Ecclesiae Dei comparaverat operae pretium me facturum existimavi si ordine aliquo omnia disponerem notisque additis indicarem unde à studiosis quibusque suo tempore depromi possint hoc autem meum judicium multo magis mihi probatum est cum in eadem sententia ipsum D. Martyrem fuisse intellexi Sic enim à D. Ioanne Gravilla quâ— tempore D. P. Martyris domesticus una cum multis aliis ejus consuetudine colloquiis frueretur ab illo quaesitum aliquando fuisse quare locos communes uno volumine collectos cudendos non curaret Hoc enim Ecclesiae Dei fore utilius a piis quibusque magnopere desideraxi cum iis quae dicta fuerunt annuisse idque si per otium liceret se aliquando facturum recepisse quod utinam illi prestare dedisset Dominus neque enim dubium quin limae labore addito multarum rerum accessione longe cumulatiores opes Ecclesia Dei habitura fuisset id autem cum ipsi minime licuâ—rit And if after all these discoveries Mr Varillas can find men that will still read his Books and believe them it must be said that the Age deserves to be imposed upon There is another particular set forth in this Preface that is of a piece with the former He tells us he has drawn that which is most curious in his twentieth Book out of Commendons Negotiation in England of which he gives us this account Pope Iulius the third writ to Cardinal Dandino ordering him to send some able man secretly over to England to confirm the Queen in her resolution of reconciling England again to the See of Rome He upon that sent over Commendon who went to London in disguise but by accident found one Iohn Lee a Privy Councellor who procured him a secret Audience he had many Conferences with the Queen who trusted him with her Secret which was that she believed she could never re-establish the Catholick Religion unless she married the Prince of Spain and by that means engaged the House of Austria to assist her with their Troops but tho Commendon could not doubt that the Popes Intention was that she should marry Cardinal Pool and not raise Spain too much by so great an accession yet he had been sent over in hast and had no Instructions relating to that matter so he complied with the Queens Inclinations for the Spanish Match of which she spoke to him every time that she gave him audience so that he saw into that Sectret and had credit by that means to soften most of the Articles which would otherwise have been of great prejudice to the Court of Rome Mr. Varillas can pretend no Warrant for this part of his History but Gratians Life of Commendon and if this be the most curious part of his 20. Book we may conclude what judgment we ought to make of the rest Commendon was in London when the Duke of Northumberland was executed which was the 22. August he had been sent from Brussels some days before that and by consequence he was sent by Cardinal Dandino of his own motion as Gratian represents it For King Edward died the sixth of Iuly and it was 10. dayes after that before Queen Mary was in possession so here there will not be time enough for sending notice to Rome and receiving orders from it 2. Lee was a Servant of the Queen's and no Privy Councellor 3. The Queen never mentioned the Spanish Match to Commendon on the contrary she rather intimated to him her design for Cardinal Pool for she asked him if the Pope could not dispence with his marrying since he was only in Deacons Orders which is confessed elsewhere by Mr. Varillas 4. It does not appear by Gratian that Commendon saw the Queen often for as the thing was a great secret and by consequence many audiences given by a Lady that was so scrupulous as she was could not be long concealed so on the other hand no doubt Commendon pressed a dispatch all that was possible knowing what a step such a piece of news must be to the making his Fortune in Rome 5. Nor does it appear that there was the least motion yet made in the Match with Spain and the first proposition that I could find of it was in a Letter writ by the Q. of Hungary in the Emperours name and subscribed by him for he was then lame of the Gout and dated in the beginning of November 6. Mr. Varillas represents Queen Mary very ready to discover her greatest Secrets when she would trust an unknown Man sent to her by the Legate in the Emperours Court with a matter of such Consequence There was no danger in trusting him with her design of reconciling her self to the Court of Rome for he that was a Creature of that Court was not to be suspected in that matter but it had been a strange loosness of Tongue in her to have blobb'd out such a Secret to such a Person so that the preference he gives his King to so weak a Woman will lose much of its grace And thus by this Essay it appears that Mr. Varillas holds on his Method of writing and that he does not so much as take care to write his Prefaces correctly I. Mr. Varillas will shew that he knows Genealogies as well as he does the other parts of History for he tells us that Henry the Sevenths Queen that was the Heiress of the House of York had no Kinswoman of that Family nearer to her than her Couâ—â—n-German Margaret This is strange Ignorance for she had a Sister that married to Courtney Earl of Devonshire who was Mother to the Marquis of Exeter that was executed under Henry the Eighth Now he should have known this that so he might have given a stroke upon it against the Memory of that Prince II. He sets out Cardinal Pools great vigour in speaking so freely to the King against his Divorce that he once intended to put him to death but he pardoned him in consideration of the Compliance of his Mother and Brethren and so he was sent by his Family to study at Padua All this is a Fiction that was not so much as thought on till many years after the persons concerned were dead that Cardinal in his Book had no regard neither to K. Henry's Royal Dignity nor to the relation in Blood that was between them but treated him as a Pharaoh and a Nebuchadnezzar yet he upbraided him with no such thing tho it had been a very natural Apology for all that Freedom that he then took if he could have alledged that he had expressed himself first so plainly to him in private But so far was the Cardinal from such a behaviour that â—e complied with the Clergy in acknowledging the King to be the Supream Head of the Church of England For Pool in his Book tells the King that â—e was in England when that Submission was made and adds that
yet for certain reasons that our Author may guess at if he will he should not enlarge too much on this even tho the promise had been given both frequently and solemnly for this awakens ill Ideas in peoples minds and makes them conclude with the Ecclesiastes that the thing which hath been is that which shall be 6. King Henry excepted many out of the General Pardon others were presently seised on for engaging into new Conspiracies and against all these he proceeded upon no pretended Crimes but upon that of High Treason for having been in actual Rebellion against him 7. All that suffered by form of Law for those Rebellions were only two Peers six Knights and the Wife of one of them six Abbots and a Monk and sixteen men of a meanner rank now considering what a formidable Rebellion that had been this will not appear to have been a very extraordinary severity and without running too far back to things past the memory of man it were possible to instance Rebellions that were not so dreadful and yet that have ended in many more Sacrifices 8. He tells us of some that died in secret if he means that died in their Beds in Prison the thing may be very true but then it is not extraordinary but if he means the putting them to death secretly and the using them so barbarously that they languished and died under the hands of their Tormentors he must know that these are things which the English Nation knows not they may be practised by Courts of Inquisition or where Dragoons and De Rapines have the Execution of the Kings Parchment and Wax put in their hands but all Tryals and Executions in England are open and publick which is too gentle a Nation to bear the Cruelty of Torture VIII Mr. Varillas would needs have an extraordinary stroke of Providence appear here for he tells us that the last of those who suffered under the hand of the Hangman was no sooner dead then the Kings beloved Son the Duke of Richmond whom he had designed to make his Successor died suddenly of a malignant Feaver But I had warned our Author of the necessity of buying a Chronological Table for I saw what would come on it if he would not be at that charge The Duke of Richmond died the 22. of Iune 1536. and the first of all the tumults that was begun in Lincoln-Shire did not fall out before the October following so here is a lovely stroke of the Poem spoiled 2. It does not appear that the King had any such design on this Son of this for as he gave him none of the Titles of the Royal Family so he did not raise him up to any such degree of lustre as must have naturally followed on such a design IX He joyns to this Edward the sixths Birth and says That his Mother not being able to bring him forth King Henry ordered her Belly to be opened saying that he could find another Wife but that he was not sure to find another Son and that he began presently after her death to think on a fourth Marriage Again it appears that Mr. Varillas wants a Chronological Table for he joins King Edward's birth to the Duke of Richmond's death tho there was sixteen moneths between them for King Edward was born the twelfth of October 1537. and that was nine moneths after all the Executions were over 2. King Edward was born in the ordinary way and the Queen was as well a day after as any Woman in her condition could be of this there are many good Proofs extant for her Council writ Letters over all England giving notice of her safe delivery and of her good health and two days after others say three days after she was taken with a distemper ordinary to Women in her condition of which she died 3. Our Author should have considered the decorum of his Fable better than to make the King speak of a Son before he was born it had been more natural to make him speak of a Child indefinitly 4. This Queens death affected K. Henry so much that he let two years pass before he entred into any Treaty for a new Wife 5. He puts this in the year 1538. tho it fell out in the year 1537. X. He opens upon the Death a Project for Reconciling England to the Court of Rome and says That in order to the satisfying that Court it was not doubted but the Parliament of England would annual King Henry's second Marriage and declare Elisabeth a Bastard He adds That a Marriage of King Henry with Margaret Daughter to Francis the First was projected and here he shews how great a resemblance of Humours there was between them He adds That Pope Paul the Third was much pressed by the Colledge of Cardinals to fulminate against Henry since the Cardinals Hat which he had sent to Fisher had only served to precipitate his death upon which the Pope was bound both in Honour and Interest to revenge that contempt that was put on the Purple for if the persons of Cardinals were not esteemed sacred this would very much slacken their courage upon dangerous occasions The Pope therefore very dexterously resolved to shew his Thunder without discharging it So tho a new Sentence was past yet it was not published in hopes that the King for the safety of his person that was always exposed to the resentments of Zealous Catholicks or for the securing himself from those Seditions which broke out in one place as soon as they were quieted in another would at last reconcile himself to the holy See The only Project that was ever set on foot after the breach for reconciling England to the Court of Rome was almost two years before this upon Anne Bullens fall for then the Pope proposed it to Cassali that had been the Kings Ambassador at Rome but the King rejected it with so much scorn that in his next Parliament he past two Laws against all commerce with that Court severer than any of the former 2. There was no need of asking an Act of Parliament for annulling the Kings Marriage with Anne Bullen and for illegitimating the Issue for that was already done upon a confession of a Pre-contract that was drawn from her of which it is plain Mr. Varillas knew nothing tho it is in our Statute Books and these were then printed both in French and English 3. It does not appear that there was ever the least motion of a Marriage between King Henry and Margaret of France muchless that it was believ'd concluded 4. Our Author does not observe the decency of the Cardinals pressing the Pope to severity when he expressed it by his Revenging the contempt put upon the Purple It must be confessed that this is too haughty a stile for him that pretends to be the Vicar of Christ the language of Revenge does not agree with the Meekness of the Lamb of God 5. But if he makes the Cardinals speak
Memoirs when he writ his first Volum therefore his Reader must forgive him if there is any disorder in the recital that he gives and now from all this one would he disposed to believe that there is some truth in this matter and that he has really such a Book of Memoirs in his hands but I need give no other proof to shew that all this is Imposture save that Bulloign was not taken before the 18. of September 1544. so that all this Negotiation of Richers in 1542. must have been by the spirit of Prophesy 2. The state of Denmark at that time must make this project appear very ridiculous since they were far from being in a condition to set out great fleets and make Conquests 3. At this time Francis did indeed engage the King of Scotland to make an Invasion into the North of England which was a more reasonable project and that which our Author might have more justly guess't at tho he had known nothing of it for it was an easy thing to engage the Scots to fall into England but that was too true and too natural therefore our Author who loves to elevate and surprise his Reader would needs despise the Project in Scotland and so would carry it over to Denmark 4. It is also no less clear that Francis was at that time in no condition to make a descent upon England otherwise he used the Scots very ungratefully for tho he had engaged them in the war yet he left them to be overrun by the English without giving K. Henry any considerable diversion 5. But our Authors setting on the King of Denmark to renew pretensions of five hundred year old is of a piece with the Law at Metz and when England will examin its Ancient pretensions to some Provinces in a neighbouring Kingdom as it needs not go so far back so it will not be put to found them on hostile descents and depredations which was all the pretension that the Crown of Denmark could ever claim but on clear and undisputed Rights tho I confess they have been both discontinued and renounced but I build on the modern Law that neither Prescriptions Treaties nor Oaths can cut off the Rights of a Crown which are sacred and Inalienable Thus I have gone over his third Tome and I think I have missed nothing that relates to English affairs I confess I may have passed over some particulars that may perhaps lie Involved in other Relations as this of Richers had almost escaped me I have turned all his leaves over and over again to see for any thing that might relate to England But I could not prevail with my self to read him all for I am now past the Age of reading Romances XXXIV Mr. Varillas begins his discourse concerning English Affairs in his fourth Tome with a Character of K. Henry's cruelty that deserves indeed to be put in Capitals he says that during his Sickness his Conscience had time to reproach him with the 2. Cardinals the 3. Archbishops the 18. Bishops the 14. Arch deacons the 500. Priests Abbots and Priors the 60. Canons and 50. Doctors 12. Dukes Earles or Barons 29. Knights 336. Gentlemen and almost an Infinite number of people whom he had put to death for establishing his Primacy over the Church of England And because all this was so remarkable he would not put the numbers in Ciphers but in words at large and by the exactness of his small numbers a man that is not aquainted with his Talent would be tempted to think this might be true but what will he say if of all those ten Items besides the great Et cetera of the Infinit number there is not one that is either true or near truth 1. Fisher was the only person that can be called a Cardinal that was put to death 2. There was not one Archbishop that suffered and tho the Archbishop of York concurred in the Yorkshire Rebellion yet the King included him in the Indemnity 3. There was not one Bishop that suffered unless he subdivides Fisher as he did Charles the fifth and makes both a Cardinal and a Bishop out of him 4. There is not an Archdeacon to be found among all that died in this Reign 5. For the 500 Priests Abbots and Priors there were only 9. Abbots 3. Priors 18. Priests and 9. Monks that suffered which according to my Arithmetick makes only 39 but an Imagination that multiplies as Mr. Varillas's does can swell this up to 500. 6. There is but one among all that suffered that can be thought a Canon Crofts that is designed in the Record Chancellor of Exeter 7. There is but one Doctor unless Fisher comes into the account again 8. All of the Nobility that were executed during this reign were one Duke a Marquis 3. Earls and 3. Lords which make 8. but this comes the nearest his number yet since the Marquis that suffered was K. Henry's Cosen german he might have put Marquises among the degrees of the Peers that he reckons up as well as the rest 9. There were only ten Knights that were put to death so the 19. more are of his creating 10. There are ouly 33. others that suffered of which some were only Yeomen to make up his 336. Gentlemen and now I have set down the list exactly of all that died by the hand of justice in this Reign so that there is not a man left for his c. of almost an Infinite number of people But besides this all these except only 12. persons suffered either for being in actual Rebellion or for entring into Conspiracies for the raising of one so small was the number of those who suffered for denying the Kings Supremacy and even of these a distinction is to be considered which I must explain because some have fancied that I had contradicted my self in different parts of my History having said in some places that none suffered for not acknowledging the Kings Supremacy and having set forth in other places that men died for denying it But the refusing to swear the Oath of supremacy was only punishable at first with a Premunire that is loss of liberty and Goods so that those who suffered were not condemned for refusing to swear that Oath but for their having spoken against the Supremacy now the refusing to swear it and the speaking against it are two different things which some have confounded It is true afterwards a Law was made declaring it to be High Treason to refuse to swear the Supremacy But no man ever suffered upon that Law for no man ever refused it after that Law was made And thus we see what we may expect from our Author after such a beginning XXXV He says King Henry seemed to repent of what he had done when he was near death and that he spake with Gardiner concerning it who upon that advised him to call a Parliament But the Falsehood of this is too visible for there was a Parliament then sitting which
was dissolved by the King 's Death XXXVI He says The Church of the Franciscans was opened in London 25. dayes before his death and he had said before that King Henry was 57. years of Age compleat when he dyed This Church that he represents as the Cordelier's Church was indeed opened but it was in order to the making it an Hospital and was no more the Cordeliers Church But now I will shew Mr. Varillas how just I am to him for I think I am bound to take notice that this date is right For tho it is of no great consequence yet it is the first that I have found him give true and perhaps it is true because it is of no consequence but he is above a full year wrong in a matter of greater importance which is King Henry's Age for he was born the 28. of Iune 1491. so on the 27. Ianuary or the 28. for he dyed in the night between them 1547. he wanted five moneths of six and fifty So natural is it for Mr. Varillas to mislead his Reader in every thing XXXVII He says The disorder of the Kings Marriages and the three Children that he had by three of them gave grounds to apprehend a Civil War upon his death against which he provided by putting his only Son Edward first in the Succession But out of what part of our Authors study of the Law did he find this that a Son of an unquestioned Marriage on all hands could receive any opposition from two Sisters both born in Marriages that had been questioned The Succession had been also expresly regulated by Act of Parliament and the Kings power of disposing of it by his Testament was only in default of all his own Children or of issue by them XXXVIII He gives us a character of the Duke of Somerset that shews how well he knew him he says He had an Extraordinary Capacity and a Penetration of Spirit superiour to the greatest Affairs The D. of Somerset was indeed a man of great probity but his Capacity and Penetration of Spirit were far from Extraordinary Mr. Varillas thought those strokes were magnificent so he did not trouble himself whether they were true or false XXXIX Mr. Varillas tells us that Somerset represented to the English Nobility the inconvenience of having 16. Governours for their young King as King Henry had determined it and that three parts of four of these were most zealous for reconciling England to the See of Rome and so no doubt they would breed up the King in those sentiments and by consequence as soon as the King came of Age he would annul all that his Father had done which would ruin the whole Nobility and that since it was much fitter to have only one Regent he engaged to them that if they would pitch on him he should take care of the Kings Education and should be so far from disturbing the Nobility in the possession of the Church Lands that he should grant them all the Ratifications that should be necessary all this was so well received that King Henry's true Testament was suppressed and a new one was forged by which Somerset was declared Regent and Protector which surprised all those who had the chief Interest to maintain the Government during the Minority in the state in which King Henry had left it 1. King Henry died the 28. of Ianuary upon which the young King was presently brought up to London and upon the first of February Somerset was declared Protector 2. This was not done by the Interposition of the Nobility but by the consent of the major part of the sixteen Governours whom King Henry had named and the Original Instrument of this under all their hands is yet extant 3. There was no new Will forged for that which was then published was the same that made all the sixteen equal in power and Somerset had the Title of Protector given him by these only with this express condition that he should do nothing without the Advice and Consent of the rest Nor was it ever pretended that King Henry had ordered it so by his Will so all that Negotiation with the Nobility is to pass for a Fiction of Mr. Varillas's or of some other that is about his pitch of sincerity XL. He says Vrisly the Chancellour was the only person that complained of this but that was made use of as a pretence to send him away from the Court. 1. Wriothesley the Chancellour perhaps did not like Somerset's Advancement but he signed it with the rest 2. The pretext upon which he was turned out was the passing an illegal Patent for divolving the Execution of his Office in the matters of Justice to some other persons which being contrary to Law he to redeem himself from a further Censure resigned his place XLI He says Somerset forbad the Bishops to confer Orders without the Kings permission and made them come up to London to obtain it and that he granted it only for a limited time and during pleasure and that he forced the new Preachers to take their Mission for it under the Kings Name and by this means he hindred those to preach who were able to defend the Catholick Doctrines And for the Proof of all this he cites the Ordonnances of Edward the Sixth There is a particular misfortune on Mr. Varillas in all he writes for tho there was indeed an Act of Parliament passed before the end of this Year that did very much subject the Bishops in many things to the Regal power yet there is a special exception in it of Collations or Presentations to Benefices and of Letters of Orders in which no Limits were set them 2. The Licences that were given to Preachers were only Civil things being Permissions to preach but there was nothing of Mission pretended to be in them 3. Tho the King did Licence some Preachers to preach in any part of England yet the Bishops retained still their Authority of granting them within their own Diocesses 4. That which Mr. Varillas perhaps relates to in some parts of this Period is that under King Edward the Bishops were obliged to take out new Commissions from the King such as they had taken out under King Henry for holding their Bishopricks during the Kings pleasure This Bonner and some of the other Popish Bishops had first set on foot under King Henry hoping by so abject a Submission to gain much credit with him but Cranmer prevailed so far as to get this to be quickly laid aside And now all these things shew that our Author is still as careful as he was in his Citations XLII He pretends That Cranmer set out at this time a Catechism which inclined more to the Lutheran Doctrine upon which the Protector looked down upon him not thinking it fit to carry his displeasure farther Cranmer could not know to what the Protector 's coldness was to be ascribed but fancying that a further Declaration of