the King would not accept of the Present â—hat was offered him by the Clergy unâ—ess they would likewise give him that Title Now it is agreed on by all that â—is submission was past by the whole Convocation unanimously Fisher â—eing the only man that stood out a â—hile but even he at last concurred â—ith the rest And Pool was at that 〈◊〉 Dean of Exeter and so he was a â—ember of the Convocation he also â—â—joyed his Deancy several years after â—is so that it cannot be imagined â—â—at the King would have let him go 〈◊〉 of England and have allowed 〈◊〉 a good benefice for supporting 〈◊〉 in his Studies if he had set himâ—â—â—f so vigorously to oppose him in a â—â—â—ter that touched him so near III. Mr. Varillas tells us that in the 〈◊〉 1536. the King made a Law obliging his Subjects to continue firm in the six principal Points which the Hereticks disputed most And to put his Reader out of doubt as to this matter he cites the Acts of Parliament for that year But Chronology is a study too low for so sublime a Writer and therefore since he thought the Fable would go on the better if this Law were puâ— in this year he would needs Anticipateâ— three years and put a Law that pasâ— not before the year 1539. in the yeaâ— 1536. but in this he followed his Sanders or which is all one his Florimonâ—â— de Raimond exactly IV. He reckons up the six Articles it seems as others had done before him but it is certain he never looked into our Acts of Parliament for as they would have set him righâ— as to the year so they would havâ— shewed him that the sixth Article diâ— not at all mention the seven Sacramentâ— and as to Auricular Confession it 〈◊〉 only decreed that it was expedient 〈◊〉 necessary and that it ought to be retaâ—ned in the Church For upon this theâ—â— was a great dispute most of the Cleâ—gy endeavouring to carry the matlâ—â— so far as to declare Confession necessary by the Law of God but King Henry would not consent to that and there is a long Letter yet extant all writ with his own hand in which he argues this matter liker a learned Divine than a great King V. He tells us that Arch-bishop Cranmer conferred all Benefices in the quality of Vicar General of the Church of England and that he disputed with Jesus Christ the Institution of four Sacraments But neither the one nor the other is true for he gave no Benefices but those of his own Diocess and as for his expression of disputing with Iesus Christ the Institution of four Sacraments I pass it as a Sublime of our Author 's yet even the thing is false all the ground for it is that in the first part of the Erudition of a Christian-man that was set out this year no mention was made of these four Sacraments but they were all set forth some years after this when that work was finished VI. He says that upon this the zealous Catholicks of England concluded that the King himself leaned to Heresy and that the Provinces of Lincoln and Northumberland Cambridge-Shire York-Shire and Durresm were the first that revolted and made up a body more than 50000. men Here Mr. Varillas shews us still how well he likes Rebellion by giving those Rebels no worse name than that of Zealous Catholicks and here he gives us the accomplishment of the Cardinal de Bellay's threatnings but one would have thought that a Writer who resolved to dedicate his Book to the King should have softned this part a little otherwise a Zealous Protestant may be naturally carried to make the Inference that if the Fears of the change of Religion in England might carry Catholicks to Rebel on whom no worse Character is bestowed than that of Zealous why may not Protestants oppressed and ruined contrary to the faith of irrevocable Edicts claim the same priviledge His laying of Lincoln-shire and Northumberland together and then returning to Cambridg-Shire and going back to York-Shire shews how well he knows the situation of our â—Counies and he instead of Lanca-Shire and Westmorland has out of his store put Northumberland and Cambridge-Shire in the Rebellion he also represents this rising only as a beginning whereas these were the only Counties that rebelled nor did they ever joyn together for those of Lincoln-Shire were suppressed within that County before the rising in York-Shire VII He says The King ordered the Dukes of Northfolk and Suffolk to go to the Rebels and to promise them all that they demanded upon which these Dukes undertook this Message and went to the Rebels Camp with all the shews of Humility that could have been expected from the most abject of the vanquished they desired them to put their Complaints in writing and when they saw them they thought them very just and signed a Treaty with them in the Kings Name by which they obliged him to redress all the Innovations that had been made in matters of Religion and with this they satisfied those who were in Arms who were so foolish as to lay down their Arms upon the faith of this Treaty yet the King after he had thus dispersed them did not trouble himself much with the keeping of his word to them but as he knew the names of the chief Instruments of this Sedition so he put them all in prison at several times upon some pretended Crimes with which they were charged and soon after they were proceeded against according to the forms of Law and not one of them escaped death either in secret or in publick By this Relation of this Affair one would think that the King sent those Dukes as Supplicants to the Rebels but they went both of them at the Head of the Kings Troops and both to different Armies 2. They were so far from promising every thing in the Kings Name that the Kings Answers to their Demands are yet extant in which he treats them as Brute Beasts that medled themselves in things that they did not understand the King told them their duty was to obey and not to command and that he would not at all be advised by them He did indeed promise a Pardon of what was past to those who should return to their duty but lie would not alter any thing at their sute 3. Our Author did not know that this Rebellion was after the suppression of the lesser Monasteries and that this was one of the Chief of their Grievances otherwise he had embelished it no doubt 4. He taxes them of Imprudence for trusting the Kings promises but one would have expected that in a Reign of so much submission as this is he should have rather shewed their Fidelity and Loyalty that made them so easily believe a Kings word but it seems Mr. Varillas thinks it is a piece of Imprudence to rely too much on that 5. A Prince's breaking his Faith is a thing that needs no aggravation
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
Memoirs when he writ his first Volum therefore his Reader must forgive him if there is any disorder in the recital that he gives and now from all this one would he disposed to believe that there is some truth in this matter and that he has really such a Book of Memoirs in his hands but I need give no other proof to shew that all this is Imposture save that Bulloign was not taken before the 18. of September 1544. so that all this Negotiation of Richers in 1542. must have been by the spirit of Prophesy 2. The state of Denmark at that time must make this project appear very ridiculous since they were far from being in a condition to set out great fleets and make Conquests 3. At this time Francis did indeed engage the King of Scotland to make an Invasion into the North of England which was a more reasonable project and that which our Author might have more justly guess't at tho he had known nothing of it for it was an easy thing to engage the Scots to fall into England but that was too true and too natural therefore our Author who loves to elevate and surprise his Reader would needs despise the Project in Scotland and so would carry it over to Denmark 4. It is also no less clear that Francis was at that time in no condition to make a descent upon England otherwise he used the Scots very ungratefully for tho he had engaged them in the war yet he left them to be overrun by the English without giving K. Henry any considerable diversion 5. But our Authors setting on the King of Denmark to renew pretensions of five hundred year old is of a piece with the Law at Metz and when England will examin its Ancient pretensions to some Provinces in a neighbouring Kingdom as it needs not go so far back so it will not be put to found them on hostile descents and depredations which was all the pretension that the Crown of Denmark could ever claim but on clear and undisputed Rights tho I confess they have been both discontinued and renounced but I build on the modern Law that neither Prescriptions Treaties nor Oaths can cut off the Rights of a Crown which are sacred and Inalienable Thus I have gone over his third Tome and I think I have missed nothing that relates to English affairs I confess I may have passed over some particulars that may perhaps lie Involved in other Relations as this of Richers had almost escaped me I have turned all his leaves over and over again to see for any thing that might relate to England But I could not prevail with my self to read him all for I am now past the Age of reading Romances XXXIV Mr. Varillas begins his discourse concerning English Affairs in his fourth Tome with a Character of K. Henry's cruelty that deserves indeed to be put in Capitals he says that during his Sickness his Conscience had time to reproach him with the 2. Cardinals the 3. Archbishops the 18. Bishops the 14. Arch deacons the 500. Priests Abbots and Priors the 60. Canons and 50. Doctors 12. Dukes Earles or Barons 29. Knights 336. Gentlemen and almost an Infinite number of people whom he had put to death for establishing his Primacy over the Church of England And because all this was so remarkable he would not put the numbers in Ciphers but in words at large and by the exactness of his small numbers a man that is not aquainted with his Talent would be tempted to think this might be true but what will he say if of all those ten Items besides the great Et cetera of the Infinit number there is not one that is either true or near truth 1. Fisher was the only person that can be called a Cardinal that was put to death 2. There was not one Archbishop that suffered and tho the Archbishop of York concurred in the Yorkshire Rebellion yet the King included him in the Indemnity 3. There was not one Bishop that suffered unless he subdivides Fisher as he did Charles the fifth and makes both a Cardinal and a Bishop out of him 4. There is not an Archdeacon to be found among all that died in this Reign 5. For the 500 Priests Abbots and Priors there were only 9. Abbots 3. Priors 18. Priests and 9. Monks that suffered which according to my Arithmetick makes only 39 but an Imagination that multiplies as Mr. Varillas's does can swell this up to 500. 6. There is but one among all that suffered that can be thought a Canon Crofts that is designed in the Record Chancellor of Exeter 7. There is but one Doctor unless Fisher comes into the account again 8. All of the Nobility that were executed during this reign were one Duke a Marquis 3. Earls and 3. Lords which make 8. but this comes the nearest his number yet since the Marquis that suffered was K. Henry's Cosen german he might have put Marquises among the degrees of the Peers that he reckons up as well as the rest 9. There were only ten Knights that were put to death so the 19. more are of his creating 10. There are ouly 33. others that suffered of which some were only Yeomen to make up his 336. Gentlemen and now I have set down the list exactly of all that died by the hand of justice in this Reign so that there is not a man left for his c. of almost an Infinite number of people But besides this all these except only 12. persons suffered either for being in actual Rebellion or for entring into Conspiracies for the raising of one so small was the number of those who suffered for denying the Kings Supremacy and even of these a distinction is to be considered which I must explain because some have fancied that I had contradicted my self in different parts of my History having said in some places that none suffered for not acknowledging the Kings Supremacy and having set forth in other places that men died for denying it But the refusing to swear the Oath of supremacy was only punishable at first with a Premunire that is loss of liberty and Goods so that those who suffered were not condemned for refusing to swear that Oath but for their having spoken against the Supremacy now the refusing to swear it and the speaking against it are two different things which some have confounded It is true afterwards a Law was made declaring it to be High Treason to refuse to swear the Supremacy But no man ever suffered upon that Law for no man ever refused it after that Law was made And thus we see what we may expect from our Author after such a beginning XXXV He says King Henry seemed to repent of what he had done when he was near death and that he spake with Gardiner concerning it who upon that advised him to call a Parliament But the Falsehood of this is too visible for there was a Parliament then sitting which
was dissolved by the King 's Death XXXVI He says The Church of the Franciscans was opened in London 25. dayes before his death and he had said before that King Henry was 57. years of Age compleat when he dyed This Church that he represents as the Cordelier's Church was indeed opened but it was in order to the making it an Hospital and was no more the Cordeliers Church But now I will shew Mr. Varillas how just I am to him for I think I am bound to take notice that this date is right For tho it is of no great consequence yet it is the first that I have found him give true and perhaps it is true because it is of no consequence but he is above a full year wrong in a matter of greater importance which is King Henry's Age for he was born the 28. of Iune 1491. so on the 27. Ianuary or the 28. for he dyed in the night between them 1547. he wanted five moneths of six and fifty So natural is it for Mr. Varillas to mislead his Reader in every thing XXXVII He says The disorder of the Kings Marriages and the three Children that he had by three of them gave grounds to apprehend a Civil War upon his death against which he provided by putting his only Son Edward first in the Succession But out of what part of our Authors study of the Law did he find this that a Son of an unquestioned Marriage on all hands could receive any opposition from two Sisters both born in Marriages that had been questioned The Succession had been also expresly regulated by Act of Parliament and the Kings power of disposing of it by his Testament was only in default of all his own Children or of issue by them XXXVIII He gives us a character of the Duke of Somerset that shews how well he knew him he says He had an Extraordinary Capacity and a Penetration of Spirit superiour to the greatest Affairs The D. of Somerset was indeed a man of great probity but his Capacity and Penetration of Spirit were far from Extraordinary Mr. Varillas thought those strokes were magnificent so he did not trouble himself whether they were true or false XXXIX Mr. Varillas tells us that Somerset represented to the English Nobility the inconvenience of having 16. Governours for their young King as King Henry had determined it and that three parts of four of these were most zealous for reconciling England to the See of Rome and so no doubt they would breed up the King in those sentiments and by consequence as soon as the King came of Age he would annul all that his Father had done which would ruin the whole Nobility and that since it was much fitter to have only one Regent he engaged to them that if they would pitch on him he should take care of the Kings Education and should be so far from disturbing the Nobility in the possession of the Church Lands that he should grant them all the Ratifications that should be necessary all this was so well received that King Henry's true Testament was suppressed and a new one was forged by which Somerset was declared Regent and Protector which surprised all those who had the chief Interest to maintain the Government during the Minority in the state in which King Henry had left it 1. King Henry died the 28. of Ianuary upon which the young King was presently brought up to London and upon the first of February Somerset was declared Protector 2. This was not done by the Interposition of the Nobility but by the consent of the major part of the sixteen Governours whom King Henry had named and the Original Instrument of this under all their hands is yet extant 3. There was no new Will forged for that which was then published was the same that made all the sixteen equal in power and Somerset had the Title of Protector given him by these only with this express condition that he should do nothing without the Advice and Consent of the rest Nor was it ever pretended that King Henry had ordered it so by his Will so all that Negotiation with the Nobility is to pass for a Fiction of Mr. Varillas's or of some other that is about his pitch of sincerity XL. He says Vrisly the Chancellour was the only person that complained of this but that was made use of as a pretence to send him away from the Court. 1. Wriothesley the Chancellour perhaps did not like Somerset's Advancement but he signed it with the rest 2. The pretext upon which he was turned out was the passing an illegal Patent for divolving the Execution of his Office in the matters of Justice to some other persons which being contrary to Law he to redeem himself from a further Censure resigned his place XLI He says Somerset forbad the Bishops to confer Orders without the Kings permission and made them come up to London to obtain it and that he granted it only for a limited time and during pleasure and that he forced the new Preachers to take their Mission for it under the Kings Name and by this means he hindred those to preach who were able to defend the Catholick Doctrines And for the Proof of all this he cites the Ordonnances of Edward the Sixth There is a particular misfortune on Mr. Varillas in all he writes for tho there was indeed an Act of Parliament passed before the end of this Year that did very much subject the Bishops in many things to the Regal power yet there is a special exception in it of Collations or Presentations to Benefices and of Letters of Orders in which no Limits were set them 2. The Licences that were given to Preachers were only Civil things being Permissions to preach but there was nothing of Mission pretended to be in them 3. Tho the King did Licence some Preachers to preach in any part of England yet the Bishops retained still their Authority of granting them within their own Diocesses 4. That which Mr. Varillas perhaps relates to in some parts of this Period is that under King Edward the Bishops were obliged to take out new Commissions from the King such as they had taken out under King Henry for holding their Bishopricks during the Kings pleasure This Bonner and some of the other Popish Bishops had first set on foot under King Henry hoping by so abject a Submission to gain much credit with him but Cranmer prevailed so far as to get this to be quickly laid aside And now all these things shew that our Author is still as careful as he was in his Citations XLII He pretends That Cranmer set out at this time a Catechism which inclined more to the Lutheran Doctrine upon which the Protector looked down upon him not thinking it fit to carry his displeasure farther Cranmer could not know to what the Protector 's coldness was to be ascribed but fancying that a further Declaration of
was done by Somerset's direction yet he seemed offended when it was told him and sent for Latimer and ordered him to retract that which he had said concerning his Brother But Latimer reply'd boldly that he knew the Admiral had layd a design against the Kings Life which he thought himself bound to discover upon this the Duke of Somerset ordered the Iudges to take his deposition yet he threatned to proceed against him with the utmost severity if he were found to be a false Accuser Latimer had his Witnesses laid and the Conspiracy was proved upon which Somerset seemed to be very much troubled yet he said he must prefer the King's safety to all Considerations whatsoever so he signed a Warrant for his Brothers Imprisonment his process upon that was made and he was found guilty of High Treason and condemned to be quartered which was accordingly executed the 20. of March 1549. I do not know how it comes that in such a series of Falsehoods our Author has hit the date right but it is the only circumstance of this whole Recital that is true For 1. It is true Latimer in a Sermon at Court reflecting on the Atheism of some about the King described the Admiral who was a man that laughed at Religion but this had nothing to do with the State and nothing followed upon it 2. The Admiral had broke out the former year and thought to have made a Rent in the Parliament yet that had been made up and Somerset had made him a very considerable grant out of the Lands of the Crown but he laid his design next year deeper he bought Magasins of Arms and listed many men he intended to have carried away the King and had ordered much False Money to be coined so that all this being discovered he was clapt in the Tower yet a moneth past before the matters against him were brought in to the Parliament and during that time Somerset tryed if it was possible to bring him to a better mind but all was in vain 3. He was not tryed by a Common Court of Peers but was condemned by Act of Parliament 4. There was not a word said in the whole Process of any Design on the Kings Life on the contrary he had gained so much upon the young King that this gave the greatest jealousy of all 5. He was not quartered but only beheaded for the Original warrant for his Execution is yet extant in the Books of Council signed by all the Privy Councellours that mentions expresly that he should be beheaded and that his Head and Body should be buried in the Tower And now is not Mr. Varillas a very Credible Author LIV. Our Author sets down the Agony into which the Admiral 's Death threw his Wife and after he had turned this as Romantically as he could he makes her to dye so soon after her Husband that She was buried at the same time with him But if Mr. Varillas had seen the Articles upon which the Admiral was condemned he would have found that the Queen Dowager was dead long before for she died in the September preceding and as was suspected of poison and that after her death he had renewed his pretensions to the Kings second Sister Elisabeth which is reckoned among his Crimes as it was certainly a very great one and is it not now a great pity to see so tender a stroke in the Romance spoiled LV. Mr. Varillas tells us a long story of the Earl of Warwick's Designs to dismount Somerset for doing which the two occasions that presented themselves were First the taking of several Forts in the Bolognese and that as the English had often failed in observing the Law of Nations so the French treated them in the same manner and put all that they took Prisoners to the edge of the Sword that the English Souldiers who came over complained that the Forts that were lost could not be longer desended for want of Provisions that upon this Warwick advised some Malecontents to demand the calling of a Parliament and perswaded Somerset likewise to agree to it The other was a general Insurrection that was among the Commons of England against the Nobility upon which Warwick likewise pressed Somerset to call a Parliament So the Members were all chosen by the Earl of Warwicks Means There appeared before them more Accusers and Witnesses against the Duke of Somerset than was needful for destroying him upon which he was put in prison the 14. of October 1549. How it comes that Mr. Varillas has thus given two Dates one after another true amidst so much falsehood is that which amases me But the rest of this Section is writ in his ordinary strain Yet before I open that I will take the liberty to set down a passage relating to King Henry the Seconds invading the Bolognese which I have found in an Original Letter of the Councils writ to Sr. Philip Hobby tho Mr. Varillas will perhaps tell me upon it that I have done an irreparable Injury to the Memory of that King In that Letter that bears date the seventh of September 1549. and is signed by the Duke of Somerset and seven other Councellors they write That the King of France had corrupted two that had the Charge of one of the Forts which was by that means lost and this occasioned the loss of the other Forts they were surprised with this Invasion for on the 20. of July last the French King had promised to their Ambassadour par la foy d'un Gentilhomme that he would not make War without giving warning first and yet he having heard of the Progress of the Insurrections that were in the several parts of England broke his word four days after he made it That was indeed thought strange in those dayes but in our days it would not appear extraordinary since we have seen promises publickly made and broken in the very time in which they were made But now to return to Mr. Varillas 1. He forgot to mention the Western Rebellion that hapned a little before that rising of the Commons against the Gentry tho this was not kindly done of him since it was by his Friends the Zealous Catholicks who declared openly that the change made in Religion was the reason of their rising 2. There was no demand made of a Parliament nor was there any need of calling or choosing one for there was one then on foot running in a Prorogation 3. Those Insurrections were all quieted before there was any opposition made to the Duke of Somerset's Government 4. He was not at all questioned in Parliament but in Council for the greatest part of the Councellors went to London and joyned with the City to demand the King out of his hands whom he had carried to Windsor and he finding that he was not able to stand against so strong a party submitted himself to them upon which he was not only turned out of his Protectorship but was also sent to the
Ecclesiae Dei comparaverat operae pretium me facturum existimavi si ordine aliquo omnia disponerem notisque additis indicarem unde à studiosis quibusque suo tempore depromi possint hoc autem meum judicium multo magis mihi probatum est cum in eadem sententia ipsum D. Martyrem fuisse intellexi Sic enim à D. Ioanne Gravilla quâ— tempore D. P. Martyris domesticus una cum multis aliis ejus consuetudine colloquiis frueretur ab illo quaesitum aliquando fuisse quare locos communes uno volumine collectos cudendos non curaret Hoc enim Ecclesiae Dei fore utilius a piis quibusque magnopere desideraxi cum iis quae dicta fuerunt annuisse idque si per otium liceret se aliquando facturum recepisse quod utinam illi prestare dedisset Dominus neque enim dubium quin limae labore addito multarum rerum accessione longe cumulatiores opes Ecclesia Dei habitura fuisset id autem cum ipsi minime licuâ—rit And if after all these discoveries Mr Varillas can find men that will still read his Books and believe them it must be said that the Age deserves to be imposed upon There is another particular set forth in this Preface that is of a piece with the former He tells us he has drawn that which is most curious in his twentieth Book out of Commendons Negotiation in England of which he gives us this account Pope Iulius the third writ to Cardinal Dandino ordering him to send some able man secretly over to England to confirm the Queen in her resolution of reconciling England again to the See of Rome He upon that sent over Commendon who went to London in disguise but by accident found one Iohn Lee a Privy Councellor who procured him a secret Audience he had many Conferences with the Queen who trusted him with her Secret which was that she believed she could never re-establish the Catholick Religion unless she married the Prince of Spain and by that means engaged the House of Austria to assist her with their Troops but tho Commendon could not doubt that the Popes Intention was that she should marry Cardinal Pool and not raise Spain too much by so great an accession yet he had been sent over in hast and had no Instructions relating to that matter so he complied with the Queens Inclinations for the Spanish Match of which she spoke to him every time that she gave him audience so that he saw into that Sectret and had credit by that means to soften most of the Articles which would otherwise have been of great prejudice to the Court of Rome Mr. Varillas can pretend no Warrant for this part of his History but Gratians Life of Commendon and if this be the most curious part of his 20. Book we may conclude what judgment we ought to make of the rest Commendon was in London when the Duke of Northumberland was executed which was the 22. August he had been sent from Brussels some days before that and by consequence he was sent by Cardinal Dandino of his own motion as Gratian represents it For King Edward died the sixth of Iuly and it was 10. dayes after that before Queen Mary was in possession so here there will not be time enough for sending notice to Rome and receiving orders from it 2. Lee was a Servant of the Queen's and no Privy Councellor 3. The Queen never mentioned the Spanish Match to Commendon on the contrary she rather intimated to him her design for Cardinal Pool for she asked him if the Pope could not dispence with his marrying since he was only in Deacons Orders which is confessed elsewhere by Mr. Varillas 4. It does not appear by Gratian that Commendon saw the Queen often for as the thing was a great secret and by consequence many audiences given by a Lady that was so scrupulous as she was could not be long concealed so on the other hand no doubt Commendon pressed a dispatch all that was possible knowing what a step such a piece of news must be to the making his Fortune in Rome 5. Nor does it appear that there was the least motion yet made in the Match with Spain and the first proposition that I could find of it was in a Letter writ by the Q. of Hungary in the Emperours name and subscribed by him for he was then lame of the Gout and dated in the beginning of November 6. Mr. Varillas represents Queen Mary very ready to discover her greatest Secrets when she would trust an unknown Man sent to her by the Legate in the Emperours Court with a matter of such Consequence There was no danger in trusting him with her design of reconciling her self to the Court of Rome for he that was a Creature of that Court was not to be suspected in that matter but it had been a strange loosness of Tongue in her to have blobb'd out such a Secret to such a Person so that the preference he gives his King to so weak a Woman will lose much of its grace And thus by this Essay it appears that Mr. Varillas holds on his Method of writing and that he does not so much as take care to write his Prefaces correctly I. Mr. Varillas will shew that he knows Genealogies as well as he does the other parts of History for he tells us that Henry the Sevenths Queen that was the Heiress of the House of York had no Kinswoman of that Family nearer to her than her Couâ—â—n-German Margaret This is strange Ignorance for she had a Sister that married to Courtney Earl of Devonshire who was Mother to the Marquis of Exeter that was executed under Henry the Eighth Now he should have known this that so he might have given a stroke upon it against the Memory of that Prince II. He sets out Cardinal Pools great vigour in speaking so freely to the King against his Divorce that he once intended to put him to death but he pardoned him in consideration of the Compliance of his Mother and Brethren and so he was sent by his Family to study at Padua All this is a Fiction that was not so much as thought on till many years after the persons concerned were dead that Cardinal in his Book had no regard neither to K. Henry's Royal Dignity nor to the relation in Blood that was between them but treated him as a Pharaoh and a Nebuchadnezzar yet he upbraided him with no such thing tho it had been a very natural Apology for all that Freedom that he then took if he could have alledged that he had expressed himself first so plainly to him in private But so far was the Cardinal from such a behaviour that â—e complied with the Clergy in acknowledging the King to be the Supream Head of the Church of England For Pool in his Book tells the King that â—e was in England when that Submission was made and adds that
yet for certain reasons that our Author may guess at if he will he should not enlarge too much on this even tho the promise had been given both frequently and solemnly for this awakens ill Ideas in peoples minds and makes them conclude with the Ecclesiastes that the thing which hath been is that which shall be 6. King Henry excepted many out of the General Pardon others were presently seised on for engaging into new Conspiracies and against all these he proceeded upon no pretended Crimes but upon that of High Treason for having been in actual Rebellion against him 7. All that suffered by form of Law for those Rebellions were only two Peers six Knights and the Wife of one of them six Abbots and a Monk and sixteen men of a meanner rank now considering what a formidable Rebellion that had been this will not appear to have been a very extraordinary severity and without running too far back to things past the memory of man it were possible to instance Rebellions that were not so dreadful and yet that have ended in many more Sacrifices 8. He tells us of some that died in secret if he means that died in their Beds in Prison the thing may be very true but then it is not extraordinary but if he means the putting them to death secretly and the using them so barbarously that they languished and died under the hands of their Tormentors he must know that these are things which the English Nation knows not they may be practised by Courts of Inquisition or where Dragoons and De Rapines have the Execution of the Kings Parchment and Wax put in their hands but all Tryals and Executions in England are open and publick which is too gentle a Nation to bear the Cruelty of Torture VIII Mr. Varillas would needs have an extraordinary stroke of Providence appear here for he tells us that the last of those who suffered under the hand of the Hangman was no sooner dead then the Kings beloved Son the Duke of Richmond whom he had designed to make his Successor died suddenly of a malignant Feaver But I had warned our Author of the necessity of buying a Chronological Table for I saw what would come on it if he would not be at that charge The Duke of Richmond died the 22. of Iune 1536. and the first of all the tumults that was begun in Lincoln-Shire did not fall out before the October following so here is a lovely stroke of the Poem spoiled 2. It does not appear that the King had any such design on this Son of this for as he gave him none of the Titles of the Royal Family so he did not raise him up to any such degree of lustre as must have naturally followed on such a design IX He joyns to this Edward the sixths Birth and says That his Mother not being able to bring him forth King Henry ordered her Belly to be opened saying that he could find another Wife but that he was not sure to find another Son and that he began presently after her death to think on a fourth Marriage Again it appears that Mr. Varillas wants a Chronological Table for he joins King Edward's birth to the Duke of Richmond's death tho there was sixteen moneths between them for King Edward was born the twelfth of October 1537. and that was nine moneths after all the Executions were over 2. King Edward was born in the ordinary way and the Queen was as well a day after as any Woman in her condition could be of this there are many good Proofs extant for her Council writ Letters over all England giving notice of her safe delivery and of her good health and two days after others say three days after she was taken with a distemper ordinary to Women in her condition of which she died 3. Our Author should have considered the decorum of his Fable better than to make the King speak of a Son before he was born it had been more natural to make him speak of a Child indefinitly 4. This Queens death affected K. Henry so much that he let two years pass before he entred into any Treaty for a new Wife 5. He puts this in the year 1538. tho it fell out in the year 1537. X. He opens upon the Death a Project for Reconciling England to the Court of Rome and says That in order to the satisfying that Court it was not doubted but the Parliament of England would annual King Henry's second Marriage and declare Elisabeth a Bastard He adds That a Marriage of King Henry with Margaret Daughter to Francis the First was projected and here he shews how great a resemblance of Humours there was between them He adds That Pope Paul the Third was much pressed by the Colledge of Cardinals to fulminate against Henry since the Cardinals Hat which he had sent to Fisher had only served to precipitate his death upon which the Pope was bound both in Honour and Interest to revenge that contempt that was put on the Purple for if the persons of Cardinals were not esteemed sacred this would very much slacken their courage upon dangerous occasions The Pope therefore very dexterously resolved to shew his Thunder without discharging it So tho a new Sentence was past yet it was not published in hopes that the King for the safety of his person that was always exposed to the resentments of Zealous Catholicks or for the securing himself from those Seditions which broke out in one place as soon as they were quieted in another would at last reconcile himself to the holy See The only Project that was ever set on foot after the breach for reconciling England to the Court of Rome was almost two years before this upon Anne Bullens fall for then the Pope proposed it to Cassali that had been the Kings Ambassador at Rome but the King rejected it with so much scorn that in his next Parliament he past two Laws against all commerce with that Court severer than any of the former 2. There was no need of asking an Act of Parliament for annulling the Kings Marriage with Anne Bullen and for illegitimating the Issue for that was already done upon a confession of a Pre-contract that was drawn from her of which it is plain Mr. Varillas knew nothing tho it is in our Statute Books and these were then printed both in French and English 3. It does not appear that there was ever the least motion of a Marriage between King Henry and Margaret of France muchless that it was believ'd concluded 4. Our Author does not observe the decency of the Cardinals pressing the Pope to severity when he expressed it by his Revenging the contempt put upon the Purple It must be confessed that this is too haughty a stile for him that pretends to be the Vicar of Christ the language of Revenge does not agree with the Meekness of the Lamb of God 5. But if he makes the Cardinals speak
he begins here with the pretended Sentence against Latimer Bishop of Vigorne and Scherton Bishop of Sarisbery who were as he says not only degraded but condemned to perpetual Imprisonment for having spoke somewhat against the six Articles 1. It is perhaps to descend too low to tell him that he ought to have named those Sees Worcester and Salisbury and that the latter of those Bishops was not Scherton but Shaxton for the marking such small faults looks like a want of more material ones 2. These two Bishops were never degraded but of their own accord they resigned their Bishopricks within three days after the Act of the six Articles had passed and it was some time after that before they were put in prison upon an Accusation relating to the six Articles and not for Latimer's having eat meat on a Good Fryday as our Author reports it in another place having forgot what he had said here For it is a very hard thing to remember Lies especially when the number of them is so excessively great XVI Upon Wolsey ' s fall he tells us that the King cast his eyes upon Thomas Cromwel to be his chief Minister who was a Gentleman of quality upon which he tells us that the Family of the Cromwels was very Antient and had already produced some that had been raised to the Chief Imployments in the State and so he goes on to make a Parallel between the late Protector and King Henry's Minister only he will not in this place examin whether the one descended from the other or not One would wonder how it falls out that Mr. Varillas is so constantly mistaken even in the most obvious matters There is not one that writ in that time on those Affairs that does not take notice of the meanness of Cromwel's birth for his Father was a Black-smith and his base extraction is particularly mentioned in the Act that condemned him 2. He is the first of his name that is spoken of in our Story for the Family was so far from being antient that it was not known before him 3. Oliver Cromwel was no way related to him and indeed not so much as by being originally of that name being descended from an Antient Family in Wales of the Ap William's at this time the Welchmen beginning to take Sirnames who before went only by the name of some Eminent man among their Ancestors with the Addition of Ap before it this Ap Williams having received great Obligations from Cromwel he made choice of his name 4. Our Author says true here that Cromwel succeeded Wolsey in the chief Ministry but yet he contradicts himself for he had said elsewhere that by Anne Bullens means Cranmer was raised at this time to the Dignity of being the first Minister but he grows old and it seems his Memory decays all the rest of his Character of Cromwel and the projects that he puts in his head are a continuation of the Romance XVII Mr. Varillas will here rise above the Vulgar and give a representation of the state of the Monasteries in England he tells us They had acquired the property of two thirds of the Kingdom and among the other effects of the power of the Clergy he mentions this that the Popes had many officers in England for levying the Peterpence who had such an Influence over the Clergy that they had the main stroak in our Parliaments by which means it was that tho the King of England was as to the outward appearance Master of his Kingdom yet in effect he was far from it and that as King Henry had a mind to 〈◊〉 off this yoke so Cromwel suggested to him the method in which it might be done and among other things â—â—nce the chief resistance that the Crown had met with in Parliament had always come from the Monks he propos'd to the King the seising on their Revenues One would think that Mr. Varillas had intended to prepare an Apology for King Henry's seising on the Abbey Lands for if they had two thirds of the Kingdom if they were influenced by Italian Ministers and if they had always opposed the designs of the Crown in Parliament here were very powerful reasons for suppressing them 2. It is generally believed that the Abbey Lands might be one third of England but no body ever carried the estimate of their wealth to so invidious a height before Mr. Varillas as to imagin that they were Masters of two thirds of the Nation And as for that Interest that he pretends that some Italians have had in them and the Opposition that they gave the Crown in Parliament these are either Fictions of his own or of some Author as bad as himself if any such can be found In the times of King Iohn and of his Son Henry the Third the Italians oppressed England severely but they were far from doing it by the Interest they had among the Monasteries for it appears by Matthew Paris how much they complained of that Tyranny which was in a great measure repressed when England came to have Kings who had more spirit so that Edward the first and Edward the third made such effectual Laws that after their time we find no evidences of any great stroke that Italian Officers had in England XVIII He represents the dissolution of the Monasteries as carried on by a Project of Cromwels who got a great party among the Monks to sign a Petition to the King for which he cites on the Margin the expositive or Preamble of it in which they set forth their real unhappiness tho they seemed to be happy that they could not bear the hardness of their condition and therefore they implored the King's Favour that they might live as other Englishmen free from the constraint of Vows and the Tyranny of the Court of Rome and they added that if the King would grant this Petition they prayed him to accept a free Surrender of all their Goods and Lands This he says was sent from House to House and it was looked on as the Master-piece of the Reformation Mr. Varillas has a mind to demonstrate to all the World that he knows nothing of English Affairs For 1. there was never any such Petition made 2. I have published almost three hundred of the Surrendess of which the Original Deeds are yet extant and these were all of one form but were not in one writing as he dreams the Preamble of all is the same That they have deliberatly of certain knowledg and of their own proper motion and for some just and reasonable Causes that did especially move their Souls and Consciences freely and of their own accord given and granted to the King c. 3. It is plain our Author knew nothing of the General Visitation that was made of all the Monasteries of England and of the Discoveries that were made of the most horrid of all Vices that God had punished with Fire and Brimstone from
he made Cromwel Great Chamberlain and created him Earl of Essex and made his Son a Lord. But this is so false that the King from the time he saw Anne of Cleve had an aversion for her and intended once to have sent her away without Marrying her and after he had married her he told Cromwel how much he disliked her and that he believed She was no Maid and that her person was loathsom so that he believed he should never be able to consummate the Marriage so that Cromwel had rather reason to apprehend that this proving so unhappy it would be his Ruin He was not made Earl of Essex till the April following so that as this Marriage was too unlucky to do him any service it seems it did not hurt him much neither XXII He shews us how well he understands our Constitutions when he says That the Subsidy granted the King was a Tenth and the Fourth part of a fifteenth whereas it was a Tenth and Four Fifteenths XXIII He says That Cromwel having met with some Opposition by three members of Parliament who were the Bishop of Chichester Dr. Wilson and Frammer a Merchant he charged some false Crimes on them and put them in prison but he proceeded more severely against John Nevil Knight of the Garter for he subordned false Witnesses against him so that he was beheaded 1. The Bishop of Chichester comply'd with every thing that was done in Parliament as appears by the Journal of the House of Lords but some Correspondence that he held with the Court of Rome being discovered about this time he was put in prison but upon his submission he was set at Liberty 2. Wilson being a Clergy-man could not be of the House of Commons and he was no Bishop so that he could not be a Member of either House but he was clapt up as a Compsice of the Bishop of Chichester's and likewise set at liberty with him Frammer is not named there is indeed one Grunceter a Merchant named who was condemned of Treason a year before this 3. There was one Sr. Edward Nevil a Knight tho not of the Garter who was indeed condemned and executed a year before this but it was for being in a Confederacy with Cardinal Pool and more particularly for having said that the King was a Beast and worst than a Beast God only knows whether the Witnesses swore true or false against him XXIV He tells us That Câ—omwel to fill up the measure of his Iniquities got a Law to be made by which he might easily dispatch all those who should oppose his Designs which was that any man condemned in absence without being heard to justify himself either in person or by proxy should be esteemed as justly condemned as if it had been done in the common form Here is indeed the great blemish of of King Henry's Reign and of Cromwel's Ministry but it is told in such a manner by Mr. Varillas that it appears to be no extraordinary thing as he relates it 1. There was no Law made about this it was only practised by the Parliament as the Legislative Body without giving the common Courts of Judicature the power of using it 2. The Condemning men in Absence has been always practised by our Law when the Absence was wilful and if Mr. Varillas accuses the putting men to death upon such a Sentence it may probably be supposed to be an effect of his aversion to the King of England and put here on design to aggravate the Execution of Sr. Thomas Armstrong and the Duke of Monmouth who were the two last that suffered being condemned in absence 3. The Heinousness of this matter which our Author shews he understood not consists in this that men who were in prison were condemned upon the examination of Witnesses against them without confronting them with their Witnesses or bringing them to answer for themselves now tho this was taken from the Holy Courts of Inquisition and was only put in practise by the Parliament it self yet I will not go about to soften much less to justify a practice so contrary to the most Indispensable Rules of Equity and Morality XXV He says K. Henry being sooner disgusted at Anne of Cleve than he had been of his other Wives dissolved the Marriage for two reasons the one was that she was Incapable of having children and the other was her Heresy to which the English Writers that favour Henry add two others the one that those of the League of Smalcald would not receive the English into their Vnion and the other that K. Henry's Interests were then changed to these four reasons he adds a fifth that She had not that engaging Temper that was necessary to charm Henry 1. It is a strange thing to see an Historian mistake every thing and that there should not be one single part of his work sound The sentence annulling the K's Marriage with Anne of Cleve is printed according to the Record yet extant in which as there is not one of all the reasons mentioned by Mr. Varillas so there are other Reasons that would have given him much better grounds to have censured this Action than those he sets up chiefly the second which is that K. Henry had not given an inward clear perfect and entire consent to the Marriage which I had laid open with the Indignation that so unjust a practice ought to raise in an Historian since here a ground was laid down by which all Faith and Commerce among men is quite destroyed so ill instructed was Mr. Varillas that tho he had a mind to write a Satyr against K. Henry he did not know where to take the true Advantages that a man better Informed would have found if he writes Panegyricks as he does Satyrs Mr. Varillas will still be Mr. Varillas XXVI He pretends that Cromwell would not so far comply with the King's aversion to Anne of Cleves as to concur with him in the Divorce which drew on him his Ruin His testimony was the fullest proof that the King made use of for obtaining the Divoce but whether he consented to it or not it cannot be known if he refused to do it he was so much the worthier man XXVII He tells us a long story of the different Interests to which K. Henry was leaning at last he says that Cromwellsigned a League in the Kings name with the German Princes which some say he did without the Kings knowledge thâ— others say the contrary upon which the Emperours Ambassadours reproached the King with it but the King denying it the discovery was made and after a dressing up of the scene with more of his Visions it ends in this That Cromwell was put in Prison yet he hoped to have justified himself for this Treaty if he had been brought to make his Defence but many other things besides this were laid to his charge and the Law that he had procured to be passed three moneths before this of
condemning men without hearing them was applied to himself so he was condemned and executed the 6. of Iuly his body being cut up as is usual to Traitors and Quartered And to justify all this he cites on the margin Cromwells Process But that Process or rather the Act of Parliament that condemned him is in print taken from the Record in which there is not one word of all this business of signing a League with Forreign Princes without the Kings orders 2. No such thing can be done according to our forms Amhassadours that have formal powers can sign Leagues but the Ministers about the King cannot bind him nor sign Leagues without him and no Prince would have either asked or accepted any such thing 3. All that is objected to Cromwell in his condemnation is so Inconsiderable that it is plain there was no great matter against him some Malversations and illegal Warrants some high boasting words is all that is to be found in his Attaindor 4. There was no such Law ever made for Parliaments do not make Laws with relation to their own proceedings but this practice was indeed begun not three moneths but a full year before this 5. Mr. Varillas is incurable in his venturing upon Dates for Cromwels Execution was not on the 6. but on the 18. of Iuly 6. Cromwel was only beheaded it is true the Hangman did it in a butcherly manner but all the rest is fiction and I am not much concerned whether Florimond or Mr. Varillas is the Contriver XXVIII He says Anne of Cleves was terrified with a Sentence of Death as being a Heretick and that She was so far wrought on by that as to become the Chief Instrument of her own Degradation for She confessed that She had promised Marriage to another before King Henry had pretended to her upon which her Marriage was dissolved and She was sent back to Germany I have already shewed the falsehood of this from the Sentence it self that dissolved the Marriage Nor did She ever go back to Germany but stayd still in England being contented with the appointments that were set off for her and with the honour of being made the King's adopted Sister which it seems was more supportable to her than to return to her own Countrey with the Infamy of such a Degradation which she indeed bore either with the constancy of a great Philosopher or with the insensibility of one that was extreamly stupid XXIX He tells us of a new project of a Reconciliation with the Pope in which he is so particular as to set down the Articles that were proposed and King Henry's Exceptions to them and he tells us at last That King Henry stood so much on the point of Honour that he thought it below his Dignity to make any Submission to the Pope All this is Fiction without the least proof for it does not appear that after that proposition that was made upon Anne Bullen's fall there was ever the least step made by either side in this matter Our Author had heard there was one made but not knowing where to place it his fancy rambled about Indeed the King was so much alienated from the Court of Rome that Gardiner and Knevet being sent Ambassadours to the Diet at this time one discovered to Knevet some secret Enterviews that had passed between Gardiner and the Legate which Gardiner considered as so great an Injury to him and as that which must have ruined him in the Kings spirit that he prosecuted the Informer as a Slanderer and got him to be put in Prison concerning which his Letters to the King are in print which shew clearly that there was no such Negotiation at this time on foot otherwise those secret Enterviews could not have been such offensive things XXX Mr. Varillas says That the K. who would not submit himself so far as to confess his Sins did a much meaner thing for he accused his Queen Katherine Howard to the Parliament for her disorders both before and after her Marriage with Thomas Culper and Francis Dirham and so her Head was cut off There are few Writers that do not at some time or other tell things true but Mr. Varillas must needs be an extraordinary person and commit such Errors as no other man ever did before him Catherine Howard's Incontinence was discovered and proved many moneths before the Parliament met nor would the King at all appear in the business as it is expresly mentioned in the Record It were too great an Honour to our Author to insist on such small Faults as that he names the Persons wrong XXXI Nor ought I to make any great Account of his Ignorance of our English Families since he calls Catherine Parre Sister to the Earl of Essex who was Sister to the Marquis of Northampton these things might indeed be forgiven him if it were not that he sets them down to shew how well he is informed even in the smallest matters which no doubt will make some Impression on Strangers who do not know our Affairs nor our Pedigrees XXXII He reproaches the Emperour for making a League with Henry against Francis notwithstanding his Schism But why might not Charles the fifth do the same thing that Francis had done for seven years together It is known that Francis was not so scrupulous as to decline the making of any League that might be to his Advantage not only with Schismaticks but even with Mahometans and some have been so malicious as to say that this is a maxim that some of his Successors have thought fit to keep up and put in practise against the House of Austria XXXIII Mr. Varillas tells us That Richer was appointed to set on the King of Denmark against England and that he represented to him that King Henry had taken occasion to come over to Picardy at the same time that Charles the fifth entred into Champaigne with a formidable Army and that K. Henry had besieged Bulloigne and tahen it therefore the K. of France resolved to make England the scene of the War and that since he knew the great pretensions that the Crown of Denmark had upon England which his Subjects had formerly conquered he thought the present conjuncture proper for the renewing these so he invited him to share with him and to accept the Provinces that lay over against Denmark while the French King should seise on those that lay nearer him Now it is to be considered that this was in the year 1542. as he warns us by his Margin and all this is founded as he told us in his Preface on Richers Negotiation of whose Relation he makes so great an account telling us both that he was the first that negotiated according to form with the Kings of the North and owning that he had drawn his thirteenth Book out of his Memoirs in which there are some things that by the order of time had belonged to his fifth Book but he had not seen those
our Author had known the Story better he should have valued them as Confessors for tho they comply'd in a great many things yet it appers that they were still true to their old perswasions upon which they fell in trouble and were not only turned out illegally but kept in prison for several years till Queen Mary set them at liberty XLVII He says that King Henry had ordered the Bible to be printed correctly and that he had put with it Erasmus's last Paraphrase on the New Testament but the Duke of Somerset found this Translation did not agree so well with the Doctrine of the Sacramentary's so he ordered a new Translation to be made that was more favorable to their figurative expressions At which the Pressâ—s wrought so long till there was not only a sufficient number of Copies printed off for all the Parish Churches but likewise for all that could read There was no new Translation of the Bible thought on during this reign for that was done in Queen Elisabeth's time so that King Henry's continued all this Reign Nor had King Henry put Erasmus's Paraphrase either with the Bible or in the Churches for that was done by the Duke of Somerset and Gardiners Letters to him are yet extant and in print complaining of that Paraphrase in a great many particulars So constantly mistaken is our Auâ—hor even in matters concerning which it had been easy for him to have found better Information XLVIII Mr. Varillas tells us that the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of Chester Mena and Sadore comply'd outwardly as Sacramentaries but lived in the secret practice of the Catholick Religion Somerset was informed of this so he ordered some to tell them that they were the only Prelates of England that were opposite to the publick Religion and therefore the King desired to be satisfied in that matter so the tryal that was required of them was that they should marry which tho it was somewhat uneasy to men past threescore yet they comply'd even in this and Somerset having by this means rendred them very contemptible did not only banish them but put them in prison and he treated other Bishops in the same manner for their defending the Catholick Religion in full Parliament tho they had done it very feebly 1. I find Mr. Varillas is as Ignorant in Geography as he is in Chronology for among all the Bishopricks of England he will neither find Mena nor Sadore 2. There is indeed an Island that lyes between England and Ireland that is a Soveraignty belonging to the Earl of Derby But the Island is Man or in Latin Mona but was never called Mena. In this Island there is a Bishop who is called Bishop of Man but he writes it in Latin Sodore so this is wrong put by Mr. Varillas Sadore yet these may be faults of the press but the making two Bishopricks out of one and the making this Bishop subject to the King of England and receiving Orders from the Protector are Faults that he cannot turn over upon his Compositor 3. It does not appear that either the Archbishop of York or the Bishop of Chester did ever oppose any thing in Parliament for tho many of the other Bishops voted against the changes that were made in matters of Religion as appears by the Journals of the House of Lords yet these two concurred in every thing and all Henry's time Holgate was considered still as one united to Cranmer and he was by his Interest raised to the See of York as for the Bishop of Chester I confess I know no particulars 4. It is true that they were both married for I found a Commission issued out by Queen Mary for turning them out because of their Marriage but it is certain that they were neither in disgrace nor in prison all King Edwards Reign for the Archbishop of York was all this while in High Favour 5. England is not a Countrey in which the displeasure of a Regent or even Letters under the Cachet can either banish or imprison men chiefly when that is founded only on some suspitions No it is a Countrey governed by Law but it seems Mr. Varillas had his head full of somewhat nearer him when he writ this XLIX He sets out the Constancy of Queen Mary during her Brothers Reign and that She continued firm in the Religion of her Ancestors that tho Somerset brought the Italian Divines Martyr and Ochin to her to convince her She answered all their Objections with great vigor She spoke stoutly to Somerset She interrupted the Privy Councellours when they spoke to her of those matters and She would â—ever hear any of their Sermons but one only In short that she threatned those that threatned her and told them a time would come in which they should answer for that Her constancy was such that at last Somerset desired only that she would at least shut her Chappel doors when Mass was said but even in that she satisfied him as little as in other things Here are so many lovely strokes that it is a great Pity they are all false 1. Some Letters past between the Protector and her that are in print but it does not appear that ever he spoke to her upon this subject 2. She never pretended to be of the Religion of her Ancestors but by all her Letters she declared she was of the Religion that her Father had setled and she always insisted on his Laws pretending that in a Minority they could not be altered 3. She spoke French well and understood Latin but she could neither speak Italian nor Latin so she could have no conversations neither with P. Martyr nor Ochin nor is this named among all the Letters that were writ concerning this business 4. She would never hear any one Sermon so here the Character was as much slackened as it was raised in the other parts of this paragraph For when Bishop Ridley went to her and offered to preach before her she told him plainly that she would never hear any one of them 5. The Princess was too discreet to threaten her Brothers Ministers or to talk of a time in which they might be called to an account for what they did for such Language never comes from Collateral Heirs unless they are extream indiscreet 6. The great dispute with the Princess fell out after Somerset's disgrace and was chiefly set on by the King her Brother who could hardly be prevailed with by the Privy Conncil to consent to her having Mass still said in her Chappel and after he had talked with her himself upon that matter he sets down these words concerning the Resolution that was taken in his Journal The Bishops of Canterbury London Rochester did consider to give licence to sin was sin to suffer and wink at it for a time might be born so all hast possible might be used L. He says There was no appearance that King Edward could live till he should be of Age
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