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
a little too high with relation to the Popes Resentments he makes them as abject as can be in their own particulars since they own that the ground of their courage in serving the Holy Seâ— on dangerous occasions was the Sacredness of their persons which must be maintained otherwise it could not be expected that they would expose themselves any more There is no courage when a man knows he is invulnerable It seems Mr. Varillas thinks that the Colledge of Cardinals have not the spirit of Martyrdom among them now tho it is very likely that this may be true yet Mr. Varillas had shewed more respect if he had suppressed it 6. The Sentence which Mr. Varillas represents as past at this time but not pronounced was passed two years before this the first of September 1535. so little is he exact that he does not examin the days of printed Bulls 7. Mr. Varillas represents this present Negotiation as in the year 1538. which he sets on his Margin yet the final publishing of the Sentence was on the 17. of December 1538. So that all this delay of the Sentence and that which follows could not belong to this year but it must come in here for Amours giving a lustre to Romances our Author thought it was necessary to make them have a large share in all his Relations and if the dates of matters will not agree there is no help for it he must pass over such inconsiderable things 8. Zealous Catholicks again for Rebels XI He goes on to dream and fancies that since the Daughter of France was Christned by King Henry both Francis and he would be obliged to send to Rome for a Dispensation and that the Pope resolved not to grant it but after that England should be reconciled to the Holy See Therefore to facilitate this matter the Pope sent for Pool who was then at Padua and he made him a Cardinal and sent him to France to set on that Design which Pool who loved his Countrey to excess undertook with all possible Zeal But the King of England by a fatal Blindness rejected all this And here he pretends to tell what might be the secret Reasons of it in his way that is to say very impertinently He adds that King Henry sent to Francis to demand Cardinal Pool as a Fugitive and a Traytor and that he cited the examples of Charles the Fifth and of his Father who had delivered up Princes of the House of York to the Kings of England and in conclusion that Henry threatned Francis that if he did not grant his desire he would break the League in which he was with him and would make one with the Emperour against him If Mr. Varillas had seen Card. Pools Book against King Henry which he pretends to have lying before him he would have known that it was printed in the year 1536. in which he had used the King in a stile that no Crowned Head in the World could al ow of but the conclusion of it was beyond all the rest for he conjured the Emperour to turn his Arms rather against the King than against the Turk and it was known in England that he had obtained this Commission to be sent to France only that he might set on a League between the two Crowns against England and so it was no wonder if the King resented his being well received in the Court of France 2. It is not to be imagined that when Charles the fifth was contriving how to make War upon England and was the person that chiefly supported Cardinal Pool that I say King Henry would be so highly displeased with the civility of the Court of France to the Cardinal as to threaten upon that to join with the Emperour who was the Kings chief Enemy and the spring that set Pool in motion therefore all this whole negotiation is to be reckoned among our Authors Fictions since he gives no Proofs of it XII Mr. Varillas says that King Henry set fifty thousand Crowns on Cardinal Pools head and upon this he grafts a new Fable But in the Sentence and Act of Attaindor against Pool there is not a word of any sum set on his head so this was a small decoration that was not to be omitted by a man that does not trouble himself to examin whether what he writes is true or not XIII If Mr. Varillas were not so excessively Ignorant as he is of the History of England he would not have passed over the great advantage he had here of reproaching King Henry with that which was indeed the greatest blemish of his whole Reign and that was first practised on the Countess of Salisbury Cardinal Pools Mother whom by an affectation contrary to our Rules he calls Princess Margaret the Title Princess being affected in England to our Kings Children and not being so much as given to their Brothers Children who are only called Ladies this piece of Tyranny was that she was condemned without being brought to make her Defence or to be heard Answer for herself Now I leave it to the Reader to judge how well informed Mr. Varillas is who is ignorant of that which is to be found in every one of our Writers that have given the History of that time and which would have furnished him with the best Article of his whole Satyr against King Henry XIV He tells us that Calvin writ an Apology for King Henry's conduct in that matter upon which he makes a long excursion But I know nothing of this matter I believe it not a whit the better because Mr. Varillas sayes it and it does not appear among his printed Works He adds that the accusation was false that was brought against Card. Pool as if he had formed a design to raise Troops in Picardy and Normandy and to make a descent with them to assist the Zealous Catholicks of England one reason that he gives to prove it false is that the English were at that time Masters of the Sea The good opinion that Mr. Varillas has of the Rebellions of the Zealous Catholicks of England returns often in this kind Epithet that he bestows on them But for this accusation of Cardinal Pools our Author may very well answer it for I believe it was never made by any before himself yet so unhappy is he that he must discover his Ignorance in every Page and Line of his Book The Kings of England had then no Fleets and so they were not Masters of the Sea unless he means that the Soveraignty of the four Sea 's belonged to the Crown of England in which sense I acknowledg that not only then but at all times the King of England is Master of the Sea XV. Mr. Varillas after he had carried his Romance to make the round to other parts returns back to England but I do not know by what ill luck it is that there is not one single Paragraph that relates to our Affairs that is true
A Continuation OF REFLECTIONS ON M r. VARILLAS's History of Heresies Particularly on that which Relates to ENGLISH AFFAIRS In his Third and Fourth Tomes By G. BURNET D. D. AMSTERDAM Printed for J. S. 1687. PREFACE ALL that is necessary to be said in the way of a Preface to these Reflections is that the References made here to Mr. Varillas's History are according to the Paris Edition these Reflections were writ before the Dutch Edition appeared otherwise the Pages should have related to both according to the one and the other This will be some Inconvenience to those who have only the latter But since I was resolved to attack Mr. Varillas in an Edition for which he was accountable and to do it with such expedition that his Book might have as little time to do Mischief as was possible I hope the Reader will forgive me the Trouble to which he is put in seeking out the Places on which I make my Reflections G. BURNET ERRATA Page 32. line 24. days read Dates P. 44. l. 9. Surrendess r. Surrenders P. 129. l. 25. any r. many REFLECTIONS On that which relates to ENGLISH AFFAIRS In the Third and Fourth Volum of Mr. Varillas's History of Heresies MR. Varillas thinks that all his Imaginations are matters of such Importance that they deserve to be presented to the King and because Panegyricks are things acceptable to Princes as well as to all other men he it seems has projected one and that we may judge of the piece by a pattern he lets the King of France know that he has found out two extraordinary Subjects for the enriching that Master-piece of his Eloquence which perhaps he has in design that when the quality of an Historian fails him yet his appointments may be continued to him as the Kings Panegyrist But if one expects common things he is much mistaken for as Mr. Varillas has told us that he loves to rise above the Vnlgar so he has found out a Topick for his Masters praise on which no man would ever have thought besides himself some have compared the King to Alexander the Great and others to Augustus some to Trajan and others to Charles the Great in short all that is most eminent in Ancient or Modern History has been brought forth to raise his Glory but no body before Mr. Varillas thought that it would raise the Kings Character much to give him the preference to a Woman yet since he thought that stroke was wanting to make a compleat Panegyrick one would have expected to have seen some of the Chief of the Sex brought out a Semiramis a Zenobia or for all her Heresy a Queen Elisabeth had made the comparison less odious but to set the short and despised Reign of a Princess that drew on her self the Aversion of her Husband and the contempt of all her People in any sort of comparison with Lewis le Grand is a sublime becoming our Author But as the comparison and the preference is a strain a little too humble for the present Reign so the two points on which this part of his piece of Oratory is to be enlarged are mistakes of such a nature that I do not know how a man could contrive it to put two such conspicuous ones in so remarkable a part of his book The one is that Queen Mary satisfied her self with the re-establishing of the Catholick Religion in her Dominions without endeavouring to destroy the Calvinists whereas His Majesty has not stopt half way as that Princess did and here he trys the full strength of his Sublime to set forth the Kings Glory in his extirpating Heresy But one would be tempted to ask Mr. Varillas whether he has ever read the History of that Queens Reign or not for by his way of writing one is disposed to believe that he knows not yet what her Reign will be when he comes to write it he has not yet made her Character he thought softness became the Sex so it seems he will represent her gentle and feeble in all her actings and it must be so otherwise the Panegyrick will be quite spoiled but what will our Author say when he finds there were two hundred eighty four burnt by her that She was not satisfied with all the Laws that had been anciently made against Herefy nor with executing them with a rigour that had nothing of the softness of her Sex in it Bishops and other Churcbmen being put in prison long before those severe Laws were made and kept there till there should be colour in Law to make them Sacrifices to the zeal of the Priests she was apt enough to shew Mercy on all other occasions but was never guilty of any towards Hereticks she gave Commissions that came very near the Courts of Inquisition and besides the evidences of those that I have given in my History I have since that time seen a Register of the Earl of Sussex's Letters and in it there is a Secret Article of the Directions that the Queen sent him in which he is ordered to have two or three Spies in every Parish who should be engaged by Oath to observe and discover every mans behaviour and upon whose Informations men were to be examined and punished without discovering the Informers this was to act in the Spirit of an Inquisition all the difference was that Lay-men had still the management of it who have naturally Bowels and Compassions which is defaced by the indelible Character The Queen set on the Persecution with so much rigour that she herself writ Letters to animate even the bloodiest of all the Bishops Bonner if at any time Compassion softned his spirit a little There were eight ten and thirteen sometimes burning all in one fire neither Age nor Sex made any difference and the Cripple and the Blind were burnt at the same stake Now I do not deny but Galleys and Dungeons and a butcher-like De Rapine of Valence are really dreadfuller things than a quick end of ones misery tho by fire yet so many fires had more lustre and lookt more terrible so this part of the Panegyrick will fail Mr. Varillas and he will find that Queen Mary had the better of his Monarch It is true great numbers seemed to comply in Q. Mary's time as well as they have lately done in France and as we find by Pliny's Letter to Trajan the Christians of those days did upon the first threatning of a Persecution and when this fell out while the Apostles were but newly dead and while so much of an extraordinary spirit remained still in the Church it is not to be wondred at if in our days too many have preferred this present World to the Faith and to a good Conscience but as that forced compliance had no other effect besides the giving those who had not the courage to stand firm so much the more horrour at their Persecutors so it very quickly turned the spirits of the whole Nation to a detestation of a
condemning men without hearing them was applied to himself so he was condemned and executed the 6. of Iuly his body being cut up as is usual to Traitors and Quartered And to justify all this he cites on the margin Cromwells Process But that Process or rather the Act of Parliament that condemned him is in print taken from the Record in which there is not one word of all this business of signing a League with Forreign Princes without the Kings orders 2. No such thing can be done according to our forms Amhassadours that have formal powers can sign Leagues but the Ministers about the King cannot bind him nor sign Leagues without him and no Prince would have either asked or accepted any such thing 3. All that is objected to Cromwell in his condemnation is so Inconsiderable that it is plain there was no great matter against him some Malversations and illegal Warrants some high boasting words is all that is to be found in his Attaindor 4. There was no such Law ever made for Parliaments do not make Laws with relation to their own proceedings but this practice was indeed begun not three moneths but a full year before this 5. Mr. Varillas is incurable in his venturing upon Dates for Cromwels Execution was not on the 6. but on the 18. of Iuly 6. Cromwel was only beheaded it is true the Hangman did it in a butcherly manner but all the rest is fiction and I am not much concerned whether Florimond or Mr. Varillas is the Contriver XXVIII He says Anne of Cleves was terrified with a Sentence of Death as being a Heretick and that She was so far wrought on by that as to become the Chief Instrument of her own Degradation for She confessed that She had promised Marriage to another before King Henry had pretended to her upon which her Marriage was dissolved and She was sent back to Germany I have already shewed the falsehood of this from the Sentence it self that dissolved the Marriage Nor did She ever go back to Germany but stayd still in England being contented with the appointments that were set off for her and with the honour of being made the King's adopted Sister which it seems was more supportable to her than to return to her own Countrey with the Infamy of such a Degradation which she indeed bore either with the constancy of a great Philosopher or with the insensibility of one that was extreamly stupid XXIX He tells us of a new project of a Reconciliation with the Pope in which he is so particular as to set down the Articles that were proposed and King Henry's Exceptions to them and he tells us at last That King Henry stood so much on the point of Honour that he thought it below his Dignity to make any Submission to the Pope All this is Fiction without the least proof for it does not appear that after that proposition that was made upon Anne Bullen's fall there was ever the least step made by either side in this matter Our Author had heard there was one made but not knowing where to place it his fancy rambled about Indeed the King was so much alienated from the Court of Rome that Gardiner and Knevet being sent Ambassadours to the Diet at this time one discovered to Knevet some secret Enterviews that had passed between Gardiner and the Legate which Gardiner considered as so great an Injury to him and as that which must have ruined him in the Kings spirit that he prosecuted the Informer as a Slanderer and got him to be put in Prison concerning which his Letters to the King are in print which shew clearly that there was no such Negotiation at this time on foot otherwise those secret Enterviews could not have been such offensive things XXX Mr. Varillas says That the K. who would not submit himself so far as to confess his Sins did a much meaner thing for he accused his Queen Katherine Howard to the Parliament for her disorders both before and after her Marriage with Thomas Culper and Francis Dirham and so her Head was cut off There are few Writers that do not at some time or other tell things true but Mr. Varillas must needs be an extraordinary person and commit such Errors as no other man ever did before him Catherine Howard's Incontinence was discovered and proved many moneths before the Parliament met nor would the King at all appear in the business as it is expresly mentioned in the Record It were too great an Honour to our Author to insist on such small Faults as that he names the Persons wrong XXXI Nor ought I to make any great Account of his Ignorance of our English Families since he calls Catherine Parre Sister to the Earl of Essex who was Sister to the Marquis of Northampton these things might indeed be forgiven him if it were not that he sets them down to shew how well he is informed even in the smallest matters which no doubt will make some Impression on Strangers who do not know our Affairs nor our Pedigrees XXXII He reproaches the Emperour for making a League with Henry against Francis notwithstanding his Schism But why might not Charles the fifth do the same thing that Francis had done for seven years together It is known that Francis was not so scrupulous as to decline the making of any League that might be to his Advantage not only with Schismaticks but even with Mahometans and some have been so malicious as to say that this is a maxim that some of his Successors have thought fit to keep up and put in practise against the House of Austria XXXIII Mr. Varillas tells us That Richer was appointed to set on the King of Denmark against England and that he represented to him that King Henry had taken occasion to come over to Picardy at the same time that Charles the fifth entred into Champaigne with a formidable Army and that K. Henry had besieged Bulloigne and tahen it therefore the K. of France resolved to make England the scene of the War and that since he knew the great pretensions that the Crown of Denmark had upon England which his Subjects had formerly conquered he thought the present conjuncture proper for the renewing these so he invited him to share with him and to accept the Provinces that lay over against Denmark while the French King should seise on those that lay nearer him Now it is to be considered that this was in the year 1542. as he warns us by his Margin and all this is founded as he told us in his Preface on Richers Negotiation of whose Relation he makes so great an account telling us both that he was the first that negotiated according to form with the Kings of the North and owning that he had drawn his thirteenth Book out of his Memoirs in which there are some things that by the order of time had belonged to his fifth Book but he had not seen those