the change and to assure those Princes of the Queens desire to maintain all former leagues between them and the Crown of England but more particular instructions were directed to her Agent in the Court of Spain to whom it was given in charge to represent unto the King the dear remembrance which she kept of those many humanities received from him in the time of her troubles Instructions are sent also to Sir Edward Karn the late Queens Agent with the Pope and now confirmed by her in the same imployment to make his Holiness acquainted with the death of Queen Mary and her succession to the Crown not without out some desire that all good offices might be reciprocally exchanged between them But the Pope answered hereunto according to his accustomed rigour That the Kingdom of England was held in Fee of the Apostolick See that she could not succeed being illegitimate that he could not contradict the declarations of Clement the 7th and Paul the 3d. that it was a great boldness to assume the name and government of it without him yet being desirous to shew a fatherly affection if she will renounce her pretensions and refer her self wholly to his free disposition he will do whatsoever may be done with the honour of the Apostolick See To the making of which sudden answer though there needed no other instigation of his own rough nature yet many thought that he was put upon it by some Ministers of the Court of France who fearing nothing more than that Philip will endeavour by a second mariage to assure himself of the possession of the Realm of England and to that end sollicit for a dispensation to make way unto it thought it expedient to prevent those practices in the first beginning by putting the Pope upon such counsels as would be sure to dash all his hopes that way But the new Queen having perform'd this office of civility to him as she did to others expected not the coming back of any answer not took much thought of it when she heard it She knew full well that her legitimation and the Popes supremacy could not stand together and that she could not possibly maintain the one without a discarding of the other But in this case it concerned her to walk very warily and not to unmask her self too much at once for fear of giving an alarum to the Papal party before she had put her self into a posture of ability to make good her actions Many who were imprisoned for the cause of Religion she restored to liberty at her first coming to the Crown Which occasioned Rainsford a Buffonly Gentleman of the Court to make a sute to her in the behalf of Mathew Mark Luke and John who had been long imprisoned in a Latine Translation that they also might be restored to liberty and walk abroad as formerly in the English Toung To whom she presently made answer That he should first endeavour to know the minds of the Prisoners who perhaps desired no such liberty as was demanded Which notwithstanding upon a serious debate of all particulars she was resolved to proceed to a reformation as the times should serve In order whereunto she constitutes her Privy Council which she compounds of such ingredients as might neither give encouragement to any of those who wish'd well to the Church of Rome or alienate their affections from her whose hearts were more inclined to the Reformation Of such as had been of the Coâ—ncil to the Quen her sister she retained the Lord Archbishop of York the Lord Marquess of Winchester the Earls of Arundel Shrewsbury Darby and Pembrock the Lords Clynton and Effingham Sir Thomas Cheiney Sir William Petice Sir John Mason Sir Richard Sackvile and Doctor Wotton To whom she added of her own the Marquess of Northampton the Earl of Bedford Sir Thomas Parre Sir Edward Roâ—ers Sir Ambrose Care Sir William Cecil and Sir Nicholas Bâ—câ—n To which last being then Attorney of the Dutchy of Lancaster and one that had been much employed by her in some former services which had relation to the Law she committed the custody of the Great Seal on the 22 of December the Title of Lord Chancellor remaining to Archbishop Heath as before it did and that of the Lord keeper being given to Bacon Which being a new Title and consequently subject unto some disputes an Act was passed in the second Parliament of her Reign for investing the said new Lord Keeper and all that should from thenceforth enjoy that Office with all the Powers Privileges and Preheminences which antiently had been exercised and enjoyed by the Lord Chancellor of England and for confirming of all sentences and decrees in Chancery which had or should be made by the said Lord Keepers in all times to come The like mixture she also caused to be made amongst other her subordinate Ministers in adding such new Commissioners for the Peace in every County as either were known to be of the Reformed Religion or to wish well to it The preferring of so many of the Protestant party as well to places of employment in their several Countries as to the ranck and dignity of Privy Counsellors and the refusal of her hand to Bishop Bonner at her very first comming to the Crown were taken to be strong presumptions as indeed they were that she intended to restore the Reformed Religion And as the Papists in the first beginning of the Reign of Queen Mary hoping thereby the better to obtain her favour began to build new Altars and set up the Mass before they were required so to do by any publick Authority so fared it now with many unadvised Zelots amongst the Protestants who measuring the Queens affections by their own or else presuming that their errors would be taken for an honest zeal employed themselves as busily in the demolishing of Altars and defacing of Images as if they had been licenced and commanded to it by some legal warrant It hapned also that some of the Ministers which remained at home and others which returned in great numbers from beyond the Seas had put themselves into the Pulpits and bitterly inveighed against the superstitions and corruptions of the Church of Rome The Popish Preachers did the like and were not sparing of invectives against the others whom they accused of Heresies Schisms and Innovation in the Worship of God For the suppressing of which disorders on the one side and those common disturbances on the other the Queen set out two Proclamations much about one time by one of which it was commanded that no man of what perswasion soever he was in the points of Religion should be suffered from thenceforth to preach in publick but onely such as should be licensed by her authority and that all such as were so licensed or appointed should forbear preaching upon any point which was matter of Controversie and might conduce rather to exasperate than to calm mens passions Which Proclamation was observed with such care and strictness that
some artifices used to illude that purpose had not changed her mind She had scarce liv'd to the third year of her age when she was promised in marriage to the Daulphine of France with a Portion of 333000 Crowns to be paid by her Father and as great a Joynture to be made by the French King Francis as ever had been made by any King of that Country And so far did the businesse seem to be acted in earnest that it was publickly agreed upon in the treaty for the Town of Tournay that the Espousals should be made within four months by the said two Kings in the name of their children in pursuance whereof as the French King sent many rich gifts to some leading men of the Court of England to gain their good liking to this League so he sent many costly Presents to the Princesse Mary the designed wife if Princes could be bound by such designations of the heir of France But war beginning to break out between the French and the Spaniards it was thought fit by Charles the fifth being then Emperour of Germany and King of Spain to court the favour of the English for the obtaining whereof his neernesse to Queen Katherine being sister to the Queen his Mother gave him no small hopes Upon this ground he makes a voyage into England is royally feasted by the King installed solemnly Knight of the Order of the Garter in the Castle of Windsor and there capitulates with the King amongst other things to take to wife his daughter Mary as soon as she should come to the years of marriage it was also then and there agreed that as soon as she was twelve years old the Emperour should send a proxie to make good the contract espouse her per verba de praesenti in the usual form that in the mean time the King of England should not give her in marriage unto any other that a dispensation should be procured from the Pope at the charge of both Princes in regard that the parties were within the second degree of consanguinity that within four months after the contract the Princesse should be sent to the Emperour's Court whether it were in Spain or Flanders at the sole charge of the King of England and married within four dayes after her comming thither in the face of the Church her portion limited to 400000 crowns if the King should have no issue male but to be inlarged to 600000 crowns more if the King should have any such issue male to succeed in the Kingdom A jointure of 50000 crowns per annum to be made by the Emperour the one part thereof to be laid in Flanders and the other in Spain and finally that if either of the said two Princes should break off this marriage he should forfeit 400000 crowns to the party injured And now who could have thought but that the Princesse Mary must have been this Emperour's wife or the wife rather of any Prince then one that was to be begotten by this Emperour on another woman though in conclusion so it hapned As long as Charles had any need of the assistance and friendship of England so long he seemed to go on really in the promised marriage and by all means must have the Princesse sent over presently to be declared Empresse and made Regent of Flanders But when he had taken the French King at the battel of Pavia sackt Rome and made the Pope his prisoner he then conceived himselfe in a condition of seeking for a wife elsewhere which might be presently ripe for marriage without such a tedious expectation as his tarrying for the Princesse Mary must needs have brought him And thereupon he shuts up a marriage with the Lady Issabell Infanta of Pâ—lugull and daughter to another of his Mother's â—isters For which being questioned by the King he layes the blame upon the importunity of his Council who could not patiently permit him to remain unmarried till the Princesse Mary came to age and who besides had caused a scruple to be started touching her illegitimation as being born by one that had been wife to his elder brother King Henry thereupon proceeds to a new treaty with the French to whom his friendship at the time of their King's captivity had been very useful which is by them as cheerfully excepted as by him it had been franckly offered She had before been promised to the Daulphin of Francâ— but now she is design'd for the second son then Duke of Orleance who afterwards by the death of his elder brother succeeded his father in the Crown But whilst they were upon this treaty the former question touching her legitimation was again revived by the Bishop of Tarbâ—e one of the Commissioners for the French which though it seem'd not strong enough to dissolve the treaty which the French were willing to conclude as their affairs then stood upon any conditions yet it occasioned many troubles in the Court of Engâ—and and almost all Christendome besides For now the doubt being started a second time and started now by such who could not well subsist without his friendship began to make a deep impression in the mind of the King and to call baâ—k such passages to his remembrance as otherwise would have been forgotten He now bethinks himselfe of the Protestation which he had made in the presence of Bishop Fox before remembred never to take the Lady Katherine for his wife looks on the death of his two sons as a punishment on him for proceeding in the marriage and casts a fear of many inconveniences or mischiefs rather which must inevitably befall this Kingdome if he should dye and leave no lawful issue to enjoy the Crown Hope of more children there was none and little pleasure to be taken in a conversation which the disproportion of their years and a greater inequality in their dispositions must render lesse agreeable every day then other In this perplexity of mind he consults his Confessor by whom he was advised to make known his griefs to Cardinal Wolsie on whose judgement he relied in most other matters which hapned so directly to the Cardinal's mind as if he had contrived the project The Emperour had lately cross'd him in his suit for the Popedome and since denied him the Archbish prick of Tâ—ledo with the promise whereof he had before bound him to his side And now the Cardinal resolves to take the opportunity of the King's distractions for perfecting his revenge against him In order whereunto as he had drawn the King to make peace with France and to conclude a marriage for his daughter with the Duke of Orleance so now he hopes to separate him from the bed of Katherine the Emperour's Aunt and marry him to Madam Rhinee the French Queens sister who afterwards was wife to the Duke of Ferrara About which time the picture of Madam Margaret the sister of King Francis first married to the Duke of Alanzon was brought amongst others into
English Chruch in each of their several congregations Their principal retiring places amongst the last were Arrow Zurick and Geneva and in the first the Cities of Embden Stralsburge and Franckfort In Franckfort they enjoyed the greatest privileges and therefore resorted thither in the greatest numbers which made them the more apt unto Schisms and factions At their first coming to that place which was on the 27th of June Anno 1554. by the power and favour of John Glauberge one of the Senators of that City they were permitted to have the use of one of their Churches which had before been granted to such French exiles as had repaired thither on the like occasion yet so that the French were still to hold their right the English to have the use of it one day and the French another and on the Lords day so to divide the hours between them that the one might be no hinderance unto the other It hath been said also that there was another condition imposed upon them of being conform unto the French in Doctrine and Ceremonies Which condition if it were imposed by the Magistrates not sought by themselves must needs be very agreeable to the temper and complexion of their principal Leaders who being for the most part of the Zuinglian-Gospellers at their going hence became the great promoters of the Puritan faction at their comming home The names of Whittingham Williams Goodman Wood and Sutton who appeared in the head of this congregation declare sufficiently of what Principles and strain they were how willing they would be to lay aside the face of an English Church and frame themselves to any Liturgie but their own On July the 14th they first obtained a grant of their Church and on the 29th took possession of it The interval they spent in altering and disfiguring the English Lyturgie of which they left nothing but the reading of the Psalms and Chapters Those comfortable interlocutories between the Minister and the People were no longer used as savouring in their opinion of some disorder in the course of the ministration the Letany and the Surplice they cast aside as having too much in them of the Church of Rome the Confession they had altered so as they conceived most agreeable to their present condition and for the Hymns which intervened between the Chapters and the Creed they changed them for such Psalms in the English Meerer as had been made by Sternhold and Hopkins in the time of King Edward The Psalm being done the Preacher goes into the Pulpit in which the Minister prayed for the assistance of God's Spirit and so proceeded to the Sermon Which done an other Prayer was made for all orders and estates of men but more particularly for the welfare of the Church of England composed in imitation of the Prayer for the Church Militant here on earth but ending as that did not with the Pater-noster After which most extreamly out of order followed the rehearsal of the Articles of the Christian Faith another Psalm and finally the dismission of the people with The Peace of God This was the form devised for that Congregation for the imposing whereof on all the rest of the English Churches they did then use their best endeavours and for obtruding which on the whole Church of England they raised such tumults and commotions in the following times Growing in love with this fair Babe of their own begetting they write their Letters of the second of August to such of the English as remained at Stralsburge and Zurick inviting them to repair to Franckfort and unite themselves unto that Church which had been there erected with the leave of the Magistrate But they had heard in both places of those Alterations which had been made at Franckfort in the form of Gods publick Service and thereupon refused to accept of the invitation though it seemed to promise them some advantages by the commodious situation of that City in respect of England the great resort of strangers thither at the yearly Marts plenty of Books and other helps in the way of study which were not to be found in the other two Cities From Stralsburge modestly from Zurick resolutely but from both it was plainly signified that they resolved to maintain the Order of the Church of England The like Letter had been writ to the English at Embden of which Congregation Doctor Scory the late Bishop of Chichester was the Super-intendent and we may readily believe that they received the like repulse from his Church at Embden as they had from Gryndal Sandys and Haddon or who had the constituting of the Church of Stralsburge or from Horn Chambers Parkhurst and other of the Students which remained at Zurick The noise of this new Church at Franckfort occasioned Knox who after proved the great incendiary of the Realm and Church of Scotland to leave his Sanctuary in Geneva in hope to make a better market for himself in that Congregation He had not long before published a seditious Pamphlet entituled The first blast of the Trumpet in which he bitterly inveighed against the Government of Women aiming there especially at the three Queen Maries that is to say Mary Queen of England Mary Queen of Scots and Mary of Lorrain Queen Regent of Scotland By which seditious Pamphlet he had made not onely his own Country too hot for him but could assure himself of no safety in France or England To Geneva therefore he retires and from thence removes to Franckfort as the â—itter Scene for his intendments hoping to get as great a name in this new Plantation as Calvin had gotten in the old It was about the end of September that he came to Franckfort where he took the charge of that Church upon him Whittingham and the rest submitting unto his Apostleship This gave a new dis-satisfaction to the English at Stralsburge and Zurick who knew the spirit of the man and feared the dangerous consequents and effects thereof Nor was the condition of affairs much bettered by the coming of Whitehead who afterwards refused the Archbishoprick of Canterbury though far the more moderate of the two New Letters are reciprocated between Franckfort and Zurick from Franckfort on the 15th of November in open defiance as it were to the English Liturgy from Zurick on the 28th in defence thereof and of their constancy and resolution for adhering to it The breach growing every day more wide than other Gryndal and Chambers came from Stralsburge to attone the difference by whom it was proposed unto them That the substance of the English Liturgy being retained there might be a forbearance of some ceremonies and offices in it But Knox and Whittingham were as much bent against the substance of the Book as against any of the circumstantials and extrinsicals which belonged unto it So that no good effect following on this interposition the Agents of the Church of Stralsburge return back to their brethren who by their Letters of the 13th of December expostulate in
for a principal Aphorism that in like manner as God hath appointed the end it is necessary also that God should appoint the causes leading to the same end but more particularly that by vertue of God's will all things are done yea even those things which are evil and execrable In another book Entituled Against a privy Papist it is maintained more agreeably to Calvin's Doctrine That all evil springeth of Gods Ordinance and that Goâ—s predestination was the cause of Adam's fall and of all wickednesses And in a fourth book published by Robert Crowley who afterwards was Rector of the Church of St Giles's nere Cripple-gate Entituled The confutation of 13 Articles c. it is said expresly That Adam being so perfect a creature that there was in him no lust to sin and yet so weak that of himself he was not able to withstand the assault of the subtil Serpent that therefore there can be no remedy but that the only cause of his fall must needs be the predestination of God In which book it is also said That the most wicked persons that have been were of God appointed to be even as wicked as they were and finally that if God do predestinate man to do things rashly and without any deliberation he shall not deliberate at all but run headlong upon it be it good or evil By which defenders of the absolute decree of reprobation as God is made to be the Author of sin either in plain terms or undeniable consequence so from the same men and the Genevian Pamphlets by them dispersed our English Calvinists had borrowed all their grounds and principles on which they build the absolute and irrespective decree of Predestination contrary to the Doctrine publickly maintained and taught in the time of King Edward Anno Reg. Mar. 4. A. D. 1556 1557. IT is now time that we set sail again for England which we left flaming with the fire of Persecutions and the whole body of the State not a little inflamed with a spirit of treason and sedition the last ill spirit well allayed by the execution of the chief Conspirators the other fire not quenched by the blood of the Martyrs which rather served as oyle to nourish than as water to extinguish the outragiousness of it But the Queen hoped to salve the matter on her part by some works of piety as the restoring of such Church Lands as were in the Crown for the endowment of some new Convents of Moncks and Friers But first she thought it necessary to communicate her purpose unto some of the Council and therefore calling to her the Lord Treasurer Paulet Inglefield Master of the Wards Rochester Comptrouler of her Houshold and Master Secretary Peter who seemed to be most concerned in it by their several places she is said to have spoken to them in these following words Yâ—u are here oâ— Our Counsel and We have willed you to be be caâ—led to Us to the intent you might hear of me my conscience and the resolâ—tion of my mind concerning the Lanas and Possessions as well of Monasteries as of other Churches whatsoever being now presently in my possession First I do consider that the said Lands were taken away from the Churches aforesaid in time of Schism and that by unlawful means such as are contrary both to the Law of God and of the Church For the which cause my conscience doth not suffer me to detain them And therefore I here expresly refuse either to claim or retain the said Lands for mine but with all my heart freely and willingly without all paction or condition here and before God I do surrender and relinquish the said lanâ—s and possessions or inheritances whatsoever and do renounce the same with this mind and purpose that order and disposition thereof may be taken as shall seem best liking to our most holy Lord the Pope or else his Legate the Lord Cardinal to the honour of God and wealth of this our Realm And albeit you may obâ—ect to me again that conâ—idering the State of my Kingdom the dignity thereof and my Crown Imperial cannot be honourably maintained and furnished without the possessions aforesaid yet notwithstanding and so she had affirmed before when she was bent upon the restitution of the Tenths and first Fruits I set more by the salvation of my soul than by ten such Kingdomes and therefore the said possâ—ssiâ—ns I utterly refuse here to hold after that sort and title and give most hearty thanks to Almâ—ghâ—y God which hath given me an husband likewise minded with no lesse good affection in this behalf than I am my self Wherefore I charge and command that my Chancellor with whom I have conferred my mind in this matter befâ—re and you four to morrow do resort together to the most Reverend Lord Legate and do signifie to him the premises in my Name and give your attendance upon him for the more full declaration of the State of my Kingdom and of the aforesaid possessions accordingly as you your selves do understand the matter and can inform him in the same Upon this opening of her mind the Lords perceived it would be to no purpose to perswade the contrary and therefore thought it requisite to direct some course wherein she might satisfie her desires to her own great honour and yet not alienate too much at once of the publick Patrimony The Abby of Westminster had been founded in a Convent of Benedictines or black Monks by King Edward the Confessor valued at the suppression by King Henry the 8th at the yearly sum of 3977. pounds in good old rents Anno 1539. At what time having taken to himself the best and greatest part of the Lands thereof he founded with the rest a Collegiat Church consisting of a Dean and secular Canons Benson the last Abbot being made the first Dean of this new erection To Bâ—nson succeeded Dr Cox and to him was substituted Dr Weston in the first of this Queen And being preferred unto the place by her special favour 't was conceived to be no hard matter to perswade him to make a surrendry of his Church into the hands of the Queen that so it might return to its former nature and be erected into a Convent of Benedictines without any charge unto the Crown And this they thought would be the easier brought to pass because by the preferment of Dr Owen Oglâ—thorp to the See of Carlisle the Deanâ—y of Windsor would be void which was considered as a sufficient compensation if bestowed on Weston for his surrendry of the other But they found a greater difficulty in it than was first imagin'd Weston appearing very backward in conforming to the Queens desires partly out of a dislike which he had of the project he being one that never liked the profession of Monkery and partly out of an affection which he had to the place seated so opportunely for the Court and all publick businesses But at the last he yielded to that opportunity which
not put the same in Execution Which being done by Pope Innocent the Fourth in Consecrating certain English Bishops at Lyons in France without the King's Knowledge Consent it was observed by Matthew Paris to be dishourable to the King and of great Dammage to the Kingdom So much the more by how much the Mischief grew more common and the Design concealed under that Disguise became more apparent which plainly was that being bound unto the Pope in the stricter Bonds and growing into a Contempt of their Natural King they might the more readily be inclined to worke any Mischief in the Kingdom The Danger whereof being considered by King Edward the First He came at last to this Conclusion with the Popes then being that is to say That the said Priors and Convents or the said Deans and Chapters as the Case might vary before they proceeded to any Election should demand the King 's Writ of Congâ—â— D'â—esliere and after the Election made to crave his Royal Assent unto it for Confirmation of the same And so much was avowed by the Letters of King Edward the Third to Pope Clement the Fifth In which it was declared That all the Cathedral Churches in England were Founded and Endowed by His Progenitours and that therefore as often as those Churches became void of a Bishop they were filled again with fit Persons by His said Progenitours as in their own Natural and proper Right The like done by the French Kings to this very day partly by virtue of the Pragmatical Sanction established at the Councel of Basil and partly by the Concordate between King Francis the First and Pope Leo the Tenth And the like also challenged by the State of Venice within the Verge and Territories of that Republick For which consult the English History of that State Decad. 5. lib. 9. fol. 229. So that upon the whole matter there was no Innovation made as to this particular but a Restoring to the Crown an antient Power which had been Naturally and Originally in the Crown before But howsoever having the appearance of an Alteration from the received manner of Electings in the Church of Rome and that which was Established by the late King for the Realm of England it was repealed by Queen Mary and put into the former Chanel by Queen Elizabeth But from this Alteration which was made in Parliament in reference to the manner of Making Bishops and the way of Exercising their Authority when they were so made let us proceed unto such Changes as we finde made amongst the Bishops themselves The first whereof was the Election of Doctor Nicholas Ridley to the See of Rochester to which he had been nominated by King Henry the Eighth when Holbeck who preceded him was designed for Lincoln But the King dying shortly after the Translation of Holbeck was deferred till the Time of King Edward which was no sooner done but Ridley was chosen to succeed him although not actually Consecrated till the fifth of September A man of great Learning as the Times then were and for his excellent way of Preaching highly esteemed by the late King whose Chaplain he had been for many years before His death and upon that onely designed to this Preferment as the reward of his Service Being well studyed in the Fathers it was no hard matter for him to observe That as the Church of Rome had erred in the Point of the Sacrament so as well the Lutheran as the Zuinglian Churches had run themselves into some errour by opposing the Papists the one being forced upon the Figment of Consubstantiation the other to fly to Signs and Figures as if there had been nothing else in the blessed Eucharist Which being observed he thought it most agreeable to the Rules of Piety to frame his Judgement to the Dictates of the Antient Fathers and so to hold a Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Holy Sacrament as to exclude that Corporal Eating of the same which made the Christian Faith a scorn both to the Turks and Moors Which Doctrine as he stoutly stood to in all his Examinations at Oxford when he was preparing for the Stake so he maintained it constantly in his Sermons also in which it was affirmed That In the Sacrament were truly and verily the Body and Blood of Christ made forth effectually by Grace and Spirit And being so perswaded in his own Opinion he so prevailed by Discourse and Argument with Arch-Bishop Cranmer as to bring him also to the same for which consult the Acts and Mâ—n fol. a man of a most even and constant spirit as he declared in all his Actions but in none more then in the opposition which he made against Bishop Hooper in Maintainance of the Rites and Ceremonies then by Law Established of which we shall have opportunity to speak more hereafter In the next place we are to look upon the Preferment of Doctor Barlow to the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells succeeding in the place of Knight who dyed on the twenty ninth of the same September He had been once Prior of the Monastery of Bisham in the County of Berks from whence preferred to the See of Asaph in the end of February An. 1535. And in the April following Translated to the Church of St. David's During his sitting in which See he fell upon an honest and convenient Project for removing the Episcopal See from the decayed City of St. David's most incommodiously Scituate in the remotest Angle of all the Diocess to the rich Borough of Caer-marthen in the midst thereof in the Chief Church whereof being a Monastery of Grey-Friars the body of Edmond Earl of Richmond the Father of K. Henry the Seventh received Interment Which Project he presented to Cromwel being then Vicar General endearing it by these Motives and Propositions that is to say That being scituate in the midst of the Diocess it was very opportune for the profiting of the King's Subjects for the Preferment of God's Word for abolishing all Antichristian Superstition and settling in the Diocess the King's Supremacy That it was furnished with all things necessary for the conveniency of the Canons and might be done without any prejudice to the Friars for every one of which he offered to provide a sufficient Maintainance And to advance the work the more he offered to remove his Consistory thither to found therein a Grammar-Schole and settle a daily Lecture in Divinity there for the reducing of the Welsh from their ancient Rudeness to the Civility of the Time All which I finde in the Memorials of Sir Robert Cotton And unto these he might have added That he had a fair Episcopal House at Abberguilly very near that Town in which the Bishops of that Diocess have for the most part made their Dwelling So that all Parties seemed to have been provided for in the Proposition and therefore the more to be admired That in a Time so much addicted unto Alterations it should speed no better
1282. that they had a Synodal Authority unto them committed to make such Spiritual Laws as to them seemed to be nâ—câ—ssary or convenient for the use of the Church Had it been otherwise King Edward a most Pious and Religious Prince must needs be looked on as a Wicked and most Lewd Impostour in putting such an horrible Cheat upon all His Subjects by Fathering these Articles on the Convocation which begat them not nor ever gave consent unto them And yet it is not altogether improbable but that these Articles being debated and agreed upon by the said Commitee might also pass the Vote of the whole Convocation though we finde nothing to that purpose in the Acts thereof which either have been lost or were never Registred Besides it is to be observed that the Church of England for the first five years of Queen Elizabeth retained these Articles and no other as the publick Tenents of the Church in point of Doctrine which certainly She had not done had they been commended to Her by a less Authority then a Convocation Such hand the Convocation had in canvasing the Articles prepared for them and in concluding and agreeing to so much or so many of them as afterwards were published by the King's Authority in the name thereof But whether they had any such hand in Reviewing the Liturgie and passing their Consent to such Alterations as were made therein is another Question That some necessity appeared both for the Reveiwing of the whole and the altering of some Parts thereof hath been shew'd before And it was shewed before by whose Procurement and Sollicitation the Church was brought to that necessity of doing somewhat to that Purpose But being not sufficiently Authorised to proceed upon it because the King 's sole Authority did not seem sufficient they were to stay the Leasure and Consent of the present Parliament For being the Liturgie then in force had been confirmed and imposed by the King in Parliament with the Consent and Assent of the Lords and Commons it stood with Reason that they should not venture actually on the Alteration but by their permission first declared And therefore it is said expresly in the Act of Parliament made this present year That The said Order of Common Service Entituled The Book of Common-Prayer had been Perused Explained and made fully perfect not single by the King's Authority but by the King with the Assent of the Lords and Commons More then the giving of their Assent was neither required by the King nor desired by the Prelats and less then this could not be fought as the Case then stood The signifying of which Assent enabled the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy whom they had taken for their Assistants to proceed to the Digesting of such Alterations as were before considered and resolved on amongst themselves and possibly might receive the like Authority from the Convocation as the Articles had though no such thing remaining upon Record in the Registers of it But whether it were so or not certain it is that it received as much Authority and Countenance as could be given unto it by an Act of Parliament by which imposed upon the Subject under certain Penalties Imprisonments Pecuniarie Mulcts c. which could not be inflicted on them by Synodical Acts. The Liturgie being thus Settled and Confirmed in Parliament was by the King's Command translated into French for the Use of the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey and such as lived within the Marches and Command of Calais But no such Care was taken for Wales till the fifth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth nor of the Realm of Ireland from that time to this King Henry had so far prepared the Way to a Reformation as His own Power and Profit was concerned in it to which Ends he excluded the Pope's Authority and caused Himself to be declared Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of Ireland by Act of Parliament And by like Acts he had annexed to the Crown the Lands of all Monasteries and Religious Orders together with thetwentieth Part of all the Ecclesiastical Promotions within that Kingdom and caused the like Course to be settled for the Electing and Consecrating of Arch-Bishops and Bishops as had been done before in England Beyond which as he did not go so as it seems King Edward's Council thought not fit to adventure further They held it not agreeable to the Rules of Prudence to have too many Irons in the Fire at once nor safe in Point of Policy to try Conclusions on a People in the King's Minority which were so far tenacionsly addicted to the Superstitions of the Church of Rome and of a Nature not so tractable as the English were And yet that Realm was quiet even to Admiration notwithstanding the frequent Embroilments and Commotions which so miserably disturbed the Peace of England which may be reckoned for one of the greatest Felicities of this King's Reign and a strong Argument of the Care and Vigilancy of such of His Ministers as had the chief Direction of the Irish Affairs At the first Payment of the Money for the Sale rather then the Surrendry of Bulloign eight thousand pounds was set apart for the Service of Ireland and shortly after out of the Profits which were raised from the Mint four hundred men were Levied and sent over thither also with a Charge given to the Governours that the Laws of England should be Carefully and Duly administred and all such as did oppose suppressed by Means whereof great Countenance was given to those who embraced the Reformed Religion there especially within those Counties which are called commonly by the name of the English Pale The Common-Prayer-Book of England being brought over thither and used in most of the Churches of the English Plantation without any Law in their own Parliaments to impose it on them But nothing more conduced to the Peace of that Kingdom then that the Governours for the most part were men of such Choice that neither the Nobility disdained to endure their Commands nor the inferiour sort were oppressed to supply their Wants Besides which as the King drew many men from thence to serve him in his Wars against France and Scotland which otherwise might have disturbed the common Peace so upon notice of some great Preparations which were made in France for the Assistance of the Scots he sent over to guard the Coast of Ireland four Ships four Barks four Pinnaces and twelve Victuallers By the Advantage of which Strength He made good three Havens two on the South-side toward France and one toward Scotland which afterwards made themselves good Booties out of such of the French as were either cast away on the Coast of Ireland or forced to save themselves in the Havens of it For the French making choice rather of their Passage by Saint George's Chanel then by the ordinary Course of Navigation from France to Edenborough fell from one Danger to another and for fear of being
then Ordinary Diligence so was he encourâ—ged thereunto by a very Liberal Exhibition which he received annually from the late King Henry But the King being dead his Exhibition and encouragments dyed also with him So that the Lamp of his life being destitute of the Oyl which fed it after it had been in a langâ—ishing condition all the rest of hâ—s King's Reign was this year unfortunately Extinguâ—shed unfortunately in regard that he dyed distrâ—cted to the great Greif of all that knew him and the no small sorrow of maâ—y who never saw him but onely in his painful and laboâ—ious Writings Wâ—ich Writâ—ngs being by him Presented to the hands of King Henry came aâ—terwards into â—he power of Sr. John Cheâ—k Schole-master and Secretary for the Lâ—tine tongue to the King now Reigning And though collâ—cted Principally for the uâ—e of the Crown yet on the death of the young King his Tuâ—our kept thâ—m to himself as long as he lived and left them at his death to Henry his Eldest Son Secretary to the Councel Established at Yoâ—k for the Nâ—râ—hern parts From Cheâ—k but not without some intermediate conveyances four of them came into the possession of William 〈◊〉 of Leicâ—sâ—e shiâ—e who having served his turn of them as well as he could in his dâ—scription of that County bestowed them as a most choise Rarity upon Oxford Library where the Oâ—â—ginals â—tâ—ll â—emain Out of this Treasury whilest it remained entire in the hands of Cheek the learned Campden was supplyed with much Excellent matter toward the making up of his description of the â—sles of Britain but not without all due acknowledgment to his Benefactour whom he both frequent citeâ—h and very highly commendeth for his pains and industry In the last place comes in Cardanus an eminent Philosopher born in Italy and one not easily over matched by the then supposed Matchless Scâ—liger having composed a Book Entituled â— De varietate Rerum with an Epistlâ— Dedicatory to King Edward the Sixth he came over this year into England to present it to him which gave him the Occasion of much conference with â—â—m In which he found â—uch dexterity in Him for Encountring many of his Paradoxes in natural Philosophy that he seemed to be astonished between Admiration and Delight and divulged his Abilities to be miraculâ—uâ— Some Passages of which discourse Cardanus hath left upon Record in these words ensuâ—ng Decimâ—â—m quintum adhuc agâ—bat Annum cum interrogobat Latine c. Being yet saith he but of the age of fifteen years he asked me in Latine in which tongue he utterred his mind no less eloquently and readily then I could do my self what my Bookâ— which I had dedicated unto him De varietate Rerum did contain I answered that in the first Chapter was shewed the cause of Comâ—ts or blazing-stars which hath been long sought for and hitherto scarce fully found What cause sayd he is that The concourâ—e or meeting of the light of the wandring Planets or stars To this thâ— King thus replyed again For as much said he as the motion of the stars keepeth not one course but is diverse and variable by continual Alteration how is it then that the cause of these Comets doth not quickly vâ—de or vanish or that the Comet doth not keep one certain and uniform course and motion with the said stars and Planets Whereunto I anâ—wered that it â—oved indeed but with a far swifter motion then the Planets by reaâ—on of the diversity of Aspects as we see in Christal and the Sun when a Rainbow rebounds on a Wall for a little change makes a great difference of the place The King rejoyned How can that be done without a subject as the Wall is the Subject to the Rainbow To which I answered That as in the Galaxia or Via lactea and in the Reflection of Lights when many are set near one another they do produce a certain Lucid and bright Mean Which Conference is thus shut up by that Learned Men That he began to favour Learning before he could know it and knew it before he could tell what use he had of it And then bemoans his short life in these words of the Poet Immodicâ—s brevis est Aetas rara Senectus Anno Reg. Edw. Sexti 7º Anno Dom. 1552 1553. SUch being the excellent Abilities of this hopeful Prince in Matters of Abstruser Learning there is no question to be made but that he was the Master of so much Perspicacity in his own Affairs as indeed he was which might produce both Love and Admiration in the Neighbouring Princes Yet such was the Rapacity of the Times and the Unfortunateness of his Condition that his Minority was abused to many Acts of Spoil and Rapine even to an high degree of Sacrilege to the raising of some and the enriching of others without any manner of improvement to his own Estate For notwithstanding the great and most inestimable Treasures which must needs come in by the spoil of so many Shrines and Images the sale of all the Lands belonging to Chanteries Colleges Free Chapels c. And the Dilapidating of the Patrimony of so many Bishopricks and Cathedral Churches he was not onely plunged in Debt but the Crown-Lands were much diminished and impaired since his coming to it Besides which spoils there were many other helps and some great ones too of keeping him both beforeâ—hand and full of Money had they been used to his Advantage The Lands of divers of the Halls and Companies in London were charged with Annual Pensions for the finding of such Lights Obits and Chantry-Priests as were founded by the Donours of them For the redeeming whereof they were constrained to pay the sum of Twenty Thousand Pounds to the use of the King by an Order from the Council-Table not long before the payment of the first Money for the sale of Boloign Anno 1550. And somewhat was also paid by the City to the King for the Purchase of the Borough of Southwark which they bought of him the next year But the main glut of Treasure was that of the four hundred thousand Crowns amounting in our Money to 133333 l. 13 s. 4 d. paid by the French King on the sâ—rrendry of the Town and Territory of 〈◊〉 before remembred Of which vast sum but small in reference to the loss of so great a strength no less then fourscore thousand pounds was laid up in the Tower the rest assigned to publick uses for the peace and safety of the Kingdom Not to say any thing of that great Yearly Profit which came in from the Mint after the entercourse settled betwixt Him and the King of Sweden and the decrying so much Base Money had begun to set the same on work Which great Advantages notwithstanding He is now found to be in Debt to the Bankers of Anâ—weâ—p elsewhere no less then 251000 l of English money Towards which the sending of his own Ambassadours into France and the entertainment of the
a Mercy had advanced Her to That Therefore She should chearfully take upon Her the Name Title and Estate of Queen of England France and Ireland with all the Royalties and Preheminencies to the same belonging Receiving at their hands the First-Fruits of the Humble Duty now tendred by them on their Knees which shortly was to be payed to Her by the rest of the Kingdom This Speech being ended the poor Lady found Her Self in a great Perplexity not knowing whether she Should more lament the Death of the King or Her Adoption to the Kingdom the first Loss not to be repaired the next Care possible to be avoided She looked upon the Crown as a great Temptation to resist which She stood in need of all the Helps which both Philosophy and Divinity could suggest unto Her And She knew also that such Fortunes seldom knocked twice for entrance at the same Man's Gate but that if once refused they are gone for ever Taking some time therefore of Deliberation She summoned a Council of Her purest Thoughts by whose Advice half drownned in Tears either as sorrowing for the King's Death or fore-seeing Her own She returned an Answer in these Words or to this Effect That The Laws of the Kingdom and Natural Right standing for the King's Sister She would beware of burthening Her weak Conscience with a Yoke which did belong to them That She understood the Infamy of those who had permitted the violation of Right to gain a Scepter That it were to mock God and deride Justice to scruple at the stealing of a Shilling and not at the Vsurpation of a Crown Besides said She I am not so young nor so little read in the Guils of Fortune to suffer my self to be taken by them If she inrich any it is but to make them the Subject of her Spoil If she raise others it is but to pleasure her Self with their Ruins What shâ— adored but yesterday is to day her Pastime And if I now permit her to adorn and Crown me I must to Morrow suffer her to crush and tear me in pieces Nay with what Crown doth she Present me A Crown which hath been Violently and Shamefully wrested from Katharine of Arragon made more unfortunate by the Punishment of Ann Bulloign and others that wore it after Her And why then would you have me add my Blood to theirs and to be the third Victime from whom this Fatal Crown may be ravished with the Head that wears it But in Case it should not prove Fatal unto me and that all its Venom were consumed if Fortune should give me Warranties of her Constancy Should I be well advised to take upon me these Thorns which would dilacerate though not kill me outright to burthen my self with a Yoke which would not fail to torment me though I were assured not to be strangled with it My Liberty is better then the Chain you proffer me with what pretious stones soever it be adorned or of what Gold soever framed I will not exchange my Peace for Honourable and pretious Jealousies for Magnificent and Glorious Letters And if you love me sincerely and in good earnest you will rather wish me a secure and quiet Fortune though mean then an exalted Condition exposed to the Wind and followed by some dismal Fall It had been happy for Her self Her Fathers and their several Families if they had suffered themselves to be overcome by such powerfull Arguments which were not onely persuasive but might seem convincing had they not all been fatally hurried unto their own Destruction But the Ambition of the two Dukes was too Strong and Violent to be kept down by any such prudent Considerations So that being wearied at the last with their Importunities and overcome by the entreaties of Her Husband whom She dearly loved She submitted unto that necessity which She could not vanquish yielding her Head with more unwillingness to the Ravishing Glories of a Crown then afterwards She did to the Stroak of the Ax. The Point being thus concluded on the two Dukes with all the rest of the Lords of the Council swore Allegeance to her And on the same day about five of the Clock in the afternoon they caused Her Solemnly to be Proclaimed Queen of England France and Ireland c. in many of the principal Streets in London and after by Degrees in most of the Chief Cities Towns and Places of greatest Concourse and Resort of People In which Proclamation it was signified That by the Letters Patents of the late King Edward bearing Date the twenty first of June last past the Lady Jane Gray Eldest Daughter to the Duchess of Suffolk had been declared His true and lawfull Successour to the Crown of England the same to be enjoyed after Her Decease the Heirs of Her Body c. as in the said Letters Patents more especially did at large appear Which Proclamation though it was published in the City with all due Solemnities and that the Concourse of People was exceeding great yet their Acclamations were but few which served as a sufficient Argument to the Friends and Followers of the Princess Mary that they were rather drawn together out of Curiosity to behold some unusual Spectacle then out of any purpose to congratulate at the Queen's Advancement And so far some of of them declared their dislike thereof that the next Day one Gilbert Pot was set on the Pâ—llory in Cheâ—pside his Ears first nailed and afterwards cut off for certain words which he had spoken at the Publishing of the Proclamation a Trumpet sounding at the Time of the Execution and an Herald in his Coat of Arms publickly noting his Offence in a Form prescribed A Severity neither safe nor necessary the party being of no better Condition then a Vintner's Boy as the Case then stood For the next day the Lords received Advertisement from divers hands that many persons of Quality were drawn together at Kenning-Hallâ—Castle in Norfolk to offer their Service and assistance to the Princess Mary who finding by the Answer which She had received from the Lords of the Council that no good was otherwise to be be done resolved not to be wanting to Her own Pretensions and to that end gave chearfull Entertainment to all comers which either favoured Her Title or embraced Her Religion Amongst such Gentlemen as were certified to the Lords of the Council I finde the names of the Earl of Bath Sir Thomas Wharton son to the Lord Wharton Sir John Mordant Son to the Lord Mordant Sir William Drury Sir John Shelton Sir Henry Bedingfield Mr. Henry Jenningham Mr. John Sulierd Mr. Richard Higham of Lincoln's-Inn It was advertised also that the Earl of Sussex and Mr. Henry Ratcliff his Son were coming towards Her with their Forces which last Advertisement gave the Business some appearance of Danger for what else was to be expected but that the Countenance and Encouragement of so great a Person might draw many more unto the side who otherwise would have
and specious overtures he was designed to encourage a Rebellion amongst the Papists as was thought by some or rather that the Queen was grown so confident of her own just Title and the affections of her people as not to be beholden to the Pope for a confirmation remains a matter undetermined by our best Historians How it succeeded with this Pope in another project for the reducing of this Kingdom under his command we shall see hereafter But all this while there was no care taken to suppress the practice of another Faction who secretly did as much endeavour the subverâ—ion of the English Lituâ—gy as the Pope seemed willing to confirm it For whilst the Prelates oâ— the Church and the other learned men before remembred bent all their forces toward the confuting of some Popish Errors another enemy appeared whâ—ch seemed not openly to aim at the Church's Doctrines but quarrelled rather at some Rites and Extrinsecalls of it Their purpose was to shew themselves so expert in the Art of War as to take in the Out-works of Religion first before they levelled there Artillery at the Fort it self The Schismaticks at Franckfort had no sooner heard of Queen Mary's death but they made what haste they could for England in hope of fishing better for themselves in a troubled water than a composed and quiet Current Followed not long after by the brethren of the Separation which retired from thence unto Geneva who having left some few behind to compleat their Notes upon the Bible and make up so many of the Psalms in English Meeter as had been left unfinished by Sâ—ernhold and Hopkins hastned as fast homewards as the others But notwithstanding all their haste they came not time enough to effect their purposes either in reference to the Liturgy or Episcopal Government on which the Queen had so resolved according to her own most excellent judgment that they were not able to prevail in either project It grieved them at the heart that their own Prayers might not be made the rule of Worship in their Congregations and that they might not Lord it here in their several Parishe as Calvin did in the Presbytery of the Church of Geneva Some friends they had abouâ— the Queen and Calvin was resolved to make use of all his power and credit both with her and Cecil as appears by his Letters unto both to advance their ends and he was seconded therein by Peter Martyr who thought his interest in England to be greater than Calvin's though his name was not so eminent in other places But the Queen had fixed her self on her resolution of keeping up the Church in such outward splendor as might make it every way considerable in the eye of the world so that they must have faith enough to remove a mountain before they could have hope enough to draw her to them When therefore they saw the Liturgy imposed by Act of Parliament and so many Episcopal Sees supplyed with able Pastors nothing seemed more expedieâ—t to them than to revive the quarrels raised in King Edward's time against Capps and Surplices and such particulars as had then been questioned in the publick Liturgy And herein they were seconded as before in King Edward's time by the same Peter Martyr as appears by his Letters to a nameless friend bearing date at Zarick on the 4th of November 1560. to which he added his dislike in another of his Letters to the same friend also touching the same and other points proposed unto him that is to say the Cap the Episcopal Habit the Patrimony of the Church the manner of proceeding to be held against Papists the Perambulation used in the Rogation weeks with many other points of the like condition in which his judgment was desired But these helps being too far off and not to be consulted with upon all inconveniencies without a greater loss of time than could consist with the impatiency of their desires they fell upon another project which promised them more hopes of setting up their Discipline and decrying the Liturgy their quarrells about Caps and Vestments Some friends they had about the Court as before was said and Gryâ—dal the new Bishop of London was known to have a great respect to the name of Calvin the business therefore is so ordered that by Calvin's Letters unto Gryndal and the friends they had about the Queen way should be given to such of the French Nation as had repaired hitâ— her to enjoy the freedom of their own Religion to have a Church unto themselves and in that Church not onely to erect the Genevian discipline but to set up a form of Prayer which should hold no conformity with the English Liturgy They could not but remember those many advantages which John Alasco and his Church of Strangers afforded to the Zuingiian Gospellers in the Reign of King Edward and they despaired not of the like nor of greater neither if a French Church were setled upon Caâ—vin's Principles in some part of London A Synagogue had been built for the use of the Jews Anno 1231. not far from the place in which now stands the Hall of the Merchant Taylors near the Royal Exchange But the Jews having removed themselves to some other place the Christians obtained that it should be dedicated to the blessed Virgin and by that name was given unto the Brotherhood of St. Anthony of Vienna by King Henry the 3d. After which time an Hospital was there founded by the name of St. Anthony consisting of a Master two Priests one School-master and twelve poor men Inlarged in the succeeding times by the addition of a fair Grammar-School and other publick Buildings for the use of the Brethren It was privileged by King Edward the 4th to have Priests Clerks Scholars poor men and Brethren of the same or Lay-men Quiristers Proctors Messengers Servants in houshold and other things whatsoever like unto the Prior and Covent of St. Anthonie of Vâ—enna c. and being so privileged it was annexed to the Collegiat Chapel of St. George in Windsor under whose Patronage it remained but muâ—h impoverished by the fraud and folly of one of its School-masters till the final dissolution of it amongst other Hospitals and Brotherhoods by King Edward the sixth so that being vested in the Crown and of no present use to the City it was no hard matter to obtain it for the use of the French as it still continueth And now again we have another Church in London as different from the Church of England in Government and forms of Worship and some Doctrinals also as that of John Alasco was in the Augustine Friers Not must we marvail if we find the like dangerous consequents to ensue upon it for what else is the setting up of a Presbytery in a Church founded and established by the Rules of Episcopacy than the erecting of a Commonwealth or popular Estate in the midst of a Monarchy Which Calvin well enough perceived and thereupon gave Gryndal thanks
her in short time not only to protect her Merchants but command the Ocean Of which the Spaniard found good proof to his great loss and almost to his total ruine in the last 20 years of her glorious government And knowing right well that mony was the â—inew of war she fell upon a prudent and present course to fill her coffers Most of the monies in the Kingdom were of forein coynage brought hither for the most part by the Easterling and Flemish Merchants These she called in by Proclamation â—â—ted the 15th of November being but two dayes before the end of this 3d. year commanding them to be brought to her Majesties Mint there to be coyned and take the stamp of her Royal authority or otherwise not to pass for current within this Realm which counsel took such good effect that monies came flowing into the Mint insomuch that there was weekly brought into the Tower of London for the space of half a year together 8000. 10000. 12000. 16000. 20000. 22000 l. of silver plate and as much more in Pistols and other gold of Spanish coins which were great sums according to the standard of those early dayes and therefore no small profit to be growing to her by the coynage of them The Genevians slept not all this while but were as busily imployed in practising upon the Church as were the Romanists in plotting against the Queen Nothing would satisfie them but the nakedness and simplicity of the Zuinglian Churches the new fashions taken up at Franckfort and the Presbyteries of Geneva According to the pattern which they saw in those mounts the Church of England is to be modell'd nor would the Temple of Jerusalem have served their turn if a new Altar fashioned by that which they found at Damascus might not have been erected in it And they drove on so fast upon it that in some places they had taken down the steps where the Aâ—tar stood and brought the Holy Table into the midst of the Church in others they had laid aside the antient use of Godfathers and Godmothers in the administration of Baptism and left the answering for the child to the charge of the father The weekly Fasts the time of Lent and all other dayes of abstinence by the Church commanded were looked upon as superstitious observations No fast by them allowed of but occasional only and then too of their own appointing And the like course they took with the Festivals also neglecting those which had been instituted by the Church as humane inventions not fit to be retained in a Church reformed And finally that they might wind in there outlandish Doctrines with such forein usages they had procured some of the inferiour Ordinaries to impose upon their several Parishes certain new books of Sermons and Expositions of the holy Scripture which neither were required by the Queens Injunctions nor by Act of Parliament Some abuses also were discovered in the Regular Clergy who served in Churches of peculiar or exempt jurisdiction Amongst whom it began to grow too ordinary to marry all such as came unto them without Bains or Licence and many times not only without the privity but against the express pleasure and command of their Parents For which those Churches past by the name of Lawlesse Churches in the voice of the people For remedy whereof it was found necessary by the Archbishop of Canterbury to have recourse unto the power which was given unto him by the Queens Commission and by a clause or passage of the Act of Parliament for the Uniformity of Common Prayer and Service in the Church c. As one of the Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical he was authorized with the rest of his associates according to the Statute made in that behalf To reform redresse order correct and amend all such Errours Heresies Schisms abuses offences conâ—empts and enormities whatsoever as might from time to time arise in the Church of England and did require to be redressed and reformed to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of vertue and conservation of the peace and unity of the Kingdom And in the passage of the Act before remembred it was especially provided That all such Ornaments of the Church and of the Ministers thereof should be retained and be in use as were in the Church of England by authority of Parliament in the second year of the Reign of King Edward the 6th until further Order should be therein taken by authority of the Queens Majesty with the advice of her Commissioners Appointed Ordered under the Great Seal of England for Causes Ecclesiastical or of the Metropolitan of this Realm And also if there shall happen any contempt or irreverence to be used in the Ceremonies or Rites of the Church by the misusing of the Orders of the said Book of Common Prayer the Queens Majesty might by the like advice of the said Commissioners or Metropolitan Ordain or publish such further Ceremonies or Rites as should be most for the advance of Gods glory the edifying of his Church and the due reverence of Christs holy Mysteries and Sacraments Fortified and assured by which double power the Archbishop by the Queens consent and the advice of some of the Bishops Commissionated and instructed to the same intent sets forth a certain book of Orders to be diligently observed and executed by all and singular persons whom it might concern In which it was provided That no Parson Vicar or Curate of any exempt Church commonly called Lawless Churches should from thenceforth attempt to conjoin by solemnization of Matrimony any not being of his or their Parish Church without sufficient testimony of the Bains being ask'd in the several Churches where they dwel or otherwise were sufficiently licenced That there should be no other dayes observed for Holy days or Fasting dayes as of duty and commandment but only such Holy dayes as be expressed for Holy dayes in the Calendar lately set forth by the Queens authority and none other Fasting dayes to be so commanded but as the Lawes and Proclamations of the Queens Majesty should appoint that it should not be lawful to any Ordinary to assign or enjoyn the Parishes to buy any Books of Sermons or Expositions in any sort than is already or shall be hereafter appointed by publick Authority that neither the Curates or Parents of the children which are brought to Baptism should answer for them at the Font but that the antient use of Godfathers and Godmothers should be still retained and finally that in all such Churches in which the steps to the Altar were not taken down the said steps should remain as before they did that the Communion Table should be set in the said place where the steps then were or had formerly stood and that the Table of Gods Precepts should be fixed upon the wall over the said Communion Board Which passage compared with that in the Advertisements published in the year 1565. of which more hereafter make up this construction that
rather to their condemnation do eat and drink the Sign or Sacrament of so great a thing XXX Of Both Kinds 32 The Cup of the Lord is not to be denyed to the Lay People For both the parts of the Lords Sacrament by Christs Ordinance and Commandment ought to be ministred to all Christian People alike _____ XXX Of the one Oblation of Christ finished upon the Crosse. The Offering of Christ once made is the perfect Redemption Propitiation and Satisfaction for all the sins of the whole World both Original and Actual and there is none other Satisfaction for sin but that alone Wherefore the Sacrifices of Masses in which it was commonly said that the Priests did offer Christ for the quick and the dead to have remission of pain or guilt were fables and dangerous deceits XXXI Of the one Oblation of Christ finished upon the Crosse. The offering of Christ once made is the perfect Redemption c. were blasphemous fables and 33 dangerous deceits XXXI A single Life is imposed on none by the Word of God Bishops Priests and Deacons are not commanded by God's Law either to vow the estate of a single life or to abstain from Marriage XXXII Of the Marriage of Priests Bishops Priests and Deacons are not commanded by Gods Law c. Therefore it is lawful also for them 34 as for all other Christian men to marry at their own discretion as they shall judge the same to serve better to godlinesse XXXII Excommunicated Persons are to be avoided That person which by open Denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the unity of the Church and Excommunicated ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the faithful as an Heathen and Publican untill he be openly reconciled by Penance and received into the Church by a Judge which hath authority thereunto XXXIII Of Excommunicated Persons how they are to be avoided That person which by open Denunciation of the Church c. XXXIII Of the Traditions of the Church It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one and utterly like for at all times they have been divers and may be changed according to the diversities of Countries Times and mens Manners so that nothing be ordained against Gods Word Whosoever through his private judgment willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the Word of God and be ordained and approved by common Authority ought to be rebuked openly that others may fear to do the like as he that offendeth against the common Order of the Church and hurteth the Authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the Consciences of the weak Brethren XXXIV Of the Traditions of the Church It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies c. Every particular or National Church 35 hath Authority to ordain change or aboâ—ish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained onely by Man's Authority so that all things be done to edifying XXXIV Of the Homilies The Homilies lately delivered 36 and commended to the Church of England by the Kings Injunctionâ— do contain a godly and wholsome Doctrine and fit to be embraced by all men and for that cause they are diligently plainly and distinctly to be read to the People XXXV Of Homilies The second Book of Homilies the several Titles whereof we have joyned under this Article doth contain a godly and wholsome Doctrin and necessary for the times as doth the former Book of Homilies which were set forth in the time of Edward the sixth and therefore we judge them to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understood of the People The names of the Homilies Of the Right use of the Church Of Repairing Churches Against the Peril of Idolatry Of Good Works c. XXXV Of the Book of Common Prayer and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England The Book lately delivered to the Church of England by the Authority of the King and Parliament 37 containing the manner and form of publick Prayer and the ministration of the Sacraments in the said Church of England as also the Book published by the same Authority for Ordering Ministers in the Church are both of them very pious as to â—uth of Doctrine in nothing contrary but agreeable to the wholsome Doctrine of the Gospel which they do very much promote and illustrate And for that cause they are by all faithful Members of the Church of England but chiefly of the Ministers of the Word with all thankfulness and readiness of mind to be received approved and commended to the People of God XXXVI Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers The Book of Consecration of 38 Archbishops and Bishops and ordering of Priests and Deacons lately set forth in the time of King Edward the sixth and confirmed at the same time by Authority of Parliament doth contain all things necessary to such Consecration and Ordering Neither hath it any thing that of it self is superstitious and ungodly And therfore whosoever are Consecrated or ordered according to the Rites of that Book since the second year of the afore-named King Edward unto this time or hereafter shall be Consecrated or ordered according to the same Rites we decree all such to be rightly orderly and lawfully Consecrated and Ordered XXXVI Of the Civil Magistrates The King of England is after Christ 39 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 are to be obeyed not onely for fear of wrath but for conscience sake Câ—vil 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 serve in the Wars XXXVII Of the Civil Magistrates The Queens Majesty hath the chief Power in this Realm of England and other her Dominions unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil in all cases doth appertain and is not nor ought to be subject to any Forein Jurisdiction Where we attribute to the Queens Majesty the chief Government 40 by which Titles we understand the minds of some slanderous folks to be offended We give not to our Princess the Ministry either of Gods Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Injunctions lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen do most plainly testifie but that onely Prerogative which we see to have been given always to all godly Princes in holy Scriptutes 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
in which he heard the greatest part of the Office till the Consecration and then Received the Blessed Sacrament on his knees as at other times saying withall as Sanders doth Relate the story That if he did not only cast himselfe upon the ground but even under it also he could not give unto the Sacrament the Honour which was due unto it The instant of his death approaching none of his Servants though thereunto desired by his Physitians durst acquaint him with it Till at last Sir Anthony Denny undertook that ungratefull office which the King entertaining with lesse impatience then was looked for from him gave order that Arch-Bishop Cramner should be presently sent for But the Arch-Bishop being then at his house in Croyden seven miles from Lambeth it was so long before he came that he found him speechlesse Howsoever applying himselfe to the Kings present condition and discoursing to him on this Point that Salvation was to be obtained only by Faith in Christ he desired the King that if he understood the effect of his words and believed the same he would signifie as much by some signe or other which the King did by ringing him gently by the hand and within short time after he gave up the Ghost when he had lived fifty five yeares seven moneths and six dayes over of which he had Reigned thirty seven yeares nine moneths and six dayes also Having brought King Henry to his death we must next see in what estate he left the Kingdome to his Son with reference to the condition of Affaâ—res both at home and abroad Abroad he left the Pope his most bitter enemy intent on all advantages for the recovery of the Power and Jurisdiction which had been exercised in England by his Predecessors and all the Princes of his Party in Germany Italy and elsewhere either in Action or Design concurring with him The Protestant Kings and Princes he had disobliged by repudiating the Lady Ann of Cleve and the precipitated death of Cromwell upon whose Power and favour with him they did most rely But nothing did moâ—e alienate their affections from him then the persecution raised at home upon the terrible Statute of the six Articles before remembered by which they saw themselves condemned and executed in the persons of those who suffered for the same Religion which themselves professed And as for the two great Kings of France and Spaine he had so carried himselfe between them that he was rather feared of both then beloved by either of them The Realms and Signeuries of Spaine excâ—pt Portugall only together with the Kingdomes of Naples Scicilie and Sardâ—nia and the Estates belonging to the House of Burgundy in the Belgick Provinces were all united in the Person of Chaâ—les the fifth to which he aâ—ded by his own proper Power and Valour the Dukedomes of Millain and Gulldress the Earldome of Zâ—tphen with the Estates of Grâ—iniâ—gen Vtrecht and Over-yssâ—ll And on the other side the French Kings were not only in the quiet possession of those goodly Territories Normandy Guienne and the rest which anciâ—ntly belonged to the Kings of England but lately had inpaâ—ronised themselves of the Dukedomes of Burgoine and Bretagne and the Earledome of Provence all meeting in the Person of King Francis the first Of which two great and puissant Princes the first being resolved to admit no equall and the second to acknowledge no superiour they endeavoured by all wayes and meanes immaginable to subdue each other whereby the Conqueror might attaine in time to the Empire of Europe It was therefore Kâ—ng Henries chiefest care as it was his interess to keep the scales to even between them that neither of them should preponderate or weigh down the other to the endangering of the rest of the Princes of Christendome Which he performed with so great constancy and courage as made him in effect the Arbitrer at all times between them So as it may be truely affirmed of him that he sate at the Helmne and Steered the great Affaires of Christendome to what point he pleased But then withall as his constant and continuall standing to thâ—s Maxime of State made him friend to neither so he was suspected of them both both having also their particular Animosities against his person and proceedings The Emperour irreconciliably incenst against him for the injury done unto his Aunt from whom he had caused himselfe to be divorced the French King no less highly enraged by the taking of Bâ—iloigne for which though the King had shuffled up a peace with France Prince Edward shall be called to a sober Reckoning when he least lookes for it To look to matters near at home we finde the Scots exasperated by his Annuall inrodes but more by his demanding the long neglected duty of Homage to be performed from that Kingdom to the Crown of England The Irish on the other side of the sea being kept under by strong hand but standing upon no good termes of affection with him the executing of the young Earle of Kildare and five of his Unckles at one time being fresh in memory and neither forgotten nor forgiven by the rest of the Clanns And as for England it self the People were generally divided into Schismes and Factions some being two stiff in their old Mumpsimus as others no lesse busie in their new Sumpsimus as he used to phrase it The Treasures of the Crown exhausted by prodigall gifts and his late chargeable Expedition against the French the Lands thereof charged with Rents and Pensions granted to Abbots Priors and all sorts of Religious Persons some of which remained payable and were paid accordingly till the time of King James and which was worst of all the Mony of the Realm so imposed and mixed that it could not pass for currant amongst Forreign Nations to the great dishonour of the Kingdome and the losse of the Merchant For though an infinite Masse of Jewels treasure in Plate and ready Mony and an incredible improvement of Revenue had acrued unto him by such an universell spoyle and dissolution of Religious Houses yet was he little or nothing the richer for it In so much that in the yeare 1543. being within lesse then seven yeares after the Generall suppression of Religious Houses he was faign to have recourse for moneyes to his Houses of Parliament by which he was supplied after an extraordinary manner the Clergy at the same time giving him a subsidy of 6. s. in the pound to be paid out of all their Spirituall Promotions poore stipendary Priests paying each 6. s. 8. d. to encrease the summe Which also was so soon consumed that the next yeare he prest his Subjects to a Benevolence for carrying on his Warr with France and Scotland and in the next obtained the Grant for all Chanteries Hospitalls Colledges and Free-Chappells within the Realm though he lived not to enjoy the benefit of it as before was said Most true it is that it was somewhat of the latest before he
Limitations and appointment to whom and of what Estate and of what Manner Fortune and Condition the said Imperiall Crowne and other the Premises shall remaine and come after our Decease And for default of Issue and Heires of the severall bodies of us of our said Son Prince Edward of our said Daughters Mary and Elizabeth lawfully begotten We by these Presents do make and declare our last Will and Testament conveying the said Imperiall Crowne and all other the Premises in manner and Forme following That is to say We will by these Presents that Immediately after our departure â—ut of this present life our said Son Prince Edward shall have and enjoy the said Imperiall Crowne and Realme of England our Title of France with all Dignities Honours Preheminences Prerogatives Authorities and Iâ—risdictions Lands and Possessions to the same annexed or belonging unto him or to the Heires of his body Lawfully begotten And for default of such Issue of our said Son Prince Edward's Body lawfully begotten We will the same Imperiall Crown and other the Premises after our Deceases shall wholly remaine and come to the Heires of our Body lawfully begotten upon the body of our entirely beloved wife Queene Katharine that now is or of any other our lawfull wife that we shall hereafter marry And for lack of such issue and Heires we will also that after our decease and for default of Heires of the severall bodies of us and of our said Son Prince Edward's lawfully begotten the said Imperiall Crowne and all other the Premises shall wholly remaine and come to our said Daughter Mary and the Heires of her body lawfully begotten upon condition that our said daughter Mary after our decease shall not marry nor take any Person to her Husband without the Assent and Consent of the Privy Counsellours and others appointed by us to our dearest Son Prince Edward aforesaid to be of Counsell or of the most part of them or the most of such as shall then be alive thereunto before the said Marriage had in writing sealed with their seales All which conditions â—s Declare Limit Appoint and Will by these Presents shall be knit and invested to the said Estate of our daughter Mary in the said Imperiall Crowne and other the Premises And if it fortune our said Daughter Mary to die without Issue of her body lawfully begotten We will that after our decease and for default of Issue of the severall bodies of us and of our said Son Prince Edward lawfully begotten and of our daughter Mary the said imperiall Crown and other the Premises shall wholly remain to come to our said daughter Elizabeth and to the Heires of her body lawfully begotten upon condition that our said daughter Elizabeth after our decease shall not marry or take any Person to her Husband without the Assent and Consent of the Privy Counsellors and others appointed by us to be of Counsell with our said dearest Son Prince Edward or the most part of them or the most part of such of them as shall be then alive thereunto before the Marriage had in writing sealed with their seales which Condition we Declare Limit and appoint and Will by these presents shall be to the said Estate of Our said Daughter Elizabeth knit and invested And if it shall fortune Our said Daughter Elizabeth to die without Issue of Her Body lawfully begotten We will that after our Decease and for default of Issue of the several Bodies of Vâ— and of Our said Son Prince Edward and of Our said Daughters Mary and Elizabeth the said Imperial Crown and other the Premisses after Our Decease shall wholly remain and come to the Heirs of the Body of the Lady Frances our Neece eldest Daughter to Our late Sister the French Queen lawfully begotten And for default of such Issue of the Body of the said Lady Frances We will that the said Imperial Crown and other the Premisses after Our Decease and for default of Issue of the several Bodies of Vâ— and of Our Son Prince Edward and of Our Daughters Mary and Elizabeth and of the Lady Frances lawfully begotten shall wholly remain and come to the Heirs of the Body of the Lady Elanor Our Neece second Daughter to Our said Sister the French Queen lawfully begotten And if it happen the said Lady Elanor to die without Issue of Her Body lawfully begotten We will that after Our Decease and for default of Issue of the several Bodies of Vs and of Our said Son Prince Edward and of Our said Daughters Mary and Elizabeth and of the said Lady Frances and of the said Lady Elanor lawfully begotten the said Imperial Crown and other the Premisses shall wholly remain and come to the next Rightfull Heirs And We will that if Our said Daughter Mary do marry without the assent and consent of the Privy Councellours and others appointed by Vs to be of Council to Our said Son Prince Edward or the most part of them that shall then be alive thereunto before the said Marriage had in writing sealed with their Seals as is afore-said That then and from thenceforth for lack of Heirs of the several Bodies of Vs and of Our said Son Prince Edward lawfully begotten the said imperial Crown shall wholly remain be and come to Our said Daughter Elizabeth and to the Heirs of Her Body lawfully begotten in such manner and form as though Our said Daughter Mary were then dead without any Issue of the Body of Our said Daughter Mary lawfully begotten Any thing contained in this Our Will or any Act of Parliament or Statute to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And in case Our said Daughter the Lady Mary do keep and perform the said condition expressed declared and limited to her Estate in the said Imperial Crown and other the Premisses in this Our last Will declared And that Our said Daughter Elizabeth do not keep and perform for her part the said condition declared and limited by this Our last â—ill to the Estate of the said Ladâ— Elâ—zabeth in the said Imperial Crown in this Realm of England and Ireland and other the Premisses We will that then and from thence-forth after Our Decease and for lack of Heirs of the several Bodies of Vs and of Our said Son Prince Edward and of Our Daughter Mary lawfully begotten the said Imperial Crown and other the Premisses shall wholly remain and come to the next Heirs lawfully begotten of the said Lady Frances in such manner and form as though the said Lady Elizabeth were dead without any Heir of Her Body lawfully begotten Any thing contained in this Will or in any Act or Statute to the contrary notwithstanding The remainder over for lack of Issue of the said Lady Frances lawfully begotten to be and continue to such Persons like Remainders and â—states as is before limited and declared And We being now at this time thanks to Almighty God of perfect Memory do Constitute and Ordain these Personages following Our Executours and
had been given before between the time of the Duke's Acknowledgment and the Sentence passed on him by the Lords and so disposed that none of the Factions might have any ground for a Complaint One of each side being taken out for these Advancements For on the nineteenth day of January William Lord St. John a most affectionate Servant to the Earl of Warwick was preferred unto the Title of Earl of Wiltshire the Lord Russell who had made himself the Head of those which were engaged on neither side was made Earl of Bedford and Sir William Paget Comptroller of his Majestie 's Houshold who had persisted faithfull to the Lord Protectour advanced to the Dignity of a Baron and not long after to the Chancellour-ship of the Dutchy of Lancaster Furnished with Offices and Honours it is to be presumed that they would finde some way to provide themselves of sufficient Means to maintain their Dignities The Lord Wentworth being a younger Branch of the Wentworths of Yorkshire had brought some Estate with him to the Court though not enough to keep him up in Equipage with so great a Title The want whereof was supplied in part by the Office of Lord Chamberlain now conferred upon him but more by the goodly Manours of Stebunâ—th commonly called Stepney and Hackney bestowed upon him by the King in consideration of the Good and Faithfull Services before performed For so it happened that the Dâ—an and Chapter of St. Paul's lying at the Mercy of the Times as before was said conveyed over to the King the said two Manours on the twelfth day after Christmâ—ss now last past with all the Members and Appertenances thereunto belonging Of which the last named was valued at the yearly rent of 41. pounds 9. â— 4 d. The other at 140. pounds 8 â— 11. â— ob And being thus vested in the King they were by Letters Patents bearing Date the sixteenth of April then next following transferred upon the said Lord VVâ—ntworth By means whereof he was possessed of a goodly Territory extending on the Thames from St. Katharine's near the Tower of London to the Borders of Essex near Black-wall from thence along the River Leâ— to Stratford le Bow and fetching a great compass on that side of the City contains in all no fewer then six and twenty Town-ships Streets and Hamlets besides such Rows of Building as have since been added in these later Times The like provision was made by the new Lord Pâ—get a Londoner by Birth but by good Fortune mixed with Merit preferred by degrees to be one of the Principal Secretaries to the late King Henry by whom he was employed in many Embassies and Negotiations Being thus raised and able to set up for himself he had his share in the division of the Lands of Chantery Free-Chapels c. and got into his hands the Episcopal House belonging to the Bishop of Exeter by him enlarged and beautified and called Paget-House sold afterwards to Robert Earl of Leicester from whom it came to the late Earls of Essex and from them took the name of Essex-House by which it is now best known But being a great House is noâ— able to keep it self he played his Game so well that he got into his possession the Manour of Beau-desart of which he was created Baron and many other fair Estates in the County of Stafford belonging partly to the Bishop and partly to the Dean and Chaâ—ter of Lichfield neither of which was able to contend with so great a Courtier who held the See and had the Ear of the Protectour and the King 's to boot What other Course he toâ—k to improve his Fortunes we shall see hereafter when we come to the last part of the Tragedy of the Duke of Sommerset For Sommerset having gained his Liberty and thereby being put into a Capacity of making use of his Friends found Means to be admitted to the King's Presence by whom he was not onely welcomed with all the kind Expressions of a Gracious Prince and made to sit down at his own Table but the same day the eighth of April he was again sworn one of the Lords of the Privy Council This was enough to make Earl Dudly look about him and to pretend a Reconciliation with him for the present whom he meant first to make secure and afterwards strike the last blow at him when he least look'd for it And that the knot of Amity might be tyed the faster and last the longer a True-Loves-Knot it must be thought or else nothing worth a Marriage was nâ—gotiated between John Lord Viscount L'isle the Earl's Eldest Son and the Lady Ann Seimour one of the Daughters of the Duke which Marriage was joyfully solemnized on the third of June at the King's Mannour-House of Shâ—â—e the King himself gracing the Nuptials with his Presence And now who could imagine but that upon the giving of such Hostages unto one another a most inviolable League of Friendship had been made between them and that all Animosities and Displeasures being quite forgotten they would more powerfully Co-operate to the publick Good But leaving them and their Adâ—erents to the dark Contrivances of the Court we must leave England for a time and see how our Affairs succeeded on the other side of the Sea Where in the middle of the former Dissensions the French had put us to the Worst in the way of Arms and after got the Better in a Treaty of Peace They had the last year taken in all the Out-works which seemed the strongest Ramparâ—s of the Town of Bulloign but had not strength enough to venture on the Town it self provided plentifully of all necessaries to endure a Siege and bravely Garisoned by men of too much Courage and Resolution to give it up upon a Summons Besides they came to understand that the English were then Practicing with Charles the Emperour to associate with them in the War according to some former Capitulations made between those Crowns And if they found such Dâ—ffiâ—ulties in maintaining the War against either of them when they fought singly by themselves there was no hope of any good Success against them should they unite and poure their Forces into France Most true it is that after such time as the French had bid Defiance to the King and that the King by reason of the Troubles and Embroilments at home was not in a Condition to attend the Affairs of France Sir William Paget was sent Ambassadour to Charles the Fifth to desire Succour of Him and to lay before Him the Infancy and several Necessities of the young King being then in the twelfth year of His Age. This desire when the Emperour had refused to hearken to they besought Him that he would at the least be pleased to take into His Hands the keeping of the Town of Bulloign and that for no longer time then untill King EDVVARD could make an End of the Troubles of His Subjects at home and compose the Discords of the Court which
threatned more Danger then the other To which Request He did not onely refuse to hearken except the King would promise to restore the Catholick Religion as He called it in all His Dominions but expresly commanded that neither His Men noâ— Ammunition should go to the Assistance of the English An Ingratitude not easie to be marked with a fitting Epithete considering what fast Friends the Kings of England had alwaies been to the House of Burgundy the Rights whereof remained in the person of Charles with what sums of Money they had helped them and what sundry Wayâ— they had made for them both in the Nether-Lands to maintain their Authority and in the Realm of France it self to increase their Power For from the Marriage of Maximilian of the Family of Austriâ— with the Lady Mary of Burgundy which happened in the year 1478. unto the Death of Henry the Eight which fell in the year 1546 are just threescore and eight years In which time onely it was found on a just account that it had cost the Kings of England at the least six Millions of Pounds in the meer Quarrels of that House But the French being more assured that the English held some secret Practice with the Emperour then certain what the Issue thereof might be resolved upon a Peace with EDVVARD in hope of getting more by Treaty then he could by Force To this end one Guidolti a Florentine is sent for England by whom many Overtures were made to the Lords of the Council not as from the King but from the Constable of France And spying with a nimble Eye that all Affairs were governed by the Earl of Warwick he resolved to buy him to the French at what price soever and so well did he ply the Business that at the last it was agreed that four Ambassadours should be sent to France from the King of England to treat with so many others of that Kingdom about a Peace between the Crowns but that the Treaty it self should be held in Guisnes a Town belonging to the English in the Marches of Calice In pursuance whereof the Earl of Bedford the new Lord Paget Sir William Peter Principal Secretary of Estate and Sir John Mason Clerk of the Council were on the twenty first of January dispatched for France But no sooner were they come to Calice when Guidolâ—i brings a Letter to them from Mounsieur d' Rochpot one of the four which were appointed for that Treaty in behalf of the French In which it was desired that the English Ambassadours would repair to the Town of Bulloign without putting the French to the Charge and Trouble of so long a Journey as to come to Guisnes Which being demurred on by the English and a Post sent unto the Court to know the pleasure of the Council in that particular they received word for so the Oracle had directed that they should not stand upon Punctilioes so they gained the point nor hazard the Substance of the Work to preserve the Circumstances According whereunto the Ambassadours removed to Bulloign and pitch'd their Tents without the Town as had been desired for the Reception of the French that so they might enter on the Treaty for which they came But then a new Dâ—fficulty appeared for the French would not cross the Water and put themselves under the Command of Bulloign but desired rather that the English would come over to them and fall upon the Treaty in an House which they were then preparing for their Entertainment Which being also yielded to after some Disputes the French grew confident that after so many Condescensions on the part of the English they might obtain from them what they liâ—ted in the main of the Business For though it cannot otherwise be but that in all Treaties of this Nature there must be some Condescendings made by the one or the other yet he that yields the first inch of Ground gives the other Party a strong Hope of obtaining the rest These Preparations being made the Commissioners on both sides begin the Treaty where after some Expostulations touching the Justice or Injustice of the War on either side they came to particular Demands The English required the payment of all Debts and Pensions concluded on between the two Kings deceased and that the Queen of Scots should either be delivered to their Hands or sent back to Her Kingdom But unto this the French replyed That the Queen of Scots was designed in Marriage to the Daulphin of France and that She looked upon it as an high Dishonour that their King should be esteemed a Pensioner or Tributary to the Crown of England The French on the other side propounded That all Arrears of Debts and Pensions being thrown aside as not likely to be ever paid they should either put the higher Price on the Town of Bulloign or else prepare themselves to keep it as well as they could From which Proposals when the French could not be removed the Oracle was again consulted by whose Direction it was ordered in the Council of England That the Commissioners should conclude the Peace upon such Articles and Instructions as were sent unto them Most of them ordinary and accustomed at the winding up of all such Treaties But that of most Concernment was That all Titles and Claims on the one side and Defences on the other remaining to either Party as they were before the Town of Bulloign with all the Ordnance found there at the taking of it should be delivered to the French for the Sum of four hundred thousand Crowns of the Sun Of which four hundred thousand Crowns each Crown being valued at the Price of six Shillings and six Pence one Moity was to be paid within three days after the Town should be delivered and the other at the end of six Moneths after Hostages to be given in the mean time for the payment of it It was agreed also in relation to the Realm of Scotland That if the Scots razed Lowder and Dowglass the English should raze Rox-borough and Aymouth and no Fortification in any of those places to be afterwards made Which Agreement being signed by the Commissioners of each side and Hostages mutually delivered for performance of Covenants Peace was Proclaimed between the Kings on the last of March and the Town of Bulloign with all the Forts depending on it delivered into the power of the French on the twenty fifth day of April then next following But they must thank the Earl of Warwick for letting them go away with that commodity at so cheap a Rate for which the two last Kings had bargained for no less then two Millions of the same Crowns to be paid unto the King of England at the end of eight years the Towns and Territory in the mean time to remain with the English Nor was young Edward backward in rewarding his Care and Diligence in expenditing the Affair Which was so represented to him and the extraordinary Merit of the Service so highly magnified
one another by the known Laws of the Land which neither Acts of Parliament nor the last Will and Testament of the King Deceased were of power to alter That the young Queen of Scots was an Alien born by Consequence uncapable of any Inheritance in the Realm of England and had besides preferred the Alliance of the French before that of His Majesty which rendered Her as unworthy as she was uncapable That for the better carrying on of that Blessed Work of Reformation the Peace and Happiness of His People the preventing of all Emergent Mischiefs and His own everlasting Fame it was not possible to make a more happy Provision then by transferring the Crown to the Lady Jane a Lady of such Excellent Virtues as were sufficient to adorn the Richest Diadem That there was no Question to be made but that His Majesty knew as well as any the admirable qualities of that Matchless Lady Her Zeal to the Religion here by Him established the agreeableness of Her Conversation with His own Affections and could not but conceive that Nation to be infinitely happier then all others which might fall under the Command of so mild a Government And finally That he was bound by His Duty to God the Light of His own Conscience and the Love He had to all His Subjects to lay aside all Natural Affections to His Father's House in respect of that great Obligation which He had to God's Glory and the true Religion following therein the Example of our Lord and Saviour who looked both for his Brothers and Sisters amongst his Disciples without relating to his nearest Kindred by Joseph or Mary By these Suggestions and Inducements he much enclined the King to hearken to his Propositions For furtherance whereof he caused such as were about Him to entertain Him with continual Discourses of the Divine Perfections and most Heavenly Graces of the Lady Jane the high Esteem in which She was with all the Subjects for Her Zeal and Piety the everlasting Fame which would wait upon Him by providing such a Successour to enjoy the Crown in whom Virtues would survive to succeeding Ages Then which no Musick could sound sweeter in the Ears of the King whom he knew to have an affectionate Sympathy with that Excellent Lady as being much of the same Age brought up in the same Studies as near to Him in the sweetness of Her Disposition as She was in Blood and of a Conversation so agreeable to Him as if They had been but the same Person in divers Habits And they all plied their Game so cunningly that the weak King not being able to withstand so many Assaults did at last condescend to that which he found not onely most conformable to their Importunities but to His own Affections also Order was taken thereupon that an Instrument should be drawn in due Form of Law for the transposing of the Crown to the Children of the Lady Frances Duchess of Suffolk and Daughter to Mary the French Queen one of the Sisters of King Henry His Majeâ—tie's â—â—ther In which Instrument nothing was to be defective which either could be drawn from the Grounds of Law or the Rules of Polity to justifie and endear the Action In drawing up whereof there was none thought fitter to be used then Sir William Cecil one of the Chief Secretaries of Estate who having before served Dudlie's Turn against his old Master the Duke of Sommerset was looked on as the Readiest Man for the present Service The Pretensions taken from the Law for excluding the King's two Sisters from the Right of Succession were grounded First Upon the Invalidity of their Mother's Marriage both being made void by Legal Sentences of Divorce and those Divorces ratified by Acts of Parliament In which the said two Sisters were declared to be illegitimate and consequently uncapable of any of those Favours which were intended to them by the Act of Succession made in the thirty fifth year of the late King Henry or by the last Will and Testament of that King which was built upon it In the next Place it was pretended that the said two Sisters Mary and Elizabeth being but of half Blood to the King now Reigning admitting them to have been born in lawfull Wedlock were not in any Capacity by the Common-Law the old good Law of England to be Heirs unto Him or to Succeed in any Part of that Inheritance which came unto Him by His Father It was considered also that by the known Rules and Principles of the Common-Law no manner of Person was Inheritable to any Estate of Lands or Tenements in the Realm of England who was not born under the King's Allegiance as King of England but in the case of Naturalization by Act of Parliament Which seemed to be a sufficient Bar against all Titles and Demands for the Line of Scotland although derived from Margaret the Eldest Daughter of King Henry the Seventh And whereas the Lady Frances Duchess of Suffolk might seem both by the Law of Nature and the Right of Succession to have precedency in Title before her Daughter yet was no Injury offered to her in regard that she was willing to pass by all her Personal Claims for the Preferment of her Children Which Pretermissions of the Mother were neither new nor strange in the Succession to the Crown of this Kingdom Not new because the like was done by Maud the Emperess for the Advancement of her Son King Henry the Second nor strange because it hâ—d been lately practised in the Person of the Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond in giving Way to the Preferment of King Henry the Seventh the first King of the House now Regnant The Reasons or Pretexts which seemed to be built on Polity and Point of State were first the unavoydable Danger of Reducing this Free and Noble Realm under the Vassalage and Servitude of the Bishop of Rome if either of the King 's two Sisters in their several Turns should marry with a Foreign Prince of that Religion or otherwise by the Transport of their own Affections submit their Scepters to the Pope It was considered also That by such Marriages not onely many Foreign Customs and Laws would be introduced but that there might follow an Abolishment of those Antient Laws upon which the Native Rights of all the Subjects seemed to have dependance Besides that possibly the Realm might hereby be annexed to some greater Kingdom of which in time it would be reckoned for a Member and consequently be reduced unto the Form of a Province to the utter Subversion of the Antient Dignity and Estate thereof Which whensoever it should happen it was neither impossible nor improbable that the People upon a just Sence of the Indignities Pressures might elect some popular and seditious man to be their King who to countenance his own unworthiness obscurity would little regard what Contumelie he cast upon the falling Family of the Kings before him To which perchance some further Countenance might be
and so Subscribed it with the rest Onely Sir James Hales one of the Justices of the Common-Pleas carried the Honour of a Resolute and Constant Man not onely from those of his own Rank but even from all the Lords of the Council and almost all the Peers of the Realm to boot who being a man observed to be both Religious and upright did very worthily refuse to Subscribe and was afterwards as unworthily requited by Queen Mary for it Yet notwithstanding all these Rubs the Project was driven on so fâ—st by the haâ—ty Duke that by the one and twentieth of June the Letters Patents were made ready to pass the Seal which was about a fortnight before the Death of the King During which Interval he had another Game to Pay which was the getting into his Power the Princess Mary whom of all others he most feared as the most likely Person to destroy his whole Contrivance For well he knew that if She stood upon Her Right as no doubt She would She was not onely sure of a strong Party in the Realm who still remained in good Affections to the Church of Rome but that Her Party heâ—e would be Backed and Countenanced by Her Alliances abâ—â—ad wâ—o câ—â—ld â—ot but Prefer and Support Her Interess against all Pretenders 〈◊〉 â—ust make sure of Her or else account all Void and Frâ—stiate which was done already Aâ—d that he might make sure of Her he so prevailed that Letters were directed to â—er in the King's Name from the Lords of the Couâ—cil Willing Her foâ—l wâ—â—h to resort to the Kâ—ng as well to be a comfort to Him in His 〈◊〉 as to see all Matters well Ordered about Him The Lady suspecting to 〈◊〉 Mischief addressed Her Self with all speâ—d to the 〈…〉 gâ—eaâ— Joy that either Her Company or Her Service shâ—uld be esteem'd Needfull to the King But as She was upon the way and 〈…〉 half a Daâ—'s Journey of the Court She received Advice both of the King 's desperate Estate and of the Duke's Designs against Her whereupon She 〈◊〉 in haâ—t to Her House at Hoveden where in a very short time She hâ—ard the Sad Nâ—ws of Her Brother's Death who dyed upon the sixth of July as before was saâ—d Which being the same day of the Moneth on which King Henryâ—ad â—ad taken off the Head of Sir Thomas More for his Adhesion to the Pope the Interess of Queen Katharine Dowager and the Princess Mary gave an occasion unto â—hose of the Râ—mish Party to look upon it as a Piece of Divine Retrâ—bution in taking away the 〈◊〉 of His onely Son on the same day also Two days the Death of the King was by Special Order kept so secret that it was known to very fâ—w about the Court. And it concerned them so to do partly in expectation of the coming of the Princess Mary whâ—m thâ—y knâ—w to be upon the way and partly to make sure of the City of London the Favour and Fidelity whereof was of great Importance for the carrying on of the Design But understanding by their Espiâ—ls that the Princess Mary was retired a Message was sent on Saturday the eighth of July to Sir George Barns the Lord Mayour of London requiring him in the Name of the Lords of the Council to give his Attendance at the Court and bring with him six of the Principal Aldermen six Merchants of the Staple and as many of the Company of Merchant-Adventurers No haste was wanting on their parts And coming at the time appointed they were privily informed by some of the Council but in the Name of all the rest that the King was dead and that He had Declared by His Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England subscribed by all the Lords of the Council and almost all the Peers of the Realm that His Cousin the Lady Jane Gray was to Succeed Him in the Crowns of England and Ireland as the most True Certain and Undoubted Heir of all His Dominions Which being signified unto them it was no hard matter to obtain their Consent to that which they were not able to deny And so upon a Promise of their best Assistance to Promote the Cause and to keep secret the King's Death untill further Order they were dismissed unto their Houses It is an Antient Custom of the Kings of England immediately on the Death of their Predecessours to provide their Lodgings in the Tower Taking possession as it were by that Royal Fortress of the rest of the Kingdom and from thence passing in a Solemn and Magnificent manner through the Principal Streets of London to their Coronation According to which Antient Custom the Lodgings in the Tower being fitted and prepared for the Queen's Reception the Lords of the Council passed over from Greenwich on Munday the tenth of the same Moneth A Letter had been brought the night before from the Princess Mary who had received Advertisement of Her Brother's Death notwithstanding all their Care and Diligence in labouring to conceal it from His nearest Servants which made them meet the earlier and in greater numbers to return an Answer thereunto The Princess knew Her own Right and the Wrong which was intended to Her both which She signified unto Them in these following words My LORDS WE Greet You well and have received sure Advertisement that Our Dearest Brother the King Our late Sovereign Lord is departed to God's Mercy Which News how wofull they be unto Our Heart He onely knoweth to whose Will and Pleasure We must and do humbly submit Vs and Our Wills But in this so lamentable a Case that is to wit after His Majestie 's Departure and Death concerning the Crown and Governance of this Realm of England with the Title of France and all things thereto belonging what hath been provided by Act of Parliament and the Testament and Last Will of Our Dearest Father besides other Circumstances Advancing Our Right You know the Realm and the whole World knoweth the Rolls and Records appear by the Authority of the King Our said Father and the King Our said Brother and the Subjects of this Realm So that We verily trust that there is no good true Subject that is can or would pretend to be ignorant thereof And of Our part We have of Our Selves caused and as God shall aid and strengthen Vs shall cause Our Right and Title in this behalf to be Published and Proclaimed accordingly And albeit this so Weighty a Matter seemeth strange that the Dying of Our said Brother upon Thursday at night last past We hitherto had no knowledge from You thereof yet We consider Your Wisdom and Prudence to be such that having eftsoons amongst You Debated Pondred and well Weighed this present Case with Our Estate Your Own Estate the Common-Wealth and all Our Honours We shall and may conceive Great Hope and Trust with much assurance in Your Loyalty and Service and therefore for the time interpret and take things not to the worst that Ye yet will like