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 wise 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 vnthristinesse 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 peop'e rebelle against their gouernours then vvill rise vp riseling 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 a misse 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
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 be 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 hisexcellēt workemanshipp therein But the booke that carrieth the price of all his other Latin bookes of wittie inuention is his Utopia 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 Lacedemonians 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 Uesputius 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
doubt but that he was an elect and saued soule so that it was impossible for him to sinne or fall out of God's fauour Of this dangerous poison of securitie he hauing druncke a full draught he came on a time to Sir THOMAS to request him because he was highly in the king's fauour that he would gett him a licence to pieache what the spiritt had taught him for he was assured that God had sent him to instruct the world not knowing god wote anie reason of this his mission but only his priuate spirit to whome Sir THOMAS in a smiling manner replyed Is it not sufficient sonne Rooper that we that are your friēds should knowe that you are a foole but that you would haue your follie proclamed to the world After this he often disputed with him about matters of religion yet neuer could he bring him to hearken to anie reason euerie day seeming more obstinate then other vntill at length he sayd in sober sadnesse I see sonne noe disputation will doe thee good henceforth therefore I will dispute with thee no more only will I pray for thee that God will be so fauourable as to touch thy hart and so committing him to God they parted And he earnestly powred out his deuotions before the Diuine mercie for that intent And beholde my vncle not long after being inspired with the light of grace beganne to detest his heresies and as another S. Austin was wholy conuerted so that euer after he was not only a perfect Catholike but liued and dyed a stoute and valiant Champion thereof whose almes in charitable vses was so great that it is sayd that he bestowed euerie yeare to the value of fiue hūdred pounds especially in his latter daies in which he enioyed an office of great gayne and commoditie and after his death I haue heard it reported by thē that were seruants in his house that whilst his bodie lay vnburied for three or foure daies there was heard once a day for the space of a quarter of an hower the sweetest musike that could be imagined not of anie voices of men but angelicall harmonie as a token how gratious that soule was to Almightie God and to the quires of Angells Now this was a more speciall fauour which God grāted to Sir THOMAS his deuout prayers then the raysing of a dead man to life by how much more the death of the soule is of more danger then the death of the bodie yet it is certaine also that this glorious man begged also corporall life for some of his deare friends On a time his daughter Margaret wife to this William Rooper fell sicke of the sweating sickenesse of which maniedyed at that time who lying in so great extremitie of the disease that by no inuentions nor deuises that anie cunning phisiciā could vse at that time hauing cōtinually about her most learned wise and expert that could begotten she could by no meanes be kept from sleepe so that euerie one about her had iust cause to despaire of her recouerie giuing her vtterly ouer her father as he that most loued her being in noe small heauinesse at last sought for remedie of this her desperate case from God wherefore going as his custome was into his new building there in his Chappell vpon his knees most deuoutly euen with manie teares besought Almightie God vnto whome nothing was impossible of his goodnesse if it were his blessed will that at his meditation he would vouchsafe gratiously to graunt this his humble petition where presently came into his minde that a glister was the onlie way to helpe her which whē he tolde the phisicians they confessed that it was the best remedie indeede much marueling of thēselues they had not remembred if which was immediately ministred vnto her sleeping for else she would neuer haue bene brought to that kinde of medicine And although whē she awaked throughly Gods markes an euident and vndoubted token of death plainely appeared vpon her yet she contrarie to all expectation was as it were miraculously and by her fathers feruēt prayer restored to perfect health againe whome if it had pleased God at that time to haue taken to his mercie her father solemnely protested that he would neuer haue medled with anie worldlie matters after such was his fatherlie loue and vehement affection vnto this his Iewell who most neerely of all the rest of his Children expressed her fathers vertues although the meanest of all the rest might haue bene matched with anie other of their age in England either for learning excellent qualities or pietie they hauing bene brought vp euen frō their infancie with such care and industrie and enioying alwaies most vertuous and learned maisters So that the schoole of Sir THOMAS MORE' 's children was famous ouer the whole world for that their witts were rare their diligence extraordinarie and their maisters most excellent men as aboue the rest Doctour Clement an excellent Grecian and phisician who was after reader of the phisicke-lecture in Oxford and sett out manie bookes of learning After him one William Gūnell who read after with greate praise in Cambridge and besides these one Drue one Nicolas and after all one Richard Hart of whose rare learning and industrie in this behalfe lett vs see what may be gathered out of Sir THOMAS his letters vnto them and first to M. r Gunnell thus I haue receaued my deare Gunnell your letters such as they are vvont to be most elegant full of affection Your loue towards my children I gather by your letter their diligence by their owne for euerie one of their letters pleaseth me very much yet most especially I take ioy to heare that my daughter Elizabeth hath shevved as greate modestie in her mother's absence as anie one could doe if she had bene in presence lett her knovve that that thing liked me better then all the epistles besides for as I esteeme learning vvhich is ioyned vvith vertue more then all the threasures of kings so vvhat doth the fame of being a great schollar bring vs if it be seuered from vertue other then a notorious and famous infamie especially in a vvoman vvhome men vvill be readie the more vvillingly to assayle for their learning because it is a rare matter and argueth a reproche to the sluggishnesse of a man vvho vvill not stick to lay the fault of their naturall malice vpon the qualitie of learning supposing all their ovvne vnskillfullnesse by comparing it vvith the vices of those that are learned shal be accounted for vertue but if anie vvoman on the contrarie parte as I hope and vvishe by your instruction and teaching all mine vvill doe shall ioyne manie vertues of the minde vvith a little skill of learning I shall accounte this more happinesse then if they vvere able to attaine to Craesus's vvealth ioyned vvith the beautie of fayre Helene not because they vvere to gett great fame thereby although that inseparably follovveth all vertue as
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 snppose 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 M. r 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 nothing 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 fame 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 fayth 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 of griefes and sorrowes that may possibly encomber 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 saser 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