Anthony Nevill Kt. Thomas Gargrave Kt. Robert Mennel Serjeant at Law Anthony Bellasis Esquire John Rockely Doctor of Law Robert Chaloner Richard Morton and Thomas Eymis Esquires And his Highness by these Presents doth appoint the said Thomas Eymis to be Secretary to the said Council diligently and obediently to exercise the same Room as he shall be appointed by the said Lord President or by two of the Council whereof the one to be of the Quorum with the assent of the Lord President And his Highness Pleasure is That the said Lord President and two others of the said Council being of the Quorum shall be sworn Masters of the Chancery to the intent that every of them may take recognisance in such Cases as by the said Lord President or by two of the said Council being of the Quorum shall be thought convenient and the Case so requiring All which number of Councellors before specified as his Majesty doubteth not but that they and every of them according to his Grace's expectation and trust reposed in them will be at all times diligent and willing towards and ready to do unto his Grace such Service as they can devise or imagine may be best to his contentation and to the discharge of their Duties towards his Highness leaving apart all Respects and Affections in all Matters that may touch their nighest Kinsman Friend Servant Tenant or others when the same shall come in question before the same Lord President and Council So his Grace trusteth that every of the same will have such regard to Malefactors as appertaineth and to bring all such unto the said Lord President and Council when they shall be thereunto appointed or may otherwise do it of themselves informing the said Lord President and Council of their Offences as the same shall happen in place where they have Rule and Authority within the limits of their Commission And forsomuch as it should be very chargeable to many of the said Councellors if they should continually attend upon the said Lord President Council threfore his Highness of his Grace's Goodness minding to ease that Charge and to instruct every of the said Councellors how to demean themselves for their Attendance that is to wit who shall be bound to continual Attendance upon the same Council and who shall attend but at times most requisite at their pleasures unless the same Lord President shall require them to remain for a time for some weighty Affairs or Purposes the which Requests in such Cases every of them shall accomplish His Majesty therefore ordaineth that his Cousins the Earls of Westmoreland and Cumberland the Bishop of Duresme the Lord Dacres the Lord Conyers the Lord Wharton Sir John Hinde Sir Edmond Molineux Sir Henry Savell Sir Nicholas Fairfax George Conyers Anthony Nevil Knights Robert Mennel Serjeant at Law Anthony Bellasis John Rockbey Doctor of Law and Richard Norton shall not be bound to continual Attendance but to go and come at their pleasures unless they be required by the said Lord President to remain with him for a time for some weighty and great Causes which then they shall accomplish And further his Grace's Pleasure is that they shall be present at such of the general Sittings as shall be kept near unto their dwelling Places and at other Sittings and Places where they shall be commanded by the said L. President all Excuses set apart as appertaineth And because it shall be convenient that a Number shall be continually abiding with the said L. President with whom he may consult and commit the Charge and Hearing of such Matters as shall be exhibited unto him for the more expedition of the same his Highness by these Presents doth ordain that Sir Robert Bowes Sir William Babthorp Sir Leonard Becquith Sir Thomas Gargrave Knights Robert Chaloner and Thomas Eymis Secretary Esquires shall give their continual attendance on the said Lord President or at the least two of them and that none of them appointed to continual Attendance on the said Lord President shall depart at any time from him without his special License and the same not to exceed above six weeks at one season And his Highness by these Presents for the better entertainment of the said Lord President and Council of both sorts when they are or any of them shall be present doth give a yearly Stipend of 1000 l. by the Year to the said Lord President towards the Furniture of the Diet of himself and the rest of the said Councellors with such number of Servants as hereafter shall be appointed and allowed to every of them that is to wit every Knight being bound to continual Attendance four Servants and every Esquire being bound to like Attendance three Servants And his Highness ordaineth every of the said Councellors to sit with the said Lord President at his Table or in some other place in his House to be by him conveniently prepared for their Degrees and Behaviours and their Servants allowed as is before-said to have Sitting and Diet in the said Lord President 's Hall or in some other convenient place in his House And further his Highness of his meer Goodness and great Benignity for the better entreatment as well of such of the said Council as be not well able to forbear their own Affairs and attend upon the said Council without further help for the charge of the Horse-meat and Lodgings when they shall attend in Council to serve his Highness As for such others that might better themselves with their Learning and Policies if they were not detained there about his Grace's Affairs doth by these Presents limit and appoint to divers of the aforesaid Councellors hereafter named certain particular Fees as ensueth that is to say To Sir Robert Bowes Kt. in respect of his Attendance and towards his Horse-meat and other Charges an hundred Merks yearly to Sir William Babthorp Kt. for the like 50 l. yearly to Sir Leonard Becquith for the like causes an 100 Merks yearly to Sir Thomas Gargrave Kt. for the like 50 l. yearly to Robert Chaloner Esquire for the like 50 l. yearly to Richard Norton Esq for his Fee 40 l. to Thomas Eymis Secretary for the like yearly Fee 33 l. 6 s. 8 d. And further his Grace doth appoint one Messenger to serve the said Council who shall give continual attendance upon the said Lord President and have his Meat Drink and Lodging in the said Lord Presidents House and to have yearly for his Fee 6 l. 13 s. 4 d. And further his Grace's pleasure is That the said 1000 l. for the Lord President and all the said other Fees shall be paid yearly at the Feasts of the Annunciation of our Lady and St. Michael the Arch-Angel by even Portions of the Revenues of his Graces Lands in those parts and that for that purpose an Assignment and Warrant to be made to the Receiver General of his Grace's Revenues there And to furnish the said Lord President and Council
Stewardships during Leases for 21 Years Forfeits under 40 l. Receiverships Woodwardships Surveyorships c. during pleasure Instalments of days for Debts To those Gentlemen that have well-served Fee-Farms to them and their Heirs Males of their Body paying their Rent and discharging the Annuities due to all Officers touching the same Keeping of Houses and Parks ordinary Offices as Yeomen of the Crown the Houshold Offices c. June 2. Sir John Williams who was committed to the Fleet for disobeying a Commandment given to him for not paying any Pensions without not making my Council privy upon his submission was delivered out of Prison 4. Beamont Master of the Rolls did confess his Offences who in his Office of Wards had bought Land with my Mony had lent it and kept it from Me to the value of 9000 l. and above more than this twelve month and 11000 in Obligations how he being Judg in the Chancery between the Duke of Suffolk and the Lady Powis took her Tittle and went about to get it into his Hands paying a Sum of Mony and letting her have a Farm of a Manour of his and caused an Indenture to be made falsly with the old Duke's counterfeit Hand to it by which he gave these Lands to the Lady Powis and went about to make twelve Men perjured Also how he had concealed the Felony of his Man to the Sum of 200 l. which he stole from him taking the Mony into his own hand again For these Considerations he surrendered into my Hands all his Offices Lands and Goods moveable and unmoveable toward the paiment of this Debt and of the Fines due to these particular Faults by him done 6. The Lord Paget Chancellor of the Dutchy confessed how he without Commission did sell away my Lands and great Timber-Woods how he had taken great Fines of my Lands to his said particular Profit and Advantage never turning any to my Use or Commodity how he made Leases in Reversion for more than 21 Years For these Crimes and other-like recited before he surrendred his Office and submitted himself to those Fines that I or my Council would appoint to be levied of his Goods and Lands 7. Whaley Receiver of York-shire confessed how he lent my Mony upon Gain and Lucre how he paied one Years Revenue over with the Arrearages of the last how he bought mine own Land with my own Mony how in his Accompts he had made many false Suggestions how at the time of the fall of Mony he borrowed divers Sums of Mony and had allowance for it after by which he gained 500 l. at one crying down the whole Sum being 2000 l. and above For these and such-like Considerations he surrendred his Office and submitted to Fines which I or my Council should assign him to be levied of his Goods and Lands 8. The Lords of the Council sat at Guild-hall in London where in the presence of a thousand People they declared to the Mayor and Brethren their sloathfulness in suffering unreasonable prices of Things and to Craftsmen their willfulness c. telling them That if upon this Admonition they did not amend I was wholly determined to call in their Liberties as confiscate and to appoint Officers that should look to them 10. It was appointed that the Lord Gray of Wilton should be pardoned of his Offences and delivered out of the Tower Whereas Sir Philip Hobbey should have gone to Calais with Sir Richard Cotton and William Barnes Auditor it was appointed Sir Anthony St. Legier Sir Richard Cotton and Sir Thomas Mildmay should go thither carrying with them 10000 l. to be received out of the Exchequer Whereas it was agreed that there should be a Pay now made to Ireland of 5000 l. and then the Mony to be cried down it was appointed that 3000 weight which I had in the Tower should be carried thither and coined at 3 Denar fine and that incontinent the Coin should be cried down 12. Because Pirry tarried here for the Bullion William Williams Essay-Master was put in his place to view the Mines with Mr. Brabazon or him whom the Deputy should appoint 13. Banester and Crane the one for his large Confession the other because little Matter appeared against him were delivered out of the Tower 16. The Lord Paget was brought into Star-Chamber and there declared effectuously his submission by word of Mouth and delivered it in writing Beaumont who had before made his Confession in writing began to deny it again but after being called before my Council he did confess it again and there acknowledged a Fine of his Land and signed an Obligation in surrender of all his Goods 17. Monsieur de Couriers took his leave 2. The French King won the Castle of Robdemac Certain Horsemen of the Regents came and set upon the French King's Baggage and slew divers of the Carriers but at length with some loss of the Frenchmen they were compelled to retire The French King won Mount St. Ann. 4. The French King came to Deuvillars which was a strong Town and besieged it making three Breaches 12. The Town was yielded to him with the Captain He found in it 2500 Footmen 200 Horsemen 63 great Brass-pieces 300 Hagbuts of Croke much Victual and much Ammunition as he did write to his Ambassador 19. It was appointed that the Bishop of Durham's Matter should stay till the end of the Progress 20. Beaumont in the Star-Chamber confessed after a little sticking upon the Matter his Faults to which he had put to his Hand 22. It was agreed that the Bands of Men of Arms appointed to Mr. Sidney Mr. Vicechamberlain Mr. Hobbey and Mr. Sadler should not be furnished but left off 25. It was agreed that none of my Council should move Me in any Suit of Land for Forfeits above 20 l. for Reversion of Leases or other extraordinary Suits till the State of my Revenues were further known 15. The French King came to a Town standing upon the River of Mosa called Yvoire which gave him many hot Skirmishes 18. The French King began his Battery to the Walls 14. The Townsmen of Mountmedy gave a hot Skirmish to the French and slew Monsieur de Toge's Brother and many other Gentlemen of the Camp 12. The Prince of Salerno who had been with the French King to treat with him touching the Matter of Naples was dispatched in Post with this Answer That the French King would aid him with 13000 Footmen and 1500 Horsemen in the French Wages to recover and conquer the Kingdom of Naples and he should marry as some said the French King's Sister Madam Margaret The Cause why this Prince rebelled against the Emperor was partly the uncourteous handling of the Viceroy of Naples partly Ambition The Flemings made an Invasion into Champaign in so much that the Dolphin had almost been taken and the Queen lying at Chalons sent some of her Stuff toward Paris Also another Company took the Town of Guise and spoiled the Country 22. Monsieur
all the Particulars in King Edwards Journal The King of France sent another very noble Embassy into England with the Order of St. Michael to the King and a very kind Message that he had no less love to him than a Father could bear to his own Son He desired the King would not listen to the vain Rumors which some malicious Persons might raise to break their friendship and wished there might be such a regulation on their Frontiers that all differences might be amicably removed To this the young King made answer himself That he thanked his good Brother for his Order and for the Assurances of his Love which he would always requite For Rumors they were not always to be credited nor always to be rejected it being no less vain to fear all things than it was dangerous to doubt of nothing and for any differences that might arise he should be always ready to determine them by reason rather than force so far as his Honour should not be thereby diminished Whether this Answer was prepared before-hand or not I cannot tell I rather think it was otherways it was extraordinary for one of fourteen to talk thus on the sudden But while all this was carrying on there was a design laid to destroy the Duke of Somerset He had such access to the King and such freedoms with him A Conspiracy against the Duke of Somerset that the Earl of Warwick had a mind to be rid of him lest he should spoil all his Projects The Duke of Somerset seemed also to have designed in April this Year to have got the King again in his power and dealt with the Lord Strange that was much in his favour to perswade him to marry his Daughter Jane and that he would advertise him of all that passed about the King But the Earl of Warwick to raise himself and all his Friends higher procured a great Creation of new Honours Gray was made Duke of Suffolk and himself Duke of Northumberland for Henry Piercy the last Earl of Northumberland dying without Issue his next Heirs were the Sons of Thomas Piercy that had been attainted in the last Reign for the York-shire Rebellion Pawlet then Lord Treasurer and Earl of Wilt-shire was made Marquess of Winchester and Sir William Herbert that had married the Marquess of Northampton's Sister was made Earl of Pembroke The Lord Russel had been made Earl of Bedford last year upon his return from making the Peace with the French Sir Tho. Darcy had also been made Lord Darcy The new Duke of Northumberland could no longer bear such a Rival in his greatness as the Duke of Somerset was who was the only Person that he thought could take the King out of his Hands So on the 17th of October the Duke was apprehended and sent to the Tower and with him the Lord Gray Sir Ralph Vane who had escaped over the River but was taken in a Stable in Lambeth hid under the Straw Sir Tho. Palmer and Sir Tho. Arundel were also taken yet not sent at first to the Tower but kept under Guards in their Chambers Some of his followers Hamond Nudigate and two of the Seimours were sent to Prison The day after the Dutchess of Somerset was also sent to the Tower with one Crane and his Wife that had been much about her and two of her Chamber-women After these Sir Tho. Holdcroft Sir Miles Partridge Sir Michael Stanhop Wingfield Bannister and Vaughan were all made Prisoners The Evidence against the Duke was That he had made a Party for getting himself declared Protector in the next Parliament which the Earl of Rutland did positively affirm and the Duke did so answer it that it is probable it was true But though this might well inflame his Enemies yet it was no crime But Sir Tho. Palmer though imprisoned with him as a Complice was the Person that ruined him He had been before that brought secretly to the King and had told him that on the last St. Georges day the Duke apprehending there was mischief designed against him thought to have raised the People had not Sir William Herbert assured him he should receive no harm that lately he intended to have the Duke of Northumberland the Marquess of Northampton and the Earl of Pembroke invited to Dinner at the Lord Pagets and either to have set on them by the way or to have killed them at Dinner that Sir Ralph Vane had 2000 Men ready that Sir Tho. Arundel had assured the Tower and that all the Gandarmoury were to be killed The Duke of Somerset hearing Palmer had been with the King challenged him of it but he denied all He sent also for Secretary Cecil and told him he suspected there was an ill design against him To which the Secretary answered if he were not in fault he might trust to his innocency but if he were he had nothing to say but to lament him All this was told the King with such Circumstances that he was induced to believe it The King is possessed against him and the probity of his disposition wrought in him a great aversion to his Unkle when he looked on him as a Conspirator against the Lives of the other Counsellors and so he resolved to leave him to the Law Palmer being a second time examined said That Sir Ralph Vane was to have brought 2000 Men who with the Duke of Somersets 100 Horse were on a Muster-day to have set on the Gendarmoury that being done the Duke resolved to have gone thorough the City and proclaimed Liberty Liberty and if his attempt did not succeed to have fled to the Isle of Wight or to Pool Crane confirmed all that Palmer had said to which he added That the Earl of Arundel was privy to the Conspiracy and that the thing had been executed but that the greatness of the Enterprise had caused delays and sometimes diversity of advice and that the Duke being once given out to be sick had gone privately to London to see what Friends he could make Hamond being examined confessed nothing but that the Dukes Chamber at Greenwich had been guarded in the night by many Armed Men. Upon this Evidence both the Earl of Arundel and the Lord Paget were sent to the Tower The Earl had been one of the chief of those who had joyned with the Earl of Warwick to pull down the Protector and being as he thought ill rewarded by him was become his Enemy So this part of the Information seemed very credible The thing lay in suspence till the first of December He is brought to his Trial. that the Duke of Somerset was brought to his Trial where the Marquess of Winchester was Lord Steward The Peers that judged him were twenty seven in number The Dukes of Suffolk and Northumberland the Marquess of Northampton the Earls of Derby Bedford Huntington Rutland Bath Sussex Worcester Pembroke and the Viscount of Hereford the Lords Abergaveny Audley Wharton Evers Latimer Borough Souch Stafford Wentworth
to meet and consider of the Book of Service In the mean while the People were to be restrained from Innovating without Authority and the Queen to give some hope of a Reformation might appoint the Communion to be given in both kinds The Persons that were thought fit to be trusted with the Secret of these Consultations were the Marquess of Northampton the Earls of Bedford and Pembroke and the Lord John Gray The Place that was thought most convenient for the Divines to meet in was Sir Thomas Smiths House in Channon-Row where an Allowance was to be given for their Entertainment The forwardness in many to the Reformation As soon as the News of the Queens coming to the Crown was known beyond Sea all those who had fled thither for shelter did return into England and those who had lived in Corners during the late Persecution now appeared with no small assurance and these having notice of the Queens Intentions could not contain themselves but in many Places begun to make Changes to set up King Edwards Service to pull down Images and to affront the Priests Upon this the Queen to make some discovery of her own Inclinations gave order that the Gospels and Epistles and the Lords Prayer the Apostles Creed and the Ten Commandements should be read in English and that the Letany should be also used in English and she forbade the Priests to Elevate the Host at Mass Having done this on the 27th of December she set out a Proclamation against all Innovations requiring her Subjects to use no other Forms of Worship than those she had in her Chappel till it should be otherwise appointed by the Parliament which she had summoned to meet on the 23d of January The Writs were issued out by Bacon into whose Hands she had delivered the Great Seal On the fifth of December she performed her Sisters Funeral Rites with great Magnificence at Westminster The Bishop of Winchester being appointed to preach the Sermon did so mightily extoll her and her Government and so severely taxed the disorders which he thought the Innovators were guilty of not without reflections on the Queen that he was thereupon confined to his House till the Parliament met Parker designed to be Archbishop of Canterbury One of the chief things under consultation was to provide Men fit to be put into the Sees that were now vacant or that might fall to be so afterwards if the Bishops should continue intractable Those now vacant were the Sees of Canterbury Hereford Bristol and Bangor and in the beginning of the next Year the Bishops of Norwich and Glocester died so that as Cambden hath it there were but fourteen Bishops living when the Parliament met It was of great importance to find Men able to serve in these Imployments chiefly in the See of Canterbury For this Dr. Parker was soon thought on Whether others had the offer of it before him or not I cannot tell but he was writ to by Sir Nicholas Bacon on the ninth of December to come up to London and afterwards on the 30th of December by Sir William Cecil and again by Sir Nicholas Bacon on the fourth of January He understood that it was for some high preferment and being a Man of an humble Temper distrustful of himself that loved privacy and was much disabled by sickness he declined coming up all he could he begged he might not be thought of for any publick Imployment but that some Prebend might be assigned him where he might be free both from Care and Government since the Infirmities which he had contracted by his flying about in the Nights in Queen Maries time had disabled him from a more publick station That to which he pretended shews how moderate his desires were for he professed an Imployment of twenty Nobles a year would be more acceptable to him than one of two hundred Pound He had been Chaplain to Queen Anne Bullen and had received a special charge from her a little before she died to look well to the Instruction of her Daughter in the Principles of the Christian Religion and now the Queen had a grateful Remembrance of those Services This joyned with the high Esteem that Sir Nicholas Bacon had of him soon made her resolve to raise him to that great Dignity And since such high Preferments are generally if not greedily sought after yet very willingly undertaken by most Men it will be no unfit thing to lay open a modern Precedent which indeed savours more of the Ancient than the latter Times for then in stead of that Ambitus which has given such offence to the World in the latter Ages it was ordinary for Men to fly from the offer of great Preferments Some run away when they understood they were to be Ordained or had been Elected to great Sees and fled to a Wilderness This shewed they had a great sense of the Care of Souls and were more apprehensive of that weighty Charge than desirous to raise or enrich themselves or their Families It hath been shewed before that Cranmer was very unwillingly engaged in the See of Canterbury and now he that succeeded him in that See with the same designs was drawn into it with such unwillingness that it was almost a whole year before he could be prevailed upon to accept of it The account of this will appear in the Series of Letters both written to him and by him on that Head which were communicated to me by the present most Worthy and most Reverend Primate of this Church I cannot mention him in this place without taking notice that as in his other great Vertues and Learning he has gone in the steps of those most eminent Arch-bishops that went before him so the whole Nation is witness how far he was from aspiring to high Preferment how he withdrew from all those opportunities that might be steps to it how much he was surprized with his unlooked-for advancement how unwillingly he was raised and how humble and affable he continues in that high Station he is now in but this is a Subject that I must leave for them to enlarge on that shall write the History of this present Age. 1559. Bacon made Lord Keeper In the beginning of the next Year the Queen having found that Heath Arch-bishop of York then Lord Chancellor would not go along with her as he had done in the Reigns of her Father and Brother and having therefore taken the Seals from him and put them into Sir Nicholas Bacon's Hand did now by Patent create him Lord Keeper Formerly those that were Keepers of the Seal had no Dignity nor Authority annexed to their Office they did not hear Causes nor preside in the House of Lords but were only to put the Seals to such Writs or Patents as went in course and so it was only put in the Hands of a Keeper but for some short Interval But now Bacon was the first Lord Keeper that had all the Dignity and Authority of
this Point but some hap to be curious and inquisitive of things that little pertain unto their parts and some might peradventure hap to talk of such things as might peradventure after turn to much harm as I think you have heard how the late Duke of Buckingham moved with the fame of one that was reported for an Holy Monk and had such talking with him as after was a great part of his destruction and disheriting of his Blood and great slander and infamy of Religion It sufficeth me good Madam to put you in remembrance of such things as I nothing doubt your Wisdom and the Spirit of God shall keep you from talking with any Person specially with high Persons of any such manner things as pertain to Princes Affairs or the State of the Realm but only to commune and talk with any Person high and low of such manner things as may to the Soul be profitable for you to shew and for them to know And thus my good Lady and dearly beloved Sister in our Lord I make an end of this my needless advertisement unto you whom the Blessed Trinity preserve and increase in Grace and put in your mind to recommend me and mine unto him in your devout Prayers At Chelsey this Tuesday by the Hand of Your hearty loving Brother and Beadsman Thomas More Kt. At the receipt of this Letter she answered my Servant that she heartily thanked me Soon after this there came to mine House the Prior of the Charterhouse at Shene and one Brother Williams with him who nothing talked to me but of her and of the great joy that they took in her Vertue but of any of her Revelations they had no communication But at another time Brother Williams came to me and told me a long Tale of her being at the House of a Knight in Kent that was sore troubled with Temptations to destroy himself and none other thing we talked of nor should have done of likelyhood though we had tarried together much longer he took so great pleasure good Man to tell the Tale with all the Circumstances at length When I came again another day to Sion on a day in which there was a Profession some of the Fathers asked me how I liked the Nun And I answered that in good Faith I liked her very well in her talking howbeit quoth I she is never the nearer tried by that for I assure you she were likely to be very bad if she seemed good e're I should think her other till she happened to be proved naught and in good Faith that is my manner indeed except I were set to search and examine the truth upon likelyhood of some cloaked evil for in that case although I nothing suspected the Person my self yet no less than if I suspected him sore I would as far as my wit would serve me search to find out the truth as your self hath done very prudently in this Matter wherein you have done in my mind to your great laud and praise a very meritorious Deed in bringing forth to light such detestable Hypocrisy whereby every other Wretch may take warning and be feared to set forth their own devilish dissembled falshood under the manner and colour of the wonderful Work of God for verily this Woman so handled her self with help of that evil Spirit that inspired her that after her own Confession declared at Paul's Cross when I sent word by my Servant unto the Prior of the Charterhouse that she was undoubtedly proved a false deceiving Hypocrite The good Man had had so good opinion of her so long that he could at the first scantly believe me therein Howbeit it was not he alone that thought her so very good but many another right good Man besides as little marvel was upon so good report till she was proved naught I remember me further that in Communication between Father Rich and me I counselled him that in such strange things as concerned such Folk as had come unto her to whom as she said she had told the causes of their coming e're themselves spake thereof and such good Fruit as they said that many Men had received by her Prayer he and such other as so reported it and thought that the knowledg thereof should much pertain to the Glory of God should first cause the things to be well and sure examined by the Ordinaries and such as had Authority thereunto so that it might be surely known whether the things were true or not and that there were no Letters intermingled among them or else the Letters might after hap to aweigh the credence of these things that were true And when he told me the Tale of Mary Magdalen I said unto him Father Rich that she is a good vertuous Woman in good Faith I hear so many good Folk so report that I verily think it true and think it well-likely that God worketh some good and great things by her but yet are you wot well these strange Tales no part of our Creed and therefore before you see them surely proved you shall have my poor counsel not to wed your self so far forth to the credence of them as to report them very surely for true least that if it should hap that they were afterwards proved false it might minish your estimation in your Preaching whereof might grow great loss To this he thanked me for my counsel but how he used it after that I cannot tell Thus have I good Mr. Cromwell fully declared to you as far as my self can call to remembrance all that ever I have done or said in this Matter wherein I am sure that never one of them all shall tell you any further thing of effect for if any of them or any Man else report of me as I trust verily no Man will and I wot well truly no Man can any Word or Deed by me spoken or done touching any breach of my legal Truth and Duty toward my most redoubted Soveraign and natural Liege Lord I will come to mine Answer and make it good in such wise as becometh a poor true Man to do that whosoever any such thing shall say shall therein say untrue for I neither have in this Matter done evil nor said evil nor so much as any evil thing thought but only have been glad and rejoiced of them that were reported for good which condition I shall nevertheless keep toward all other good Folk for the false cloaked Hypocrisy of any of these no more than I shall esteem Judas the true Apostle for Judas the false Traitor But so purpose I to bear my self in every Man's Company while I live that neither good Man nor bad neither Monk Friar nor Nun nor other Man or Woman in this World shall make me digress from my Truth and Faith either towards God or towards my natural Prince by the Grace of Almighty God and as you therein find me true so I heartily therein pray you to continue toward me your favour and good-will