been ever so nobly born The Dowager of France that was King Henry's Sister had none of those considerations for hiding her Marriage with Brandon and the other Sister the Queen Dowager of Scotland had no reason at all to hide her Marriage for she made it to secure her in the Government Dowglas Earl of Angus being then the greatest Subject in the Nation so the keeping this Marriage with Tudor secret does not at all prove that He was no Gentleman 6. But Mr. Varillas does not pretend to answer the main thing that I laid to his charge which was that he speaks of the Tudor that married into the Family of the Plantagenets as a mean man when he was the Kings uterine Brother so that I shewed that when he writ his History he knew nothing of that Marriage since it is not to be imagined that any man who knew it could pretend to reckon up the Race of the Tudors without mentioning its chief Dignity 7. If I had thought so slight a fault which Mr. Varillas magnifies so much in me of calling a Great-grand-mother a Grand-mother worth mentioning here I have proved him guilty of it for he calls the Tudor that married the Plantagenet Great-grand-father to King Henry the VIII whereas he was only his Grand-father 8. He tells us in his Justifying the Succession of Bastards that the Rank of the King's Bastard was much higher than Owen Tudors was but tho the French have so far flattered the Lewdness of their Kings as to esteem their Bastards Princes born yet in England they have no Rank at all till the King gives them a Title and then their Rank is only according to the degree and the date of their Creation VI. He confess here the very words that I cited out of him and yet he pretends that I had accused him falsely But that he may have some colour for this he charges on me words that are not in my Reflections He had said The four principal Cantons had suffered themselves to be seduced in less than a year whereas this was ten years work and now he thinks to save this by saying that a great part was abused in less than a year but even this belonged only to Zurich whereas he had said that the four Cantons suffered themselves to be seduced besides that what he speaks thus of the Cantons in general cannot be meant of some Individuals but must be understood of the Magistracy and yet now he confesses that they were ten years a considering this matter before it was generally received by the Government to whom only the name of the Cantons belongs and as the Bigness of the Town of Basil does not hinder its being one of the little Cantons so the pensions that France might pay an Age ago to Schaffhouse will never change its rank among them nor does he say a word to justify his Mustring up of the seven Popish Cantons among the small ones or his raising Appensel and Glaris to be among the middlesised VII Here he remembers me of my Fault of having said That his way of writing wanted none of the Beauties of History except that of Truth which he thus repeats according to his ordinary sincerity that I my self had avowed that he wanted none of the Qualities proper for writing History without putting in my exception of that of truth that even by this citation he might justify my accusing him of want of truth but he tells us that by his Copyers fault his Preface to his third Book was lost so he was forced to make that up the best he could and then he comforts himself with his meditation that the Books of Authors are subject to Fortune as well as other human things but I was not bound to know the secrets that past between him and his Copyer no more than I am bound now to believe what he says of it The Books of Authors are subject to Fortune for by a great chance his were once in some esteem but as we say of the Dead that they are beyond the reach of Fortune so his Books very likely may be soon exempted from Fortune in that sense In short he seems to confess that the Preamble he sets before Luthers affair is Impertinent and I said no more of it VIII He gives me an Advice how I should have begun my History With the Indignation that the English Nation had to the Papacy ever since King John had subjected his Crown to the Holy See and had established the Peterpence that this was encreased because a Pope had made them lose Guienne by binding one of their Kings to levy the tenths on the Church Lands that King Henry the Eighth's lewdness gave him a great byas to schism which he pursues in a full career and repeats those Absurd Calumnies concerning Anne Bullen which I had to copiously refuted and at last he adds That King Henry raised mean persons to great Imployments that these by the Laws and Government of England could not enrich themselves but moderatly and in many years and therefore since they resolved they would be rich all of the sudden they saw they must do it at the Churches cost I do not wonder that Mr. Varillas should advise me to have made up a Preface in this manner that so I might write in his own way but I think I have sufficiently convinced him that I have not such an esteem of him as to be much inclined to follow his Councel 1. It was King Ina and not King John that setled the Peter-pence 2. K. John's Action was a personal Baseness in him which did not at all affect the Kingdom so that there was scarce any notice taken of that meanness of his unless it was to make him that was guilty of it contemptible for a King of England can neither alienate nor subject his Crown to any forreign power 3. What he says of Guienne seems to be one of his Discoveries for it is not mentioned by any of our Historians that I know of 4. At the time that Guienne was lost the Popes by residding at Avignon and being considered as in the power of France had so little credit in England that as there were many Laws made all that while against the Papal Pretensions so a Bull at that time could not have been so much as executed in England without the Kings leave much less could it have obstructed the Subsidies levied upon the Clergy 5. He understands the Interest of England as little as he does other things that fancies the Nation was much troubled for the loss of Guienne which lay at so great a distance and was defended at so vast a charge that the Nation that received no profit by it in an Age in which there was little trade was glad of getting out of this necessity of giving the King so many Subsidies If he had apply'd that which he says of Guienne to Normandy it had been more pertinent but Mr. Varillas is as
wanting in Judgment as he is fruitful in invention 6. He ought not to awaken the Memory of the pretensions that England has upon Guienne for if the Rights of Crowns are so sacred that no prescription cuts them off and that no Treaties can alienate them a time may come when a Chamber may be set up at Westminster as well as we have seen one at Metz to examine the pretensions of the Crown of England to Guienne which will be found less ancient and better made out than some that have been carried up to King Dagobert 7. But I would gladly know what Law of England has prescribed the measure and the number of years in which the Kings Ministers may enrich themselves but Mr. Varillas has found out Laws that we have not as he is ignorant of those we have and now I think I have given him good Reasons why I do not think fit to follow his Advice in the making of Prefaces IX He is so much in love with his Maxim concerning the Slavery to which he fancies Religion carries men in not suffering them to examin whether what they say is true or false that he repeats it twice so copiously that he bestows ten lines upon it in every one of these two pages 2. He cites a famous Calvinist that commended him for his sincerity in setting forth the handsome Actions of those of that party and who owned that he had not seen any of his side commend those of the other party with the like sincerity but since I give so little credit to Mr. Varillas's Citations even when he names all particulars he cannot expect that I will consider this much 3. But what sincerity soever he might have affected in his History of Charles the ninth which he did perhaps to gain him some Reputation that he might be the less inspected in what should come afterwards I am sure no Calvinist will make him great Complements for the future 4. Mr. Varillas's Defence of his Theory of the power of Religion is wonderful he says It seems I thought he meant only that true Religion had this power over the conscience whereas he is convinced by experience that false Religions have as much power over mens minds as the true has If Mr. Varillas were not of so singular a composition as he is the excuse that he ought to have made was that he only meant of false Religions or of mens Perswasions in matters of Religion but to say that Religion does this and now to own so plainly that the true Religion does it as well as false ones is an expression that is so contrary to all Religion that I do not see how Mr. Coquelin can answer to the Faculty for his licensing such a Book for tho the good man is utterly unacquainted with Historical matters yet he seems to have read Tertullian and he ought to understand a little Divinity now tho his competence in that is probably very small as appears by his way of treating me yet even the Catechism will inform him that true Religion instead of making us unconcerned in what we write whether it is true or false binds us to the greatest strictness of Truth 5. His second Excuse is of the same force He says that according to the Principles of the Catholick Religion after the Authority of the Church is once interposed there is no need of any ones troubling himself whether what She decrees is true or false since the Decision must certainly be true But the occasion that led Mr. Varillas to deliver this wonderful Apothegme was concerning Historical Matters of Fact in which Points of Doctrine are not concerned except he will conclude that when one is assured in Matters of Doctrine he may support them with lyes which he has indeed taken care to do even to a degree of Supererogation and after all it is to be reckoned among the Sublimes of Mr. Varillas that he expresses the assurance of the Infallibility of the Church by saying that one does not trouble himself to examin whether what She decrees is true or false If then this is the sense of his words they cannot belong to those Religions that do not own that Infallibility so that in short the Priviledge of not considering whether what one says is true or false belongs only to Roman Catholicks in which we have no reason to pretend to a share And if this is the Priviledge of Catholcisk Mr. Varillas must be concluded the truest Catholick in the world so never man used it in its full extent as he has done X. What he says of my History's being so partial is a Reproach that he does not confirm by any one Instance and I hope he does not expect that I will believe this upon his word He says if Mr. Maimbourg had lived five or six moneths he had finished his confutation of my Book But if it was so near being compleated I wonder that Mr. Varillas could not hear of any one of my many Errors which had been a more Important thing than the putting a Grand-mother for a Great Grand-mother or an Isabel for a Margaret He also tells me that it will not be impossible for him to prove either that the Papers that I have printed are not true or that the Copies of some of them that are in the Kings Library are defective This last is so important to me that the very apprehensions of the Discovery should make me dye of fear Certainly Mr. Varillas has no Friends that review what he writes otherwise tho he himself is very capable of writing extravagantly yet they could not let such things pass for it seems Mr. Coquelins Judgment is of the same sise with his own XI He threatens me again with a Conviction that shall be stronger than I look for I confess if any thing that is strong comes from his Pen it will be stronger than I look for But some one Instance had been stronger than so many Threatnings but he added here a little sprinkking of sincerity for he confesses ingenuously that tho he read all the Kings Manuscripts that were then in the Duke of Orleans's hands and were communicated to him by the late Mr. de Bethune yet he has drawn no part of his History out of them but out of the Authors that he has cited and is to cite in this Answer I assure him I believe one part of this Period that for all his pretending to have founded his History on Cardinal de Bellay's Letters he has drawn nothing of it out of good Papers for then it would have been quite different from what it is but I do not believe that he read them all over for how weak soever he may be yet his weakness cannot go so far as to make him fancy that a Florimond was a better Warrant for his History than Original Papers XII Mr. Varillas will still pretend to build on Cardinal de Bellay's Letters which he says were communicated to him
because he had it seems one of Mr. Varillas's Artifices of citing boldly Papers that never were and so cites those of Cardinal Campege Mr. Varillas upbraids me with my not having seen them but I believe both their Citations alike I have indeed printed a long Letter of that Cardinals writ to the Pope in conjunction with Cardinal Wolsey while he was in England in which he asserts the Justice of the Kings cause and presses him to give Sentence in his favour he assures the Pope that nothing but Conscience moved the King in the matter and in short says all that even Mr. Varillas would have said if he had been animated with the prospect of a good Pension XXXIII He says I contradict my self in denying that the K. of Scotland sought the Daughter of Henry the Eighth confessing it afterwards I denied only that the Father had ever sought it since he was dead before she was born and here Mr. Varillas has the confidence to deny all that long Scheme that he had given of the project that the King of Scotland had set on for his Son so that the Imposture of suppressing his Text with which he charges me lies on his side and he leaves out all that he had said of the Machines that the King of Scotland was managing for his Son the Prince who was no other than King Iames the Fifth so the King must be King Iames the Fourth his Father and for that which he says of King Iames the Fifths going with an Army to France it fell out many years after this so it could not be the Reason that made King Henry deny his Daughter to the King of Scotland it being long after even the year 1533. after which time he owns that he does not say that the King of Scotland pretended to her and whereas he pretends that he only said that the Scots had pressed the Marriage that is one of his common practices to which I will not give the name that it deserves for he had expresly named both the King and the Prince who he said asked her with all the Submissions that were compatible with the Dignity of Soveraigns whereas as the one was dead before she was born and the other was an Infant at that time His Discourse of the Design of Uniting the whole Island into one Monarchy and his taking a start over into Spain is one of his Impertinencies to which he fly's to cover his shame and the Contradiction with which he charges me before he ends this Article is worthy of him He says I own that King Henry was Master of his Parliament and yet I denied that his Government was Tyrannical I never denied this last on the contrary I have set it out as fully as was necessary but tho I had denied it the saying that he was the Master of his Parliaments is so far from being a Contradiction to that that it agrees exactly with it Queen Elisabeth was always the Mistress of her Parliaments tho guilty of no Tyranny and it was because she was not Tyrant but governed well that she was the Mistress both of her Peoples Hearts and Purses and likewise of her Parliaments so the Triumph that he makes upon this Contradiction which he says the most able Sophister of Europe will not be able to set to rights turns upon himself XXXIV He pretends to justify his Impertinence in reckoning the Emperour and the King of Spain as two of the Pretenders to Queen Mary by saying that Charles the fifth was for three years King of Spain before he was chosen Emperour and that during all that time he pretended to her but tho he cites his Florimond here yet he finds no such thing in him so that here the Eccho does not repeat but speaks of it self and as he cannot give the least shadow of proof for this confident Assertion of his so he himself contradicts it in his own words which he cites afterwards in which he had said that the Emperour was the second that pretended to this Princess so then he was not only King of Spain but already Emperour when he began that pretension All the digression that he makes concerning Charles the fifth is a continued Impertinence to hide his Shame the only thing he had to do was to prove that he began that pretension while he was no more than King of Spain 2. he trys how Raillery will do with him because I had only named Arragon and Castile instead of the many other Kingdoms that lie within Spain but he is equally sublime both in his Ridicule and his serious strains for since the conjunction of all these Titles rise out of the Marriage between Arragon and Castile I writ correctly in naming these two only instead of all the rest that lay in Spain XXXV Our Author will still justify what he had said concerning K. Henry's rejecting the match with Scotland because the King of Scotland had declared himself for France during the last War in which K. Henry had been engaged with Francis now it is to be considered that all the propositions for Queen Mary that our Author sets forth fell out before the year 1527 in which the sute of the Divorce was begun for after that time none courted her as he himself confesses therefore this War between England and France in which Scotland took part with the latter and for which the King lost his Unkles favour must be before that time since then there had been no war between France and England in which Scotland took part after that battel of Floddon in which K. Iames the Fourth was killed and after which during the interval between the year 1513. and the year 1527. which is the only time in debate nor indeed for many years after it all this is an ill-laid fiction which destroys it self so what K. Iames the fifth might do ten years after the year 1527. cannot be brought to excuse that which had been given for a reason of K. Henry's rejecting him before that year XXXVI He accuses me for denying in one place that the Emperour pretended next and yet afterwards confessing it but I only excepted to this because he says the Emperour pretended the second after the K. of Scotland whereas I shew that the Dolphin was the first that pretended and by the Contract for that Marriage which is yet extant it appears that his dream of Charles's pretending to her while he was yet King of Spain is not only without ground but is a downright falsehood for that contract bears date the ninth of November 1518. so that during this Interval in which Charles was only King of Spain she was promised to another 2. Whereas I had discovered his Ignorance of those Transactions by this that he knew nothing of Charles the fifth's coming to England in Person to contract this Marriage he tells me that he had writ of this in his History of Francis the first where he had
least amiss and indeed this is all the praise that can belong to any part of his Books for tho all that is in them is amiss yet some parts are less amiss than others And is roving about Political projects are certainly less amiss than his plain and impudent Falsehoods XX. I had accused Mr. Varillas for saying that all England witout excepting any one person professed the same Religion under Henry the Seventh and I shewed him that the putting this so generally must be false since in the second year of Henry the Eighth's reign there were a great many condemned of Heresy he pretends to excuse this since the Spaniards boast that Heresy never past the Pyrenees tho many have suffered in the Inquisition for it But if any Spaniard had said that there was never so much as one Heretick in Spain I should have told him that he did not write exactly and because I press this no further than to shew by it that Mr. Varillas is a careless Writer and am willing to let it pass with a gentle censure because I had greater things to lay to his charge he according to his usual sincerity pretends that I acknowledged the weakness of the Objection and abandoned it XXI He pretends that I accuse him falsly for denying the consummation of P. Arthur's Marriage whereas he says he determined nothing positively concerning P. Arthur's Impotence But that was never the Question for it was never brought under debate whether he was impotent or not and that for which I had chiefly accused Mr. Varillas was that he affirmed that P. Arthur was then sick and not yet recovered out of a great disease this is all Fiction and is disproved by Witnesses upon Oath but he says not a word to justify this 2. Here the pretends to tell at what pains he was to examin the Affairs of England that he thought the English and Germans of both Religions might be too partial that the Italians were too short that Ribadeneira might be suspected because of his Orders and therefore he thought Florimond de Raimond the best Author to depend upon But if he had read Sanders alone he would have found that both his Florimond and his Ribadeneira was nothing but Sanders over and over again 3. He accuses me for making him say that P. Arthur died Seven moneths after the Marriage whereas he had said Five moneths But in my English it was five moneths so he has no reason to blame me for this since I am not bound to answer for a Translation and tho this was a good and exact Translation in which my meaning was not mistaken as it has been too often in a Translation of a late Book of my Letters concerning Italy yet so small a mistake was no great matter and in a thing of this nature Mr. Varillas ought to have got some who understand English to examin my Book in the Language in which I writ before he had aecused me of having put seven for five on design to deceive my Readers 4. He justifyes his false Citation of the Bull by the most exact of all those who have continued Baronius in whom the words he had cited are to be found But why then did he cite the third Tome of the Bullarium on his Margin and why did he not name this Writer and the place of his Book for such a way of citing especially in Mr. Varillas is very suspicious and if that Author does not set down the Bull it self but only delivers these words as his sense of them then this was like the rest of Mr. Varillas's Citations to give this on the Margin as drawn out of the Bull. 5. He pretends that there is no material difference between his Citation and mine But as it was enough for me to shew that the words he cited were not in the Bull so tho Mr. Varillas boasts in another place how much he has studied the Law yet I must take the Liberty to tell him that he has lost his time extreamly while he pursued that Study if he does not know a difference between a Confirmatory Clause which may have passed with less observation and what is set forth in a Preamble which being the ground upon which the grace is granted and set at the head of the Bull is of much more importance and was probably much better considered than any general Clause XXII He accuses me for having said That Henry the Eighth was educated as his Brother had been who knew only Latin and some general Elements of Learning and tells me how learned King Henry was It appears by my words that I spake only of his first Education and not of the Improvements that followed 2. He seems mightily concerned for the Memory of King Henry the Seventh as if by this affected Zeal he would make some reparations to the Royal Family for the Injuries he has endeavoured to do them but I will be so plain as to tell him roundly that Henry the Seventh weakned the Rights of the Crown of England more than any that ever reigned in it He knew that he could not found his Title on his Descent from the House of Lancaster for then he could never have been more than Prince of Wales since his Mother by whom he had that pretension out-lived him a year and he would not hold the Crown by his Queens Title for then the Right must have been in her and have passed from her to her Children upon her death or to her Sister if she hapned to dye without issue therefore he who would not hold the Crown upon such a doubtful tenure made that dangerous Law that whosoever is in possession of the Crown is to be acknowledged as the Legal King And if King Henry the Seventh had been so Wife a King as some Flatterers have made him he would never have suffered the Dutchy of Bretagne to have fallen in to the Crown of France it having been always considered that the preserving that in a separated Principality was one of the most indispensible Maxims of the English Policy yet he tho he made use of this as a pretence to ask Money of his Parliament to oppose it no sooner had the Money than he gave way to it for which it was believed that he had Money from France 3. He denies that learning wâ—s then esteemed among Princes and says that the Cardinal of Lorrain was the first Prince that valued himself upon his Learning But is it not known that Francis the First valued himself upon the protection that he gave to Learning and the Glory of the Houses of Est and Medici was not a little encreased by the care they took of learned men of which I could convince Mr. Varillas by his own Anecdotes if I were not ashamed to cite so bad an Author XXIII He reproaches me for my insupportable Ignorance in not knowing the difference between the Council and the Parliament of England and in great
Luther's and Calvin's ought to have been besides we of the Reformed Religion do not so absolutely reject all Tradition as not to accept of it according to the famous expression of Vincent of Lerins When the Tradition is Universal in all Times and in all Places LXIV He pretends to justify Cardinal de Bellay's words concerning the Zealous Catholicks as if by the Zealous were to be understood the False Zealots But this same expression without any such qualification returns so often in his third and fourth Tomes always indeed when he had occasion to speak of the Rebels in England that I have reason to believe that he adds this of False Zealots now because he dares not say otherwise when he is forced to explain himself but his hardiness in denying that the Sorbon in the time of the League or that Cardinal Perron in his Harangue to the third Estate did own that doctrine of deposing Heretical Princes is no surprise to me since it comes from him for I can assure him that I am past the being amased at his Ignorance or his Confidence either in asserting or denying If any Protestants have failed in their duty of their Princes it was not an effect of their Religion as it is in the Church of Romes it being decreed by a General Council that Popes may depose Heretical Princes and absolve their Subjects from their Allegeance So that Papists when they rebel act as good Papists whereas Protestants that rebel act against their Principles and as bad Protestants LXV Mr. Varillas appeals to all those who do him the honour to read this Book It is certain that those who read it do him more honour than they do themselves He says here that two years had passed after King Henry's Marriage with Anne Bullen when the Cardinal de Bellay was in England whereas it is clear that only one year had passed for she was married the 14. of November 1532. and the Cardinal de Bellay came to London in November 1533. but so small a fault as two years for one is inconsiderable and tho he had himself in his History said that she was married the 22. of November 1532. yet now when a turn was to be served by a bold denial he was more hardy than to stick either at contradicting himself or me but tho he will perhaps be easily reconciled to himself yet I am not so ready to forgive such faults He accuses me for having said That the Pope had sent a formal Assurance to the King that he would Judge in his Favour I cited for this in my History an Original Letter of the Archbishop of York's and of Tonstal Bishop of Duresm that affirm positively that the Pope had promised that he would judge for the King against the Queen if he would but send a Proxy to Rome because he knew his Cause was good just This and F. Paul's History of the Council of Trent are two such Authorities that I will forgive him every thing that he advances on such grounds He ends this Article with his ordinary stile of boasting his having read all the Original Letters of Cardinal de Bellay that are in Mr. de la Moignon's hands and I believe this as I do the rest of what the affirms LXVI He denies he had said that for which I had cited him concerning the passages into Italy being stopt by the Emperour's Garrisons and he hoped his Readers would believe him when they saw a Quotation of almost a Page out of him in which that is not to be found but he just begins his Quotation at the words that follow a whole Page that he had spent upon that for which I had cited him This is a Confidence in Disingenuity that never man that I know of assumed before himself and I beg the Readers to turn his Book here and examin this for by this one essay they may judge of his Sincerity It is in the 287. Page of the Edition of Amsterdam he begins to cite the last words of the Page and passes over the half of a Page that went before because it contained that which I had mentioned and which he here denies and says he never thought it and upon this single point I desire that his sincerity may be measured The comparing his History and my Reflections and his Answer in this particular will be no great trouble and I promise my self that most Readers will be so complaisant as to grant me this Favour for I cannot bring my self to submit to the labour of copying out so much impertinence LXVII He had set down Queen Catherine's death after the Session of Parliament so I reckoned that he intended to make his Reader believe that she died immediatly after now he owns that as I had accused him it was two year after the Parliament before the Queen died and he fancies to save all this because he had begun a linea but I am not bound to guess that a linea in his stile stands for two years all Historians carry on the series of time in their Narrations or if some remarkable Circumstances makes them at any time break it they warn their Reader of it and if warning is not given a Reader naturally reckons that the series goes on and that it is not discontinued by every a linea But he neglects the main point of this Article which is the false Date that he gives with his usual Confidence to that famous Session of Parliament that enacted the Breach between England and the See of Rome LXVIII He cites a whole Page out of his own History for he is here his own Eccho and tho every tittle of it is false he concludes it in these word Is there any thing here that deserves the least Censure But is there any Censure so severe as that he gives not here so much as his Florimond for his Garand So here again the Eccho speaks I had said that it is certain King Henry pretended not to have seen any thing that could any way disgrace Anne Bullen and he fancied I had said that he had owned this upon which he protests that he neither thought it said it nor writ it and that it could not be found in any page of his Books But I can assure him when I say it is certain I never think of him for his Authority and Certainty are the two things in the World that are the most opposite to one another in my thoughts I had denied that any thing had appeared in the Tilting at Greenwich but to prove the contrary of this he gives me two Arguments that are equally strong The one is that once at Naples something like this fell out and the other is Florimond's Authority and if I will not believe these two he leaves me to my Incredulity LXIX He says I shew a very good Opinion of my self if I expect to be believed in this point whether Anne Bullens Father was one of her
of the Narration makes me believe that Mr. Varillas denies this with the same sincerity that he affirms other things why did he call him a Gentleman without adding any other Description of his Quality for let him say what he will of the Honour of that Title yet all the world knows that when a man is upon such an occasion qualified barely as a Gentleman that it is understood that he has no higher rank nor any particular distinction and that which comes after this that by this Marriage the Queen grew contemptible to all her Subjects shews that even tho Simple were not to be found in the Paris Editions yet it must be understood But because Mr. Varillas will pretend to know the Scottish Story he offers to recriminate In short those who sent him that Story of my life have also furnished him with some Errors for which he charges me in such heinous terms as to call them Faults of vast importance which the meanest of all the little Schollars at Edinburgh would have avoided I ought to fall a trembling here for I know there would be no quarter for me if I fell into Mr. Varillas's hands yet all these dreadful words come only to this that she whom I called the Lord Darnley's Grandmother proves to be his Great Grandmother and that she whom I call Isabel was Margaret And are not these justly to be aggravated with such severity as to say that these were Faults of the grossest sort against the first Elements of the History of my Countrey I forgive Mr. Varillas for magnifying those mistakes since he can meet with no other and I do not find my self a whit troubled if writing in Holland where I had not the requisites of Books or Papers I did not carry the race of the Family of Lennox so exactly in my memory but that I might mistake so far as to call a Great Grandmother a Grandmother and there having been a famous Lady Isabel Dowglas if I mistook Isabel for Margaret this is no great matter But he charges me with a third because I said that the Branch of the Lennox's came out of the Family of the Stewards before the Crown came into it by Marriage whereas he tells me I should have said at the same time since the first of the Family of Lennox was Brother to him that married the Heir of the Crown If I had said long before he might have challenged me for it but the younger Brother being born before that Marriage and not being descended from it I used all necessary caution in my words my design being only to shew that the House of Lennox by the Paternal descent had no relation to the Crown after this our Author to make some reparation to the Royal Family reckons up the Honours that some Branches of the House of Lennox had in France as that they were Marquisses Counts of Aubigny Viceroys of Naples Admirals of Sicily and Mareshals of France tho to make up this Catalogue of honour the same man runs Charles the fifths fate to be subdivided into two or three Dignities But Mr. Varillas ought to know that the Dignity of the K. of England's birth is too great a thing to receive any addition by the Imployments that those of the Family of Lennox might have merited in France So mean a man as Mr. Varillas who has nothing in his thoughts but the smiles of Versailles fancies he gives a lustre to one of the greatest Kings in Europe when he says that some of his Family served in France which rather lessens his Race than exalts it As for his Impudence in putting the Crown of Scotland instead of the Crown of England and his making me say that the Lord Darnley might have been a dangerous competitor to Mary Queen of Scots for that Crown when not only my words but the whole series of the Discourse shews that I meant only of the Crown of England was already observed It will indeed bear a repetition for it is a remarkable instance of Mr. Varillas's sincerity and shews how safely the world may rely on his word He shews his Ignorance again in saying That his Marriage of the Queen of Scotland was the first cause of the change of Religion in Scotland The change of Religion was made before the Queen came out of France and so was setled some years before this Marriage and this was rather a step towards the subverting of the Religion then established since the Lord Darnley lived and died a Roman Catholick IV. What he says to shew that the greatness of Queen Maries spirit does not contradict the character that He gives of her is so poor that I will not examin it the subject is too tender to admit of it as well as what he says is too dull to deserve it V. He gives a long Citation of his own words by which it does not appear that I supprest any thing that needed to be told by me if this Book had been printed two years sooner than it was I should have believed that Mr. Varillas was in Pension to some body else than the King of England by the pains he is at to justify the putting a Bastard into the Succession of the Crown for I do not believe that at this time any body thinks him considerable enough to be corrupted 2. His alledging that I had accused him as if he had said that the King had composed whole Volums on this subject is another mark of his sincerity for it is visible I had said no such thing 3. The Proofs he brings to justify what he had said of the baseness of the Race of the Tudors from some Strangers and Harpsfield one of the worst of our Writers are not to be put in the ballance either with Polider Virgil's Testimony or the more Authentick Evidences that I had given particularly in my Appendix to which he says not a word 4. There is a great difference between saying that the Tudors were not Gentlemen and the denying that he was a fit match for a Queen-Dowager And tho Mr. de Courteney is perhaps of a higher degree of Nobility than I pretend that the Tudors are yet I believe he would be thought an unequal match to a Queen Dowager of France so tho the Tudors might perhaps drive up their pedigree to Cadwaller yet they had been for some Ages reckoned only as one of the best Families of Wâ—les and this puts an end to all that trifling of his when he pretends to argue against his Birth by saying that if he was so descended he was an equal Match to the Queen Dowager 5. There might be very good reasons that might make the Queen conceal her Marriage all that was possible even tho Tudor had been ever so good a Gentleman for she being a Queen-mother and having a Son newly born which gave the prospect of a long share in the Government she had reason to hide her Marrying a Gentleman had he
by Mr. du Puy he says he had two Negotiations in England and that the second did not relate to the Divorce but to the Reconciling King Henry to P. Clement and here he fills the Page with a needless Repetition of that matter And adds that he made use of that Cardinals Letters on that single occasion and for those dangers which he represents as if the Cardinal had set them before the King he says they are contained all in one Letter and that it was not strange if King Henry was disposed to reconcile himself to the Pope apprehending danger to his Person since Camdem reports that Queen Elisabeth could not bring her self to resolve on the Queen of Scots death but after she had said those terrible words Either she or I most perish And in conclusion he says that the Manuscripts that are in the Kings Library favour my History so little that he who would undertake to refute it Page by Page would find more than enough in Mr. de Bethunes Manuscripts alone 1. Mr. Varillas had done well to have named the first Negotiation of Cardinal de Bellay in England for the Books that he cites mention but one 2. The breach that the King made with the Pope being only founded on the divorce it cannot be said that this Negotiation did not relate to it 3. I refer the Readers to his Preface if they will be at the pains to take so ill a Book any more in their hands there they will find that he makes Cardinal de Bellay's Letters the Text of all that he writ of English Affairs 4. If that Discourse of the Cardinals with the King of the Dangers he might run of Rebellions and Assassinations be all contained in one single Letter Mr. Varillas had obliged the Publick more by printing it than by all the rest of this Book 5. If King Henry apprehended this the more shame for that Church that has authorised such Doctrines and such Practices and in which a Pope made a Panegyrick on one Assassinate Clement the Iesuites have Besainted another Garnet 6. If Mr. Varillas intends to justify Queen Elisabeth's Severity to the Queen of Scots he does very pertinently to alledge this for as Self-preservation works strongly on all men so it ought to make a greater Impression on Princes whose Live are of greater consequence and more in danger and if Queen Elisabeth had reason to say That either the one or the other must perish no body will wonder if she chose to let the fate fall on the Queen of Scots for in such an alternative one would not lose much time in the deliberation 7. As for his threatning me it is known that is the language of Cowards I am not affraid of him and I do not apprehend that he has so much tenderness for me or that he thinks himself so much obliged to me that he would not discredit my History as much as I have done his if he but knew how to go about it XIII He assures me He has read Camdem exactly and he excuses his citing him as the Historian of the Revolution of England only in the singular and confesses if he had said it in the plural number Revolutions I had some reason for my Censure so since he writ of the Revolution under Queen Elisabeth this justifies him He denys that Camdem troubled Mr. de Thou with the Manuscript of the second part of his History which was an Imployment below a President de Mortier to be concerned in and he adds that he has often heard that Camdem sent his Manuscript to Mr. du Puy who took care to print it and then he reflects on Mr. de Thou's partiality in all those matters that related to the Queen of Scots and says that King James spake so severely to his Son upon it that it threw him into a sickness of three moneths continuance and in conclusion he thinks I contradict my self having said that he had not read a Paege in Camdem and yet adding that he was displeased with him for his having discovered so many Rebellions and Conspiracies against Queen Elisabeth for how could he know this is he had not read him 1. I do not know why Mr. Varillas calls Camden always Camdem this tempts me still to think that he never saw his Book for when men hear names only mentioned in discourse they are apt to Mistake them but when they see them before them in print they write them truer 2. When Mr. Varillas set a Preface before his first Volum and mentioned a Revolution of Religion in England in it that must be understood of the Revolution comprehended within the Volum and not of one that does not come in but in the third Volum so the Revolution made by King Henry being all that was comprehended in that Volum I had reason to say he had never opened Camden since he cites him as having writ concerning it 3. He obliges me here to tell the Story of Camdens Manuscript more particularly than I had thought necessary Mr. de Thou having intended to make his History general entred into a Correspondence with the men over all Europe that were most likely to inform him right so he was in a great Correspondence with Camden and when Camdens first Volum appeared he writ severely to him finding that it was so different from what had past between them in Letters chiefly with Relation to the Queen of Scots upon which Camden told him the truth that King Iames would needs revise it himself and afterwards put it in the Earl of Northampton's hands who was Brother to the Duke of Norfolk that had been beheaded on that Queens account and that many things were struck out and many things altered this troubled Camden extreamly who took care that his second Part should not run the same fate and therefore he sent it out of England to that Great Man that it might be printed faithfully after his death This is well-known in England and the sending the Second Part beyond Sea to a forreigner does very easily carry a man to believe this to have been the true Reason of it 4. I do not indeed think that a President de Mortier went to the Cramoisy's and the Barbin's of that time to sell the Manuscripts or to correct the Impression and if so worthy and so learned a man as Mr. du Puy took care to see it faithfully printed Mr. de Thou as he did nothing unworthy of his dignity in being the Depositary of so valuable a piece of History so he answered the sacredness of the trust to the full when he put it in his Kinsmans hands 5. It is true that King Iames reproached Mr. de Thou's Son for his Father's having copied Buchanan's invectives against his Mother but Mr. de Thou had a very tender heart if this gave him a sickness of three moneths 6. It is no contradiction for me to say that he never read Camden and yet to add that he disliked
inconvenient that the French Ambassador should have proposed that Marriage And whereas I had denyed that the French Ambassadors writ Relations of their Ambassies he mentions some that writ them And whereas I had shewed the Improbability of a design of the Court of France's advancing the Count d'Angolesmes Sister to the Crown of England He tells me that Lewis the twelfth never intended to cut off his Cousin Francis ' s Right of Succession and that his Sister was of a Rank fit to be a Match to the Heir of the Crown of England and that the Duke of Lorrain married one that was many degrees further from the Crown than Margaret of Valois was And now are not all these good substantial Proofs and as he calls them Discoveries of Errors that are insupportable in me I never deny'd that Henry the Eighth's Parents would not think of this but I lookt upon the whole thing as a Fiction 2. If it was ordinary in those days to contract Children does that prove that this Proposition was ever made 3. Mr. Varillas's new discoverys in Logick makes him now a second time offer to prove a thing because it was not Inconvenient 4. It is no proof that Mr. de Piennes writ a Relation of his Embassy because some others writ their own Memoirs and this was the thing in question so he should have justified that Citation 5. There is a great difference between the not cutting off of Francis's Succession and the raising his Interest by giving him so powerful an Ally In short I denied the Fact and he instead of proving it tells me it was not inconvenient nor a Match below Henry which I had never pretended XXIX He tells mighty things of his performances with Relation to England and says it is but too well known how it comes that these things appear not in his History But if what is lost is of apiece with what appears now the world may wellbear the loss 2. He denys that I have cited any passage of his Book in which he had raised the power of the Parliament above the King 's Tho I told him that in this very place he had said that the Parliament being careful to maintain the Authority which they had over the King obliged him by repeated Remonstrances to marry 3. But if he has said it he will make it good and he tells me that he will cite two Authorities for this which I dare not contradict the one is of King Iames the First who in his Advice to this Son says That the Parliament of England had not always kept its power within its due Limits but had often enlarged it to the prejudice of the Royal Authority to this he adds another long Citation of his that filled a Page indeed but had not one word to prove a Superiority in the Parliament to the King on the contrary it proves that it was a Court assembled by the King for the great Affairs of the Kingdom now tho I will not presume to dispute this Authority yet I will take the Liberty to tell Mr. Varillas that it makes against him for if Parliaments have sometimes gone beyond their Limits and have carried their power to the prejudice of the Kings Authority then by our Laws the Parliament is not Superiour to the King but has its Limits and it exceeds those Limits when it attempts to raise it self above the Kingly power 4. His second Authority is taken from an Italian of Bologna and he sets down in Capitals his words whereas ordinary Letters served for the Citation of King Iames's words but he thought the one did him not such service as the other and therefore he bestowed the Capitals in gratitude to him that did him the best service The Writer of Bologna indeed does say That the Parliament of England has pretended a great Superiority above the King of England As for this Author Count Majolino Bisaccioni I know nothing of him so whether this is one of Mr. Varillas's Inventions or not I will not determin but I cannot imagin why this should be such an Authority that I dare not dispute it It is true the Author is of Bologna where men are easily assassinated yet I do not think that this Count or his Heirs are so spiteful as to send one to the City of Holland according to Mr. Varillas's Geography to Murder me if I contradict this Authority for besides this I cannot imagin what should make me not dare to dispute the Authority of one of Bologna in a matter relating to the Government of England But after the pains our Author has been at to depress the Dignity of the Kings of England and the Capitals that he has bestowed upon it I confess he needs no more deny that he pretends to a Pension from thence 5. In conclusion he cites his Florimond tho he had the confidence to cite on the Margin the Articles of the Parliament 1509. but now he runs to his Author but tho he has done himself the Honour as to say he is his Eccho yet I never heard of Eccho's that repeated more than had been said some repeat over and over again but none add yet Mr. Varillas who cited Florimond to prove that the Parliament had obliged the King by reiterated Remonstrances to marry the Infanta finds neither these Remonstrances nor the Parliament in the Citation that he gives us out of him for he says only that the Princes the Lords the Council and the People of England approved of it by their consent and made no Opposition to it XXX For the Kings five Children by Queen Catherine He brings again Florimond who says She bore him three Sons and two Daughters and as if this had been a solid proof Mr. Varillas triumph and says He does not know upon what principle in Arithmetick I reckon if I deny that 2. and 3. make 5. I think I may allow Mr. Varillas so much of Arithmetick as this essay amounts to but I will scarce allow him much more of it or of any thing else XXXI He does indeed give an Author here for that which I thought was his own Invention but still it is no other than Florimond I do confess I read him very carelesly I found Sanders was transcribed by him and that he could not pretend to any good Information but now I see one Writer of Legends refines upon another and as Mr. Varillas adds some few things of his own Store to Florimond so the other had added a great deal to Sanders but his Voucher was an Author of so little credit that I confess I read him so superficially that finding some strokes in Mr. Varillas that were new to me I fancied that he was the Author of them but now I see he has an Author such as he is For what he says concerning Flattery it is to so little purpose that I use him kindly in passing over it XXXII He cites again Florimond for his Garand and
mentioned his coming over from Flushing to Kent while K. Henry was at Calais but now I tell him plainly that I see by his Citation that neither before nor now does he know any thing of the Voyage into England of which I had made mention for this that he speaks of here was in the year 1520. and the Enterview was at Dover and was design'd to hinder the ill effects which the Emperour apprehended from the late enterview that had passed between Henry and Francis that had carried him over to Calais But that which I spake of was two years after this in the year 1522. which passed with more Magnificence for then the Emperour was Install'd Knight of the Garter and contracted to King Henry's Daughter XXXVII Concerning Card. Wolsey he tells me that if I have seen some Manuscripts that never were in his hands he has likewise seen those that have escaped me and he mentions a Letter of Lewis the twelfths in which Wolsey is so excessively commended that it is neither sutable to the dignity of him that writ it nor of him to whom it was writ therefore he supresses many particulars that are in it Mr. Varillas's boasting of the Manuscripts that he has seen is like the Chymists boasting of the Philosophers stone which no body believes a whit the more for that A Letter writ by so good a King as Lewis the twelfth would be better received by the world than all that ever Mr. Varillas can print yet since he pretends to be so good a Courtier he should have thought it enough to say that the strain of that Letter was below the Dignity of him who writ it without adding any thing else of the Dignity of him to whom it was written since unless it was to the K. of England there is scarce any other person whose Dignity ought to be named as in parallel with that Kings And since Wolsey was but just entring upon the ministry when that King died it is not probable that he fell into Raptures upon that subject but Mr. Varillas takes more care of Lewis the twelfths honour in not printing it than he does of his own The rest of this Article is in Citations drawn out of Florimond and out of another much worse Author who is Mr. Varillas himself XXXVIII I had printed some Original Letters to discover his mistake concerning Wolsey and he in opposition to that cites what his Florimond had said eighty years before him as if a Falshood by a prescription of 80. years could become true he adds that the proof that I had given to the contrary it not convincing The point in question is whether Cardinal Wolsey knew of the King's design to marry Anne Bullen now I had printed two of her Letters to the Cardinal in one of which there is a Postscript writ by King Henry's hand that speaks plainly of the thing they were both written while Card. Campege was on his Journey any man besides Mr. Varillas would think this is a convincing proof and whereas I had accused him for citing on the Margin Charles the fifth's Letter to Wolsey he justifies this out of Florimond if he had cited these as from him I confess this would have justified him but since he cited them without any such qualification he shews us how little credit is due to his Quotations I had called Charles the fifths coming to England in person The most important Circumstance in all this affair and this he according to his ordinary sincerity turns as if I had said that the secret of the Reformation consisted in that Voyage I was speaking of the Pretenders to King Henry's Daughter and had not so much as the Reformation in view so the affair upon which I was being the disposal of Queen Mary had reason to say that the most Important Circumstance of it was the Emperours coming in person and contracting himself to her The raillery that follows here is another proof that Mr. Varillas is equally happy both in Iest and Earnest If I were to make my Court to the Spaniards I must be as Ignorant as Mr. Varillas is if I think to do it effectually by representing Charles the fifth as having advanced the Reformation XXXIX He meets me here again with another long Citation of Florimond which always goes for nothing with me After which he says somewhat himself that is next to nothing I had told him That the new Treaty that King Francis had made with Henry for his Daughter in an alternative between Francis and his second Son was somewhat extraordinary and if he had known it it would have furnished him matter for his embelishments But to all this he says he could not imagin how Francis that was engaged by the Treaty of Madrid to marry Charles the fifths Sister could court the Princess of England for himself or his second Son Since he was a Prince that valued himself extreamly on the keeping of his word But the Treaty of Madrid was so ill executed by Francis that there is no part of his life to which his Exactness to his word ought to be less applied than to this yet in this he might have observed both Treatys for since the Match with England was agreed in an alternative between him and his Son it being left to himself to declare which of them should have her it was easy for him to observe both these Treatys by declaring that the Duke of Orleans should marry Henry's Daughter and here our Author shews his Judgment in setting such Conjectures as his are against matters so Authentically proved as this is XL. A new Justification from Florimond comes here again with this Preface that if he is deceived it is after Florimond but whose fault it is that he believed him and copied him notwithstanding all the noise he makes with his Manuscripts He adds two of my Expressions and fancies that there is a Contradiction in them That in this he differs from Sanders tho he copies him ordinarly for he says If he invents matters he does not copy him and if he copies him he does not invent But may he not Copy Sanders for the greatest part and yet now and then invent a little without any Contradiction There is a terrible charge against me in the Conclusion of this Article In my English by a fault of the Printer the year 1529. was put instead of the year 1524. and was marked in the Errata now the Translator went on with the error that he found in my Book and so the year 29. being wrong put he triumps but since he pretends to answer me he ought to have examined my English and to have compared the Errata So his accusing me of Impudence falls back on himself XLI All that he says to this Article is that he had writ it after Florimond and to prove this he gives me a Citation of fix Pages and a half long out of him And is not this an
unanswerable thing that deserves well to be set in Opposition to Original Papers XLII Here comes Florimond again but because I had mentioned the Pictures of Anne Bullen which shew that what was said of her person was false he tells me that Painters and Poets have always taken liberties and because his good Judgment made him fancy that this wanted a proof he gives me two storys to make it good But after all a Painter is as well to be believed as a Poet at any time So I may set Hans Holben that was a very good Painter against two such ill Poets as Florimond and Mr. Varillas the first saw her and the others only heard of her so they copied whereas he drew to the life XLIII Here again comes Florimond as his Garend for four Pages and he thought it was necessary to produce him since here as almost every where else I accuse him of a want of Sincerity but I will never give over this Accusation till he produce those Manuscripts out of which he pretends to have drawn his History XLIV After I had refuted Sanders he tells me this does not touch him who had not made use of him but if Florimond does in these Lines copy Sanders then by refuting him I refute all that Copy from him whether it be at first or second hand Mr. Varillas's saying that Cardinal Pool is the Writer of all the Catholicks that has blackned Henry the least shews how carelesly he has read him or how boldly he cites him Pool compares Henry to the wickedest Princes in History and makes a War against him to be more meritorious than against Infidels I had said that the Calumnies by which Anne Bullen was defamed not being objected to her upon her fall this shews that they were not thought on in that Age to this he answers That this shews the Moderation of the Catholicks but the not mentioning such things in History had been a vicious Moderation and indeed their Writers of that Age were as seldom guilty of any excess on that hand as he himself is in this He says also that it was needless to speak of the former Scandals of her Life after she was convicted to Adultery and Incest with her own Brother But when both she and her Brother died denying this and that it was generally thought she suffered injustly then former Scandals should have been alledged to make the Justice of her Sentence appear the more evidently therefore the silence of the Writers of that time and upon that occasion is still a good Negative Argument but he turns this matter upon me with some shew of Reason and says That since none writ a justification of Anne Bullen neither then nor afterwards this is a just prejudice against her But the Unfortunate have seldom pens imployed for their Honour and in Queen Elisabeth's time it was thought below the Dignity of the Daughter to examin too critically all the Reports that malicious Writers had set on foot against the Mother For if any impudent man would question the Birth and Descent of a Crowned Head severer tools than Refutations are thought the properest ways of answering them He then tells me why should I be believed more than the Catholick Writers But I ask not to be believed on my own word but I have shewed the Impossibility of the story that Sanders and our Author from him at second hand had contrived of Anne Bullen for what is impossible can never be true by my Logick but our Author shews how little he ought to be believed upon his Word for I having given for a proof of Anne Bullens good Reputation this that she served Claude Queen of France which he had set down truly in one page but in the very next page being to repeat and examin this he turns it as if I had made her serving Lewis the twelfths second Queen a proof of her vertue I knew the vertues of Queen Claude were as sublime as the others were questioned therefore I had made her serving the one as an evidence of the good esteem in which she was and this he would turn aside in a way very lime himself and wheras he had mentioned English Authors in the Plural and had set only Sanders on the Margin I had reason to ask if he could make a plural out of him as he had done out of Charles the fifth he tells me he had cited Florimond de Raimond but I do not yet find another to justify the plural of the English for whatever Title the King of England may have to Guienne so that Florimond may be reckoned in some sort among his Subjects yet all this does not put him among the English Authors so the Sanders is still all that we have for the plural and all the Histories that have appeared since his time by the Writers of that Communion are nothing but he over and over again in different languages and a little differently drest XLV He had cited a Petition to P. Clement the 7. for which I had accused him of forgery and had told him that he shewed his ignorance since tho the matter for which he invented it is mentioned by Card. Pool yet he was not so well Informed as to cite him now he alledges Florimond as his Garand for that citation whose authority is of so little credit and yet he has the confidence to think that was a more formal proof than if he had cited Cardinal Pool as if an Author that writ 80. years after those matters were to be put in competition with Cardinal Pool who lived and writ in that time he tells me he had Cardinaal Pools book before his eyes while he was writing but by this way of writing it seems he did not open him and his lying shut before him could not Inform him much when a Petition was cited and brought in question no body besides Mr. Varillas would have called the citing of an Author that lived about 80. year after the going to the source for it XLVI He gives me a notable proof of the credit due to Florimond in the matters relating to the Bishop of Tarbes because he had greatengagements with that Bishops heirs so that it is very probable that they communicated to him that Prelate's Papers And are not these very convincing Proofs Sometines a thing is to be believed because it is not Inconvenient at another time because it is probable but when he comes to answer the Reason I had given to demonstrate all this story to be false which was that it is not to be imagined that when that Bishop came to end the marriage of his Masters Son with the Heir of the Crowen of England that he I say could have been prevailed on to let that go and to set on a new Negotiation for Henry's marrying Francis's sister He sayes that Wolsey cheated the Bishop and made him believe that the other marriage was sure notwithstanding this new
Proposition This is to make him resolve to accept the Marriage of one that was to be declared a Bastard by the Divorce and yet he act knowledged before that the King of Scotland would never ask her after that But now he makes an Ambassadour of France lesse sensible of this point of Honour and content to have both these Marriages made at once But besides all this the great advantage of Marrying the Daughter of England was because she was the Heir of the Crown so then if the Bishop of Tarbes would have concurred to help the King to another Marriage by which that Succession might have been cut off from Mary we must conclude him to be as fit a man for Negotiations as Mr. Varillas is for Histories or Panegyricks but he must be pardoned if he cannot alwayes carry up his Fictions to a probability All that he adds of the General powers given to Ambassadours upon which they depart sometimes from all their Instructions and act contrary to them has nothing to do here in a matter of such vast consequence especially when a few dayes delay could have procured him positive Instructions upon any new propositions that might be made him XLVII I had cited his words concerning Cardinal Wolsey exactly and he repeats my quotation wrong that he might give himself a colour to reproach me Then he gives me a long Citation out of Florimond and sends his Reader back to another that is much longer and so he thinks all is well proved XLVIII He argues against a positive Instrument and thinks that some of the Probabilities that he offers and Florimond's Testimony ought to overthrow the plain Proof of a Matter of Fact XLIX He opposes to what I had said concerning Sr. Thomas Wiat his constant Voucher Florimond and then he runs out in his way to argue upon this Foundation of the Truth of that Testimony But instead of pursuing him in such trifling stuff I will here add a more importance Discovery of the Falsehood of all this matter by an Original Paper which fell into my hands since I writ my History but was not in my power when I writ my Reflections on Mr. Varillas yet it comes in here properly enough It is a long account that Sr. Thomas Wiats Son writ of that matter as soon as Sander's Book appeared He says it was never so much as spoken of before that time that his Father was Squire of the Body to King Henry all the while that that Marriage with Anne Bullen lasted and for many years after and yet neither did he in discretion retire out of the Court nor did the King seem jealous nor the Queen offended at him and he shews further the Improbability of the Fiction for upon her fall it was very probable that as Queen Catherine Howards ill life as well before as after her Marriage was examined when she was condemned so the like method would have been observed towards Anne Bullen if there had been any room for it and as to Anne Bullen he says that her Tryal was managed secretly in the Tower and that the Evidence upon which it was pretended that she was condemned was kept so secret among the Peers that tried her that it was never certainly known some of the Lords confessed afterwards that her Defence had cleared her entirely and to all this he adds one remarkable particular that there was none of all her Ladies brought to swear any thing against her now it is certain that no Queen especially in such a Court as that of England was then the Household being the greatest in Christendom could be guilty of so many disorders as were laid to her charge without taking some Woman into the Confidence and yet none were either accused of it or brought to Witness it He adds that his Father was afterwards Ambassadour for several years in Charles the Fifth's Court where he conceived that aversion to the Spaniards and to their Councils that this threw him into the Rebellion that he raised against Queen Mary when she was treating about the Spanish Match for I must here warn the Reader that Mr. Varillas transforms this Wiat into Haviet and makes a long story of him elsewhere In Conclusion a man must be as ignorant of our Affairs as Mr. Varillas is not to know that a Privy Councillor thinks an Ambassy no disgrace but on the contrary a preferment to him and those who know that by the forms of our Court no Officer has a more free and frequent Access to the King's person than the Squire of the Body tho he is but one of the second Rank in the Household will see how ridiculous a contrivance all this story is of Wiats having corrupted Anna Bullen and his revealing it to the Privy Council and their imploying the Duke of Suffolk to acquaint the King with it who was so far from believing it that he would not accept the conviction that Wiat offered to his own eye sight but on the contrary disgraced him for it L. Here is a new long citation of his Garand but at the end of it our Author seems not to comprehend how More could be for the Divorce without being for the Schism and thinks the distinction is a little too Metaphisical but the difficulty of apprehending this must lie in Mr. Varillas's dulness since there is nothing easier to be understood than that More thought there was just reason to move the Pope to annul a Marriage that had been made by vertue of a Papal Bull and yet tho More would have approved of the Divorce if it had been obtained in that manner he did not like K. Henry's doing it by the Authority of his own Clergy and his separating from the Court of Rome upon it More 's works make a huge thick Volum in Folio and were printed in Queen Mary's time by her positive Order nd so great a Book while Printing was yet so low as it was then in England could not be so easily carried thro the Press without some particular Assistance from the Court All that understand English will see that I have cited his Letters true and Mr. Varillas's Reasons against this is arguing against a plain Matter of Fact which can make no Impression upon any mans spirit unless it be to shew the Impertinence of him that undertakes it After this there comes another Impertinence of a Citation of five Pages out of Florimond LI. Before I examin what he says concerning Cajetan I will state the Matter in short He had given a long Abstract of Reasons which he had pretended to have drawn out of Cajetan's Consultation that had no appearance of truth in them such as that of the blocking up of Constantinople the avoiding to Mary in Houses suspect of Heresy with several other Follys I upon that concluded this must be as true as his other Quotations were so I searcht for Cajetans Works not having then by me those Extracts that I