Memoirs when he writ his first Volum therefore his Reader must forgive him if there is any disorder in the recital that he gives and now from all this one would he disposed to believe that there is some truth in this matter and that he has really such a Book of Memoirs in his hands but I need give no other proof to shew that all this is Imposture save that Bulloign was not taken before the 18. of September 1544. so that all this Negotiation of Richers in 1542. must have been by the spirit of Prophesy 2. The state of Denmark at that time must make this project appear very ridiculous since they were far from being in a condition to set out great fleets and make Conquests 3. At this time Francis did indeed engage the King of Scotland to make an Invasion into the North of England which was a more reasonable project and that which our Author might have more justly guess't at tho he had known nothing of it for it was an easy thing to engage the Scots to fall into England but that was too true and too natural therefore our Author who loves to elevate and surprise his Reader would needs despise the Project in Scotland and so would carry it over to Denmark 4. It is also no less clear that Francis was at that time in no condition to make a descent upon England otherwise he used the Scots very ungratefully for tho he had engaged them in the war yet he left them to be overrun by the English without giving K. Henry any considerable diversion 5. But our Authors setting on the King of Denmark to renew pretensions of five hundred year old is of a piece with the Law at Metz and when England will examin its Ancient pretensions to some Provinces in a neighbouring Kingdom as it needs not go so far back so it will not be put to found them on hostile descents and depredations which was all the pretension that the Crown of Denmark could ever claim but on clear and undisputed Rights tho I confess they have been both discontinued and renounced but I build on the modern Law that neither Prescriptions Treaties nor Oaths can cut off the Rights of a Crown which are sacred and Inalienable Thus I have gone over his third Tome and I think I have missed nothing that relates to English affairs I confess I may have passed over some particulars that may perhaps lie Involved in other Relations as this of Richers had almost escaped me I have turned all his leaves over and over again to see for any thing that might relate to England But I could not prevail with my self to read him all for I am now past the Age of reading Romances XXXIV Mr. Varillas begins his discourse concerning English Affairs in his fourth Tome with a Character of K. Henry's cruelty that deserves indeed to be put in Capitals he says that during his Sickness his Conscience had time to reproach him with the 2. Cardinals the 3. Archbishops the 18. Bishops the 14. Arch deacons the 500. Priests Abbots and Priors the 60. Canons and 50. Doctors 12. Dukes Earles or Barons 29. Knights 336. Gentlemen and almost an Infinite number of people whom he had put to death for establishing his Primacy over the Church of England And because all this was so remarkable he would not put the numbers in Ciphers but in words at large and by the exactness of his small numbers a man that is not aquainted with his Talent would be tempted to think this might be true but what will he say if of all those ten Items besides the great Et cetera of the Infinit number there is not one that is either true or near truth 1. Fisher was the only person that can be called a Cardinal that was put to death 2. There was not one Archbishop that suffered and tho the Archbishop of York concurred in the Yorkshire Rebellion yet the King included him in the Indemnity 3. There was not one Bishop that suffered unless he subdivides Fisher as he did Charles the fifth and makes both a Cardinal and a Bishop out of him 4. There is not an Archdeacon to be found among all that died in this Reign 5. For the 500 Priests Abbots and Priors there were only 9. Abbots 3. Priors 18. Priests and 9. Monks that suffered which according to my Arithmetick makes only 39 but an Imagination that multiplies as Mr. Varillas's does can swell this up to 500. 6. There is but one among all that suffered that can be thought a Canon Crofts that is designed in the Record Chancellor of Exeter 7. There is but one Doctor unless Fisher comes into the account again 8. All of the Nobility that were executed during this reign were one Duke a Marquis 3. Earls and 3. Lords which make 8. but this comes the nearest his number yet since the Marquis that suffered was K. Henry's Cosen german he might have put Marquises among the degrees of the Peers that he reckons up as well as the rest 9. There were only ten Knights that were put to death so the 19. more are of his creating 10. There are ouly 33. others that suffered of which some were only Yeomen to make up his 336. Gentlemen and now I have set down the list exactly of all that died by the hand of justice in this Reign so that there is not a man left for his c. of almost an Infinite number of people But besides this all these except only 12. persons suffered either for being in actual Rebellion or for entring into Conspiracies for the raising of one so small was the number of those who suffered for denying the Kings Supremacy and even of these a distinction is to be considered which I must explain because some have fancied that I had contradicted my self in different parts of my History having said in some places that none suffered for not acknowledging the Kings Supremacy and having set forth in other places that men died for denying it But the refusing to swear the Oath of supremacy was only punishable at first with a Premunire that is loss of liberty and Goods so that those who suffered were not condemned for refusing to swear that Oath but for their having spoken against the Supremacy now the refusing to swear it and the speaking against it are two different things which some have confounded It is true afterwards a Law was made declaring it to be High Treason to refuse to swear the Supremacy But no man ever suffered upon that Law for no man ever refused it after that Law was made And thus we see what we may expect from our Author after such a beginning XXXV He says King Henry seemed to repent of what he had done when he was near death and that he spake with Gardiner concerning it who upon that advised him to call a Parliament But the Falsehood of this is too visible for there was a Parliament then sitting which
yet for certain reasons that our Author may guess at if he will he should not enlarge too much on this even tho the promise had been given both frequently and solemnly for this awakens ill Ideas in peoples minds and makes them conclude with the Ecclesiastes that the thing which hath been is that which shall be 6. King Henry excepted many out of the General Pardon others were presently seised on for engaging into new Conspiracies and against all these he proceeded upon no pretended Crimes but upon that of High Treason for having been in actual Rebellion against him 7. All that suffered by form of Law for those Rebellions were only two Peers six Knights and the Wife of one of them six Abbots and a Monk and sixteen men of a meanner rank now considering what a formidable Rebellion that had been this will not appear to have been a very extraordinary severity and without running too far back to things past the memory of man it were possible to instance Rebellions that were not so dreadful and yet that have ended in many more Sacrifices 8. He tells us of some that died in secret if he means that died in their Beds in Prison the thing may be very true but then it is not extraordinary but if he means the putting them to death secretly and the using them so barbarously that they languished and died under the hands of their Tormentors he must know that these are things which the English Nation knows not they may be practised by Courts of Inquisition or where Dragoons and De Rapines have the Execution of the Kings Parchment and Wax put in their hands but all Tryals and Executions in England are open and publick which is too gentle a Nation to bear the Cruelty of Torture VIII Mr. Varillas would needs have an extraordinary stroke of Providence appear here for he tells us that the last of those who suffered under the hand of the Hangman was no sooner dead then the Kings beloved Son the Duke of Richmond whom he had designed to make his Successor died suddenly of a malignant Feaver But I had warned our Author of the necessity of buying a Chronological Table for I saw what would come on it if he would not be at that charge The Duke of Richmond died the 22. of Iune 1536. and the first of all the tumults that was begun in Lincoln-Shire did not fall out before the October following so here is a lovely stroke of the Poem spoiled 2. It does not appear that the King had any such design on this Son of this for as he gave him none of the Titles of the Royal Family so he did not raise him up to any such degree of lustre as must have naturally followed on such a design IX He joyns to this Edward the sixths Birth and says That his Mother not being able to bring him forth King Henry ordered her Belly to be opened saying that he could find another Wife but that he was not sure to find another Son and that he began presently after her death to think on a fourth Marriage Again it appears that Mr. Varillas wants a Chronological Table for he joins King Edward's birth to the Duke of Richmond's death tho there was sixteen moneths between them for King Edward was born the twelfth of October 1537. and that was nine moneths after all the Executions were over 2. King Edward was born in the ordinary way and the Queen was as well a day after as any Woman in her condition could be of this there are many good Proofs extant for her Council writ Letters over all England giving notice of her safe delivery and of her good health and two days after others say three days after she was taken with a distemper ordinary to Women in her condition of which she died 3. Our Author should have considered the decorum of his Fable better than to make the King speak of a Son before he was born it had been more natural to make him speak of a Child indefinitly 4. This Queens death affected K. Henry so much that he let two years pass before he entred into any Treaty for a new Wife 5. He puts this in the year 1538. tho it fell out in the year 1537. X. He opens upon the Death a Project for Reconciling England to the Court of Rome and says That in order to the satisfying that Court it was not doubted but the Parliament of England would annual King Henry's second Marriage and declare Elisabeth a Bastard He adds That a Marriage of King Henry with Margaret Daughter to Francis the First was projected and here he shews how great a resemblance of Humours there was between them He adds That Pope Paul the Third was much pressed by the Colledge of Cardinals to fulminate against Henry since the Cardinals Hat which he had sent to Fisher had only served to precipitate his death upon which the Pope was bound both in Honour and Interest to revenge that contempt that was put on the Purple for if the persons of Cardinals were not esteemed sacred this would very much slacken their courage upon dangerous occasions The Pope therefore very dexterously resolved to shew his Thunder without discharging it So tho a new Sentence was past yet it was not published in hopes that the King for the safety of his person that was always exposed to the resentments of Zealous Catholicks or for the securing himself from those Seditions which broke out in one place as soon as they were quieted in another would at last reconcile himself to the holy See The only Project that was ever set on foot after the breach for reconciling England to the Court of Rome was almost two years before this upon Anne Bullens fall for then the Pope proposed it to Cassali that had been the Kings Ambassador at Rome but the King rejected it with so much scorn that in his next Parliament he past two Laws against all commerce with that Court severer than any of the former 2. There was no need of asking an Act of Parliament for annulling the Kings Marriage with Anne Bullen and for illegitimating the Issue for that was already done upon a confession of a Pre-contract that was drawn from her of which it is plain Mr. Varillas knew nothing tho it is in our Statute Books and these were then printed both in French and English 3. It does not appear that there was ever the least motion of a Marriage between King Henry and Margaret of France muchless that it was believ'd concluded 4. Our Author does not observe the decency of the Cardinals pressing the Pope to severity when he expressed it by his Revenging the contempt put upon the Purple It must be confessed that this is too haughty a stile for him that pretends to be the Vicar of Christ the language of Revenge does not agree with the Meekness of the Lamb of God 5. But if he makes the Cardinals speak
was dissolved by the King 's Death XXXVI He says The Church of the Franciscans was opened in London 25. dayes before his death and he had said before that King Henry was 57. years of Age compleat when he dyed This Church that he represents as the Cordelier's Church was indeed opened but it was in order to the making it an Hospital and was no more the Cordeliers Church But now I will shew Mr. Varillas how just I am to him for I think I am bound to take notice that this date is right For tho it is of no great consequence yet it is the first that I have found him give true and perhaps it is true because it is of no consequence but he is above a full year wrong in a matter of greater importance which is King Henry's Age for he was born the 28. of Iune 1491. so on the 27. Ianuary or the 28. for he dyed in the night between them 1547. he wanted five moneths of six and fifty So natural is it for Mr. Varillas to mislead his Reader in every thing XXXVII He says The disorder of the Kings Marriages and the three Children that he had by three of them gave grounds to apprehend a Civil War upon his death against which he provided by putting his only Son Edward first in the Succession But out of what part of our Authors study of the Law did he find this that a Son of an unquestioned Marriage on all hands could receive any opposition from two Sisters both born in Marriages that had been questioned The Succession had been also expresly regulated by Act of Parliament and the Kings power of disposing of it by his Testament was only in default of all his own Children or of issue by them XXXVIII He gives us a character of the Duke of Somerset that shews how well he knew him he says He had an Extraordinary Capacity and a Penetration of Spirit superiour to the greatest Affairs The D. of Somerset was indeed a man of great probity but his Capacity and Penetration of Spirit were far from Extraordinary Mr. Varillas thought those strokes were magnificent so he did not trouble himself whether they were true or false XXXIX Mr. Varillas tells us that Somerset represented to the English Nobility the inconvenience of having 16. Governours for their young King as King Henry had determined it and that three parts of four of these were most zealous for reconciling England to the See of Rome and so no doubt they would breed up the King in those sentiments and by consequence as soon as the King came of Age he would annul all that his Father had done which would ruin the whole Nobility and that since it was much fitter to have only one Regent he engaged to them that if they would pitch on him he should take care of the Kings Education and should be so far from disturbing the Nobility in the possession of the Church Lands that he should grant them all the Ratifications that should be necessary all this was so well received that King Henry's true Testament was suppressed and a new one was forged by which Somerset was declared Regent and Protector which surprised all those who had the chief Interest to maintain the Government during the Minority in the state in which King Henry had left it 1. King Henry died the 28. of Ianuary upon which the young King was presently brought up to London and upon the first of February Somerset was declared Protector 2. This was not done by the Interposition of the Nobility but by the consent of the major part of the sixteen Governours whom King Henry had named and the Original Instrument of this under all their hands is yet extant 3. There was no new Will forged for that which was then published was the same that made all the sixteen equal in power and Somerset had the Title of Protector given him by these only with this express condition that he should do nothing without the Advice and Consent of the rest Nor was it ever pretended that King Henry had ordered it so by his Will so all that Negotiation with the Nobility is to pass for a Fiction of Mr. Varillas's or of some other that is about his pitch of sincerity XL. He says Vrisly the Chancellour was the only person that complained of this but that was made use of as a pretence to send him away from the Court. 1. Wriothesley the Chancellour perhaps did not like Somerset's Advancement but he signed it with the rest 2. The pretext upon which he was turned out was the passing an illegal Patent for divolving the Execution of his Office in the matters of Justice to some other persons which being contrary to Law he to redeem himself from a further Censure resigned his place XLI He says Somerset forbad the Bishops to confer Orders without the Kings permission and made them come up to London to obtain it and that he granted it only for a limited time and during pleasure and that he forced the new Preachers to take their Mission for it under the Kings Name and by this means he hindred those to preach who were able to defend the Catholick Doctrines And for the Proof of all this he cites the Ordonnances of Edward the Sixth There is a particular misfortune on Mr. Varillas in all he writes for tho there was indeed an Act of Parliament passed before the end of this Year that did very much subject the Bishops in many things to the Regal power yet there is a special exception in it of Collations or Presentations to Benefices and of Letters of Orders in which no Limits were set them 2. The Licences that were given to Preachers were only Civil things being Permissions to preach but there was nothing of Mission pretended to be in them 3. Tho the King did Licence some Preachers to preach in any part of England yet the Bishops retained still their Authority of granting them within their own Diocesses 4. That which Mr. Varillas perhaps relates to in some parts of this Period is that under King Edward the Bishops were obliged to take out new Commissions from the King such as they had taken out under King Henry for holding their Bishopricks during the Kings pleasure This Bonner and some of the other Popish Bishops had first set on foot under King Henry hoping by so abject a Submission to gain much credit with him but Cranmer prevailed so far as to get this to be quickly laid aside And now all these things shew that our Author is still as careful as he was in his Citations XLII He pretends That Cranmer set out at this time a Catechism which inclined more to the Lutheran Doctrine upon which the Protector looked down upon him not thinking it fit to carry his displeasure farther Cranmer could not know to what the Protector 's coldness was to be ascribed but fancying that a further Declaration of
so that Princess Mary was considered not only as the Presumptive but as the necessary Heir of the Crown But at this time the Prince of Spain lost his Wife and Charles the fifth comforted himself with the hopes of uniting England to his other Dominions by marrying his Son to her so that Emperour resolved to protect her and sent Vargas both to entreat and if that prevailed not to threaten Somerset in case he gave any further disturbance to her upon which he was forced to let that matter fall All this is so false that the Emperour set on a Treaty of Marriage for the Princess with the Prince of Portugal of which I gave an account in my History but since that time a Volum of Original Letters has been sent me by the Heirs of Sr. Philip Hobby who was then Ambassadour in the Emperours Court in which I find more particulars relating both to this Marriage and to the Princesses permission for having Mass in her House There is one Letter dated the 19. of March 1550. signed by all the Council in which they write that since the Infant of Portugal was only the Kings Brother they give up the Treaty for the Match yet the Emperour insisted on the Proposition that he had made so there is another Original Letter dated the 20. of April thereafter in which they desire to hear all the particulars that related to the Infant of Portugal and in that they write That as for the Lady Mary 's Mass they had formerly connived at it but now stricter Laws were made they had connived so long hoping that at last she would be prevailed upon but that a diversity of Rites in matters of Religion was not tolerable therefore they would grant her no Licence yet they would connive at her a little longer but She abused the young Kings Goodness for she kept as it were open Church both for her Servants and Neighbours They therefore conclude wishing that the Emperour would give her good Advice in this matter This Letter of which I had the Original long in my hands is signed by ten Privy Councellours and will be I suppose a little better believed than the quotation that Mr. Varillas sets on his Margin of Vargas's Negotiation and all this was transfacted after the Duke of Somersets Disgrace LI. He tells us a long story of the methods that the Admiral used to compass the Marriage of the Queen Dowager and the ways he took to engage his Brother Somerset to consent to it Somerset moved it to the King who consented to it likewise so that the Marriage was made up in hast and without any solemnity Mr. Varillas knows this matter as he does other things notwithstanding the shew he makes by citing on the Margin the Relation of that Intrigue which is another of his Impostures for by the Articles that were objected to the Admiral which are in print and of which the Original is yet extant in the Council Book it appears that the Admiral had first courted the Kings Sister Elisabeth and that failing in this design he afterwards married the Queen Dowager so secretly that none knew of it and so indecently that if she had become with Child soon after the marriage there would have been a great doubt whether the Child should have been accounted K. Henry's or His that he kept the Marriage long secret he prevailed with the King to write to the Q. Dowager and with his Brother to speak to her in his Favour and when all this was done then the Marriage was declared So that all his Fictions of Somerset's design of marrying his Daughter to the King and of the Remonstrances that the Admiral made to his Brother as well as his Citation are manifestly false LII He sets out the common story of the Dutchess of Somerset's Disputing the Place with the Q. Dowager and as if it had been a great Affair he spends two Pages arguing both their Pretensions He reckons up the Duke of Somersets Dignities 1. He was the Kings Governour 2. He was Regent of the Kingdom 3. He was Protector of the English Nation a dignity inferiour to none of the other which was not much inferiour to the Dictatorship among the Ancient Romans and on the other hand the Admiral was the second Office of the Crown and a Charge for Life So that here was as he thought a Section fit to be copied out by those who would treat of Precedence But 1. I have shewed fully that all this quarrel of Precedence among the Ladies seems a Fiction for it is not mentioned in all that time 2. The Offices of state in England do not communicate any Honour to the Wife So that the Queen Dowager had either still her rank of Queen Dowager or she was only a Baroness her Husband the Admiral being only a Baron As the Dutchess of Somerset had only the rank of a Dutchess 3. It is clear that the Q. Dowager retained her rank and was mentioned in all the publick Prayers even before the Kings Sister 4. All those three places that Mr. Varillas gives Somerset were but one single Office and held by one single Patent for to be Protector and Regent is the same thing in England His comparing the Protectors Dignity to that of the Roman Dictators is another stroke of his ill-will to the Crown of England for among the Romans all other Offices ceased when there was a Dictator so if this were in the English Law here were a short way of Dethroning our Kings 5. The Admiral is far from being the second Office of the Crown for it only has the Precedence of all those that are of the same rank so that the Admiral was only in rank the first Baron of England and tho the great Navyes that have been built since that time have made it indeed the first Office as to the real value of it yet it was but an ordinary elevation when there were no Royal Fleets 6. The Admiral 's charge is forfeitable as well as any other in England and of this a remarkable Instance appeared in the year 1673. 7. The true occasion of the Quarrel between the Brothers was that tho the Protector was Governour of the King's person yet these two trusts had been sometimes divided so the Admiral pretended to be made the Governour of the King's person and this gave his Brother just cause of Jealousy He had engaged all that were about the King in his Interests and had once got the young King to write a Letter to the Parliament recommending it to them The Protector was twice willing to be reconciled to him after great Quarrellings but his Ambition was incurable Now since all this Process and the Articles against the Admiral are printed from the Original Records it is like Mr. Varillas to falsify this matter as he does LIII He tells a long Story of a Sermon of Latimers in which he named the Admiral as one that disturbed the Regency and this
Religion that had signalised it self with so much Cruelty I will not take upon me to play the Prophet as to the effects that the present Persecution in France may have tho the numbers that come every day out of that Babylon and the visible backwardness of the greatest part of those who have fallen are but too evident signs that this Violence is not like to have those glorious Effects which Mr. Varillas may perhaps set forth in his Panegyrick one thing cannot be denied that this persecution has contributed more to the establishing the Protestant Religion elsewhere and to the awakening men to use all just precaution against the like cruelty than all that the most zealous Protestants could have wished for or contrived and of this some Princes of that Religion are sufficiently sensible and do not stick to express their horrour at it in terms that they may better use than I repeat In a word Queen Mary in this point will be found to have the better of the French King She found her people Protestants and yet in eighteen months time she overthrew all the settlement that they had by Law She turned them out of their Churches and began to burn their Teachers and Bishops whereas the French King had not of that Religion above the tenth part of his Subjects and yet the extirpating them out of his Dominions has cost him as many years as it did Queen Mary moneths The other Article of the preference that Mr. Varillas gives his Monarch to Queen Mary is that whereas she could not do it without marrying the Prince of Spain the King has been able to effect it without the aid of Strangers If this were true the praise due upon it will not appear to be very extraordinary since he who has so vast an Army and is in peace with all the World has been able to crush a small handful without calling in forreign aid but on the other hand Queen Mary had neither Troops nor Fleets and very little Treasure so that her Imploying Strangers would appear to be no great matter yet so unhappy is Mr. Varillas like to be in all that he writes that it seems his Panegyricks and his Historys will be suteable to one another Queen Mary indeed married the Prince of Spain but she was not much the better for it for she took such care to preserve the Nation from falling under his power that as she would receive none of his Troops so she neither gave him nor his Mininisters any share in the Government of England of this he became soon so disgusted that seeing no hope of Issue and as little probability of his being able to make himself Master he abandoned her and She to recover his favour engaged her self into a War with France which ended so fatally for England that Calais was lost so that upon the whole matter she lost much more than she gained by the Spanish Match but as for her administration at home if some money that she had from Spain helped a little to corrupt a Parliament that was the only advantage that she made by it and thus if Mr. Varillas's Panegyrick is not better raised in its other parts than in this it will be an Original but I doubt it will not add much lustre to that Monarch nor draw the recompences on the Author to which he may perhaps pretend And if the Kings Parchment and Wax which he says procured an Obedience from two Millions of persons that were prepossessed against it by the most powerful of all considerations which is that of Religion had not been executed by Dragoons in so terrible a manner it is probable that Edict would have had as little effect upon the Consciences of the Protestants as it seems the Edict of Nantes had upon the King 's tho he had so often promised to maintain it and had once sworn it I would not willingly touch such a Subject but such Indecent Flattery raises an Indignation not easily governed Mr. Varillas in his Preface to his third Volum mentions no Author with relation to English Affairs except the Archbishop of Raguse who as he says writ the Life of Card. Pool I do not pretend to deny that there is any such Author only I very much doubt it for I never heard of it in England and I was so well pleased with the discoveries that I made relating to that Cardinal that I took all the pains I could to be well informed of all that had writ of him so I conclude that there is nothing extraordinary in that Life otherwise it would have made some noise in England and it does not appear credible that a Dalmatian Bishop could have any particular knowledge of our Affairs and if the particulars related in Mr. Varillas's 14. Book are all that he drew out of that life it seems the Archbishop of Raguse has been more acquainted with Swedish than English Affairs for there is not one word relating to England in all that Book and as little of the Cardinal But Mr. Varillas has shewed himself more conspicuously in the Preface to his fourth Tome he pretends to have made great use of P. Martys Works in his 17. Book but he gives us a very good proof that he never so much as opened them he tells us that P. Martyr delivered his Common-places at Oxford where he was the Kings Professor and that one Masson printed them at London some years after his death he tells us that an ambition of being preferred to Melancton had engaged him to that work in which he adds that if he is to be preferred to Melancton for subtilty he is Inferiour to him in all other things upon which he runs out to let his Reader see how well he is acquainted both with P. Martyrs Character and History All men besides Mr. Varillas take at least some care of their Prefaces because they are read by many who often judge of Books and which is more sensible they buy them or throw them by as they are writ Now since Mr. Varillas reproaches me with my Ignorance of Books I will make bold to tell him that the Apprentices to whom he sends me for Instruction could have told him that P. Martyr never writ any such Book of Common Places but that after his death Mr. Masson drew a great Collection out of all his Writings of passages that he put in the Method of Common Places so that tho all that Book that goes by the name of P. Martyrs Common Places is indeed his yet he never designed nor dictated any such Work and this Mr. Masson has told so copiously in his Preface that I have thought it necessary to set down his own words Ergo quemadmodum in amplissima domo rebus omnibus instructissima non omnia in acervum unum indistincta cumulantur sed suis quaeque locis distributa seponuntur ut in usus necessarios proferri possint ita in tantis opibus quas sedulus ille Dei Oeconomus
a little too high with relation to the Popes Resentments he makes them as abject as can be in their own particulars since they own that the ground of their courage in serving the Holy Seâ— on dangerous occasions was the Sacredness of their persons which must be maintained otherwise it could not be expected that they would expose themselves any more There is no courage when a man knows he is invulnerable It seems Mr. Varillas thinks that the Colledge of Cardinals have not the spirit of Martyrdom among them now tho it is very likely that this may be true yet Mr. Varillas had shewed more respect if he had suppressed it 6. The Sentence which Mr. Varillas represents as past at this time but not pronounced was passed two years before this the first of September 1535. so little is he exact that he does not examin the days of printed Bulls 7. Mr. Varillas represents this present Negotiation as in the year 1538. which he sets on his Margin yet the final publishing of the Sentence was on the 17. of December 1538. So that all this delay of the Sentence and that which follows could not belong to this year but it must come in here for Amours giving a lustre to Romances our Author thought it was necessary to make them have a large share in all his Relations and if the dates of matters will not agree there is no help for it he must pass over such inconsiderable things 8. Zealous Catholicks again for Rebels XI He goes on to dream and fancies that since the Daughter of France was Christned by King Henry both Francis and he would be obliged to send to Rome for a Dispensation and that the Pope resolved not to grant it but after that England should be reconciled to the Holy See Therefore to facilitate this matter the Pope sent for Pool who was then at Padua and he made him a Cardinal and sent him to France to set on that Design which Pool who loved his Countrey to excess undertook with all possible Zeal But the King of England by a fatal Blindness rejected all this And here he pretends to tell what might be the secret Reasons of it in his way that is to say very impertinently He adds that King Henry sent to Francis to demand Cardinal Pool as a Fugitive and a Traytor and that he cited the examples of Charles the Fifth and of his Father who had delivered up Princes of the House of York to the Kings of England and in conclusion that Henry threatned Francis that if he did not grant his desire he would break the League in which he was with him and would make one with the Emperour against him If Mr. Varillas had seen Card. Pools Book against King Henry which he pretends to have lying before him he would have known that it was printed in the year 1536. in which he had used the King in a stile that no Crowned Head in the World could al ow of but the conclusion of it was beyond all the rest for he conjured the Emperour to turn his Arms rather against the King than against the Turk and it was known in England that he had obtained this Commission to be sent to France only that he might set on a League between the two Crowns against England and so it was no wonder if the King resented his being well received in the Court of France 2. It is not to be imagined that when Charles the fifth was contriving how to make War upon England and was the person that chiefly supported Cardinal Pool that I say King Henry would be so highly displeased with the civility of the Court of France to the Cardinal as to threaten upon that to join with the Emperour who was the Kings chief Enemy and the spring that set Pool in motion therefore all this whole negotiation is to be reckoned among our Authors Fictions since he gives no Proofs of it XII Mr. Varillas says that King Henry set fifty thousand Crowns on Cardinal Pools head and upon this he grafts a new Fable But in the Sentence and Act of Attaindor against Pool there is not a word of any sum set on his head so this was a small decoration that was not to be omitted by a man that does not trouble himself to examin whether what he writes is true or not XIII If Mr. Varillas were not so excessively Ignorant as he is of the History of England he would not have passed over the great advantage he had here of reproaching King Henry with that which was indeed the greatest blemish of his whole Reign and that was first practised on the Countess of Salisbury Cardinal Pools Mother whom by an affectation contrary to our Rules he calls Princess Margaret the Title Princess being affected in England to our Kings Children and not being so much as given to their Brothers Children who are only called Ladies this piece of Tyranny was that she was condemned without being brought to make her Defence or to be heard Answer for herself Now I leave it to the Reader to judge how well informed Mr. Varillas is who is ignorant of that which is to be found in every one of our Writers that have given the History of that time and which would have furnished him with the best Article of his whole Satyr against King Henry XIV He tells us that Calvin writ an Apology for King Henry's conduct in that matter upon which he makes a long excursion But I know nothing of this matter I believe it not a whit the better because Mr. Varillas sayes it and it does not appear among his printed Works He adds that the accusation was false that was brought against Card. Pool as if he had formed a design to raise Troops in Picardy and Normandy and to make a descent with them to assist the Zealous Catholicks of England one reason that he gives to prove it false is that the English were at that time Masters of the Sea The good opinion that Mr. Varillas has of the Rebellions of the Zealous Catholicks of England returns often in this kind Epithet that he bestows on them But for this accusation of Cardinal Pools our Author may very well answer it for I believe it was never made by any before himself yet so unhappy is he that he must discover his Ignorance in every Page and Line of his Book The Kings of England had then no Fleets and so they were not Masters of the Sea unless he means that the Soveraignty of the four Sea 's belonged to the Crown of England in which sense I acknowledg that not only then but at all times the King of England is Master of the Sea XV. Mr. Varillas after he had carried his Romance to make the round to other parts returns back to England but I do not know by what ill luck it is that there is not one single Paragraph that relates to our Affairs that is true
is as exactly writ as the former for 1. Northumberland had no old Troops and he marched from London with 2000. Horse and 6000. Foot such as could be brought together of the sudden 2. Iean Gray was never Crowned she was only proclaimed Queen 3. Northumberland never marched back to London but seeing the Queen's forces encrease and that none came in to him he came into Cambridge and proclaimed Queen Mary 4. It was not so much the City of London as the whole Privy Council that declared for Queen Mary 5. There was no Fleet then to change sides for Mr. Varillas knowing nothing of the past Age and only hearing that at present the English Fleet is the greatest in the world he has this ever in his head and fancies that it was so at all times 6. Nothumberland did not render himself but was apprehended as a Criminal by the Earl of Arundel who was sent to seise on him LXX He tells us that Northumberland was presently put in Irons but he retained so great a presence of Spirit when he came to be examined before the Council that Mr. Varillas thought fit to set this out with all the Pomp that his Sublime could furnish he puts Harangues in his mouth by which he confounded the Privy Councillours among whom he names the Earl of Chieresberi but his crimes being so notorious he with his four Sons were condemned to dye as Traitors The Queen pardoned three but was inexorable to the fourth and when Northumberland saw there was no hope of life he declared that he had been only a Calvinist out of Interest and expressed a great detestation of that Religion and of thâ— Preachers of it and suffered with a constancy that was admired by 〈◊〉 that saw it those who suffered with him imitating his conversion this had a great effect on peoples spirits 1. Men of the Duke of Northumberlands quality are never put in Irons in England 2. He shewed so little courage that he threw himself at the Earl of Arundel's feet abjectly to beg his Favour 3. Our Author confounds his being brought to his Tryal before a Lord Steward and the Peers of England with an Examination before the Council and his making the Council condemn him shews that he does not know the commonest points of form in the Government of England 4. All this Constancy and arguing that he puts in Northumberlands mouth is taken from two points in Law that he proposed to the Peers that were his Judges The one was whether a man acting by Order of Council and by Warrants under the Great Seal could be esteemed a Criminal the other was whether one that had acted so could be judged by Peers that had given him those Orders and that were as guilty as himself 5. Tho these were points in Law that 〈◊〉 have some colour in them yet they were far from confounding any for a Council or a Great Seal flowing from an Vsurper is nothing so this Authority could not justify him and as for those who were as guilty as himself and yet were now his Iudges they were not convicted of the guilt and no Peer can be â—et aâ—ide in a Tryal upon general surmises how true soever they may be 6. I confess it was some time before I could find out who this Earl of Chieresberi was At last I saw it must be Shrewsbury who should have been a little better known to Mr. Varillus unless he has read the French Story as carelesly as he has done the English for the Illustrious Ancestors of that Family left such marks of their valour behind them in France that one should think that Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury should be the Family of all England in which a French Writer should be the least apt to mistake And this confirms me in my opinion that Mr. Varillas has never read History 7. There were none of Northumberlands Sons tryed at that time but his eldest Son the Earl of Warwick for he had been called by writ to the House of Lords and so was to be tried as a Peer but the rest were Commoners and were tryed some moneths after this 8. He makes Queen Mary less merciful than she was for it was believed she would have pardoned both Iean of Suffolk and her Husband if upon the Rebellion that was raised six moneths after this it had not been then thought necessary to take to severer Councils 9. It was believed at that time that Northumberland declared himself a Roman Catholick in hope to save his life by the means 10. His constancy was not very extraordinary for there passed some severe expostulations between Sr. Iohn Gates and him who as they had been complices in the Rebellion so now being brought to suffer together they died reproaching one another 11. It does not appear that any other of those who suffered changed their Religion Nor 12. Is it likely that such a Declaration of men who were so odious to the Nation and who in the making of it did likewise shew that they had made a small account of Religion could have any great effect on those who saw it LXXI Mr. Varillas will never give over his bold Quotations for here he tells us that Charles the fifth advised Queen Mary not to proceed so hastily in the change of Religion and that he believed She would find before long that it would not be safe to her to break her promise And to confirm this he cites on the margin Charles the fifths Letters to Q. Mary â— This would make one that does not know the man fancy that there was some Register or Collection of those Letters which he had seen I have indeed seen those Letters for the Originals of them are extant and I shewed them once to the Spanish Ambassadour at London Don Pedro de Ronquillas who did me the honour to desire me to accompany him to the Cotton Library where I not only shewed him these Letters but as many of the other Original Papers out of which I had drawn my History as could be examined at one time but for Charles the fifths Letters they are so little legible and the Queen of Hungary's hand is so little better than his that I could not copy them out nor print them some little hints I took from them but that was all 2. It seems Mr. Varillas was not much concerned in Queen Mary's breaking her word for in those Letters that he makes up for Charles all that he makes him set before her is the danger of it and that she could not do it long safe Impunement if she had a vast Army in any strong places a great Fleet and a huge Revenue then the breaking of her word would have troubled Mr. Varillas so little that it would not have hindred him from making her Panegyrick tho the violation of her Faith was so much the more scandalous that those to whom she gave it had setled her upon her Throne and perhaps he will find somewhat parallel