such a continuance a Sute moved upon Sr. Tho. Boleyn's return were publick matters and must have lien open to a discovery The whole Recital is impossible as it is told for if she was born after Sr. Tho. Boleyn return'd from an Embassy to which King Henry had sent him that he might enjoy his Wife and in which he staid two years as Sanders says then since King Henry came to the Crown in the year 1509 she must be born in the year 1511 and then the 15th year of her Age will fall in the year 1526 and it being certain that the King began to court her in the year 1527 here is not time enough for her Leudness and her long stay in France But it is certain that she was born in the year 1507 two years before K. Henry came to the Crown and when he was but 14 years old and that at 7 years old she went over to France with K. Henry's Sister when she was married to Lewis the 12th and thô upon that King's Death the Queen Dowager of France came soon after back into England yet Anne Boleyn staid still in France and was in the service of Claud Francis's the first 's Queen and after her Death the King's Sister the Dutchess of Alençon took her into her service and these two Princesses were so celebrated for their Vertue that this alone is enough to shew that she was then under no infamy since she was of their Family She was also Maid of Honour to our Queen Katherine who even by Mr. Varillas's Character was of too severe a Vertue to admit a common Prostitute to that degree of Honour So that here is more than enough to discredit all those Calumnies 25. He says thô there is not Evidence enough in the former Reports yet there is a certain proof for K. Henry's disorders with the Elder of the two Sisters Mary Boleyn since in the demand that K. Henry made for a permission to marry Anne he confessed his disorders with her Sister and offered to do Pennance for them and to vouch for this he cites King Henry's Petition to P. Clement the 7th Here Mr. Varillas shews how little he understands the advantages that he has to maintain his Assertions since there is an Authority for this last that has more appearance of truth in it than all his other Citations put together thô his ignorance made him incapable of finding it out For Cardinal Pool in his Book against K. Henry objects this to him and this has a fair appearance whereas the Petition that he cites is a Dream of his own that was never before heard of But thô I have said more for the honour of Cardinal Pool than all the Panegiricks that have been given him amount to yet I am very well assured that in this particular he was abused by Reports to which he gave too easy a belief for as all the Original Instructions and Dispatches that were made upon that Affair are yet extant in which there is not one Word relating to this matter so it is plain that the Affair was never so far advanced as to demand a permission for a second Mariage since that could never be so much as asked till the first was dissolved and that not being gained there was not room made for it If the King had given such advantages against himself as to have put such a Confession in a Petition to the Pope is it to be imagined that the Popes would not have discovered this in some Authentical manner and even have put it in the Thundering Bull that was afterwards published against him for this alone proved his Hypocrisy of pretending scruples of Conscience at his Mariage beyond exception and if the King acted in this matter without any regard to Conscience it is unreasonable to represent him as so strictly Conscientious and that he would have confessed so scandalous a secret and so to have put himself in the power of those of whom he could not be well assured 26. He gives us a long account of Wolsey's design to engage the King to marry the Dutchess of Alençon Of the Bishop of Tarke's being sent over to bring the English Princess into France upon her being contracted to the Dauphin And of Wolsey's prevailing with him to let that Proposition fall and to set on another for a Mariage between the King of England and the Dutchess of Alençon And that the Bp. of Tarke was cheated by Wolsey and being in the interests of the Dutchess of Alençon he demanded a publick Audience of the King in the presence of the Council in which he imployed all his Eloquence to persuade him to divorce his Queen and to marry the most Christian King's Sister In all this matter Mr. Varillas is only the Copier of Sanders yet he cannot tell another Man's Lie without mixing some additions of his own for the Bp. of Tarke's being sent over to demand the Princess is one of the fruits of his own Religion But thô a Pedant of a Priest such as Sanders had told so improbable a Story yet it ill became a Man that pretends to know Courts and the Negotiations of Ambassadours as Mr. Varillas does to assert such improbabilities as that an Ambassadour sent express to demand a Princess for his Master's Son which was the greatest advantage that France could have possibly hoped for should be so far wrought on by the Minister of the Court to which he was sent as not only to let all this fall but to make a new Proposition for the illegitimating of the young Princess and for offering his Master's Sister to King Henry and all this without any Instructions from his Master and thereby exposing the Dutchess of Alençon to the scorn of being rejected after she was so publickly offered to the King of England thô every Body knows that the first offers of Princesses are made in secret And after all this that the Bishop of Tarke who not only exceeded his Instructions but acted contrary to them in so important a matter was neither recalled nor disgraced but on the contrary he was afterwards promoted to be a Cardinal by the recommendation of the Court of France and he being a Cardinal and seeing afterwards how he was abused if we may believe this Fable is it to be supposed that he either out of his own Zeal for the Court of Rome or by the Accusations that naturally such a Proposition begun by him must have brought on him would not have told all this secret afterwards In short as this Relation contains many particulars in it that are not according to the Forms of our Court such as his demanding an Audience in the presence of the Council for it seems as Mr. Varillas set our Parliaments above our Kings he will make the Privy Council equal to them so the whole is so contrary to all the Methods of Ambassadours that this would scarce pass if it related to the transactions of the Courts of
China or Iapan but it is so gross an imposition on such as know the Methods of the Courts of Europe that Mr. Varillas presumed too much on the credulity of his Readers when he thought that this could be believed and si non è vero il è ben trovato is so necessary a Character for a Man to maintain that would have his Books sell well which I am told is Mr. Varillas's chief Design that he had best find out some Judge of his Pieces that has a true Understanding since it is plain that he has not sence enough himself to make a right Judgment in such matters 27. He says when Cardinal Wolsey went over into France he caried a Commission to consult the Universities of France touching the King's Divorce but that the change of Affairs in Italy made the King to recal him who was strangely surprised when he found that the King had no thoughts of marrying the Dutchess of Alençon and that he was become so much in love with Anne Boleyn that he was resolved to marry her on any Terms It is an unfortunate thing for a Man to have heard too much and to have read too little of History for as the one gives him much confidence so the other exposes him to many Errours Mr. Varillas had heard that K. Henry had consulted many Universities but not knowing where to place this he fancied that it must be the first step in the whole Matter But he knew not that this was not thought on till after a Sute of above two Years continuance in which the King saw how he was deluded by the Court of Rome and upon that he took the other Method of consulting the Universities All his speculations concerning Card. Wolsey are built on the common Mistake that supposes him ignorant of the King's intentions for Anne Boleyn the falsehood of which I have sufficiently demonstrated 28. He tells us that Card. Wolsey having once several Bishops to dine with them the King knowing of it went to them after Dinner and made a Writing to be read to them that set forth the Reasons against his Mariage the Bishops did not approve it quite yet they were so complying as to say that if those things were true his scruples were well grounded This was too important a thing not be made appear probable by some of his pretended Vouchers thô it is most certainly false for a Resolution signed by all the Bishops of England except Fisher was produced before the Legates to shew how well the King's scruples were grounded 29. He says the Privy Councel acted more steadily and intended to give the King an undeniable proof of his Mistresses Lewdness for Sr. Thomas Wiat that had obtained of her the last favours was willing to let the King know it and so being of the Privy Councel he not only owned the matter to the rest of that Board but was content to let the King know it and when he found that the King would not believe it he offered to make the King himself an Eye-witness to their Privacies but thô the Duke of Suffolk made this bold Proposition to the King he was so far from hearkning to it that Wiat was disgraced upon it and by this means the Mistress was covered from such dangerous Discoveries for the future Such a Story as this might have passed from a Sanders that knew the World little but in earnest it seems the fits of Mr. Varillas's Religion are strong even to Extasy since they make him write as extravagantly of humane Affairs as if he had passed his whole Life in a Desert A Man that knows what humane Nature is cannot think that Wiat would have either so far betraied Mrs. Boleyn or exposed himself as to have made such a Discovery it being more natural for a Man that was assured of a young Lady's Favour to contribute to her Elevation since that must have raised himself than to contrive her Ruin And K. Henry whose imperious temper gave him a particular Disposition to Jealousy must have been of different composition from all the rest of Mankind if he could have rejected a Discovery of this nature And when the secrets of Jealousies are opened to Princes it is too gross even for a Romance to make the Discoverer to begin with the Councel-board and to procure a Deputation from them to acquaint the King with them But as Wiat does not appear to have been a Privy Councelour till near the end of K. Henry's Reign so it is plain enough he was never disgraced but continued to be still imploied by the King in some forreign Embassies to the end of his Life 30. He says Anne Boleyn endeavoured thô in vain to engage Sr. Thomas More to negociate her Affair but he being proof against all corruption Gardiner that was a Canonist was made Secretary of State and was sent to Rome with My-Lord Brian who scandalised all Rome with his lewd behaviour and had the impudence to assure the Pope that the Queen desired to be divorced that so she might retire into a Monastery And made other offers of great advantage to the Pope in case he would allow the Divorce Mr. Varillas cannot say too much in Sr. Thomas More 's commendation but since he was a Man of so much Sincerity it is certain that he approved of the Divorce for in a Letter that his own Family printed among his other Works in Q. Mary's Reign he writing to Cromwel owns that he had approved of the Divorce and that he had great hopes of the King's success in it as long as it was prosecuted in the Court of Rome and founded on the defects that were pretended to be in the Bull and after that most of the Universities and of the learned Men of Europe had given their Opinions in favours of the Divorce four years after it was first moved he being then Chancellour went down to the House of Commons and made those Decisions to be read there and upon that he desired the Members of Parliament to report in their Countries that which they had heard and seen and added these very Words and then all Men will openly perceive that the King has not attempted this Matter for his Will and Pleasure but only for the discharge of his Conscience Upon Wolsey's Disgrace he was made Chancellour and continued in that high trust almost three years which is an evident sign that he did not then oppose the Divorce nor did he grow disgusted of the Court till he saw that the King was upon the point of breaking with the See of Rome So that he would have liked the Divorce if the Pope could have been prevailed with to allow it but he did not approve of the King 's procuring it another way Mr. Varillas is no happier in the other parts of this Article for Gardiner was not sent first to Rome to negotiate this matter Knight that was Secretary of State was first imploied and Gardiner was
REFLECTIONS On Mr. VARILLAS's HISTORY Of the Revolutions that have happned in Europe in matters of Religion And more particularly on his Ninth Book that relates to England By G. BURNET D. D. Amsterdam Printed for P. Savouret in the Warmoes-street near the Dam. 1686. REFLECTIONS On Mr. VARILLAS's HISTORY of the Revolutions that have happned in Europe in matters of Religion and more particularly on his 9 th Book that relates to England MR Varillas has within a few Years given the World so many-Books of History and these have been so much read and so well received that it seems he thinks he is now so far possessed of the esteem of the Age that he may venture to impose upon it the falsest coyn that can be struck not doubting but that the name Varillas stampt upon it will make it pass current and this being a time in which some have thought that they might doe whatsoever they pleased against those of the Religion he it seems thinks he may likewise say whatsoever he pleased against them that so there may be a due proportion between the injuries that he does them with his pen and those that others make them feel with severer tools and perhaps he thought the severities that are now exercised upon them are so contrary to that tenderness with which the humane Nature not to say the Christian Religion is apt to inspire all that are not transported with such violent Passions that they drown the Motions of our bowels towards the miserable that nothing could divert the World from those merciful inclinations but the dressing up the first beginnings of the Reformation in such odious representations as might possess the Age with so much fury against them that none of the miseries that they suffer might create the least Compassion for them It is true Princes have their Prerogatives with which they take great liberties as their several passions are excited and dextrously managed the desire of glory mixing with a heat of blood at one time can produce a wâ—r as terrible in its consequences as it was injustifiable in its first beginnings and the same ambition mixing with a superstitious disposition of mind and working upon colder Blood can at another time produce a violation of Edicts that have been solemnly sworn to and often confirmed and accompany that with a sequel of Severities that are more easily lamented than expressed yet an humble regard to the sublime character of a Crown'd Head lays a restraint on those Groans which we would rather stifle than give them their full scope least the language of our Sorrows look like an accusing of those whom after all that our brethren have suffered at their hands we would still force our selves to reverence and therfore we choose rather to support our grief than to vent it at their cost But small Scriblers who have set a price upon their pens and sacrifice our reputation that they may merite a pension at the hands of the chief Instruments of our Brethrens sufferings are not to look for such respect he that fights against the Laws of War ought to expect no quarter when he is taken A Historian that favours his own side is to be forgiven thô he puts a little too much life in his colours when he sets out the best sides of his party and the worst of those from whom he disfers and if he but slightly touches the failings of his Friends and severely aggravates those of the other side thô in this he departs from the laws of an exact Historian yet this biass is so natural that if it lessens the credit of the Writer yet it does not blacken him but if he has no regard either to truth or decency if he gives his imagination a full scope to invent and his pen all the liberties of foul language he ought not to think it strange if others take some pains to expose him to the World And thô their Conscience and Religion obliges them to take other measures with relation to Truth and their Breeding engages them to a strict modesty of Stile yet if the things that are said are as severe as they are true and as wounding as they may appear soft it is nothing but what a Zeal for Truth and an Indignation at so much ill-managed injustice draws from them It is not to be denied that Mr. Varillas has an art of writing that is entertaining he pretends to discover many Secrets to give pictures of Men to the life and to interweave the Histories that he relates with a thread of Politiques that is very agreable only this appears to be overdone and those who have had much practice in humane Affairs see that the conduct of the World is not so steady and so regular a thing as he loves to represent it unlookt for Accidents the caprices of some Tempers the secrets of Amours and Jealousies with other particular Passions are the true sources of almost all that is transacted in the World even Interest it self does not always govern Mankind but Humour and Passion have their turns and oft times the largest share in humane affairs So that I ever thought that his books had too much of the air of a Romance and seemed too fine to be true He does indeed now and then to maintain his Reputation in his Reader 's mind vouch some letter or narrative but he neither tells whither it is in Print or in Manuscript or where he had it and where others may find it so this way of Citation looked suspitious yet I could not easily take up such hard thoughts of him as to imagine that all this was his own Invention but being in Paris last Summer I had the good fortune to become acquainted with some men of great probity and that had particularly applied themselves to examine the History of France with great exactness they were of the Church of Rome and seemed to have no other dislike at Mr. Varillas but that which was occasioned by the liberty that he had given himself to writ his own Imaginations for true Histories they assured me there was no regard to be had to any thing that he writ that he had gathered together many little stories which he knit together as he pleased and that without any good Authority and they told me that the greatest number of the pieces he cited were to be found now here but in his own fancy In a word they spoke of all his books with a sharpness of stile and a degree of contempt that I will not repeat least I seem to come too near his forms of speech which are the worst Patterns that one can follow I found he was generally so much decried in Paris that he has reason to say in his Preface that when the Archbishop of Paris thought on him all the World had abandoned him for I did not find any Man under a more universal Contempt than he was and the esteem in which his Works were held in Forreign Parts far
shewed that the proposition of a Mariage between the Dauphin and the Princess was in the year 1518 long before Francis the first 's Imprisonment but the Treaty set on foot after his Liberty was either for himself or his second Son and this sort of a Treaty being somewhat extraordinary where the alternative lay between the Father and the Son for the same Lady Mr. Varillas shews his great ignorance of the Affairs of that Time since he says nothing of it for this would have given him occasion enough to have entertained his Reader with many Visions and Speculations 21. He says that Wolsey dealt with Longland the King's Confessour to possess him with scruples concerning the lawfulness of his Mariage that Longland refused to do it but engaged Wolsey to begin and he promised to fortify the scruples that the Cardinal should infuse into the King's mind Upon which the Cardinal did open the matter to the King and the King being shaken by his proposition laid the matter before his Confessour who seconded the Cardinal In this he has taken the liberty to depart from Sanders thô he is the Author whom he generally copies but it is easy to pretend to tell secrets but not so easy to prove them The King himself did afterwards in publick not only deny this but affirmed that Wolsey had opposed his scruples all he could and that he himself had opened them in Confession to Longland and the King himself said to Grineus that he was disquieted with those scruples ever from the year 1529 which was three years before the matter was made publick 22. He says the King upon that consulted the Divines of England concerning the validity of the Mariage and that all those that were Men of probity and disinteressed answered in the affirmative but some that did aspire or that were corrupted thought it doubtful others who were very few in number affirmed it was unlawful This is so false that all the Bishops of England Fisher only excepted declared under their Hands and Seals that they thought the Mariage unlawful 23. He gives a Character of Anne Boleyn in which he takes up the common Reports of her ill shape her yellow colour her gag tooth her Lump under her chin and her hand with six fingers but because all this agrees ill to the Mistress of a King he to soften that adds a long Character of her Wit her Air and Humour in which he lays her charms and here he takes all the licences of a Poët as well as of a Painter But as several of her Pictures yet extant shew the folly of those Stories concerning her Deformity so the other particulars of this Picture are for most part fetcht out of that Repository of false History that lies in Mr. Varillas's Imagination 24. He says the English Historians and some other Catholicks agree to those things and for his Vouchers he cites on the Margent Sanders Ribadeneira and Remond but they add many other particulars thô they differ concerning them and thô he will not affirm them to be true yet he thinks it worth the while to set them down They say that Anne Boleyn's true Father was not known that she was born in England while he was Ambassadour in France that Henry the 8th being in love with the Mother had sent away her Husband that so he might satisfy his Appetites more freely but that he soon quited the Mother for her eldest Daughter Mary that Sr. Thomas Boleyn at his return to England finding his Wife with Child begun a Sute against her but that the King forced him to be reconciled to his Wife and to own the Child that she bore some time after who was Anne Boleyn that this Daughter at the Age of 15 was dishonoured by two of her Father's Domesticks upon which she was sent to France where she was so common a Prostitute that she went by the Name of the English Hackney that she was a common subject of Raillery that she became a Lutheran thô she made still profession of the other Religion He says others make her pass for a Heroïne that cannot be enough commended yet he acknowledges there are not Authentical Evidences left to discover their imposture Here is a way of writing that agrees well with Mr. Varillas's other Qualities he was here in a cold fit and so his Religion did not operate so strong as to disengage him quite from all regard to truth only it produces one start that is sufficiently extravagant for he accuses all that is said in favours of Anne Boleyn of imposture thô at the same time he acknowledges there are not Authentick Evidences to disprove it but how then came he to know that those Commendations were Impostures He answers that in the beginning of this Paragraph and cites in general the Historians of England and other Catholick Writers and for the Historians of England he gives us Sanders alone thô he can hardly make a plural out of him unless he splits him into three or four subdivisions as he had done Charles the 5th when he reckoned up the Emperour and the King of Spain as two of the Pretenders to the Princess Mary But thô I have in my History demonstrated the falsehood of all this Legend so evidently that I had perhaps wearied my Reader by prooving that too copiously yet since I see that nature can croud so much impudence in Mr. Varillas alone as might serve even the whole Order of the Jesuites and that he is resolved to keep up the credit of the blackest falsehoods as the Church of Rome preserves still in her Breviary a great many Lessons with Prayers and Anthems relating to them that are now by the consent of learned Men exploded as Fables I must again lay open this matter thô I thought I had so fully confuted those Lies that even a Pension could not have engaged a Man to support them any more It may seem enough to an impartial Mind that Sanders was the first that ever published those Stories above 50 years after Anne Boleyn's Death that thô Card. Pool and the other Writers of that Time had left nothing unsaid that could blacken K. Henry yet none of them had brow enough to assert Sanders's Fictions and that after Anne Boleyn's Tragical Fall when her Misfortunes had made it a fashionable thing to blacken her yet these impostures were reserved for Sanders and for an Age in which he and many others of his Church were setting on many Rebellions and Conspiracies against Q. Elisabeth they were so powerfully acted by Mr. Varillas's Spirit of Religion thô they had not the folly to own it as he has done as to give themselves the liberty to say the foulest things against the Mother without giving themselves the trouble to enquire whither they were true or false and the things here advanced are of such a nature that either they must be evidently true or they are notoriously false for an Embassy into France of