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
A DEFENCE Of The REFLECTIONS On the Ninth Book of the First Volum Of Mr. VARILLAS's History of Heresies Being a REPLY to his ANSWER By G. BURNET D.D. Amsterdam Printed for J. S. 1687. The AUTHOR'S ADVERTISEMENT I Do not think it necessary to write any thing in the way of Preface to so short a Book but since there appeared a long Preface before the French Translation of my Reflections to which Mr. Varillas has made some sort of Answer The same worthy Person having given himself the trouble to translate likewise my Reply thought it necessary to say somewhat in Defence of his former Preface I have translated that into English since it gives a further discovery of Mr. Varillas's sincerity The Translator's PREFACE Put in English I Had accused Mr. Varillas in the Preface which I had set before Dr. Burnet's Reflections that he had in his History of Heresies contradicted several things which he had affirmed some years before that in his History of Wickliaffianism for tho the two first Books of the former are indeed the same work with the latter as to the main parts of them yet several considerable Alterations were observed to be between them many things being left out in the History of Heresies which were in that of Wickliffianism To all this Mr. Varillas answers in a few words and says 1. That the History of Wickliffianism was printed without his knowledg 2. That his Name was not prefixed to it 3. That tho it contained indeed several things that were taken from him yet it contained others that were none of his 4. That he not only never owned that Book for his but that he moved to have it suppressed and that at his Instance an Order of Council was granted for suppressing it and for fining the Printer in 600. Livres From all which he concludes that he is not at all accountable for any thing that is in that Book and that no Inferences ought to be drawn from it to his prejudice It is true that it cannot be proved that Mr. Varillas sold the Copy to Certe the Merchant of Lions but it is certain that he pay'd dear for it and that the Copy that was sold him was very clean writ and that there were some Marginal Notes writ upon it by another hand tho these were not indeed of great Consequence The Stationer was also so much scandalised when he saw that Iohn Hus was represented so advantagiously and that the Council of Constance was so ill spoke of that he intended to have altered the Copy a little but in that he was not left to his Liberty The Book was printed and sold publickly both at Lions and Grenoble for some considerable time and it passed generally for Mr. Varillas's Book both among the Roman Catholicks and the Protestants The more moderate of the Roman Catholicks recommended the Book to the Protestants as an Evidence to convince them that there were Writers in their Church that even in Matters of Consequence durst say the Truth very boldly Nor was it then so much as pretended by any person whatsoever that there were any Passages foisted in which were not of the Authors Writing The Book was not only looked on as writ by Mr. Varillas in the remoter Provinces but even in Paris it self it past for his and this report went so current that Mr. la Rogue spoke of it in his Iournal last year as a thing of which no doubt had been made for he tells us That Mr. Varillas begins his two first Books with the History of Wickliff of John Hus and Jerome of Prague which had already appeared in several Impressions under the Title of the History of Wickliffianism So that it is certain that the Order of Council which Mr. Varillas procured against the Printer of Lions for suppressing that Book made no great noise at Paris otherwise the Author of the Iournal would have heard of it The Preface that was set before the Edition at Lions is indeed writ by one who says that the Author would not give his consent to the printing of the Book and for that reason he does not set his Name before it but he does not say a word of any Additions that are made to it tho he shews himself to be both so zealous for his Religion and so full of esteem for Mr. Varillas that it is not probable that he would have suffered any Additions to be made especially such as those that were marked in the former Preface On the contrary tho he says he will not answer but that there may be some Faults in the Printing yet he affirms that none will be found that contradict the Truth of the History I will not be so malicious as to say that it is probable this Preface was of Mr. Varillas's own composing since it is not likely that there are many besides himself that think so well of him as the Writer of that Preface does and the Artifice of Printing Books by the Authors themselves and yet in the Name of another as if their consent was not obtained is so common that Mr. Varillas may think that he escapes well if he is not charged with fouler and more inexcusable Impostures than this is But it is certain that all those Additions which Mr. Varillas does now reject and writ in the same stile with the rest of the work and no man that is acquainted with his way of writing will think that if he had intended to have said those things which he now disowns he would have expressed himself in other Terms And besides all this he cannot think it is enough to say that there are some things in the History of Wickliffianism that are taken out of his Book since the whole Body of the Work is word for word the same excepting those alterations So that if he would express himself with any sort of sincerity he ought to have said that these two Books weere indeed his But since he does not think fit to own those passages that are now struck out he ought only to have added that some Additions were put into the former Editions without his knowledge instead of setting this matter down so indefinitly as he has done by which he pretends to cover himself and to disavow whatsoever passages are abjected to him as he shall think it convenient for him to do But it is now a little too late for Mr. Varillas to make use of this Excuse and let him say what he will he must at least justify himself for aâ—l that is in his History of Heresies An Ingenious Author has lately shewed him that he has now rendred himself accountable for the former Book even with all the Faults that were in it Let him defend himself as he can but let him not fancy that he will escape a second time by casting the blame of the Faults that are now in this Edition as well as they were in the former over on the Printers or Book-sellers As for
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