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
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
Heaven which reigned among them and of the discoveries made of the Instruments of coyning in several Houses and of the False Relicks and the Impostures discovered in some Images of which the Eyes and Mouth were made to move by secret Springs for these things that were laid open in the publickest parts of the Nation disposed men to bear with the dissolution which perhaps would not have been otherwise so easily brought about 4. Nor does our Author know that three years before the general dissolution all the small Monasteries were dissolved In short the great discoveries I had made of the progress of this matter might have engaged a man even of an ordinary degree of carelesness to have read what I had writ concerning it But Mr. Varillas must be an Original in every thing XIX He says This Petition was no sooner read in Parliament than on the 28. of April 1539. they appointed that all the Monasteries in England should be set open and that their Lands should be appropriated to the King for the encrease of his Revenue upon this all was seised on and there was so much wealth found among them that out of the Church of Thomas Becket alone there were six Cart load of Plate and other things carried away and for such of the Religious Persons as would not quit their Profession nor their Lands they proceeded against those who were of a meaner rank as guilty of a Contempt of an Act of Parliament and those that were more considered were attainted of Treason because some Libels that had been writ upon the Kings divorce were found among their Papers in which the Kings Amours were painted to the life for these they were accused as having not only concealed them but preserved them to posterity and by a new subtilty the Crime of lese Majesty was added to that of High Treason and here he comes over again with that of King Edward's being cut out of his Mothers belly as if the frequent repeating of Falsehoods would gain them the more credit 1. Dates are unhappy things for Mr. Varillas for this Act did not pass before the 28. of Iune 2. This Act did only confirm what was already done but did not at all threaten any that would not surrender 3. There were eighteen Abbots present when the Act was first read and seventeen when it passed in the House of Lords and yet none of them opposed it 4. There was no petition read in either House of Parliament that had been made by the Monks for this Act neither dissolved nor opened any Monasteries but only confirmed the Kings Title upon their Surrenders 5. His Author Sanders had raised up Two Chests of the Plate that belonged to Beckets Shrine to Twenty six Cart Load but it seems Mr. Varillas thought this a little too Extravagant so that he reduces it to a modester number of six but yet he should stick to his Author And here I must call to mind a passage of our Author's that had escaped me concerning Thomas Beckets Bones being raised and burnt as if the King had reviewed his Process and by a formal Sentence degraded him of his Saintship whereas this matter passed without any sort of Ceremony Becket did things that were of another nature than all that has been lately done in the business of the Regale he was not content to disobey but thundred against the King and the Clergy and the whole Nation that would not concur with him in his Violences which were such that at this day they would not pass unpunished even in Spain it self and tho he was killed without any Order of the King 's it is known not only what Pennance the King was forced to do but what a Superstition for his Memory there followed upon his Canonisation there were Two Holy Days assigned him there was a Iubily every fifty year with Plenary Indulgences to all who visited his Tomb which brought sometimes an hundred thousand persons together and his Altar was so much more valued than either Christ's or the Virgins that by the old accounts yet extant it appears that some years there were no Offerings at all made at Christ's Altar and tho there were indeed some made at the Virgin 's Altar yet those of Thomas Becket's made a sum about twenty times more So it was no wonder if King Henry put an end to this Superstition and therefore he ordered the Shrine to be broken and the Bones to be buried as our Authors say positively tho the Italians say they were burned for so it is specified in the Bull and indeed there had been no great fault if they had been burnt 6. No man could be punished for refusing to surrender for the Act of Parliament required none to do it 7. Those who were attainted of Treason had been either in the Rebellion or had sent their Plate to the Rebels 8. Our Author shews how well he understands our Law when he pretends to make a difference between High Treason and the Crime of lese Majesty for they are one and the same thing we do not use to express the highest sort of Crimes against the State by the term of Lese Majesty but only by that of High Treason 9. Those Libels of which he speaks were only found among the Carthusians and tho some of that Order were put to death upon other accounts yet these Libels were only made use of to frighten them to surrender up their House sure here are faults enough for one Paragraph XX. He gives us a long prospect of what Cromwel thought on and of what he should have thought on both being alike true and equally judicious then he goes on to tell us the Interests of the Duke of Cleves and of his Sister's Qualities and to shew us how well he was informed of her greatest Secrets he sayes that she was fit for Marriage before she was twelve year old but that tho she had been courted by many Princes her Brother was resolved to reserve her for such an Alliance as might protect him against the House of Austria She was a Lutheran which did not please Henry yet at last the Marriage was agreed on and She came to England and was married the third of Ianuary 1540. 1. She had been contracted to Prince of Lorraine and tho this was really of no force in Law yet it was afterwards pretended to dissolve her Marriage with Henry as appears by the Sentence So much is our Author a stranger to her Story tho he would make us fancy that he had Memoirs concerning her from her Chamber-maids since he tells us when she was fit for Marriage 2. I have often warned our Author to avoid the giving of Dates for he is unhappy in them all this Marriage was made the 6. of Ianuary yet it is much for him to have hit the Moneth right for he is not always so exact XXI He says The King was so well pleased with this Match that immediately upon it
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
himself was expected he professed himself a Lutheran and took a Wife whom he had seduced while he was in Germany and had entertained ever after as a Concubine 1. Cranmer did not set out his Catechism till about two years after his 2. Somerset and He were always in a very perfect Friendship 3. He had married his Wise before he came out of Germany and had owned it to King Henry It is true upon the Act of the six Articles he had sent her over to Germany so that all he did at this time was only to bring her over again and to own her more publickly XLIII I pass over what he says here of Latimers Degradation having reflected on that formerly he says The Duke of Sommerset set two men about the King for his Education the one was Richard Croc and the other was John Cheek a Libertin that every day gave new cause of Scandal But 1. These who were trusted with the Education of King Edward were no other than those that his Father had set about him ever since he was six Year old as is set down by that young King in the Iournal of his own Life writ with his own hand 2. Our Author it seems knows both their Names and their Characters alike for he whom he calls Croc was Cox and for Sr. Iohn Cheek he was not only one of the learnedest but was esteemed one of the vertuousest Gentlemen of his Age he was indeed prevailed on thro fear to sign an Abjuration of his Religion in Queen Mary's days but that did so strike him that he not only went out of England quickly and made an open Retractation of what he had done but was so affected with the sense of it that he could never overcome it but fell into a Languishing of which he soon after died XLIV He says that Bucer avowed to the Duke of Northumberland that he did not believe all that was said of Jesus Christ in the New Testament 1. Sanders who very probably made this Story said it was to the Lord Paget that Bucer said this but now the man is changed 2. If this had been said to the Duke of Northumberland it is very probable that when he declared his Aversion to the Reformed Religion and to the Preachers of it at his death this which was beyond all other things would have been mentioned 3. Or at least when Bucer's Process was made and his Body burnt this would have been very probably made use of if the Lye had been then made 4. No man of that Age writ with a greater sense of the Kingdom of Christ than Bucer did in the Book on that subject which he writ for King Edward's use XLV He tells us that on the fourth of November 1547. at London a new form of Religion was set up which as to the Doctrine was almost the same with Calvinism but they retained the Rites and the exterior of Lutheranism they appointed all the Church-Lands of England to be annexed to the Crown and never to be again dissolved from it they also appointed that there should be a new form of Administring the Sacraments different from the Roman that Bishops and Priests should be ordained by this Form that Images which were yet held in reverence in some places for the Miracles that had been wrought before them should be taken away and the Kings Arms put in their stead that the Roman Missal should be abolished and that the Sacrament should be given in both kinds and in fine that the Divine Offices and above all the Canon of the Liturgy should be said only in English tho the Irish and Welsh who were almost as numerous as the English understood that Langage no more than they did the Latin And thus by a Revolution that will appear almost incredible to those who know perfectly the Genius of the English Nation they peaceably changed their Religion under a Minority without any Opposition Here much patience is requisite to read or examin such a confusion of matters as Mr. Varillas gives us all at once But 1. The new form of Religion was not set out till five year after this in the year 1552. 2. The Church-Lands were never annexed to the Crown but Mr. Varillas's mistake is that those Chantry-Lands that had not been suppressed by King Henry were indeed given to King Edward by an Act that passed not the fourth of November but the fourteenth of December 1547. 3. The new form of Administring the Sacraments was not set out till the fifteenth of Ianuary 1549. 4. The new form of Ordinations was not set out before the year 1550. 5. Images were ordered to be all removed by an Order from the Council the eleventh of February 1548. 6. There was never an Order made for setting up the King's Arms in the Churches tho it was done in most places 7. Our Author had said that a new form of Administring the Sacraments different from the Roman was appointed and now as in a new Article he tells us that the Roman Missal was abolished but this is one of the Indications from which we may measure his profound Judgment 8. He puts at the end that the Sacrament was appointed to be given in both kinds whereas this was done first of all in an Act that past the twentieth of December 1547. 9. He very learnedly makes a distinction between the Divine Offices and the Canon of the Liturgy tho as they are in themselves one and the same thing they are likewise used promiscuously in England 10. The Law for the Service in English did not extend to Ireland and care was taken to put it quickly into Welch 11. It seems he knows the estimate of our Numbers as well as he does other things who says the Welch and Irish are as many almost as the English whereas they are not perhaps above the tenth man to the English 12. Thus we see his fruitful fourth of November 1547. which he had made so productive is stript of all and not any one of all those great Changes belongs to it But to comfort Mr. Varillas a little I will tell him that the Parliament that enacted one or two of the things he names was indeed opened the fourth of November 1547. but it is long after a Parliament is opened before an Act is passed and thus it appears that all that sudden change was a Dream of our Author XLVI He says There were five Bishops London Winchester Duresm Chichester and Worcester and some of the most learned in the House of Commons that opposed these things but yet as soon as they were decreed they complyed and professed the new Religion There were many of the other Bishops that opposed them as well as those five nor did they ever concur with that which he calls the new Religion for they were all turned out of their Bishopricks before the year 1552. in which the Articles of our Religion were agreed on and set out by Authority So that if
our Author had known the Story better he should have valued them as Confessors for tho they comply'd in a great many things yet it appers that they were still true to their old perswasions upon which they fell in trouble and were not only turned out illegally but kept in prison for several years till Queen Mary set them at liberty XLVII He says that King Henry had ordered the Bible to be printed correctly and that he had put with it Erasmus's last Paraphrase on the New Testament but the Duke of Somerset found this Translation did not agree so well with the Doctrine of the Sacramentary's so he ordered a new Translation to be made that was more favorable to their figurative expressions At which the Pressâ—s wrought so long till there was not only a sufficient number of Copies printed off for all the Parish Churches but likewise for all that could read There was no new Translation of the Bible thought on during this reign for that was done in Queen Elisabeth's time so that King Henry's continued all this Reign Nor had King Henry put Erasmus's Paraphrase either with the Bible or in the Churches for that was done by the Duke of Somerset and Gardiners Letters to him are yet extant and in print complaining of that Paraphrase in a great many particulars So constantly mistaken is our Auâ—hor even in matters concerning which it had been easy for him to have found better Information XLVIII Mr. Varillas tells us that the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of Chester Mena and Sadore comply'd outwardly as Sacramentaries but lived in the secret practice of the Catholick Religion Somerset was informed of this so he ordered some to tell them that they were the only Prelates of England that were opposite to the publick Religion and therefore the King desired to be satisfied in that matter so the tryal that was required of them was that they should marry which tho it was somewhat uneasy to men past threescore yet they comply'd even in this and Somerset having by this means rendred them very contemptible did not only banish them but put them in prison and he treated other Bishops in the same manner for their defending the Catholick Religion in full Parliament tho they had done it very feebly 1. I find Mr. Varillas is as Ignorant in Geography as he is in Chronology for among all the Bishopricks of England he will neither find Mena nor Sadore 2. There is indeed an Island that lyes between England and Ireland that is a Soveraignty belonging to the Earl of Derby But the Island is Man or in Latin Mona but was never called Mena. In this Island there is a Bishop who is called Bishop of Man but he writes it in Latin Sodore so this is wrong put by Mr. Varillas Sadore yet these may be faults of the press but the making two Bishopricks out of one and the making this Bishop subject to the King of England and receiving Orders from the Protector are Faults that he cannot turn over upon his Compositor 3. It does not appear that either the Archbishop of York or the Bishop of Chester did ever oppose any thing in Parliament for tho many of the other Bishops voted against the changes that were made in matters of Religion as appears by the Journals of the House of Lords yet these two concurred in every thing and all Henry's time Holgate was considered still as one united to Cranmer and he was by his Interest raised to the See of York as for the Bishop of Chester I confess I know no particulars 4. It is true that they were both married for I found a Commission issued out by Queen Mary for turning them out because of their Marriage but it is certain that they were neither in disgrace nor in prison all King Edwards Reign for the Archbishop of York was all this while in High Favour 5. England is not a Countrey in which the displeasure of a Regent or even Letters under the Cachet can either banish or imprison men chiefly when that is founded only on some suspitions No it is a Countrey governed by Law but it seems Mr. Varillas had his head full of somewhat nearer him when he writ this XLIX He sets out the Constancy of Queen Mary during her Brothers Reign and that She continued firm in the Religion of her Ancestors that tho Somerset brought the Italian Divines Martyr and Ochin to her to convince her She answered all their Objections with great vigor She spoke stoutly to Somerset She interrupted the Privy Councellours when they spoke to her of those matters and She would â—ever hear any of their Sermons but one only In short that she threatned those that threatned her and told them a time would come in which they should answer for that Her constancy was such that at last Somerset desired only that she would at least shut her Chappel doors when Mass was said but even in that she satisfied him as little as in other things Here are so many lovely strokes that it is a great Pity they are all false 1. Some Letters past between the Protector and her that are in print but it does not appear that ever he spoke to her upon this subject 2. She never pretended to be of the Religion of her Ancestors but by all her Letters she declared she was of the Religion that her Father had setled and she always insisted on his Laws pretending that in a Minority they could not be altered 3. She spoke French well and understood Latin but she could neither speak Italian nor Latin so she could have no conversations neither with P. Martyr nor Ochin nor is this named among all the Letters that were writ concerning this business 4. She would never hear any one Sermon so here the Character was as much slackened as it was raised in the other parts of this paragraph For when Bishop Ridley went to her and offered to preach before her she told him plainly that she would never hear any one of them 5. The Princess was too discreet to threaten her Brothers Ministers or to talk of a time in which they might be called to an account for what they did for such Language never comes from Collateral Heirs unless they are extream indiscreet 6. The great dispute with the Princess fell out after Somerset's disgrace and was chiefly set on by the King her Brother who could hardly be prevailed with by the Privy Conncil to consent to her having Mass still said in her Chappel and after he had talked with her himself upon that matter he sets down these words concerning the Resolution that was taken in his Journal The Bishops of Canterbury London Rochester did consider to give licence to sin was sin to suffer and wink at it for a time might be born so all hast possible might be used L. He says There was no appearance that King Edward could live till he should be of Age
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