions has cost him as many years as it did Queen Mary moneths The other Article of the preference that Mr. Varillas gives his Monarch to Queen Mary is that whereas she could not do it without marrying the Prince of Spain the King has been able to effect it without the aid of Strangers If this were true the praise due upon it will not appear to be very extraordinary since he who has so vast an Army and is in peace with all the World has been able to crush a small handful without calling in forreign aid but on the other hand Queen Mary had neither Troops nor Fleets and very little Treasure so that her Imploying Strangers would appear to be no great matter yet so unhappy is Mr. Varillas like to be in all that he writes that it seems his Panegyricks and his Historys will be suteable to one another Queen Mary indeed married the Prince of Spain but she was not much the better for it for she took such care to preserve the Nation from falling under his power that as she would receive none of his Troops so she neither gave him nor his Mininisters any share in the Government of England of this he became soon so disgusted that seeing no hope of Issue and as little probability of his being able to make himself Master he abandoned her and She to recover his favour engaged her self into a War with France which ended so fatally for England that Calais was lost so that upon the whole matter she lost much more than she gained by the Spanish Match but as for her administration at home if some money that she had from Spain helped a little to corrupt a Parliament that was the only advantage that she made by it and thus if Mr. Varillas's Panegyrick is not better raised in its other parts than in this it will be an Original but I doubt it will not add much lustre to that Monarch nor draw the recompences on the Author to which he may perhaps pretend And if the Kings Parchment and Wax which he says procured an Obedience from two Millions of persons that were prepossessed against it by the most powerful of all considerations which is that of Religion had not been executed by Dragoons in so terrible a manner it is probable that Edict would have had as little effect upon the Consciences of the Protestants as it seems the Edict of Nantes had upon the King 's tho he had so often promised to maintain it and had once sworn it I would not willingly touch such a Subject but such Indecent Flattery raises an Indignation not easily governed Mr. Varillas in his Preface to his third Volum mentions no Author with relation to English Affairs except the Archbishop of Raguse who as he says writ the Life of Card. Pool I do not pretend to deny that there is any such Author only I very much doubt it for I never heard of it in England and I was so well pleased with the discoveries that I made relating to that Cardinal that I took all the pains I could to be well informed of all that had writ of him so I conclude that there is nothing extraordinary in that Life otherwise it would have made some noise in England and it does not appear credible that a Dalmatian Bishop could have any particular knowledge of our Affairs and if the particulars related in Mr. Varillas's 14. Book are all that he drew out of that life it seems the Archbishop of Raguse has been more acquainted with Swedish than English Affairs for there is not one word relating to England in all that Book and as little of the Cardinal But Mr. Varillas has shewed himself more conspicuously in the Preface to his fourth Tome he pretends to have made great use of P. Martys Works in his 17. Book but he gives us a very good proof that he never so much as opened them he tells us that P. Martyr delivered his Common-places at Oxford where he was the Kings Professor and that one Masson printed them at London some years after his death he tells us that an ambition of being preferred to Melancton had engaged him to that work in which he adds that if he is to be preferred to Melancton for subtilty he is Inferiour to him in all other things upon which he runs out to let his Reader see how well he is acquainted both with P. Martyrs Character and History All men besides Mr. Varillas take at least some care of their Prefaces because they are read by many who often judge of Books and which is more sensible they buy them or throw them by as they are writ Now since Mr. Varillas reproaches me with my Ignorance of Books I will make bold to tell him that the Apprentices to whom he sends me for Instruction could have told him that P. Martyr never writ any such Book of Common Places but that after his death Mr. Masson drew a great Collection out of all his Writings of passages that he put in the Method of Common Places so that tho all that Book that goes by the name of P. Martyrs Common Places is indeed his yet he never designed nor dictated any such Work and this Mr. Masson has told so copiously in his Preface that I have thought it necessary to set down his own words Ergo quemadmodum in amplissima domo rebus omnibus instructissima non omnia in acervum unum indistincta cumulantur sed suis quaeque locis distributa seponuntur ut in usus necessarios proferri possint ita in tantis opibus quas sedulus ille Dei Oeconomus
is as exactly writ as the former for 1. Northumberland had no old Troops and he marched from London with 2000. Horse and 6000. Foot such as could be brought together of the sudden 2. Iean Gray was never Crowned she was only proclaimed Queen 3. Northumberland never marched back to London but seeing the Queen's forces encrease and that none came in to him he came into Cambridge and proclaimed Queen Mary 4. It was not so much the City of London as the whole Privy Council that declared for Queen Mary 5. There was no Fleet then to change sides for Mr. Varillas knowing nothing of the past Age and only hearing that at present the English Fleet is the greatest in the world he has this ever in his head and fancies that it was so at all times 6. Nothumberland did not render himself but was apprehended as a Criminal by the Earl of Arundel who was sent to seise on him LXX He tells us that Northumberland was presently put in Irons but he retained so great a presence of Spirit when he came to be examined before the Council that Mr. Varillas thought fit to set this out with all the Pomp that his Sublime could furnish he puts Harangues in his mouth by which he confounded the Privy Councillours among whom he names the Earl of Chieresberi but his crimes being so notorious he with his four Sons were condemned to dye as Traitors The Queen pardoned three but was inexorable to the fourth and when Northumberland saw there was no hope of life he declared that he had been only a Calvinist out of Interest and expressed a great detestation of that Religion and of thâ— Preachers of it and suffered with a constancy that was admired by 〈◊〉 that saw it those who suffered with him imitating his conversion this had a great effect on peoples spirits 1. Men of the Duke of Northumberlands quality are never put in Irons in England 2. He shewed so little courage that he threw himself at the Earl of Arundel's feet abjectly to beg his Favour 3. Our Author confounds his being brought to his Tryal before a Lord Steward and the Peers of England with an Examination before the Council and his making the Council condemn him shews that he does not know the commonest points of form in the Government of England 4. All this Constancy and arguing that he puts in Northumberlands mouth is taken from two points in Law that he proposed to the Peers that were his Judges The one was whether a man acting by Order of Council and by Warrants under the Great Seal could be esteemed a Criminal the other was whether one that had acted so could be judged by Peers that had given him those Orders and that were as guilty as himself 5. Tho these were points in Law that 〈◊〉 have some colour in them yet they were far from confounding any for a Council or a Great Seal flowing from an Vsurper is nothing so this Authority could not justify him and as for those who were as guilty as himself and yet were now his Iudges they were not convicted of the guilt and no Peer can be â—et aâ—ide in a Tryal upon general surmises how true soever they may be 6. I confess it was some time before I could find out who this Earl of Chieresberi was At last I saw it must be Shrewsbury who should have been a little better known to Mr. Varillus unless he has read the French Story as carelesly as he has done the English for the Illustrious Ancestors of that Family left such marks of their valour behind them in France that one should think that Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury should be the Family of all England in which a French Writer should be the least apt to mistake And this confirms me in my opinion that Mr. Varillas has never read History 7. There were none of Northumberlands Sons tryed at that time but his eldest Son the Earl of Warwick for he had been called by writ to the House of Lords and so was to be tried as a Peer but the rest were Commoners and were tryed some moneths after this 8. He makes Queen Mary less merciful than she was for it was believed she would have pardoned both Iean of Suffolk and her Husband if upon the Rebellion that was raised six moneths after this it had not been then thought necessary to take to severer Councils 9. It was believed at that time that Northumberland declared himself a Roman Catholick in hope to save his life by the means 10. His constancy was not very extraordinary for there passed some severe expostulations between Sr. Iohn Gates and him who as they had been complices in the Rebellion so now being brought to suffer together they died reproaching one another 11. It does not appear that any other of those who suffered changed their Religion Nor 12. Is it likely that such a Declaration of men who were so odious to the Nation and who in the making of it did likewise shew that they had made a small account of Religion could have any great effect on those who saw it LXXI Mr. Varillas will never give over his bold Quotations for here he tells us that Charles the fifth advised Queen Mary not to proceed so hastily in the change of Religion and that he believed She would find before long that it would not be safe to her to break her promise And to confirm this he cites on the margin Charles the fifths Letters to Q. Mary â— This would make one that does not know the man fancy that there was some Register or Collection of those Letters which he had seen I have indeed seen those Letters for the Originals of them are extant and I shewed them once to the Spanish Ambassadour at London Don Pedro de Ronquillas who did me the honour to desire me to accompany him to the Cotton Library where I not only shewed him these Letters but as many of the other Original Papers out of which I had drawn my History as could be examined at one time but for Charles the fifths Letters they are so little legible and the Queen of Hungary's hand is so little better than his that I could not copy them out nor print them some little hints I took from them but that was all 2. It seems Mr. Varillas was not much concerned in Queen Mary's breaking her word for in those Letters that he makes up for Charles all that he makes him set before her is the danger of it and that she could not do it long safe Impunement if she had a vast Army in any strong places a great Fleet and a huge Revenue then the breaking of her word would have troubled Mr. Varillas so little that it would not have hindred him from making her Panegyrick tho the violation of her Faith was so much the more scandalous that those to whom she gave it had setled her upon her Throne and perhaps he will find somewhat parallel
to this to put in his Panegyrick LXXII He goes on with his Romance and tells us that Queen Mary writ back to the Emperour a more Heroical Answer than can be found among all the Letters of the Crowned Heads of the last Age She told him what Wonders of Providence She had hitherto met with and that therefore She was more bound than any other not to be unthankful and to conclude with a soft period She said She would be guilty of as many Crimes â—s She lived minutes without acquiting her self of her duty These effects followed on those words She repealed by Authentical Acts all that had been done by her Father or her Brother to the prejudice of the Catholick Religion and tho She had reason to fear the Malecontents of some who having lived long without Religion would not willingly receive again that yoke which they had thrown off yet She reduced them all with more haughtiness than the most esteemed and the most absolute Prince that ever reigned in England She dismissed the Armed Companies that were about her She renounced the title of Head of the Church of England and re-established the Exercise of the Catholick Religion every where And it is to be considered that all this was done in the year 1553. and before Haviets Rebellion Mr. Varillas would make his Reader believe that Queen Mary was a Heroine indeed and he carries the character as high as he can that so when he comes to write his Panegyrick all the Praises he has bestowed on her may give so much the more lustre to his Monarch who after all is to be preferred to her for tho she excelled all the Crowned Heads of the last Age yet she must come humbly lay down all her Glory to enrich the Panegyrik of one of the Princes of the present 2. Mr. Varillas would make us believe that he saw both her Letters and the Letters of all the other crowned Heads of the last Age I believe both is alike true 3. Those soft and melting Periods that he gives us out of her Letter have a sort of an affected Eloquence in them that may pass from a man like Mr. Varillas but they have not that native Beauty and Greatness that is the stile of those that are born to command 4. If our Author had examined Queen Mary's Letters he would have found some of them of a far different strain he would have found her acknowledg King Henry's Supremacy renounce the Popes Authority confess that her Mothers Marriage was by the Law of God and Man incestuous and unlawful he would have found her express her Sorrow for her former Stubbornness and Disobedience to her Father's most just and vertuous Laws and put her Soul in his hands vowing never to vary from his Orders and that her Conscience should be always directed by him and when her opinion was asked of Pilgrimages Purgatory and Relicks he would have found her declare that in all these things She had no opinion at all but such as She should receive from the King who had her whole Heart in his keeping and might imprint upon it in these and all other matters whatever his inestimable Vertue high Wisdom and excellent Learning should think convenient for her These were her strains while she was yet a Subject and under the yoke of a Father and of these the Originals are yet extant 4. All the change that she made the first year of her Reign was to abolish what her Brother had done and to bring things back to the state in which her Father had left them upon which Cardinal Pool writ her a Letter full of severe expostulations for he said this was to establish Schism by a Law 5. Our Authoâ— represents all these changes as made of the sudden before she dismissed the people that came up with her to London and as if she had done all by her own Authority whereas it was the work of three Parliaments one after another 6. The Queen kept still her Title of Supream Head of the Church above a year after this and in two Parliaments that she called she carried that among her other Titles and in the vertue of it turned out Bishops and licensed Preachers besides a great many other exercises of her Supremacy so far was she from laying it aside at first LXXIII Mr. Varillas after he had diversified his Romance with the intermixture of other Affairs returns back to England and lets us see how little the Queen was inclined to keep the Promises that She had made her Subjects for the day after her Coronation it appeared to the Curious that She had made some Infractions in her Promises touching Religion tho She had not yet been tempted to break the other She ballanced indeed whether She should marry one of her own Subjects or not Card. Pool and Courtney Earl of Devonshire were the only two that were left of the Blood Royal. Pool had many great Qualities which are set out as Romances paint their Hero's as well as Courtney's who was descended by his Mother from the House of York He was beautiful had a good meen and was so well bred that at two and twenty he was the most accomplished Cavalier of Great Brittain He spake the Chief Languages of Europe and was very learned His Mother had been Queen Mary's Friend that never left her day nor night and some have said that the Queen once promised to her that She would marry her Son But he adds That the Queen had owned her Design for Pool to Commendon yet after all Pool was near sixty and Courtney was very loose so this disposed her to the match with the Prince of Spain which Charles the fifth who had projected the Conquest of France desired extreamly in order to the accomplishing of that design A little after this he tells us that both Pool and Courtney were equally near the Crown Pool was the Grand-child of a Sister of Henry the Sevenths and so he was of the House of Lancaster but Courtney was the Grand-child of Edward the Fourth And now here are as any faults as could be well laid together in so few words 1. The Queen was not Crowned till the tenth of October and long before that time not only the curious but men as ignorant as Mr. Varillas saw how little regard she had to her Promise for preserving the established Religion most of the Bishops were by that time clapt up in the Tower all preaching was prohibited except by those who had the Queen's Licences and such as came to put her in mind of her Promises were punished as Insolent Persons 2. He says she had not been yet tempted in the point of Marrying a Stranger yet in his Preface he had set her forth as entertaining Commendon with her design for marrying the Prince of Spain and he left her in August 3. There were several others of the Royal Family and in the same degree with Cardinal Pool whose