greet you well And whereas heretofore in the time of the late Reign of Our most dearest Brother King Edward the Sixth whose Soul God pardon divers notable Crimes Excesses and Faults with divers kinds of Heresies Simony Advoutry and other Enormities have been committed within this our Realm and other our Dominions the same continuing yet hitherto in like disorder since the beginning of our Reign without any correction or reformation at all and the People both of the Laity and Clery and chiefly of the Clergy have been given to much insolence and ungodliness greatly to the displeasure of Almighty God and very much to Our regret and evil contentation and to the slander of other Christian Realms and in a manner to the subversion and clear defaceing of this our Realm And remembring our Duty to Almighty God to be to foresee as much as in Us may be that all Vertue and Godly Living should be embraced flourish and encrease And therewith also that all vice and ungodly behaviour should be utterly banished and put away or at the least wise so nigh as might be so bridled and kept under that Godliness and Honesty might have the over-hand understanding by very credible report and publique fame to Our no small heaviness and discomfort that within your Diocess as well in not exempted as in exempted Places the like disorder and evil behaviour hath been done and used like also to continue and encrease unless due provision be had and made to reform the same which earnestly in very deed We do mind and intend to the uttermost all the ways We can possible trusting of God's furtherance and help in that behalf For these Causes and other most just Considerations us moving We send unto you certain Articles of such special Matter as among other things be most special and necessary to be now put in execution by you and your Officers extending to them by Us desired and the Reformation aforesaid wherein ye shall be charg'd with Our special Commandments by these our Letters to the intent you and your Officers may the more earnestly and boldly proceed thereunto without fear of any presumption to be noted on your part or danger to be incurred of any such our Laws as by your doings of that is in the said Articles contain'd might any wise grieve you whatsoever be threatned in any such Case and therefore we straitly charge and command you and your said Officers to proceed to the execution of the said Articles without all tract and delay as ye will answer to the contrary Given under our Hand at our Palace of Westminster the 4th day of March the first Year of our Reign ARTICLES 1. THat every Bishop and his Officers with all other having Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction shall with all speed and diligence and all manner and ways to them possible put in execution all such Canons and Ecclesiasticall Laws heretofore in the time of King Henry the 8th used within this Realm of England and the Dominions of the same not being direct and expresly contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm 2. Item That no Bishop or any his Officer or other Person aforesaid hereafter in any of their Ecclesiastical Writings in Process or other extra-judicial Acts do use to put in this Clause or Sentence Regia Auctoritate fulcitus 3. Item That no Bishop or any his Officers or other Person aforesaid do hereafter exact or demand in the admission of any Person to any Ecclesiastical Promotion Orders or Office any Oath touching the Primacy or Succession as of late in few Years passed hath been accustomed and used 4. Item That every Bishop and his Officers with all other Persons aforesaid have a vigilant eye and use special diligence and foresight that no Person be admitted or received to any Ecclesiastical Function Benefit or Office being a Sacramentary infected or defamed with any notable kind of Heresy or other great Crime and that the said Bishop do stay and cause to be staied as much as lieth in him that Benefices and Ecclesiastical Promotions do not notably decay or take hinderance by passing or confirming of unreasonable Leases 5. Item That every Bishop and all other Persons aforesaid do diligently travel for the repressing of Heresies and notable Crimes especially in the Clergy duly correcting and punishing the same 6. Item That every Bishop and all other Persons aforesaid do likewise travel for the condemning and repressing of corrupt and naughty Opinions unlawful Books Ballads and other pernicious and hurtful devices engendring hatred among the People and discord amongst the same And that School-masters Preachers and Teachers do exercise and used their Offices and Duties without Teaching Preaching or setting forth any evil corrupt Doctrine and that doing the contrary they may be by the Bishop and his said Officers punish'd and remov'd 7. Item That every Bishop and all the other Persons aforesaid proceeding summarily and with all celerity and speed may and shall deprive or declare depriv'd and amove according to their learning and discretion all such Persons from their Benefices and Ecclesiastical Promotions who contrary to the state of their Order and the laudable Custom of the Church have married and used Women as their Wives or otherwise notably and slanderously disordered or abused themselves sequestring also during the said Process the Fruits and Profits of the said Benefits and Ecclesiastical Promotions 8. Item That the said Bishop and all other Persons aforesaid do use more lenity and clemency with such as have married whose Wives be dead than with other whose Women do yet remain in Life And likewise such Priests as with the consents of their Wives or Women openly in the presence of the Bishop do profess to abstain to be used the more favourably in which Case after Penance effectually done the Bishop according to his discretion and wisdom may upon just consideration receive and admit them again to their former Administration so it be not in the same Place appointing them such a Portion to live upon to be paid out of their Benefice whereof they be depriv'd by discretion of the said Bishop or his Officers shall think may be spared of the said Benefice 9. Item That every Bishop and all Persons aforesaid do foresee That they suffer not any Religious Man having solemnly profest Chastity to continue with his Woman or Wife but that all such Persons after deprivation of their Benefice or Ecclesiastical Promotion be also divorced every one from his said Woman and due punishment otherwise taken for the Offence therein 10. Item That every Bishop and all other Persons aforesaid do take Order and Direction with the Parishoners of every Benefice where Priests do want to repair to the next Parish for Divine Service or to appoint for a convenient time till other better Provision may be made one Curat to serve Alternis Vicibus in divers Parishes and to allot to the said Curat for his Labour some portion of the Benefice that he so
present as I have had intelligence from time to time thereof And if iâ— any respect I could do Service as a weak Member of the Common-Wealth I think I might do it with them having long Acquaintance and some Experience in the Doings thereof which Judgment had the said Sir John Cheek towards me And therefore to set me on work had once by the favour of the said Mr. Secretary procured to have me named to the Mastership of Trinity College which yet chanced not to that effect God otherwise determining the Matter in his Providence But to tell you my Heart I had rather have such a thing as Bennet-College is in Cambridg a Living of twenty Nobles by the Year at the most than to dwell in the Deanry of Lincoln which is 200 at the least Now Sir ye may see herein yet my Ambition in writing thus much but I shall pray you to accept the Circumstances which ye may better insinuate to Mr. Secretary than I dare be bold by my rude Letters to molest his favourable goodness or yet prescribe to your or his Worship Wisdom and Prudence In conclusion at the Reverence of God I pray you either help that I be quite forgotten or else so appointed that I be not entangled now of new with the concourse of the World in any respect of publick state of living whereby I shall have an unfeigned signification of your very good Will to me indeed and be bound to pray for you during my Life Some of your Scholars at Cambridg enjoying the benefit of your liberal Exhibition have sent your Worship now their Letters some be sick and absent Thus reprising the quiet of my Mind and having good hope in your friendliness to the considerations aforesaid I wish you a full recovery of your Health and a continuance in God's Grace and Favour with all your Family Your Beadsman to command M. P. A long Letter of Dr. Parker's excusing himself from the Offer of the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury An Original RIght Honourable my Duty presupposed It is an old said Proverb Vbi quis dolet ibidem manum frequenter habet beseeching you for God's sake the rather to bear the importunity of this my hand-writing supposing that this may be one of the last Solicitations that I shall molest you with Sir Your signification uttered to me at my first coming to you at London concerning a certain Office ye named to me did hold me in such carefulness all my time of being there with the recurring of a dull Distemperance set in my Head by the Dregs of my Quartane and as yet not remedied whereby I had no disposition to my Book beside some other displeasant Cogiâ—â—tions concerning the state of this Time made me have so little joy of my being at London as I had never less in my Life most glad when my Back was turned thereunto But to come near to my intent of writing I shall pray to God yea bestow that Office well ye shall needcare the less for the residue God grant it chanceth neither on an arrogant Man neither on a faint-hearted Man nor on a covetous Man The first shall both sit in his own light and shall discourage his Fellows to join with him in Unity of Doctrine which must be their whole strength for if any heart-burning be betwixt them if private Quarrels stirred abroad be brought home and so shall shiver them asunder it may chance to have that success which I fear in the conclusion will follow The second Man should be too weak to commune with the Adversaries who would be the stouter upon his pusillanimity The third Man not worth his Bread profitable for no Estate in any Christian Common-Wealth to serve it rightly For my part I pray God I never fall into his Indignation and Wisdom it were not for a Subject to deserve his Prince's Displeasure and sorry would I be to discontent Mr. Secretary and you for whose worshipful Favours I count my self more bound to pray to God and to wish well to them for all the Men in the Realm beside I speak it sincerely without flattery for though I have little wit yet I can discern betwixt Men who delight to be flattered and who not though I would not consider how dishonest it were for me to use it But Sir except ye both moderate and restrain your over-much good Will in the former respect to me-ward I fear in the end I shall dislike you both and that your Benevolencies should by occasion of my obstinate untowardness jeopard me into Prison yet there shall I bear you my good Heart which I had rather suffer in a quiet Conscience than to be intruded into such Room and Vocation wherein I should not be able to answer the Charge to God nor to the World wherein I should not serve the Queen's Honour which I wish most heartily advanced in all her wise and godly Proceedings nor yet should I live to the Honour of the Realm and so finally should but work a further displeasant contemplation to my good Friends who preferred me This this is the Thing that makes me afraid my Lord though I passed not on mine own shame and rebuke and therefore by God's Favour and your good Helps I never intend to be of that Order better or worse higher nor lower Non omnia possumus omnes tutissimum est ut quisque hanc artem exerceat in qua educatus ad quam natura homines formaâ—â—â— And as for other Furnishments I am too far behind When I came first up to London I had thirty pounds in my Purse not ten shillings more whereof I havâ— wasted a good part and if I were placed as some of my Friends wish to me what would that do to begin or to furnish my Houshold And I hear how the Citizens of Norwich pray for the Soul of their last Bishop for when upon his departure they seized his Goods to answer his Debts to them streight-way came the Queen's Officers and discharged them all which yet were not able for all his spare Hospitality to pay half that he owed Furthermore to come to another Consideration of a further Imperfection which I would have dissembled to you and others but it cannot be but I must open it to you my assured good Master and Friend in secrecy whose old good Will maketh me the less abashed to be so homely with you at this time In one of my Letters I made a little signification of it but peradventure ye did not mark it Sir I am so in Body hurt and decayed coram Deo non mentior that whatsoever my Ability were either of worldly Furniture or inward Quality and though my Heart would right-feign serve my Soveraign Lady the Queen's Majesty in more respects than of my Allegiance not forgetting what words her Grace's Mother said to me of her not six days before her apprehension yet this my painful Infirmity will not suffer it in all manner of Services Flying in a
the Arch-Bishop begin Te Deum Laudamus which done the Arch-Bishop shall say unto the King Sta retine a modo locum And the King being thus set all the Peers of the Realm and Bishops holding up their Hands shall make unto him Homage as followeth first the Lord Protector alone then the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chancellor so two and two as they be placed J. N. become your Liege Man of Life and Limb and of earthly Worship and Faith and Truth I shall bear unto you against all manner of Folks as I am bound by my Allegiance and by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm So help us God and Allhallowes And then every one shall kiss the King 's left Cheek which done all they holding up their hands together in token of their Fidelity shall with one Voice on their knees say We offer to sustain and defend you and your Crown with our Lives and Lands and Goods against all the World And then with one Voice to cry God save King Edward which the People shall cry accordingly Then shall the King be led to his Travers to hear the High Mass and so depart home crowned in Order as he set forth accordingly E. Hertford T. Cantuarien Tho. Wriothesley Cancel W. St. John J. Russel John Lisle Cuth Duresme Anthony Brown W. Paget Anthony Denny W. Herbert Number 5. The Commission for which the Lord Chancellor was deprived of his Office with the Opinion of the Judges concerning it Ex Libro Concilii Fol. 49. EDwardus sextus Dei Gratia Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor in terra Ecclesiae Anglicanae Hiberniae supremum Caput dilectis fidelibus Consiliariis suis Roberto Southwell Militi custodi ac Magistro Rotulorum Cancellariae nostrae Johanni Tregonwell Armigero uni Magistrorum Cancellariae nostrae praedictae dilectis sibi Johanni Olyver Clerico Antonio Bellasis Clerico Magistris ejusdem Cancellariae nostrae salutem Quia praedilectus fidelis consanguineus noster Thomas Comes Southampton Cancellarius noster Angliae nostris arduis negotiis ex mandato nostro continuo intendens in eisdem adeo versatur quod ad ea quae in Curia Cancellariae nostrae in causis materiis inter diversos ligeos subditos nostros ibidem pendentibus tractand audiend discutiend terminand Sicut ut fieri debeant ad presens non sufficiat volentes proinde in ejusdem Cancellarii nostri absentia omnibus ligeis subditis nostris quibuscunque quascunque materias suas in Curia Cancellariae nostrae praedictae prosequentibus plenam celerem justitiam exhiberi ac de fidelitatibus providis circumspectionibus vestris plenius confidentes assignavimus vos tres duos vestrum ac tenore praesentium damus vobis tribus duobus plenam potestatem autoritatem audiendi examinandi quascunque materias causas Petitiones coram nobis in Cancellaria nostra inter quoscunque ligeos subditos nostros nunc pendentes in posterum ibidem exhibend pendend easdem materias causas Petitiones juxta sanas vestras discretiones finaliter terminand debitae executioni demandand partesque in materiis sive causis vel Petitionibus illis nominatis specificatis ad testes alios quoscunque quos vobis fore videbitur evocandos quoties expedire videbitis coram vobis tribus vel duobus vestrum evocandos ipsos eorum quemlibet debite examinari compellend diesque productorios imponend assignand processusque quoscunque in ea parte necessarios concedend fieri faciend contemptus etiam quoscunque ibidem commissos sive perpetratos debite castigand puniend caeteraque omnia singula faciend exequend quae circa praemissa necessaria fuerint seu quomodolibet opportuna Et ideo vobis mandamus quod circa promissa diligenter attendatis ac ea faciatis exequamini cum effectu Mandamus etiam tenore praesentium omnibus singulis Officiariis Ministris nostris curiae nostrae praedictae quod vobis tribus duobus vostrum in executione praemissorum diligenter intendant prout decet Volumus enim per praesentes concedimus quod omnia singula judicia sive finalia decreta per vos tres vel duos vestrū super hujusmodi causis sive materiis reddend seu fiend sicut esse debeant tanti consimilis valoris effectus efficaciae roboris virtutis ac si per Dominum Cancellarium Angliae Curiae Cancellariae praedictae reddita seu reddenda forent proviso semper quod omnia singula hujusmodi judicia seu finalia decreta per vos tres vel duos vestrum virtute praesentium reddend seu fiend manibus vestris trium vel duorum vestrum subscribantur consignentur superinde eadem judicia sive decreta praefato Cancellario nostro praesententur liberentur ut idem Cancellarius noster antequam irrotulentur eadem similiter manu sua consignet In cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus Patentes Teste meipso apud Westmonast 18 die Feb. Anno Regni nostri primo THE said Students referring to the consideration of the said Protector and Council what the granting out of the said Commission without warrant did weigh Forasmuch as the said Protector and Council minding the surety of the King's Majesty and a direct and upright proceeding in his Affairs and the observation of their Duties in all things as near as they can to his Majesty with a desire to avoid all things which might offend his Majesty or his Laws and considering that the said Commission was none of the things which they in their Assemblies in Council at any time since the Death of the King's Majesty late deceased did accord to be passed under the Great Seal have for their own Discharges required us whose Names be under-written for the Opinion they have of our knowledge and experience in the Laws of this Realm to consider the said Case of making of the said Commission without warrant and after due consideration thereof to declare in writing to what the said Case doth weigh in Law We therefore whose Names be under-written after mature and advised consultation and deliberation thereupon do affirm and say for our Knowledges and Determinations That the said Chancellor of England having made forth under the Great Seal of England without any Warrant the Commission aforesaid hath done and doth by his so doing offend the King's Majesty hath and doth by the Common Law forfeit his Office of Chancellor and incurreth the Danger Penalty and Paiment of such Fine as it shall please the King's Majesty with the advise of the said Lord Protector and Council to set upon him for the same with also Imprisonment of his Body at the King's Will In Witness whereof we have set our Names to this Present the last day of February in the first Year of the Reign of our
nobis virtutem faciet ad nihilum rediget Hostes nostros Serenitatem ac Sanctitatem vestram conservet Altissimus Ecclesiae suae Sanctae per tempora diuturna Datum apud Monasterium de Aberbroth in Scotia 6 die Aprilis Anno gratiae Millesimo trecentesimo vicesimo Anno vero Regni Regis nostri supradicti quintodecimo Number 11. The Oath given to the Scots who submitted to the Protector YOu shall bear your Faith to the King's Majesty Ex Libro Concilii Fol. 139. our Soveraign Lord Edward the Sixth c. till such time as you shall be discharged of your Oath by special License And you shall to the uttermost of your power serve his Majesty truly and faithfully against all other Realms Dominions and Potentates as well Scots as others You shall hear nothing that may be prejudicial to his Majesty or any of his Realms or Dominions but with as much diligence as you may shall cause the same to be opened so as the same come to his Majesty's Knowledg or to the knowledg of the Lord Protector or some of his Majesty's Privy-Council You shall to the uttermost of your possible Power set forwards and advance the King's Majesties Affairs in Scotland for the Marriage and Peace Number 12. The Protestation of the Bishop of London made to the Visitors when he received the King's Majesties Injunctions and Homilies Ex Libro Concilii Fol. 110. I Do receive these Injunctions and Homilies with this Protestation That I will observe them if they be not contrary and repugnant to God's Law and the Statutes and Ordinances of this Church The Submission and Revocation of the same Bishop made before the Lords of the Kings Majesty's Council presently attending upon his Majesty's Person with the subscription of his Name thereunto VVHere I Edmund Bishop of Lodon have at such time as I received the King's Majesty's my most dread Soveraign Lord's Injunctions and Homilies at the Hands of his Highness Visitors did unadvisedly make such Protestation as now upon better consideration of my duty of Obedience and of the ill Example that may ensue to others thereof appeareth to me neither reasonable nor such as might well stand with the Duty of an humble Subject forasmuch as the same Protestation at my request was then by the Register of that Visitation enacted and put in Record I have thought it my bounden Duty not only to declare before your Lordships That I do now upon better consideration of my Duty renounce and revoke my said Protestation but also most humbly beseech your Lordships that this my Revocation of the same may likewise be put in the same Records for a perpetual Memory of the Truth Most humbly beseeching your good Lordships both to take order that it may take effect and also that my former unadvised doings may by your good Mediations be pardoned of the King's Majesty Edmund London Number 13. Gardiner's Letter to Sir John Godsalve concerning the Injunctions Ex MS. Col. C. C. Cantab. Mr. Godsalve after my right hearty Commendations with like thanks for the declaration of your good mind towards me as you mean it although it agreeth not with mine Accompt such as I have had leasure to make in this time of Liberty since the Death of my late Soveraign Lord whose Soul Jesu pardon For this have I reckon'd that I was called to this Bishoprick without the offence of God's Law or the King 's in the attaining of it I have kept my Bishoprick these sixteen Years accomplished this very day that I write these my Letters unto you without offending God's Law or the King 's in the retaining of it howsoever I have of frailty otherwise sinned Now if I may play the third part well to depart from the Bishoprick without the offence of God's Law or the King 's I shall think the Tragedy of my Life well passed over and in this part to be well handled is all my care and study now how to finish this third Act well for so I offend not God's Law nor the King's I will no more care to see my Bishoprick taken from me than my self to be taken from the Bishoprick I am by Nature already condemned to die which Sentence no Man can pardon nor assure me of delay in the execution of it and so see that of necessity I shall leave my Bishoprick to the disposition of the Crown from whence I had it my Houshold also to break up and my bringing up of Youth to cease the remembrance whereof troubleth me nothing I made in my House at London a pleasant Study that delighted me much and yet I was glad to come into the Country and leave it and as I have left the use of somewhat so can I leave the use of all to obtain a more quiet it is not loss to change for the better Honesty and Truth are more leef to me than all the Possessions of the Realm and in these two to say and do frankly as I must I never forbare yet and in these two Honesty and Truth I take such pleasure and comfort as I will never leave them for no respect for they will abide by a Man and so will nothing else No Man can take them away from me but my self and if my self do them away from me then my self do undo my self and make my self worthy to lose my Bishoprick whereat such as gape might take more sport than they are like to have at my hands What other Men have said or done in the Homilies I cannot tell and what Homilies or Injunctions shall be brought hither I know not such as the Printers have sold abroad I have read and considered and am therefore the better instructed how to use my self to the Visitors at their repair hither to whom I will use no manner of Protestation but a plain Allegation as the Matter serveth and as Honesty and Truth shall bind me to speak for I will never yield to do that should not beseem a Christian Bishops ought never to lose the Inheritance of the King's Laws due to every English Man for want of Petition I will shew my self a true Subject humble and obedient which repugneth not with the preservation of my Duty to God and my Right in the Realm not to be enjoined against an Act of Parliament which mine intent I have signified to the Council with request of redress in the Matter and not to compel me to such an Allegation which without I were a Beast I cannot pretermit and I were more than a Beast if after I had signified to the Council Truth and Reason in words I should then seem in my Deeds not to care for it My Lord Protector in one of such Letters as he wrote to me willed me not to fear too much and indeed I know him so well and divers others of my Lords of the Council that I cannot fear any hurt at their hands in the allegation of God's Law and the King 's and I will
Countries not being privy of the Causes thereof to avoid further inconveniences and danger which might ensue to your Majesty's Person which by many Rumors certain Intelligences and sundry Messages was declared imminent unto your Highness and to me the Lord Protector was forced to seek this Defence as I at the first beginning declared unto your Highness Secondly That this Force and Power which here is assembled about your Majesty at this present is to do none of them which be there at London or else-where either in Person or Goods any damage or hurt but to defend only if any violence should be attempted against your Highness As for any contention and strife betwixt me the Lord Protector and the Council there I do not refuse to come to any reasonable end and conclusion that should be for the preservation of your Majesty and tranquillity of the Realm if they will send any two of them with Commission on their behalfs to conclude and make a good end betwixt us And I most humbly beseech your Majesty to appoint any two of such as be here about your Majesty to join with the same and whatsoever those four or three of them shall determine I do and shall wholly and fully submit my self thereunto And that for more confirmation if it shall be so thought good to the said Persons their Agreement and Conclusion to be established and ratified by Parliament or any other Order that shall be devised And I beseech your Majesty that at my humble suit and by the advice of me and other of your Council here for the better proceedings herein and to take away all Doubts and Fears that might arise to grant to them four or any such two of them which they shall send for the purpose above-said free passage for themselves and with each of them twenty of their Servants to safely come tarry here and return at their pleasure And I most humbly beseech your Majesty that this Bill signed with your Majesty's Hands and ours may be a sufficient Warrant therefore Given and exhibited at the Castle of Windsor Octob. 8. 1549. Number 43. Letters sent from the Lords at London to the King's Majesty MOst high and mighty Prince our most gracious Soveraign Lord Ex Libro Concilii we have received by Mr. Hobbey your Majesty's most gracious Letters of the 8th of this Instant and heard such further Matter as it pleased your Majesty to will to be declared by him And sorry we be that your Majesty should have these occasions to be troubled especially in this kind of Matter the beginning and only occasion whereof as we be well able to prove to your Majesty hath proceeded of the Duke of Somerset It is much discomfort to us all to understand that your Royal Person should be touched with any care of Mind and most of all it grieveth us that it should be perswaded your Majesty that we have not that care that beseemeth us of the pacifying of these Uproars and conservation of your Majesty's Common-Wealth and State from Danger wherein whatsoever is informed your Highness we humbly beseech your Majesty to think we be as careful as any Men living may be and do not nor we trust shall not forget the Benefits received of your Majesty's most noble Father nor any of our bounden Duties of Allegiance the consideration and the special care whereof forced us to consult seriously and to join in this sort which thing if we had not presently followed not only your most Royal Person whom Almighty God long preserve but this your whole Estate being already much touched and in great towardness of ruin was most like to come in short time to most imminent danger and peril the Causes whereof as we do all well know and can prove to have proceeded from the said Duke So if we should not earnestly provide for the same we should not be able to answer to your Majesty hereafter for not doing our Duties therein therefore do we nothing doubt but your Majesty of your great clemency and good nature will not think that all and every of us being the whole state of your Privy-Council one or two excepted should be led in these things by private Affections or would presume to write to your Majesty that whereof we were not most assured and much more we trust that your Highness of your goodness will without any jealousie or suspition think that most expedient both for your own most Royal Person and all your Subjects that by the Body of your Council may be thought expedient to whom and to no one Man your Highness most grave Father appointed by his last Will and Testament the Care of your Majesty and all your most weighty Affairs We cannot therefore but think our selves much wronged that your said most Royal Person is in this sort by the Duke only detained and shut up from us to all our great heaviness and the great fear of all other your Majesty's true Subjects and wonder of all the World sooner may one Man intend ill than a multitude of us who we take God to witness to be a thousand times more careful of Your Highness surety than for all our own Lives We trust also that of Your Majesty's good Nature You will not think that wilfulness which Your whole Council doth or shall agree upon for Your Majesty's Surety and Benefit where the more agreeable we be the better Opinion we trust Your Majesty will conceive of us and our doings It comforteth us much to see the great appearance of Your Majesty's natural clemency even in these Your young Years and the assured hope which we have thereof encourageth us to be perswaded that You both do and will conceive good Opinion of us and all our doings and that Your Majesty is and so will continue our gracious good Lord with whom as we trust we never deserve willingly to be called in the standing of any Judgment with Your Majesty For the end of this Matter touching the Duke of Somerset if he have that respect to Your Majesty's Surety that he pretendeth if he have that consideration of his Duty to God that his Promise and Oath requireth if he have that remembrance of the performance of Your Majesty's Father's Will that to the effect of a good Executor appertaineth if he have the reverence to Your Law that a good Subject ought to have Let him first quietly suffer us Your Majesty's most humble Servants and true Counsellors to be restored to Your Majesty's presence let him as becometh a true Subject submit himself to Your Majesty's Council and the order of Your Highness Laws let the Forces assembled be sent away and then may we do our Duties in giving our attendance upon Your Majesty and after consult there with Your Majesty more freely for such order as may be thought most meet for Your Grace's Surety By these means Your Majesty's Subjects may be at quiet and all occasions of stir taken away And if the said
have been given always to all godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself that is that they should rule all Estates committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil Doers The Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England The Laws of this Realm may punish Christian Men with Death c. the Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England and Ireland The Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England The Civil Magistrate is ordained and approved by God and therefore is to be obeyed not only for fear of Wrath but for Conscience-sake Civil or Temporal Laws may punish Christian Men with Death for heinous and grievous Offences It is lawful for Christian Men at the Commandment of the Magistrate to wear Weapons and to serve in the Wars XXXVII The Goods of Christians are not common The Riches and Goods of Christians are not common as touching the Right Title and Possession of the same as certain Anabaptists do falsly boast Notwithstanding every Man ought of such things as he possesseth liberally to give Alms to the Poor according to his Ability XXXVIII It is lawful for a Christian to take an Oath As we confess that vain and rash Swearing is forbidden Christian Men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his Apostle so we judg that Christian Religion doth not prohibit but that a Man may swear when the Magistrate requireth in a Cause of Faith and Charity so it be done according to the Prophet's teaching in Justice Judgment and Truth These Articles were left out in Queen Elizabeth's Time XXXIX The Resurrection of the Dead is not past already The Resurrection of the Dead is not past already as if it belonged only to the Soul which by the Grace of Christ is raised from the Death of Sin but is to be expected by all Men in the last Day for at that time as the Scripture doth most apparently testify the Dead shall be restored to their own Bodies Flesh and Bones to the end that Man according as either righteously or wickedly he hath passed this Life may according to his Works receive Rewards or Punishments XL. The Souls of Men deceased do neither perish with their Bodies They who maintain that the Souls of Men deceased do either sleep without any manner of sense to the Day of Judgment or affirm that they die together with the Body and shall be raised therewith at the last Day do wholly differ from the Right Faith and Orthodox Belief which is delivered to us in the Holy Scriptures XLI Of the Millenarians They who endeavour to revive the Fable of the Millenarians are therein contrary to the Holy Scriptures and cast themselves down headlong into Jewish Dotages XLII All Men not to be saved at last They also deserve to be condemned who endeavour to restore that pernicious Opinion That all Men though never so ungodly shall at last be saved when for a certain time appointed by the Divine Justice they have endured punishment for their Sins committed Number 56. Instructions given by the King's Highness to his right trusty and right well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor Francis Earl of Salop and Lord President of his Grace's Council resident in the North Parts and to all others hereafter named and appointed by his Highness to be of his said Council to be observed by the said Counsellors and every of them according as the same hereafter is declared FIrst Ex MS. Dr. Johnson His Majesty much desiring the Quietness and good Governance of the People and Inhabitants in the North Parts of this Realm of England and for the good speedy and indifferent administration of Justice to be there had betwixt Party and Party intendeth to continue in the same North Parts his Right Honourable Council called The King's Majesty's Council in the North Parts And his Highness knowing the approved Wisdom and Experience of his said Cousin _____ with his assured discretion and dexterity in the Execution of Justice hath appointed him to be Lord President of the said Council and by these Presents doth give unto him the Name of Lord President of the said Council with Power and Authority to call together all such as be or hereafter shall be named and appointed to be of the said Council at all times when he shall think expedient And otherwise by his Letters to appoint them and every of them to do such things for the Advancement of Justice and for the repression and punishment of Malefactors as by the Advice of such of the said Council as then shall be present with him he shall think meet for the furtherance of his Grace's Affairs and for the due Administration of Justice between his Highness Subjects And further his Majesty giveth unto the said Lord President by these Presents a Voice Negative in all Councils where things shall be debated at length for the bringing forth of a most perfect Truth or Sentence which his Highness would have observed in all Cases that may abide Advisement and Consultation to the intent that doubtful Matters should as well be maturely consulted upon as also that the same should not pass without the consent and order of the said Lord President And his Highness willeth and commandeth that all and every of the said Councellors named and to be named hereafter shall exhibit and use to the said Lord President all such Honour Reverend Behaviour and Obedience as to their Duty appertaineth and shall receive and execute in like sort all the Precepts and Commandments to them or any of them for any Matter touching his Majesty to be addressed or any Process to be done or served in his Grace's Name And his Highness Pleasure is That the said Lord President shall have the keeping of his Graces Signet therewith to Seal Letters Processes and all such other things as shall be thought convenient by the said Lord President or by two of the Council being bound by those Articles to daily attendance upon the said Lord President with his assent thereunto And to the intent the said Lord President thus established for the above-said Purposes may be furnished with such Numbers and Assistants as be of Wisdom Experience Gravity and Truth meet to have the Name of his Grace's Councellors his Majesty upon good advisement and deliberation hath elected those Persons whose Names ensue hereafter to be his Counsellors joined in the said Council in the North Parts with the said Lord President that is to say The right Trusty and well-beloved Cousins Henry Earl of Westmoreland Henry Earl of Cumberland his right Trusty and well-beloved Cuthbert Bishop of Duresme William Lord Dacres of the North John Lord Conyers Thomas Lord Wharton John Hind Kt. one of his Majesty's Justices of the Common-Pleas Edmond Moleneux Kt. Serjeant at Law Henry Savel Kt. Robert Bowes Kt. Nicholas Fairfax Kt. George Conyers Kt. Leonard Becquith Kt. William Babthorp Kt.
in all things with Authority sufficient to execute Justice as well in Causes Criminal as in Matters of Controversy between Party and Party his Majesty hath commanded and appointed two Commissions to be made out under his Grace's Great Seal of England by virtue whereof they shall have full Power and Authority in either Case to proceed as the Matter occurrent shall require And for the more speedy expedition to be used in all causes of Justice his Majesty's Pleasure is That the said Lord President and Council shall cause every Complainant and Defendant that shall have to do before them to put and declare their whole Matter in their Bill of Complaint and Answer without Replication Rejoinder or other Plea or Delay to be had or used therein which Order the said L. President and Council shall manifest unto all such as shall be Councellors in any Matter to be intreated and defined before them charging and commanding the said Councellors and Pleaders to observe this Order upon such Penalties as they shall think convenient as they will eschew the danger of the same and not in any ways to break it without the special License of the said Lord President and that only in some special Causes And further his Highness by these Presents doth give full Power and Authority to the said Lord President and Council as well to punish such Persons as in any thing shall neglect contemn or disobey their Commandments or the Process of the Council as all other that shall speak seditious Words invent Rumors or commit such-like Offences not being Treason whereof any Inconvenience might grow by Pillory cutting their Ears wearing of Papers Imprisonment or otherwise at their Discretions And the said L. President and Council at their discretions shall appoint Counsellors and other Requisites to poor Suitors having no Mony without paying Fees or other things for the same And his Highness giveth full Power and Authority to the said L. President Council being with him or four of them at the least whereof the said L. President Sir John Hind Sir Edmond Molineux Sir Robert Bowes Sir Leonard Becquith Sir Anthony Nevill Sir Thomas Gargrave Knights Robert Mennell and Robert Chaloner to be two with the Lord President to assess Fines of all Persons that shall be convict or indicted of any Riot how many soever they be in number unless the Matter of such Riot shall be thought unto them of such importance as the same shall be meet to be signified unto his Majesty to be punished in such sort by the Order of his Council attending upon his Grace's Person as the same may be noted for an Example to others And his Grace giveth full Power and Authority to the said Lord President and Council or four of them at the least whereof the Lord President and two others bound to continual Attendance to be three to Award and Assess Costs and Dammages as well to the Plaintiffs as to the Defendants by their discretions and to award execution of their Decrees and Orders and to punish the breakers of the same being Parties thereunto by their discretions All which Decrees and Orders the Secretary shall be bound incontinently upon the promulgation of the same to write or cause to be written in one fair Book which shall remain in the hands and custody of the said Lord President And to the intent it may appear to all Persons there what Fees shall be paid and taken for all Processes and Writings to be used by the said Council his Majesty therefore appointeth that there shall be a Table affixed in every place where the said Lord President and Council shall sit at any Sessions and a like Table to hang openly that all Men may see it in the Office where the said Secretary and the Clerks shall commonly sit and expedite the said Writings wherein shall be declared what shall be paid for the same That is to say For every Recognisance wherein one alone or more standeth bounden 12 d. for the cancelling of every like Recognisance 12 d. For the entring of every Decree 6 d. for the Copy of the same if it be asked 6 d. For every Letter Commission Attachment or other Precept or Process sent to any Person 4 d. For every Dismission before the said Council if it be asked 4 d. For the Copies of Bills and Answers and other Pleas for every ten lines reasonably writ 1 d. for the Examination of every Witness 4 d. And his Grace's Pleasure is That the Examination of Witnesses produced in Matters before the said Council shall be examined by such discreet Person and Persons as shall be thought convenient and meet by the said Lord President and two of the said Council bound to continual Attendance and that the said Lord President with such-like two of the said Council shall reform appoint and allow such Persons to write Bills Answers Copies or other Process in that Court as they shall think convenient over and beside the said Secretary and his two Clerks which Clerks also the said Lord President and Council shall reform and correct as they shall have cause and occasion In which Reformation and Appointments the said Lord President shall have a Voice Negative And for the more certain and brief determination of Matters in those parts his Majesty by these Presents ordaineth that the said Lord President and Council shall keep four general Sittings or Sessions in the Year every of them to continue by the space of one whole Month whereof one to be at York another at Kingston upon Hull one at New-Castle and another at Duresme within the limits whereof the Matters rising there shall be ordered and decreed if they conveniently so may be And they shall in every of the same Places keep one Goal Delivery before their departure from thence his Grace nevertheless referring it to their Discretions to take and appoint such other Place and Places for their said four general Sittings as they or the said Lord President with three of the Council bounden to continual Attendance shall think most convenient for the time and purpose so that they keep the full term of one Month in every such place if they may in any wise conveniently so do And forsomuch as a great number of his Majesty's Tenants and Farmers have been heretofore retained with sundry Persons by Wages Livery Badg or Connysance by reason whereof when his Grace should have had service of them they were rather at Commandment of other Men than according to their Duties of Allegiance of his Highness of whom they have their Livings his Majesty's Pleasure and express Commandment is That none of his said Council nor others shall by any means retain or entertain any of his Graces Tenants or Farmers in such sort as they or any of them should account themselves bounden to do him or them any other Service than as to his Highness Officers having Office or being appointed in Service there unless the same Farmers and Tenants be continually
Cotton John Gate Number 58. A Letter written by B. Ridley setting out the Sins of that Time To his Well-beloved the Preachers within the Diocess of London AFter hearty Commendations having regard especially at this time Regist Ridl Fol. 239. to the Wrath of God who hath plagued us diversly and now with extream punishment of sudden Death poured upon us for Causes certain known unto his high and secret Judgment and as may seem unto Man for our wicked living daily encreasing unto such sort that not only in our Conversations the Fear of God is alas far gone from before our Eyes but also the World is grown into that uncharitableness that one as it appeareth plainly goeth about to devour another moved with insatiable Covetousness both contrary to God's Word and Will and to the extream peril and damnation of Christ's Flock bought so dearly with his precious Blood and to the utter destruction of this whole Common Wealth except God's Anger be shortly appeased wherein as according to my bounden Duty I shall God willing in my own Person be diligent and labour so I exhort and require you first in God's Name and by authority of him committed unto me in that behalf and also in the King's Majesty's Name from whom I have Authority and special Commandment thus to do That as you are called to be setters forth of God's Word and to express in your livings the same so now in your Exhortations and Sermons you do most wholsomely and earnestly tell unto Men their Sins Juxta illud anuncia populo meo scelera eorum with God's punishments lately poured upon us for the same now before our Eyes and specially to beat down and destroy with all your Power and Wit that greedy and devouring Serpent of Covetousness that doth so now universally reign calling upon God for Repentance and provoking to Common Prayer and amendment of life with most earnest Petitions that hereby God's Hands may be staied the World amended and obedience of Subjects and faithfulness of Ministers declared accordingly Thus I bid you heartily well to fare From London July 25. 1551. Yours in Christ Nic. London Number 59. Bishop Ridley's Letter to the Protector concerning the Visitation of the University of Cambridg Right Honourable I Wish your Grace the holy and wholsome Fear of God because I am persuaded your Grace's Goodness to be such unfeignedly that even wherein your Grace's Letters doth sore blame me yet in the same the advertisement of the Truth shall not displease your Grace and also perceiving that the cause of your Grace's discontentation was wrong Information therefore I shall beseech your Grace to give me leave to shew your Grace wherein it appeareth to me that your Grace is wrong informed Your Grace's Letters blameth me because I did not at the first before the Visitation began having knowledg of the Matter shew my Mind the Truth is Before God I never had nor could get any fore-knowledg of the Matter of the uniting of the two Colleges before we had begun and had entred two days in the Visitation and that your Grace may plainly thus well perceive A little before Easter I being at Rochester received Letters from Mr. Secretary Smith and the Dean of Pauls to come to the Visitation of the University and to make a Sermon at the beginning thereof whereupon I sent immediately a Servant up to London to the Dean of Pauls desiring of him to have had some knowledg of things there to be done because I thought it meet that my Sermon should somewhat have savoured of the same From Mr. Dean I received a Letter instructing me only That the cause of the Visitation was to abolish Statutes and Ordinances which maintained Papistry Superstition Blindness and Ignorance and to establish and set forth such as might further God's Word and good Learning and else the Truth is he would shew me nothing but bad me be careless and said There was Informations how all things was for to be done the which I take God to Witness I did never see nor could get knowledg what they were before we were entred in the Visitation two days although I desired to have seen them in the beginning Now when I had seen the Instructions the Truth is I thought peradventure the Master and Company would have surrendred up their College but when their consent after labour and travel taken therein two dayes could not be obtained and then we began secretly to consult all the Commissioners thinking it best that every Man should say his Mind plainly that in execution there might appear but one way to be taken of all there when it was seen to some that without the consent of the present Incumbents by the King 's absolute Power we might proceed to the uniting of the two Colleges I did in my course simply and plainly declare my Conscience and that there only secretly among our selves alone with all kind of softness so that no Man could be justly offended Also I perceive by your Grace's Letters I have been noted of some for my barking there and yet to bark lest God should be offended I cannot deny but indeed it is a part of my Profession for God's Word condemneth the dumb Dogs that will not bark and give warning of God's Displeasure As for that that was suggested to your Grace that by my aforesaid barking I should dishonour the King's Majesty and dissuade others from the Execution of the King's Commission God is my Judg I intended according to my Duty to God the King the maintenance and defence of his Highness Royal Honour and Dignity If that be true that I believe is true which the Prophet saith Honor Regis Judicium diligit and as the Commissioners must needs and I am sure will all testify that I dissuaded no Man but contrariwise exhorted every Man with the quiet of other to satisfy their own Conscience desiring only that if it should otherwise be seen unto them that I might either by my absence or silence satisfy mine The which my plainness when some otherwise than according to my expectation did take I was moved thereupon both for the good Opinion I had and yet have in your Grace's Goodness and also specially because your Grace had commanded me so to do to open my mind by my private Letters freely unto your Grace And thus I trust your Grace perceiveth now both that anon after knowledg had I did utter my Conscience and also that the Matter was not opened unto me before the Visitation was two days begun If in this I did amiss that before the knowledg of the Instructions I was ready to grant to the Execution of the Commission Truly I had rather herein acknowledg my Fault and submit my self to your Grace's Correction then after knowledg had then wittingly and willingly commit that thing whereunto my Conscience doth not agree for fear of God's displeasure It is a Godly Wish that is wished in your Grace's Letters that Flesh
the Souls of such as are committed to their Cure and Charge the Quietness of their Parishioners and the Wealth and Honour of the King and Queen of this Realm Article 2. Item Whether your Parson Vicar or any other ministring as Priest within your Parish have been or is married or taken for married not yet separated from his Concubine or Woman taken for Wife Or whether the same Woman be dead or yet living and being living whether the one resorteth to the other openly secretly or slanderously maintaining supporting or finding the same in any wise to the offence of the People Article 3. Item Whether there be any Person of what Estate Condition or degree he be that doth in open talk or privily defend maintain or uphold the Marriage of Priests encouraging or bolding any Person to the defence thereof Article 4. Item Whether you have your Parson or Vicar resident continually with you upon his Benefice doing his Duty in the serving of the Cure and whether being able to do keep Hospitality upon the same feeding his Flock with his good living with his teaching and his relieving of them to his power Article 5. Item Whether your Parson or Vicar being absent have a sufficient Dispensation and License therein and whether in his absence he do appoint an honest able and sufficient learned Curat to supply his room and absence to serve his Cure Article 6. Item Whether your Parson or Vicar by himself or his good and sufficient Deputy for him do relieve such poor Parishioners repair and maintain his House or Mansion and things thereunto appertaining and otherwise do his Duty as by the Order of the Law and Custom of this Realm he ought to do Article 7. Item Whether the said Curat appointed in the absence of your Parson or Vicar do in all Points the best he can to minister the Sacraments and Sacramentals and other his Duty in serving the same Cure specially in celebrating Divine Service at convenient hours chiefly upon Sundays and Holy-days and Procession-days and ministring the said Sacraments and Sacramentals as of Duty and Reason he ought moving and exhorting earnestly his Parishioners to come unto it and devoutly to hear the same and whether he himself do reverently celebrate minister and use the same as appertaineth Article 8. Item Whether he the said Curat Parson or Vicar have been or is of suspect Doctrine erroneous Opinion Misbelief or evil Judgment or do set forth preach favour aid or maintain the same contrary to the Catholick Faith and Order of this Realm Article 9. Item Whether they or any of them do haunt or resort to Ale-houses or Taverns otherwise than for his or their honest Necessity and Relief or repair to any Dicing-houses common Bowling-Allies suspect Houses or Places or do haunt and use Common Games or Plays or behave themselves otherwise unpriestly and unseemly Article 10. Item Whether they or any of them be familiar or keep company and be conversant with any suspected Person of evil Conversation and Living or Erroneous Opinion or Doctrine or be noted to aid favour and assist the same in any wise contrary to the good Order of this Realm and the usage of the Catholick Church Article 11. Item Whether there be dwelling within any your Parishes any Priest Forreigner Stranger or other who not presented to the Bishop of the Diocess or his Officers examined and admitted by some one of them doth take upon him to serve any Cure or to minister any Sacraments or Sacramentals within the said Parish Article 12. Item Whether there be dwelling within any your Parishes or repairing thither any Priest or other naming himself Minister which doth not come diligently to the Church to hear the Divine Service or Sermons there but absenteth himself or discourageth others by his example or words to come unto the same expressing their Name and Sir-name with sufficient knowledg of them Article 13. Item Whether there be any Married Priests or naming themselves Ministers that do keep any Assemblies or Conventicles with such-like as they are in Office or Sect to set forth any Doctrine or Usage not allowed by the Laws and laudable Customs of this Realm or whether there be any resort of any of them to any Place for any privy Letters Sermons Plays Games or other Devices not expresly in this Realm by Laws allowed Article 14. Item Whether there be any of them which is a common Brawler Scolder a sower of Discord among his Parish Churches a Hawker a Hunter or spending his time idely or unthriftily or being a Fornicator an Adulterer a Drunkard a common Swearer or Blasphemer of God or his Saints or an unruly or evil-disposed Person or that hath come to his Benefice or Promotion by Simony unlawful Suit or ungodly Means in any Ways Article 15. Item Whether they and every each of them to the best of their Powers at all times have exhorted and stirred the People to Quietness and Concord and to the Obedience of the King and Queens Majesty's and their Officers rebuking all Sedition and Tumult with all unlawful Assemblies moving the People to Charity and good Order and charging the Fathers and Mothers Masters and Governors of Youth to keep good Rule and to instruct them in Vertue and Goodness to the Honour of God and of this Realm and to have them occupied in some honest Art and Occupation to get their Living thereby Article 16. Item Whether they or any of them do admit any Person to receive the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar who are openly known or suspected to be Adversaries and Speakers against the said Sacrament or any other Article of the Catholick Faith or to be a notorious evil Person in his Conversation or Doctrine an open Oppressor or evil Doer to his Neighbour not being confessed reconciled and having made satisfaction in that behalf Article 17. Item Whether they or any of them have of their own Authority admitted and licensed any to preach in their Cure not being authorised and admitted thereunto or have denied and refused such to preach as have been lawfully licensed and whether they or any of them having authority to preach within their Cures doth use to preach or at the least doth procure other lawful or sufficient Persons to do the same according to the Order of this Realm Article 18. Item Whether they or any of them since the Queen's Majesty's Proclamation hath or doth use to say or sing the Divine Service minister the Sacraments or Sacramentals or other things in English contrary to the Order of this Realm Article 19. Item Whether they or any of them in their Suffrages Collects and Prayers doth use to pray for the King and Queen's Majesty by the names of King Philip and Queen Mary according to a Letter and Commandment therein lawfully given now of late unto them by their Ordinary Article 20. Item Whether they and every of them have diligently moved and exhorted their Parishioners how and in what manner Children should
Answer can come from England hither and if his Revocation should be once known in England what would come of it I doubted Therefore I besought his Holiness not to suffer it to pass for if it be once known abroad it shall be a great comfort to the Wicked and discomfort to the good whereby many Inconveniences might ensue Then he said that that is done cannot be undone I said That his Holiness had not so far gone in his Decree but that he might moderate it that it need not extend to England And then I told him that he had shewed me that in all his Proceedings he would have your Majesty's Realm of England separated from all other the King's Majesty's Realms and now had set it as far further as any of the other therefore I said his Holiness should consider it and that the Decree in no wise should extend thither Then he said That it could not stand with the Majesty of the Place that he sat in to revoke any part of the Decree solemnly given in the Consistory in the presence of all the Cardinals I said That his Holiness with his Honour might well do it considering that when he gave the Decree he was not informed of such Inconveniences that might ensue thereof and now being informed by me his Holiness had not only a just cause to revoke it but also of congruence ought to do it considering that his Holiness had the Cure of all Mens Souls and if any Inconveniency should follow through his Holiness Doings it could not be chosen but his Holiness must answer for it where his Holiness suffering all things to proceed in his due course as it hath been begun all Dangers that have been before rehearsed might be avoided therefore now his Holiness had a good Cause to stay his Decree in that behalf All which he took in good part and said thus I must needs do for that Realm what I can and therefore to morrow is the Congregation of the Inquisition and then the Matter shall be propounded where he said he would do what he could and willed me to resort to the Cardinal St. Jacobo to inform him that he might procure it there I said I would indeed I had been with the said Cardinal before and had informed him fully nevertheless I went to him again to shew him the Pope's Pleasure therein who said he would do his Duty therein Indeed that Matter occupied the Pope and the Cardinals all that Congregation time The next morrow as the Cardinals said the Conclusion was That the Pope would make answer to me himself Indeed he thought to take Counsel of the said Congregation before I had been with them about the same Decree but not to revoke any part thereof but to have their advice in framing of it So that if I had not gone to him the Decree had gone forth with the intimation thereof and the inhibition but being with his Holiness this Evening to know what was to be had herein his Holiness after a long Oration in commendation of you the Queens Majesty he said That in case your most Excellent Majesty would write to him for the continuance of his Legat for such Causes as should seem good to the same the Legat to be yet expedient therein he would appoint my Lord's Grace there to continue but he could in no wise revoke his Decree made in open Consistory I laid many things that his Holiness might do it and that divers of his Predecessors had done it upon Causes before not known with divers Examples that I shewed him in Law that at the last he said plainly He would not revoke his Decree but for because of my Suit he said he was content to stay and to go no further till your Majesty's Letters do come and charged the Datary and his Secretary Berigno that they send forth no intimation of his Decree of the said Revocation without his special Commandment where-else he said the Intimation had been sent forth with an Inhibition also And so all is staied that nothing here-hence shall go forth till your Pleasure the Queen's Majesty be known therein which the Pope doth look for Until which Intimation the Legacy there doth continue Occurrents here be no other but that the 10th of this the late made Duke of Paleano departed here-hence towards the Duke's Camp which doth lie yet in the Siege of Civitella within your Majesty's Realm of Naples They that seem to bear their good Wills here towards your Majesty do say here that they may lie there long before they take it for they cannot hurt it much with Battery And they say the Counts de Sancto Flore and de Sarme be within the Town with two thousand Souldiers many of the Frenchmen be slain there Nevertheless others do say that it standeth in danger of taking for because the Frenchmen have gotten a Hill from the which they do beat sore into the Town and have withdrawn certain Waters from them of the Town and do undermine it the most part here thinketh they shall lose their labour for it is very strong The Gallies of Marseilles arrived at Civita Vechia six or seven days past and brought twelve Ensigns more of French Souldiers to reinforce the French Army and as far as I can learn they return again to fetch more always to refresh their Camp with fresh Souldiers in the lieu of such as be perished Of the which twelve Ensigns the French Ambassador chose out three which he hath sent to the Duke of Guise well furnished the rest he discharged but all the other that came be gone to the Camp to such Captains as will retain them there for such of the other as be slain or otherwise perished Don Antonio de Carraffa doth as yet return to the Camp neither intendeth to go as I hear I heard say That the Duke of Alva was within sixteen miles of the Frenchmen with a great Army of Horsemen and Footmen what he doth is not spoken of here for there is none that can pass to them or from them hither there is such strait keeping and dangerous passing Here be ill News from Piedmont for they say here the Frenchmen in those Parts have taken Cherasto a very strong Town in Piedmont which I trust be not true The common Report is here That if the Frenchmen be not withstanded in time they will do much hurt in Italy The Pope doth set forth a Bull for Money that one of every hundred shall be paid of the value of all the Lands that be within the Churches Dominions which they say will draw to Two or three Millions if it be paid And having no other at this present I beseech Almighty God to conserve both your most Excellent Majesties in long and most prosperous Life together From Rome the 15th of May 1557. Your Majesties most humble Subject and Poor Servant Edward Carne Number 35. The Appeal of Henry Chichely Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to a General Council from the