he made Cromwel Great Chamberlain and created him Earl of Essex and made his Son a Lord. But this is so false that the King from the time he saw Anne of Cleve had an aversion for her and intended once to have sent her away without Marrying her and after he had married her he told Cromwel how much he disliked her and that he believed She was no Maid and that her person was loathsom so that he believed he should never be able to consummate the Marriage so that Cromwel had rather reason to apprehend that this proving so unhappy it would be his Ruin He was not made Earl of Essex till the April following so that as this Marriage was too unlucky to do him any service it seems it did not hurt him much neither XXII He shews us how well he understands our Constitutions when he says That the Subsidy granted the King was a Tenth and the Fourth part of a fifteenth whereas it was a Tenth and Four Fifteenths XXIII He says That Cromwel having met with some Opposition by three members of Parliament who were the Bishop of Chichester Dr. Wilson and Frammer a Merchant he charged some false Crimes on them and put them in prison but he proceeded more severely against John Nevil Knight of the Garter for he subordned false Witnesses against him so that he was beheaded 1. The Bishop of Chichester comply'd with every thing that was done in Parliament as appears by the Journal of the House of Lords but some Correspondence that he held with the Court of Rome being discovered about this time he was put in prison but upon his submission he was set at Liberty 2. Wilson being a Clergy-man could not be of the House of Commons and he was no Bishop so that he could not be a Member of either House but he was clapt up as a Compsice of the Bishop of Chichester's and likewise set at liberty with him Frammer is not named there is indeed one Grunceter a Merchant named who was condemned of Treason a year before this 3. There was one Sr. Edward Nevil a Knight tho not of the Garter who was indeed condemned and executed a year before this but it was for being in a Confederacy with Cardinal Pool and more particularly for having said that the King was a Beast and worst than a Beast God only knows whether the Witnesses swore true or false against him XXIV He tells us That Câ—omwel to fill up the measure of his Iniquities got a Law to be made by which he might easily dispatch all those who should oppose his Designs which was that any man condemned in absence without being heard to justify himself either in person or by proxy should be esteemed as justly condemned as if it had been done in the common form Here is indeed the great blemish of of King Henry's Reign and of Cromwel's Ministry but it is told in such a manner by Mr. Varillas that it appears to be no extraordinary thing as he relates it 1. There was no Law made about this it was only practised by the Parliament as the Legislative Body without giving the common Courts of Judicature the power of using it 2. The Condemning men in Absence has been always practised by our Law when the Absence was wilful and if Mr. Varillas accuses the putting men to death upon such a Sentence it may probably be supposed to be an effect of his aversion to the King of England and put here on design to aggravate the Execution of Sr. Thomas Armstrong and the Duke of Monmouth who were the two last that suffered being condemned in absence 3. The Heinousness of this matter which our Author shews he understood not consists in this that men who were in prison were condemned upon the examination of Witnesses against them without confronting them with their Witnesses or bringing them to answer for themselves now tho this was taken from the Holy Courts of Inquisition and was only put in practise by the Parliament it self yet I will not go about to soften much less to justify a practice so contrary to the most Indispensable Rules of Equity and Morality XXV He says K. Henry being sooner disgusted at Anne of Cleve than he had been of his other Wives dissolved the Marriage for two reasons the one was that she was Incapable of having children and the other was her Heresy to which the English Writers that favour Henry add two others the one that those of the League of Smalcald would not receive the English into their Vnion and the other that K. Henry's Interests were then changed to these four reasons he adds a fifth that She had not that engaging Temper that was necessary to charm Henry 1. It is a strange thing to see an Historian mistake every thing and that there should not be one single part of his work sound The sentence annulling the K's Marriage with Anne of Cleve is printed according to the Record yet extant in which as there is not one of all the reasons mentioned by Mr. Varillas so there are other Reasons that would have given him much better grounds to have censured this Action than those he sets up chiefly the second which is that K. Henry had not given an inward clear perfect and entire consent to the Marriage which I had laid open with the Indignation that so unjust a practice ought to raise in an Historian since here a ground was laid down by which all Faith and Commerce among men is quite destroyed so ill instructed was Mr. Varillas that tho he had a mind to write a Satyr against K. Henry he did not know where to take the true Advantages that a man better Informed would have found if he writes Panegyricks as he does Satyrs Mr. Varillas will still be Mr. Varillas XXVI He pretends that Cromwell would not so far comply with the King's aversion to Anne of Cleves as to concur with him in the Divorce which drew on him his Ruin His testimony was the fullest proof that the King made use of for obtaining the Divoce but whether he consented to it or not it cannot be known if he refused to do it he was so much the worthier man XXVII He tells us a long story of the different Interests to which K. Henry was leaning at last he says that Cromwellsigned a League in the Kings name with the German Princes which some say he did without the Kings knowledge thâ— others say the contrary upon which the Emperours Ambassadours reproached the King with it but the King denying it the discovery was made and after a dressing up of the scene with more of his Visions it ends in this That Cromwell was put in Prison yet he hoped to have justified himself for this Treaty if he had been brought to make his Defence but many other things besides this were laid to his charge and the Law that he had procured to be passed three moneths before this of
he begins here with the pretended Sentence against Latimer Bishop of Vigorne and Scherton Bishop of Sarisbery who were as he says not only degraded but condemned to perpetual Imprisonment for having spoke somewhat against the six Articles 1. It is perhaps to descend too low to tell him that he ought to have named those Sees Worcester and Salisbury and that the latter of those Bishops was not Scherton but Shaxton for the marking such small faults looks like a want of more material ones 2. These two Bishops were never degraded but of their own accord they resigned their Bishopricks within three days after the Act of the six Articles had passed and it was some time after that before they were put in prison upon an Accusation relating to the six Articles and not for Latimer's having eat meat on a Good Fryday as our Author reports it in another place having forgot what he had said here For it is a very hard thing to remember Lies especially when the number of them is so excessively great XVI Upon Wolsey ' s fall he tells us that the King cast his eyes upon Thomas Cromwel to be his chief Minister who was a Gentleman of quality upon which he tells us that the Family of the Cromwels was very Antient and had already produced some that had been raised to the Chief Imployments in the State and so he goes on to make a Parallel between the late Protector and King Henry's Minister only he will not in this place examin whether the one descended from the other or not One would wonder how it falls out that Mr. Varillas is so constantly mistaken even in the most obvious matters There is not one that writ in that time on those Affairs that does not take notice of the meanness of Cromwel's birth for his Father was a Black-smith and his base extraction is particularly mentioned in the Act that condemned him 2. He is the first of his name that is spoken of in our Story for the Family was so far from being antient that it was not known before him 3. Oliver Cromwel was no way related to him and indeed not so much as by being originally of that name being descended from an Antient Family in Wales of the Ap William's at this time the Welchmen beginning to take Sirnames who before went only by the name of some Eminent man among their Ancestors with the Addition of Ap before it this Ap Williams having received great Obligations from Cromwel he made choice of his name 4. Our Author says true here that Cromwel succeeded Wolsey in the chief Ministry but yet he contradicts himself for he had said elsewhere that by Anne Bullens means Cranmer was raised at this time to the Dignity of being the first Minister but he grows old and it seems his Memory decays all the rest of his Character of Cromwel and the projects that he puts in his head are a continuation of the Romance XVII Mr. Varillas will here rise above the Vulgar and give a representation of the state of the Monasteries in England he tells us They had acquired the property of two thirds of the Kingdom and among the other effects of the power of the Clergy he mentions this that the Popes had many officers in England for levying the Peterpence who had such an Influence over the Clergy that they had the main stroak in our Parliaments by which means it was that tho the King of England was as to the outward appearance Master of his Kingdom yet in effect he was far from it and that as King Henry had a mind to 〈◊〉 off this yoke so Cromwel suggested to him the method in which it might be done and among other things â—â—nce the chief resistance that the Crown had met with in Parliament had always come from the Monks he propos'd to the King the seising on their Revenues One would think that Mr. Varillas had intended to prepare an Apology for King Henry's seising on the Abbey Lands for if they had two thirds of the Kingdom if they were influenced by Italian Ministers and if they had always opposed the designs of the Crown in Parliament here were very powerful reasons for suppressing them 2. It is generally believed that the Abbey Lands might be one third of England but no body ever carried the estimate of their wealth to so invidious a height before Mr. Varillas as to imagin that they were Masters of two thirds of the Nation And as for that Interest that he pretends that some Italians have had in them and the Opposition that they gave the Crown in Parliament these are either Fictions of his own or of some Author as bad as himself if any such can be found In the times of King Iohn and of his Son Henry the Third the Italians oppressed England severely but they were far from doing it by the Interest they had among the Monasteries for it appears by Matthew Paris how much they complained of that Tyranny which was in a great measure repressed when England came to have Kings who had more spirit so that Edward the first and Edward the third made such effectual Laws that after their time we find no evidences of any great stroke that Italian Officers had in England XVIII He represents the dissolution of the Monasteries as carried on by a Project of Cromwels who got a great party among the Monks to sign a Petition to the King for which he cites on the Margin the expositive or Preamble of it in which they set forth their real unhappiness tho they seemed to be happy that they could not bear the hardness of their condition and therefore they implored the King's Favour that they might live as other Englishmen free from the constraint of Vows and the Tyranny of the Court of Rome and they added that if the King would grant this Petition they prayed him to accept a free Surrender of all their Goods and Lands This he says was sent from House to House and it was looked on as the Master-piece of the Reformation Mr. Varillas has a mind to demonstrate to all the World that he knows nothing of English Affairs For 1. there was never any such Petition made 2. I have published almost three hundred of the Surrendess of which the Original Deeds are yet extant and these were all of one form but were not in one writing as he dreams the Preamble of all is the same That they have deliberatly of certain knowledg and of their own proper motion and for some just and reasonable Causes that did especially move their Souls and Consciences freely and of their own accord given and granted to the King c. 3. It is plain our Author knew nothing of the General Visitation that was made of all the Monasteries of England and of the Discoveries that were made of the most horrid of all Vices that God had punished with Fire and Brimstone from
so that Princess Mary was considered not only as the Presumptive but as the necessary Heir of the Crown But at this time the Prince of Spain lost his Wife and Charles the fifth comforted himself with the hopes of uniting England to his other Dominions by marrying his Son to her so that Emperour resolved to protect her and sent Vargas both to entreat and if that prevailed not to threaten Somerset in case he gave any further disturbance to her upon which he was forced to let that matter fall All this is so false that the Emperour set on a Treaty of Marriage for the Princess with the Prince of Portugal of which I gave an account in my History but since that time a Volum of Original Letters has been sent me by the Heirs of Sr. Philip Hobby who was then Ambassadour in the Emperours Court in which I find more particulars relating both to this Marriage and to the Princesses permission for having Mass in her House There is one Letter dated the 19. of March 1550. signed by all the Council in which they write that since the Infant of Portugal was only the Kings Brother they give up the Treaty for the Match yet the Emperour insisted on the Proposition that he had made so there is another Original Letter dated the 20. of April thereafter in which they desire to hear all the particulars that related to the Infant of Portugal and in that they write That as for the Lady Mary 's Mass they had formerly connived at it but now stricter Laws were made they had connived so long hoping that at last she would be prevailed upon but that a diversity of Rites in matters of Religion was not tolerable therefore they would grant her no Licence yet they would connive at her a little longer but She abused the young Kings Goodness for she kept as it were open Church both for her Servants and Neighbours They therefore conclude wishing that the Emperour would give her good Advice in this matter This Letter of which I had the Original long in my hands is signed by ten Privy Councellours and will be I suppose a little better believed than the quotation that Mr. Varillas sets on his Margin of Vargas's Negotiation and all this was transfacted after the Duke of Somersets Disgrace LI. He tells us a long story of the methods that the Admiral used to compass the Marriage of the Queen Dowager and the ways he took to engage his Brother Somerset to consent to it Somerset moved it to the King who consented to it likewise so that the Marriage was made up in hast and without any solemnity Mr. Varillas knows this matter as he does other things notwithstanding the shew he makes by citing on the Margin the Relation of that Intrigue which is another of his Impostures for by the Articles that were objected to the Admiral which are in print and of which the Original is yet extant in the Council Book it appears that the Admiral had first courted the Kings Sister Elisabeth and that failing in this design he afterwards married the Queen Dowager so secretly that none knew of it and so indecently that if she had become with Child soon after the marriage there would have been a great doubt whether the Child should have been accounted K. Henry's or His that he kept the Marriage long secret he prevailed with the King to write to the Q. Dowager and with his Brother to speak to her in his Favour and when all this was done then the Marriage was declared So that all his Fictions of Somerset's design of marrying his Daughter to the King and of the Remonstrances that the Admiral made to his Brother as well as his Citation are manifestly false LII He sets out the common story of the Dutchess of Somerset's Disputing the Place with the Q. Dowager and as if it had been a great Affair he spends two Pages arguing both their Pretensions He reckons up the Duke of Somersets Dignities 1. He was the Kings Governour 2. He was Regent of the Kingdom 3. He was Protector of the English Nation a dignity inferiour to none of the other which was not much inferiour to the Dictatorship among the Ancient Romans and on the other hand the Admiral was the second Office of the Crown and a Charge for Life So that here was as he thought a Section fit to be copied out by those who would treat of Precedence But 1. I have shewed fully that all this quarrel of Precedence among the Ladies seems a Fiction for it is not mentioned in all that time 2. The Offices of state in England do not communicate any Honour to the Wife So that the Queen Dowager had either still her rank of Queen Dowager or she was only a Baroness her Husband the Admiral being only a Baron As the Dutchess of Somerset had only the rank of a Dutchess 3. It is clear that the Q. Dowager retained her rank and was mentioned in all the publick Prayers even before the Kings Sister 4. All those three places that Mr. Varillas gives Somerset were but one single Office and held by one single Patent for to be Protector and Regent is the same thing in England His comparing the Protectors Dignity to that of the Roman Dictators is another stroke of his ill-will to the Crown of England for among the Romans all other Offices ceased when there was a Dictator so if this were in the English Law here were a short way of Dethroning our Kings 5. The Admiral is far from being the second Office of the Crown for it only has the Precedence of all those that are of the same rank so that the Admiral was only in rank the first Baron of England and tho the great Navyes that have been built since that time have made it indeed the first Office as to the real value of it yet it was but an ordinary elevation when there were no Royal Fleets 6. The Admiral 's charge is forfeitable as well as any other in England and of this a remarkable Instance appeared in the year 1673. 7. The true occasion of the Quarrel between the Brothers was that tho the Protector was Governour of the King's person yet these two trusts had been sometimes divided so the Admiral pretended to be made the Governour of the King's person and this gave his Brother just cause of Jealousy He had engaged all that were about the King in his Interests and had once got the young King to write a Letter to the Parliament recommending it to them The Protector was twice willing to be reconciled to him after great Quarrellings but his Ambition was incurable Now since all this Process and the Articles against the Admiral are printed from the Original Records it is like Mr. Varillas to falsify this matter as he does LIII He tells a long Story of a Sermon of Latimers in which he named the Admiral as one that disturbed the Regency and this
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
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
the King would not accept of the Present â—hat was offered him by the Clergy unâ—ess they would likewise give him that Title Now it is agreed on by all that â—is submission was past by the whole Convocation unanimously Fisher â—eing the only man that stood out a â—hile but even he at last concurred â—ith the rest And Pool was at that 〈◊〉 Dean of Exeter and so he was a â—ember of the Convocation he also â—â—joyed his Deancy several years after â—is so that it cannot be imagined â—â—at the King would have let him go 〈◊〉 of England and have allowed 〈◊〉 a good benefice for supporting 〈◊〉 in his Studies if he had set himâ—â—â—f so vigorously to oppose him in a â—â—â—ter that touched him so near III. Mr. Varillas tells us that in the 〈◊〉 1536. the King made a Law obliging his Subjects to continue firm in the six principal Points which the Hereticks disputed most And to put his Reader out of doubt as to this matter he cites the Acts of Parliament for that year But Chronology is a study too low for so sublime a Writer and therefore since he thought the Fable would go on the better if this Law were puâ— in this year he would needs Anticipateâ— three years and put a Law that pasâ— not before the year 1539. in the yeaâ— 1536. but in this he followed his Sanders or which is all one his Florimonâ—â— de Raimond exactly IV. He reckons up the six Articles it seems as others had done before him but it is certain he never looked into our Acts of Parliament for as they would have set him righâ— as to the year so they would havâ— shewed him that the sixth Article diâ— not at all mention the seven Sacramentâ— and as to Auricular Confession it 〈◊〉 only decreed that it was expedient 〈◊〉 necessary and that it ought to be retaâ—ned in the Church For upon this theâ—â— was a great dispute most of the Cleâ—gy endeavouring to carry the matlâ—â— so far as to declare Confession necessary by the Law of God but King Henry would not consent to that and there is a long Letter yet extant all writ with his own hand in which he argues this matter liker a learned Divine than a great King V. He tells us that Arch-bishop Cranmer conferred all Benefices in the quality of Vicar General of the Church of England and that he disputed with Jesus Christ the Institution of four Sacraments But neither the one nor the other is true for he gave no Benefices but those of his own Diocess and as for his expression of disputing with Iesus Christ the Institution of four Sacraments I pass it as a Sublime of our Author 's yet even the thing is false all the ground for it is that in the first part of the Erudition of a Christian-man that was set out this year no mention was made of these four Sacraments but they were all set forth some years after this when that work was finished VI. He says that upon this the zealous Catholicks of England concluded that the King himself leaned to Heresy and that the Provinces of Lincoln and Northumberland Cambridge-Shire York-Shire and Durresm were the first that revolted and made up a body more than 50000. men Here Mr. Varillas shews us still how well he likes Rebellion by giving those Rebels no worse name than that of Zealous Catholicks and here he gives us the accomplishment of the Cardinal de Bellay's threatnings but one would have thought that a Writer who resolved to dedicate his Book to the King should have softned this part a little otherwise a Zealous Protestant may be naturally carried to make the Inference that if the Fears of the change of Religion in England might carry Catholicks to Rebel on whom no worse Character is bestowed than that of Zealous why may not Protestants oppressed and ruined contrary to the faith of irrevocable Edicts claim the same priviledge His laying of Lincoln-shire and Northumberland together and then returning to Cambridg-Shire and going back to York-Shire shews how well he knows the situation of our â—Counies and he instead of Lanca-Shire and Westmorland has out of his store put Northumberland and Cambridge-Shire in the Rebellion he also represents this rising only as a beginning whereas these were the only Counties that rebelled nor did they ever joyn together for those of Lincoln-Shire were suppressed within that County before the rising in York-Shire VII He says The King ordered the Dukes of Northfolk and Suffolk to go to the Rebels and to promise them all that they demanded upon which these Dukes undertook this Message and went to the Rebels Camp with all the shews of Humility that could have been expected from the most abject of the vanquished they desired them to put their Complaints in writing and when they saw them they thought them very just and signed a Treaty with them in the Kings Name by which they obliged him to redress all the Innovations that had been made in matters of Religion and with this they satisfied those who were in Arms who were so foolish as to lay down their Arms upon the faith of this Treaty yet the King after he had thus dispersed them did not trouble himself much with the keeping of his word to them but as he knew the names of the chief Instruments of this Sedition so he put them all in prison at several times upon some pretended Crimes with which they were charged and soon after they were proceeded against according to the forms of Law and not one of them escaped death either in secret or in publick By this Relation of this Affair one would think that the King sent those Dukes as Supplicants to the Rebels but they went both of them at the Head of the Kings Troops and both to different Armies 2. They were so far from promising every thing in the Kings Name that the Kings Answers to their Demands are yet extant in which he treats them as Brute Beasts that medled themselves in things that they did not understand the King told them their duty was to obey and not to command and that he would not at all be advised by them He did indeed promise a Pardon of what was past to those who should return to their duty but lie would not alter any thing at their sute 3. Our Author did not know that this Rebellion was after the suppression of the lesser Monasteries and that this was one of the Chief of their Grievances otherwise he had embelished it no doubt 4. He taxes them of Imprudence for trusting the Kings promises but one would have expected that in a Reign of so much submission as this is he should have rather shewed their Fidelity and Loyalty that made them so easily believe a Kings word but it seems Mr. Varillas thinks it is a piece of Imprudence to rely too much on that 5. A Prince's breaking his Faith is a thing that needs no aggravation
yet for certain reasons that our Author may guess at if he will he should not enlarge too much on this even tho the promise had been given both frequently and solemnly for this awakens ill Ideas in peoples minds and makes them conclude with the Ecclesiastes that the thing which hath been is that which shall be 6. King Henry excepted many out of the General Pardon others were presently seised on for engaging into new Conspiracies and against all these he proceeded upon no pretended Crimes but upon that of High Treason for having been in actual Rebellion against him 7. All that suffered by form of Law for those Rebellions were only two Peers six Knights and the Wife of one of them six Abbots and a Monk and sixteen men of a meanner rank now considering what a formidable Rebellion that had been this will not appear to have been a very extraordinary severity and without running too far back to things past the memory of man it were possible to instance Rebellions that were not so dreadful and yet that have ended in many more Sacrifices 8. He tells us of some that died in secret if he means that died in their Beds in Prison the thing may be very true but then it is not extraordinary but if he means the putting them to death secretly and the using them so barbarously that they languished and died under the hands of their Tormentors he must know that these are things which the English Nation knows not they may be practised by Courts of Inquisition or where Dragoons and De Rapines have the Execution of the Kings Parchment and Wax put in their hands but all Tryals and Executions in England are open and publick which is too gentle a Nation to bear the Cruelty of Torture VIII Mr. Varillas would needs have an extraordinary stroke of Providence appear here for he tells us that the last of those who suffered under the hand of the Hangman was no sooner dead then the Kings beloved Son the Duke of Richmond whom he had designed to make his Successor died suddenly of a malignant Feaver But I had warned our Author of the necessity of buying a Chronological Table for I saw what would come on it if he would not be at that charge The Duke of Richmond died the 22. of Iune 1536. and the first of all the tumults that was begun in Lincoln-Shire did not fall out before the October following so here is a lovely stroke of the Poem spoiled 2. It does not appear that the King had any such design on this Son of this for as he gave him none of the Titles of the Royal Family so he did not raise him up to any such degree of lustre as must have naturally followed on such a design IX He joyns to this Edward the sixths Birth and says That his Mother not being able to bring him forth King Henry ordered her Belly to be opened saying that he could find another Wife but that he was not sure to find another Son and that he began presently after her death to think on a fourth Marriage Again it appears that Mr. Varillas wants a Chronological Table for he joins King Edward's birth to the Duke of Richmond's death tho there was sixteen moneths between them for King Edward was born the twelfth of October 1537. and that was nine moneths after all the Executions were over 2. King Edward was born in the ordinary way and the Queen was as well a day after as any Woman in her condition could be of this there are many good Proofs extant for her Council writ Letters over all England giving notice of her safe delivery and of her good health and two days after others say three days after she was taken with a distemper ordinary to Women in her condition of which she died 3. Our Author should have considered the decorum of his Fable better than to make the King speak of a Son before he was born it had been more natural to make him speak of a Child indefinitly 4. This Queens death affected K. Henry so much that he let two years pass before he entred into any Treaty for a new Wife 5. He puts this in the year 1538. tho it fell out in the year 1537. X. He opens upon the Death a Project for Reconciling England to the Court of Rome and says That in order to the satisfying that Court it was not doubted but the Parliament of England would annual King Henry's second Marriage and declare Elisabeth a Bastard He adds That a Marriage of King Henry with Margaret Daughter to Francis the First was projected and here he shews how great a resemblance of Humours there was between them He adds That Pope Paul the Third was much pressed by the Colledge of Cardinals to fulminate against Henry since the Cardinals Hat which he had sent to Fisher had only served to precipitate his death upon which the Pope was bound both in Honour and Interest to revenge that contempt that was put on the Purple for if the persons of Cardinals were not esteemed sacred this would very much slacken their courage upon dangerous occasions The Pope therefore very dexterously resolved to shew his Thunder without discharging it So tho a new Sentence was past yet it was not published in hopes that the King for the safety of his person that was always exposed to the resentments of Zealous Catholicks or for the securing himself from those Seditions which broke out in one place as soon as they were quieted in another would at last reconcile himself to the holy See The only Project that was ever set on foot after the breach for reconciling England to the Court of Rome was almost two years before this upon Anne Bullens fall for then the Pope proposed it to Cassali that had been the Kings Ambassador at Rome but the King rejected it with so much scorn that in his next Parliament he past two Laws against all commerce with that Court severer than any of the former 2. There was no need of asking an Act of Parliament for annulling the Kings Marriage with Anne Bullen and for illegitimating the Issue for that was already done upon a confession of a Pre-contract that was drawn from her of which it is plain Mr. Varillas knew nothing tho it is in our Statute Books and these were then printed both in French and English 3. It does not appear that there was ever the least motion of a Marriage between King Henry and Margaret of France muchless that it was believ'd concluded 4. Our Author does not observe the decency of the Cardinals pressing the Pope to severity when he expressed it by his Revenging the contempt put upon the Purple It must be confessed that this is too haughty a stile for him that pretends to be the Vicar of Christ the language of Revenge does not agree with the Meekness of the Lamb of God 5. But if he makes the Cardinals speak
Memoirs when he writ his first Volum therefore his Reader must forgive him if there is any disorder in the recital that he gives and now from all this one would he disposed to believe that there is some truth in this matter and that he has really such a Book of Memoirs in his hands but I need give no other proof to shew that all this is Imposture save that Bulloign was not taken before the 18. of September 1544. so that all this Negotiation of Richers in 1542. must have been by the spirit of Prophesy 2. The state of Denmark at that time must make this project appear very ridiculous since they were far from being in a condition to set out great fleets and make Conquests 3. At this time Francis did indeed engage the King of Scotland to make an Invasion into the North of England which was a more reasonable project and that which our Author might have more justly guess't at tho he had known nothing of it for it was an easy thing to engage the Scots to fall into England but that was too true and too natural therefore our Author who loves to elevate and surprise his Reader would needs despise the Project in Scotland and so would carry it over to Denmark 4. It is also no less clear that Francis was at that time in no condition to make a descent upon England otherwise he used the Scots very ungratefully for tho he had engaged them in the war yet he left them to be overrun by the English without giving K. Henry any considerable diversion 5. But our Authors setting on the King of Denmark to renew pretensions of five hundred year old is of a piece with the Law at Metz and when England will examin its Ancient pretensions to some Provinces in a neighbouring Kingdom as it needs not go so far back so it will not be put to found them on hostile descents and depredations which was all the pretension that the Crown of Denmark could ever claim but on clear and undisputed Rights tho I confess they have been both discontinued and renounced but I build on the modern Law that neither Prescriptions Treaties nor Oaths can cut off the Rights of a Crown which are sacred and Inalienable Thus I have gone over his third Tome and I think I have missed nothing that relates to English affairs I confess I may have passed over some particulars that may perhaps lie Involved in other Relations as this of Richers had almost escaped me I have turned all his leaves over and over again to see for any thing that might relate to England But I could not prevail with my self to read him all for I am now past the Age of reading Romances XXXIV Mr. Varillas begins his discourse concerning English Affairs in his fourth Tome with a Character of K. Henry's cruelty that deserves indeed to be put in Capitals he says that during his Sickness his Conscience had time to reproach him with the 2. Cardinals the 3. Archbishops the 18. Bishops the 14. Arch deacons the 500. Priests Abbots and Priors the 60. Canons and 50. Doctors 12. Dukes Earles or Barons 29. Knights 336. Gentlemen and almost an Infinite number of people whom he had put to death for establishing his Primacy over the Church of England And because all this was so remarkable he would not put the numbers in Ciphers but in words at large and by the exactness of his small numbers a man that is not aquainted with his Talent would be tempted to think this might be true but what will he say if of all those ten Items besides the great Et cetera of the Infinit number there is not one that is either true or near truth 1. Fisher was the only person that can be called a Cardinal that was put to death 2. There was not one Archbishop that suffered and tho the Archbishop of York concurred in the Yorkshire Rebellion yet the King included him in the Indemnity 3. There was not one Bishop that suffered unless he subdivides Fisher as he did Charles the fifth and makes both a Cardinal and a Bishop out of him 4. There is not an Archdeacon to be found among all that died in this Reign 5. For the 500 Priests Abbots and Priors there were only 9. Abbots 3. Priors 18. Priests and 9. Monks that suffered which according to my Arithmetick makes only 39 but an Imagination that multiplies as Mr. Varillas's does can swell this up to 500. 6. There is but one among all that suffered that can be thought a Canon Crofts that is designed in the Record Chancellor of Exeter 7. There is but one Doctor unless Fisher comes into the account again 8. All of the Nobility that were executed during this reign were one Duke a Marquis 3. Earls and 3. Lords which make 8. but this comes the nearest his number yet since the Marquis that suffered was K. Henry's Cosen german he might have put Marquises among the degrees of the Peers that he reckons up as well as the rest 9. There were only ten Knights that were put to death so the 19. more are of his creating 10. There are ouly 33. others that suffered of which some were only Yeomen to make up his 336. Gentlemen and now I have set down the list exactly of all that died by the hand of justice in this Reign so that there is not a man left for his c. of almost an Infinite number of people But besides this all these except only 12. persons suffered either for being in actual Rebellion or for entring into Conspiracies for the raising of one so small was the number of those who suffered for denying the Kings Supremacy and even of these a distinction is to be considered which I must explain because some have fancied that I had contradicted my self in different parts of my History having said in some places that none suffered for not acknowledging the Kings Supremacy and having set forth in other places that men died for denying it But the refusing to swear the Oath of supremacy was only punishable at first with a Premunire that is loss of liberty and Goods so that those who suffered were not condemned for refusing to swear that Oath but for their having spoken against the Supremacy now the refusing to swear it and the speaking against it are two different things which some have confounded It is true afterwards a Law was made declaring it to be High Treason to refuse to swear the Supremacy But no man ever suffered upon that Law for no man ever refused it after that Law was made And thus we see what we may expect from our Author after such a beginning XXXV He says King Henry seemed to repent of what he had done when he was near death and that he spake with Gardiner concerning it who upon that advised him to call a Parliament But the Falsehood of this is too visible for there was a Parliament then sitting which
was dissolved by the King 's Death XXXVI He says The Church of the Franciscans was opened in London 25. dayes before his death and he had said before that King Henry was 57. years of Age compleat when he dyed This Church that he represents as the Cordelier's Church was indeed opened but it was in order to the making it an Hospital and was no more the Cordeliers Church But now I will shew Mr. Varillas how just I am to him for I think I am bound to take notice that this date is right For tho it is of no great consequence yet it is the first that I have found him give true and perhaps it is true because it is of no consequence but he is above a full year wrong in a matter of greater importance which is King Henry's Age for he was born the 28. of Iune 1491. so on the 27. Ianuary or the 28. for he dyed in the night between them 1547. he wanted five moneths of six and fifty So natural is it for Mr. Varillas to mislead his Reader in every thing XXXVII He says The disorder of the Kings Marriages and the three Children that he had by three of them gave grounds to apprehend a Civil War upon his death against which he provided by putting his only Son Edward first in the Succession But out of what part of our Authors study of the Law did he find this that a Son of an unquestioned Marriage on all hands could receive any opposition from two Sisters both born in Marriages that had been questioned The Succession had been also expresly regulated by Act of Parliament and the Kings power of disposing of it by his Testament was only in default of all his own Children or of issue by them XXXVIII He gives us a character of the Duke of Somerset that shews how well he knew him he says He had an Extraordinary Capacity and a Penetration of Spirit superiour to the greatest Affairs The D. of Somerset was indeed a man of great probity but his Capacity and Penetration of Spirit were far from Extraordinary Mr. Varillas thought those strokes were magnificent so he did not trouble himself whether they were true or false XXXIX Mr. Varillas tells us that Somerset represented to the English Nobility the inconvenience of having 16. Governours for their young King as King Henry had determined it and that three parts of four of these were most zealous for reconciling England to the See of Rome and so no doubt they would breed up the King in those sentiments and by consequence as soon as the King came of Age he would annul all that his Father had done which would ruin the whole Nobility and that since it was much fitter to have only one Regent he engaged to them that if they would pitch on him he should take care of the Kings Education and should be so far from disturbing the Nobility in the possession of the Church Lands that he should grant them all the Ratifications that should be necessary all this was so well received that King Henry's true Testament was suppressed and a new one was forged by which Somerset was declared Regent and Protector which surprised all those who had the chief Interest to maintain the Government during the Minority in the state in which King Henry had left it 1. King Henry died the 28. of Ianuary upon which the young King was presently brought up to London and upon the first of February Somerset was declared Protector 2. This was not done by the Interposition of the Nobility but by the consent of the major part of the sixteen Governours whom King Henry had named and the Original Instrument of this under all their hands is yet extant 3. There was no new Will forged for that which was then published was the same that made all the sixteen equal in power and Somerset had the Title of Protector given him by these only with this express condition that he should do nothing without the Advice and Consent of the rest Nor was it ever pretended that King Henry had ordered it so by his Will so all that Negotiation with the Nobility is to pass for a Fiction of Mr. Varillas's or of some other that is about his pitch of sincerity XL. He says Vrisly the Chancellour was the only person that complained of this but that was made use of as a pretence to send him away from the Court. 1. Wriothesley the Chancellour perhaps did not like Somerset's Advancement but he signed it with the rest 2. The pretext upon which he was turned out was the passing an illegal Patent for divolving the Execution of his Office in the matters of Justice to some other persons which being contrary to Law he to redeem himself from a further Censure resigned his place XLI He says Somerset forbad the Bishops to confer Orders without the Kings permission and made them come up to London to obtain it and that he granted it only for a limited time and during pleasure and that he forced the new Preachers to take their Mission for it under the Kings Name and by this means he hindred those to preach who were able to defend the Catholick Doctrines And for the Proof of all this he cites the Ordonnances of Edward the Sixth There is a particular misfortune on Mr. Varillas in all he writes for tho there was indeed an Act of Parliament passed before the end of this Year that did very much subject the Bishops in many things to the Regal power yet there is a special exception in it of Collations or Presentations to Benefices and of Letters of Orders in which no Limits were set them 2. The Licences that were given to Preachers were only Civil things being Permissions to preach but there was nothing of Mission pretended to be in them 3. Tho the King did Licence some Preachers to preach in any part of England yet the Bishops retained still their Authority of granting them within their own Diocesses 4. That which Mr. Varillas perhaps relates to in some parts of this Period is that under King Edward the Bishops were obliged to take out new Commissions from the King such as they had taken out under King Henry for holding their Bishopricks during the Kings pleasure This Bonner and some of the other Popish Bishops had first set on foot under King Henry hoping by so abject a Submission to gain much credit with him but Cranmer prevailed so far as to get this to be quickly laid aside And now all these things shew that our Author is still as careful as he was in his Citations XLII He pretends That Cranmer set out at this time a Catechism which inclined more to the Lutheran Doctrine upon which the Protector looked down upon him not thinking it fit to carry his displeasure farther Cranmer could not know to what the Protector 's coldness was to be ascribed but fancying that a further Declaration of