writ his Life tells us in how great State he went to York with a Train of 160 Horse and an Equipage of 72 Carts following him with his Houshold-stuf for the King restored him not only his Archbishoprick of York but also his Bishoprick of Winchester which Mr. Varillas fancies he took from him and it was impossible for a Man that had those two great Benefices to be reduced to any degrees of Want 38. He says Anne Boleyn raised Cranmer to the Dignity of chief Minister of State who was one of the profligatest Men of England that had nothing of Christianity in him but the outward appearances being ambitious voluptuous bold turbulent and capable of all sorts of Intrigues He had studied long in Germany where he was infected with Lutheranisme thô he did not outwardly profess it He took a Concubine in Germany whom he afterwards married by the King's permission He had been Chaplain long in the Family of Boleyn so when the See of Canterbury fell vacant Anne Boleyn presented him The Fit here is extream hot and long and shews how entirely Mr. Varillas was subdued by it since it is hardly possible for a Man to spit out more Venome and Falsehood at once Cranmer was never in the Affairs of State much less chief Minister And any Ignorance less than Mr Varillas's would have found that Cromwel succeeded Wolsey in the Ministry As for Cranmers Ambition as he had passed the greatest part of his Life in a secret Retirement so he was in Germany when the See of Canterbury fell vacant and when he understood that the King intended to raise him to that Dignity he excused himself all he could and delaied his Return to England some Months that so the King might have time given him to change his Mind He was so far from being turbulent and hardy and from being a Man of Intrigues that his plain Simplicity made him to be despised by his Enemies till they found that there was a wise Conduct under all that Mildness and Slowness And it was this simplicity and his keeping himself out of all Intrigues that preserved him in K. Henry's esteem He never went to study in Germany but was sent into Italy and Germany to reason with the learned Men in the Universities concerning the King's Divorce He married a Wife in Germany and was so far from obtaining the King's Permission to marry her that upon a severe Law that was afterwards made against the Mariage of the Clergy he sent her into Germany for some time yet he franckly owned his Mariage to the King when he questioned him upon it and there was never the least imputation laid upon his Chastity except this of his Mariage which we think none at all He was never Chaplain in the Boleyn Family but lived private in Cambridg when the King came to hear of him and to imploy him in the Prosecution of the Divorce And so far was he from being presented by Anne Boleyn upon the Vacancy of Canterbury that he was then in Germany And now it appears what a secret Mr. Varillas has of making as much Falsehood go into one Period as would serve another to scatter up and down a whole Book but we know the Society that has this secret and it is certain that Mr. Varillas has learnt it to perfection 39. He says the King accepted Cranmer upon condition that he would pronounce the Sentence of Divorce between their Majesties of England in case that the Pope ratified their contested Mariage and thus by a way so uncanonical he was made Archbishop of Canterbury There was no occasion of demanding any such Promise of Cranmer for he had openly declared his opinion that the Mariage was incestuous and unlawful so that his Judgment was already known But Mr. Varillas shews how little he knew our matters when he says that Cranmer was made Archbishop in an uncanonical way for as he was chosen by the Chapter of Canterbury so he had his Bull from Rome and how little soever this is Canonical according to the Canons of the Ancient Church yet Mr. Varillas has no reason to except to the Uncanonicalness of it 40. He says he was installed by another Artifice for being required to swear the Oath to the Pope he had a Notary by him who attested that he took this Oath against his Will and that he would not keep it to the prejudice of the King He made no Protestation that he took that Oath against his Will but he repeated a Protestation twice at the high Altar that he intended not by that Oath to the Pope to oblige himself to any thing that was contrary to the Law of God to the King's Prerogative or to the Laws of the Land nor to be restrained by it from proposing or consenting to any thing that might concern the Reformation of the Christian Faith the Government of the Church of England or the Prerogatives of the King and Kingdome This is a different thing from protesting that he took the Oath against his Will which as it had been ridiculous in it self so was very far contrary to that native Singleness of Heart in which he always acted 41. He says there was an ancient Law against the Subjects of England's acknowledging a forreign Jurisdiction upon which the King raised a Sute against his Clergy for owning the Pope's Jurisdiction in that which was a mixt Court relating both to the Temporal and the Spiritual And he adds that the Clergy had an easy Answer to this Charge since that Law had no regard to the Spiritual Authority Matters of Law are things of too delicate a nature for so slight a Man as Mr. Varillas to look into them He represents this as one single Law that was very old and that related only to Temporals whereas if he had known any thing of our Laws he would have seen that there was a vast number of Laws made in the Reigns of many of our Kings such as Edward the first Edward the third Richard the second Henry the 4th and Henry the 5th all relating to this matter and these Laws were made in express Words against all that brought Bulls and Provisions from Rome to Ecclesiastical Benefices 42. He says the motions of the Clergy in their own defence could not but be feeble since they had two such treacherous Heads as Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury and Lee Archbishop of York so they made a submission to the King but he would not receive it unless they would acknowledg that he had the same Authority over the Ecclesiastical Body that he had over his other Subjects and thus without thinking on what they did they furnished the King with a pretence of calling himself Head of the Church of England Cranmer was so little concerned in this matter that it was past two years before he was Archbishop while Warham was Archbishop of Canterbury for the Submission was made in March 1531 and he was consecrated in March 1533.
to forgive who by the way was not Duke but only Earl of Suffolk is a Dream better becoming so slight a brain as is that of Mr. Varillas than the consummated wisdome of the King and Queen of Spain But thus it falls out when a Library Keeper turns Statesman and when from being a teller of tales he will turn a Writer of Histories which he composes out of his own Imaginations he must needs fall into childish errours When do Kings fall under those weaknesses as to disinherit an only Son to cover them from a remote fear and a very remote one it was for the Archduke needed at that time the assistance of England against France too much to be in a condition to raise a Civil War in England and to support a competition to the Crown which could have no other effect as to him but to give France an opportunity during the distractions of England to come and destroy him In short here is a Vision of a poor-spirited Pedant which is too much considered when it named and laught at 7. He pretends to enter into the reasons that were alledged at Rome both for and against the granting of the Bull but at last he concludes that Pope Alexander the 6th would not consent to it that he might not give occasion to accuse him of having broken the Discipline of the Church But here is such a false representation of the Court of Rome at that time and in particular of P. Alexander the 6th that since Mr. Varillas will needs write Romances I must put him in mind of one Rule that as Painters shew their Judgment and Learning in that which is in one Word called le Costume observing the Air Manners and Habits of the Ages and Scenes to which their Pieces belong so Poets when they bring unknown Names into their Plays they may clothe them with what Characters they please but if they represent Men whose Histories are known they must not confound Characters nor represent a Nero as a grave Philosopher or as a good natured Prince nor a Marcus Aurelius as a wanton Stage-player or as a bloody Tyrant And therefore thô Mr. Varillas may shew his pretended discoveries concerning Men that are less known yet when he brings in an Alexander the 6th on the Stage it is too bold a violation of Poetry to lay a strictness of Conscience or a sense of Honour to his charge and thô there is one part of this Period true that there had never been any dispensation of this sort formerly granted to serve as a Precedent for it yet that exactness in which he represents the Enquiry that the Divines of Rome made concerning this matter agrees ill with the State of the Court of Rome at that time and a Painter may as justly represent the old Romans in Pantalaons and with Hats in their hands 8. He says K. Henry the 7th was preparing all things for the Mariage of his Son to the Princess when he died And a little before that he had said that her Parents sacrificed the Interest of their Family to the satisfaction of the King of England by consenting to it A Match with the Heir of the Crown of England was no very costly Sacrifice and for his vision concerning the design of marrying her to the Duke of Calabria and by that means of restoring the Kingdome of Naples it does so ill agree with the Character of the King of Arragon that since there is no proof brought of this I must look on it as one of those Imaginations with which Mr. Varillas loves to entertain his Readers But for K. Henry the 7th he was so far from making any preparations for the Mariage that one of the Writers of that Age assures us that at his Death he charged his Son to break it apprehending perhaps a return of a new civil War upon the issue of a doubtful Marriage 9. He gives us a new tast of his unskilfulness in ordering his Scenes He had found that when Henry the 8th's Divorce came to be started there was some discourse of a Match between him and Francis the first 's Sister afterwards the Queen of Navarre and therefore he thought a proposition for her might come in before the Mariage as a pretty ornament to his Fable But the silence of all the Papers of that Time which I have seen is a much better evidence against it than his pretended negotiation of Mr. de Piennes is for it to which no credit is due It is well known that in the Archives of Venice there are Recitals laid up of all the Negotiations of their Ambassadours and Mr. Varillas having perhaps heard of this he fancied it would have a good grace to cite such Recitals as to French Affairs thô all that know the State of France know that this has not been the practice of that Court But as there is no proof to shew that there was any such Proposition made at that Time so the State of K. Lewis the 12th's Court differs extreamly from it in which the Count of Angoulême afterwards Francis the first and his Sister were not so favourable as to give us reason to think that pains was taken to raise that Lady to the Throne of England 10. He tells us that King Henry the 8th calling a Parliament in the beginning of his Reign they thought themselves bound in point of Honour to oblige to execute his Father's Orders relating to his Mariage who had not only made it the chief Article of his Testament and charged his Son to do it upon his last Blessing but had laid the same charge on the Men of the greatest Credit in England as he spoke his last Words to them upon which the Parliament being careful to maintain this Authority to which they pretended over their Master did oblige him by repeated Remonstrances to marry the Princess Here he goes to show how implacably he is set against the Crown of England formerly he had debased their Birth but he thought that was not enough now he will degrade them of their Dignity and give the Parliament a Superiority over them But it is a fatal thing for an ignorant Man to write History for if Mr. Varillas could have so much as opened our Book of Statutes he would have found that the first Parliament that K. Henry the 8th held was assembled the 21. of Ianuary 1510. almost 8. Months after the Mariage which was celebrated six Weeks after he came to the Crown in which time if Mr. Varillas had understood any thing of our Constitutions he would have known that it was impossible for a Parliament to have met since there must be 40. Days between a Summonds and a Meeting of Parliament so that if the new King had summoned one the Day after his Father's Death it could not have met sooner than the day before the Mariage 11. He says the Queen bore five Children the first three Sons and the other two Girls
but the eldest Son lived only 9 Months the other two Sons and the eldest Girl died immediately after they were born only the youngest that was born the 8 of February 1515 was longer lived Mr. Varillas has a peculiar talent of committing more Errours in one single Period than any Writer of the Age and here he has given a good essay of his art for the Queen bore only three Children the first was a Son born the 1. of Ianuary that died the 22 of February thereafter which was not two full Months much less 9 Months the second Son died not immediatly but about a Fourtnight after he was born and the Daughter afterwards Q. Mary was born the 9th of February 1516. So that thô by chance he has hit the Month right yet he is mistaken both as to the Year and the Day of the Month. So unadvised a thing it is for an ignorant Writer to deliver matters of fact so particularly for thô this may deceive others that are as ignorant as himself by an appearance of exactness yet it lays him too open to those that can find the leisure and the patience to expose him and the last is no easy matter 12. He runs out into a very copious account of K. Henry's Disorders and dresses up Q. Katherine's Devotions in a very sublime strain It does not appear that in all that time he had any other Mistress but Elisabeth Blunt and during all that while he had the highest Panigyriques made him by all the Clergy of Europe upon his Zeal for Religion and Piety possible so that if we did not live in an Age in which Flattery has broke loose from all the restraints of Decency they would appear very extravagant Commendations and if the sublimities of Flattery were not rather a just prejudice against a Prince which give a character of a swelled Ambition and an imperious Tyranny that must be courted by such abject methods so that it is hard whither we ought to think worse of the Flaterers or the Flatered we would be tempted to judge very advantageously of K. Henry the 8th by the Dedications and other fawning Addresses that were made him As for Q. Katherine it does appear that she was indeed a vertuous and devout Woman but Mr. Varillas being more accustomed to Legends than to true Histories could not set out this without a considerable addition of his own for the half of it is not mentioned by any Author that ever I saw nor by any quoted by himself but a Poët must adorn his matter and if he has not judgment he overdoes it 13. He says the King designed to marry his natural Son the Duke of Richmont to his Daughter Mary upon which he makes that long digression concerning the Names of the Race of Tudors that was formerly considered When a Man affirms a thing that is so notoriously injurious to the Memory of a Prince he ought at least to give some sort of proof of its truth for thô in the accesses of Mr. Varillas's Religious Fits he does not think fit to trouble himself with those inconsiderable matters of Truth and Falsehood yet all the World is not of his mind and some colours of Truth are at least lookt for It is true a Negative is not easily proved so a bold Affirmer fancies he has some advantages but in this case it is quite otherwise for the whole series of the Original Instructions Messages and Letters that passed between Rome and England in that matter are still extant in all which there is not the least tittle relating to this Proposition And there are some things of such indecency that nothing but a temper like Mr. Varillas's can bring them together For when K. Henry was pretending a scruple of Conscience at his own marrying his Brother's Wise it is very improbable that he would have asked a Dispensation for a Mariage in a much nearer Degree For Sanders that is Mr. Varillas's Author says that both Propositions were made at the same time There were many Libels printed against K. Henry about that time but the strongest and the best writ was that of Cardinal Pools in which it is visible that he spares nothing that he could alledg with any colour of Truth yet he says nothing of this matter thô it had more weight in it to discover the King's Hypocrisy in pretending to scruples of Conscience than all the other things he alledges and I never could find any other Author for this Story before Sanders whose Book was printed 60 years after 14. He gives another essay of his skill in History and that he is equally ignorant of the Histories of all Kingdomes when he represents to us the endeavours of the King of Scotland for the obtaining of a Mariage with the Princes Mary in favours of his Son upon whose Person he bestows a kind dash of his Pen and he enters into a speculation of the danger that King Henry apprehended from this Proposition and that if he had rejected it the King and Prince of Scotland might have addressed themselves for it to the Parliament and that the Parliament would have raised a general Rebellion rather than have suffered King Henry to reject it The dislike that Mr. Varillas has conceived against the Crown of England seems deeply rooted in him for it returns very often Here he represents forreign Princes complaining to Parliaments when the Kings do not accept of Propositions for their Children as if our Princes were less at liberty in the disposal of their Children than the meanest of their Subjects are but he knows our Constitution as little as he does the History of Scotland otherwise he could not have represented the King of Scotland as pretending to the Mariage of the Princess Mary for his Son since K. Iames the fourth that had married King Henry's Sister was kill'd at the Battel of Floddun the 2 September 1513 above three years before the Princess was born he left an infant Son between whom and the Princess a Treaty of a Mariage was once proposed but no progress was made in it for K. Henry neglected it And he had always his Parliaments so subject to him to apprehend any of those vain Schemes with which Mr. Varillas would possess his Reader There are many that make no great progress in History but yet know somewhat of the Death of Kings and that carry some small measure of Chronology in their Head Yet since Mr. Varillas has not yet got so far he had best buy some common Chronological Tables and have them always before him when he writes and this will at least preserve him from such childish Errours 15. He tells us that there were many Pretenders to the young Princess and to make a full Period he tells us that all the Souverains of Europe courted her both the Emperour the Kings of France Spain and Scotland and so he gives us a fantastical speculation of King Henry's balancing those Propositions one against
another But since for a round Periods sake he will needs split Charles the 5th in two and name both the Emperour and the K. of Spain as two Pretenders he might have as well subdivided him into the King of Arragon and Castile Sicily and Naples and the very Titular Kingdome of Ierusalem might have come in for its share 16 He tells us that thô the match of Scotland was the most for the Interest of the Nation yet King Henry was so angry with his Nephew the King of Scotland for taking part against him in his last war with France that he resolved never to give him his Daughter Here Mr. Varillas will see again the necessity of purchasing a Chronological Table for thô that will cost him some money which as I am told goes very near his heart yet it will preserve him from some scurvy errours they may spoil the sale of his books for any one of those Tables even the worst and cheepest would have shewed him that it was not his Nephew that took part with France against him but his Nephew's Father for King Iames the 4th that was King Henry's Brother-in-Law made war on that occasion and was killed in it leaving an Infant Son behind him but it is pleasant to see the Ignorance of this Scribler that makes in one place King Iames the 4th to court the Princess for his Son thô he died several years before she was born and then makes King Iames the 5th to be making war with his Uncle during his Father's life and while himself was an Infant 17. He says the Emperour came and pretended the second to the Princess and upon that he sets down a large negotiation that he had with Cardinal Wolsey But he shews here an ignorance of Charles the 5th's Life thô he pretends to have made more than ordinary discoveries concerning his Affairs that proves that he has studied all History alike ill He reckons up the series of the Propositions for the Princess quite wrong for she was first contracted to the Dolphin the 9 November 1518 by a Treaty yet extant then Charles the 5th came into England in Person and contracted a Mariage with her at Windsor the 22 of Iune 1522 after that there was a Proposition made for the King of Scotland that was soon let fall and last of all there was a Treaty set on foot for the King of France then a Widdower or for his second Son the Duke of Orleans it being left to Francis's option to determine that and so remarkable a passage as Charles the 5th's coming to England in person was unhappily unknown to Mr. Varillas otherwise he would have dressed up a mighty Scene of Politicks to adorn it 18 He gives us the character and the History of Card. Wolsey with his ordinary colours in which truth comes very seldome in for an ingredient he tells us how he was Bp. of Tournay or rather Oeconome of that See and how many journeys he made between Tournay and London and that he being enriched at Tournay he got the Bishoprick of Lincoln after that upon the Bp. of Winchester's death he had that See from that he was raised to be Archbishop of York then he was made Chancellour of England then Cardinal and Legat à Latere and last of all he was made Chief Minister of State and to shew our Author 's deep Judgment this last Article seemed so doubtful a point to him that he must needs bestow a proofe on it and he sends us to P. Leo the 10th's Register thô the advancements that he had already reckoned up may well make this pass without a more particular Proof nor is P. Leo's Register a place likely to find it in Here is a great deal to let his Reader see how entirely he was possessed with the History of that time since he could run out so far with the Character and History of that Minister but for the strain in which he sets out his Character one must see it is only Mr. Varillas's fancy for how came he to know Cardinal Wolsey's air and manner of deportment even in the smallest thing I that have seen much more of him in his Letters Dispatches and Instructions than Mr. Varillas can pretend to have done dare not goe so far because I have not arrived at Mr. Varillas his pitch of Religion but if his character is no truer than the History that he gives of Wolsey I know what name is due to it He was made Bishop of Tournay in October and Bp. or Lincoln in the March thereafter or rather in February for the Temporalty was given him the 4th of March which is always restored after the Consecration so that here was not time enough to make such journies between Tournay and London nor to enrich himself with the former he had not Winchester but 15 years after that but he was made Archbishop of York two year after he had Lincoln he was also made Cardinal and Legate before he was made Chancelour for Warham Archbishop of Canterbury was Chancelour while he was Legate and had some disputes with him touching his legative power upon which he obtained that Dignity for puting an end to all disputes and in stead of his being last of all Minister of State he was first of all Minister of State while he was only the Lord Almoner and all his other dignities came upon him as the natural effects of that Confidence and favour into which the King had received him 19. He cannot assent to some Historians that imagine he was the Confident of K. Henry's Pleasures since he thinks if that had been true he could not have been so cheated afterwards as he was Here is a Demonstration that he never read my History into which I have put besides other Evidences of his being on the secret of Anne Boleyn's matter two letters that she writ to him which are undeniable proofs of it But as for the long Story into with he runs out concerning Charles the 5th's Intrigues with him and his way of writing to him in the stile of Son and Cousin for which he cites on the Margent the Emperour's Letters to Wolsey that lie in his fancy that is the greatest Library in the World but the hardest to be come at all this is so loosely writ that it is plain Mr. Varillas had no light to direct him in it since he says not a word of the most important circumstance of it which was the Emperour's coming in person to England which was beleeved to have been done chiefly to gain Wolsey entirely and in which it is certain that he had all the success that he had wisht for 20. He says Wolsey being alienated from the Emperour engaged the King of France after he was set at liberty to treat for a Match between the Dauphin and the Princess of England upon which they were contracted with great Magnificency but that was not enough for the Cardinal's malice I have formerly