Dr. Burnet AGAINST Mr. Thevenot and Mr. Le Grand A LETTER TO Mr. THEVENOT Containing A CENSURE of Mr. Le Grand's HISTORY OF King Henry the Eighth's Divorce To which is Added A CENSURE of Mr. de Meaux's HISTORY OF THE Variations of the Protestant Churches Together with Some further Reflections on Mr. Le Grand Both Written By GILBERT BVRNET D. D. Licensed and Entred according to Order LONDON Printed for Iohn Starkey and Richard Chiswell MDCLXXXIX A LETTER TO Mr. THEVENOT Containing a Censure of Mr. Le Grand's History of K. Henry the Eighth's Divorce SIR INstead of offering you all those expressions of Respect which on many accounts are so justly due to you I shall satisfy my self at present with this one which is That I consider you as a Person of so much Probity and Sincerity that notwithstanding all the difference of Perswasion that is between you and me yet I can make an Appeal to you and refer my self to your Decision in the Contests that are like to be between Mr. le Grand and me in a Subject that has a great Relation to Matters of Religion Matters of Opinion and the Inferences and Speculations that arise out of Matters of Fact appear indeed differently to Men according to their various apprehensions of things While Matters of Fact have but one face and appear the same to all who desire to find out Truth And therefore since our Dispute is like to run wholly on Matters of Fact I know I run no hazard when I apply my self to you as an Arbiter While I was last at Paris I was so happy as to have the Honour of waiting sometimes on you and saw how just a Title you had to the Esteem and Admiration which is so universally paid you I had in my own particular all possible Reason to acknowledge the high Civilities that you put on me and among others the trouble that you put your self to in bringing Mr. le Grand and me to a Conference before your self and Mr. Auzout I confess I apprehended that I had a man to deal with from whom nothing was to be expected but fair dealing A Man that lived in the House of one that was no less Eminent for his Sublime Vertue than for those high Employments thro' which he has gone one that was much with that Learned and Worthy Gentleman Mr. Bulteau and that saw often the Famous Mr. Baluze whose Sincerity is equal to his Learning which is one of the greatest things of the Age and that valued himself on Mr. Thevenot's Friendship seemed to be such an Antagonist as one would have wisht for I will not put you on so uneasy a thing as the remembring the poor and inconsiderable things that were proposed in your hearing of which you were both so weary and for which you owned your selves so much ashamed not only to me when Mr. le Grand was gone but to a great many others You seemed fully fatisfied that all he proposed deserved not to be mentioned and that such as it was it was fully answer'd by me Mr. Auzout indeed desired me not to boast much of what had past with which it was very easy for me to comply for to tell you freely I did not find that my Antagonist was such a Person that a Victory over him afforded matter for a Triumph and in the account that I found it convenient to give of a part of our Conversation in my Remarks on Mr. Varillas I managed Mr. le Grand with all the Respect that he could have expected from me but if hereafter I touch him a little more sensibly he has none to blame for it but himself I can very easily bear all his Reflections on me p. 30. for my Ignorance and want of Capacity and in particular for my Ignorance of the History and Laws of England p. 2 and 3. This comes soon after a very high and undeserved Commendation that he had given of me and it seems he himself thought I did not deserve it since he changed his Stile so soon It is too common Artifice to pass upon me to give a Man a good Title to reproach another by introducing those Injuries with high Commendations But I must be contented with my small measure of Knowledge and the low degree of Capacity that belongs to me and I have the more Reason to bear with my own defects at present since I have to do with one of so moderate a Talent as Mr. le Grand shews himself to be I wish only that those who desire to be rightly informed of the famous Transaction now in Dispute will be at the pains to read Sander's History and mine and next to examine Mr. le Grand's History and then I am confident that they will conclude that there must be some Errour in the Printing of the Title Page in which there is mention made of a Defence of Sander's and a Refutation of my History for the bulk of his work does so agree with mine except in some places where he uses an Art for which I do not envy him that I am tempted to think that in Writing it he intended to make good his offer made in your hearing that he would furnish me with a vast number of Papers for the Confirmation of my Work. I have yet only seen his first part so I cannot imagine how he can justify Sanders having given him quite up in the whole thread of his History The whole Story of Anne Bullen and all the Branches of it are abandoned which yet was the chief thing aimed at by Sanders as being a nullity in Q. Elizabeth's Title and by consequence an encouragement to Rebellion The Decretal Bull is confessed the Behaviour of Sir Thomas More is not insisted on by our Author In short if one will examine about eighty Errours for which I have charged Sander's History in my Appendix he will find above seventy of my contradictions of Sanders confirmed by Mr. le Grand which will be easily made appear if this Work of his is judged of that importance as to deserve a more particular censure I say nothing of his manner of Writing for that will offer it self to every Reader who must needs find in him more of the Stile of one that pleads a Cause than of one that undertakes to relate Matters An earnestness in proving and an injuriousness of Stile are indecencies that are scarce to be forgiven to one that pretends to be an Historian And there is somewhat that is Sacred even in the Ashes of Crowned Heads that claims a Modesty of Stile So that even when they are censured softer words than Lies and Impostures ought to be sought for And the chief point in this whole Matter being whether the King's Cause ought not to have been judged rather in England and by his own Clergy than at Rome The supporting the Pope's pretensions in opposition to this as it agrees very ill with the Principles of the Gallican Church so it seems
Burnet Poor Man as he is takes this from Raynaldus who saies expresly and which is more Ad An. 1503. Num. 11. 22. cites Authors to prove it that the Cardinal of Rouen himself had aspired but that Iulius was preferred to him and the same Author saies that he granted the Bull for the King of England's Marriage which was proposed to him as a mean for bearing down the French and for strengthning the Party against them ad deprimendos Gallos confirmandasque adversus eos vires communes Upon the occasion of the Bull I had said that Isabel of Castile is called Elizabetha in it I neither said more nor less upon this nor made I any reasoning upon it and my Design in it was occasioned by a Discourse that I had once had with some who pretended that these were different names Hist. de Div. p. 125. Def. de Sand. Art. 35. Rej. de Bur. Art. 11. and yet in three or four places Mr. le Grand according to his usual Sincerity and with his cold Railery of calling me an able Man for it has said that I have made that an Argument to prove that the Bull was a Forgery Mr. le Grand Reproaches me for saying that the Count of Tholouse was the first that felt the effects of the fourth Council of the Lateran and shews me that he was Censured and Deposed before that Council But this shews how unfit he is to Write upon Critical Matters Ad. Conâ— Lat. 4. p. 233. what I said is justified by Cossart's Annotations who says expresly that till then the Dominions of the Count of Tholouse were only sequestred but that a Decree was made in that Synod translating a great part of them to the Count of Monfort for ever and for this he not only Cites Petrus Vallisarnensis but sends his Reader to Dachery's Spicilegium for the Decree it self It is true the Count of Tholouse was Depos'd before that time but by the Feudal Law upon his Deposition either his Heresy was to be accounted only a Personal Crime and then the Fee was to go to the next Heir or if it was to be made equal to a Crime of Treason then the Fee was to return to the Superiour Lord and so in this Case it was to have fallen to the Crown of France but it was the fourth Council of the Lateran that first gave the Pope the Power of transferring the Dominions of Hereticks to others whereas before that he could only Depose them It is also plain that Mr. le Grand treats this whole Matter very mildly and not with that Detestation that some Writers of that Church affect when we reproach them with the Deposing Power After all if I have many reasons to complain of Mr. le Grand I confess there is one for which I am much beholden to him and that is the pains that he is at to prove the constant Tradition in Catholick States to proceed Capitally against Hereticks This Book was writ by him chiefly for the English Nation and if this one thing does not hinder it it will probably be put in English But as we are beholden to those who set on the Persecution of France and must acknowledge that we owe our Preservation in a great measure to it since the Allarm which that gave this whole Nation was a stronger Argument than any that we could have invented for shewing them their danger for sensible and barbarous things affect all the World But now the Men of the Mission think fit to disclaim the Persecution of France and throw it on the King's Bigotry yet taking still great pains to clear Father de la Chaise of it as if he had alwaies opposed it so that we are forced to justify Lewis le Grand in that matter and to shew that he has acted in all things Conform to the Doctrine and Spirit of his Church This our Missionaries deny and endeavour to persuade us that Liberty of Conscience is the Principle and Doctrine of their Church And that therefore we need not apprehend any mischief from them that they not only abhor all Capital Proceedings but even the Fining of Men or the excluding them from Imployments on the Account of Religion that they cannot forgive those lesser Severities practised by Men of the Church of England and that all Men of all Perswasions may expect to live easy and happy under them But Mr. le Grand has spoiled all this and thus they see what it is to imploy Men in their Cause that are not yet Initiated into the Mysteries of the Society tho' a little common Prudence had preserved Mr. le Grand from committing such an Errour But 't is not just to expect from Men that which they have not I will not carry this Censure further at present for I have not near me the Books and other Documents that are necessary for a fuller Answer And those in England to whom I sent for the Resolution of some things have so much work given them at present by those whose Favour Mr. le Grand is Courting that it is not to be wondred at if they have not leisure to send me the Materials which I wanted They are in a Storm which all the World knows tho' they are not yet reduc'd to that which the Reverend Father Petre has threatned them with in that Modest and Savoury Expression of his That the Church of England shall be made to eat its own Dung. This is indeed a true Essay of the Charity of the Order and it is that which we have Reason to expect from it But I will now put an end to this long Letter I am Sir At the Hague the 10th of September 1688. Your most Humble Servant G. BURNET POSTSCRIPT I Have seen Mr. le Grand's Annotations upon my Letter to Mr. Thevenot I perceive clearly by it that this hot Summer and his extraordinary Application have so dryed his Brain and given him such an over flowing of the Gall that all the answer I can bestow on him is to wish his Friends to look to him and keep him from running about the Streets for he is in a fair way to that They will do well to Bleed him over and over again to give him some inward Refrigeratives and now and then a few Grains of Laudanum and to take a special care of him at New and Full Moons Pen Ink and Paper must be kept from him as poyson for these things set his Head so a going that his Fits redouble upon him at every time that he gets them in his hands But above all things care must be taken not to name me nor the Bibliotheque Universels to him for that will certainly bring on him a most violent Paroxisme and he being Young and so mightily in love with himself good Air and good Keeping may at last bring him out of this Raving Distemper So to be sure I will have no more to do with a Man that writes like a Lunatick
the King's Matter but after all our Author cannot enough aggravate Crammer's taking the Oath of Obedience to the Pope at his Consecration with the Protestation that limited it with several restrictions Which he also reports upon the credit of some spiteful Authors quite contrary to what appears upon Record For he made the Protestation to be twice Read at the Altar when he was Consecrated So it is plain he had no mind to equivocate for he owned publickly all that he did And Protestations renouncing all Clauses that were in Bulls contrary to the King's Prerogative having been ordinarily made by Bishops it seems the Canonists who were accustomed to double dealing prevailed so far on Cranmer as to make him take the method of Swearing the Oath and then limiting it by a Protestation made at the same time In which it is plain that if he committed an Errour it was rather a mistake in his Judgment than a want of Sincerity 6. Mr. le Grand saies that the King pardoned More and Fisher the business of the Maid of Kent p. 280. to 282. and tho' he owns that More calls her in a Letter the silly Nun yet he takes no notice of that long Letter of Mores which I published among the Instruments of my second Volume in which he treats that matter as one of the horridest Impostures that ever was and for which Fisher tho' our Author denies it was Condemn'd for concealing Treason To this he adds that the Chancellor having asked Fisher and More what they thought of the Acts of the last Parliament they answered nothing but said that being cut off from all Civil Society they thought of nothing but our Saviour's Passion and this cost them their life This is such a corrupting of History that I forbear to give it its true name And indeed a prevarication in this matter is the less excusable because our Author might have found advantage enough by representing the matter truly as I had done from the Records They were Condemn'd first in a Premunire that imports loss of Estate and perpetual Imprisonment for refusing to swear the Oath for the Succession by the King's Marriage Enacted by Parliament And after that they were prosecuted for having spoken against the King's Supremacy and there is one Incident in More 's Process which perhaps would be thought enough at present for Condemning a Man as Guilty of High Treason for he said that as the Parliament could make a King so it could likewise Depose him But I limited my self to six Heads and I will not go beyond them The abundance of Matter that is before me makes it uneasie for me to pass over many important things which our Author has left out of his History tho' they are in that Collection of Letters published by Camusat and which I never saw till he himself not only shewed it me but did me the Honour to present it to me He does not tell us that the Pope promised to Cardinal de Tournon Melanges Hist. 1532. folio 8. M. that he would do all that was in his Power for the King of England and that the thing should be done tho' he must take such a Method in the point of Form as not to seem too partial to him And that the Cardinal thought he was sure of the Pope in that Matter The same Cardinal writes the 17 of Aug. 1533. that tho' the Cardinals of the Imperial Faction forced the Pope to what he had done fol. 9. N. yet if the King of England would save his Honour he would with all his Heart do what he desired and did not doubt but he should propose Expedients for this at the Interview that was to be at Marseilles fol. 19. O. By another Letter it appears that Francis the First owned to the English Ambassadours that the Pope had said to himself that he knew the King's Cause was just and he only stood upon a Procuration For the King being cited to appear at Rome in Person or by Proxy the King would take no notice of this fol. 177. and so Karne was sent over Excusator to excuse the King's Appearance But it appears by that Collection that he was sent over in the Name of the Nation and not in the King's Name So the King 's refusing to appear being thought a great Contempt the Pope promised to grant the Divorce if the King would so far acknowledge his Authority as to appear at Rome by a Proxy upon his Summons And in this Francis the First thought the King was in the right and he approved of his Marriage so far that he ordered his Ambassadour to Christen the Child in his Name fol. 140. P Q R. fol. 174 175 176 177. if it proved a Son. The French Ambassadour at Rome did also in many Letters to the Court of France write that the Pope would do all that was desired for the King of England and much more if he durst but he was so hard pressed by the Imperialists that against God and Reason and even against the Opinion of many of the Imperialists themselves he was forced to do whatsoever the Cardinal Dosme asked of him And that they wanted much the Cardinal Grandmont who was Bishop of Tarbes for no man durst speak Truth to the Pope It is true the Ambassadour who was then the Bishop of Auxerre says that he expected no good of the Pope and that all was but dissimulation Yet to shew that crafty Ambassadours change their Stile so that it is hard to know how much one ought to trust to their Letters the same day in which he had writ the former Letter to the Legate that was in France he wrote another to the Great Master in which he tells him that the Pope had said that the King of England 's Matter had been now four years in his hands and was not yet touched by him and that if he could do as he would it should be as they all would And he writes that he spoke this in such a manner to him that he believes he said what he thought fol. 177. S. These Letters bear all Date the 7th of February 1532. But the 13th of Iuly thereafter he writes that the Pope said to him that he resolved to put off the Business to a good time and he saw clearly what he meant by a good time and adds that if the thing had been then judged the Old and Learned Cardinals would have been for the King of England but the Imperialists were so much the stronger Party that it would have been carried clear against them And tho' Mr. le Grand speaks doubtfully of that Critical Matter that a Currier came from England within a day or two after the Sentence was given and passes over the haste in which it was given as a thing of which he knew nothing yet in that Collection there is a Letter writ from Lyons by Pompone Trivulce fol. 177. T. Cardinal Trivulce's Brother Dated