vsed also manie wittie sayings as that it is an easie matter in some cases for a man to loose his head and yet to haue no harme at all Good deedes the world being vngratefull is wont neuer to recompence neither can it though it were gratefull Speaking of heretikes he would say they haue taken away hipocrisie but they haue placed impudencie in the roome thereof so that they which before fayned themselues to be religious now doe boaste of their wickednesse He prayed thus O Lord God grant that I endeauour to gett those things for which I am to pray vnto thee When he had anie at his table speaking detraction he would interrupt them thus Lett anie man thinke as he pleaseth I like this roome very well for it is well contriued and fayrely built Of an vngratefull person he would say that they wrote good turnes donne vnto them in the dust but euen the least iniuries in marble He compareth reason to a handmayde which if she be well taught will obey and Faith to the mistrisse which is to keepe her in awe captiuans intellectum in obsequium fidei To seeke for the truth amongst heretikes is like to a man wandring in a desert meeting with a companie of lewde fellowes of whome he asketh his way they all turning back to backe each poynteth right before him assureth him that that is his true way though neuer so contrarie one to the other He sayth that he were a madde man that would drinke poyson to take a preseruatiue after that but he is a wise man that spilling the poison leaueth the antidote for him that hath need thereof As it is an easier thing to weaue a new nett rather then to sowe vp all the holes of an olde euen so it is a lesse labour to translate the Bible a new then to mende heretical versions He is not wise that eateth the bread which is poysoned by his enemies although he should see a friend of his scrape it away neuer so much especially hauing other bread to eate not poysoned The heretikes saying that none ought to fast but when they are troubled with the motions of the flesh he answereth if it be so no married man needes to fast for they haue another remedie athand and virgins durst not fast least wanton fellowes should marke them when carnall temptations most assayle them and this were for one to shew to others their fleshlie fraylties He was wont to say that he may well be adadmitted to heauen who was verie desirous to see God but on the contrarie side he that doth not desire earnestly shall neuer be admitted thither Against an heretike he speaketh thus that if monasticall life be against the Gospell as you seeme to say it must needes be that the gospell be contrarie vnto it and that were to say that Christ taught vs to pamper ourselues carefully to eate well to drinke well to sleepe well and flowe in all lust and pleasure Yf Faith cannot be without good workes why then bable you so much against good workes which are the fruicts of fayth That people should fall into bad life and lust is as great a miracle he saith as stones to fall downewards Whereas he sayth you inueighe against Schoole-Diuinitie because truth is there called in doubt not without danger we inueighe against you because false matters are held by you vndoubtedly for truth it selfe These good fellowes speaking of heretikes will rather hang out of Gods vinyarde then suffer themselues to be hired into it Heretikes writings seing they conclude no good thing are altogeather tedious be they neuer so short And againe As none can runne a shorter race then he that wantes both his feete so none can write shorter then he that hath not anie good matter nor fitt wordes to expresse it When an heretike tolde him that he should not write against heretikes vnlesse he could conuerte them he sayd that it was like as if one should not finde faulte with burners of housen vnlesse he were able to builde them vp againe at his owne charge He telleth that heretikes vse to frame Catholikes arguments very weake and friuolous that they may the more easily confute them euen as little children make houses of tyleshardes which they cast downe with great sporte againe presently Of their contumelious speaches against himself he sayth I am not so voyde of reason that I can expect reasonable matter from such vnreasonable men When they sayd his writings were nothing but ieasting toyes he sayth I scarce belieue that these good brethren can finde anie pleasant thing in my bookes for I write nothing in them that may be pleasing vnto them When the heretike Constantine had broken prison in his house he bad his man goe locke the doore fast and see the place mended sure least he should come back againe and when the heretikes reported that he was sorie for this that he could not for anger eate in three daies he answered that he was not so harsh of disposition to finde fault with anie man for rising and walking when he sate not at his ease All his English workes were sett out togeather in a great volume whilst Q. Marie raigned by Iudge Rastall Sir THOMAS his sister's sonne by which workes one may see that he was verie skillfull in Schoole-Diuinitie and matters of Controuersie for he argueth sharpely he confirmeth the truth profoundly and citeth both Scriptures and Fathers most aptely besides he vrgeth for the aduerse parte more a great deale then anie heretike euer did that wrote before him But to see how he handleth Luther vnder the name of one Rosse would do anie man good faining that Rosse wrote his booke from Rome against the most ridiculous and scurrilous pāphlett which Luther had made against King Henrie the eighth who of good zeale had sett out with great praise a booke in defence of the Seauen Sacraments the Pope's authoritie for which Pope Leo the tenth gaue him the tile of Defender of the Faith Wherefore in defence of his Soueraigne whome Luther had most basely rayled at calling him often Thomistical asse that he would beray the king's Crowne who was not worthie to wipe his shoes with manie other scurrilous speaches Sir THOMAS painteth out the fowle mouthed fellowe in his liuelie coulours and made him so enraged that it stung him more then anie other booke that euer was sett out against him Finally in euerie one of his bookes whensoeuer he toucheth anie controuersie he doth it so exactly that one may see that he had diligently read manie great Diuines and that he was very well seene in S. Thomas the father of all Diuinitie this may be an euident signe which his Secretarie Iohn Harris a man of sound iudgement and great pietie reported of him that on a time an hereticall booke newly printed and
that be enuenomed and poysoned with these pestilent heresies would with indifferent mindes reade the sayd Sir THOMAS MORE 's answer there were good hope as it hath God be thanked chanced to manie alreadie of their good speedie recouerie But alacke the while and woe vpon the subtle craft of the cursed diuell that so blindeth them and the wretched negligent and little regarde that these men haue to their soule 's health that can be content to sucke in the deadlie poyson of their soules by reading and crediting these mischieuous bookes yet will not once vouchsafe to take the holesome depulsiue Triacle not to be fetched from Geneua but euen readie at home at their hands in Sir THOMAS MORE 's bookes against this dreadfull deadlie infection But to returne now againe to the sayd Tindall Lord what open fowle and shamefull shifts doth he make for the defence of his wrong and pestiferous assertions with what spitefull shamefull lyes doth he belye Sir THOMAS MORE and wretchedly depraueth his writings not being ashamed though his playne manifest wordes lye open to the sight of all men to the cōtrarie to depraue his answers And amongst other that he should affirme that the Church of Christ should be before the Gospell was taught or preached which things he neither writeth nor once thought as a most absurde vntruth but that it was as it is very true before the written Gospell And the sayd Sir THOMAS MORE seing that by Tindall's owne confession the Church of God was in the world manie hūdred yeares before the written lawes of Moyses doth well thereof gather and conclude against Tindall that there is no cause to be yeelded but that much more it may be so and is so indeede in the gracious time of our redemption the holie Ghost that leadeth the Church from time to time into all truth being so plentiefully effused vpon the same The Church of Christ is and euer hath bene in manie things instructed necessarie to be belieued that be not in anie Scripture comprized These manie other strong reasons to proue the common knowne Catholike Church and none other to be the true Church of Christ And seing we doe not knowe the verie bookes of Scripture which thing Luther himselfe confesseth but by the knowen Catholike Church we must of necessitie take the true and found vnderstanding of the sayd Scriptures and all our fayth from the sayd Church which vnderstanding is confirmed in the sayde Church from the Apostles time by infinite miracles and with the consent of the olde Fathers and holie martyrs with manie other substantiall reasons that Sir THOMAS MORE here layeth downe haue so appaled and amazed Tindall that he is like a man that were in an inexplicable labyrinth whereof he can by no meanes gett out And Tindall being thus brought oftentimes to a bay and vtter distresse he scuddeth in and out like a hare that had twentie brace of grayhounds after her and were afeared at euerie foote to be snatched vpp And as Sir THOMAS MORE merrily yet truly writeth he did winde himself so wilily this way and that way and so shifteth him in out and with his subtile shifting so bleareth our eyes that he maketh vs as blinde as a catt and so snareth vs vp in his matters that we can no more see where about he walketh then yf he went visible before vs all naked in a nett in effect playeth the verie blinde hobbe about the house sometimes when there is no other shift then Tindall is driuen to excuse himselfe and his doings as he doth for the word Presbyter which he translated first Senior then Elder wherein for excuse of his fault at great length he declareth 4. fayre vertues in himselfe malice ignorance errour and follie And where that he sayd he had amended his fault in translating Elder for Senior this is a like amending as yf he would where a man were blinde on the one eye amende his sight by putting out the other As Sir THOMAS MORE answered Tindall touching his vnknowen Church so did he also Fryer Barnes for in that point both agreed and would haue the Church secrett and hidd in hugger mugger but in the meane season they handle the matter so hansomely and so artificially that their owne reasons plucke downe their vnknowne Church And albeit they would haue vs belieue the Church were vnknowen yet doe they giue vs tokens and markes whereby it should be knowen And in pervsing the vnknowne Church they fall into manie foolish and absurde paradoxes that Sir THOMAS MORE discouereth And this vnknowē Church would they fayne reare vp in the ayre to plucke downe the knowen Catholike Churh on the earth and so leaue vs no Church at all which Church to ouerthrowe is their finall and onlie hope for that standing they well knowe their malignant Church cannot stande being by the Catholike Church both now manie hundred yeares condemned These and manie other things doth Sir THOMAS more at large full well declare and setteth the limping and halting goodwife of the Bottle at Bottles wharfe at disputation with F. Barnes in which the indifferent reader shall see that she did not so much limpe and halte as did the lame and weake reasons that F. Barnes brought against her of his vnknowen Church which she vtterly ouerthroweth but yet as they doe both Tindal and Barnes agree as we haue sayd in their secrett vnknowen Church so in other points touching their sayd Church as in manie other articles besides they doe iarre and disagree and not so much the one from the other as from themselues as Sir THOMAS MORE sheweth more at large For sayth he as they that would haue built vp the Tower of Babylon had such a stoppe throwen vpon them that suddenly none knewe what another sayd surely so God vpon these heretikes of our time that goe busily about to rayse vp to the skye their fowle filthie dunghill of all olde and new false skin king heresies gathered togeather against the true Catholike fayth of Christ that himself hath hitherto taught his true Catholike Church God I say when the Apostles went about to preache the Catholike fayth sent downe the holie spirit of vnitie Concorde and truth vnto them with the guift of speach and vnderstanding so that they vnderstood euerie man and euerie man vnderstood them sent amongst these heretikes the spiritt of errour and lying of dissension and diuision the damnable diuell of hell which so entangleth their toungs and distempereth their braynes that they neither vnderstande one another nor anie of them well himselfe The bookes of the sayd Tindall and Barnes are more farced and stuffed with ieasting and rayling then with anie good substantiall reasoning and notwithstanding that a man would thinke that Tindall were in fonde scoffing peerelesse yet as Sir THOMAS MORE declareth Barnes doth farre ouerrunne him and oftentimes fareth as if he were from a Fryer waxen a fidler and
where he would still offer him the place of precedence though the Iudge by reason of his sonne 's office did still refuse it such was the pietie and submissiue minde of this humble man such againe was the prouident care of the father towards his sonne that one can hardly guesse which of the two were more worthie the father of such a sonne or the sonne of such a father yet I iudge the father more happie that enioyed such an admirable sonne and wish that my Children may imitate in this kinde their vertuous Anncestours 4. When this towardlie youth was come to the age of eighteene yeares he beganne to shew to the world his ripenesse of witt for he wrote manie wittie and goodlie Epigrammes which are to be seene in the beginning of his English Workes he composed also manie prettie and elegant verses of the Vanitie of this life and the inconstancie thereof which his father caused to be sett vp with pictures and pageants which are also in the beginning of his greate English Volume he translated for his exercise one of Lucian's Orations out of Greeke into Latine which he calleth his first fruits of the Greeke toung and thereto he added another Oratiō of his owne to answer that of Lucian's for as he defended him who had slaine a tyrant he opposeth against it another with such forcible arguments that this seemeth not to giue place to Lucian either in inuention or eloquence As concerning his diuerse Latine Epigrammes which he either translated out of Greeke into Latine or else composed of his owne manie famous authours that then liued doe make mention of them with great praise For Beatus Rhenanus in his epistle to Bilibaldus Pitcheimerus writeth thus THOMAS MORE is maruelous in euerie respect for he compoundeth most eloquently and translateth most happily how sweetly doe his verses flowe from him hovv nothing in them seemeth constrained hovv easie are all things there that he speaketh of nothing is hard nothing rugged nothing obscure he is pure he is vvittie he is elegant besides he doth temper all things vvith mirth as that I neuer read a merrier man I could thinke that the Muses haue heaped vpon him lone all thei pleasant conceipts and vvittie merriments moreouer his quippes are not biting but full of pleasantnesse and verie proper yea rather anie thing then stinging for he ieasteth but vvithout mordacitie he scoffeth yet vvithout contumelie The like iudgement of his Epigrammes doth that famous Poëte Leodgarius à Quercu publike Reader of Humanitie in Paris giue and that not so much by his words as by his deedes For he hauing gathered of the Epigrammes of diuerse famous men a Collection he hath sett out more Epigrammes of Sir THOMAS MORE' 's then of anie other writer yet because rarenesse of anie excellent qualitie is still enuyed by some man or other one Brixius a German wrote a booke against these Epigrammes of Sir THOMAS MORE 's which he called Antimorus with such commendation that Erasmus earnestly besought Sir THOMAS that he would not ouerwhelme his friend Brixius with such an answer as his rashnesse deserued adding this of this his foolish booke Antimorus I heare vvhat learned men speake of Brixius novv after he hath vvritten his Antimore vvhich as I heare it not vvillingly of him so vvould I lesse vvillingly heare thē so speake of you vvherefore seing I perceaue hovv hard a matter it is to temper an ansvver to so spitefull a booke but that you must giue some scope vnto your passions I deeme it best for you not to regard but vvholy to contemne the matter yet this I vvould not counsell you my best friend to doe if there vvere anie thing in that malitious Antimore vvhich did truly blemish your fame so that it vvere necessarie for you to vvipe it avvay c. Which friendlie counsell Sir THOMAS MORE in some sorte followed for although he had answered Brixius fully in a little treatise which alreadie he had published before Erasmus his letter came to his hands yet vpon the receipt thereof he endeauoured by all the meanes he could to gett all the Coppies againe into his hands and so to suppresse the booke so that it is now very hardly to be found though some haue seene it of late And Sir THOMAS sent Erasmus a letter to this effect that although Brixius by his malitious booke had endeauoured so much to disgrace him that he wanted no will but skill and power to ouerthrowe his fame vtterly yet this should preuayle more with him that Brixius was friend to Erasmus then that he was his owne enemie Which kinde of answer sheweth expressely how easie he was to forgiue iniuries especially this being such a one as touched him so neare in his reputation following herein the counsell of Christ himselfe in the gospell of S. Matthew who sayth Loue your enemies and doe good to them that hate you that you may be the true imitatours of God vvho causeth the sonne to shine as vvell vpon the wicked as vpon the iust But can we thinke so heroicall an acte in so yong yeares for he was not now of the full age of twentie could proceede from one who had not bene practised before in the schoole of Christ and in the earnest searche of perfection surely no for this yong man had euen from his infancie laboured with allmight and mayne to enriche himselfe with vertues knowing that learning without vertue is to sett pretious stones in rotten wood and as the wise man saith a golde ring in a haggs snowte 5. When he was about eighteene or twentie yeares olde finding his bodie by reason of his yeares most rebellious he sought diligently to tame his vnbrideled concupiscence by wonderfull workes of mortification He vsed oftentimes to weare a sharp shirt of hayre next his skinne which he neuer left of wholy no not when he was Lo Chancellour of England Which my grandmother on a time in the heate of sommer espying laught at not being much sensible of such kinde of spirituall exercises being carried away in her youth with the brauerie of the world and not knowing quae sunt spiritus wherein the true wisedome of a Christian man consisteth He added also to this austeritie a discipline euerie fryday and high fasting dayes thinking that such cheere was the best he could bestowe vpon his rebellious bodie rather then that the handmayde sensualitie should growe too insolent ouer her mistrisse Reason hauing learned the true interpretation of these wordes of Christ He that hateth his life in this vvorld keepeth it for life euerlasting He vsed also much fasting and watching lying often either vpon the bare ground or vpon some bench or laying some logg vnder his head allotting himselfe but foure or fiue howers in a night at the most for his sleepe imagining with the holie Saints of Christs Church that his bodie was to be vsed like an asse with strokes and hard fare least prouender
time hath bene betvveene vs as also in respect of the sinceritie of your minde because you vvould be alvvaies readie to take thankefully vvhatsoeuer in this vvorke should seeme gratefull vnto you and whatsoeuer should be barren therein you vvould make a courteous construction thereof whatsoeuer might be vnpleasing you vvould be vvilling to pardon I vvould to God I had as much vvitt and learning as I am not altogeather destitute of memorie As for Bishopp Tunstall he was a learned man and wrote a singuler booke of the reall presēce And although during king Henrie's raigne he went with the sway of the time for who almost did otherwise to the great griefe of Sir THOMAS MORE yet liuing to the time of Q. Elizabeth whose Godfather he was when she berayed the fonte in his olde age seing her take strange courses against the Church he came from Durham and stoutely admonished her not to change religiō which if she presumed to doe he threatned her to leese Gods blessing and his She nothing pleased with his threates made him be cast into prison as most of the Bishops were where he made a glorious ende of a Confessour and satisfyed for his former crime of Schisme contracted in the time of king Henrie's raigne Sir THOMAS MORE 's friendshipp with the glorious Bishop of Rochester was neither short nor small but had long continued and ended not with their famous martyrdomes See how good Bishop Fisher writeth vnto him Lett I pray you our Cambridge men haue some hope in you to be fauoured by the king's Maiestie that our schollars may be stirred vp to learning by the countenance of so vvorthie a prince VVe haue fevv friends in the Court vvich can or vvill commende our causes to his royall Maiestie and amongst all vve accounte you the chiefe vvho haue alvvaies fauoured vs greatly euen vvhen you vvere in a meaner place and novv also shevv vvhat you can doe being mised to the honour of knighthood and in such great fauour vvith our prince of vvhich vve greately reioyce and also doe congratulate your happinesse Giue furtherance to this youth vvho is both a good schollar in Diuinitie and also a sufficient preacher to the people For he hath hope in your fauour that you can procure him greate furtherance and that my commendations vvill helpe him to your fauour To this Sir THOMAS MORE answereth thus This Priest Reuerend Father vvhome you vvrite to be in possibilitie of a Bishopricke if he might haue some vvorthie suiter to speake for him to the king I imagine that I haue so preuayled that his Maiestie vvill be no hindrance thereto c. Yf I haue anie fauour vvith the king vvhich truly is but litle but vvhatsoeuer I haue I vvill employ all I can to the seruice of your Fatherhood and your schollars to vvhome I yeelde perpetuall thankes for their deare affections tovvards me often testifyed by their louing letters and my house shall be open to them as though it vvere their ovvne Farevvell vvorthie and most courteous prelate and see you loue me as you haue donne His loue and friendshipp with yong Poole afterwards a famous Cardinal may be seene by their letters he maketh mention of him with great praise in a letter he wrote to his welbeloued daughter Margaret Rooper in this wise I cannot expresse in vvriting nor scarcely can conceyue it by thought hovv gratefull to me your most eloquent letters deare daughter Margarett are Whilst I vvas reading them there happened to be vvith me Reinald Poole that most noble youth not so noble by birth as he is singularly learned and excellently endevved vvith all kinde of vertue to him your letter seemed as a miracle yea before he vnderstoode hovv neare you were besett with the shortenesse of time and the molestation of your vveake infirmitie hauing notvvithstanding sent me so long a letter I could scarce make him belieue but that you had some helpe from your Maister vntill I tolde him seriously that you had not only neuer a maister in your house but also neuer another man that needed not your helpe rather in vvriting anie thing then you needed his And in another to Doctour Clement a most famous phisitian and one that was brought vp in Sir THOMAS his owne house he sayth thus I thanke you my deare Clement for that I finde you so carefull of my health and my childrens so that you prescribe in your absence vvhat meates are to be auoided by vs. And you my friend Poole I render double thankes both because you haue vouchsafed to sende vs in vvriting the counsell of so great a phisitian and besides haue procured the same for vs from your mother a most excellent and noble matrone and vvorthie of so great a sonne so as you do not seeme to be more liberall of your counsell then in bestovving vpon vs the thing itselfe vvhich you counsell vs vnto VVherefore I loue and praise you both for your bountie and fidelitie And of Sir THOMAS MORE 's friendship Cardinal Poole boasteth much after his martyrdome in his excellent booke De vnitate Ecclesia saying yf you thinke that I haue giuen scope to my sorrowe because they were my best beloued friends that were putt to death meaning Sir THOMAS MORE and Bishop Fisher I do both acknowledge and professe it to be true most willingly that they both were deare vnto me aboue all others For how can I dissemble this seing that I doe reioyce more of their loue towards me then if I should boaste that I had gotten the dearest familiaritie withall the princes of Christendome His frienshipp also with Doctour Lea afterwards the worthie Archbishopp of Yorke was not small nor fayned although he had written an excellent booke against Erasmus his Annotations vpon the new Testament Erasmus being then Sir THOMAS his intire friend and as it were the one halfe of his owne hart For Sir THOMAS writeth thus vnto him Good Lea that you request of me not to suffer my loue to be diminished tovvards you trust me good Lea it shall not though of myselfe I incline rather to that parte that is oppugned And as I could vvish that this Cittie vvere freed from your siege so vvill I alvvaies loue you and be glad that you do so much esteeme of my loue He speaketh also of Lupset a singular learned man of that time in an epistle to Erasmus Our friend Lupsett readeth with great applause in both toungs at Oxford hauing a great auditorie for he succeedeth my Iohn Clement in that charge What familiaritie there was betwixt him and Doctour Collett Grocine Linacre and Lillie all singuler men we haue spoken of heretofore VVilliam Montioy a man of great learning and VVilliam Lattimer not Hugh the heretike that was burnt but another most famous for vertue and good letters were his verie great acquaintance as also Iohn Croke that read Greeke first at Lipsia in Germanie and was after King Henrie's Greek maister
wherein I may really show vnto you my loue there God vvilling I vvill neuer be vvanting Commende me to my Mistrisse your vvife for I dare not novv inuerte the order begunne and to your vvhole familie vvhome mine doth vvith all their harts salute From my house in the Countrie this 10th of Iune 1528. Conradus Goclenius a Westphalian was commended by Erasmus vnto Sir THOMAS MORE thus I praise your disposition my dearest MORE exceedingly for that your content is to be rich in faithfull and sincere friends and that you esteeme the greatest felicitie of this life to be placed therein Some take great care that they may not be cosened vvith counterfaite ievvells but you cōtemning all such trifles seeme to yourself to be rich enough if you can but gett an vnfayned friend For there is no man taketh delight either in Cardes dice Chesse hunting or musike so much as you doe in discoursing vvith a learned and pleasant conceyted Companion And although you are stored vvith this kinde of riches yet because that I knovve that a couetous man hath neuer enough and that this manner of my dealing hath luckily happened both to you and me diuerse times heretofore I deliuer to your custodie one friend more vvhome I vvould haue you accept vvith your vvhole hart His name is Conradus Goclenius a Westphalian vvho hath vvith great applause and no lesse fruit lately taught Rhetorick in the College nevvly erected at Louaine called Trilingue Novv I hope that as soone as you shall haue true experience of him I shall haue thankes of you both for so I had of Cranuilde vvho so vvholy possesseth your loue that I almost enuie him for it But of all strangers Erasmus challenged vnto himself his loue most especially which had long continued by mutuall letters expressing great affection and increased so much that he tooke a iournie of purpose into England to see and enioy his personall acquaintance and more intire familiaritie at which time it is reported how that he who conducted him in his passage procured that Sir THOMAS MORE and he should first meete togeather in London at the Lo Mayor's table neither of them knowing each other And in the dinner time they chanced to fall into argument Erasmus still endeauouring to defende the worser parte but he was so sharpely sett vpon and opposed by Sir THOMAS MORE that perceauing that he was now to argue with a readier witt then euer he had before mett withall he broke forth into these wordes not without some choler Aut tu es Morus aut nullus whereto Sir THOMAS readily replyed Aut tu es Erasmus aut diabolus because at that time he was strangely disguised and had sought to defende impious propositions for although he was a singular Humanist and one that could vtter his minde in a most eloquent phrase yet had he alwaies a delight to scoffe at religious matters and finde fault with all sortes of Clergie men He tooke a felicitie to sett out sundrie Commentaries vpon the Fathers workes censuring them at his pleasure for which cause he is tearmed Errans mus because he wandreth here and there in other mens haruests yea in his writings he is sayd to haue hatched manie of those eggs of heresie which the apostata Fryer Luther had before layde not that he is to be accounted an heretike for he would neuer be obstinate in anie of his opinions yet would he irreligiously glaunce at all antiquitie and finde manie faultes with the present state of the Church Whilst he was in England Sir THOMAS MORE vsed him most courteously doing manie offices of a deare friend for him as well by his word as his purse whereby he bound Erasmus so straytely vnto him that he euer after spoke and wrote vpon all occasions most highly in his praise but Sir THOMAS in successe of time grew lesse affectionate vnto him by reason he saw him still fraught with much vanitie and vnconstancie in respect of religion as when Tindall obiecteth vnto Sir THOMAS that his Darling Erasmus had translated the word Church into Congregation and Priest into Elder euen as himself had donne Sir THOMAS answered thereto yf my darling Erasmus hath translated those places with the like vvicked intent that Tindall hath donne he shall be no more my darling but the Diuells darling Finally long after hauing found in Erasmus's workes manie thinges necessarily to be amēded he counselled him as his friend in some latter booke to imitate the example of S. Augustin who did sett out a booke of Retractations to correct in his writing what he had vnaduisedly written in the heate of youth but he that was farre different from S. Augustin in humilitie would neuer follow his counsell and therefore he is censured by the Church for a Busie fellow manie of his bookes are condemned and his opinions accounted erroneous though he alwaies liued a Catholike Priest and hath written most sharpely against all those new Gospellers who then beganne to appeare in the world and in a letter to Iohn Fabius Bishopp of Vienna he sayth that he hateth these seditious opinions with the which at this day the world is miserably shaken neither doth he dissemble saith he being so addicted to pietie that if he incline to anie parte of the ballance he will bende rather to superstition then to impietie by which speach he seemeth in doubtfull words to taxe the Church with superstition and the new Apostolicall bretheren with impietie Now to conclude this matter of Sir THOMAS MORE 's friends lett vs heare what Erasmus speaketh of him in an epistle to Vlderick Hutten MORE seemeth to be made and borne for friendshipp vvhereof he is a most sincere follovver and a fast keeper neither doth he feare to be taxed for that he hath manie friends vvhich thing Hesiodus prayseth nothing euerie man may attaine to his friendshipp he is nothing slovve in choosing most apt in nourishing and most constant in keeping them yf by chance he falles into ones amitie whose vices he cannot amende he slackeneth the raines of friendshipp disioynting it by little and little rather then dissoluing it suddenly vvhome he findeth sincere and constant agreing vvith his ovvne good disposition he is so delighted vvith their companie and familiaritie that he seemeth to place his chiefe vvorldlie pleasure in such mens conuersation and although he be verie negligent in his ovvne temporall affaires yet none is more diligent then he in furthering his friends causes What neede I speake manie vvords yf anie vvere desirous to haue a perfect patterne of friendshipp none can make it better then MORE In his companie there is such rare affabilitie and such svveete behauiour that no man is of so harsh a nature but that his talke is able to make him merrie no matter so vnpleasing but he vvith his vvitt can shake from it all tediousnesse declaring plainely in these words the most pleasant disposition of Sir THOMAS MORE whose onlie
themselues to cardes or dice. The men abode on the one side of the house the women on the other seldome conuersing togeather he vsed before bedtime to call them togeather and say certaine prayers with them as the Miserere psalme Ad te Domine leuaui Deus misereatur nostri Salue Regina and De profundis for the dead and some others he suffered none to be absent from Masse on the Sondaies or vpon holie daies and vpon great feasts he gott them to watche the eeues all the Mattins time Vpon Good Fryday he would call them togeather into the New-buildings and reading the holie Passion vnto them he would now and then interpose some speaches of his owne to moue them either to compassion compunction or such pious affections Erasmus sayth that there was a fatall felicitie fallen on the seruants of that house that none liued but in better estate after Sir THOMAS MORE 's death none euer was touched with the least aspersion of anie euill fame He vsed to haue one reade daily at his table which being ended he would aske of some of them how they vnderstood such and such a place and so there grew a friendlie communication recreating all men that were present with some ieaste or other My aunte Rooper writing hereof to her father in the Tower sayth What doe you thinke my most deare father doth comfort vs at Chelsey in this your absence surely the remembrance of your manner of life passed amongst vs your holie conuersation your holesome counsells your examples of vertue of which there is hope that they do not only perseuere with you but that they are by Gods grace much more encreased 2. His children vsed often to translate out of English into Latine and out of Latine into English and Doctour Stapleton testifyeth that he hath sene an Apologie of Sir THOMAS MORE 's to the vniuersitie of Oxford in defence of learning turned into Latine by one of his daughters and translated againe into English by another And to stirre vp his wife and children to the desire of heauenlie things he would sometimes vse these and the like wordes vnto them It is now noe maisterie for you my ioyes to gett heauen for euerie bodie giueth you good example euerie one storeth your heads with good counsells you see also vertue rewarded and vice punished so that you are carried vp thither by the chinnes but yf you chance to liue that time wherein none will giue you good example nor none anie good counsell when you shall see before your eyes vertue punished and vice rewarded if then you will stand fast and sticke to God closely vpon paine of my life though you be but halfe good God will allowe you for whole good Yf his wife or anie of his children chanced to be sicke or troubled he would say vnto them we must not looke to goe to heauen at our pleasure and on fotherbeds that is not the way for our Lord himself went thither with greate paine and the seruant must not looke to be in better case then his maister As he would in this sorte animate them to beare their troubles patiētly so would he in like manner teache them to withstande the diuell and his temptations valiantly comparing our ghostlie enemye to an ape whith if he be not looked vnto he will be busie and bolde to doe shrewede turnes but if he be espyed and checked for them he will suddenly leape backe and aduenture no further so the diuell finding a man idle sluggish vsing no resistance to his suggestions waxeth hardie and will not fayle still to continue them vntill he hath throughly brought vs to his purpose but if he finde a man with diligence still seeking to withstand and preuent his temptations he waxeth wearie and at last he vtterly forsaketh him being a spiritt of so high a pride that he cannot endure to be mocked and againe so enuious that he feareth still least he not only thereby should catche a fowle fall but also minister vnto vs more matter of meritt When he saw anie of his take greate paines in dressing themselues to be fine either in wearing that which was vneasie or in stroaking vp their hayre to make themselues high foreheads he would tell them that if God gaue them not hell he should doe them great iniurie for they tooke more paynes to please the world and the diuell then manie euen vertuous men did to cleanse their soules and please God Manie such speaches tending to deuotion and care of their soules had he euerie day at dinner and supper after the reading was done as is before sayd with such heauenlie discourses flowing with eloquence that it might well be sayd of him which the Queene of Saba sayd of Salomon Blessed art thou and blessed by thy Lord God and blessed are all they that attende and wayte on thee For no doubt there was the spirite of God in that familie where euerie one was busied about somewhat or other no cardes no dice no companie keeping of the men with the women but as it were in some religious house all chaste all courteous all deuout their recreations was either musike of voices or viols for which cause he procured his wife as I haue sayd to play thereon to draw her minde from the worlde to which by nature she was too much addicted but so as Sir THOMAS would say of her that she was often penny-wise and pound-foolish sauing a candle's ende and spoyling a veluett gowne Of her also he meant it when in his bookes of Comfort in Tribulation he telleth of one who would rate her husband because he had no minde to sett himself forward in the world saying vnto him Tillie vallie tillie vallie will you sitt and make goslings in the ashes my mother hath often sayd vnto me it is better to rule then to be ruled Now in truth answered Sir THOMAS that is truly sayd good wife for I neuer found you yet willing to be ruled And in another place of the same booke he calleth this wife of his a iollie Maister-woman 3. For all his publike affayres and housholde exercises he neuer left of to write learned bookes either of deuotion or against heresies which now beganne to spreade themselues from Germanie into Flanders from thence into England by manie pestiferous pampheletts and bookes against which Sir THOMAS MORE laboured with his penne more then anie other English man whatsoeuer in regarde of his zeale to God and the honour of his immaculate spouse the Catholike Church as appeareth by his foure bookes of Dialogues a worke full of learning and witt where he argueth most profoundly of the Inuocation of Saints pilgrimages relikes and Images he teacheth also substantially how we may knowe which is the true Church and that that Church cannot erre After he had ended this booke there was a lewde fellow sett out a pamphlett intituled the Supplication of Beggers
by which vnder pretence of helping the poore he goeth about to cast out the Clergie and to ouerthrowe all Abbies and religious houses bearing men in hand that after that the Gospell should be preached beggars and bawdes should decrease thiefes and idle people be the fewer c. Against whome Sir THOMAS wrote a singular booke which he named A Supplication of the soules in Purgatorie making them there complaine of the most vncharitable dealing of certaine vpstarts who would perswade all men to take from thē the spirituall almes that haue bene in all ages bestowed vpon these poore soules who feele greater miserie then anie beggar in this world and he proueth most truly that an ocean of manie mischieuous euents would indeede ouerwhelme the realme Then sayth he shall Luther's gospell come in then shall Tindall's Testament be taken vp then shall false heresies be preached then shall the Sacraments be sett at naught then shall fasting and praier be neglected then shall holie Saints be blasphemed then shall Almightie god be displeased then shall he vvithdravve his grace and lett all runne to ruine then shall all vertue be had in derision then shall all vice raigne and runne forth vnbrideled then shall youth leaue labour and all occupation then shall folkes waxe idle and fall to vnthriftinesse then shall vvhores and thieues beggars and bavvdes increase then shall vnthriftes flocke togeather and eache beare him bolde of other then shall all lavves be laughed to scorne then shall seruants sett naught by their maisters and vnrulie people rebelle against their gouernours then vvill rise vp rifeling and robberie mischiefe and plaine insurrection vvhereof vvhat the ende vvill be or vvhen you shall see it onely God knovveth And that Luther's new Gospell hath taken such effect in manie partes of Christendome the woefull experience doth feelingly to the great griefe of all good folkes testifye to the world Of all which and that the land would be peopled to the deuouring of one another he writeth particularly more like one that had seene what had ensued alreadie then like one that spoke of things to come He wrote also a laboursome booke against Tindall refuting particularly euerie periode of his bookes a short treatise also against young Father Fryth in defence of the reall presence which that heretike did gainesay and for that was after burnt Against Fryer Barnes his church he wrote also an Apologie and a defence thereof vnder the name of Salem and Byzanze which are all sett forth togeather with that most excellent peece of worke comprised in three bookes of Comfort in Tribulation which subiect he handleth so wittily as none hath come neare him either in weight of graue sentences deuout considerations or fit similitudes seasoning alwaies the troublesomnesse of the matter with some merrie ieastes or pleasant tales as it were sugar whereby we drinke vp the more willingly these wholesome druggs of themselues vnsauorie to flesh and bloud which kinde of writing he hath vsed in all his workes so that none can euer be wearie to reade them though they be neuer so long 4. Wherefore I haue thought it not amisse to sett downe in this place amongst a thousand others some of his Apophthegmes which Doctour Stapleton hath collected in two whole Chapters Doe not thinke saith Sir THOMAS MORE that to be alwaies pleasant which madde men doe laughing For one may often see a man in Bedlem laugh when he knockes his head against the wall vttering this to condemne them that esteeme all things good or badde which the common people iudge to be Againe A sinner saith he cannot taste spirituall delights because all carnall are first to be abandoned By an excellent similitude he teacheth vs why few doe feare death thus Euen as they which looke vpon things afarre of see them confusedly not knowing whether they be men or trees euen so he that promiseth vnto himselfe long life looketh vpon death as a thing farre of not iudging what it is how terrible what griefes and dangers it bringeth with it And that none ought to promise himselfe long life he proueth thus Euen as two men that are brought out of prison to the gallowes one by a long way about the other by a direct short path yet neither knowing which is which vntill they come to the gallowes neither of these two can promise himself longer life the one then the other by reason of the vncertaintie of the way euen so a yong man cannot promise himself longer life then an olde man Against the vanitie of worldlie honour he speaketh thus Euen as that criminall person who is to be lead to execution shortly should be accounted vayne if he should engraue his Coate of Armes vpon the prison gate euen so are they vaine who endeauour to leaue with great industrie monuments of their dignitie in the prison of this world By a subtile dilemma he teacheth vs why we are not to thinke that we can be hurt by the losse of our superfluous goods in this manner he that suffereth anie losse of his goods he would either haue bestowed them with praise and liberalitie and so God will accept his will in steede of the deede itselfe or else he would haue waisted them wickedly and then he hath cause to reioyce that the matter of sinning is taken away To expresse liuely the follie of an olde couetous man he writeth thus a thiefe that is to dye to morrow stealeth to day and being asked why he did so he answered that it was a great pleasure vnto him to be maister of that money but one night so an olde miser neuer ceaseth to encrease his heape of coyne though he be neuer so aged To expresse the follie and madnesse of them that delight wholy in hording vp wealth he writeth in the person of the soules in purgatorie thus in his booke of the Supplication of the Soules We that are here in purgatorie when we thinke of our bags of golde which we horded vp in our life time we condemne laugh at our owne follie no otherwise then if a man of good yeares should finde by chance the bagg of Cherrie stones which he had carefully hidde when he was a childe In his booke of Comfort in tribulation that men should not be troubled in aduersitie he writeth thus The mindes of mortall men are so blinde and vncertaine so mutable and vnconstant in their desires that God could not punish men worse then if he should suffer euerie thing to happen that euerie man doth wish for The fruit of tribulation he describeth thus all punishment inflicted in hell is only as a iust reuenge because it is no place of purging In purgatorie all punishmēts purge only because it is no place of meritt but in this life euerie punishment can both purge sinne and procure meritt for a iust man because in this life there is place for both He
they haue raised in England and else where Thus did he by his words and deedes shew throughout the whole course of his life that all his thoughts trauailes and paines were only for the honour of God without respect either of his owne glorie or regarde of any earthlie cōmoditie For it may be seene by manie things as well deedes as letters how much he contemned the honours which were heaped vpon him daily by his Prince's speciall bountie and fauour towards him and my vncle Rooper testifyeth from his owne mouth in his latter daies that he professed vnto him that he neuer asked of the king for himselfe the value of one penny The like may be sayd of his contempt of riches and worldlie wealth but a fitter place to speake thereof may be had hereafter All which excellent endowments of his minde proceeded no doubt from the speciall fauour of Almightie God and the feruent zeale of this his seruat to attaine to perfectiō of all vertues He built a Chappell in his parish Church at Chelsey where the parish had all ornaments belonging therevnto abundantly supplyed at his charge and he bestowed there on much plate often speaking those wordes Good men giue it and badde men take it away He seldome vsed to feaste noble men but his poore neighbours often whome he would visite in their houses and bestowe vpon them his large liberalitie not groates but Crownes of golde yea more then that according to their wants He hired a house also for manie aged people in Chelsey whome he daily relieued and it was my aunte Rooper's charge to see them want nothing And when he was a priuate lawyer he would take no fees of poore folkes widowes nor pupills 2. A little before he was preferred to the dignitie of Chancellourshipp there were questions propounded to manie whether the king in the case of his first marriage needed haue anie scruple at all and if he had what way were best to deliuer him from it The most parte of his Counsell were of opinion that there was good cause of scruple because Q. Catherine was married before to Prince Arthur king Henrie's elder brother wherefore she was not to be wife to two brothers and therefore to ease the king's minde suite was to be made to the pope and the Sea of Rome where the king hoped by liberall guifts to obtaine what he desired but in this as after it appeared he was farre deceaued After this there was a Commission procured from Rome for triall and examination of this marriage in which the Cardinalls Wolsey and Campegius were ioyned togeather who for the determination hereof sate at the Black Fryers at London where a bill was putt in for the annulling of the former matrimonie alleadging that that marriage was vtterly vnlawfull but on the orher side for proofe that it was lawfull and good a Dispensation was brought forth which was of verie good force as touching the power which the Pope had to dispēce in a law that was neither contrarie to Gods positiue law in the olde Testament but rather agreable thereto nor to the law of Nature and it was commaunded in Leuiticus that if the brother dyed without issue the next in kindred to him in a manner should be forced to marrie his wife But there was found an imperfection in the Dispensation yet that same was lawfully supplyed by a publike Instrument or briefe found in the Threasure of Spaine which was sent immediately to the Commissioners in England and so should iudgement haue bene giuen by the Pope accordingly that the first marriage stoode in force had not king Henry vpon intelligence thereof before the iudgement was pronounced appealed to the next Generall Councell Hincillae lachrimae hence came the deadly enmitie betweene the king and the Pope hence proceeded that bitternesse of king Henry that he commaunded none should appeale to Rome nor none should so much as goe thither no Bishops nor Spirituall men should haue anie Bulles of authoritie frō thence all spirituall Iurisdiction beganne now neuer before thought of to be inuested from God immediately vpon the Imperiall Crowne of England but this not all at once yea he grew afterwards vnto such height of malice that he caused the name of Pope to be raized out of euerie booke that could be found either printed or written He caused S. Thomas of Canterburie to be attaynted of high treason after he had bene three hūdred yeares accoūted a blessed Martyr of the whole Church yea so acknowledged by king Henry the second who was cause of his death but this king most strangely cast his sacred bones out of his renowned shreene after numbers of miracles and caused them to be burnt This was the strange passe king Henry was brought vnto doting on Anne Bullen though God knowes she had no qualities wherefore he should so doate on her as appeared euidently when for fowle matters he after a short time cutt of her head and proclaymed himself in open Parlement to be a Cuckolde which no doubt he neuer had bene if he had kept himself to his first vertuous wife Q. Catherine but all these things happened a good while after and manie other extreame violences and ensuing miseries as we doe see and feele as yet 3. Whilst those things were a doing as is beforesayd about the king's diuorce and nothing yet brought to anie conclusion the king sent Tunstall bishopp of Durham Sir THOMAS MORE Embassadours to Cambray to treate of a peace betweene him and the French king and Charles the Emperour in which iourney Sir THOMAS so worthily behaued himself that he procured in our league with the sayd Princes farre more benefitts to our realme then at that time was thought possible by the king and all his Councell insomuch that his Maiestie caused it afterwards openly to be declared to the people when he was made Chancellour how much all England was bound to Sir THOMAS MORE And now at his returne the king againe was verie earnest with him to haue him agree to his second marriage for which cause also it is thought and Cardinall Poole testifyeth it in a letter he made him the rather Lo Chancellour telling him that though the dispensation was good in respect of the lawes of the Church yet now it was found out to haue bene against the lawe of nature in which no dispensatiō could be had as Doctour Stokeley whome for that quirke foūd out he had lately preferred to the Bishopricke of London was able to instruct him with whome he willed Sir THOMAS to conferre in that point But for all the conferences he could haue with him Sir THOMAS could no way induce himselfe to change his former opinion therein Yet the Bishopp relating to the king their Conference so fauourably reported of Sir THOMAS MORE 's carriage therein that he sayd he found him verie toward and desirous to finde out good
and so dispatche myself of the office hovvsoeuer I purposed at the last to forgoo the one rather then both Wherefore because I vvould as vvell be carefull of the publike vvellfare as of mine ovvne health I vvas an earnest suiter to my Prince and at last haue obtayned by his singular courtesie that because I beganne to grovv vvearie and euen readie to lye vnder my burden I might be ridde of that though a most honourable office vvhereto his fauour had raised me aboue all my deseruing as it vvas vvholy vvithout my seeking I beseeche therefore all the Saints in heauen that by their intercession almightie God vvould recompence this most fauourable affection of the King 's tovvards me and that he vvould giue me grace to spend the rest of my age in his seruice profitably and not idely or vainely affording me health of bodie that I may be the better able to take paines And to Cochleus he writeth thus I haue bene lately sore sicke for some moneths togeather not so much to the sight of others as to mine ovvne feeling which infirmitie I can scarce shake of novv vvhen I haue left of my office for then I could not exercise my function of Chancellour vnlesse I should endanger my health daily The care of my recouerie but especially the due respect I had not to hinder publike iustice moued me thereto vvhih I thought I should greatly hinder if being sicklie I should be constrayned to vndertake businesses as I did vvhen I vvas stronger That leasure vvhich the fauourable benignitie of my most gracious prince hath vouchsafed to grant me I haue purposed to dedicate vvholy to my studie and the honour of God And as for his contempt of worldlie honour he writeth thus to Erasmus You vvill not belieue hovv vnvvillingly I undertake embassages neither can there be anie thing more displeasing vnto me then the function of an Embassadour Of his Vtopia he writeth that he iudged the booke no better worthie then to lye alwaies hidden in his owne Hand or else to be consecrated to Vulcan Of his poetrie he sayth my epigrammes neuer pleased my minde as you well knowe my Erasmus and if other men had not better liked them then myself they should neuer haue bene putt out in printe THE EIGHT CHAPTER THE FIRST OCCASION and beginning of Sir THOMAS his troubles 1. Hovv he prepared himself to suffer for Christ as yf he foresavv he should so do 2. A vvorthie lesson for statesmen giuen by Sir Thomas More to Cromvvell 3. The vnfortunate marriage of Queen Anne Bolain 4. Sir Tho. More refuseth to be present at Queen Annes coronation the beginning of hers and the Kings indignation 5. The holy Nunne of Canterbury first occasion of calling Sir Thom. More into Question about Q. Anne 6. Diuers accusations procured against Sir T. More all easily auoided by his innocente life 7. His first examination before the Kings deputies 8. His mery hart and braue resolution after this examination 1. THe yeare immediately before his troubles he spent most in spirituall exercises and in writing of bookes against heretikes of whome in another letter he speaketh thus That which I professe in my epitaphe that I haue bene troublesome to heretikes I haue donne it with a little ambition for I so hate these kinde of men that I would be their sorest enemie that possible they could haue if they will not repente for I finde them such men and so to encrease euerie day that I euen greatly feare the world will be vndonne by them Yet for all his hatred to them no heretike suffered death whilst he was Lo Chancellour as Erasmus confesseth in the aboue mentioned letter And indeede it seemeth he would not haue them suffer death because he writeth to that effect in the lawes of his Vtopia Writing another time to Cochlie he sayth I vvould to God my Cochlie I had such skill in holie Scriptures and Diuinitie that I vvere able to vvrite against these plagues of the vvorld fruitfully and vvith good effect Erasmus also confesseth that he hated those seditious opinions with the which the world was then cruelly shaken He would often talke with his wife and Children of the exceeding ioyes in heauen and terrible paines of hell of the liues of holie Martyrs what torments they endured for the loue of God of their maruelous patiēce deathes which they suffered most willingly rather then they would offende Gods diuine Maiestie and what an honourable thing it was for the loue of our Lord IESVS-CHRIST to abide imprisonment losse of goods lands and life adding also what a comfort it would be to him if he might finde that his wife and children would encourage him to dye in a good cause for it would cause him for ioye thereof merrily to runne to death besides as prophecying of his future troubles he would tell them what miseries might chance to happen vnto him With which vertuous discourses he had so encouraged them that when these things after fell vpon him indeede their miserie seemed the more tolerable vnto them because Shafts foreseene hurt not so much 2. Within a while after the resigning of his Office Mr. Cromevvell now highly in the King's fauour came of a message from the king to Sir THOMAS wherein when they had throughly talked togeather before his going away Sir THOMAS sayd vnto him Mr. Cromevvell you are entred into the seruice of a most noble wise and liberall Prince yf you will followe my poore aduise you shall in your counsell giuing to his Maiestie euer tell him what he ought to doe but neuer what he is able to doe so shall you shew yourself a true and faithfull seruant and a right worthie counsellour for yf a lyon knew his owne strength hard were it for anie man to rule him But Cromevvell neuer learned this lesson for he euer gaue that counsell to his prince which he thought would best please him and not what was lawfull For it was he that was the mischieuous instrument of king Henry to pull downe all abbies and religious houses yea to ruinate religiō vtterly whereby you may see the difference betweene king Henry a iust prince whilst he followed Sir THOMAS MORE 's counsell and after a cruell tyrant and bloudsucker when he practised Thomas Cromevvells plotts and deuises and also we may see the issue of both these counsellours the one hauing gotten great fame for his iust deserts the other hauing purchased eternall infamie yea the ouerthrow of himself and his familie For though he attayned to be Lord Cromevvell yea afterwards Earle of Essex yet his honour and life was soone taken away from him most iustly and now there is scarce anie of his posteritie left his lands are all solde yea such was his grandchild's miserie that he complayned verie lamentably to some gentlemen that he had not bread to putt into his mouth whereas Sir THOMAS MORE 's great
Christ in S. Matthew then which there can be imagined nothing more precious which without doubt he enioyeth for all eternitie 7. Now there was another parlement called where in there was a bill putt into the Lower house to attaynte the nunne and manie other religious men of high treason and Bishopp Fisher with Sir THOMAS MORE of misprision of treason which bill the King supposed would be so terrible to Sir THOMAS that it would force him to relente and condescende vnto him But therein he was much deceaued for first Sir THOMAS sued that he might be admitted into the Parlement to make his owne defence personally which the king not liking of graunted the hearing of this Cause to my Lo of Canterburie the Lo Chancellour the Duke of Norfolke and Mr. Cromvvell who appointing Sir THOMAS to appeare before them my vncle Roper requested his father earnestly to labour vnto them that he might be putt out of the parlement bill who answered then that he would but at his coming thither he neuer once entreated them for it when he came into their preseÌ„ce they entertained him very courteously requesting him to sitt downe with them which in no case he would then the Lo Chancellour beganne to tell him how manie waies the king's maiestie had shewed his loue and fauour towards him how gladly he would haue had him continue in his office how desirous he was to haue heaped still more and more benefittes vpon him and finally that he could aske no worldlie honour and profitt at his Highnesse's hands but that it was probable that he should obtaine it hoping by these words declaring the king's affection towards him to stirre Sir THOMAS vp to recompence the king with the like by adding his consent vnto the king's which the Parlement the Bishopps and manie Vniuersities had already consented vnto Wherevnto Sir THOMAS mildely made this answer that there vvas no man liuing that vvould vvith better vvill doe anie thing vvhich should be acceptable to his Highnesse then he vvho must needes confesse his manifolde bountie and liberall guifts plentifully bestovved vpon him hovv be it he verily hoped that he should neuer haue heard of this matter anie more considering that from the beginning he had so plainely and truly declared his minde vnto his maiestie vvhich his highnesse of his benigne clemencie had euer seemed like a gracious prince very vvell to accept of neuer minding as he sayd vnto him to molest him anie more therevvith since vvhich time sayd he I neuer found anie further matter to moue me to anie change and if I could sayd he there is not one in the vvhole vvorld vvhich vvould haue bene more ioyfull for it Many speaches hauing passed to and fro on both sides in the ende when they saw euidently that they could not remoue him from his former determination by no manner of perswasion then beganne they more terribly to threaten him saying the king's maiestie had giuen them in commaunde expressely yf they could by no gentle meanes winne him that they should in his name with greate indignatioÌ„ charge him that neuer there was seruant so villanous to his Soueraigne nor anie subiect so trayterous to his prince as he For by his subtile and sinister sleights he had most vnnaturally procured and prouoked the king to sett forth a booke of the assertion of the Seauen Sacraments and for the maintenance of the Pope's authoritie so that he had caused his Maiestie to putt a sword in to the Pope's hands to fight against himselfe to his greate dishonour in all the partes of Christendome Now when they had displayed all their malice threates against him my Lord sayd Sir THOMAS these terrours be frights for children and not for me but to ansvver that vvhere vvith you chiefely burtheÌ„ me I belieue the king's Highnesse of his honour vvill neuer lay that booke to my charge for there is none that can in that point say more for my discharge then himselfe vvho right vvell knovveth that I neuer was procurer promotour nor counseler of his Maiestie therevnto only after it vvas finished by his Grace's appointment and the consent of the makers of the same I only sorted out and placed in order the principall matters therein wherein vvhen I had found the Popes authoritie highly aduanced and vvith strong arguments mightily defended I sayd thus to his Grace I must putt your Highnesse in remembrance of one thing and that is this the Pope as your Maiestie vvell knovveth is a Prince as you are in league with all other Christian princes it may hereafter fall out that your Grace and he may varie vpon some points of the league vvhere vpon may grovve breache of amâ—tâ—e and vvarre betvveene you both therefore I thinke it best that that place be amended and his authoritie more slenderly touched Nay quoth his Grace that shall it not vve are so much bound to the Sea of Rome that vve cannot doe to much honour vnto it Then did I further putt him in minde of our statute of Praemunire vvhereby a good parte of the Pope's authoritie pastoral cure vvas payred avvay to vvhich his Maiestie ansvvered vvhatsoeuer impediment be to the contrarie vve vvill sett forth that authoritie to the vttermost For vve haue receaued from that Sea our Crovvne Imperiall vvhich till his Grace vvith his ovvne mouth so tolde me I neuer heard before Which things vvell considered I trust vvhen his Maiestie shal be truly informed thereof and call to his gracious remembrance my sayings and doings in that behalfe his Highnesse vvill neuer speake more of it but vvill cleare me himselfe with which wordes they with great displeasure dismissed him parted 8. Then tooke Sir THOMAS his boate to Chelsey wherein by the way he was verie merrie and my vncle Rooper was not sorrie to see it hoping that he had gotten himself discharged out of the bill When he was landed and come home they walked in his gardin where my vncle sayd vnto him I trust Sir all is well because you are so merrie It is so indeede soÌ„ne I thanke God Are you then Sir putt out of the parlement Bill sayd my vncle by my troth sonne I neuer remembred it Neuer remembred that sayd he that toucheth you and vs all so neare I am verie sorie to heare it For I trusted all had bene well when I saw you so merrie Wouldst thou knowe sonne why I am so ioyfull In good Faith I reioyce that I haue giueÌ„ the diuell a fowle fall because I haue with those Lords gone so farre that without great shame I can neuer goe back This was the cause of his ioye not the ridding himself of troubles but the confidence he had in God that he would giue him strength willingly to suffer anie thing for Christs sake that he might say with Christ IESVS Desiderio desideraui c. I thirst greatly to drinke of the Cuppe of Christ's passion
Supremacie and marriage was comprized in few wordes in the first Statute the Lo Chancellour and Mr. Secretarie did of their owne heads adde more wordes vnto it to make it seeme more plausible to the king's eares and this Oath so amplifyed they had exhibited to Sir THOMAS and others of which their deede Sir THOMAS sayde to his daughter I may tell thee Megg that they who haue committed me hither for refusing an oath not agreable with their owne statute are not able by their owne law to instifye mine imprisonment wherefore it is great pittie that anie Christian prince should be drawen to followe his affections by flexible counsell and by a weake Clergie lacking grace for want of which they stande weakely to their learning abuse themselues with flatterie so shamefully Which wordes coming to the Councell's eares they caused another Statute espying their ouersight to be enacted with all these conditions Another time looking out of his windowe to beholde one Mr. Reynolds a religious learned and vertuous Father of Sion and three monkes of the Charterhouse going forth of the Tower to their executiō for now king Henry beganne to be fleshed in bloud hauing putt to death the Nunne and diuerse others and manie after for the Supremacie and his marriage Sir THOMAS as one that longed to accompanie them in that iourney sayde to his daughter thē standing besides him Loe doest not thou see Megg that these blessed Fathers be now as chearefully going to death as if they were bridegroomes going to be married whereby good daughter thou maist see what a great difference there is betweene such as haue in effect spent all their daies in a straight hard and penitentiall life religiously and such as haue in the world like worldlie wretches as thy poore father hath donne consumed all their time in pleasure and ease licentiously For God considering their lōg continued life in most sore and grieuous pennance will not suffer them anie longer to remaine in this vale of miserie but taketh them speedily hence to the fruitiō of his euerlasting deitie whereas thy sillie father who hath most like a wicked Caytife passed forth most sinfully the whole course of his miserable life God thinketh him not worthie to come so soone to that eternall felicitie but leaueth him still in the world further to be plunged and turmoiled with miserie By which most humble and heauenlie meditation we may easily guesse what a spirite of Charitie he had gotten by often meditations that euerie sight brought him new matter to practise most heroicall resolutions Within a while after this Mr. Secretarie coming to him from the king who still gaped more for Sir THOMAS his relenting then all his other subiects pretended much friendshipp towards Sir THOMAS and for his comfort tolde him that the king was his good and gratious Lord and minded not to vrge him to anie matter wherein he should haue anie cause of scruple from thenceforth to trouble his consciēce As soone as M. Secretarie was gone to expresse what comfort he receaued of his words he wrote with a coale as he did vsually manie other letters because all his Inke had bene taken from him by the king's expresse commaundement certaine wittie verses which are printed in his booke All the while Sir THOMAS was in the Tower he was not idle but busied himself in writing with a coale for the most parte spirituall treatises as the Three bookes of Comfort in Tribulation where in a dialogue manner vnder the names of two Hungarians fearing the Turkes running ouer their Countrie who had made great preparations therefore he paynteth out in liuelie coulours both the danger that England stoode then in to be ouerwhelmed with heresie and how good Catholikes should prepare themselues to loose libertie life and lands and whatsoeuer can be most deare vnto them rather then to forsake their fayth It is a most excellent booke full of spirituall and forcible motiues expressing liuely Sir THOMAS his singular resolution to apply all those holesome medicines to himself now being readie to practise in deede whatsoeuer he setteth downe in wordes 4. When he had remained a good while in the Tower my Ladie his wife obtained leaue to see him that he might haue more motiues to breake his conscience who at the first comming to him like a plaine rude woman and somewhat worldlie too in this māner beganne bluntely to salute him What the good yeare Mr. More I maruell that you who haue bene hitherto alwaies taken for a wise man will now so play the foole as to lie here in this close filthie prison and be content to be shutt vp thus with mice and ratts when you might be abroad at your libertie with the fauour and good will both of the king and the Councell if you would but doe as all the bishopps best learned of his realme haue donne and seing you haue at Chelsey a right fayre house your librarie your bookes your gallerie your gardine your orchard and all other necessaries so handsome about you where you might in companie of me your wife your Children and housholde be merrie I muse what a Gods name you meane here still thus fondly to tarrie After he had a good while heard her he sayd vnto her with a chearefull countenance I pray thee good Mris Alice tell me one thing What is that sayth she Is not this house as neare heauen as mine ovvne she āswering after her custome Tillie vallie tillie vallie he replyed how sayst thou Mris Alice is it not so indeede Bone Deus man will this geare neuer be left Well then Mris Alice if it be so I see no great cause vvhy I should much ioye either of my fayre house or anie thing belonging therevnto vvhen if I should be but seauen yeares buried vnder the ground and rise and come thither againe he might haue sayd but seauen moneths I should not fayle to finde some therein that vvould bid me gett me out of doores and tell me plainely that it vvere none of mine what cause haue I then to like such a house as vvould so soone forgett his Maister Againe tell me Mris Alice how long doe you thinke may we liue and enioye it Some twentie yeares sayd she Truly replyed he yf you had sayd some thousand yeares it had bene somewhat and yet he vvere a very bad marchant that vvould putt himself in danger to leese eternitie for a thousand yeares hovv much the rather if vve are not sure to enioy it one day to an ende And thus her perswasions moued him but a little thinking of those wordes of Iob to his wife tempting him quasi vna ex stultis mulieribus locuta est Not long after this came there to him at two seuerall times the Lord Chancellour the Duke of Norfolke and Suffolke with Mr. Secretarie and certaine others of the Priuie Councell to procure him by all meanes and policies they could either to confesse
precisely the king's Supremacie or plainely to deny it Here may we see that those verie men which seemed to crye before vnto him Osanna benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini say here tolle tolle crucifige eum this is the ficklenesse of the worldlie men But to this as appeareth by the examinations sett out at the ende of his English Workes they could neuer bring him because he was loath to aggrauate the king's displeasure against himselfe saying only that the Statute was like a two-edged sworde if he should speake against it he should procure the death of his bodie and if he should cōsent vnto it he should purchase the death of his soule 6. After all these examinations came Mr. Rich afterwards made the Lo Rich for his good seruice donne in this point then newly created the king's Sollicitour Sr. Richard Southvvell and one Mr. Palmer Mr. Secretarie's man were sent by the king to take away all his bookes Mr. Rich pretending to talke friendly with Sit THOMAS sayd thus vnto him as it proued after of sett purpose For as much as it is well knowen Mr. More that you are a man both wise well learned in the lawes of this realme in all other studies I pray you Sir lett me be so bolde as of good will to putt vnto you this Case Admitt there were an act of Parlement made that all the realme should take me for king would not you Mr. More take me for king Yes Sir said Sir THOMAS that I would I putt the Case further sayd Mr. Rich that there were an act of Parlement that all the realme should take me for Pope would not you then take me for Pope For answer sayd Sir THOMAS to your first Case the Parlement may well Mr. Rich meddle with the state of Temporall princes but to make answer to your other Case suppose the Parlement should make a lawe that God should not be God would you then Mr. Rich say that God should not be God No Sir sayd he that would I not For no Parlement can make such a lawe No more reported he that Sir THOMAS should say but indeede he made no such inference as he auouched after to Mr. Rich his face could the Parlement make the king supreame head of the Church and vpon this only reporte of Mr. Rich Sir THOMAS was shortly after indited of high treason vpon the new Statute of Supremacie At this time Mr. Lieutenant reported that Mr. Rich had so vile a smell about him that he could scarce endure him which Sir THOMAS also felt 7. He had a little before this begunne a diuine treatise of the passion of Christ but when he came to expounde those wordes of the Ghospell And they layde hands vpon him and held him these gentlemen tooke from him all his bookes Inke and paper so that he could write no more Which being donne he applyed himselfe wholy to meditation keeping his chamber windowes fast shutt and very darks the occasion whereof Mr. Lieutenant asking him he answered when all the wares are gone the shoppe windowes are to be shutt vp Yet still by stealth he would gett little peeces of paper in which he would write diuerse letters with a coale of which my father left me one which was to his wife which I accounte as a precious Iewell afterwards drawen ouer by my grandfathers sonne with inke 8. What respect Sir THOMAS had not to displease the king in anie of his deedes or answers may be seene by his discreete behauiour in all his proceedings For first in his bookes he neuer handled exactly the Popes Supremacie though vrgent occasion were giuen him by the bookes which he tooke in hand to confute secondly whatsoeuer writing he had touching that Controuersie he either made them away or burnt them before his troubles as also a booke which the Bishopp of Bath had written of that matter thirdly he would neuer take vpon him to aduise any man in that point though much vrged thereto by letters especially of Doctour Willson his fellow prisoner in the Tower knowing himself being a lay man not to be bound to perswade a Clergie man much lesse a Doctour of Diuinitie Fourthly when he was brought from the Tower to Westminster to answer his Inditement therevpon arraigned at the King's-Bench-barre where he had often asked his father's blessing he openly tolde the Iudges that he would haue a bidden in law and demurred vpon the Inditement but that he should haue bene driuen thereby to confesse of himselfe that he had denyed the kings Supremacie which he protested he neuer had donne And indeede the principall faulte there Layde to his charge was that he maliciously traiterously and Diabolically would not vtter his minde of that Oath Whereto Sir THOMAS pleaded not guiltie reserued to himselfe aduantage to be taken of the bodie of the matter after verdict to auoyde that Inditemēt adding moreouer that if only those odious tearmes were taken out he saw nothing that could charge him of anie Treason THE TENTH CHAPTER THE ARRAIGNEMENT condemnation of Sir THOMAS MORE 1. Sir Thomas Mores arraignement at the kings-benche 2. His vvorthy resolute and discreet ansvver to his inditement 3. Maister Riche his false oath against Sir Thomas cleerly reiected 4. The Iurours verdict excepted against by Sir Thomas vvith a noble confession of ecclesiasticall supremacy 5. Sentence of condemnation pronounced against Sir Thomas 6. He deliuereth fully plainly his iudgemēt touching the act and oath supremacy 1. AFter that the king had endeauoured by all meanes possible to gett Sir THOMAS his consent vnto his lawes knowing that his example would moue manie being so eminent for wisedome and rare vertues and could by no meanes obtaine his desire he commaunded him to be called to his Arraignemēt at the kings-bench barre hauing bene a prisoner in the Tower somewhat more then a twelue-moneth for he was Committed about midde-Aprill and this happened the seauenth of May 1535. the yeare following He went thither leaning on his staffe because he had bene much weakened by his imprisonment his countenance chearefull and constant his Iudges were Andley the Lo Chancellour Fitz Iames the Lo Chiefe Iustice Sir Iohn Baldvvin Sir Richard Leister Sir Iohn Port Sir Iohn Spilman Sir Walter Luke Sir Antonie Fitzherbert where the king's Attornye reading a long odious Inditement contayning all the crimes that could be layd against anie notorious malefactour so long as Sir THOMAS professed he could scarce remember the third parte that was obiected against him but the speciall faulte was that of the refusall of the oath as is before spoken for proofe whereof his double examination in the tower was alleaged the first before Cromevvell Thomas Beade Iohn Tregunnell c. To whome he professed that he had giuen ouer to thinke of titles either of Popes or Princes although all the whole world should be giuen him being fully determined only to serue God the
men so most especially did it become such a one as Sir THOMAS MORE was being a married man yea a Courtier end a companion to a Prince of whome that may worthily be spoken which Titus Liuius recounteth of Cato thus In this man there was such excellencie of witt and wisedome that he seemeth to haue bene able to haue made his fortune in what place soeuer he had bene borne he wanted no skill either for the managing of priuate or publike businesses he was skillfull both in Countrie and Cittie affayres some are raysed to honour either because they are excellent lawyers singularly eloquent or of admirable vertues but the towardlienesse of this man's vnderstanding framed him so to all matters that you would deeme him to be borne for one alone In the practise of vertues you would iudge him rather a monke then a Courtier in learning a most famous writer yf you would aske his counsell in the law he was most readie to aduise you the best yf he were to make an Oration he would shew maruelous eloquence he was admirable in all kinde of learning Latine Greeke Prophane Diuine yf there were an Embassage to be vndertooke none more dexterous to finish it in giuing sound counsell in doubtfull Cases none more prudent to tell the truth without feare none more free as farre from all flatterie as open and pleasant full of grace in deliuering his iudgement and that which Cato had not therein was he most happie For Liuie saith that he had a sower carriadge and a toung immoderate free and full of taunting But Sir THOMAS being Christ's schollar and not anie Stoick's was milde and of an humble hart neither sadde nor turbulent and besides of a pleasant conuersation neuer sterne but for righteousnesse a great contemner either of vnlawfull pleasures or of inordinate riches and glorie As Cato had much enmitie with diuerse Senatours so manie of them on the other side did exercise his patience that one can hardly discerne whether the Nobilitie did presse him more or he the Nobilitie but on the contrarie side Sir THOMAS MORE neuer had anie priuate or publike quarrell with anie man yea no man can reckon anie to haue bene his enemie being borne wholy to friendshipp and affabilitie wherefore being nothing inferiour to Cato for grauitie integritie and innocency as exact a hater of all vice and sterne to all wicked men as he yet did he farre excelle him in mildenesse sweetenesse of behauiour and pleasantnesse of witt yea I doe him iniurie to compare him to anie morall philosopher whatsoeuer for he was absolutely well seene in the schoole of Christ endewed with all supernaturall perfections a greate Saint of Christ's Church and a holie Martyr of his fayth and high in Gods fauour which was well testifyed in his daughter my aunte Dauney who being sore sick of that disease of which she after dyed fell into a lōg traunce and afterwards returning to herselfe she professed with abundance of teares that she had felt in that while most grieuous torments and should haue suffered them for euer had not her fathers prayers and intercession begged of God a little longer space to repente her of her former life It was also credibly reported that two of Iohn Haywood's sons Iasper and Ellis hauing one of the teeth of Sir THOMAS MORE betweene them and either of them being desirous to haue it to himselfe it suddenly to the admiration of both parted in two 10. Now to conclude lett vs consider why God culled out this man aboue all other to preserue the vnitie of the Church and to be an illustrious wittnesse of the glorious cause for the which he dyed for least men should thinke that yf only the Clergie had dyed they might seeme partiall in their owne Cause beholde God picked out this worthie lay man such as I suppose all Christendome had not the like who should be as his especiall Embassadour for the laytie as was the famous Bishop of Rochester for the Clergie such were these two for learning as they could reache into all matters such for excellencie of witt that no subtile dealing could entrappe them vnawares easily foreseing anie danger such for vertue and integritie of life that God of his great mercie would not suffer such men in so great a poynt as this to be deceaued And lett no man thinke this was no Martyrdome yea rather it was greater then that of those who would not denye the fayth of Christ according as that worthie Bishopp Confessour Denis of Alexandria sayth that that Martyrdome which one suffereth to preserue the vnitie of the Church is more then that which one suffereth because he will not doe sacrifice to Idolls for in this a man dyeth to saue his owne soule in the other he dyeth for the whole Church WHo vvith as curious care should vievve Each vertue of thy breast As vvas thy face pervsed by him Whose pencell it exprest With ease might see much to admire But hard to putt in shapes As Xeuxes could expresse to life The fruitfull bunche of grapes He sooner should his ovvne life ende Then he could finish thine Such store of matter vvould arise And gemmes of vertue shine There must he dravve a brovve Of Shamefastnesse and Grace Then tvvo bright eyes of Learning and Religion therevvith place And then a nose of honour must Be reared breathing svveete fame Tvvo rosie cheekes of Martyrdome With lillies of good name A golden mouth for all men pleades But only for himselfe A chinne of Temperance closely shaued From care of vvorldlie pelfe The more that he shall looke into The more he leaues vnvievved And still more shevves of noble vvorth Wherevvith he vvas endevved But loe the fatall Axe vpreared And at his verie Chinne By enuie hath a seuerance made That More might not be seene MORE like a Saint liued he most worthie Martyr ended MORE fitt for heauen which novv he hath vvhereto his vvhole life tended OF SIR THOMAS MORE' 's Bookes AMong his Latine Workes are his Epigrammes partly translated out of Greeke and partely of his owne making so wittily deuised and penned as they may seeme nothing inferiour or to yeelde to anie of the like kinde written in our daies and perchance not vnworthie to be compared with those of like writers of olde These Epigrammes as they are learned and pleasant so are they nothing biting or contumelious He also wrote elegantly and eloquently the life of king Richard the Third not only in English which booke is abroad in printe though corrupted and vitiated but in Latin also not yet printed He did not perfect nor finish that booke neither anie sithence durst take vpon him to sett penne to paper to finish it neither in the one or other toung all men being-deterred driuen from that enterprise by reason of the incomparable excellencie of that worke as all other paynters were afrayde to perfect finish the image of Venus paynted but imperfectly by
Apelles for his excellēt workemanshipp therein But the booke that carrieth the price of all his other Latin bookes of wittie inuention is his Vtopia he doth in it most liuely and pleasantly painte forth such an exquisite plattforme patience and example of a singular good Common-wealth as to the same neither the Lacedaemonians nor the Athenians nor yet the best of all other that of the Romans is comparable full prettily and probably deuising the sayd Countrie to be one of the Countries of the New-found Lands declared to him in Antvverpe by Hythlodius a Portingall and one of the sea-companions of Americus Vesputius that first sought out and found those lands such an excellent and absolute an estate of a Commō Wealth that sauing the people were vn-Christened might seeme to passe anie estate and Common wealth I will not say of the olde Nations by me before mentioned but euen of anie other in our time Manie great learned men as Budeus Ioannes Paludanus vpon a feruent zeale wished that some excellent Diuines might be sent thither to preache Christ's Gospell yea there were here amongst vs at home sundrie good men learned Diuines very desirous to take the voyage to bring the people to the fayth of Christ whose manners they did so well like And this sayd iollie inuention of Sir THOMAS MORE 's seemed to beare a good countenance of truth not only for the creditt Sir THOMAS was of in the world but also for that about the same time manie strange and vnknowne nations and Countries were discouered such as our forefathers neuer knew especially by the wonderfull nauigation of the shippe called Victoria that sayled the world round about whereby it was foūd that shipps sayle bottome to bottome that there be Antipodes which thing Lactantius and others doe flattely denye laughing thē to scorne that so did write Againe it is found that vnder the Zodiake where Aristotle and others say that for the immoderate excessiue heate there is no habitation is the most temperate and pleasant dwelling and the most fruitfull countrie in the world These and other considerations caused manie wise and learned men nothing lesse to mistrust then that this had bene nothing but an Inuentiue drift of Sir THOMAS MORE 's owne imagination for they tooke it for a verie sure true storie wherein they were deceaued by Sir THOMAS as too wittie and as well learned as they were In this booke amongst other things he hath a very goodlie processe how there might be fewer theeues in England and a maruelous opinable probleme of sheepe that whereas men were wont to eate the sheepe as they doe in other countries now contrariewise sheepe in England pittiefully doe deuowre men women and children houses yea townes withall Like a most thankefull man he maketh honourable mention of Cardinall Morton Archbishop of Canterburie and Lo Chancellour of England in whose house as we haue sayd himselfe was in his tender youth brought vpp albeit it be by the dissembled name of the sayd Hythlodius whome he imagineth to haue bene in England and to haue bene acquainted with the sayd Cardinall And as this booke in his kinde is singular and excellent contayning and describing a Common wealth farre passing the Common-wealthes deuised and vsed by Lycurgus Solon Numa Plato and diuerse others So wrote he in-another kinde sorte a booke against Luther no lesse singular and excellent King Henry the Eight had written a notable and learned booke against Luther's booke De Captiuitate Babylonica most euidently and mightily refuting his vile and shamefull heresies against the Catholike Fayth and Christ's holie Sacraments which did so grieue Luther to the hart that hauing no good substantiall matter to helpe himselfe withall he fell to scoffing and sawcie ieasting at the king's booke in his answer for the same vsing nothing throughout the sayd Answer but the figure of Rhetorike called savvce-malepert and played the very varlett with the king To whome Sir THOMAS MORE made reply and doth so discipher and lay open his wily wrested handling of the Sacred Scripture his monstrous opinions and maniefolde contradictions that neither he nor anie of his generation durst euer after putt penne to paper to encounter and reioyne to his reply in which besides the deepe and profound debating of the matter itselfe he so dresseth Luther with his owne scoffing and ieasting rhetoricke as he worthily deserued But because this kinde of writing albeit a meete Couer for such a Cuppe and verie necessarie to represse beate him with his owne follie according to the Scripture Responde stulto secundùm stultitiam eius seemed not agreable and correspondent to his grauitie and dignitie the booke was sett forth vnder the name of one Gulielmus Rosseus only suppressing his owne name He wrote also and printed another proper and wittie treatise against a certaine Epistle of Iohn Pomeran one of Luther's stādard-bearers in Germanie And after he was shutt vp in the Tower he wrote a certaine expositiō in Latine vpon the Passion of Christ not yet printed which was not perfited and is so plainely and exquisitely trāslated into English by his neece Mrs Bassett that it may seeme originally to haue bene penned in English by Sir THOMAS MORE himselfe Some other things he wrote also in Latine which we pretermitt and now we will somewhat talke of his English Workes which all besides the life of Iohn Picus Earle of Mirandula the foresayd life of king Richard the Third and some other prophane things concerne matters of religion for the most parte The first booke of this sorte was his Dialogues made by him when he was Chancellour of the Dutchie of Lancaster which bookes occasioned him afterwards as according to the olde prouerbe One businesse begetteth another to write diuerse other things For whereas he had amongst manie other matters touched and reproued William Tindall's adulterate and vitious translation of the New Testament Tindall being not able to beare to see his new religion and his owne doings withall to haue so fowle an ouerthrowe as Sir THOMAS MORE gaue him after great deliberation with his Euangelicall bretheren tooke in hand to answer some parte of his dialogues especially touching his aforesayd corrupt Translation but what small glorie he wanne thereby is easie to be seene of euerie man that with indifferent affection will vouchsafe to reade Sir THOMAS MORE 's reply whereof we shall giue you a smal taste but first we will note vnto you the integritie sinceritie and vprightnesse of the good and gracious nature and disposition of the sayd Sir THOMAS MORE in his writing not only against Tindall but generally against all other Protestants First then it is to be considered in him that he doth not as manie other writers doe against their aduersaries all Protestants doe against him other Catholikes wreathe and wreste their wordes to the worst and make their reasons more feeble and weake then they are but
rather enforceth them to the vttermost and oftentimes further then the partie himself doth or perhaps could doe And he was of this minde that he sayde he would not lett while he liued wheresoeuer he perceaued his aduersarie to say well or himselfe to haue sayd otherwise indifferently for both to say and declare the truth And therefore himselfe after the printing finding the bookes diuulged and commonly read of the Debellation of Salem and Bizanze albeit manie had read the place and found no faulte therein yet he finding afterwards that he mistooke certaine wordes of the Pacifyer without anie man's controulement meerely of himselfe reformed them The like he counselled his learned friends especially Erasmus to doe and to retract manie things that he had written whose counsell wherein he had a notable president in the worthie Doctour S. Augustine yf Erasmus had followed I trowe his bookes would haue bene better liked of by posteritie which perchance shall be fayne either vtterly to abolish some of his workes or at least to redresse and reforme them Here is now further to be considered in his writings that he neuer hunted after praise or vayne glorie nor anie vile and filthie gaine or commoditie yea so that enuenomed and poysoned bookes might be once suppressed abolished he wished his owne on a light and fayre fyre Yet did the Euangelicall bretheren after he had abandoned the office of Lo Chancellour as they otherwise spread and writt manie vaine and false rumours to the aduancement of their new Gospel and oppressing of the Catholike lay to his charge in their bookes that he was partiall to the Clergie and for his bookes receaued a great masse of monie of the sayd Clergie And Tindall and diuerse others of the good bretheren affirmed that they wist well that Sir THOMAS MORE was not lesse worth in monie plate and other moueables then twentie thousand markes but it was found farre otherwise when his house was searched after he was committed to the Tower where a while he had some competent libertie but after on a suddaine he was shutt vp very close at which time he feared there would be a new more narrower search in all his houses because his minde gaue him that folkes thought he was not so poore as it appeared in the search but he tolde his daughter Mris Rooper that it would be but a sporte to them that knew the truth of his pouertie vnlesse they should finde out his wiue's gay gyrdle and her goulde beades The like pouertie of anie man that had continued so long a Chancellour with the king and had borne so manie great offices hath I trowe seldome bene founde in anie lay man before and much lesse since his time As for his partialitie to the Clergie sauing the reuerence due to the sacred Order of priests by whome we are made Christian men in Baptisme and by whome we receaue the other holie Sacraments there was none in him and that they felt that were naught of the Clergie that had so little fauour at his hands that there was no man that anie medling had with them into whose hands they were more loath to come then into his but for fees annuities or other rewardes or anie commoditie that should encline him to be euer propēse partiall to the Clergie none cā be shewed First touching anie fees he had to his liuing after that he had left the Chaūcellourship he had not one groate grāted him since he first wrote or begāne to write the Dialogues that was the first booke that euer he wrote in matters of religion And as for all the lands and fees he had besides those of the king's guift was not nor should be during his mother in lawe's life who liued after he relinquished the office of Chaūcellourship worth yearely the sūme of 100. pound thereof had he some by his wife some left by his father some he purchased and some fees had he of Temporall men so may euerie man soundly guesse that he had no greate parte of his liuing of the Clergie to make him partiall to them Now touching rewardes or lucre which rose to him by his writing for which good Father Tindall sayd he wrote his bookes and not for anie affection he bare to the Clergie no more then Iudas betrayed Christ for anie fauour he bare to the Bishopps Scribes and Pharisies it is a most shamefull lye and slaunder as may appeare by his refusall of the 4. or 5. thousand pound offered him by the Clergie Concerning Tindall's false translation of the New Testament first it is to be considered as these good bretheren partely denye the very Text it selfe and whole bookes of the sacred Scripture as the booke of the Machabies and certaine others and Luther S. Iames's Epistle also and as they adulterate and commaculate and corrupt the whole Corps of the same with their wrong and false expositions farre disagreeing from the Comment of the ancient Fathers and Doctours and from the fayth of the whole Catholike Church So haue they for the aduancing and furthering of the sayd heresies of a sett purpose peruerted mistranslated the sayd holie Scripture And after such shamefull sorte that amōgst other their mischieuous practises whereas in the Latine Epistle of S. Paul is read in the olde translation fornicarij in the new they haue Sacerdotes that is priests for the good deuotion they beare to the sacred Order of Priesthood And their patriarche Luther with his translation of the sayd holie Scripture into the Dutch toung hath wonderfully depraued corrupted and defiled it as we could by diuerse proofes easily shewe whome his good schollar Tindall in his English translatiō doth matche or rather passe wherein he turneth the word Church into Congregation Priest into Senior or elder which word Congregation absolutely of itselfe as Tindall doth vse it doth no more signifye the Congregation of Christiā men then a fayre flocke of vnchristian geese neither this word Presbyter for Elder signifyeth any whitt more a Priest then an eldersticke manie other partes of his Translation are sutable to this as where in spight of Christ's and his holie Saints images he turneth Idolls into Images and for the like purpose of setting forth his heresie Charitie into Loue Grace into Fauour Confession into repentance and such like for which as also for diuerse of his false faythlesse hereticall assertions as well that the Apostles left nothing vnwritten that is of necessitie to be belieued That the Church may erre in matter of Fayth That the Church is only of chosen elects Touching the manner and order of our election Touching his wicked and detestable opinion against the free wil of man Touching his fond and foolish paradoxes of the elect though they doe abhominable haynous actes yet they doe not sinne and that the elect that doth once hartily repent can sinne no more he doth so substantially pleasantly confute and ouerthrowe Tindall that yf these men
would at a tauerne goe gett him a pennie for a fitt of mirth yet sometimes will the foole demurely and holily preache and take so vpon him as if he were Christ's owne deare Apostle as doe also the residue of the bretheren that write and especially Tindall who beginneth the preface of this booke with the grace of our Lord and the light of his spiritt c. with such glorious and glistering salutations as if it were S. Paul himselfe but Sir THOMAS MORE doth accordingly dresse him and doth discouer to the world Fr. Luther's and Tindalls and such other false fayned and hypocriticall holinesse in their so high and sollemne salutations and preachings and concludeth not more pleasingly that when a man well considereth these their salutations and preachings he may well and truly iudge those their counterfitt salutations and sermons to be a great deale worse then Fryer Frapp who first gapeth then blesseth and looketh holily and preacheth ribaudrie was wont at Christmas to make And thus will we leaue Tindall and Barnes and speake of some other of their fraternitie amongst whome there was one that made The Supplication of Beggars the which Sir THOMAS MORE answered very notably before he wrote against Tindall and Barnes this Supplication was made by one Simon Fish for which he became penitent returned to the Church againe and abiured all the whole hill of those heresies out of the which the fountaine of his great zeale that moued him to write sprang After this Sir THOMAS MORE wrote a letter impugning the erroneous writing of Iohn Frith and whereas after he had giuen ouer the office of Lo Chancellour the heretikes full fast did write against him and found manie faultes with him and his writings he made a goodlie and learned Apologie of some of his answers which sayd Apologie we haue alreadie touched especially that they layd to his charge the slender recitall and misrehearsall of Tindall Barne's arguments and sheweth that they were calumnious slaunders and that himself vsed Tindall and Barnes after a better manner then they vsed him For Tindall rehearseth Sir THOMAS MORE 's arguments in euerie place fayntely and falsely and leaueth out the pith and strengthe the proofe that most maketh for the purpose And he fareth therein as if there were one hauing a day of challenge pointed in which he should wrastle with his aduersarie would finde the meane by craft before the day to gett his aduersarie into his owne hands and there keepe him and dyett him with such a thinne dyet that at the day he bringeth him forth feeble faynt and famished and almost starued and so leane that he can scarce stande on his legs and then is it easie you wote well to giue the sillie foole the fall And yet when Tindall had donne all this he tooke the fall himselfe but euerie one may see that Sir THOMAS MORE vseth not that play with Tindall nor with anie of those folke but rehearseth their reasons to the best that they can make it themselues and rather enforceth and strengtheneth it as we haue before declared rather then taketh anie thing therefrom Whereas now they found farther faulte with the length of his booke he writeth amongst other things that it is lesse maruell that it seemes to them long and tedious to reade within whome it irketh to do so much as to looke it ouer without and euerie way seemeth long to him that is wearie before he beginne But I finde some men to whom the reading of the booke is so farre from being tedious that they haue read the whole booke ouer thrice and some that make tables thereof for their owne remembrance and are men that haue as much witt and learning both as the best of all this blessed Bretherhood that euer I heard of And for the shortnesse of Barnes's booke that the aduersaries did commende he writeth that he woteth not well whether he may call them lōg or short sometimes they be short in deede because they would be darke and haue their false follies passe and repasse all vnperceaued sometimes they vse some compendiors eloquence that they conuey and couche vp togeather with a wonderfull breuitie foure follies fiue lyes in lesse then as manie lines but yet for all this I see not in effect anie men more lōg then they for they preache sometimes a very long processe to a little purpose and sith that of their whole purpose they proue neuer a whit at all were their writings neuer so shorte yet were their worke too long at last all togeather Besides manie other things his aduersaries layde to his charge that he handled Tindall Frith and Barnes vngodly and with vncomelie wordes to which he this answereth now when that against all the Catholike Church both that now is and euer hath bene before frō the Apostles daies hitherto both temporall and spirituall lay men and religious and against all that good is Saints Ceremonies Seruice of God the verie Sacrament of the Altar these blasphemous heretikes in their vngracious bookes so villanously wrest and raile were not a man weene you farre ouerseene and worthie to be accounted vncourteous that would in writing against their heresies presume without great reuerence to rehearse their worshipfull names yf anie of them vse their wordes at their pleasure as euill and as villanous as they list against myself I am content to forbeare anie requiting thereof and giue them no worse words againe then yf they spake me fayre nor vsing themselues towards all other folke as they doe fayrer words will I not giue them thē yf they spake me fowle for all is one to me or rather worse then better for the pleasant oyle of heretikes cast vpon my head can doe my minde no pleasure but contrariewise the worse that folke write of me for hatred they beare to the Catholike Church and fayth the greater pleasure as for mine owne parte they doe me but surely their rayling against all other I purpose not to beare so patiently as to forbeare to lett them heare some parte of like language as they speake how beit how to matche them therein I neither can though I would but I am content as needes I must to giue them therein the maisterie wherein to matche them were more rebuke then honestie for in their rayling is all their roste meate sawced all their pott seasoned and all their pye meate spiced and all their wafers and all their pottage made He addeth further yf they sayth he will not be heretikes alone themselues and holde their toungs and be still but must needes be talking corrupte whome they can lett them yet at the leastwise be reasonable heretikes and honest and write reason and leaue rayling and then lett all the bretheren finde faulte with me yf I vse them not after that in wordes as fayre and as milde as the matter may suffer About this time there was one that had made
a booke of the Spiritualtie and the Temporaltie of which booke the bretheren made greate store and blamed Sir THOMAS MORE that he had not in writing vsed such a softe and milde manner and such indifferent fashion as the same person did By which occasion Sir THOMAS MORE discourseth vpon the same booke the authour whereof pretendeth to make a pacification of the aforesayd diuision and discorde and openeth manie faultes and follies and false slaunders against the Clergie vnder a holie conclusion and pretence of pacificatiō in the sayd bookes To which discourse of Sir THOMAS MORE 's there came an answer afterwards in printe vnder the title of Salem and Bizanze to the which Sir THOMAS MORE replyed and so dressed this prettie proper politike pacifyer that he had no list nor anie man for him afterwards to encounter with the sayd Sir THOMAS MORE The pleasant and wittie declaration of the title of the sayd booke of Sir THOMAS MORE 's because the booke is seldome and rare to be gott I will now gentle reader sett before thine eies The sayd title is framed in this sorte The debellation of Salem and Bizanze sometime two greate townes which being vnder the Turke were betweene Easter and Michelmas last 1533. by a maruelous metamorphose and enchantment turned into Englishmen by the wonderfull inuentiue witt and witchcraft of Sir Iohn Somesay the Pacifyer and so conueyed by him hither in a dialogue to defende his diuision against Sir THOMAS MORE knight but now being thus betweene Michelmas and Allhallovvntide next ensuing the debellation vanquished they are fledde hence and are become two townes againe with these olde names changed Salem into Hierusalem and Bizanze into Constantinople the one in Greece the other in Syria where they may see them that will and winne them that can and yf this Pacifyer conuey thē hither againe and ten such townes embatteled with them in Dialogues Sir THOMAS MORE hath vndertaken to putt himselfe in aduenture against them all but yf he lett them tarrie still there he will not vtterly forsweare it but he is not in the minde age now coming on and he waxing vnweldie to goe thither to giue the assaulte to such wellwalled townes without some such lustie companie as shal be likelie to leape vt a little more lightly This is the title of the aforesayd booke and that indeede Sir THOMAS MORE hath most valiantly discomfited the Pacifyer and ouerthrowen his two great townes may easily appeare to such as will vouchsafe to reade Sir THOMAS MORE 's answer the circumstances and particularities whereof to sett downe would make our present treatise to growe too bigg I will only shew you one declaration or two whereby you may make some ayme to iudge of the whole doing of the sayd Pacifyer yf it were so sayth the sayd Sir THOMAS MORE that one found two men standing togeather and would steppein betweene thē and beare them in hand that they were about to fight and would with the word putt one partie backe with his hand and all to buffett the other about the face and then goe forth and say he had parted a fray and pacifyed the parties some men would say as I suppose he had as lief his enemie were lett alone with him and thereof abide the aduenture as haue such a friēd steppe in to parte them Another of a man that were angrie with his wife and happely not without cause now sayth Sir THOMAS MORE yf the authour of this booke would take vpon him to reconcile them and helpe to make thē at one and therein would vse this way that when he had them both togeather before him would tell all the faultes of the wife and sett among them some of his owne imagination then would goe about to auoyde his wordes vnder the fayre figure of Some-say which he commonly vseth in his booke of Pacifyng either by forgettfullnesse or by the figure of playne follie then would tell her husband's parte-verse too and say vnto him that he himselfe had not dealt discreetely with her but hath vsed to make her too homelie with him hath suffered her to be idle and hath giuen way to her being too much cōuersant amongst her gossips and hath giuen her ouergay geare and sometimes giuen her euill wordes and called her as I suppose cursed queane and shrewe and some say that behinde your backe she calles you knaue and Cuckolde were not there a proper kinde of pacification And yet is this the liuelie patterne and image of Mr. Pacifyer's doings with the which and with the spinning of fine lyes with flaxe fetching them out of his owne bodie as the spyder doth the Cobbewebbe fayning and finding faulte with Sir THOMAS MORE for these matters and wordes whereof he sayth the playne contrarie he had greate cause to be ashamed howbeit litle shame could cleaue to his cheekes but that he would soone shake it away while his name was not at his booke We haue now one booke more written in matter of religion and that is of the B. Sacramēt of the altar by the sayd Sir THOMAS MORE We tolde you before of a letter of his wherein he impugneth the heresie of Iohn Frith albeit he was prisonner in the Tower of London he found the meanes to make answer to that letter and to conuey it beyond the seas where it was printed and it was afterwards brought into this realme as Sir THOMAS MORE did certainely vnderstande who minded when the booke came to his hands to answer it but now in the meane season came there from beyond the seas an Answere made to the same letter by another and printed without the Authour's name entituled The Supper of the Lord. But I beshrewe quoth Sir THOMAS MORE such a Sewer that serueth in such a supper as he conueyeth away the best dish and bringeth it not to the borde as this man would if he could cōueye from the B Sacrament Christ's owne flesh and bloud and leaue vs no thing there in but for a memoriall only bare bread and wine But his handes are too lumpish and this messe too great for him especially to conuey cleane sith the man hath his hart bent thereto and therefore his eye sett thereon to see where it becometh This naughtie namelesse authour Sir THOMAS MORE doth not only by the authoritie of the Sacred Scripture and holie ancient Fathers but by his owne reasons and textes that himself bringeth forth plainely and euidently conuince Now haue we besides other excellent and fruitfull bookes which he made being prisoner in the Tower as his Three bookes of Comfort in Tribulation a Treatise to receaue the B. Sacrament Sacramentally and virtually both a treatise vpon the Passion with notable Introductions to the same He wrote also manie other godlie and deuout Instructions and prayers and surely of all the bookes that euer he made I doubte whether I may preferre anie of them before the sayd Three bookes
of Comfort in Tribulation yea or anie other man 's either heathen or Christian that haue written as manie haue either in Greeke or Latine of the sayd matter And as for heathen I doe this worthie man plaine iniurie and doe much abase him in matching and comparing him with them especially in this poynt seing that were they otherwise neuer so incomparable they lacked yet and knewe not the very especiall and principall ground of Comfort and Consolation that is the true sayth of Christ in whome and for whome and whose glorie we must seeke and fetche all our true comfort and consolation well lett them passe and lett vs further say that as the sayd Sir THOMAS MORE notably passeth manie learned Christians that haue of the same matter written before so lett vs adde that it may well be doubted all matters considered and weighed yf anie of the rest may seeme much to passe him There is in these bookes so wittie pithie and substantiall matter for the easying and remedying and patiētly suffering of all manner or griefes and sorrowes that may possibly en comber anie man by anie manner or kinde of tribulatiō whether their tribulation proceede from anie inward temptation or ghostlie enemie the diuell or anie outward temptation of the world threatening to bereaue or spoile vs of our goods lande honour libertie and freedome by grieuous sharpe imprisonment and finally of our life withall by anie painefull exquisite and cruell death against all which he doth so wonderfully and effectually prepare defende and arme the reader that a man cannot desire or wishe anie thing of any more efficacie or importāce therevnto to be added In the which booke his principall drift and scope was to stirre and prepare the mindes of Englishmen manfully and couragiously to withstande and not to shrinke at the imminent and open persecution which he foresawe and immediately followed against the vnitie of the Church and the Catholike Fayth of the same albeit full wittily and wisely that the bookes might the safer goe abroad he doth not expressely meddle with those matters and couereth the matter vnder the name of an Hungarian and of the persecution of the Turkes in Hungarie and of the booke translated out of the Hungarian toung into Latine and then into the English toung Of these bookes then there is great account to be made not only for the excellent matter comprised in thē but also for that they were made when he was most straytely shutt vpp and enclosed from all cōpanie in the Tower in which sorte I doubte whether a man shall finde anie other booke of like worthinesse made by anie Christian and yet yf anie such be found much Surely should I yeelde to the same But there is one thing wherein these bookes of Sir THOMAS MORE by speciall prerogatiue surmounte or else I am deceaued all other of this sorte and that is that they were for the most parte written with noe other pēne then a coale as was his treatise vpon the Passion which Coppies yf some men had them they might would esteeme more then other bookes written with golden letters and would no lesse accounte of it then S. Hierome did of certaine bookes of the martyr Lucian written with his owne hand that by chāce he happened on and esteemed them as a pretious lewell And yet is there one thing that in the valuing and praysing of these bookes he is not as manie great Clerkes are like to a whettstone that being blunt and dull itselfe whetteth other things and sharpeth them it was not so with this man for though he wrote these bookes with a dead blacke coale yet was there a most hote burning coale such an one as purifyed the lippes of the holie prophett Esaias that directed his hand with the black coale and so enflamed incensed his hart withall to heauēward that the good and holesome instructions and counsell that he gaue to other men in his bookes he himselfe afterward in most patient suffering the losse of his goods and landes imprisonment death for the defence of iustice and of the Catholike Fayth experimented worthily practised in himselfe And these be in effect the bookes he made either in Latine or English which his English bookes yf they had bene written by him in the Latine toung also or might be with the like grace that they now haue be translated into the Latine speach they would surely much augmente and increase the estimation which the world already hath in forraine Countries of his incomparable witt learning and vertue FINIS The end and scope of this vvork Though beyond my ability and capacity Yet vndertaken out of zeale and loue to the memory of S. Th. M. And for speciall cause knovvn to my self alone As also for being borne on the day of his martyrdom And by his prayers hauing the honour to be the heyre of his family Not presuming only vpō his merits VVhich lay à greater burden of imitation vpon vs But trusting vpō his prayers and setting his life death as a sampler before our eyes S. Thom. Moores parētage and nobility S. Iohn Moor Knight father of Sir Thomas and his virtues Descēded of aūciēt gentry Sir Tho. Moores mother a very virtuous gentle vvoman Her visiō concerning her children and especially Sir Thomas Sir Iohn Moore his secōd vvife out liued Sir Thomas 2. The place and time of S. Th. Mor. birthe An euidēt dāger strangely escaped in his childhood 3. His first studies imployments In S. Anthonies schoole in London In Cardinal Moortōs house The praise of the L. Cardinal S. Thom. Moore his tovvardlynes in the Cardinals retinevv The Cardinal sendeth him to Oxenford Brought vp there neerly austerly by his father The great reuerēce vvhich he alvvays bare to his father 4. His first vvorkes and vvritings Hovv much esteemed of by learned men Aquarrel stirred up betvveen him and Germanus Brixius Easily giuen ouer by S. Th. Moor. 5. His Mortificatiōs Hearshirt Watching fasting Exercises amōg the Charthusians Not permitted by God to take an ecclesiasticall course To be a paterne of maried men 6. His deuotiōs prayers At dayly masse His dayly orisons Much pleased vvith the life of Picus Mirandula His diligence in frequenting good preachers Doctour Colets excellent employments Doctour Colet chosē by S. Th. M. for his ghostly father S. Th. his letter to D. Colet hauing left London He professeth vvhat spirituall comfort he receaued from D. Colet Populous cities fuller of dāgers of sinne then the country life The plesure and innocēce of a coūtry life Cities stād more in need of skilfull pastours thē coūtry mansions Preachers that liue not vvell edyfy no thing He inuiteth D. Colet to returne to the city to help soules The inestimable profit of a good ghostly father Sir Tho. Mo. learned more by prayer then by study 7. His sober diet And plaine apparell 8. He dissembled his virtuous mortification by pleasunt and
T. M offer proceedeth not of vncertāty but because he was certain his reasons were vnanswerable All Christendom of more autority then all england The oath of succession 2. Sir Tho. Mores imprisonmēt First in Westminster Then by Q. Annes importunity in the Tower His willingnesse to leese all for Christ The vpper garment the porters fee. His mans oath His wonderfull courage 3. His discours with his daughter Margaret Preuēted with prayers The cōfort he found in his emprisonment Fiue reasons vsed by his daughter to make him relēt 1. Obedience to the King 2. Autority of wise mē 3. Only B. Fisher of his mind 4. Him self a lay man 5. against a parlament Sir T. M. answers All the saints of God acknowleged the Popes supremacy Why he neuer touched that point in his writings Motiues with which many deceaue their owne cōsciences He knew not of B. Fishers mind The Doctours of the Church greater then Doctours of England And generall Coūcels then a Parlamēt His trust in Gods mercy against the fear of death A heauēly resignation 4. Sir T. M. prophecieth Q. Annes death His plesant answer to his keepers honest excuse The inconstācy and ignorance of the oath makers His meditation vpon the martyrdom of 24. religious mē Maister Secretary Cromwells visit Sir T. M. writ in the tower his book of comfort 5. A prety dialogue between Sir T. M. and his wife Her worldly obiectiō His heauenly answer Prison as neer heauen as our owne house Eternity to be preferred before temporality An other visit 6. M. Rich his sophisticall case A poor ground for an inditement of treasō 7. A remarkable accident at the taking away his bookes His mery ieast vpō it 8. How great care he took not to offend the king The substance of his inditement 1. The arraignmēt of Sir Th. More His iudges His inditement The iudges charges His Christian resolution 2. Sir Th. his āswer to the inditement 1. How sincerly he had always told the K. his mind touching the marriage The durance of his emprisonment and afflictiōs 2. Why he refused to tell his iudgemēt of the law of supremacy Lay men not touched with that law No law can punish silēce that is without malice Whether his silence were malicious Obediēce first to God and then to man 3. That he neuer counselled or induced B. Fisher. The contents of his letters to the said Bishop 4. The law of supremacy like a two-edged sword 3. M. Riches oath against Sir T. More Euidētly disproued by Sir Tho. Mores oath to contrary By iust exceptiō against the witnesse vnworthy of credit Yf it had been true ther had been no malice Malice in law The improbability of M. Rich his deposition M. Rich his witnesses do faile him 4. The Iurie verdict guiltie Excepted against by Sir Thomas The act of parlament against Gods law No lay man can be head of the churche Against the lawer of the realme Against the kings owne oath Against the peculiar obligation of England to Rome Against all Christendom that euer was 5. The condemnatiō of S. Tho. More By yfs ands but no proofes The sentence Mitigated by the king 6. Sir Thomas fully deliuereth his iudgement of the act of suoremacy to be vnlawfull Against all the churche of God Constācy no obstinacy Sir Tho. Mores blessed charity to his iudges The truth of this relation frō present witnesses of credit 1. The manner of Sir Thomas his returne to the tower His sōne asketh him blessing Great cōstancy courtesy and charity 2. His childrens behauiour to him His daughter Matgarets laudable passion A ponderation vpon this mutuall passiō of Father daughter Cardinal Pooles estimatio of Sir Thomas his death 3. How deuoutly cheerfully he attēded his exequution A pleasaunt cōceipt vpō a leight courtyer His last letters To Antony Bōuise To his daughter Margaret His desito dy vpō the octaue of S. Peter which was also S. Thom. of Canterburys commemoratiō An blessing to his heire God grāted him his desires to dy the day he wished His heir-shirt and discipline 4. Aduertisment giuē him of the day of his death frō the K. Most welcome vnto him The K. willed him to vse but few words at his exequution His wife childrē permitted to be at his buriall His comfortable courage He put on his best apparell that day Liberally to his executiō 5. The forme of his death and martyrdom Persons hired to disgrace him A good cōsciēce He freeth one from the tētation of despaire by his prayers His wordes at his death His prayers Words to the executioner He couereth his eyes himself His happy death 6. The kings sadnes vpō the newes of his exequution The place of his buriall A notable accidēt about his windnig-sheet His bloudy shirt His head His martyrdom encouraged many other to the like Mr. Gardiner Euen his owne Parish-priest 7. A cōsideratiō vpon the blessing which he gaue to his heires children A praise of M. Iohn More sonne heire to Sir Thomas The vnmercifull dealing of K. Hēry with Sir Tho. Mores heires With the Lady his widow M. Iohn More cōmitted to the tower for denial of the oath The imprisonment of his daughter Margaret 8. The fauour and Physiognomie of Sir Tho. More 1. Cardinal Pooles lamentatiō vpon Sir Tho. Mores death 2. Erasmus of Roterdam 3. Doctour Cochlaeus of Germany Iob 12. 4. Bishop Iouius of Italy 5. W Paradin a dearned historiā of France 6. Riuius a Protestāt 7. Charles the Emperour 8. Circumstances notable in the death of Sir Tho. More From the kings part From Sir Thomas Mores part Nota. 9. An apology for his mery iestes A fit cōparison between Catoes seuerity and Sir T. M. his pleasaūt disposition 10. Sir Tho. More a lay man martyr for Ecclesiasticall autority neuer before questioned Epigrammes History of K. Richard the 3. in English and Latin His Vtopia Many deemed Vtopia to be a true nation and country Sheep deuour men in England Sir Tho. More his book against Luther His epistle against Pomeranus His English writings The dialog with the messinger Great sincerity in his writing and loue of the truth He writt neither for gaine nor report His pouerty almost incredible in so greate a man Sir Tho. M. no partiall frind to the clergy Tindals false trāslation of the scripture Cōfuted learnedly by Sir Th. M. The wilfulnes of heretikes Tindal falsifieth Sir T.M. words Tindals maze Tindals māner of amēding Against Frier Barnes his inuisible Churche The notable disagreemēt of heretikes among thēselues Hereticall scoffing Heretikes Hypocrisy Against the supplication of beggars Against Iohn Frith Sir Tho. Mores Apologie How heretikes recite the catholik argumēts Touching the length of Sir Tho. Mores bookes Heretiks blaspheming the fathers vvould thēselues be reuerently handled Whē heretikes railings are to be neglected Heretikes excellent railours The pacificatiō Cōfuted by Sir T.M. The debellation of Salem and Bizance How the Pacifier reconcileth points in controuersy Sir T. M. his book of the blessed Sacrament The heretiks supper of the Lord wants the best dishe Sir Tho. Mores bookes written in the tower Comfort in tribulation Of Cōmunion Of the Passion The excellencn of the booze of Comfort The said book a preparation against the persequutiō which he did forsee Written when he had no book about him Written with cole Like Esaias his cole that purified his lippes
sendeth greeting The marchant of Bristow brought vnto me your letters the next day after he had receaued them of you vvith the vvhich I vvas exceedingly delighted For there can come nothing yea though it vvere neuer so rude neuer so meanely polished from this your shoppe but it procureth me more delight then anie other mens vvorkes be they neuer so eloquent your vvriting doth so stirre vp my affection tovvards you but excluding these your letters may also very vvell please me for their ovvne vvorth being full of fine vvitt and of a pure Latine phrase therefore none of them all but ioyed me exceedingly yet to tell you ingeniously vvhat I thinke my sonne Iohn's letter pleased me best both because it vvas longer then the other as also for that he seemeth to haue taken more paynes then the rest For he not only paynteth out the matter decently and speaketh elegantly but he playeth also pleasantly vvith me and returneth my ieastes vpon me againe very vvittily and this he doth not only pleasantly but temperately vvithall shevving that he is mindefull vvith vvhome he ieasteth to vvitt his father vvhome he endeauoureth so to delight that he is also afeared to offende Hereafter I expect euerie day letters from euerie one of you neither vvill I accept of such excuses as you complaine of that you had no leasure or that the Carrier vvent avvay suddenly or that you haue no matter to vvrite Iohn is not vvont to alleage anie such things nothing can hinder you from vvriting but manie things may exhort you thereto vvhy should you lay anie faulte vpon the Carrier seing you may preuent his coming and haue them readie made vp and sealed two daies before anie offer themselues to carrie them And hovv can you vvant matter of vvriting vnto me vvho am delighted to heare eyther of your studies or of your play vvhome you may euen then please exceedingly vvhen hauing nothing to vvrite of you vvrite as largely as you can of that nothing then vvhich nothing is more easie for you to doe especially being vvomen and therefore pratlers by nature and amongst vvhome daily a great storie riseth of nothing But this I admonish you to doe that vvhether you vvrite of serious matters or of trifles you vvrite vvith diligence and consideration premeditating of it before neither vvill it be amisse if you first indite it in English for then it may more easily be translated into Latine vvhilst the minde free from inuenting is attētiue to finde apt and eloquent vvordes And although I putt this to your choice vvhether you vvill do so or no yet I enioyne you by all meanes taht you diligently examine vvhat you haue vvritten before you vvrite it ouer fayre againe first considering attentiuely the vvhole sentence and after examine euerie parte thereof by which meanes you may easily finde out if anie solecismes haue escaped you vvhich being putt out and your letter vvritten fayre yet then lett it not also trouble you to examine it ouer againe for sometimes the same faultes creepe in at the second vvriting vvhich you before had blotted out By this your diligence you vvill procure that those your trifles vvill seeme serious matters For as nothing is so pleasing but may be made vnfauorie by prating garrulitie so nothing is by nature so vnpleasant that by industrie may not be made full of grace and pleasantnesse Farevvell my svvetest Children From the Court this 3. of September Another letter to his daugter Margarett only Thy letters dearest Margarett vvere gratefull vnto me vvhich certifyed me of the state of Shaw yet vvould they haue bene more gratefull vnto me if they had tolde me vvhat your and your brother's studies vvere vvhat is read amongst you euerie day hovv pleasantly you conferre togeather vvhat themes you make and hovv you passe the day away amongst you in the svveete fruits of learning And although nothing is vvritten from you but it is most pleasing vnto me yet those things are most sugred svveete vvhich I cannot learne of but by you or your brother And in the ende I pray thee Megg see that I vnderstande by you vvhat your studies are For rather then I vvould suffer you my children to liue idely I vvould my self looke vnto you vvith the losse of my temporall estate bidding all other cares and businesses Farevvell amongst vvhich there is nothing more svveete vnto me then thy self my dearest daughter Farevvell It seemeth also by another letter of his how carefull he was that his children might be learned and diligent and he prayseth them for it thus Thomas More sendeth greeting to his most deare daughters Margarett Elizabeth and Cecilie and to Margarett Gigs as deare to him as if she vvere his ovvne I cannot sufficiently expresse my best beloued vvenches hovv your eloquent letters haue exceedingly pleased me and this is not the least cause that I vnderstande by them you haue not in your iourneys though you change places often omitted anie thing of your custome of exercising yourselues either in making of Declamations composing of verses or in your Logike exercises by this I persvvade my selfe that you dearely loue me because I see you haue so great a care to please me by your diligence in my absence as to perfourme these things vvhich you knovve hovv gratefull they are vnto me in my presence And as I finde this your minde and affection so much to delight me so vvill I procure that my returne shall be profitable vnto you And persvvade yourselues that there is nothing amongst these my troublesome carefull affaires that recreateth me so much as vvhen I reade somevvhat of your labours by vvhich I vnderstande those things to be true vvhich your most louing maister vvriteth so louingly of you that vnlesse your ovvne epistles did shevv euidently vnto me hovv earnest your desire is tovvards learning I should haue iudged that he had rather vvritten of affection then according to the truth but novv by these that you vvrite you make him to be belieued and me to imagine those things to be true of your vvittie and acute disputacions vvhich he boasteth of you almost aboue all beliefe I am therefore maruelous desirous to come home that vve may heare them and sett our schollar to dispute vvith you vvho is slovve to belieue yea out of all hope or conceipt to finde you able to be ansvverable to your master's prayses But I hope knovving hovv steadfast you are in your affections that you vvill shortly ouercome your maister yf not in disputing at least in not leauing of your strife Farevvell deare vvenches And thus you may coniecture how learned his daughters were to whome for this respect Erasmus dedicated his Commentarie vpon Ouide de nuce Levvis Viues also writeth great commendations of this schoole of Sir THOMAS MORE 's in his booke to Q. Catherine of England And both Erasmus dedicated Aristotle in Greeke and Simon Grineus who although an heretike yet in respect of
his learning had bene kindely vsed by Sir THOMAS MORE as he writeth himself did dedicate Plato and other bookes in Greeke vnto my grandfather Iohn More as to one that was also very skillfull in that toung See what Grineus speaketh vnto him There vvas a great necessitie why I should dedicate these bookes of Proclus full of maruelous learning by my paynes sett out but not vvithout the singular benefitt of your father effected vnto you to vvhome by reason of your fatherlike vertues all the fruite of this benefitt is to redounde both because you may be an ornamēt vnto them and they also may doe great good vnto you vvhome I knovve to be learned and for these graue disputacions sufficiently prouided and made fitt by the continuall conuersation of so vvorthie a father and by the companie of your sisters vvho are most expert in all kinde of sciences For vvhat Authour can be more gratefull to those desirous mindes of most goodlie things such as you and the Muses your sisters are vvhome a diuine heate of spiritt to the admiration and a nevv example of this our age hath driuen into the sea of learning so farre and so happily that they see no learning to be aboue their reache no disputations of philosophie aboue their capacitie And none can better explicate entangled questions none sifte them more profoundly nor none conceaue them more easily then this authour Lett vs see another letter to his daughter Margarett only You aske monye deare Megg too shamefully fearefully of your father vvho is both desirous to giue it you and your letter hath deserued it vvhich I could finde in my hart to recompence not as Alexander did by Cherilus giuing him for euerie verse a Philippine of golde but if my abilitie vvere ansvverable to my vvill I vvould bestovve tvvo Crovvnes of pure golde for euerie sillable thereof Here I sende you as much as you requested being vvilling to haue sent you more but that as I am glad to giue so I am desirous to be asked and favvned on by my daughters thee especially vvhome vertue and learning hath made most deare vnto me Wherefore the sooner you haue spent this money vvell as you are vvont to doe and the sooner you aske me for more the sooner knovve you vvill doe your father a singular pleasure Farevvell my most beloued daughter This daughter was likest her father as well in fauour as witt and proued a most rare woman for learning sanctitie and secrecie and therefore he trusted her with all his secretts She wrote two Declamations in English which her father and she turned into Latine so elegantly as one could hardly iudge which was the best She made also a treatise of the Foure Last things which her father sincerely protested that it was better then his and therefore it may be neuer finished his She corrected by her witt a place in S. Cyprian corrupted as Pamelian and Iohn Coster testifye in steede of nisi vos sinceritatis rectoring neruos sinceritatis To her Erasmus wrote an epistle as to a woman not only famous for manners and vertue but most of all for learning We haue heretofore made mention of her letter that Cardinal Poole so liked that when he had read it he would not belieue it could be anie womans in answer whereof Sir THOMAS did sende her the letter some parte whereof we haue seene before the rest is this which though there were no other testimonie of her extraordinarie learning might suffice In the meanetime saith her father I thought vvith myself hovv true I found that novv vvhich once I remember I spoke vnto you in ieaste vvhen I pittied your hard happe that men that read your vvritings vvould suspect you to haue had helpe of some other man therein vvhich vvould derogate somevvhat from the praises due to your vvorkes seing that you of all others deserue least to haue such a suspition had of you for that you neuer could abide to be decked vvith the plumes of other birds But you svveete Megg are rather to be praised for this that seing you cannot hope for condigne praise of your labours yet for all this you goe forvvard vvith this your inuincible courrage to ioyne vvith your vertue the knovvledge of most excellent sciences and contenting yourself vvith your ovvne pleasure in learning you neuer hunte after vulgar praises nor receaue them vvillingly though they be offered you And for your singular pietie and loue towards me you esteeme me and your husband a sufficient and ample theater for you to content you vvith vvho in requitall of this your affection beseech God and our Ladie vvith as hartie praiers as possible vve can povvre out to giue you an easie and happie childbirth to encrease your familie vvith a childe most like yourself except only in sexe yet yf it be a vvench that it may be such a one as vvould in time recompēce by imitation of her mothers learning and vertues vvhat by the condition of her sexe may be vvanting such a vvenche I should preferre before three boyes Farevvell dearest daughter But see I pray you how a most learned bishopp in Englād was rauished with her learning and witt as it appeareth by a letter which her father wrote vnto her to certifye her thereof Thomas More sendeth hartie greeting to his dearest daughter Margarett I vvill lettt passe to tell you my svveetest daughter hovv much your letter delighted me you may imagine hovv exceedingly it pleased your father vvhen you vnderstande vvhat affection the reading of it raysed in a stranger It happened me this euening to sitt vvith Iohn Lo Bishopp of E'xeter a learned man and by all mens iudgement a most sincere man As vve vvere talking togeather and I taking out of my pockett a paper vvhich vvas to the purpose vve vvere talking of I pulled out by chāce therevvith your letter The handvvriting pleasing him he tooke it from me and looked on it vvhen he perceaued it by the salutaciō to be a vvomans he beganne more greedily to read it noueltie inuiting him therevnto but vvhen he had read it and vnderstood that it was your vvriting vvhich he neuer could haue belieued if I had not seriously affirmed it such a letter I vvill say no more yet vvhy should not I reporte that vvhich he sayd vnto me so pure astile so good Latine so eloquent so full of svveete affections he vvas maruelously rauished vvith it vvhen I perceaued that I brought forth also an Oration of yours vvhich he reading and also manie of your verses he vvas so moued vvith the matter so vnlooked for that the verie countenance and gesture of the man free from all flatterie and deceipt bevvrayed that his minde vvas more then his vvords could vtter although he vttered manie to your greate praise and forthvvith he drevv out of his pockett a portegué the which you shall receaue enclosed herein I could not possibly shūne the taking of it but he vvould needes