¦'I give tie/e JBooh ; firr the founding if a. CaUegt in sais Coiony" 'YiaLE«¥]MH¥IEI^Snr¥- BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE PERKINS FUND 190 b- THE LIFE OF CARDINAL WOLSEY. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, lilS GENTLEMAN USHER. QUEEN ANNE BOEEYN. .r.l^&R..\VEl) UV E.SCWrVKN, AFTEH THE ORIGINAL PICTUK-R HYimJ.BKIN. landffTL, FiUilMheA Jan 1 1325; Try I£ardLna.7i'i^7loak.& LeparS . THE LIFE OF CARDINAL WOLSEY. GEORGE CAVENDISH, HIS GENTLEMAN CSPIER. METRICAL VISIONS, FROM THE ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT. WITU NOTES AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS, BY SAMUEL "WELLEE, SINGER. VOL. II. CHISWICK: FROM THE PRESS OF 0. WHITTINGHAM ; FOR HARDING, TRIPHOOK, AND LEPARD, LONDON, M DCCC XXV. CONTENTS. VOL, II, Page Who WROTE Cavendish's Life 6f Wolsey 1 A Dissertation, By The Rev, Joseph Hunter, F,S.A ix METRICAL VISIONS, BY GEORGE CAVENDISH; concerning the fortunes and fall of the most eminent persons of his time, Prologue 3 Cardinalis Eboracensis (Wolsey) 9 Viscount Rocheford 20 Henry Norris.. 25 Francis Weston 30 William Brereton 33 Mark Smeeton 36 Queen Anne Boleyn 39 Mors Divers. Personarum ,, 48 ¦ il. Cromwell, Earl of Essex 51 Markes of Exeter, Lord Montagu 56 L'Envoy de I'Auctor 61 Queen Katherine Ho-vrard 64 Culpeper 68 Viscountess Rocheforid 71 VI CONTENTS. Page Countess of Salisbury 76 The Earl of Surrey 80 L'Envoy de TAuctor 86 Henricus Rex loquens ad Mortem 91 Death of Henry VIII 100 Epitaph on King Henry VIII 101 Lord Seymour , 104 The Duke of Somerset 114 Sir Thomas Arundel 125 Sir Michael Stanhope 127 Sir Rafe Vane. Sir Miles Partridge 129 L'Auctorin Mortem Edwardi VI 130 L'Auctor in Laudem Regine Marie ,,. 136 Duke of Northumberland 141 Duke of Suffolk 149 Lady Jane Gray 156 An Epitaphe on the late Queene Marie 163 Th' Auctor to his Booke 170 End ofthe Metrical Visions. APPENDIX, Extracts from the Life of Anne Boleigne. BY George Wyatt, Esq, Son of Sir Thomas Wyatt the younger 175 Six Letters, supplementary to the above Memoir; containing Particulars of the Arrest of Queen Anne Boleyn, and her Behaviour while in the Tower. LETTER I, Sir William Kingston to Secretary CromwelL — Upon Queen Anne's Committal to the Tower,.. , 219 CONTENTS, VU LETTER II. Page Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell. — On Queen Anne's Behaviour in Prison 221 LETTER III. Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell. — Further Particulars 224 LETTER IV. Edward Baynton to the Lord Treasurer. — Declaring that only Mark will confess any Thing against Queen Anne 225 LETTER V. Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell, May 16, 1536. — Upon the Preparations for the Execution of Lord Rochford and Queen Anne 226 LETTER VI. Sir William Kingston to the same. — Upon the same Subject , 228 A Parallel between Cardinal Wolsey and Archbishop Laud, first printed in 1641, 231 The Will of Thomas Wolsey, Father to the Cardinal.., 244 vm CONTENTS. ORIGINAL LETTERS, ILLUSTRATIVE OF PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF WOLSEY. LETTER VII. Page Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, to his Bedfellow and Cosyn Thomas Arundel. — Complains of Inju ries received at the Hands of Cardinal Wolsey, Humble Solicitations for his Favour in certain Matters 246 LETTER VIII, The same to Secretary Cromwell. — Denying a Contract, or Promise of Marriage, having ever existed be tween Anne Bolleyn and himself 249 LETTER IX. Queen Catherine of Arragon and King Henry VIII. to Cardinal Wolsey. — A joint Letter, about the coming ofthe Legate, and Expressions of Kindness 250 LETTER X. Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey. — Thanking him for his diligent pains in the Affair of the Divorce 252 LETTER XI. The same to the same. — ^The same Subject; and the Coming ofthe Legate 254 LETTER XII. Cardinal Wolsey, in his Distress, to Thomas Cromwell... 255 LETTER XIII. Cardinal Wolsey to Secretary Gardener 257 CONTENTS. IX LETTER XIV. Page The same to the same. — The miserable Condition he is in, his Decay of Health, and Poverty, and desiring some Relief at the King's Hands. A melancholy Picture 261 LETTER XV, The same to tke same. — Desiring Gardener to write and give him an Account of the King's Intentions in regard to him , 263 LETTER XVI, The same to tke same. — Requesting Gardener to expedite the Making out his Pardon in large and ample Form as granted by the King 265 LETTER XVII. The same to the same. — In favour of the Provost of Beverley, and desiring Gardener to intercede with the King for his Colleges 267 LETTER XVIII, The same to the same. — Desiring his Favour in a Suit against him for a Debt of £700. by one Strangwish 269 LETTER XIX. Lettre de M. de Bellay Evesque de Bayonne a M. te Grant Maistre, 17 Oct. 1529, — Containing an in teresting Picture of the Cardinal in his Troubles, and desiring the Intercession of the King of France, &c, in his Favour 271 LETTER XX. Thomas Alvard to Thomas Cromwell. — Containing a ge nuine Picture of one of the last Interviews with which Wolsey was favoured by Henry VIII 282 CONTENTS, ILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS, Page Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, Notice of his Book against the Divorce of Henry and Catherine of Arragon,,. 277 The Schedule appended to the King's Gift to the Car dinal after his Forfeiture by the Premunire 280 A Memoryall of such Communication as my Lorde Legatts Grace had with the Queenes Almoner, — Containing a circumstantial Account of Queen Katherine's Objections to have her Cause finally judged by the Legates, &c 286 Itinerary of Cardinal Wolsey's last Journey to the North 294 The Comming and Reseyving of the Lord Cardinali into Powles for the Escaping of Pope Clement VII, A, D, 1527, A° Regni Henrici VIII. xix'" 297 The Ceremonial of receiving the Cardinal's Hat, sent by the Pope to Wolsey 301 WHO WROTE CAVENDISH'S LIFE OF WOLSEY? SUUM CUIQUE. ' Yet no man remembered that same pock man.' FIRST PRINTED IN M DCCC XIV. WHO WROTE CAVENDISH'S LIFE OF WOLSEY? When a writer undertakes to give cuique suum in a question of literary property, if he would avoid the ridicule which they de servedly incur who raise a controversy only that they may have the honour of settling it, he must show tha:t there are more claimants than one on the property he means to assign. This then will be our first object. Let the reader turn to the ' Biographia Bri- To whom tannica,^ and look out the article ' Sir William pMa aun-* Cavendish.' He will find in either of the editions what follows in the words of Dr. Campbell, the original projector of that work, or rather of his friend Mr. Morant, the histo rian of Essex, for it does not appear that the later editors have either reconsidered the article, or added to it any thing material. Sir William Cavendish, we are told, "had a liberal education given him by his father, who settled upon him also certain lands in the county of Suffolk; but made a much bet ter provision for him by procuring him to be xiv WHO WROTE admitted into the family of the great Cardinal Wolsey, upon whom he waited in quality of gentleman usher of his chamber,"-^— ^" As Mr. Cavendish was the Cardinal's country man, and the Cardinal had a great kindness for his father, he took him early into his con fidence, and showed him upon all occasions very particular marks of kindness and re spect'," Several extracts from the Life of Wolsey are then produced to show the ho nourable nature of this employment, Mr, Cavendish's faithful adherence to Wolsey in his fall receives due encomium: and we are then favoured with a detail of Mr, Caven dish's public services after the Cardinal's death, his rich rewards, his knighthood, mar riages, and issue, in which the writer of the article has followed Sir William Dugdale, and the Peerages. Towards the conclusion Cavendish is spoken of in his character of an author, a character which alone could entitle him to admission into that temple of British worthies. We are told that " he ap pears from his writings to have been a man of great honour and integrity, a good subject to his prince, a true lover of his country, and one who preserved to the last a very high ' Kippis's Edit, voL iii, p, 321. CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY ? XV reverence and esteem for his old master and first patron Cardinal Wolsey, whose life he wrote in the latter part of his own, and there gives him a very high character," "This work of his remained long in manuscript, and the original some years ago was in the hands of the Duke of Kingston, supposed to be given by the author to his daughter, who married into that family. It had been seen and consulted by the Lord Herbert when he wrote his history of the Reign of King Henry To whom, VIII,, but he was either unacquainted with bert, our author's Christian name, or mistook him for his elder brother George Cavendish of Glemsford in ihe county of Suffolk, Esq. for by that name his lordship calls him: but it appears plainly from what he says that the history he made use of was our author's." p, 324, Such is the reputation in which the Biogra phia Britannica is held in the world, and in deed not undeservedly, that most writers of English biography have recourse to it for information: and with its authority those among them are usually well satisfied, who neither value, nor are willing to undertake, the toilsome researches of the genealogist and the antiquary. Another such work, for an illustrious class of English worthies, is 'The XVI WHO WROTE Peerage of England,' begun by the respecta ble and ill rewarded Arthur Collins, and con tinued by successive editors with as much exactness as could reasonably have been ex- Towhom pected. The several editions of this work, Z^""" from that of 1712, in one volume, to that of 1812, in nine, contain the same account of Sir William Cavendish's attendance upon Wol sey, of his tried attachment to him, and of his lasting gratitude to the memory of his old master, displayed in writing apologetical me moirs of his life. At the very opening of the pages devoted to the Devonshire family, in the recent edition of this work, we are told that " the potent and illustrious family of Cavendish, of which, in the last century, two branches arrived at dukedoms, laid the foun dation of their future greatness, first, on the share of abbey lands obtained at the dissolu tion of monasteries by Sir William Cavendish, who had been gentleman usher to Cardinal Wolsey, who died in 1557, and afterwards by the abilities, the rapacity, and the good fortune of Elizabeth his widow, who remar ried George Earl of Shrewsbury, and died in 1607 ^" And afterwards, in the account of the said Sir William Cavendish, we are told Vol, i. p. 302, CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY? Xvii nearly in the words used by Morant, that " to give a more lasting testimony of his grati tude to the Cardinal, he drew up a fair ac count of his life and death, which he wrote in the reign of Queen Mary: whereof the oldest copy is in the hands of the noble family of Pierre point, into which the author's daughter was married. Lord Herbert of Cherbury, in the Life and Reign of King Henry VIIL, quotes the manuscript in many places, hut mentions George Cavendish to he the author of it; ivhich, from divers circumstances, we miay conclude to he a mistake. In the year 1641 it was printed, and again in 1667 ^" A full account is then, given of the public employ ments and honourable rewards of Sir William Cavendish; and the descent of the two ducal families of Devonshire and Newcastle from this most fortunate subject is set forth with all due regard to genealogical accuracy. From these two great public reservoirs ofsirWiiiiam English biography this account of Sir Wil- generally liam Cavendish, both as an author and a man, to be'^the" has been drawn off" into innumerable other ^" °^' works. Writers of high authority in affairs of this nature have adopted it; and even his torians of the life of Wolsey, upon whom it 3 VoL i, p. 314, VOL, II, b XVni WHO WROTE appeared to be incumbent to make accurate inquiry into this subject, have retailed as unquestioned truth what the Biographia and the Peerages have told us concerning an au thor to whose most faithful and interesting narrative they have been so largely indebted. Sir William Cavendish may therefore be re garded as the tenant in possession of this property: nor, as far as I know, hath his but errone- right cvcr bceu formally controverted. Be-. '"'^^' fore the reader has got to the last page of this little treatise he will probably have seen reason to conclude that this account is all fable: for that Sir William Cavendish could not possibly have been the Cardinal's biogra^ pher, nor, of course, the faithful attendant upon him; that circumstance of his history proceeding entirely upon the supposition that he was the writer ofthe work in question*. While we have thus brought before the public the person who may be considered as ihe presumed proprietor of this work, we have also made good our promise to show that there are more claimants than one uppn this piece of literary property. Lord Herbert, we have seen, quotes the manuscript as the * See the marginal references in the Biographia and the "eerages. cavendish's WOLSEY ! xix production of a George Cavendish. Other a third ,. /. tl . I >ii 1 claimant, writers ot no mean authority, as will be seen in the course of this disquisition, have attri buted it to another member of the house of Cavendish whose name was Thomas. The editors ofthe Biographia and the Peer ages have made very light of my Lord Her bert's testimony. What those divers circum stances were which led the latter to reject it, as they have not informed us, so we must be content to remain in ignorance. The noble historian of the life and reign of Henry VIII. is not accustomed to quote his authorities at random. If he sometimes endeavour too much to palliate enormities which can neither be excused nor softened down, he is neverthe less generally correct as to the open fact, as he is always ingenious and interesting. Supported by so respectable an authority, the pretensions of this George Cavendish of Glemsford to have been the faithful attendant upon Wolsey, and the lively historian of his rise and fall, ought to have received a more patient examination. Descended of the same parents with Sir William, and by birth the elder, in fortune he was far behind him. At a period of great uncertainty the two bro thers took opposite courses. William was for reform, George for existing circumstances, b2 XX WHO WROTE Contrary to the ordinary course of events, the first was led to wealth and honours, the latter left in mediocrity and obscurity. The former yet lives in a posterity not less distin guished by personal merit than by the splen dour cast upon them by the highest rank in the British peerage, the just reward of meri torious services performed by a race of pa triots their ancestors. Of the progeny from the other, history has no splendid deeds to relate ; and, after the third generation, they are unknown to the herald and the antiquary. But this is to anticipate, I contend that the wreath which he has justly deserved, who produces one of the most beautiful speciraens of unaffected faithful biography that any lan guage contains, has been torn from this poor man's brow, to decorate the temples of his more fortunate brother. To replace it is the reSthe^'^J^^* of the present publication. It will, I real author, trust, bc shown, to the satisfaction of the reader, that this George Cavendish was the author of the work in question, and the dis interested attendant upon the fallen favourite. The illustrious house of Devonshire needs no borrowed merit to command the respect and admiration of the world. Let it not however be supposed that the writer is meaning to arrogate to himself the CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY ? XXl credit of being the first to dispute the right of Sir William Cavendish, and to advance the claim of the real owner. The possession which Sir William has had haS not been an undisturbed one : so that were there any sta tute of limitations applicable to literary pro perty, that statute would avail him nothing, writers The manlisicript of this work, which now forms TdYmrad a part of the Harleian library, is described by ° " ^™' the accurate Wanley as being from the pen Waniey, of a George Cavendish ^ In 1742 and the two following years, 'A History of the Life and Times of Cardinal Wolsey' was pub lished in four volumes octavo by Mr, Joseph Grove, who subjoined, in the form of notes. Grove. the whole of what was then known to the public of these Memoirs ; describing them in a running title, 'The Secret History of the Cardinal, by George Cavendish, Esq, :' but, as if to show that no one who touched this subject should escape defilement from the errors of the Biographia and the Peerages, he confounds together the two brothers in the account he gives of the author at the 98th page of his third volume. During the re mainder of the last century it does not appear that Sir William Cavendish suffered any ma terial molestation in his possession of this 5 Catalogue Hari, MSS. No. 428. worth xxii WHO WROTE property: but in the present century Mr. Douce. Francis Douce, in his most curious 'Illustra tions of Shakspeare,' restores to George Ca vendish the honour of having produced this work, and marks by significative Italics that it was an honour which another had usurped*. Words- Dr. Wordsworth may also be ranked amongst those writers who have ventured to put a spade into Sir William's estate. To this gentleman belongs the merit of having first presented to the public an impression of this work, which conveys any just idea of the original. In an advertisement he expresses himself thus cautiously as to the name of the author: "The following life was written by the Cardinal's gentleman-usher. Cavendish, whose Christian name in the superscription to some of the manuscript copies is George, but by Bishop Kennet, in his Memoirs of ^ Vol. ii. p. 51. ^ In his 'Ecclesiastical Biography; or, Lives of eminent Men connected with the History of Religion in'England,' 6 vols, Svo, a useful and valuable collection, Dr, Wordsworth very properly rejected the parenthesis, " at which time it was appa rent that he had poisoned himself," which had been introduced into the printed copies without the authority of the manuscripts. The editor of the Censura Literaria once intimated his intention to prepare an edition of this work, (C. L. iii. 372.) How could the press of Lee Priory, of whose powers we have had so many favourable specimens, have been more worthily engaged thaii in producing a correct edition of this valuable piece of antiqua- rain lore, — except in favouring the public with more of its able director's own feeling and beautiful essays? CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY ? Xxiii the family of Cavendish, by Collins in his Peerage, and by Dr, Birch (No, 4233, Ays- cough's Catalogue Brit, Museum) he is called William^ :^ Had the learned editor pursued the question thus started, it is probable he would have been led to the conclusion which will here be brought out, and have thus ren dered wholly unnecessary the disquisition now tendered to the notice of the public. But here he has suffered the matter to rest. And indeed, to say the truth, though there Doubts of may possibly have been two or three other cavendish^ writers who have intimated a doubt as to the workgained right of Sir William Cavendish to the work credu^u the in question, these doubts seem never to have ^°^^ ' gained hold on the public attention. It would be an invidious task to collect together the many modern supporters of his claim: there are, amongst them, names who have deserv edly attained a high degree of celebrity in the walks of biography, history, antiquities, and topography. All the writer wishes is, that he may stand excused with the public in offering what he has collected upon this point: and if the concession is made that the suspicions of Sir William Cavendish's right to this piece of biography have never gained much hold on the public mind, and a Vol.L'p. 321. XXIV WHO WROTE that it is a prevailing opinion in the world that the greatness in which we now behold the house of Devonshire owes its origin to a train of fortunate circumstances resulting out of an attendance on Cardinal Wolsey, he must consider himself as amply excused. Let us now hear the evidence. Authorities The learned editor of the 'Ecclesiastical vour. Biography' has mentioned several names as supporters of Sir William's claim. Arid in deed, if names might carry the day, Kennet and Collins, Birch and Morant, are in them selves a host. But who is there accustomed to close and minute investigation, that has not discovered for himself, of how little mo ment is simple authority in any question? It is, especially, of little weight in historical and antiquarian discussion. The most laborious may sometimes overlook evidence which is afterwards accidentally discovered to another of far inferior pretensions : the most accurate may mistake : the most faithful may be bribed into inattention by supposititious facts, which give a roundness and compactness to whaty without them, forms but an imperfect narra tion. The case before us may possibly come under the latter head. Take away the at tendance upon Wolsey, and we have several years unaccounted for in the life of Sir William Cavendish; and lose what the mind perceives CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY? XXV to be a step by which a private gentleman, as he was, might advance himself into the councils of princes, and the possession of important offices of state. There is in this what might lay a general biographer, who was a very Argus, asleep. But these au thorities, it must also be observed, are all moderns: they lived a century and a half aU modem, after both the Cavendishes had been gathered to their fathers : and earlier biographers, who have made mention of this founder of two ducal houses, have said nothing of any at tendance upon the Cardinal, never ascribed the flourishing state of his fortunes to any recommendation of him to the king firom his old master, nor taken any notice of what is so much to his honour, that he adhered faith fully to Wolsey in his fall, and produced this beautiful tribute to his memory. Negative evidence of this kind, it may be said, is of no great weight. It will be allowed, how ever, to be of some, when it is recollected who they are, that have omitted these leading particulars in Sir William Cavendish's history. They are no other than the author of 'The.Dugdaie Baronage of England,' and Margaret Duchess Duchess of of Newcastle, who has given a laboured ge- doT^ L-^ nealogy of the ancestors and kindred of her ^f ' lord, a grandson of Sir William Cavendish, XXVI WHO WROTE annexed to the very entertaining memoirs which she left of his life. The omissions of two such writers, living at the time when this work was first made public, and whose duty as well as inclination it would have been to have mentioned the fact, had it been so, will at least serve to weigh against the positive but unsupported testimonies of the abovementioned respectable writers, all of whom lived much too late to be supposed to have received any information by private tra dition. Theoriginai But the Original manuscript was in the MS. said to, i /• i t. ¦ • /- -i be in the hands ot the Pierrepoint family, and into that the Pierre- family Sir William Cavendish's daughter was pom ami- j^g^^^jg^j^ Possibly; but were it even so, it is obvious that this lays but a very insufficient foundation for believing that Sir William was the author. Why might it not have been given to Frances Cavendish by George Cavendish her uncle? But Doctor Kennet, upon whose authority this statement has been made, has not informed us by what criterion he was guided in assigning that priority to the Pierrepoint manuscript which this state ment assumes. There are so many manu scripts of this work abroad, that it must, I presume, be exceedingly difficult to decide which has the best claim to be the author's CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY ? XXVii autograph, if indeed that autograph be in existence*. Scarcely any work of this mag nitude, composed after the invention of print ing, has been so often transcribed. There is a copy in the cathedral library at York which Majm- ' once belonged to Archbishop Matthew; an-"'"^*^' other very valuable one in the library of the College of Arms, presented to that learned society by Henry Duke^of Norfolk; another in Mr. Donee's collection; another in the public library at Cambridge; another in the Bodleian. There are two in Mr. Heber's library; two at Lambeth; two' in'ihe Brittsh Museum". The reason of this multiplication reason for /. ¦ -L ji 1 1 • f. , t'neir multi- oi copies by the laborious process ot tran- plication, scription, seems to have been this : the work was composed in the days of Queen Mary by a zealous catholic, but not committed to 9 The reader -will bear in mind that this passage was written in 1814, when the writer coidd not, for obvious reasons, have been acquainted with the claims of Mr. Lloyd's manuscript, to be considered as the original autograph of the author, I will here take occasion to observe that, to the manuscripts enu merated above, two more may be kdded, described in the pre face to the Life, which are in the possession of the -writer of this note. S. W, S, '° It appears by the Catalogus MSS. Anglie that there were two copies in the library of Dr. Henry Jones, rector of Sun- ningwell in Berks, both in folio : and a third also in folio among the MSS. ofthe Rev. Abraham De la Pi^me, F. R. S. of Thome in Yorkshire. There was a copy in the very curious library formed about the middle of the last century by Dr. Cox Macro at his house, Norton near St. Edmund's Bury, xxviii WHO WROTE the press during her short reign. It con tained a very favourable representation of the conduct of a man who was held in but little esteem in the days of her successor, and whom it was then almost treason to praise. The conduct of several persons was reflected on who were flourishing themselves, or in their immediate posterity, in the court of Queen Elizabeth; and it contained also the freest censures of the Reformation, and very strong remarks upon the conduct and charac ter of Anne Boleyn, the Cardinal's great enemy. It is probable that no printer could be found who had so little fear of the Star- Chamber before his eyes as to venture the publication of a work so obnoxious: while such was the gratification which all persons of taste and reading would find in it, from its fidelity, its curious minuteness, its lively de tails, and above all, fi-om that unaffected air of sweet natural eloquence in which it is composed, that many among them must have been desirous of possessing it. Can we won der then that so many copies should have been taken between the time when it was written and the year 1641, when it was first sent to the press : or that one of these copies should have found its way into the library of Henry Pierrepoint, Marquis of Dorchester, CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY ? Xxix who was an author, and a man of some taste and learning"? It cannot surely be difficult to divine how it came into his possession, without supposing that it was brought into his family by Sir William's daughter, his grand mother, Frances Cavendish, Trifling as it appears, we have now had nearly all that has ever been alledged as ren dering it probable that Sir William Caven dish was the author of this work. We have no evidence in his favour fi-om any early ^oe^. catalogue of writers in English history: nor f,^;^/?,^^ any testimony in inscription or title upon any*""®*"^®®- of the manuscripts, except a modern one by Dr. Birch, upon one of the Museum copies. But in appropriating any literary composition to its author, that evidence is the most con clusive which is derived from the work itself. This is the kind of proof to which it is pro posed to bring the claims of the two compe titors. It is contended that there are pas sages in the work, and self-notices, which are absolutely inconsistent with the supposition that it was the production of the person to whom it has usually been ascribed. Let us attend to these. It will be of some importance to us to have Time when the -work _^ _^^^ was writ ten. ' " See, the 'Royal and Noble Authors,' p. 202. and Fasti Oxon. vol. ii. col. 706, ed, 1692. xxx W*HO WROTE clearly ascertained the period at which this work was composed. We have information * p, 40 in sufficient for this purpose. At page 350* of Dr. IditSn?™* Wordsworth's impression, we read that the Cardinal "was sent twice on an embassage unto the Emperor Charles the Fifth that now reigneth, and father unto KiOg Philip, now our soveraign lord," Mary queen of England was married to Philip of Spaiii on the 25th of July, 1554, Again, at page 401, we hear of "Mr. Ratcliffe, who was sonne and heire tintheAu-to the Lord Fitzwalter, and nowe-|- Earle of nfZT- Sussex," The Eari of Sussex of Queen Mary's Earl ofSu^ Tcigu, who had been son and heir to a Lord Tii'i^'Ie Fitzwalter in the days of King Heiiry VIII, present edi-^^jyj^ be HO othcr than Henry Radcliffe, the second earl of that name, who died on the 17th of February, 1557 '*. Without incurring any risk by following older authorities, when so much misconception is abroad, we may set down as fairly proved that the Life of Wolsey was composed about the middle of the reign of Queen Mary 'I '^ Milles's Catalogue of Honour, p. 667, A supposed '^ The reader will, it is hoped, excuse the minuteness of this anax;hron- inquiry. We have enough to teach us to take nothing upon pWd *^"^* ^^* ^** '"'®" ^^'"^ conceming this work : and some doubts have been expressed as to the period at which it was vmtten, grounded on a passage near the conclusion. Cavendish tells us that when the Cardinal left the hospitable mansion of the Eari of Shrewsbury at Sheffield, on the bordfers of Yorkshire, cavendish's WOLSEY? xxxi Now we may collect that the author, who- The author ever he was, thought himself a neglected man n"""^ at the time of writing. He tells us that he engaged in the work to vindicate the memory of his master from " diverse sondrie surmises and imagined tales, made of his proceedings and doings," which he himself had " perfectly knowen to be most untrue." We cannot however but discover, that he was also stimu lated by the desire of attrstcting attention to himself, the old and faithful domestic of a " he took his journey vrith Master Kingston and the guard. And as soon as they espied their old master in such a lament able estate, ihey lamented him with weeping eyes. Whom my lord took by the hands, and divers times, by the way, as he rode, he would talk with them, sometime -with one, and some time with another; at night he was lodged at a house of the Earl of Shrewsbury's, called Hardwick Hall, very evil at ease. The next day he rode to Nottingham, and there lodged that night, more sicker, and the next day we rode to Leicester Ab bey; and by the way he waxed so sick, tha^ he was divers times likely to have fallen from his mule." p, 536; This is an affect ing picture, Shakspeare had undoubtedly seen these words, his portrait of the siek and dying Cardineil so closely resembling &is. But in these words is this chronological difficulty. How is it that Hardwick Hall is spoken of as a house of the Earl of Shrewsbury's in the reign of Henry VIII. or at least in the days of Queen Mary, when it was well knovra that the house of this name between Sheffield and Nottingham, in which the Countess of Shrewsbury spent her widowhood, a house described in the Anecdotes of Painting, and seen and admired by every curious traveller in Derbyshire, did not accrue to the possessions of any part of the Shrewsbury family till the marriage of an earl, who was grandson to the Cardinal's host, -with Elizabeth Hard wick, the widow of Sir William Cavendish, in the time of Queen Elizabeth? If I recollect right, this difficulty perplexed tha^ learned Derbyshire antiquary Dr, Samuel Pegge, who has written somewhat at length on the question, whether the Cardi nal met his death in consequence of having taken poison. See XXXll WHO WROTE great man whose character was then begin ning to retrieve itself in the eyes of an abused nation, and whose misfortunes had prevented him from advancing his servants in a manner accordant to his own wishes, and to the dig nity of his service. He dwells with manifest complacency upon the words of commendation he received on different occasions from his master; and relates towards the conclusion how kindly he had been received by the king after the death of Wolsey, and what promises Gent. Mag. vol. xxv. p. 27, and vol, Iiii. p. 751, The editor of the Topographer proposes to correct the text by reading Wingfield in place of Hardwick; vol. ii. p. 79, The truth, however, is, that though the story is told to every visitor of Hardvrick Hall, that "the great child of honour, Cardinal Wolsey," slept there a few nights before his death; as is also the story, equally unfounded, that Mary Queen of Scots was confined there; it was another Hardwick which received the weary traveller for a night in this his last melancholy pilgrim age. This was Hardwick upon Line in Nottinghamshire, a place about as far to the south of Mansfield, as the Hardwick in Derbyshire, so much better known, is to the north-west. It is now gone to much decay, and is consequently omitted in many maps of the county. It is found in Speed, Here the Earl of Shrewsbury had a house in the time of Wolsey. Leland expressly mentions it, " The Erie [of Shrewsbury] hath a park and maner place or lodge yn it cauUid Hardewike upon Line, a four miles from Newstede Abbay," Itin. vol. v. fol. 94, p. 108. Both the Hardvricks became afterwards the pro perty of the Cavendishes. Thoroton tells us that Sir Charles Cavendish, youngest son of Sir William, and father of William Duke of Newcastle, " had begun to buUd a great house in this lordship, on a hill by the forest side, near Annesley Woodhouse, vrhen he was assaulted and wounded by Sir John Stanhope and his men, as he was -vievring the work, which was therefore thought fit to be left off, some bloud being spilt in the quarrel, then very hot between the two families." Throsby's edit, vol, ii. p. 294. cavendish's WOLSEY? XXXIU had been made to him both by Henry and the Duke of Norfolk, who yet suffered him to de part into his own country. But what shows most strikingly that he was an unsatisfied man, and thought that he had by no means had the reward due to his faithful services, is a remark he makes after having related the sudden elevation of Wolsey to the deanry of Lincoln, "Here," says he, "may all men note the chaunces of fortune that followethe some whome she intendeth to promote, and to some her favor is deane contrary, though they travaille never so much, with all the painfull diligence that they can devise or imagine: whereof for my part I have tasted of the ex perience.^'' p, 332'*. "•¦ The reference is to Dr, Wordsworth's text ; the passage will be found at p. 15 of the present edition. The same strain of querulous complaint occurs in his prologue to the. Metrical Visions, now first published : How some are by fortune exalted to riches. And often such as most unworthy be, Stc. Afterwards he checks himself, and calls Dame Reason to his aid : But after dewe serche and better advisement, I knew by Reason that oonly God above Rewlithe thos thyngs, as is most convenyent. The same devysing to man for his behove : Wherefore Dame Reason did me persuade and move To be content with my small estate. And in this matter no more to vestigate. Here we have decisive proof that the writer's fortunes were not in the flourishing condition which marked those of Sir Wil liam Cavendish at this period, i. e. in the reign of Mary, S. W. S. VOL. II. C XXXIV WHO WROTE Not so Sir There are persons whom nothing will sa- clvendish. tisfy, and they are sometimes the most impor tunate in obtruding their supposed neglects upon the public : but it must surely have been past all endurance to have had such a com plaint as this preferred by Sir William Ca vendish in the days of Queen Mary, His life had been a continual series of promotions His employ- and lucrativc employments. In 1530, the motions!™ very year in the November of which the Car- wardT. dinal died, he was constituted one of the com missioners for visiting and taking the surren ders of divers religious houses. In 1539 he was made one of the Auditors of the Court of Augmentations, then lately established. At this period of his life he was living luxuriously at his mansion of North Awbrey near Lin coln, as appears by the inventory of his furni ture there, which is preserved in manuscript". '5 It formed part of the curious collection of manuscripts John Wil- made by the late John Wilson, Esq. of Bromhead near Sheffield, son of in Yorkshire; a gentleman who spent a long life in collecting, and transcribing where he could not procure possession of the original, whatever might throw any light upon the descent of property, or on the history, language, or manners of our ances tors. He was the intimate friend and correspondent of Burton, Watson, Brooke, Beckwith, and indeed of all tliat generation of Yorkshire antiquaries which passed away with the late Mr. Beaumont of Whitley Beaumont. Mr. Wilson died in 1783. Cavendish's library was not the best furnished apartment of his raagnificent mansion. For the satisfaction of the gentle Bib liomaniac, I shall transcribe the brief catalogue of his books. " Chawcer, Froyssarte Cronicles, a boke of French and Eng lish." They were kept in the new parler, where were also cavendish's WOLSEY? XXXV In the next year he had a royal grant of seve ral lordships in the county of Hertford. In 1546 he was knighted; constituted treasurer of the chamber to the king, a place of great trust and honour; and was soon afterwards admitted of the privy council. He continued to enjoy all these honours till his death, a space of eleven years, in which time his estate was much increased by the grants he re ceived from King Edward VI. in seven seve ral counties". It was not surely for such a man as this to complain of the ludihria for- tuncB, or of the little reward all his " painful diligence" had received. Few men, as Sylvius says, would have such a "poverty of grace" that they would not " think it a most plenteous crop To glean the broken ears after the man That such a harvest reaps." Sir William Cavendish began the world the younger son of a family of some respectabi lity, but of no great wealth or consequence; the pictor of our sov'eig-ne lord the kyng, the pyctor of the Frenche kyng and another of the Frenche queue : also ' two other tables, one vrith towe anticke boys, & the other of a storye of the Byble.' In ' the lyttle parler' was ' a payntyd clothe with the pictor of Kyng Harry the VHP our sovereygne lord, & kyng Harry the VII"- & the VI"', Edward the Forthe & Rychard the Third.' ¦ * The authorities for this detail of the employments, rewards, and honours of Sir Wiljiam Cavendish are to he found in ftie Biographia and the Peerages. c2 XXXVI WHO WROTE and he left it, at about the age of fifty, a knight, a privy counsellor, and the owner of estates which, managed and improved as they were by his prudent relict, furnished two houses with the means of supporting in becoming splen dour the very first rank in the British peerage. But an ambitious man is not to be con tented ; and men do form erroneous estimates of their own deserts : let us see, then, if the work will not supply us with soraething more conclusive. Zealous The writcT is fond of bringing forward Rrforml^^ his rcliglous sentiments. The reader will be *""'• amused with the following sally against the Reformation, its origin, and favourers. He who is disposed may find in it matter for se rious reflection. When Cavendish has re lated that the king submitted to be cited by the two legates, and to appear in person be fore them, to be questioned touching the mat ter of the divorce, he breaks out into this exclamation: — "Forsoothe it is a world to consider the desirous will of wilfull princes, when they be set and earnestly bent to have their wills fulfilled, wherein no reasonable per suasions will suffice; and how little they re gard the dangerous sequell that may ensue, as well to themselves as to their subjects. And above all things, there is nothing that maketh cavendish's wolsey? xxxvii them more wilfull than carnall love and sen- suall affection of voluptuous desire, and plea sures of their bodies, as was in this case; wherein nothing could be of greater expe rience than to see what inventions were fur nished, what lawes were enacted, what costly edifications of noble and auncient monasteries were overthrowne, what diversity of opinions then rose, what executions were then com mitted, how many noble clerkes aud good men were then for the same put to deathe, what alteration of good, auncient, and holesome lawes, customes, and charitable foundations were tourned from reliefe of the poore, to utter destruction and desolation, almost to the subversion of this noble realme. It is sure too much pitty to heare or under stand the things that have since that time chaunced and happened to this region. The profe thereof hath taught us all Englishmen the experience, too lamentable of all good men to be considered. If eyes be not blind men may see, if eares be not stopped they may heare, and if pitty be not exiled the inward man may lament the sequell of this pernicious and inordinate love. Although it lasted but a while, the plague thereof is not yet ceased, which our Lorde quenche and take his indignation from us ! Qui peccavi- '^XXVIU who WROTE mm cum patribus nostris, et injuste egimus^ p, 420 and ^1, Not so Sir This passage, warm from the heart, could Cavendish, havc been written by none but a zealous anti- reformist. That certainly was not Sir Wil liam Cavendish. He had been one of the principal instruments in effecting what I must be allowed to call a necessary and glorious work. Men are not accustomed to record their own condemnation with such a bold, untrera- bling hand. That hand, which is supposed to have penned these words, had been once extended to receive the conventual seal of the Priory of Sheen, and the Abbey of St. Alban's, The person by whom we are to believe they were written had been an officer in that court which was purposely erected to attend to the augmentation of the king's revenue by the sequestration of ecclesiastical property; the proceedings of which court were too often unnecessarily harsh and arbi trary, if not Unjust and oppressive. Nay^ more, at the very time these words were wrif>^ ten, Sir William Cavendish was living on the spoils of those very monasteries whose over throw is so deeply deplored ; and rearing out of them a magnificent mansion at Chatsworth in Derbyshire, to be the abode of himself and his posterity. After so long and so decided CiVVENDISH'S WOLSEY i XXxix a passage, it has been thought unnecessary to quote any other : but throughout the work appears the same zeal in the writer to signa lize himself as a friend to the old profession. May not this be considered as amounting to something almost conclusive against the sup position that the attendant upon Wolsey, and Sir William Cavendish were the same person? Will it be said that he turned with the sir wmiam times ; that he who, in the Protestant reigns, did not had been zealous for the Gospel, in the Catho- the^e^. lie reign was equally zealous for the Mass: and that this work was his amende to the of fended party, I know not of any authority we have for charging this religious tergiver sation upon Sir William Cavendish, who, for any thing that appears in his history, was ani mated by other views in promoting the cause of reform, than the desire of personal ad vancement, and of obtaining the favour of his prince : and I am prepared with two facts in his history, not mentioned by former writers, which are unfavourable to such a supposition. The first shows that he was in some disgrace at the court of Queen Mary as late as the fourth year of her reign ; the second, that he did not seek to ingratiate himself there. On the 17th of August, 1556, a very peremptory order of council was issued, commanding his xl WHO WROTE "indelaid repaire" to the court to answer on "suche matters as at his c6myng" should be declared unto him. The original, subscribed by seven of the Queen's council, is among the Wilson collections mentioned in the note at page 21. What the particular charges were it is not material to our argument to in quire. The next year also, the year in which he died, he ungraciously refused a loan of one hundred pounds required of him and other Derbyshire gentlemen by the Queen, when her ma.jesty was in distress for money to carry on the French war. These facts show that though he was continued in the offices of treasurer of the chamber and privy counsellor, he was in no very high esteem with Queen Mary, nor sought to conciliate her favourable regards. To which we may add, that his lady, whose spirit and mascu line understanding would probably give her very considerable influence in the delibera tions of his mind, was through life a firm friend to the Reformation, and in high favour with Queen Elizabeth. Whatever effect the preceding facts and argument may have had upon the reader's mind, there is a piece of evidence still to be brought out, which is more conclusive against the claim of Sir William Cavendish. Soon cavendish's WOLSEY! xli after the Cardinal was arrested at his house of Cawood in Yorkshire, Cavendish tells us that he resorted to his lord, "where he was in his chamber sitting in a chaire, the tables being spred for him to goe to dinner. But as soone as he perceived me to come in, he fell out into suche a wofull lamentation, with suche ruthe- fuU teares and watery eies, that it would have caused a flinty harte to mourne with him. And as I could, I with others comforted him; but it would not be. For, quoth he, nowe I lament that I see this gentleman (meaning me) how faithefuU, how dilligent, and how painefull he hath served me, abandonning his owne country, wife and children, his house and family, his rest and quietnesse, only to The author 1 ¦, 1 ,, . . 1 married and serve me, and 1 have nothinge to rewarde a father him for his highe merittes." p. 517. eorei.so. Hence it appears that the Cavendish who wrote this work was married, and had a family probably before he entered into the Cardinal's service, certainly while he was en gaged in it. At what precise period he be came a member of the Cardinal's household cannot be collected from his own writings. Grove says it was as early as 1519'^; the Biographia tells us that the place was pro- " Life and Times, &x, vol. iii. p. 98, xlii WHO WROTE cured for him by his father, who died in 1524. This however is certain, that the first mention of himself, as one in attendance upon the Cardinal, is in the exceedingly curious account he has given of the means used to break the growing attachment between the Lord Percy and Anne Boleyn, in order to make way for the king. Cavendish was pre sent when the Earl of Northumberland took his son to task. This must have been before the year 1527; for in that year the Lord Percy became himself Earl of Northumber land; and probably it was at least a twelve month before; for ere the old Eari's depar ture, a marriage had been concluded between Lord Percy and the Lady Mary Talbot, a daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury '\ In Mary, '8 Though little ceremony and probably as little time was Nort W "^^"^ ™ patching up these nuptials. As might be expected, Ihey berland. "^^^^ ^°^^ unhappy. So we are told on the authority of the earl's own letters in the very laboured account of the Percy family given in the edition of CoUins's Peerage, 1779; perhaps the best piece of family history in our language. " Henry the unthrifty," Earl of Northumberland, died at Hackney in the prime of life, about ten or twelve years after he had consented to this marriage. Qf this term but a very smaU pai-t was spent in company of his lady. He lived long enough, however, not only to witness the destruction of all his own happiness, but the sad termmation of Anne Boleyn's life. In the admu-able ac count ofthe Percy family, referred to above, no mention is made of the lady who, on these terms, consented to become Countess of Northumberiand, in her long widowhood . She had a valuable grant of abbey lands and tythes, from which, proba bly she derived her principal support. One letter of hers has CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY? xliii 1526 then, the Cavendish who wrote this work was a member of Wolsey's household. Now, fortunately for this inquiry, it happens Not so sir that an exact account has been preserved of Cavendish. the several marriages and the numerous issue of Sir William Cavendish. It is to be found in the funeral certificate, which, according to a laudable custom of those times, was entered by his relict among the records of the College of Arms. This document, subscribed by her own hand, sets forth that her husband's first born child came into the world on the 7th of January, in the 25th year of King Henry VIII. This answers to 1534: that is at least seven years after the Cavendish, for whom falleu into my hands. It presents her in an amiable position. She is pleading in behalf of a poor man whose cattle had been impounded by one of Lady Cavendish's agents. Its date and place is to the eye WormhiU*; but the running hand of that age, when not carefuUy -written, is not to be depended on for representing proper names with perfect exactness, and the place may be WreshUl, which was a house of the Northumberland family. She died in 1572 ; and on the I7th of May her mortal remains were deposited in the vaiUt made by her father in Sheffield church, where sleep so many of her noble relatives, some of them in monumental honours. • In JDStice to the amiable autlior of this essay, who is extremely auxioQS to be accurate, I think it proper to apprise the reader that the note taken from the former edition of his work at p. 65 of the Life of Wolsey must be qualified by what is here stated. In a letter vritb which I have been favoured, he says, " I have looked again and again at the letter, and the word is (jertainly (if we may judge from the ciatieters which the lady's pen has formed) WarmMU' yet stiU I think it must hiive been intended for WresMll, as I have met with nothing else to show that the lady had a house at Wormhill." S. W. S. xliv WHO WROTE we are inquiring, had become a member of Wolsey's family, and more thau three years after the Cardinal had remarked that his gen tleman usher had left "wife and children, his home and family, his rest and quietnesse,!' only to serve him. This is decisive. The funeral The documeut which contains these family where to be particulars of the Cavendishes is not known °™ ¦ only to those gentlemen who have access to the arcana of the College of Arms. It has been published: and it is remarkable that Arthur Collins, who has been a principal cause of the error concerning the author of this work, gaining such firm hold on the public mind, should have been the first to lay before the public a record which proves beyond dispute that the Cavendish who wrote the Life of Wolsey could not be the Cavendish who was the progenitor of the house of Devonshire. It is printed in his * Noble Families,' where is a more complete account of the Cavendishes than is to be found in his Peerage, and which might have been transferred with advantage into the later editions of that work. This document has also been printed by Guthrie and Jacob, whose account of the nobility of this nation may often be consulted with advantage, after having read any of the editions of Collins. CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY ? xlv Of its authenticity, the only point material to this inquiry, no suspicion can reasonably be entertained. We have now brought to a conclusion our inquiry into the right of the tenant in posses sion. It has been questioned, examined, and, I think, disproved. It is not contended that the common opinion respecting Sir William Cavendish's attendance upon Wolsey does not harmonize well enough with what is known of his real history, and to render our proof absolutely complete, it might seem to be almost incumbent upon us to show how Sir William Cavendish was engaged while Wol sey's biographer was discharging the duties of his office as an attendant upon the Car dinal, Could we do this, we should also dis close the steps by which he attained -to his honourable state employments, and the favour of successive monarchs. In the absence of How the positive testimony I would be permitted toofsiwi'i- hazard the conjecture, that, in early life hcdishma^" followed the steps of his father, who had an spInt, ^^" office in the court of Exchequer, Such an education as he would receive in that court would render him a most fit instrument for the purpose in which we first find his ser vices used, the suppression of the monaste- xlvi WHO WROTE ries, and the appropriation of the lands belong ing to them to his royal master. Having signalized his zeal, and given proof of his ability in this service, so grateful to the King, we may easily account for his further employ-^ ments, and the promotions and rewards which followed them. Let it however be observed^ that this is no essential part of our argument* nor shall I pursue the inquiry any furtherj mindful of the well known and sage counsel of the Lord Chancellor Bacon. I would however be permitted to say some thing on that very extraordinary woman, the lady of Sir William Cavendish, and the sharer with him in raising the family to that state of affluence and honour in which we now behold it. Indeed she was a more than equal sharer. He laid the foundation, she raised the super structure; as she finished the famjly palace at Chatsworth, of which he had laid the first stone. His lady This lady was Elizabeth Hardwick, a name dinary eha- famjUar to all visitors of the county of Derby, where she lived more than half a century with little less than sovereign authority, having first adorned it with two most splendid man sions. The daughter, and the virgin widow of two Derbyshire gentlemen of moderate racter. CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY? xlvii estates, she first stepped into consequence by her marriage with Sir William Cavendish, a gentleman much older than herself The ce remony was performed at the house of the Marquis of Dorset", father to the Lady Jane Grey, who, with the Countess of Warwick and the Earl of Shrewsbury, was a sponsor at the baptism of her second child. Caven dish left her a widow with six children in 1557, Shortly after his death she united her self to Sir William St, Lowe, one of the old Marries sir attendants ofthe Princess Elizabeth, on whose Lowe; accession to the throne he was made captain of her guard. In 1567, being a third time a widow, she was raised to the bed of the most powerful peer of the realm, George Talbot, becomes Earl of Shrewsbury, He had been a friend shrews- of Sir William Cavendish, and it is possible "'^" that the magnificent state which he displayed in the immediate neighbourhood of this lady had more than once excited her envy. She lov>ed pomp and magnificence and personal splendour, as much as she enjoyed the hurry and engagement of mind which multiplied worldly business brings with it. She had a passion for jewels, which was appealed to "5 Broadgate in Leicestershire. See the Funeral Certificate. They were married on the 20th Aug. 1 Edw, VI,, at two o'clock after midnight. xlviii WHO WROTB^ Hasapr^ and gratified by the unhappy Mary Queen of Tfrli"' Scotland^ who lived many years under the &of care of the Eari of Shrewsbury, her husband, ^"'*'' She united herself to this nobleman more, as it should seem, from motives of ambition, than as the consequence of any real affection she had for him. He had unquestionably the sincerest regard for her: and, though she forgot many of the duties of a wife, it con tinued many years in the midst of all that reserve and perfidity, and even tyranny, if such a word may be allowed, which she thought proper to exercise towards him. The decline of this good and great man's life af fords a striking lesson how utterly insufficient are wealth and splendour and rank to secure happiness even in a case where there is no experience of the more extraordinary vicis situdes of fortune, the peculiar danger of persons in elevated situations. Probably the happiest days of the last three and twenty years of his life were those in which he was employing himself in preparing his own se- Deathof pulchre, This he occupied in 1590. But the effect of his ill advised nuptials ex tended beyond his life. His second countess " Among the WUson collection is a list of jewels presented to the Countess of Shrewsbury by tlie Queen of Scotland. cavendish's wolsey? xlix had drawn over to her purposes some of his family, who had assisted her in the designs she carried on against her husband. She had drawn them closely to her interest by alliances with her own family. Hence arose family animosities, which appeared in the most frightful forms, and threatened the most deadly consequences'*. Much may be seen respecting this extraordinary woman in the Talbot papers published by Mr, Lodge, A bundle of her private correspondence has been preserved, and forms a curious and valuable part of that collection of manuscripts which we have had occasion more than once to mention. These let in much light upon her conduct. It is impossible to contemplate her character in this faithful mirror without being convinced that Mr. Lodge has drawn the great outlines of it correctly, when he de scribes her as " a woman of masculine under- Mr.Lodge's standing and conduct; proud, furious, selfish, her. and unfeeling"." Yet she was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth, who paid her this com pliment soon after her last marriage, that Anecdote of Queen __^^ Elizabeth, '8 See " Memoirs ofthe Peers of England during the Reign of James the First," p, 19, Lodge's " Illustrations," &c. iu. 50—64. and Hari. MS, in Brit. Mus, No, 4836. fol. 325. and 6846. fol. 97, '9 " Illustrations," Sec, Introd, p. 17. VOL, II, d I WHO WROTE "she had been glad to see my Lady Saint Lowe, but was more desirous to see my Lady Shrewsbury, and that there was no lady in the land whom she better loved and liked." These flattering expressions were used to Mr. Wingfield, who was a near relation of this lady, and who lost u,o time in reporting them to her. Most of these letters are upon pri vate affairs: a few only are from persons whom she had engaged to send her the news of the day, as was usual with the great people Letters to of that agc wheii absent from court. There '"• are several of the letters which she received from Saint Lowe and Shrewsbury, which show how extraordinary was the influence she had gained over their minds. There is one from Sir William Cavendish. Having laboured to show what the knight did not compose, I shall transcribe in the note below this genuine frag ment of his writing, though in no respect worthy of publication, except as having passed between these two remarkable characters'". It is expressed in a strain of familiarity to which neither of his successors ever dared Original ^o To Besse Cavendysh Letter of „„ „„,«r Sir William „ ,„ ^ . ^y ^ff- Cavendish, ^°°" Hesse, haveing forgotten to wryght in my letters that you shuld pay OteweU Alayne eight pounds for certayne otys that we have bought of hym ov' and above x" that I have paid to hym in hand, I hertely pray you for that he is desyrus to re- cavendish's wolsey.' li aspire. To conclude the history of this lady, she survived her last husband about seven teen years, which were spent for the most part at Hardwick, the place of her birth, and where she had built the present noble man sion. There she died in 1607, and was in terred in the great church at Derby, The courteous reader will, it is hoped, par don this digression ; and now set we forth on the second stage of our inquiry, W^ho wrote Cavendish's Life of Wolsey? When there are only two claimants upon ciaim of , . /" ,1 , . /, -, Thomas Ca- any property, it the pretensions of one can be vendish. shown to be groundless, those of the other seem to be established as a necessary conse quence. But here we have a third party. Beside Sir William and his elder brother George, a claimant has been found in a Thomas Cavendish. In the account of Wol sey given in the Athenae % Wood <;alls the author by this name : and Dodd, a Catholic divine, who published a Church History of England in 3 vols, folio, (Brussels, 1737.) in a list of historians and manuscripts used ceyve the rest at Loudon, to pay hym uppon the sight hereof. You knowe my store aod theretore I haye appoyntyd hym to have it at yo' hands. And thus faer you well. From Chattes- worft-thexiii" of AprelL W.C. ^' Afh. Oxon. vol. i. «ol. 569, ed, 1691. d2 lii WHO wrote in the preparation of his work, enumerates " Cavendish Thomas, Life of Cardinal Wol sey, Lond, 1590," It is very probable that Dodd may have contented himself with copy ing the name of this author from the Athenae, a book he used: and it is with the utmost deference, and the highest possible respect, for the wonderful industry and the extra ordinary exactness of the Oxford antiquary, I would intimate my opinion that, in this in stance, he has been misled. To subject the pretensions of Thomas Cavendish to such a scrutiny as that to which those of Sir Wil liam have been brought is quite out of the question: for neither Wood nor Dodd have thrown any light whatever on his history or character. He appears before us like Homer, nomen, et prceterea nihil. There was a person of both his names, of the Grimstone family, a noted navigator, and an author in the days of Queen Elizabeth; but he lived much too late to have ever formed a part of the household of Cardinal Wolsey. We must now state the evidence in favour of George Cavendish. The reader will judge for himself whether the testimony of Anthony Wood, and that of the Catholic church-histo rian, supposing them to be distinct and inde pendent testimonies, is sufficient to outweigh what is to be advanced in support of George C.WENDISH'S WOLSEY? Hii Cavendish's claim. We shall first state on what grounds the work is attributed to a Cavendish whose name was George; and secondly, the reasons we have for believing that he was the George Cavendish of Glems ford in Suffolk, to whom my Lord Herbert ascribes the work. On the former point the evidence is wholly That the external. It lies in a small compass ; but it n^e'^was is of great weight. It consists in the testi- ^°^^^' mony of all the ancient manuscripts which bear any title of an even date with them selves^: and in that of the learned herald and antiquary Francis Thinne, a contempo rary of the author's, who, in the list of wri ters of English history which he subjoined to HoUinshead's Chronicle, mentions " George Cavendish, Gentleman Vsher vnto Cardinal Woolseie, whose life he did write," Now to our second point. Four circum- Four cir- f*ii TTi ^t flnp p ^ stances of the author's situation are discovered ofthe au to us in the work itself: viz, that his life was dition disco vered in the . work, ^^ None of the publishers of this work have given us the Original original title. I shaU here transcribe it as it appears upon the title of the manuscript in fhe Library ofthe College of Arms. -^"^ Thomas Wolsey, late Cardinali intituled of S' Cicile trans Tiberim presbyter and Lord Chauncellar of England, his lyfe and deathe, compiled by George Cavendishe, his gentleman Usher. liv WHO WROTE extended through the reigns of Henry VIII. Edward VI, and Queen Mary; that while he was in the Cardinal's service he was a mar ried man, and had a family: that he was in but moderate circumstances when he com posed this memoir; and that he retained a zeal for the old profession of religion. If we find these circumstances concurring in a George Cavendish, it is probable we have found the person for whom we are in search. Scanty as is the information afforded us concerning a simple esquire of the days of the Tudors, it will probably be made apparent that these circumstances do concur in the person to whom my Lord Herbert ascribes the work. Men of little celebrity in their lives, and whose track through the world cannot be discovered by the light of history, are sometimes found attaining a faint and obscure " life after doath" in the herald's visi tation books and the labours of the scrivener. Those rolls of immortality are open to every man. They transmit to a remote posterity the worthless and the silly with as much cer tainty as the name of one who was instinct • with the fire of genius, and whom a noble ambition to be good and great distinguished from the common herd of men. It is in these rolls only that the name of George Cavendish cavendish's WOLSEY ? Iv of Glemsford is come down to us : he forms a link in the pedigi-ee: he is a medium in the transmission of manorial property. But this very obscurity creates a presump- obscurity tion in favour of his claim. What employ- Cavendish ment that should raise him into notice would tion in ms be offered in the days of Henry and Edward to the faithful and affectionate attendant upon a character so unpopular among the great as the haughty, low-born Wolsey ? What should have placed his name upon public record who did not, like Cromwell and some other of Wolsey's domestics, "find himself a way out of his master's wreck to rise in" by throw ing himself upon the court, but retired, as Cavendish at the conclusion of the Memoirs tells us he did, to his own estate in the coun try, with his wages, a small gratuity, and a present of Six of the Cardinal's horses to convey his furniture? That, living at a dis tance from the court, he should have been overlooked on the change of the times, can not be surprising: he was only one among many who would have equal claims upon Mary and her ministry. Had she lived in deed till his work had been published, we might then reasonably have expected to have seen a man of so much virtue, and talent, and religious zeal, drawn from his obscurity, and Ivi WHO WROTE his name might have been as well known to our history as that of his brother the re formist. But Mary died too soon for his hopes and those of many others of his party, though not too soon for the interests of reli gion and humanity. All expectation of seeing the admirer and apologist of Wolsey emerge from his obscurity must end with the acces sion ofthe protestant princess Elizabeth. What is It is therefore not surprising, and on the G°eo^e''ca- whole rathcr favourable to our argument, that Glemsford. Hcarly all which can now be collected of George Cavendish of Glemsford is contained in the following passage extracted from cer tain " Notices of the manor of Cavendish in Suffolk, and of the Cavendish family while possessed of that manor," which was com municated to the Society of Antiquaries by Thomas Ruggles, Esq., the owner of the said manor ^^ Cavendish, it will be recollected, is a manor adjoining to Glemsford, and which belonged to the same parties. George Cavendish is stated to be the eld est son of Thomas Cavendish, Esq. who was clerk of the pipe in the Exchequer. He "was in possession ofthe manor of Cavendish Overhall, and had two sons; William was Archaeologia, vol, xi. p. 50—62. cavendish's WOLSEY? Ivii the eldest, to whom, in the fourth year of Philip and Mary, 1558, he granted by deed enrolled in Chancery this manor in fee, on the. said William, releasing to his father one annual payment of twenty marks, and cove nanting to pay him yearly for life, at the site of the mansion-house of Spains-hall, in the parish of Finchingfield, in the county of Essex, forty pounds, at the four usual quarterly days of payment. When George Cavendishe died is uncertain : but it is apprehended in 1561 or 1562. "William Cavendishe his son was in pos session of the manor in the fourth year of Elizabeth," "He was succeeded in this estate by his son William Cavendysh of Lon don, mercer, who, by that description, and reciting himself to be the son of William Cavendishe, gentleman, deceased, by deed dated the 25th of July, in the eleventh year of the reign of Elizabeth, 1569, released all his right and title to this estate, and to other lands lying in different parishes, to William Downes of Sudbury, in Suffolk, Esq," This detail plainly intimates that decay of His fortune the consequence and circumstances of a family which we might expect from the complaints in the Memoirs of Wolsey, of the unequal dealings of fortune, and of the little reward ] viii WHO WROTE all the writer's "painfull diligence" had re ceived. We see George Cavendish, for a small annual payment in money, giving up the ancient inheritance of his family, a manor call ed after his own name: and only eleven years after, that very estate passed to strangers to the name and blood ofthe Cavendishes by his grandson and next heir, who was engaged Married be- in trade in the city of London. We find fore 1526. ^j^^ ^^^^ ^^ j^^^^ ^^^ coucurrcnt testimony of the heralds of that time to prove, that this George Cavendish was married, and the father of sons : but on a closer inspection we find more than this : we discover that he must have been married as early as 1526, when we first find the biographer of Wolsey a mem ber of the Cardinal's household'*. William Cavendish the younger, grandson to George Cavendish, must have been of full age before he could convey the estate of his forefathers. He was born therefore as early as 1548. If from this we take a presumed age of his father at the time of his birth, we shall arrive at this conclusion, that George Cavendish the grand father was a family-man at least as early as a CathoUc. 1526. To another point, namely, the reli gious profession of this Suffolk gentleman, ^+ See page 27. cavendish's WOLSEY ? Ux our proof, it must be allowed, is not so deci sive. I rely however, with some confidence, upon this fact, for which we are indebted to the heralds, that he was nearly allied to Sir Thomas More, the idol of the Catholic party in his own time, and the object of just respect with good men in all times, Mar gery his wife being a daughter of William Kemp of Spains-hall in Essex, Esq. by Mary Colt his wife, sister to Jane, first wife of the Chancellor'^ Indeed it seems as if the Kemps, in whose house the latter days of this George Cavendish were spent, were of the old profession. The extraordinary pen ance to which one of this family subjected himself savours strongly of habits and opi nions generated by the Roman Catholic sys tem. It is perhaps unnecessary, in the last Lived i place, to remind the reader, that what Mr. Ruggles has discovered to us of the owner of Cavendish shows that his life was extended through the reigns of the second, third, and fourth monarchs of the house of Tudor : now the family pedigrees present us with no other George Cavendish of whom this is the truth. And here the case is closed. "'s See Vincent's SufFoUt, MS. in Col. Arm. fol. 149, and compare with Morant's Essex, vol. ii, p. 363, and with the ac count of the Cavendishes in the Peerages. m the three Ix WHO WROTE Genealogy. It has becu thought propcT to annex the following genealogical table, which exhibits the relationship subsisting among the several members of the house of Cavendish whose names have been mentioned in the preceding treatise. Thomas Cavendish, Clerk ofthe Pipe, WiU dated 13th AprU, 1523. Died next year. =f=Al.lcE, daughter and heir of John Smith of Padbrook,- hall, CO. Suff. George, = of Glemsford and Ca vendish, Esq. eldest son and heir. Gentleman usher to Cardinal Wolsey, and vn-iterof hisLife. Born about 1500. Died about 1561 or 1562. ¦Margery, daughter of Wm. Kemp, of Spains- hall, Essex, niece to Sir Thos. More. I SirWlLLIAM,=of North Aw brey, and Chatsworth, Kut. Auditor of the Court of Augmenta tions, &c. Un der age 1523. Died 1557, = Elt ZABETH (third vrifejdaughterofJphn, Hardwick, of Hard- vrick, CO, Derby, Esq. widow of Robert Bar low, of Barjow, in the same county. She sur vived Cavendish, and married Sir WiUiam St.Lowe, and George 6th Earl of Shrews bury, William, gent, 0-wner of the manor of Caven dish 1562. William, of London, mer cer. Sold Ca vendish 1569, 1. Henry, ofTutbury s,p. 2, William, created Earl of Devonshire 16 Jac, I, 1618, 3. Sir Charles, of Welbeck. father of William Duke of Neweas- fle. 1. Frances, WUe of Sir Henry Pier repoint, 2. Elizabeth, Wife of Charles Stuart, Earl of Lenox, 3. Mary, Wife of Gilbert Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY ? Ixi Supposing that the reader is convinced by oriigin of the preceding evidence and arguments, that taken ap- this work could not be the production of Sir ofthiswoik. William Cavendish, and that he was not the faithful attendant upon Cardinal Wolsey, I shall give him credit for a degree of curiosity to know how it happened that a story so far from the truth gained possession of the public mind, and established itself in so many works of acknowledged authority. That desire I shall be able to gratify, and will detain him but a little while longer, when the disclosure has been made of a process by which error has grown up to the exclusion of truth, in which it will be allowed that there is something of cu riosity and interest. Error, like rumour, often appears parva metu primd, but, like her also, vires acquirit eundo. So it has been in the present instance. What was at first advanced with all the due modesty of probability and conjecture, was repeated by another person as something nearer to certain truth: soon every thing which intimated that it was only conjecture became laid aside, and it appeared with the broad bold front in which we now behold it. The father of this misconception was no Kennet, other than Dr, White Kennet, In 1708, be ing then only Archdeacon of Huntingdon, this Ixii WHO WROTE eloquent divine published a sermon which be had delivered in the great church at Derby, at the funeral of William the first Duke of Devonshire, Along with it be gave to the world Memoirs of the Family of Cavendish, in which nothing was omitted that, in his opi nion, might tend to set off" his subject to the best advantage. He lauds even the Countess of Shrewsbury, and this at a time when he was called to contemplate the virtues and all womanly perfections of Chris-tian Countess of Devonshire. It was not to be expected that he should forget the disinterested attendant upon Wolsey, and the ingenious memorialist of that great man's rise and fall ; whose work had then recently been given to the public in a third edition. After reciting from it some particulars of Cavendish's attendance upon the Cardinal, and especially noticing his faith ful adherence to him when others of his do mestics had fled to find a sun not so near its setting, he concludes in these words: "To give a more laMtihg testimony of his gratitude to the Cardinal, he drew up a fair account of his life and death, of which the oldest copy is in the hands of the noble family of Pierrepoint, into which the author's daughter was marriaed: for without express authority we may gather from circumstances, that this very writer was CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY? Ixiii the head of the present family ; the same per son with the immediate founder of the present noble family, William Cavendish of Chats worth, com. Derb. Esq." p. 63. The editors of the Peerages, ever attentive coUins. to any disclosure that may add dignity to the noble families whose lives and actions are the subjects of their labours, were not unmindful of this discovery made by the learned Arch deacon. The book so popular in this country under the name of Collins's Peerage was published by the industrious and highly re spectable Arthur Collins, then a bookseller at the Black Boy in Fleet-street, in a single volume, in the year 1709. In the account of the Devonshire family no more is said of Sir William Cavendish than had been told by Dugdale, and than is the undoubted truth ^^ But when, in 1712, a new edition appeared, we find added to the account of Sir William Cavendish all that the Archdeacon had said of Mr. Cavendish, the attendant upon Wol sey : but with this remarkabk difference, aris ing probably in nothing more blameworthy than inattention, that while Kennet had writ ten "for without express authority we may gather from circumstances, &c." Collins says, ^^ See page 84. Ixiv WHO WROTE "for with express authority we may gather from circumstances, &c.^'" A third edition appeared in 1715, in two volumes, in which no change is made in the Cavendish article^'. In 1735 the Peerage had assumed a higher character, and appeared with the arms en graven on copper-plates, in four handsome octavo volumes. In this edition we find the whole article has been recomposed; and we no longer hear of the gathering from circum stances, or the with or without express autho rity; but the account of Sir William Caven dish's connexion with the Cardinal is told with all regularity, dovetailed with authentic particulars of his life, forming a very compact and, seemingly, consistent story ^', The only material change that has been introduced in the successive editions of a work which has been so often revised and reprinted, has arisen from the discovery made by some later editor, that my Lord Herbert had quoted the work as the production of a George Cavendish, The gentle editors were not however to be ^' See p. 100. =8 Vol. i. p. 106. '° Vol. i. p. 122. It is singular enough that in this edition the name of the Cardinal's attendant and biographer, by a slip of the pen is written George. See Une 38. It is plain from the connexion that this must have been an unintended blunder into the truth. It was duly corrected in the later editions. cavendish's wolsey ? Ixv deprived of what tended in their opinion so much to the credit of the house of Ca\endish, and rendered the account they had to give of , its founder so much more satisfactory. With out ceremony, therefore, they immediately put down the quotation to the inaccuracy and in attention of that noble author. Having once gained an establishment in a The Bio- work so highly esteemed and so widely dis- ^^^ ^*' persed, and carrying a primd facie appearance of truth, it is easy to see how the error would extend itself, especially as in this country the number of persons is so small who attend to questions of this nature, and as the means of correcting it were not so obvious as since the publication ofthe "Ecclesiastical Biography," But it assumed its most dangerous conse quence by its introduction into the Biogra phia, The greatest blemish of that extremely valuable collection of English lives seems to be that its pages are too much loaded with stale genealogy taken from the commonest of om' books. Wherever Collins afforded them information, the writers of that work have most gladly accepted of it, and have '< whisper'd whence they stole Their balmy sweets," VOL. 11. Ixvi WHO WROTE by using in many instances his own words. His facts they seem to have generally assuraed as indubitable. In the present instance nothing more was done than to new-mould the account given of Sir William Cavendish in the later editions of the Peerage, and, by an unprofit able generalization of the language, to make his mixture of truth and fable more palatable to the taste of their readers. Bragg the PooT Arthur Collins was not the only book- DOOK^P "I PT seller who took advantage of the learned archdeacon's unfortunate conjecture. There was one Bragg, a printer, at the. Blue Ball in Ave Maria Lane, a man of no very high cha racter in his profession, who published in 1706 an edition of Cavendish's Life of Wol sey, taken from the second edition by Dor man Newman, and with all the errors and omissions of that most unfaithful impression. Copies were remaining upon his shelves when Kennet's sermon made its appearance. Rightly judging that this must cause inquiries to be made after a book, the production of one who was the progenitor of a person and family at that particular period, from a con currence of circumstances, the subject of uni versal conversation, he cancelled the anony mous title-page of the remaining copies, and cavendish's WOLSEY? Ixvii issued what he called a " Second Edition," with a long Grub-street title begining thus : Sir William Cavendish's Memoirs of the Life of Ordinal Wolsey, &c. This has sometimes been mistaken for a really new edition of the work. And having thus adverted to the difierent Editions of editions, it may not be improper to add a few words on the impressions which have been issued of this curious biographical fragment. Till Dr, Wordsworth favoured the public with his "Ecclesiastical Biography," what we had was rather an abridgement than the genuine work. But even in its mutilated form it was always popular, and the copies were marked at considerable prices in the booksellers' catalogues. The first edition, it is believed, is that in 4to, London, 1641, for William Sheeres, with the title " The Negotiations of Thomas Wool sey, the great Cardinali of England, &c. com posed by one of his own Servants, being his Gentleman-Usher." The second was in 12mo, London, 1667, for Dorman Newman, and is entitled "The Life and Death of Thomas Woolsey, Cardinal, &uc. written by one of his own Servants, being his Gentleman-Usher.'^ The third is the one just mentioned in Svo, Ixviii WHO WROTE London, 1706, for B. Bragg, and having for its title "The Memoirs of that great Favourite Cardinal Woolsey, &c," It is supposed that it was first raade public in order to provoke a comparison between Wolsey and the un popular Archbishop Laud, These are the only editions known to the writer. It is printed in the form of notes to Grove's History of the Life and Times of Cardinal Wolsey^", again in the Harleian Miscellany, and in the selection from that work. And last of all, it forms a most valuable part of the " Ecclesiastical Biography," published by Dr. Wordsworth. The sup- It must not however be concealed that men tion pf^ tion has been made of a still earlier edition than any of those above described. Bishop Nicholson, in his English Historical Library", asserts that it was published at London in 3° Mr. Grove subsequently (in 1761) met with what he con sidered " an antient and curious manuscript copy written about one hundred and fifty years ago," and from this he printed an edition in Svo, with a preface and notes, the advertisement to which bears the above date. It appears to be one of the rarest of English books, and was probably never published : the copy ¦with which I have been favoured by Richard Heber, Esq. M. P. ha-ring no title page. There are other curious tracts in the volume on the subject of Wolsey, having separate titles bearing no bookseller's name, but purporting to be printed/or the Au thor by Dryden Leach, and aU in 1761. S. W. S. " 4to, 1776, p. 116. 1590. CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY? Ixix 4to, 1590; and in this he is followed by Dodd the Catholic historian. Nicholson's authority is not very high in respect of bibliographical information; and there is great reason to be lieve that he has here described an edition to be found only in the Bibliotheca abscondita of Sir Thomas Brown. This however is cer tain, that the comtnentators on Shakspeare are agreed, that though the labours of Caven dish must have been known in part to our great Dramatist, he has followed them so closely in many of his scenes, it could have been only by a perusal of them in manuscript, or by the ample quotations made from them in the pages of Hollinshead and Stowe. Mr. Malone indeed expressly affirms that they were not sent to the press before 1641. The earliest edition known to the editor of the Censura Literaria, whose intimate acquaint ance with early English literature every one acknowledges, and whose attention has been peculiarly drawn to this work, was of that date. The catalogues, published and unpub lished, of most of our principal libraries have been consulted, and no earlier edition than that of 1641 found in any one of them. No earlier edition than that is to be found in the Royal Library at Paris. It appears, there fore, on the whole, most probable that though Ixx WHO WROTE there are undoubtedly black-letter stores, which the diligence of modern bibliomaniacs has not brought to light, no such edition ex ists, as that which the author of the English Historical Library tells us was published ih the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and during the height of the persecutions which she autho rized against the Catholics. Under this per suasion the preceding sheets have been com posed. It is possible that Bishop Nicholson may have been misled by another work on the same subject; The Aspiring, Triumph, and Fall of Wolsey, by Thomas Storer, Student of Christ Chureh. This appeared in quarto, 1599. Conclusion. The Writer now lays down his pen with something like a persuasion that it will be allowed he has proved his two points, — that Sir William Cavendish of Chatsworth could not have been the author of the Life of Wol sey, and that we owe the work to his brother George Cavendish of Glemsford. The ne cessary inference also is, that the foundation of the present grandeur of the house of Ca vendish was not laid, as is commonly under stood, in an attendance upon Cardinal Wolsey, and in certain favourable circumstances con nected with that service. The inquiry, even CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY ? Ixxi in all its bearings, like many other literary inquiries, cannot be considered as of very high importance. The writer will not how ever affect to insinuate that he considers it as of no consequence. In works so universally consulted as the Biographia and the Peer ages, it is desirable that no errors of any magnitude should reraain undetected and un exposed. Error begets error, and truth be gets truth: nor can any one say how rauch larger in both cases may be the offspring than the sire. I do not indeed, scruple to acknow ledge, that, though not without a relish for inquiries which erabrace objects of far greater magnitude, and a disposition justly to appre ciate their value, I should be thankful to the man who should remove ray uncertainty, as to whose countenance was concealed by the Masque de Fer, or woidd tell me whether Richard was the hunch-backed tyrant, and Harry " the nimble-footed mad-cap" exhibited by our great dramatist; whether Charles wrote the Eikwv BaffiXt/cij, and Lady Packing- ton "The whole Duty of Man." Not that I would place this humble disquisition on a level with the inquiries which have been in stituted and so learnedly conducted into these several questions. In one material point, however, even this disquisition may challenge Ixxii WHO WROTE CAVENDISH'S WOLSEY? an equality with them. There is a rauch nearer approach raade to certainty than in the discussions of any of the abovementioned SO much greater questions. There are amongst readers of books some persons whose minds being every moment occupied in the contemplation of objects of the highest iraportance, look down with con terapt upon the naturalist at his leucophrce, the critic at his juev and Se work, the astrono- • mer at his nebulce, and the toiling antiquary at every thing. One word to these gentlemeh before we part. To them may be recom mended the words ofa writer of our own day, a raan of an enlarged and highly cultivated mind : — " He who determines with certainty a single species of the rainutest raoss, or meanest in sect, adds so far to the general stock of human knowledge, which is more than can be said of many a celebrated name. No one can tell of what importance that simple fact may be to future ages : and when we consider how many millions of our fellow-creatures pass through life without furnishing a single atom to aug ment that stock, we shall learn to think with more respect of those who do," THE END, METRICAL VISIONS. GEORGE CAVENDISH, CONCERNING THE FORTUNES AND FALL OF TKE MOST EMINENT PERSONS OF HIS TIME, NOW FIRST PRINTED FROM THF. ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT. VOL. II. PROLOUG DE L' AUCTOR G, C, In the monyth of June, I lyeng sole alon Under the umber ^ of an oke -with bowes pendant. Whan Phebus ip Gemynys had his course overgon And entered Cancer, a sygne retrogradant. In a mean measure his beams radyant. Approaching Leo, than mused I in mynd Of fykkellness of Fortune and the course of kynd = ; How some are by fortune exalted to riches. And often such as most unworthy be ; And some oppresed in langor and sykness. Some wayling, lakkyng welthe, by wretched povertie ; Some in bayle and bondage, and some at libertie : With other moo gystes ^ of fortune varyable ; Some pleasant, some mean, and some onprofitable. ' umber, i, e. shade, ombre, Fr. ^ kynd, is nature. ^ gystes, or gests, are actions. b2 4 METRICAL VISIONS. But after dewe serche and better advisement, I knewe by Reason that oonly God above Rewlithe thos thyngs, as is most convenyent, The same devysing to man for his behove * : Wherefore Dame Reason did me persuade, and move To be content with my small estate. And in this matter no more to vestigate. Whan I had debated all thyng in my mynd, I well considered myne obscure blyndnes ; So that non excuse could I see or fynd. But that my tyme I spent in idelnes ; For this me thought, and tfew it is doughtles. That since I ame a reasonable creature, I owght my reason and wytt to put in ure ^- Than of what matter myght I devise to wright. To use my tyme and wytte to excercyse, Sitbe most men have no pleasour or delight 'I- For his behove, for his behoof or advantage, 5 To put in ure, i. e. to put in use. Thus in Fei-rex and Porrex, by SackvUle : And wisdome willed me without protract In speedie wise to put the same in ure. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. .5 In any history, without it sownd to vice : Alass ! shold I than, that ame not young attise With lewed ballatts, faynt harts to synne. Or flatter estatts ^ some favor of them to vrynne. What than shall I vmght? the noble doughtyness Of estatts that used is now a dayes ? I shall than lak matter ; for gredy covetousnes Of vayne riches, which hathe stopt all the wayes Of worthy chyvaUry, that now dayly sore dekayes : And yet thoughe some behave them nobly. Yet some ther be that dayly doth the contrarye. For some lovyth meat fynne and delicious. And some baudye'^ brothes, as their educasion hath be; So some lovethe virtue, and some tales vicious : Sewerly suche tales (get ye non of me. But. to eschewe all ociosite Of Fortune's fykeUnes) hereafter shall I wright. How greatest estatts she overthrowyth by myght. ^ estatts, i. e. nobles, persons of rank or great estate. ' This word was used by our ancestors to signify any thing greasy or filthy ; the revolutions of language have at length con fined it to one only of its ancient acceptations, that of obscenity. 6 METRICAL VISIONS. Thoughe I onworthe this tragedy do begjme. Of pardon I pray the reders in meke wyse ; And to correct where they se fault therein. Reputing it for lak of connyng exercyse. The cause that moved me to this enterprise Especyally was that all estatts myght see What it is to traist to Fortune's mutabylitie. With pen and ynke I toke this work in hand, Redy to wright the deadly dole and whofiill playnt Of them whose fall the world doth understand ; Which for feare made my heart to faynt : I must wright playn ; colours have I none to paynt ; But termes rude their dolours to compile ; An wofull plaint must have an wofull style. To whome therefore for helpe shall I nowe call ? Alas ! Caliope my calling will utterly refuse ; For momyng dities and woo of Fortune's faile Caliope dyd never in Mr dyties use ; Wherefore to hir I might my self abuse : Also the Musis that on Pamasus syng Suche warblyng dole did never temper stryng. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 7 Now to that Lord whose power is celestial]. And gwydyth all thyng of sadnes and of blysse, With humble voyce to the I crie and call. That thou wouldest direct my sely " pen in this : For, wantyng of thy helpe, no marvel thoughe I mysse ; And by thy grace, though my style be rude. In sentence playne I may full well conclude, Nowe by thy helpe this hystory I will begyn. And from theffect varie nothing at all ; For if I shold, it ware to me great synne To take uppon me a matter so substancyall. So way tie, so necessarie, of fame perpetuall : And thus to be short, oon began to speke With deadly voyce, as thoughe his hart wold breke. FINIS QUOD G, C, sely, i. e. simple. LE HISTORYE, CARDINALIS EBORACENSIS. O Fortune! (quod he) shold I on the complayn. Or of my negligence, that I susteyn this smart? Thy doble visage hathe led me to this trayn; For at my begynnyng thou dydst ay take my part, Untill ambysion had puflfed up my hart With vainglory, honor, and usurped dignytie, Forgettyng cleane my naturall mendycjljg. From povertie to plentie, which now I see is vayn, A cardinal I was, and legate de latere, A byshope, and archbysshope, the more to crease my gayn ChaunceUor of Englond, Fortune by hir false flatterie Dyd me advance, and gave me suche auctorytie That of hyghe and low I toke on me the charge. All England to rewle, my power extendyd large. 10 METRICAL VISIONS, Whan Fortune with favor had set me thus aloft, I gathered me riches; suffisance could not content; My fare was superfluous, my bed was fyne and soft; To have my desiers I past not what I spent: In yerthe, such abondaunce Fortune had me lent, Yt was not in the world that I could well requier. But Fortune strayt wayes did graunt me my desier. My byldyngs somptious, the roffes with gold and byse^ Shone lyke the sone in myd day spere, Craftely entaylled^ as connyng could devise. With images embossed, most lively did appere; Expertest artificers that ware both farre and nere. To beautyfie my howssys, I had them at my will: Thus I wanted nought my pleasures to fullfill. My galleries ware fayer; both large and long To walke in them whan that it lyked me best; My gardens sweet, enclosed -with waUes strong, Enbanked with benches to sytt and take my rest: ' gold and byse, is gold and purple. ^ eniaylled, i. e. carved, vide vol. i. p. 233, BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 11 The knotts so enknotted, it cannot be exprest ^ With arbors and alyes so pleasaunt and so dulce. The pestylent ayers with flavors to repulse. My chambers gamysht with arras fynne, Importyng personages ofthe lyvelyest kynd: And whan I was disposed in them to dynne. My clothe of estate there ready did I fynd, Fumysshed complett according to my mynd; The subtyll perfumes of muske and sweet amber. There wanted non to perfume all my chamber. Plate of all sorts most curiously wrought. Of facions new, I past not of* the old. No vessell but sylver before me was brought. Full of dayntes vyands, the some cannot be told; I dranke my wynne alwayes in sylver and in gold: And daylye to serve me, attendyng on my table, Servaunts I had bothe worshipful! and honorable. ^ This is no uninteresting picture of the seclusion desired by our ancestors in the old geometric style of gardening. Of this curious knot-garden of Wolsey the remains are stUl to be seen at Hampton Court, the maze there forming part of it. * I past not of, i, e, I cared not for. 12 METRICAL VISIONS, My crosses twayne of sylver long and greate, That dayly byfore me ware carried hyghe. Upon great horses, opynly in the strete. And massie pillars gloriouse to the eye. With poUaxes gylt, that no man durst come nyghe My presence, I was so pryncely to behold, Ridyng on my mule trapped in sylver and in gold. My legantyne prerogatyve was myche to myn avayle. By vertue whereof I had thys high preemynence: All vacant benefices I did them strayt retayUe, Presentyng than my clarke, as sone as I had intelly- gence: I prevented the patron, ther vaylled^ no resistence; All bysshopes and prelates durst not oons denay. They doughted so my power, they myght not dysobey. Thus may you see how I to riches did attayne. And voth suffisaunce my mynd was not content; Whan I had most, I rathest^ wold complayne; For lake of good, alas ! how I was blent '' ! Where shall my gatheryngs and good be spent? 5 vaylled, availed. * rathest, i. e, soonest. ' ' blent, i. e. Hind. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 13 Some oon, perchance, shall me thereof dyscharge. Whom I most hate, and spend it owt at large*, Sytting in Jugement, parcyall ware my doomes; I spared non estatte, of hyghe or low degree; I preferred whom me lyst, exaltyng symple gromes Above the nobles; I spared myche the spritualtie. Not passyng myche on the temperaltie ; Promotyng such to so hyghe estate As unto prynces wold boldly say chek-mate, Oon to subdewe that did me always favor. And in that place another to avaunce, Ayenst all trewthe, I did my busy labor. And, whilest I was workyng witty whiles in Fraunce, I was at home supplanted, where I thought most assuraunce: Thus who by fraud fraudelent is found. Fraud to the defrauder will aye rebound. ' This is a version of the concluding passage of the Life of the .Cardinal, 14 METRICAL VISIONS, Who workyth fraude often is disceyved; As in a myrror, ye may behold in me; For by disceyt, or .1 had it perceyved, I was disceyved: a guerdon mete parde For hyme that wold, ayenst all equite, Dysceyve the innocent, that innocent was in deede; Therefore Justice of Justice ayenst me must proceede. For by my subtill dealyng thus it came to passe, Cheafely disdayned, for whome I toke the payn; And than to repent it was to late, alas ! My purpose I wold than have changed fayn; But it wold not be, I was perceived playn: Thus Venus the goddesse that called is of love Spared not with spight to bryng me from above. Alas ! my soverayn Lord, thou didest me avaunce. And settest me uppe in thys great pompe and pryde. And gavest to me thy realme in governaunce ; Thy pryncely will why did I set aside. And followed myn own, consideryng not the tyde. How after a floode an ebbe comyth on a pace? That to consider, in my tryhumphe I lakked grace. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 15 Now fykkell Fortune tomed hathe hir whele. Or I it wyst9, all sodenly, and down she did me cast; Down was my hed, and upward went my hele, i^My hold faylled me that I thought suer and fast: I se by experience, hir favor doth not last; For she fuU low now hath brought me under. Though I on hir complayn, alas! it is no wonder. I lost myne honor; my treasure was me beraft; Fayn to avoyd, and quykly to geve place, Symply to depart, for me nothing was laft. Without penny or pound I lived a certyn space, Untill my soverayn Lord extendyd to me his grace; Who restored me sufficient, if I had byn content To mayntayn myn estate, both of lond and rent,. Yet, notwithstanding, my corage was so hault, Dispight of mine enemyes rubbed me on the gall. Who conspyred together to take me vdth asault; They travelled without triall to geve me a fall: I therefore entendyd to trie my frends all; To forrayn potentates wrott my letters playn, Desireng their ayd, to restore me to favor againe, 9 wyst, i, e, knew. 16 METRICAL VISIONS. Myn ennemyes, perceiving, caught thereof dysdayn, Doughtyng the daynger, dreamed on the dought; In councell consulting, my'sewte to restrayn. Accused me of treason, and brought it so about That, travelling to my trial, or I could trie it owte. Death with his dart strake me for the nons^". In Leicester, full lowe, where nowe lyeth my boons. Loo, nowe you may see what it is to trust In worldly vanyties that voydyth with the wynd ; For death in a moment consumeth all to dust: No honor, no glory, that ever man cowld fynd. But Tyme with hys tyme puttythe all out of mynd ; For Tyme in breafe tyme duskyth the hystory Of them that long tyme lyved in glory. Where is my tombe that I made for the nons. Wrought of fynne copper, that cost many a pound. To couche in my carion and my rotten boons ? All is but vayn-glory, now have I found. And small to the purpose, when I am in the ground ; What doth it avaylle me, all that I have, Seyng I ame deade and layed in my grave? '° for the nons, or nonce, for ih& puipose. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 17 Farewell Hampton Court, whos founder I was; Farewell Westminster Place, now a palace royall ; Farewell the Moore, let Tynnynainger" passe; Farewell, in Oxford, my college cardynall; Farewell, in Ipsewich, my schole gramaticall : Yet oons fareweU, I say, I shaU you never see ; Your somptious byldyng, what now avayllethe me? What avayUjrth my great aboimdance? What is nowe left to helpe me in this case? Nothing at aU but dompe in the daunce. Among deade men to tryppe on the trace; And for my gay housis now have I this place To lay in my karcas, wrapt in a sheete, Knytt with a knott at my hed and my feete. What avayleth now my feather bedds soft. Sheets of Raynes ^^, long, large, and wide, And dyvers devyses of clothes chaynged oft; " This is Tittenhanger, in Hertfordshire, which Wolsey held as Abbot of St. Albans : there was formerly a palace belonging to the Abbots of St. Albans there. The Moore was also in Hertford shire. " Sheets of Raynes. The fine linen used by our ancestors is frequently called cloth of Raynes. Rennes in Brittanny was for- VOL, II. C 18. METRICAL VISIONS, Or vicious cbapleyns walking by my syde, Vqyde of aU vertue, fuUfiUed with pryde. Which hathe caused me, by report of suche fame. For ther myslyvyng to have an yll name. This is my last Qomplayttt, I can say you no more. But fareweU my servant that faythetuU hathe be; Note weU these words, quod he, I pray the therfore. And wright them thus playn, as I have told them the. All which is trewe, thou knowest weU, piarde; Thou fayUedst me not, untill that I dyed. And now I must depart, I maye no longer byde! FINIS. merly celebrated for its manufacture of fine linen. In the enume ration of the cardinal's treasures at Hampton Court, many pieces of cloth of Raynes are mentioned. In the Old Phrase Book, entitled Vulgaria, by W. Herman, 1519, is the foUowing passage. " He weareth a shurte of Raynis whan curser wold serve him." BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 19 TH' AUCTOR G. C. When he his tale had told, thus in sentence. His dolorous playnt strake me to the hart; Pytie also moved me to bewayll his offence. And with hyme to weepe, when I did advert In his adversite, howe I did not depart Tyll mortal death had gevjm him his wound. With whom I was present, arid layed hyme in the ground. When I had wepte, and lamentyd my fyll. With reason persuaded, to hold me content, I espied certyn persons comyng me tylP Strangely disgwysed, that greatly did lament. And as me seemed, this was ther intent. On fortune to complayn, their cause was not slender. And me to requier their fall to remember. ' comyng me tyll, i. e. coming toward me. c2 20 METRICAL VISIONS. VISCOUNT ROCHEFORD. Alas ! quod the first, with a full hevy chere. And countenance sad, piteous, and lamentable, George BuUeyn I ame, that now doth appere; Some tyme of Rocheford Viscount honorable. And now a -vile wretch, most myserable. That ame constrayned vrith dole in my visage. Even to resemble a very deadly image. God gave me grace, dame Nature did hir part, Endewed me with gyfts of natural qualities : Dame Eloquence also taughte me the arte In meter and verse to make pleasaunt dities^. And fortune preferred me to high dig-nyties In such abondance, that combred was my witt. To render God thanks that gave me eche whitt. * Dame Eloquence also taught me the arte In meter and verse to make pleasaunt dities. The unfortunate brother of Queen Anne Boleyn, was distin guished not only for the beauty of his person, but for the qualities of his mind : several of Ids poems are supposed to be published along with those of his distinguished friends- the Earl of Surrey BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 21 It hath not been knowen nor seldome seen, That any of my yeres byfore this day Into the privy councell preferred hath been : My sovera3m lord in his chamber did me assay. Or yeres thryes nine my life had past away; A rare thing suer seldom or never hard. So yong a man so highly to be preferrd. and Sir Thomas Wiat, in Tottel's MisceUany of Songs and Son- nettes, 1568. One only has been pointed out, but that is of emi nent beauty ; beginning — My lute, awake, perform the last Labour that thou and I shall waste. which may be found in ElUs's Specimens and other Miscellanies of Ancient Poetry. He is thus mentioned in a copy of verses by Richard Smith, prefixed to George Gascoigne's Poetical Works : Rochford clamb the stately throne Which muses hold in Helicon, This accomplished nobleman is represented as being the idol of the ladies in Henry's court. No greater blot perhaps is to be found, in the blood -stained annals of that capricious and self-willed tyrant) than the death of this nobleman and his sister. He was beheaded two days before the Queen, on the 17th of May, 1536, upon bare and unjust suspicion of criminal intimacy with her. Cavendish, like a devout cathohc, thinks his fate not unmerited, and hints obscurely at the cause for which he sufl'ered: the predilection which Anne Boleyn showed for the doctrines of the Reformation has caused him to treat her and those connected with her fate as cri minals justly deserving punishment. 22 METRICAL VISIONS, In this my welthe I had God clean forgot. And my sensuall apetyte I did always ensewe, Esteming in my self the thyng that I had not. Sufficient grace this chaunce for to eschewe. The contrary, I percejrve, causithe me now to rewe; My foUy was such that vertue I set asyde. And forsoke God that should have been my gv?ydei My lyfe not chaste, my lyvyng bestyall; I forced wydowes, maydens I did deflower . All was oon to me, I spared none at all. My appetite was all women to devoure. My study was both day and hower, My onleafuU lechery how I might it fulfill, Sparyng no woman to have on hyr my wyll, AUthoughe I before hathe both seene and rede The word of God and scriptures Of auctoritie. Yet could not I resist this onlefuU deede, Nor dreade the domes of God in my prosperitie; Let myn estatte, therefore, a myrror to you bc. And in your mynd my dolors comprehend For myne offences how God hath made dissend. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 23 Se how fortime can alter and change hir tyde. That to me but late could be so good and favorable. And at this present to frowne and set me thus aside, Which thoughte hyr whele to stand both firme and stable, Now have I found hyr very froward and mutable; Where she was frendly now she is at discord. As by experience of me Viscount Rocheford, For where God list to punysh a man of right. By mortal sword, farewell all resistence; When grace faylyth, honor hath no force or myght. Of nobilitie also it defacyth the high preeminence. And changythe their power to feeble impotence ; Than tomjrth fortune hyr whele most spedely Example take of me for my lewde avoultrie. All noblemen, therefore, with stedfast hart entyer, Lyft up your corages, and think this is no fable ; Thoughe ye sit high, conceive yt in your chere. That no worldly prynce in yerthe is perdurable ; And since that ye be of nature reasonable. Remember in your welthe, as thyng most necessary. That all standythe on fortune when she listeth to vary. 24 METRICAL VISIONS, Alas ! to declare my life in every effect. Shame restraynyth me the playne^ to confess. Lest the abhomynation wold all the world enfect: Yt is so vile, so detestable in words to expresse. For which by the lawe condempned I am doughtlesse. And for my desert, justly juged to be deade; Behold here my body, but I have lost my hed. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 25 Tff AUCTOR G. C. Another was there redy to complayne Of his evyll chaunce, crying owt, alas ! And said of all grace, no man more barayn Than he was, that in his time so happie was. And now onhappie fortune hath brought to passe; That where most happiest he was but of late. Now most onhappiest fortune hath tomed hir date. NORRESV With welthe, worshipe, and houge aboundaunce, My soverayn lord extendyd his benygnytie : To be grome of his stoole he did me avaunce. Of all his privie chamber I had the soverayntie ; Ofiices and romes he gave me great plentie : " Henry Norris was groom of the stole to the king; Weston and Brereton were ofthe king's privy chamber; as was also Mark Smeeton, though of inferior rank, being a musician. These unfor tunate men were fixed upon as having most of the queen's coun tenance and favour. The three first were men of family, and no 26 METRICAL VISIONS. Horsys, hawks, and hounds, I had of eche sort, I wanted nothing that was for my disport. Of welthy life I dought it never a wytt. Thou knewest well I had, and thereof no man more. All things of pleasure unto my fantzie fitt, TiU ambyssion blyndyd me that I forthinke sOre, From the midst ofthe streme dryvyn to the shore; From welthe I say, alas ! to vfretchedness and waylyng> For my mysdemenor to God and to the kyng. My chaunce was such I had all thyng at wyll. And in my welthe I was to hym onkynd. That thus to me did all my mynd fulfyll. All his benyvolence was clean owt of mynd : Oh, alas! alas! in my hart how cowld I fynd Ayenst my soverayn so secretly to conspier, That so gently gave me all that I desier. menaces or hopes of pardon could prevail on them to criminate their gracious mistress: Smeeton Was induced, by promises of favour, to confess that he had been criminaUy famUiar -with her; 4 but, from the circumstance of his having never been confronted with ^the queen, and the measures used to prevail on him to confess, renders his testimony more than suspicious. RY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 27 His m6st noble hart lamented so my chaunce. That of his clemency he granted me my lyfb. In case I wold, without dissinlulaunce. The trouthe declare of his onchaste wyfe. The spotted queen, causer of all his stryfe'^; But I most obstynate, with hart as hard as stone, Denyed his grace, good cause therefore to mone. To sighe, to sobbe, it ware but wast; To weep, to waylle, or to lament, Yt will not prevayle; the tyme is past: Alas ! in tyme why did I not prevent The rage and fury of fortunes male intent? But then I did as now all other do. In tyme of welthe let all these thoughts goo. " Sir William Kingston, Lieutenant of the Tower, in a letter to CromweU, cited by Strype, vol, i. p. 281, says, Mrs, Cosins, a gentlewoman appointed to wait upon the queen here, and that lay on her palate bed, said, that Norris did say on Saturday last unto the queen's amner, that he would swear for the queen that she was a good woman. And then the said gentlewoman added, speaking to the queen, (as minding to inquire of her conceming the occasion of her present trouble). Madam, why should there be any such matters spoken of? Marry, said the queen, I bade him do so; for I asked him why he did not go through with his marriage? and he made answer, that he would tarry a time. Then said she, you look for dead men's shoes; for if aught should come to the king 28 METRICAL VISIONS, Who is more willfuU than he that is in welthe? Who is more folishe than he that shold be wyse? Who syknes soner doth forget than he that hath his helthe? Or who is more blynd than he that hath two eyes? Who hath most welthe doth fortune most dispise; Even so dyd I for whant of Goddis grace: What now remayne th but sorrow in thys case? but good, you would look to have me. Then he said — if he should have any such thought, he would have his head cut ofi'. And then she said — she could undo him if she would. And therewith they feU out. Such were the means resorted to, to obtain from the queen's own mouth some unguarded words which might appear Uke a crimina tion of herself. But her solemn protestations of innocence, under the most awful circumstances, should surely have more weight than the slight and very suspicious evidence, if evidence it may be caUed, against her. I have elsewhere remarked upon the prejudices of Cavendish, who, in common -with other good CathoUcs, saw nothing but the most criminal propensities in one who was hereticaUy inclined and a favourer of heretics. One of the strongest circumstances in favour of the innocence of the queen, is that of Henry having offered Sir Henry Norris, for whom he appears to have had some afiection, a free pardon if he would confess what he knew to cri minate her; to which Norris replied, that he believed the queen innocent, and knew of nothing which he could lay to her charge, — Godwin's Annals, p. 58. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 29 Sometyme in tmst, and now a traytor found; Sometyme full nighe, but now I stand afarre; Sometyme at libertie, and now in prison bound ; Sometyme in office, and now led to the barre : The rigor of the lawe justice wiU not deferre. But for myn offences syth needs that I must die ; Farewell my frends, loo helplesse here I lye. 30 METRICAL VISIONS, TH' AUCTOR G. C. Next hyme foUowed an other that was of that band. With teares besprayntS and color pale as lead, Yt was Weston the wanton, ye shall understand. That wantonly lyved without feare or dreade ; For wyll without wytt did ay his brydeU leade, FoUowyng his fantzy and his wanton lust. Having of mysfortune no maner mystrust. WESTON 2. Fortune (quod he) not so, but not fearjmg God above. Which knowyth the depthe of every man's mynd. Whom I forgot to serve in dread and in love By wanton wyll, for that I was so blynd. Which caused my welthe fuU soon to outwynd ; ^ bespraynt, or besprent; besprinkled. ^ From a letter of Sir WiUiam Kingston's to Cromwell, cited by Lord Herbert, Burnet, and Strype, it appears that the queen was more apprehensive of Sir Francis Weston than of any other person, because he had once said to her " that Norris came more to her chamber upon her account than for any body else that was BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 81 And cheafe of all, and most to be abhord. For my unkyn4nes ayenst my soverayn lord. Beyng but young, and skant out of the shell, I was dayntely noryshed under the king's vpyng. Who highly favored me and loved me so well That I had all my will and lust in every thyng, M3Tidyng nothing lesse than chaunce of my endyng ; And for my dethe that present is nowe here, I looked not for, this fyvetie or threscore yere. My lust and my wyll ware knytt in alyannce. And my wyU folowed lust in aU his desier ; When lust was lusty, wyll did hyme advaunce To tangle me with lust whfere my lust did requier : Thus wyU and hot lust kyndeled me the fier Of filthy concupicence, my youth yet but grean Spared not, my lust presumed to the queene. there ;" and not as he pretended, to woo Madge, one of her maids. And when upon another occasion she had spoken with Weston, reproving him for appearing to love a kinswoman of hers (Mrs. Skelton) more than his own wife; he answered her, "that there were women in the house that he loved better than them both :'' and the queen inquiring who that might be, he answered, " It is yourself;" upon which she defied him in scom and displeasure, as reflecting upon her honour. 32 METRICAL VISIONS. And for my lewd lust my vrill is now shent^ By whom I was ruled in every motion. Now wyll and lust makyth me sore to repent ; That wyll was my gwyd, and not sad * discression. Therefore agenst wyU I ame brought to correction ; Who folowyth lust his wiU to obeye May chaunce to repent, as I do this day. Lust then gave cause why will did consent WUlfuUy to rage, where wytt shold restrayn So highly to presume ; to fumyshe his intent Will was to sawcy, and wold not refrayn, Havyng no regard to pryncely disdayn ; Wherefore by Justice now hither am I led To satisfie the cryme with the losse of my hed, ^ shent, i. e. punished, ¦•- sad, grave, sober. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 33 TH'AUCTOR G, C, Then appeared an other his chaunce to declare. And sayd, that fortune hathe gevyn hyme a fall. Which sowced hybie in sorrowe, and combred hyme with kare ; Yt avayllyth hyme nothyng to crye and to call. For frends hathe he none, their helpe is but small To socoure hyme nowe : loo, what it is to trust To fykkyll fortune when she dothe chaynge her lust. BREERTONi, But late I was in welthe '', the world can it record, Floryshyng in favor, freshly beseen, GentUman of the chamber with my soverayn lord. ' WiUiam Brereton, Esq. one of the gentlemen of the king's privy chamber. ^ welthe, i. e. weal, or prosperity. ', VOL. II. D 34 METRICAL VISIONS, TyU fortune onwares hath disceyved me clean. Which pynchethe my hart, and mbbyth me on the splene To thynk on my faU ; remembryng myn estate Renewyth my sorowe, my repentance comyth to late, Fumished with romes ^ I was by the kyng. The best I ame sewer he had in my contrie ; Steward of the Holt, a rome of great wynnyng In the marches of Wales, the which he gave to me. Where of tall men I had sewer great plentie The kyng for to servej both in town and feld. Redely fumyshed with horse, spere, and sheld, God of his justice, forseyng my malice. For my busy rigor wold punyshe me of right Mynestred unto Eton ¦*, by color of justice : A shame to speke, more shame it is to wright ; A gentUman bom, that thorowghe my myght So shamefully was hanged upon a gaUowe-tree, Oonly of old rankor that roted was in me. 3 romes, i. e. places. i Who this Eton was, and for what cause he was hanged I have not elsewhere found any mention. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 35 Now the lawe hath taught me justice to know. By dyvyn dome, Goddis wordes to be trewe. Who strykythe -with the sword the sword will over- throwe ; No man shall be able the danger to eschewe ; Thexperience in me shaU give you a vewe. That rigor by rigor hath quit me my mede. For the rigor of justice dothe cause me to blede. Loo, here is th'end of murder and tyranny ! Loo, here is th'end of envious affeccion ! Loo, here is th'end of false conspiracy ! Loo, here is th'end of false detection Don to the innocent by cmel correccion ! Althonghe in office I thought myself strong. Yet here is myn end for mynestryng wrong. d2 3G METRICAL VISIONS. TH'AUCTOR G. C. Than came another, which had lyttU joye, Sayeng, that some tyme I did hyme knowe i In the cardinal's chapleyn a syngyng boy, / Who humbly requered me, and lowted ^ fuU lowe To wright his dekay, as last of this rowe; And that his desier I wold not refuse. For, by his confession, he dyd them all accuse. MARKE ALS. SMETON* My father a carpenter, and labored with his hand. With the swett of his face he purchast his lyvyng. For small was his rent, much lesse was his land ; ' lowted, i. e. bowed, from the Saxon Hlutan, to bend. Thus Spenser : " Tho, to him lowting lowly, did begin. To plaine of wrongs which had committed bin." ^ It appears that Smeeton after his confession was put into irons when in the Tower, an indignity not offered to the other pri soners. The queen being told of this said it was because he was no gentleman; she added, "He was never at my chamber but BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 37 My mother in cottage used dayly spynnyng; Loo, in what mysery was my begynnyng. Till that gentil prynce, kyng of this realme, Toke me de stercore et origens pauperem. And beyng but a boy, clame uppe the hygh stage. That bred was of naught, and brought to felicite. Knew not myself, waxt proud in my corage, Dysdayned my father, and wold not hyme se ; AiVherfore nowe Fortune by hir mutabilitie when the king was last at Winchester, and then I sent for him to play on the virginals ; for there my lodging was above tJie king's ; and I never spake with him since, but upon Saturday before May day, and then I found him standing in the round window in my chamber of presence; and I asked him why he was so sad? And he answered and said it was no matter. And then I said. You may not look to have me speak to you as I would do to a noble man, because ye be an inferior person. No, no, said he, a look sufficeth me ; and thus fare you weU." Strype observes, that this shows him to have been a haughty person, who thought the queen gave him not respect enough, and so might take this opportunity to humble her, and revenge himself, by this means on her, not thinking it would cost him his own life. Grafton relates that Smeeton " was provoked thereunto by the Lord Admirall (Fitz- wilUams) that was after Erie of Southhampton, who said unto him, Subscribe Markes (meaning to a confession, criminating himself, the queen, and others), and see what wiU come of it." Smeeton on account of his inferior rank was hanged, the others were ber headed. v 38 METRICAL VISIONS. Hathe made so cmelly hir power for to stretch. For my presumption, to dye lyke a wretch. Loo, what it is, frayle youth to advance And to set hyme uppe in welthy estate. Or 3 sad discression had hym in governance To brydell his lust, which now comes to late ; And thoughe by great favor I lease but my pate. Yet deserved have I cruelly to be martred. As I ame juged to be hanged, drawn, and quartred. ^ Or, i. e. before. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 39 TH'AUCTOR G. C. In the myddys of my labor intendyng to take rest, Beyng fortossed ^ in this my long travayl. Disposed to pawse, I made me therto prest'' ; But as I sat musyng on Fortune so frayl, . A lady I saw sobbyng, that happe made to wayl, Wryngyng of her hands, hir voyce she owt brayd, Complaynjmg on Fortune, thes words to me she sayd. QUEENE ANNE, Alas, wretched woman, what shall I do or say ? And why, alas, was I bome this woo to susteyn ? Oh how infortunat I ame at this day. That raygned in joy, and now in endles payn. The world universal hathe me in disdayn ; The slander of my name woU aye be grean. And called of eche man the most vicious queue. ' fortossed, i, e, disquieted, ^ prest, is ready ;' pret, Fu. 40 METRICAL VISIONS, What nedythe me my name for to reherce. For my fall, I thynk, is yet freshe in the mynd ; I dread my faults shall thy paper perce. That thus have lyved and byn to God onkynd ; Vices preferryng, settyng vertue behynd, HatfuU to God, to most men contrarye. Spotted vrith pride, viciousnes, and craelty. Oh sorrowfuU woman, my body and my soule Shall ever be burdened with slander detestable ! Fame in her register my defame woU enroU, And to race owt the same no man shall be able. My lyfe of late hathe byn so abhomynable ; Therfor my frayltie I may both curse and ban, Whissyng to God I had never knovni man. Who was more happier, if 1 had byn gracious. Than I of late, and had moore my wyll. For my soverayn lord of me was so amorous That all my desiers he gladly did fulfyll ; My hosbond and soverayn thought in me no ill. He loved me so well, havyng in me great tmst : I tumed trast to treason, and he chajmgd aU his lust. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 41 The noblest prynce that raygned on the ground I had to my hosbond, he toke me to hys wyfe ; At home with my father a maiden he me found. And for my sake of pryncely prerogatyfe : To an eiie he advanced my father in his lyfe. And preferred aU them that ware of my bloode ; The most willjmgest prynce to do them all good. Whan Fortune had displayed abrode my freshe sayle. Also had arryved me in the most joyfuU port, I thoughte that Fortune wold me never fayle. She was so redy to avance all to my comfort; But nowe, alas, she is as redy my vice to transport, Changyng my joy to great indignacion, Leavyng me in the stormes of depe desperacion. I may be compared in every circumstance To Athalia that destroyed Davythes lynne. Spared not the blood by cmel vengeance Of Goddis prophets, but brought them to rewyn : Murder askyth murder, by murder she did fynd. So in lyke wyse resystyng my quarell How many have dyed and ended parell. 42 METRICAL VISIONS, I was the auctor why lawes ware made For speking ayenst me, to daynger the innocent ; And with great othes I found owt the trade To burden mens concyence : thus I did invent My sede to advance ; it was my fiiU intent Lynnyally to succeed in this Emperial crovm : But howe sone hath God brought my purpose down ! Who that woU presume a purpose to achjrve Without Goddis helpe their matters for to frame. At thend they shall but skarsly thryve. And for ther enterprice receyve great blame At Goddis hands, presumyng to the same Thexperyence in me, wantyng Goddis ayd. Wold mount aloft : how sone ame I dekayd ! Yt had byn better for myn assuraunce To have led my lyfe in meke simplyssitie, Owt of all daynger of Fortune's dissemblaunce, cUsyug my lyfe in wyfely chastitie As other women, regardyng myn honesUe ; Oh how myche prayse is gevyn to thos That wold in no case ther chastitie loos. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 43 But weU away, evermore the spott Of my default shaU, aye, spryng and be grean ; For who, alas, can bear a greater blott Than of such lyfe to bear the name onclean? My epitaphe shaU be, — " The vicious queue Lyethe here, of late that justly lost hir hed, Bycause that she did spott the kyngis bed." But God that dyd abhorre this lothesome deade, For that I was a quene and lyved not chast Hathe spotted me, alas, and all my sede ; Oon for a pledge, here left behynd for bast^ : Thus after swete sawce folowd an egere * tast, A payment fjrt, fidl weU as it apperes Dewe unto me for mjm onjust desiers. How happy art thou, quene Jane (the kyng's next wyfe), Whos fame from ferre dayly doth rebound For usyng of thy chast and sober lyfe ; 3 bast, i, e, based, bastard, or Ulegitimate, * egere, i. e. eager, sour, from Aigre. Fr. 44 METRICAL VISIONS. AUthoughe thou art deade and layed in the ground. Yet deathe wantithe power thy fame to confound ; For of thy chast sides perpetuaUy to record Sprong Kyng Edward, that swete and loyal lord. O lady most excellent, by vertue stellefied, Assendyng the hevyns, where thou raynest aye. Among the goddes eternal, there to be deified. Perpetually to endure unto the last day ; And I, most wretched, what shall I do or saye ? But humbly beseche the, O Lord, for thy passion. That my worthy deathe may be my crymes purgacion^. 5 " That my worthy deathe may be my crymes purgacion." The marriage of Henry with Anne Bullen having led to the separation of this kingdom from the See of Rome, her memory has consequently always been vituperated in aU possible ways by every true son of the Catholic Church who has had occasion to advert to it. The unfounded assertions and calumnies of Sanders and others have been propagated and dUated upon without mercy, or commiseration for the frailties of human nature. The Pro testant writers have not however been wanting. in zeal to defend the queen from aU the unjust aspersions upon her character, and have almost considered her as a, martyr to the cause of the re formed church. They could not without injustice forget that Gospel light first dawn'd from BuUen's eyes. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 45 Now must I depart, there is non other boote ^ ; FareweU, fayer ladies, farewell, all noble dames. That sometyme ware obedyent and kneled at myfoote, Eschewe detraction, preserve your honest names, Geve non occasion a sparke to kyndell flames ; Remember this sentence, that is both old and trewe, i - • "Who wUl have no smoke the fier must nedes eschewe." Whether Anne was unfaithful to her marriage vow or not must now be placed among other historical paradoxes, which are themes of endless discussion, but at the same tirae the absence of direct and unsuspicious evidence of her guUt is favourable to the more charitable conclusion. That she was indiscreet and indulged in famiUarities with some of tlie male attendants upon her person, unbecoming her high station, there can be no doubt ; and a bare suspicion once awakened in such a mind as Henry's, added to the strong motive of unbridled passion for another who had taken Anne's place in his affections, vrill very well account for the unre lenting severity with which he attempted to stamp infamy upon her and her innocent offspring. Cavendish himself tells us that Wolsey said of him, " Rather than miss or want any part of his wiU or appetite he would put the loss of one half of his kingdom in danger, and that he had often kneeled before him the space of an hour or two to persuade him from his will and appetite, but could never bring to pass to dissuade him therefrom." What was the Ufe of a mistress for whom he had conceived a distaste, or by whom he suspected he had been injured, to such a being, especially when opposing an obstacle to the accompUshment of his desires? ? There is none other boote, i. e. there is no help for it. Thus Shakspeare in King Richard II. Act I. Scene I. " Norfolk, throw down ; we bid ; there is no boot." 46 METRICAL VISIONS. FareweU, most gentUlkyng; fareweUmy lovyngmake '^ ; FareweU the pieussant prynce, flower of aU regaUy, Farewell most pityfuU, and pitie on me take ; Regard my dolorous woo marcjrfuUy with your eye, Howe for myn offences most mekely here I dye : Marcy, noble prjmce, I crave fbr myn offence ; The sharped sword hathe made my recompence. ^ make, for mate. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 47 TH'AUCTOR G. C. Fynyshyng hir dole and woful complaynt, Concludyng the same with a sorrowfuU conclusion. My hart lamentid by carefull constraynt. To se fortune conceyve such an occasion, A quene to overthrow from hir royal mancion ; Havying no respect for hir highe renown. But from hir estate thus cruelly to throwe down. Thus beyng astonyed with fortune's mutabilitie. Who no man favoryth, of hyghe or low estate, Hir assurance standyth not in any sewer tranquiUtie> But, at a soden blast, she saythe to them chek-mate ; Then hir to resyst, alas ! it is to late. Sjrtting in this muse, for sorow lakkyng brethe, A nomber dyd appere that suffred paynes of dethe. 48 METRICAL VISIONS. MORS DIVERS. PERSONARUM. Of parsons lamentable, whome fortune did forsake. And left them in daynger of deathe and worldly shame. Whom she before encoraged boldly to undertake. As traytors, to rebell, deservyng that fowle name ; Ther fame detestable, blowen abrode by fame: And for as myche as ther offences ware not all of oon effecte, I leave, therefore, the circumstance, ther name to you detecte. First I will ther names playn to you resite, Kepyng non order, but as they come to mynd: As Lord Hussy, Lord Darcy, and Constable the Knighfi; ' In June, 1537, the Lord Darcy, the Lord Hussey, Sir Robert Constable, and Sir Thomas Percy suffered for rebellion. Lord Darcy at Tower HiU, Lord Hussey at Lincoln, Sir Robert Con stable at Hull, and Sir Thomas Percy, with six others, at Tybourn. These insurrections had tlieir origin in the opposition made to the forced loans called Subsidies. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 49 Lord Hungerford also, that wrought ayenst kjmd ; And Lord Leonard Grey^ accused, as I fynd. Wrongfully, in Ireland, even of very spight: God send his accusers as they deserved of right. Aske ofthe Northe, ther captayn onkouthe^; Bygott and Bulmer, Percy and Nevell, Lumly the yong. Lord Dacre ofthe Southe*; ^ " The Lorde Leonardo Gray being indited of certaine pointes of treason by him committed, as was alledged against him, during the season that hee was the king's lieutenant in Ireland, to witte, for deUvering his nephew Geralde Fitz Geralde, brother to Thomas Fitz Geralde, before executed; and also for that hee caused cer taine Irishmen to invade the landes of the king's friends, whom he favoured not. He pleaded guilty to the indictment, and was be headed on Tower Hill the 28th of June, 1541. This nobleman, as he was come of high Uneage, so was he a right valiant and hardy personage, having, in his time, doon his prince and country good service, both in Ireland, France, and other places, greatly to his commendation, although now his kap was thus to loose his head." Stowe. ^ onkouthe, uncouthe, i. e. strange. * Thomas Fines, Lord Dacre, Geo. Roydon, John Fronds, and John Mantell, were hung at Tyboum, for killing one John Busbrig, in a fray, in the park of N. Pelham, Esq. at Laughton, in Sussex. They suffered on the same day with Lord Leonard Gray, Lord Dacre was only four and twenty, and, according to Stowe, " being a right towardly young gentleman, was by manie VOL. II. E 50 METRICAL VISIONS. '»And Tempest also, that haynous rebell; ) Fortescue, Dyngley, Roydon, Fronds, and Mantell; Also Carowe and Moore ^, thank nights bothe twayne; For ther offences whom justice hathe slayn. Many moo ther ware that stode in a rowte. Of priests and prelates, a byshop^ them among. For old customes that than ware sought out; With weepyng and waylyng they tewned ther song. For certyn abuses sayd they used long: To tell you ther names, I cannot at this season. But let them alone, defamed with treason. sore lamented.'' Sir John NeveU, and the others before enume rated, suffered about the same time for rebellion. Robert Aske was the leader of this insurrection, and was hung in chains on a tower at York. Sir Francis Bigot and Sir John Bulmer, at Tyboum. Lady Bulmer was burnt in Smithfield. ' Carowe and Moore. Sir Nicholas Carew and- Sir Thomas Moore, both beheaded in the reign of Henry VIII. The former was related to Anne BuUen, through their common ancestor Lord Hoo; he suffered on Tower HUl, March 3, 1539, the pains of high treason, for being engaged in a conspiracy (to place Cardinal Pole on the throne), wifh the Marquis of Exeter, the Lord Monta- eute, and Sir Edward Ne-vUle. A portrait and interesting memoir of Sir N. Carew vrill be found in Lyson's En-virons of London, vol. i. p. 54. '' Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. .51 THE AUCTOR G. C, Another there was, of whome I neds must teU: CromweU ; all men hyme knewe as well as I : Which in my mynd aU others dyd excell In extort power and insacyat tyrannye. First advanced to be the kyng's secretarye. And next set uppe on the toppe of the whele. Made Erie of Essex and Lord pri-vye seale. V CROMWELL, ERLE OP ESSEX ^. Than began he to speke : Such was myn adventure To be placed, quod he, in hyghe dignytie. ' Cavendish, who saw the rise of his feUow-servant, and has left us a most interesting record of his conversation -with him when he posted to the court determined ' to make or mar,' as he expresses it, is not entirely, in the course of his narrative, vrithout some querulous refiections upon the partial distribution of the favours of Fortune. But how must the sad catastrophe of Cromwell's sudden fall from his high eminence have reconciled him to his own more humble course e2 52 METRICAL VISIONS. Wenyng^ my authoritie ever to endure. And never to be trobled with non adversitie; But, I perceyve, with royal egles a kight may not flie; AUthoughe a jay may chatter in a golden cage. Yet will the eagles disdayne hys parentage. I rayned and ruled in hyghe estimacion. From office to office assendyng the degrees ; First in the privye councell was my foundacion. And cheife secretary vrith all vantages and fees: Than folowed me sewters like a swarme of bees. Thus began fortune on me for to smyle ; I trusted hir so myche that she dyd me begyle. and happy tranquil retirement? The activity which Cromwell had used in suppressing reUgious houses and obliterating- aU remains of eatholic sugerstitioiu his persecution of all who stiU d^n^ToTEe fauKof their forefathers, his unceasing endeavours in effecting the great work of the reformation, have rendered liim obnoxious to the censure of all writers ofthe catholic persuasion. We cannot there fore be surprised that Cavendish should accuse him of abusing the laws, and condemning men vrithout trial, of wanting God's grace, or that he should think him ouly justly dealt with in having the measure he meted to others measured out to himself. This supple ment to what he has said of him in the life of the cardinal their master will not be deemed void of interest. ^ Wenyng, i. e. supposing or imagining. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 53 The title of vice-gerent I had in my style, Govemor ofthe prelacye and ofthe lawes devyne; Also master ofthe rolls I was, in short while; Thus began my glory to florish and to shjme. As thoughe fortune wold hir whele to me resigne : Unto the state of baron she did me than advaunce. And next to an erle : thus was fortune's chaunce. In this hyghe estate I myght not long endure. Fortune did so chaynge hir favorable chere; She sUpte away all sodenly. as it hathe byn her ure, Hir covert countenance dyd than to me appere ; I trusted hir to myche, I bought hir trust to dere; She promysed me so fayer, that I could not beware Of hir disceytfuU bayte, till I was in hir snare. To Aman the Agagite I may be compared. That invented lawes God's people to confound; And for Mardocheus a galhowsse he prepared. To hang him theron, if he myght be found. Which he erected fyvetye cubjrtts from the ground, Wheron Mardocheus to hang was aU his tmst, ' Yet was hymself hanged on theme first. 54 METRICAL VISIONS. So wrought I, alas! with the lawes of this realme. Devised a law ayenst the accused, Condempnyng without answere, or he could understand The ground of his offence, it myght not be refused ; Thus straytly the lawes my subtill wytt abused : Therfor, oon ofthe first, I ame tastyng on the payn; Such measure I measured is measured me again. I may therfore conclude, experience hath me taught All is but vayn that man doth here invent; Ther worldly wytt God bryngyth oft to naught. And with ther workes he is not well content. Behold my deads, than may you se it evydent. That for my presumption, wanting Goddis grace. My lyfe consumed is within a short space. This is thend of my complaynt, I mtfst therfor depart; Farewell, my frends! farewell, my foos all; Take of me ensample and plant it in your hart. That suche lyke fortune may geve you ia lyke faU ; Consider weU, therfor, that here ye be mortaU: All thyng hath an end, whye do ye honors crave? Whan ye shaU, as I ame, be covered vrith your grave. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 55 TH'AUCTOR G. C. Thys late Lord Cromwell may warne you all That foremost ride aloft in the chayer. Not to tmst to fortune, that tomblethe as a ball. For chaunces uncerteyn, that often faU onware; To God, se first, your harts ye prepare; And next after that, in all your doyng. Observe your faythe and allegyaunce to the kjmg. Pawsyng a while, reformyng of my penne. For duUed with writyng and feobled was my brajm ; Thus sitting in a muse, I saw too noble men Present byfore me redy to complayn; Desiryng me bothe to take on me the payn, Ther fall to remember, dissended of oon race ; Whome to behold it was a pityous case. 56 . METRICAL VISIONS. MARKES OF EXETER. LORD MONTAGU > What gretter prerogatyfe, quod they, have we Of our Ijnres, or stand in more sykkemes^, AUthough of the lyne imperiali dissendyd we be. ' " The 6 of November [1539] Henry Courtney, Marquesse of Excester, and Earle of Devonshire, and Sir Henry Poole, knight, LordMontacute, and Sir Edward Ne-rill, brother to the Lord of Burgavenie, were sent to the tower, being accused by Sir Gei&ey Poole, brother to the Lord Montacute, of high treason, in devising to maintaine, promote, and advance, on Reginald Poole, late Deane of Excester, enemie to the king, beyonde the sea, and to deprive the king." " The Marquesse of Excester and Henry Lord Montacute were arraigned on the last of December, before the Lord Audley, that was lorde chanceUor, and for that present high stewarde of England, where they were found guiltie. • The third day after were arraigned Sir Edward Nerill, Sir Geffrey Poole, two priests called Crbfts and Colons, and one HoUand, a marriner, aU at tainted. And the 9th of Januarie [1540] were Henry Marquesse of Excester, Henry L. Montacute, and Sir Edward NeviU be headed on Tower Hill. The others were hanged and quartered at Tyborne, except Geffrey Poole, who was pardoned." — Stowe, ^ Sykhernes, i. e. security. Thus in the Mirror for Magistrates : In their most weale let men beware mishap And not to sleepe in slumbring sickernesse., , BY. GEORGE CAVENDISH. 57 Than hathe the mean sort of fortune's fykkilnes? If she list to swerve, than is it remedylesse : We must fortune abyde and suffer all with pacience. For hyr to resist ther botjrthe no' violence. I was, quod thoon, a marquis, of late creacion. Called: of Exeter, and lynyally dissended To the Erledom of Devonshyre by dewe generation; Alas ! all this have I lost; it cannot be amendyd. For we are accused of purpose pretended. Our soverayn to offend in such an offence As nothyng but dur beds can make therfore recompence. That is trewe, quod the other, I must it neds confesse. For I have felt the smart, whom ye know full weU, Sometyme Lord Montague, and now in great distresse ; Such is my chaunce, I can it not refell. But with my cosyn here I suffer every dell Of fortunes lott, and take it in good part, Gevyng God thanks, therfore, with all my hart. I The blast of our cryme is greater shame Than is the losse of all our brittel glory. That we, alas ! shold bere the slaunderous name 58 METRICAL VISIONS. Of traytors falce in any boke or storye : What is he of our bloode that wold not be sory To here our names with -rile fame so detected^ Wherewith our posteritie shall allways be suspected? WTiat cause shold we have to be onkynd Unto our soverayn lord, of hygh magnyficence? Which, with his regal benyfitts did us hyghly bynd. To bere to hyme our love and dewe obedyence ; Wherof all the world had intelligence. That we, of aU other, bothe of bloode and otherwyse. Had least cause his magestie to dispise. But the evyll spyrytt, that of canckard malygnytie, Malygned our honor and hyghe renowne, Disdayned our blood and auncyent dignytie; ^ '.To heare our names with vile fame so detected.' Detected with vile fame, appears to modem ears a singular mode of expression, but we have in Shakspeare a somewhat similar phrase : 'I sooner should suspect the sun with cold.' The fact is, that by, with, and of, were used indiscriminately with very great license by our ancestors. To detect was synonymous vrith to impeach, to bewray, to accuse. Thus in a future passage : ' But onjustly ayenst nature did me thus detecte.' BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 59 Intendjmg our overthrowe and to bryng us down, Accused us of conspiracie agenst the royal crown : Whos falce accusations ware than regardyd more Than ever was our trouthe, used alwayes byfore. Accused by hyme that shold rather excuse. And defend our truthes with aU his trewe endevor ; Oh, howe onkyndly did he us abuse ! The fact onnatural purged will be never. But aUwayes fresh, continuyng stiU for ever; Who ayenst nature condempned hathe his brother To cmel death, so hathe he done his mother. To the great slaunder and blott of his name. His credjrtt is lost, and so is his estymacion. And he confused; alas! he was to blame, Hymselfe to overthrowe, and aU his generation, Ayenst God nowe, how can he make purgation. That so agajmst nature onnaturaUy hath wrought, Destroyeng aU his blood and bronghthymself to nought? Cmel accuser! thy malice was too strong. Our faU to conspire by falshod brought abought; Ayenst aU nature thou hast done us great wrong, 60 METRICAL VISIONS. Therfore from shame we put the out of dought: Thou shalt never escape, it is so ferre blowen owt; For of aU kjmd of vice, shortly to conclude. The worst ayenst God is ingratitude. Though thy necligence brjmgythe iis to this end. Yet, that thou mayst have therof remembraunce. We God humbly beseeche such grace to send That thou mayst repent or he on the take vengeaunce For thy great ingratitude : take this for thy penaunce : Alwayes in thy hart call to thy memory That by thy oonly meane hedles here we lye. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 61 L'ENVOY DE L'AUCTOR G. C. Since fortune sparith non of hyghe lynnage. All men, therfore, be ye not rechelesse*, Prewdently to forsee the daynger of this pilgrimage ; Syth fortune wajrtithe onwarely you to oppresse. Be circumspect and advise you in all your busynes, ; And with vertewe ay pursue your noble pieussaunce, Byfore fortune extendyth hir cmel vengeaunce. For it is not your estates fortune can defend. Your diligent travel or noble behavour. Whan fiykkerjmg fortune doth hirself entend To cast you out of your prynces favour; For if a prjmce hath caught a deadly savour Of indygnacion, fareweU all treuthe and noblenes ; To the blokke ye must, it is remedyles. * rechelesse, i. e. careless. 62 metrical visions. There is no consideration with prynces in ther ire. And most in especyall ayenst an hyghe estate; For where dread and dysdayn hath set the hart on fier Of a vrilfuU prynce, with mercy not socyatt; Also where pitie and clemency cannot his ire abate. There you, myghty peers, must take fortunes chaunce. To trype on the trace as some hath led the daunce. To be a lord of royall bloode and dygnytie, Sometymes, ye se, doth but small avayUe; For better it ware to be of basse and low degree Than in suche honor for a whUe to prevaylle; A ragyng wynd may torne your brittel sayle. And dryve you bake agayn, and rove you on some rocke^. Where your noble pates may happe to catche a knock. ' ' rove you on some rock,' i. e. rive or split your vessel on some rock. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 63 TH'AUCTOR G. C. TheKfor thou, salved smart, for aye shallt be sore. The great losse most worthy to be playned. The onware chaunce that passed but of yore, Wherof the greaffe so depe in me is grajmed That from myn eyen the teares skantly be refrajmed For the great dekay that still comyth me toward. Of the late quene, whos name was Katheren Howard. Thus as I sat, the teares in myn eyen. Of hir the wrake whiles I did debate, I Byfore my face me thought I sawe this quene ; | No wytt as I hir laft, God wott, of late. But all bewepte, in blake and poore estate; Which prayed me that I ne wold forget The fall of hir vrithin my boke to set. 64 METRICAL VISIONS. QUENE KATHEREN, CALLED KATHEREN HOWARD. 0 CRUEL Destiny, (quod she) O Fortune insacyable, O waveryng world, roUyng lyke a ball ! You are so wayward and so onstable That never any assuraunce can be in you at all; To all estates^ you are ennemyes mortall : Who list of you to have experyence. My faU may geve them inteUigence. To be a quene fortune dyd me preferre, Floryshyng in youthe with beawtie freshe and pure ; Whome nature made shyne equall with the sterre. And to reynge in felicitie with joy and pleasure, Wantyng no thjmg that love myght procure ; So hyghly beloved, farre beyond the rest. With my soverayn lord who lodged in his nest. ' Estates, here and in other passages means persons of rank or liigh estate. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 65 But weU away, how dredfuU is the joyell Of brittel beautie, that grace doth not concerve ; Yf dread of shame do not attend it well. How lyke is lust to make them for to swerve. With wanton provokjmg, whan reason dothe not preserve From onleafuU licence, which causithe youth, parde. To breke the fetters of fame and chastitie. O tender youthe, frayle for to resist The wanton appetites of carnal delight ; Whan love with lust dothe in youth consist. Than hard for youthe ayenst vice to fight: For youthe is blynd and hath no sight,. The trade 2 to consider of honest wyfehod, TiU shame hath beten them with hir rode. Alas ! dame nature, who hathe in every vayn Endewed me with gyfts, as to hir partie she thought mete: Beautie, alas! also thou givest me cause to playn! ^ the trade, i. e. the true course or proper usage. Thus Baret: " Except thou appoint to thyself some trade and manner of life. Nisi tibi aliquem vitae modum constitueris." Alvearie, 1575 T. 275. YOL, II. F 66 METRl'CAL VISIONS, WhyflorysheSt thoumyyouthe vrith thy licoure sweete, Excellyng aU other, from toppe unto the feete? My blazing beautie is greatly to reprefe, Chefe cause and ground of aU my myschefe. Who wyshethe beautie or wanton youth desier. They covet that thyng they shold no wyse do so : The brond I now repent that late was set on fier Within my brest, which workythe me all this woo; What daynger in Cupid's fier I plajmly now do knowe : Beware all ye, therfore, that nature hath you lent Lyke graces, use them weU, lest after ye repent, Culgeper yong, and I, God wott, but fraylle, We bothe to feeble our lusts for to resist; Whan shamefastnes in me began to fayUe Of chastitie, than did I breake the twyst With Dereham first, that my maydenhed possysi; Deathe was ther mede, I with shame defaced : Who shamely dothe, of long will not be raced ^. ^ ' of long will not he raced,' that is, their course or race of life wUl not be long. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 67 O vessell of vice! O thou frayle youthe! In whom no vertue can take roote, Onles that grace have on the rewthe*. To plant in the some vertue sote*. Vice to resist there can be no boote : Where grace wantithe, and hath of youth no cure. There vertue in youth hath seldom byn in ure, Nowe I knowe weU (quod she), among my frends all That here I laft the day of my dekaye. That I ne gett no pompes funerall. Nor of my blake no man my charge shaU paye. Save that some oon perchance may happe to say, Suche oon there was, aJas ! and that was rewthe. That she hirself distayned with such ontrewthe. FareweU, my bretheme and frends all arowe ! . For all your harmes I oonly ame to blame That thus have faUen, as all men knowe. ? rewthe, ruth or pity. ' sote i. e. sweet. f2 68 METRICAL VISIONS, To your dekay and my great shame. Though I ame weU worthy ofthe same; Yet pray ye to God, allthoughe that I have swerved«. That my sowle may have better than my body deserved. EPITAPH, By prove of me, non can denye That beautie and lust, ennemyes to chastitie. Have been the tweyn that hathe dekayed me. And hathe broughte me to this end ontoward; Some tyme a queen, and now hedlesse Howard, CULPEPER, And I, Culpeper, alas! bom in Kent, Admyttyd, from a boy, to be the kyng's page, Prowde out of measure, which I may repent. * This poetical confession is very different from the historical fact. Catherine only confessed and deplored the disorders of her former life, but called God and his angels to vritness that she had never been unfaithful to the king's bed. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 69 Drowned in the depthe of myn own outrage, Over myche wenyng put God out of knowlege; For by myne abusion of pride and viciousnes. My lyfe is ended with shame and wredchednes. Take example of me, I desire you, yong men all. That rageth in youthe and tradyth'^ the courtly lyfe, AU is but vanytie, your lives be but bestiall; Bytween wUl and deade let virtue breake the stryffe. And suffer vice to asswage, which hath in you prero- gatife : So contjmewe ye may to live in your degree ; For if ye foUowe vice, dought it woU not be. I folowed my pleasure, of God I had no feare, Thjmkyng myself but idell ; and my labour vajm spent In dyvyn servyce, the tyme that I was there; For my devocion and my hole entent Was gevyn to pleasure, such as I did invent: Nowe I repent, therefore, my necligence to God, Who hathe me corrected with his dyvyn rod. '' tradyth, i. e. useth: see note on page 65. We have the same expression in a future page : ' When I did trade the courtly life.' 70 METRICAL VISIONS. Besechyng you, my frends, whom I have left behind. To pray that Lord, whom I most have offended. That he of his mercy wyll to me be kynd ; For now to late, my lyfe to be amended. Wherefore, mercy, good Lord, that for me dissendyd To shed his precious blood, hangyng on a tree; Nowe yet, mercy, good Lord, I hartely bysephe thee. by GEORGE CAVENDISH. 71 TH'AUCTOR G. C. As I drewe towards thend of my boke, Purposyng to fjmyshe that I had begon. By chaunce, asyde, as I cast my loke, I aspied a wydowe in blake fuU woo begon That I wold hir a place here afford. Whom I oons knew, Jane, Vicountess Rocheford. VISCOUNTESS ROCHEFORD. My grave father (quod she) of the Morlas lynne. My mother of the St. John's; this was my parentage: And I, alas ! that dyd myself inclyne To spot them all by this my owltrage. Brought uppe in the court all my yong age, Withouten bridell of honest measure, Folowing my lust and filthy pleasure. ' This hiatus is not filled up in the manuscript. 72 METRICAL VISIONS. Without respect of any wyfely tmthe, Dredles of God, from grace also exempte. Viciously consumyng the tyme of thys my youth; And when my beautie began to be shent^; Not with myn owne harme sufficed or content. Contrary to God, I must it nedes confesse. Other I entised by ensample of my wredchednes ^ • ^ And when my beautie began to be sheni, This may be an error for spent; yet shent formerly signified in jured, decayed or ruined, from the Saxon j-cen'oan. Thus Chaucer: " O foule lust of luxurie, lo thin ende, Nat only that thou faintest mannes mind, But veraily thou wolt his body sliend. Thende of thy werke, or of thy lustes blind. Is complaining: how many may men find That not for werk somtime, but for th' entent To don this sinne, ben other slaine or shent. Cant. Tales, v. 5347. ^ It seems doubtful whether Lady Rochford suffered for any real crime ; her alleged offence was a participation in the supposed guilt of the queen, by introducing Culpeper into her chamber and remaining vrith him there for three hours one night. Catherine was hardly so lost to all sense of shame as to require -a, witness of her amours. Culpeper was probably a relation to the queen, for her mother's maiden name was Culpeper: he had formerly been mentioned as her intended husband. In the absence of more direct proof of criminal conduct after marriage, it irill be only charitable, as Dr. Lingard suggests, to surmise that Catherine and Lady Rochford were sacrificed to the manes of Anne Boleyne. The reader vrill find some misrepresentations of Hume and SmoUet corrected by Dr. Lingard in vol. iii. p. 410, of his History. Svo. Edit. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 73 Of right me thynkith I ought to be a glass To all the rest of great estates ; and dames Seyng me nowe, considering what I was. Without any blott, to kepe their honest names : Seyng that vice ne endyth without flames ; And thoughe that shame may be wayled all day. Thereof the blott wUl not be washt away. Howe bright among us yet dothe shjme the starre Of them that ride within the chayer of Fame, Above all things, which only did preferre The brewte * to kepe of their onbroken name ; As auctors right weU dothe testifie the same Ayenst such vices that wan the victory. And beare the palme to their etemaU glory, As vertuous Sara, Rebecca, and RaceU^ Judjrth, Hester, and chast Pennelopie, And Cornelia, that onbroken kept the sheU, And bare the lampe of onquenched chastitie, Fleeyng excesse or superfluitie. Where camaU lust for all his riolence Ne made them breke chastitie or obedyence, * brewte, or bruit, i. e, report. 74 METRICAL VISIONS, Where sturdy SUla, to nature contrarious. Enforced by lust hir father's heare to puU; With Cleopatra, concubjm to Anthonyous, With ricious Pasiphae that deled with the Bull ; And Messaljme, insacyatt, that never was fuU : But ever thes wretches, vicious and discommendable To God and nature, they lived abhominable. Wold to God that I, in my flowryng age. Whan I did trade the courtly life. Had fostered byn in a symple viUage, Beryng the name of an honest and chast wyfie ; Where ^ now my slaunder for ever shaU be ryfe In every matter, both early and late, CaUed the woman of vice insaciatt. The tyme is past, and I have now recejrved The dewe dett of my onjust desiers, Prayeng to God my faU may be eonceyyed Within their harts that bum in vicious fiers ; The just God, as right aUwayes requires. That hathe me punyshed for my mysgovemaunce, Ne take of me a greater vengeaunce, ' wltere for whereas. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 75 TH'AUCTOR G. C. Endynge thus hir playnt, another was commyng. Of corage impotent, and depe wome in age; Whos pitious dekay, if that I had connyng S I wold expresse hir grevous dammage ; Althoughe she ware a lady of exceUent parentage. Of the bloode royal Ijmyally dissendyd. Yet by cmel fortune at myschefe she ended. For Fortune, ye know, regardyth non estate ; AU estates to hir is oon whan that she list to frown : Wherefore, ye nobles, beware hir cruel hate ; Non hath more nede than ye of grett renown; For whan ye are most hyghest then doth she throwe you down. And tomblyth you hedles from your hygh stages. Who will not be retayned with now ther fees or wages. ' connyng, cunning, generally used for shill. 76 METRICAL VISIONS. COUNTESS OF SALISBURY^. Thys matron hir playnt began in this wyse : AJas, (quod she) age hath no more assuraunce Of Fortune's sewertie, whom she dothe dispise. Than hathe lusty youthe; aU hangyth in hir balaunce,; Disposyng as she wiU to favor or to myschaunce ; * The death of the venerable Countess of Salisbury is one of the bloodiest stains in the sanguinary annals of Henry. She was arrested on account of the opposition which her son, Cardinal Pole, had offered to some measures of the king, but nothing could be urged against her, and she behaved with so much firmness, in the conscious integrity of innocence, as to disconcert her persecutors.- An attempt was therefore made to attaint her without trial or con fession, and at length her name, together with that of Gertrude the ¦sridowed Marchioness of Exeter, and that of the son of Lord Mon tague, were introduced into a biU of attainder found against several persons who had been condemned by the lower com-ts, though none of them had confessed any crime, nor had been heard in their own defence. The marchioness was pardoned and liberated at the end of six months ; of Montague's son it is not known what was the fate. The countess was kept in the tower (probably to intimidate the cardinal her son), and at the end of two years upon some pro vocation received, in which she could have had no share, she was led to the sciffold. Being requested to lay her head on the block, she replied, " No, my head never committed treason, if you vriU have it, you must take it as you can." Being held down by force while the executioner performed his office, she exclaimed, " Blessed are they who suffer persecution for righteousness sake." She was more than 70 years of age, the nearest relation in blood to the king, and the last in a direct line of the Plantagenets. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 77 Which I have felt, as well thoon as the other. Although I was the daughter of a kyng's brother. My father, a Duke, of Clarence was his style. And brother of Kyng Edward, the IVth of that name. Who was condempned also, alas, alas, the whyle ! By subtill accusacion, and he nothyng to blame For a prophane prophesye, of whom than ran the fame ; Condempned therefor to dye, and drownd in a butt of wyne: Thus by cruel Fortune brought he was to rewyn^ A brother than I had, who also was his heyer, Yong and tender, and I, God wott, not old,. Laft in the hands of worldly dispayer,. Whos lyfe thorough daynger was both bought and sold; And so I here remayned in sorrows manyfolde, Untill my soverejm lord of his royal clemencye Restored me againe to the Erledome of Salesbu-y. Ledynge thus my lyfe accordyng to myn estate I was the more estemed for my grave demeanor, I banysshed aUwayes the cause of ryott and debate Owt of my haU, my chamber, and my bower. 78 METRICAL VISIONS. With whome I had non acquaintance day ne hower ; So that my soverajm, for my sad^ disposicyon. Assigned me the governaunce and prudent direccion Of his oonly doughter, than prynces of this land. Of femynyn vertues the very soverajm flower ; The cuer than of whom I gladlie toke in hand To goveme and rewle as lady governour Of that swete lady ; I dyd my best endevoure. For whome God I did beseche and pray That he wold preserve hir long and many a day. Thus passed I my lyfe, not wyUyng to offend. But did myself employ, vrith all my dyligence. That which was amyse, to se it weU amend. In all thes my places wherof I had premjmence : In mynestryng of justice I never used vyolence. But with pacyence and charitie asswagedmy affeccion, Beryng in my hart no malice after correction. Yet at the last, for all my sober lyfe. The chaunce of fortune I cowld no wyse resist, ^ sad, i. f. grave, serious. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 79 Whos cmeltie myn honor crueUie did deprjrfe. And gave me an overthrowe or ever I it wyst ; With a frownyng countenance she stroke at me hir fyst. As thoughe she had sayd, in words expresse. Thou shalt not escape this hand of cruelnes, I saw no remedy ; for deathe with his mace Gave me chek-mate, led to execucion ; Ther boted no excuse I could fynd, no grace, I was condempned without examynacion : Of the Plantagynetts last of that generation. Which bare that name of old and noble fame. Some tyme esteemed, and nowe in worldly shame. O ye matrons that be of noble race, A myrror make of me, tmst not your estate ; Beware of Fortune with hir dissembled face, AUthoughe she smyle, as she did on me but late. With face benygn, yet nowe she dothe me hate, , And will no more spare, for aU my highe degree ; I warne you all — example take of me. 80 METRICAL VISIONS. THE EARLE OF SURREY. What a,dvantage had I to be a duke's heyr. Endowed with such qualities as few in my tyme, Lakkyng nothuig that nature myght repayr ; In dewe proportion she wrought hathe every lyme, Assendyng Fortune's whele, made lyke to clyme ; Syttyng in mjm abode, supposing to sitt fast. With a sudeyn tourne she made me dissend as fast. Who trustith in honor, and settythe all hys lust In worldly riches, havyng of them aboundance. Let hyme beware, and take good hede he must Of subtill fortune, with dissembling countenaunce ; For whan she smylyth than hathe she least assuraunce. For the flatteryng world dothe often them begyle Withe suche vayn vanynes : alas ! alas ! the whyle. I have not only myself overthrowen. But also my father, with beares old and hoore ; Althoughe his acts marsheall be right well knowen, Yet was myn offence taken so passyng sore That I nedes must dye, and he in prison for evermore BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 81 Shall StUl remayn, for it vrill not avaylle All his great conquests, wherin he did prevaylle, O JuUus Caesar ! O thou mighty conquerour ! What myght thy conquests and all thy victorye The prevayle ? that of Rome was emperour, Whos prowes yet remajmyth in memorye, Whan Brewtus, Casseus, with falce conspyracye Ayenst the in the CapitoU did contend. Than all thy worthynes could the not defend. Also Scipio of Afirican, that for the comon weie Of Rome, the empire, the citie beyng in distresse, Lykly to be subdewd, than every dele By AnybaU's valyaunt hardjmes. And dyvers noble rictoryes, as the history doth express. That he atchyved to the honor of the town, Cowld not hym prevayle^ whan Fortune lyst to frown, Thes myghtie champions, thes valyaunt men. Who for the publyke weie travelled all their lyfe. ^ prevayle for avail. " He may often prevail himself of the same advantage in English.' Dryden's Essay on Dramatic Poetry, \st Edit. VOL. II. G 82 METRICAL VISIONS. Regarded not their ease, nowther where or when. But most valyauntly with corage intentyfe Defendyd the weie publyke from aU myschyfe ; Yet was ther nobles* put in oblyridn. And by matters conspired brought to confusion. Loo the reward, alas, that men shall have For all ther travells^ in ther dayes old. With a small spot ther honor to deprave; Alas, it causithe full often men's harts to be cold Whan suche" chaunces they do behold. How for oon offence a thousand conquests valyaunt Can have no place, ther lyves make warraunt, Therfore, noble father, hold jrourself content. And with your captyfe lyve; be you nothing dysmayd. For you may see in historys, playn and e-rident. That many noble persons, as ye are hath byn dekayed ; The chaunce therfore of fortune nedes must be obeyed? And perpetual prisonment here shall be your gwerdon. And dethe for my deserts, without remyse and pardon. ¦* nobles, noblesse, or nobility ; from the Fr, 5 travells, i. e. travaUs, works. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 83 For all my knowledge, wisdom, and science. That God hath me endowed all others to precell*^. Gave me here but small preemynence, AU thoughe some ware advaunced in the comon weie From basse estate, as experience dothe tell. For suche virtues as vices in me accompted were. Caused me to be doughted and in great feare. That thyng which in some deservyth commendation. And hyghly to be praysed, as virtues comendable, Beyng esteemed therefore worthy exaltacion. And to be advanced to dygnyties honorable, I assure you ware to me nothing profitable ; For suche some tyme as are but vayn and idell Dysdajmythe all them that owght to rewle the bridell, Therfore, farewell, my peeres of the noble sect, Desyryng you all my fall for to behold. Let it a myrror be, that ye be not infect Wythe folyshe wytte, wherof be not to bold ; My wamyng to you is more worth than gold : '' preeell, i. e. excell, g2 84 METRICAL VISIONS. An old proverbe there is, which trewe is at this day, " The Teamed is half armed, thus I hard men say. I thought of no suche shame as now to me is chaunced, I tmsted so iny wytt, my power, and myn- estate, Thjmkyng more rather highly to be avauhced Than to be deposed, as I have byn'but late; Be it right or wrong, loo, I have lost my pate : Ye se thend of many noble estates. Take a vewe of me, and of some your late mates. BV GEORGE CAVENDISH. 85 TH'AUCTOR, G. C. With that he vanyshed, I wyst not whether. But away he went, and I was left alone, Whos words and talke I gathered them together. And in this sentence rewd wrote them eyerychone ; Yet was my hart with sorrow full woo begone. So noble a yong man of wytt and excellence To be condempned for so small offence ^ " " To be condempned for so small offence." SmaU indeed was his offence; he was impeached solely on the ground of having ' set up and bore the arms of Edward the Con fessor, then used by the Prince of Wales, mixed and joined with his own proper arms.' — ' The head and front of his offending had this extent, — no more.' But, according to the iniquitous mode of conducting criminal trials in that unhappy reign, other matter of an idle and irrelevant nature was aUowed to be urged against him in aggravation of his offence. With respect to this offence, Surrey proved that he had the authority of the heralds for quartering the arms of Edward the Confessor ; that his ancestors had of long con tinuance bome them, as well within as -without the kingdom ; that they had been constantly borne by himself in Henry's presence ; and by others of his family in the presence of several kings, Henry's predecessors. The fact is, that Richard II. out of regard to his patron St. Edward, placed his arms on the dexter side of his escutcheon, granting the same honour to his favourites, among whom were Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and his descen dants; fi-om him Surrey derived tlie right, one of his ancestors 86 metrical visions. L'ENVOY DE L'AUCTOR. But nowe behold the bUsynes that some hathe to overthrowe. Some suche which after could hurt them but a smaU, Mark them well, how they folowe on a rowe, Stumblyng at the bloke ; they doughted not at all But as they measure — that same to them shaU faUe, baring married a coheiress of the Mowbray family. His trial exhibited the unnatural spectacle of a sister (the Duchess of Rich mond) giving eridence, suggested by a diabolical spirit of hatred against her ovm brother, which evidence also tended to the de struction of the author of her being and his fortunes. Yet aU that could be gathered from her depositions was, that he had spoken ¦with asperity of Hertford, and that he had caused his arms to be surmounted by what, in her judgment, seemed much like a close crown, and a cipher resembling that of tlie king ; but in both cir cumstances she was wrong. It is thought " that Surrey's death and Norfolk's downfall were ovring, not to the king's apprehension of their intention to disturb the succession and to reestabUsh popery, but to the ambition, the jealousy, and the fears of Hert ford ; who, anxious to secure to himself the Protectorship during his nephew's minority, wished to remove both the duke and his son; they being the only rivals he had to fear. His fears were not vrithout foundation, for Surrey had openly declared his resolu tion to revenge himself on Hertford, after Henry's death, for in juries of which he considered him to have been the cause." The reader wUl do weU to consult Dr. Nott's very elegant Memoir of the accompUshed and gallant Surrey, prefixed to his Poetical Works, 4to. 1815. BV GEORGE CAVENDISH. 87 Thexperience is seen dayly byfore ther eyes. But wiU woU not suffer them from folye to arise. Hope of long lyfe causithe all this desier With ambycious honor that ther wytt defaces, Yt makithe them so poore-blynd they cannot se the fier Which them consumjrth playn before ther faces ; But, to be short, it is for lake of graces Which they myght have, if they wold call to God, But they be so stoute they feare not his just rod. Evyn so did he, but now he felythe the smart, Trustjmg than, as they do now, in his tong and wytt. To prevent all suche myschefs whereof he had his part, Percejrvyng what wytt is when from God it doth flytt; Tmst in hyme therefore which eternally above doth sytt Beholdjmg your madnes, which ye so myche esteem, Laughyng therat, and for foly dothe it deme. 88 metrical visions. L'AUCTOR G. C. iNTENdYNG here to end this my symple worke, lAnd no further to wade in this onsavery lake. My penne was forduUed, my wytts began to lurke, I sodenly trembled as oon ware in a brake*. The cause I knew not that I shold tremble and shake, Untill dame Fame I hard blow hir trembling trompe With woofuU blast, brought me in a soden dompe ^. Dame Fame I asked, why blowe ye your tromp so shryll In so deadly a sound ? ye make my hart full sorry. She answerd me agayn, and sayd. Sir, so I wyll. ' a. brake, i. e,. a trap or snare. Vide vol. i. p. 92. ^ ' a soden dompe' is 'a sudden sorrow ;' this expression was not anciently either ludicrous or vulgar. Thus Harington in the xliii. book ofthe Orlando Furioso, st. 147. " The fall of noble Monodantes son Strake them into a dumpe, and made them sad.'' BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 89 Deade is that royal prynce, the late Vlllth Harry ; Wherfor adewe, I may no lenger tarry. For thorowghe the world I must, to blow this deadly blast: Alas, thes woofuU newes made my hart agaste ! I went my wayes, and drewe myself aside. Alone to lament the deathe of this royall kyng ; Perceyvyng right well dethe wyll stope no tyde With kyng or kaysier, therefore a wonderouse thyng To se how will in them dothe raygn, makyng ther ryconyng Ever to lyve, as thoughe Deathe ware of them afeard To byd them chekmate, and pluke them by the herd. To fynyshe thys worke I did myself dispose. And to conclude the same, as ye before have red, I leaned on my chayer, entendyng to repose ; In a slepie slomber I felle, so hevy was my hed, Morpheus to me appered, and sayd he wold me lede My spyritts to revyve, and my labor to degest. With whom fantzy was redy, and stayed in my brest. 90 METRICAL VISIONS. Fantzy by and bye led me, as I thought. To a palice royal of pryncely edyfice PlentyfuUy fumyshed, of riches it lacked nought ; Astonyed not a littUl of the woofuU cries Which I hard there with many wepyng eyes. Even as we passed from place to place, I beheld many a pityfuU bedropped face. So that at the last, to tell you playn and right. We entred a chamber without light of the day. To whome wax candelis gave myche light, Wherin I perceyved a bed of royaU array. To the which I approched, makyng no delay, Wherin a prjmce lay syke with a deadly face. And cmel Atrophos standyng in that place. Clotho I aspied also, that in hir hand did support A distaffe, wherof the stuffe was well nyghe spent Which Lachesis doth spynne, as poetts doth report, Drawyng the lyvely thred, till Attrophos had hent' Hir sharped sheres, with a full consent To hent, Hentan, Saxon, to take or lay hold of. IIEISTRY THE EIGIITII. TROM AN fjJiKrIX.M, prCTimF. BY HOLB^IJJ, -LN THE l-c)I,LF.(-TION OF BARRET BHYDGES KSQ, BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 91 To shere the thred, supporter of his life, i ; li Ayenst whome ther botythe* no prerogatyife.. - . .if/ Attendjmg on his person was many a worthy grome Where he lay syke, to whom syknes said chekmaite ; AUthoughe he ware a prynce of highe renome. Yet gyknes regarded not his empe^yal estate ; Tyme approched of his lyfe the fjmall date, -¦"--• And Attrophos was prest his Ijrsres thred to devyde : Hold thy hand (quod he) and let thy stroke abyde. HENRICUS REX LOQUENS, AD MORTEM. Geve me'leve, Attrophos, myself for to lament; Spare me a lyityll, for nature makes me sewe ; The fleshe is frayle and lothe for to relent. For deathe with lyfe cannot be shett in mewe. They be contraryaunt, ther is no thing more tirewe ; For lyfe ayenst dethe aUwayes dothe rebell, Eche man by experience naturally this can tell. + botythe, i. e. availeth; boot is profit, advantage. 92 METRICAL VISIONS. - From Clothes distafe my lyvely stuffe is spent. Which Lachesis the slender thred hathe sponne Of my lyfe emperyall ; and thou, Attrophos, hast hent The sharped sheres to shere my feoble throme ^ That the warbeled^ spendell no more abought shold ronne ; And of my regali lyfe thus hast thoU great disdayn So slender a thred so long shold it susteyn. But leve of, Attrophos, thou nedes not make suche hast My symple lyfe with vigor to confound. Thy sheryng sheres thou shalt but spend in wast. For the spyndells end alredy is at the ground. The thred ontwjmned cannot more be twound : 5 throme or thrum, any coUection of short threads, generaUy the end of the warp in wea-ving. The reader will recollect Bot tom's passionate exclamation: — ' O fates, come, come, Cut thread and thrum' * ' the warbeled spendell,' i. e. the quivering or undulating spindle. This word in our language is now only applied to a quavering or undulating sound. To wabble is stiU used in vulgar language for an imsteady rotatory motion. The Scotch have warble in the same sense. Baret, in his Alvearie, 1573, F. 300, has " a warbling or quavering feather; — Tremula in pileo pluma." BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 93 Great folly in the, that takes suche idell payne To slee that thyng that is all redy slayne. Wherfore leave of, Attrophos, for end of lyfe is deathe. And deathe I se is end of worldis payn. What shalt thou wyn than to stope my fajmted brethe, Sythe weU thou knowest whan that thou hast me slajm. To weie or woo I shall oons rise agayn : Thoughe in thy fury my lyfe nowe thou devour. To sie me agayn it shaU not lie in thy power. Slee me not, Attrophos, but let [the] spyndell ronne. Which long hathe hanged by a feoble lynne. For whan Lachesis hir fyned flees hathe sponne. The spyndell woU faU ; thou seest well vrith thyn eyne. No stuffe is laft agayn the threds to twyne : So slender it is, that vrith oon blast of wynd The thred wyll breke, it is so slakly twynd. But nowe, alas ! that ever it shold befall So famous a prynce, of fame so notable. That fame with defame shold the same appall. 94 METRICAL VISIONS. Or cause my concyence to be so onstable. Which for to here is wonderous lamentable. How for the love and fond affeccion Ofa symple woman, to worke all by collusion. I broke the bond of marriage, and did myself incline To the love of oon in whome was all my felicitie. By means whereof this realme is brought in re^vyn; Yet notwithstandyng, I neds wold serve my fantzye. So that all my lust in hir was fyxt assuredly. Which for to color, I colored than my case, Makyng newe lawes, the old I did deface. With colour of concyence I colored my pretence, Entendyng therby to sett my bond at lybertie. My lusts to frequent, and have of them experyence, Sekyng but my lust of onlefuU lecherye, Wherof the slander remajmethe still in me ; So that my wilfuUnes and my shameful trespace Dothe all my magestie and noblenes deface. Whan Venus veneryall of me had domynacion. And bljmd Cupido my purpose did avaunce. Than willfuU lust thoroughe indiscression. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 95 Was chosjm juge to hold my balaunce Of onleful choyse, by whos onhappie chaunce, Yt hath darked my honor, spotted fame and glory. Which causithe my concience oft to be full sory. Alake, therfore, greatly I ame ashamed That thus the world shold know my pretence, Wherwith my magestie is slaundred and defamed Thoroughe this poysoned lecherous offence. Which hathe constrayned by mortaU violence So many to dye my purpose to attayn. That nowe more grevous surely is my payn. Though I ware myghty and royal in pieusaunce, Havyng. all thyngs in myn ovra domayn. Yet was my reason under the obeysaunce Of fleshely lust, fetered in Venus' chayn,^ For of my lust, will was my soverayn; My reason was bridelled so by sensualitie. That wyll rewled all without lawe and equytie. After I forsoke my first most lawfuU wyfe And toke an other, my pleasure to fullfill, I chaynged often, so inconstant was my lyfe ; 96 METRICAL VISIONS. Deathe was the meade of some that did non ill^ Which oonly was to satisfie my wyll ; I was so desirous, of newe, to have my lust. Yet could I fynd non lyke the furst. In excellent rirtue and wyfely trouthe. In pryncely prudence and Avomanly port. Which floryshed in hir evyn from hyr youthe, . So well disposed and of so sad'^ a sort. To all men it was no small comfort; And synce the tyme that I did hir devorse. All England lamentethe and hathe therof remorse. Hir to commend and prayse, evyn at the full. As she was worthy, it lyethe not in my myghte. My wytt and connyng is to grosse and dull Hir worthynes in so mde a style to wright. * " Deathe was the meade of some that did not ill," By this it appears, notwithstanding Cavendish's foregoing cen sure of Henry's unfortunate wives, that he did not consider them guilty. It is honest in Cavendish, viith his prejudices, to attri bute the death of Henry's queens to his love of change. ' sad, i. e. serious, grave. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 97 Unto pacient Greseld, if ever there ware any; For lyke hyr paciente there hathe not regned many ^. What inconvenyence have I nowe brought to passe, Thoroughe my wilfuUnes of wylfuU necligence. Within this realme, fare from the welthe it was. It nedes not therfore to geve you inteligence. For you have felt the smart and the indygence; Wherfore to make any ferther declaration. It ware to me but an idell occupacion. For all my conquests and my royal powers. My pleasaunt trjmmphes and my bankettyng chere. My pryncely port and my youthfuU powers. My great liberalities unto my darlyngs dere. My emperyaU magestie, what ame I the nere? For all my great aboundance, nothyng can me defend From mortaU dethe; aU fleshe must have an end. * This praise of Catherine of Aragon, which is put into the king's mouth, is accordant with what he is represented to have said of her in the speech given in the Life of Wolsey. The queen is much indebted to Cavendish for her reputation with posterity, which we have no doubt was deserved, but which she owes, probably, to the Catholic spirit of her panegyrist. VOL. II. H 98 METRICAL VISIONS. Who had more joyes? who had more pleasure? Who had more riches? who had more abouMaunce? Who had more joyells? who had more treasure? Who had more pastyme? who had more dalyaunce? Who had more ayd? who had more allyaunce? Who had more howsis of pleasure and disport? Who had suche places as I fpr my comfort? All thyng to reherce wherin I toke delight A long tyme, I assure you, wold not sufiice; What avayllethe now my power and my myght. Since I must dye and shall no more aryse To raygn in this world, nor seen with bodely eyes? But as a clott of clay consume I must to dust. Whom you have seen to raygn in welthe and lust. Farewell, my nobles! fareweU, my prelates pasturall! Farewell, my noble dames! farewell, yow prenseUs fayer! Farewell, my citezens ! fareweU, my commons all ! Farewell, my bowses! where I was wont repayer; FareweU, my gardens! fareweU, the pleasant ayer! FareweU, the world ! farewell, eche creature ! FareweU, my frends! my lyfe may no more endure. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 99 Adewe, myn impe^! adewe, my relyke here! Adewe, my sonne Edward ! sprong of the royaU race Of the wight rose and the red, as it may well appere: Lord God, I beseche the to send hym of thy grace. Prosperously to raygne and long to enjoy my place. To thy vriU and pleasure, and the common welthe Justly here to governe in great joy and helthe. ' Impe UteraUy meant a graft, slip, scion or sucker, and by metonymy is used for a chUd. Cromwell, in his last letter to Henry, prays for the imp his son. Shakspeare uses it, but only ih famiUar passages ; it was probably going out of use in his time. Modem language has only retained it in an ill sense for a young devil or evil spirit. 11 2 100 METRICAL VISIONS. L'AUCTOR G. C. With that I sawe his breath fast consume away. And lyfe also, allthoughe he ware a kyng; Whan deathe was come nedes he must obeye ; For deathe is indyfferent to eche creature lyvyng: He sparithe none, aU is to hyme oon ryconyng: AU estates by deathe must end, ther is none other boote ; Loo here nowe I lie (quod he) undemeathe your foote. Makyng thus an end of his most dolorouse talke, I strayt awoke owt of my sobbyng slomber; Morpheus than forsoke me and forthe began to walke. But fantzy with me abode, who did me myche encomber, Puttyng me in remembrance of the lamentable nomber Which in my slepe I sawe, with every circumstance ; It was no small grieve to my dull remembrance. And when I degested eche thyng as it was, I could but lament in my faythfull hart. To se the want of our wonted solas. With whome I nedes must take suche equaU part; BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 101 And than to my remembrance I did agajm revert, Recountyng his noblenes, shortly to conclude, Wrott than thus his epitaphe in sentence brefe and mde. EPYTAPHE. Victoryously didest rayn The viiith Herrye, Worthy most soverayn, Tenth worthy, worthy. A Jupiter of providence, A strengthe of Herculus, A Mars of exceUence, A paynijiU Jaaus^ ^ -¦\ ¦^^ ii, \V«i^ A Cesar of clemencje, A corage of Hector, A Solomon in sapience. An armez of Arthore. A Cicero in eloquence, A hardy Aniball, A Da-vid in prudence, An Alexander liberaU. A Plato in peace. Of beawtie an Absolon, An AchiUes in presse. In governance Agamemnon. A force of Sampson, A Charlemayn in myght, A Godfroy of BuUoyn, A Rowland in fyght. An Holy Phocion, A continent Fabricyus, An intier Caton, A pieussaunt Pompeyous. 102 METRICAL VISIONS. A Marcus Marcellus, A Scipio Affrican, A Ceasar Julius, An otlier Octavyan". This beawtie of Britayne Reyned prosperously. Of progeny Grecean, Dissendyd lynyally. Whos honor to magnifie The mighty power dyvyri i Hath chosyn hyme for thyn eie Above the sterres to shyne. FINIS G. C. ' A similar attribution of all the virtues of the most celebrated worthies of antiquity to one distinguished person, is to be found in the celebrated Coplas of Jorge Manrique on the Death of his Father, written about the niiddle of the fifteenth ceutary. The coincidence, notwithstanding, appears to be purely , accidental ; Cavendish probably never heard of this celebrated Spanish poem, which has been pronounced "so. inimita ble in its execution, that it is as impossible to translate it as to paint the fragrance of a rose, or the sound and motion of a waterfall." I shall subjoin the stanzas which resem ble Cavendish's Epitaph, though they are not that part of the poem which should be adduced in support of the above panegyric. En ventura Octaviano, Julio Cesar en veneer y batallar : en la virtud Africano Hanibal en el saber y trabajar. En la boudad un Trajano, Tito en Hberalidad con alegria ; en sus brazos un Troyano, Marco Tulio en ia verdad que prometia. Antonio Pio en clemencia, Marco Fabio en igualdad del semblante : Adriano en eloqnencia, Theodosio en humildad y buen talante ; Aurelio, Alexandro fue en diciplina y rigor de la guerra, un C6DStantino en la fe, y Camilo en el amor de su tierra. The Spanish poet has confined himseliF to the worthies of the Greek and Roman History, but Cavendish, with characteristic licence, has jumbled together gods and mortals, heroes of romance and philosophers, with regal worthies. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 103 L'AUCTOR G. C. Thus havyng just cause on dyvers thyngs to wonder, Wayeng within myself the soden chaunce and fall Of pryncely magestrates whom fortune hath brought under, Chayngyng ther swetnes unto bitter gall, Havjmg no respect to great ne yet to small; Thys all men knowyth that hath bothe wytt and reason. That fortunes fajmed favors lastithe but a season. Thus syttyng in a dompe, sodenly came in Oon vdth visage sade and pale as any lead. Inwardly pensyve complaynyng of his kynne. Who was condempned for to loose his hed; Hymselfe to defend he knew non other stede. But paciently to suffer as fortune shold provide. The cmeltie of theme that shold have byn his gwyde. 104 METRICAL VISIONS. LORD SEYMOURS. Sometyme Lord Seymour I was, and uncle to a kyng, AUthoughe (quod he) onworthy to so highe a name. Yet did his grace encrease so my lyvyng; To my highe honor and perpetual fame, I marled the quene by means of the same. Who was wyfe to Kyng Herre my soverayn lord, Wherat some disdajmed and greatly did remord^. They gmdged, they groned, and fret very sore. They fumed, they fomed, fantazyng what way They myght me dispatche and distroy for ever more; Ther purpose cloos wrought, which they did delay sUntill they brought abought my utter dekay; 'Procured by a woman, as all the world sayethe. No malice lyke thers, who it justly wayethe. O ingrate, (quod he) O kyn onkynd, alas ! Ayenst all nature thus to be unkynd ; ' Thomas Lord Seymour, Baron of Sudely and Lord High Admiral of England, married Queen Catherine Parr. Beheaded March 17, 1540. ^ To renwrd was to reprehend or blame, from the old French remordre. Thus Skelton : ' Sometyme he must -vyces remorde.' BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 105 AU the world abhorrethe to see it brought to passe. Nature to repugne that often is full blynd; Yt gmdgythe myche more every honest mjmd Than it did the Romans whan Nero slewe his mother, A fact as onnatural oon brother to slee another. Nature, alas ! to disdayn ayenst natures newe estate. Where nature shold rejoyce, there nature to repyne; Yt nedes must cause nature to thynk it onnaturate. To cause his owen nature from nature to decljme, Thorowghe ambycyous disdayn so miserably to fyne : Alas! that brother ayenst brother such vengeaunce shold procure ; Can there be more vengeaunce ? — no ! I make you sewre. I aUwayes ment justly! Lord, be thou my juge, Entendyng no man hurt, nother in word or deede ; My soverayn lord, who was my cheafe refuge, I loved and obeyed, as nature did me leade ; Yet, that notwithstandyng, ayenst me they did procede. Not havjmg to justice or nature any respecte. But onjustly ayenst nature did me thus detecte^. 3 Vide Note on p. 37. 106 METRICAL VISIONS. I deamed all treuthe to be in my brother, Supposyng that he had byrL so to me, Perceyvjmg non occasyon, I sawe in hyme non other But brotherly love, void of all duplicitie ; But who, alas ! did ever heare or se. Or who did ever in any story fynd Blood unto blood to be more onkynd? As a brother shold, I put in hyme my tmst. And trusted hym ever in hart, wyll, and thought ; For by his countenaunce non other cause I wyst. And of any malice I mystmsted hyme nought. That ever he cowld so false a thyng have wroughte; But who may sooner another man disseyve Than he in whome no malice we consejrve? My brother surmysed and toke a wrong occasion To condempn me of treason, onjustly for to fayn, A matter ayenst right to bryng me to confusion. The whiche he conceyved of hatred and disdajm, Ayenst me affirmyng in very certeyn. That I ayenst trouthe and myn allegeaunce. Wold of my soverayn have the sole governaunce. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 107 The which was surmysed of pretenced malice, Hyme self weU knowyng it was not so ; Yet ayenst concyence he did my death devyse. Not lyke a brother, but like a cmel foo ; And, to thencrease of my mortall woo. In short processe by crafty invencion. He imagyned my death and my distmccion. Whos oonly purpose kyndeled was by covetise Thys realme to rewle, cheafe cause of his disdayn; And yet myght the governaunce, truly to devyse. Have byn govemed by us bretheme twayn. The better for our sewerties and lesse to our payn; Howbeit he dispatched me and brought to distmccion, Hjmiself allonly to have therof proteccion? This falce conspiracy was not wrought alon By my oonly brother, without the helpe of other. Which in my way hathe cast this mortal bone ; Yt was the Erie of Warwyke, it was non other. That to my deathe procured hathe my brother*. *. Cavendish has before alluded to the popular^ opinion that the death of the Lord Admiral was promoted' by his brother's wife. Her hatred of him arose from the animosity which had arisen 108 METRICAL VISIONS. By whos consent hathe brought me to thys end. Which at his most nede myghte have byn his frend. The very ground and cause was of my distres The sayd Erie of Wanvyke, thoonly sours and weU, And cheafe inv«ntor of aU this falcenes, Who in craft and falshod aU others did preeell. As all the world can beare me wjrtnes weU, between her and the Queen Catherine Parr, who had humbled the pride of the Dutchess by taking precedence, and even insisting on her bearing her train. We here see that he makes Warwick the principal instigator in procuring his brother to lend his hand to his ruin. The Protector is said to have yielded to Warwick's argu- . ments and those of his dutchess, who were chiefly instrumental in moving him to sign the fatal warrant for his brother's execution. He is represented as saying on this occasion, " I'U do and suffer justice:" words considered ominous of his own subsequent fate. The Lord Admiral was a more deepsighted poUtician than his brother, and more aware of the machinations of Warwick, who knew that to sow divisions between the brothers was to weaken and ultimately to overthrow them both. That he was jealous of the power of his brother, and ambitious of ruling the realm him self cannot be doubted, from the measures he took to obtain that object, but that he was innocent of the charges brought against him of intending to carry off' the king and raise a civU war in the realm there can be no doubt. Sharington, master of the mint at Bristol, was probably induced to accuse him by the hope held out to him of saving his own life; at least the subsequent pardon of that offender, and his restoration to the office which he had so iniquitously filled, countenance such a supposition. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 109 Whome I supposed of my deathe to be innocent; But suerly it was he, and that he may repent. This whyly Beare^ that intended to devoure Me sely lambe, onprovided for defence. Not sekyng any helpe myselfe for to socoure, I was so innocent to make any resistence, Mysdeemyng non falcehed, mystmstjmg non offence ; What wonder was it, the frawde not conceyved, Thoughe I beyng innocent onwarely was dysseyved? Allthoughe my greafe be great, as nedes it must. Yet somethjmgit is releafed whan I inwardly remember The deathe of the Quene, that now lyeth in the dust. For in this world she myghte have lyved longer; Hir deadly sorrowes shold have bjm not full slender; Whos deyntie dolower wold myche encrease my payn. When I the teares shold se from hir face derayn. But blessed is she that thus is now depryved The pajmful cares of this tempestious skie, ' An allusion the crest of the Earl of Warwick. 110 METRICAL VISIONS. Whos alterasion the origjmal is derjrved From onstedfastnes and sodajme mutabylitie ; Therfore I nedes must say that blessed nowe is she, Synce she is delyverd of this my desolacion. Which wold have chaynged hir joy to lamentacion. I thought to myn answere I shold be forthe brought. Where that my trouthe myght justly have beene tried. And proved all thyng vayn which ayen'st me was wrought : But whan they consulted and had weU espied That ther accusacions myght lawfully byn denyed. Than without answere condempned I was to dye ; Yf the lawe be suche, than justice I defied But whan their purpose was fully resolved. Be it right or wrong, malice wold geve no place ; For right was sett aside and trew justice desolved ; Say what I wold and still defend my case. ^ To defie here signifies to renounce, to reject. In this sense Shakspeare uses it in K. Henry IV. p. I. " All studies here I solemnly defy Save how to gall and pinch this BoUngbroke.'' BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. Ill My deathe was determjmed before any trespace; That nedes I must dye do what I can ; Yt boted me not to requyer justice than. Ther malice was great, it apperithe by ther facts. After dethe to slaunder me and cause falce report. Ye may se it playn in ther parliament acts; And yet not content, but a preacher they did exhort Opjmly in a pulpit byfore a noble sort To accuse me of thyngs to all men onknowen: Was it mete for a precher .such slander to beblown'^? ' " Was it mete for a precher such slander to beblown." See Latimer's fourth Sermon in the early editions. The good bishop was not contented with arraigning the whole course of his life, accusing him of being a man the farthest from the fear of God that ever he knew in England, but relates the following story of what happened at his death. Wlien he was ready to lay his head upon the block, he turned to the lieutenant's servant, and requested him to bid his servant speed tke thing he wot of. ¦ In consequence of this, Latimer says, the Admiral's servant was examined, and ponfessed that his master had contrived: by some means to make himself ink, while confined in the Tower, and Vvith the tag -of a point for a pen, had -written on two sinall pieces of paper, letters to the princesses Mary and Elizabeth, exhorting them to consider the Protector as their greatest enemy, and as one who estranged the king their brother from them, in order to deprive them of the right of succession. These papers he caused to be sewed between 112 METRICAL VISIONS. O Precher! what moved the, me to defame? Was it thyn office, or was it thy profession. To applie Goddis scripture to the slaunder of my name ? Are not ye therfore brought to confusion? You may se, howe God wyll in conclusion All suche punyshe that slander invents ; Therfore preache no slaunder of innocents. Innocent I was of any cryme or offence That myn ennemyes ayenst me cowld prove ; Therfore death here I take uppon the pretence. And to that just Judge sytting in hevyn above I commytt my cause, that the tender love He bare to mankjmd whan he suffred passion; Have mercy uppon me and grant me clear remyssion. the sole ofa velvet shoe of his; which being examined, the letters were found, and so came to the hands of the protector and tlie council. This story rests on the authority of Latimer, for the examination ofthe servant is not upon record. The passage, with others, is omitted in later editions of Latimer's Sermons, and pro bably had no foundation in truth. The admiral died with earnest assertions of his innocence upon his Ups, and his confident manner has even been made an argument against him. Latimer concludes thus: " Whether he be saved or no, I leave it to God : but surely he was a wicked man, and the realm well rid of him." BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 113 TH'AUCTOR G. C. With that I stept uppe and wold have gone my wayes. Nay, not so soon, to me than sayd an other. For I am come to complayn my fall and my dekayes : He that last departed hence was my very brother ; Our father Sir John Seymour, and bome of oon mother^: Alas ! I was the causer of his death, craftely surmysed ; An act as unnatural as cowld be devysed. Wherfore, I pray the, wright my complaynt; And spare me not, for I woU teU the duly. Alas ! (quod I) my hart nowe waxith faynt ' Edward Seymour and Thomas Seymour, both sons of Sir John Seymour of Wolf Hall, in WUtshire, and brothers to the Queen, Jane Seymour, mother of Edward VI. "I join them together," says Lloyd, "because whilst they were united in affec tion they were in-vincible, but when divided, easily overthrown by their enemies.'' VOL. II. I 114 METRICAL VISIONS. With sittyng so long, I teU the truly, Herjmg complaynts of men so onruly; Wherefore be short, I pray you, and go your way ; I will wTight all thyngs what so ever you say. THE DUKE OF SOMERSETT. How to complayn, or what sorrows for to make. Or how to lament (quod he) my woofuU chaunce, I lake teeres sufficient; fortune hathe me forsake. Whom she heretofore highly did advaunce. And traced-^ me forth in the pleasaunt dance ^ traced, i. e. followed. To trace, originaUy a hunting term, signified to follow tlie track of an animal. The old French tracer, tracker, trasser, and the Italian traeciare, have the same meaning. Thus Pall, in his third satire of the fifth book: " Go on and thrive, my petty tyrant's pride, Scom thou to live, if others Uve beside ; And trace proud Castile that aspires to be In his old age a young fifth monarchy." And Shakspeare in OtheUo : If this poor trash of Venice whom I trace (i. e. follow) For his quick hunting, bear the putting on, &c. where the editors have absurdly altered this word to trash, and then give an erroneous explanation. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 115 Of worldly honors and hyghe dignytie, Havyng no regard to hir mutabilitie. O mortal lyfe ! O momentary estate ! O deathe oncertayn, and yet no thjmg more suer! O honor and renowne, whos suertie hath no date, So that in this world no thyng may endure! The prove in me ye may playnly se the ure. For late I was a duke of high renowne, Whome fortune hathe fuU low brought dovra. I clame ^ aloft and mounted uppe the stage Of honorable estate to be a noble peere. But fykkyU fortune in hir cruel rage Of very dispyght, hath thrust me from hir speere. She is nowe fled and will no more come neere ; Thus ame I lefte alone in an woofuU case; In worldly felicitie I fynd but littil grace. With great presumcion, whan the king was gon. And passed the passage of this oncertjm lyfe. To be than the Protector I presumed to it anon, ^ clame or clomb, i. e. did climb. I2 116 METRICAL VISIONS. And banyshed all them that had prerogatyfe. By his prjmcely will, to avoyd all stryfe. And the lawes of this realme which he made of equi tie, I changed and made new with great extremytie. I, thought for my wytt mete to be a juge, AU other to preceU in vyysdome and discression; Yet, by comparison, in wytt I was a dmge. For if wysdom had had of me any possession, I shold have considered for to reule a region Was a greater matter than my wytt'cold comprehend ; I was but a foOl*, and so it proved in the end. Yf reason had rewled me, or wysdom had place, I wold not have meddeled, not mete for my capacitie, * " I was but a fool, and so it proved in the end." It should seem that the cotemporaries of the Protector had no very high notion of his capacity, but good fortune and courage made amends : no one can deny him the meed of an enterprising and skilful general. " Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset Lord General (says Sir John Hayward, speaking of the Northern Ex pedition) was a jnan little esteemed either for wisedome or personage, but being in favour with King Henry VIII, and by him much im ployed, was always observed to be both faithful and fortunate, as well in giving advice as in managing a charge." BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 117 But ordered all thyngs by the wyll of the kyngs grace. As he left them in vmtjmg for a perfect memorye. And to preserve thes laws which ware of auctoritie. That the kyng had made for the preservacion Of this his realme and his sonnes educasion. Alas ! yong prynce, thou reygnedest lyke a kyngj Thou barest the name, but I rewled all by wyll. And bare a kyngly port in every manner thyng ; I presumed on thy name whan I wold fuUfiU My covetous appetyte, owther in good or yll ; Thoughe he ware kyng, and bare therof the name, I had the gaynes, wherin I was to blame. Sewrly a Protector shold in every thjmg Defend the realme from warre and debate. And mantajm thos forts which Herre our kyng. Whan his owen persone in his royale estate, Leavjmg them to his sonne after that rate. Which I suffred to be lost for lake of defence. That owght to be defended with my personal presence. I mjmyshed his houshold and his regal port, I consumed hys treasure, I abated his possessions, 118 METRICAL VISIONS. I banyshed all men that ware not of my sort, I esteemed no gentlemen of auncient conditions, I mayntened the commens to make insurreccions; I thought in the commons to have suere ayd. But at my most ned I was of them denayed. The plage of God must justly on me lyght. For shedjmg of my brothers blood by cruel assent, Whome I caused to dye of malice and dispight; Alas ! I was to blame to his death for to consent, Therfore I ame well worthy of thys punishment^ ; 5 Such reflections were very Ukely to have arisen in the mind of the Duke of Somerset after his condemnation, when in the solitude of his cofinement he could not fail to remember his brother, -with bitter contrition that he was ever induced to lend his hand to his destruction. Somerset however from the indul gence of the peers, or perhaps from the commiseration of the king, was not hurried to execution Without trial, but after convic tion was allowed six weeks to prepare himself for death. He could hardly expect pardon, though he stooped to ask it, at the hands of Northumberland and others, against whom he confessed he had meditated mischief; helbegged them to intercede with the king in his behalf, and recommended his wife and children to the pity of his nephew. Neither could he expect that his ambitious enemy Warwick would show him more commiseration than he had shown to his unfortunate brother. The ears of those proud rivals were deaf to appeals from one upon whose ruin they hoped to rise. Every avenue to the mercy of his nephew was carefully closed, and the young monarch was persuaded that the reiterated BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 119 For suche ontruthe with like ontruthe again God wUl punyshe; the same shall still remajm. Of aU my greves nothyng more grevous Than to remember my cruel deade. Which ayenst nature was mere contrarious. offences of his ambitious uncle left liim no hope of security but in his death. The three daughters of the Duke of Somerset, Anne, Margaret, and Jane Seymour, may be added to the list of noble authors. In 1551, a volume was published at Paris entitled " Le Tombeau de Marguerite de Valois," containing one hundred distichs, written by these illustrious sisters in Latin, on the death of Margaret, sis ter to Francis I : with versions in Greek, Italian, and French, by fhe most distinguished wits ofthe French court, such as Eonsard, Baif, D'Aurat, D'Herberay, and the Count D'Alsinois. In a pre liminary Epistle addressed to the ladies, D'Herberay Seigneur des Essars, by a piece of poetic galantry, supposes them dead, and proposes the foUowing epitaph to be inscribed on their tomb: CY DESSOUBZ REPOSENT LES CENDRES D'.4NNE, MARGUERITE, ET JANE, LUMIERE ET HONNEUR DES DAMES D'ANGLETERRE, QUI EURENT EN ELLES LA BEAULTB D'HELENE, L'HONNESTETi DE THlRME, l'eSPRIT DE SOCRATE, LA LANGUE D'HOMERE, ET LE BIEN-ESCRlRE DE CRANE LEtR PRECEPTEUR. By this it appears that Crane, who was tlie principal e-vidence against the duke, had the merit of educating these learned ladies. It should be remembered that the fashion was then to teach the dead languages to females, and the proficiency of Elizabeth, Mary, and the Lady Jane Gray in the Greek and Latin is well known. 120 METRICAL VISIONS. O brother, forgeve me, for I stand in great dreade Of God's indignacion, now at my neade: Forgeve me, good God, my fact onnaturall ; For mercy and pitie to the I cry and call. A kjmg and his reahne I presumed to defend. That at my most nede cowld not myself preserve : P blynd asse, whye wold I than pretend A prynce and his realme royally to conserve, Supposyng for my worthynes honor to deserve: Of an auncyent dukedome, to beare the high style> Twyse I was subdeued; I enjoyed hut a whyle. At last lyke a traytor led to the barre. There of high treason fbr to be raygned^, And tried by my peers to make or to marreH Whome they of justice without favor fayned, Quyt me therof, wherat some disdayned^ And rayned me agayn of fellony conspired ; Yt was but my deathe that they desired. rayned, i. e. arraigned. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 121 Well, I was condempned and juged for to dye, To hang lyke a thiefe; such was than my jugement; Who hath hard the lyke, or seen with his eye A duke condempned for a fellonous entent '^? Where was no hurt don that they cowld invent: Howbeit I ame the first that shall in this case. For others ensample dye without trespase? ^ " Who hath hard the lyke, or seen with his eye, A duke condempned for a feUonous entent?'' Sir John Hayward in his History of the Life and Reign of Ed ward VI. puts a simUar reflection into the mouth of that exceUent young prince : " Was it ever known before that a king's uncle, a lord protector, one whose fortunes had much advanced the honour of the realme, did lose his head for a felony, neither cleere in hiw, and in fact weakly proved ? Alas ! how falsly have I bin abused ! how weakly carried! how little was I master over mine owne judgement, that both his death and the envie thereof must be charged upon me!" It is said, that to dispel such reflections, Edward was suppUed with a continued series of occupations and amusements. The duke has been considered innocent or guilty of the crimes laid to his charge according as the writers who have had occasion to consider this portion of our history have been par tisans of the reformed religion or otherwise. It is remarkable, that the peers, after mature deUberation, acquitted him of the treasonable part of the charge, but found him guUty of purposing and intending to seize and imprison the Earl of Warwick, a privy counseUor, which, by an Act passed in the 3d Year of Henry VIII. was constituted felony without benefit of clergy. It is said his popularity was so great, that when he was acquitted of treason 122 METRICAL VISIONS, My tyme is come, and I must nedes suffer The rigor of the lawes ; there is no remedye ; And for my lyfe, it boted not to prefer Gold ne sylver, but dye I must assuredly; And yet God wot there is no cause whye ; How be it my hed is lost, and I am gone before My ennemyes may ensewe and repent therfore? there was so loud a shout in Westminster HaU and its vicinity, as to be heard at Charing Cross ; and that when he was pronounced guilty of felony, the people were struck -with dumb amazement. The account of his execution as given by Stowe, who was an eye- ¦witness, has soine interesting particulars which tend to solve the signs and portents ascribed to that event by the good old martyr- ologist Fox, who, considering the Duke of Somerset as one of the most earnest and strenuous promoters of the reformation, has compared the tumult to what " happened unto Christ when as the officers of the high priests and pharisees coming with weapons to take him, being astonied, ran backwards, and fell to the ground." BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 123 LE AUCTOR G. C. Thend of his complajmt made me for to muse More than the rest of all his tale byfbre ; A duke most shamefully with cmeltie to abuse. And a kjmg's uncle, whom they shold have forbore; But how they durst presume it wonders me therefore : Howbeit I see God's works which be knowen to none. For his jugements be secret tyll they be past and gone? As I loked about and cast my hed aside, Beyng faynt with travell, and in wofull playnt. Power knyghts^ on a rowe by me I aspied. ' The next day after the committal of the Duke of Somerset to the Tower, the Dutchess, with her favourites Mr. and Mrs. Crane, Sir Thomas Holcroft, Sir Michael Stanhope, Sir Thomas Arundel, Sir Ralph Vame, Sir Miles Partridge and others were committed to the same prison ; and these were followed at short intervals by the Lord Paget, the JEarl of Arundel, and Lord Dacre of the North. But of all those accused as accompUces, or impUcated in his alleged crimes, the four hnigMs whom Cavendish here brings on the stage were all that suffered capital punishment. They were convicted on similar evidence to that brought against the duke, perhaps as Sir John Hayward asserts, "because it was not 124 METRICAL VISIONS. Desyryng me vouchesalve for to consent To -wright their myshappe whilest they ware present: Goo to, than, (quod I) and say what ye lyst. Your sayengs I woU wright, or I desist. With that I hard a sound and a wonderous noyce. As though they wold have spoken all at oons, Whos speeches semed me to be but oon voyce ; They shevered for cold, with bare and naked boons ; Full lamentable was their woofuU moons : They agreed at last, and oon spake first of all; Thes ware his words, of whom I make rehersaU. thought fit that such a person should be executed alone, who could hardly be thought to offend alone." Sir Thomas Arundel and Sir Michael Stanhope were beheaded on Tower Hill, and Sir Ralph Vane and Sir Miles Partridge were hung on the same spot. All of them at the place of execution made the most so lemn protestations of innocence, and it was the opinion of many that Somerset was much cleared by the death of these men, who were executed with a view to make his death appear only a tribute to justice.. Sir Ralph Vane, after speaking of his services in the field, concluded by saying " The time hath been when I was of some esteem, but now we are in peace, which reputeth the coward and courageous alike." He scorned by any submission to entreat for life, but at the place of execution assured the spectators in the strongest language of the innocence of himself and his fellow suf ferers, and that as often as Northumberland should lay his head on his pillow he would find it wet with their blood. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 125 SIR THOMAS ARONDELL. Alas ! (quod he) some tyme I was a knyght, Beyng in my contre of great estimation ; By my father Aroundell, evyn so my name hight, A yonger brother I was by dewe generation. And with the Cardinal WoUsey was my educasion ; Whos favor brought me first to aboimdaunce Of riches and possessions of great inheritaunce. ChanceUor I was also, onworthy though I ware. To Katheren Howard, that some tyme was quene ; Such fayned favor than fortune me bare, That worthy of dignitie she did me esteme ; As I than thought she used me so cleane : But the quene is dekayed and past this vyle passage. Which by wanton youthe was brought in dotage. Yet it was of trouthe I must neds confesse; Se of privye malice howe God now plagethe me, Evyn for his cause, whos cause causeles I was cheafe cause to bryng to calamytie. Yea God in his jugements a right wyse juge woll be; 126 METRICAL VISIONS. For though I offendyd not wherem found gyltie, Yet hathe God punyshed me for my privye envye. But wUl you see a wonderous thyng That God hathe wrought by dyvyn operacion? Marke nowe, and ye shall here shortly, concludyng: With the Duke of Northumberland I was in consul- tacion. Who bare the Duke of Somerset high indignacion: I was cheafe councellor in the first overthrowe Of the Duke of Somerset, which few men dyd know=. Thinke not to escape, ye that do offend. The punysshment of God for your offence; He knowyth the secrets that you do pretend, Thoughe it be wrought with a secret pretence ; ^ I am not aware that this circumstance of Sir Thomas Arundel having been confederate formerly -with Northumberland in endea vouring to ruin the Duke of Somerset, is elsewhere recorded. Cavendish asserts that it was known but to few. The condemna tion of Sir Thomas was not procured without difficulty; his trial commenced at seven o'clock in the morning ; about noon the jury retired to deUberate on their verdict, and were shut up during the remainder of the day and the whole of the next night before they could come to an agreement. The following morning they came into court and pronounced him guilty. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 127 Ye cannot blynd his dyvyn intellygence ; Therefore ame I punyshed for my conspiracye Ayenst the innocent with my deadly ennemye. To be hanged thoughe my jugement ware. Yet to do me honour they chaynged ther sentence. And to leese my hed to ease me of my care ; But death was the thyng of aU ther pretence Which they desired ; such was ther concyence. Here I make an end, and I without redresse, As here ye may se me, a symple body hedlesse. SIR MICHAEL STANHOPE '. Than came forthe another makyng lyke complaynt. And sayed he was a knight dobbyd by the kyng. ' Sir Michael Stanhope was related to the Dutchess of Somer" set, as was also Sir MUes Partridge; "Both (says Hayward) reputed indifferently disposed to bad or good, yet neither of them of that temper as to dare any dangerous fact." They probably suffered more on account of their strict alUance with Somerset than from any guilty participation in his schemes of ambition or revenge. 128 METRICAL VISIONS. That worthy prynce, that worthy innocent, Edward the Syxt, virtuous in lyvyng. As it appered in all his procedyng; Of whos privye chamber I was without dought, And nowe condempned and clean cast owt. Our deathes ware conspyred to satisfie and content Some persons that thoughte we stode in ther way. In suche matters which after did repent; They studyed to compas, both nyght and day, Ther purpose how they myght by poUicy conveye To brjmg that to passe which they long loked for. That oons knowen did all honest harts abhorre. Nowe we be deade and passed thes stormy showers, Let them alone which wrought us aU this woo; The day wyll come whan they woll the death of owers Repent full sore ; fortune may torne hir purpose soo. For Fortunes whele torny the often to and froo : The experience ye may behold whan we be gon; Farewell, my frends! hedles I leve you alon. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 129 SIR RAFE VANE, SIR MYLES PARTERYGE. Too other knyghts, that ware of that band, Complajmed them sore of fortunes chaunce. Whom she had taught for to understand. How to knyghthod she did them lately avaunce. And gave them possessions of great enheritaunce ; But at last she favoured so their high degree. That they ware bothe hanged uppon a gallowe tree. FINIS. VOL. II. 130 METRICAL VISIONS. L'AUCTOR IN MORTEM EDWARDI VI. I LAKE teares to lament, and connyng to compUe Matter sufficient of fame most worthye; My wytt is to dull for so lamentable a style. And my penne is to blount to put in memory Of Edward the Sixt the woofuU tragedie. Which hathe here passed the paynfuU passage Of thes mondayn stormes in his tender age. He was a kyng royal, of byrthe and of port; In virtue surmountjmg, garnyshed with grace; In vice he had no joye ne any disport ; Sober in countenance, no lyghtnes in his face ; All was don vdth gravitie, in tyme and in place; Yong he was in yeres, but in manners sage ; Yet deathe devoured hym in his tender age. Ah deathe! most cmel, thyself to revenge On so tender an impe of vertue the flower: BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 131 Oh deathe! thy bjrtt^ was bytter in tarenge'; Alas ! I say, that ever we saw that hower. That thou sholdest so crueUy this prince devoure, Regardyng hyme no more than a poore page ; Thou sholdest have spared hym in hys tender age. In connyng and wysdome, Solomons right heyer; His wytt was so exceUent, his sentence so profound ; Absolon in beawtie, his visage was so fayer: If he myght have lyved ther shold not have byn found A prjmce more excellent raynyng on the ground^ ; ' bytt, i. e. bite. ^ tarenge, tearing. ^ "If he myght have lyved there shold not have byn found A prynce more excellent raynyng on the ground." This character of Edward is very honourable to the writer; for that prince's memory has not been very much cherished by the adherents of the catholic church, on account of the zeal with which he forwarded the great work of the Reformation. Hume indeed has summed up his brief sketch of Edward's character in kindred terms: "He possessed mUdness of disposition, application td study and business, a capacity to leam and judge, and an attach ment to equity and justice. He seems only to have contracted, from his education and from the genius of the age in which he lived, too much of a narrow prepossession in matters of religion, which made him incline somewhat to bigotry and persecution: but as the bigotry of protestants, less govemed by priests, lies under more restraints than that of catholics, the effects of this malignant k2 132 METRICAL VISIONS. Yet for all his virtues and noble parentage, Deathe hathe hyme devoured in his tender age. Noble Alexander, whom clarkes call Severe, That was of Rome emperour by eleccion. Who rewled his empier in love and in feare Duryng all his lyve, by clemency and correccion ; To whom this yong kyng myght make comparison; Yf deathe would have spared in hir cmel rage, Hyme to devoUre in his yong and tender age^ quaUty were the less to be apprehended if a longer life had been granted to young Edward." Dr. Lingard thinks the praises which have been lavished on him should be received with some degree of caution, and says it may be a question whether his early death has not proved a benefit to the Church of England, as it is at pre sent estabUshed, because his sentiments were tinged with Cal-vin- isin, and he might perhaps have been persuaded by his rapacious courtiers, whose appetite for the spoils of the church was insatiable, to have entirely suppressed bishoprics and chapters, in order that they liiight devour the remainder of her possessions. I fear the historian's usual candour and circumspection have forsaken him in his estimate of the character of this prince, and the probable con sequences of a more extended reign; surely we have reason to think that the horrors which succeeded in the reign of his sister Mary would not have sullied the page of history, if it had pleased the Disposer of events to have spared his Ufe until the work of reformation, so temperately and well forwarded during the brief space in which he fiUed the throne, had been more faUy established by authority, reason, and custom. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 133, Wanton youthe raygned in hjmie nothyng at aU, But wysdome, connjmg, and sober gravytie; For aU his care and study prjmcypall Was to consider hys charge knytt to his dignytie. And to goveme his subjects in justice and equytie. And nobly to raygne without any owtrage : This was his disport in his tender age. A virgin prjmce, a mayden kyng, , Never cormpte with thought oncleane; So chaste he was in aU hys lyvyng, Suche grace in hyme was daylye seen. That aU men dyd bothe juge and deme Deathe to be to blame in hir* fond rage. This prynce to devour in his tender age. From hyme all vice vanished was by grace. That no rote of onclenness cowld take hold ; Vertue had so fumyshed fully in the place Which made vice in hyme so fyble and cold. ¦* " Deathe to be to blame in 7iir fond rage." Our ancestors in their personification of Death represented it as a female deity. 134 METRICAL VISIONS. And virtue so famylier that made hyme so bold. With discression to rewle hys realme and baronage, TyU deathe devoured hym in his tender age. With pride he never entendyd to sttyve. Of covetous* also he had non acquaintaunce. Nor had indignation to any man aljrve. And to be revenged he never knew vengeaunce, Gloteny could not prevayle for temperance, Idelnes was banyshed, his commyn usage, Discression so rewled his tender age. My stile to direct with trewe dyligfencCj This royal prynce to commend evyn at the full. Of connyng clarkes I want the eloquence; I My experyence in suche matters are very dull. And wysdome is banyshed my old* grOsse skull; Therfore I beseche the. Lord, which is etemall, That in hevyn this prjmce may raygn immortall. ' covetous, i. e. covetise or covetousness. ^ By this passage we perceive that George Cavendish was now descended into the vale of years : his younger brother, Sir Wil liam, is said to have been born about the year 1505. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 135 L'AUCTOR G. C. MusYNG of this world and ofthe incertentie. Where nother prynce, kyng, ne any other estate In lusty youthe floryshyng in felicitie. Can have of deathe any sewer date; For whan deathe sajrthe oons to them, chekemate, Geve over the playe for ye have lost the game ; This was my last studye musyng on the same. Perceyvjmg at the last it ware great foUy Ferther to muse of thyngs in experyence. Which daylie is seen, bothe symple and jolly. That departithe this lyfe where can be no resistance, For all must desolve and departe from hence ; Therfore to be soriye it ware but a madnes. For after old sorrowes comyth riewe gladnes. The wether broke uppe that cloudy was byfore. And the sonne gave lyght whom mystes did deface. But God that knewe our lamentable sore. 136 METRICAL VISIONS. Hathe agayn of his especyall grace Tomed our old sorrowes to a newe solace ; For the losse of a kjmg which was a virgin clean. He hathe restored us a mayden queue. IN LAUDEM REGINE MARIE. Whome our Lord of his benygne goodnes Hathe preserved from many stoimye showers. Or ells had she peryshed in great distresse ; But nowe hathe he made hyr a quene of owers. Whom Jesu defend all tymes and bowers. And geve hyr grace to rewle thys realme ta peace. To the honor of God, our welthe and quyet ease. Let us love hir with faythfull harts. For she is our lawfuU quene, born by just dissent ; We be hir subjects, it is therfore our parts To be to hir obedyent, with a good entent. And let us not dought that ever we shall repent; Yf we do otherwyse, our wjrtts be to blunt. Quia corda regum in manu Dei sunt. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 137 God hathe ordened hir to raygn in this regally. Therefore lyke trewe subjects let us be content; To gmdge ayenst God it ware a great folly. For he is a Lord that workyth his devjm intent Secretly and cloos ayenst all mens intendment^; His workes be not knowen untill they come to passe, Therfore hjmie to prevent^ thou art a very asse. Yf thou pretend Gods holy word to know, Whye dost thou rebell ayenst hir grace. Maliciously abrode scedycion to sowe. To slander hir honor, hir virtue to deface With any falce reports as some of late base? Mayntayn non suche, let them not be releved. For from the comon welthe they owght to be remeved. To travell any further hir virtues to comend. My tjmie I shold spend with insufficyence; Though my wUl be good my wytt cannot comprehend ' ' ayenst aU mens intendment,' i. e. above aU men's under- iding, to prevent here signifies to anticipate. 138 METRICAL VISIONS. AU hyr nobles and hyghe magnyfidence, Worthely to prayse as I owght of congruence ; Therfore lest my mde stile shold them deface, I hir commyt to the protection of God's grace. Leavjmg hjnr vrith God, whome she lovyth best. She is his servant, he vrill not hir disseyve. Nor leave hir vrith ennemyes crueUy to be opprest. From whos malyce he vrill hir receyve Into his protection, as we of late percejrve How he hathe preserved hir, this royal quene : Defend hir, good Lord, from ennemyes yet not seen. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 139 L'AUCTOR G. C. Now let me retoume to the foure knyghts That late suffred deathe, I know not the cause. But the wyU to fuUfiU of a man of myght. Which caused them to dye by colour of the lawes ; Wherin was found a certyn defuse^ clause. Wrested by craft to a male intent. To cause them to dye that therih ware innocent. As I sat complaynyng, tn my studye alone. The deathe of thes knyghts and of ther wooful faU, My hart was so greved I could no wyse biit mone, Rebukyng fortune most in especyaU, Which is of nature bothe cmel and mutall". Without aU pitie and will no mercy have Of non estate ther honors to deprave. ' defuse, i. e. dark, obscure. See vol. i. p. 93. ^ mutall is mutable, changeable. 140 METRICAL VISIONS. Thes Clarkes old* that wiott wooful tragedies, I pray you ware not ther playnts of hyghe estates, Recordyng ther onware falls and dayngerous jeopar dies, Ther sodeyn changes and tlier woofuU fates, Ther disdaynous dispyghts and onnaturall debates ; AUwayes concludyng, who list to take heade, Howe hyghe estates are alwayes in most dreade. With that, in blakke, I sawe oon come and goo, Whos countenance was sadc, nowe standing in a staye, His looke downcast in token of sorowe and woo. The salt teeres in droppes on liis bare cheeke laye, Which bare record of his woo and deadly affray; Wherfore he prayed me my penne for to redresse. And therwith to discrybe hys playnts and hevyncs. ^ ' Thes Clarkes old.' The aUusion is most probably to Lyd- gate's " Boke of Johan Bocas, descryving tlie fall of princes, prin cesses, and otlier nobles." I presume that Cavendish when he began liis visions was miacquainted with any part of the Mirror for Magistrates. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 141 DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND. The ground (quod he) and begynnyng of my destruction I shaU to you reherse shortly in sentence ; Yt was covetous pryde and hyghe presumpcion, Disdayhjmg aU men of royal exceUence, Covetyng by ravjm* to have the preemynence ; And whome I suspectyd that stade in my waye, I shortly by falshod intended ther dekay. First I caused a duke wrongftiUy to dye. By rigor of the lawes purposely invented ; Yt hathe not byn hard in my symple fantzy, A duke for feUony to be convented*. ¦* raoyn, i. e. rapine, force, or violence, from peapian. Sax. whence also rapine is derived. The permutation of the letters f, b, V, and p is well known to etymologists. MUton uses the substantive rapine much in the same sense with Cavendish's ra»yn. " Her least action overaw'd His maUce, and with rapine sweet bereav'd His fierceness of its fierce intent." 5 convented, i e. caUed before a judge or judicature. Thus in Measure for Measure : "what he with his oath And aU probation wUl make up fnll clear Whensoever he's convented." 142 metrical VISIONS. Without any acte wherby that he offendyd; But of cankard maUce my cmelty to fuUfyll, Caused hyme and knyghts fower to dye on Tower HyU. Froward ambycion set so my hart on fier To assend uppe the imperyaU see. And to possesse the governaunce ofthe empier; I did the best that lay in me To rewle thys realme and have the soverayntie; Thys was my purpose by covetous and pride. Whan I sawe tyme, the just titile to sett aside. For lyke a subject to lyve I was not content. But this realme to governe most lykest a kyng. Which caused me to study what meanes to invent. My desier to attayne and to my purpose bryng; I revolved in my brayn, immagynyng every thyng, Howe to goveme and rewle, and still in this land, TUl at the last this subtiltie^ I fand. I had a sonne that tender was of age. Which greatly stode in my conceyt and favor, ' subtiltie is a wUe, a plot, or contrivance. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 143 Whome I intendyd than to jojm in mariage To the doughter of Suffolk, the dukes enheritor. And so in possibiUtie myght be successor Unto the emperyall crown, by lawes of this land. As by the statutes ye may well understand. Thus I presumed by falce usurpation. In aU Englond to quenche the cleare light. And treble the lynne of just succession. Which I intendyd by force, and not of ryght, Contrary to the order of a royal knyght. To subdue the lawfuU quene, I falcely did ordeyn. That I in this regyon the quyeter myght rayn. I assembled to ayd me, shortly to conclude, A great number of people in every degree Advauncjmg thus forward with a confused multitude. Without any title, but grounded on sotUtie'^; Wherfore the gentlemen and comons of the countrie,. All of oon assent and in oon opynyon, Assembled them together, brought me to confusion. ' sotiltie: the same as subtiltie in the preceding page. 144 METRICAL VISIONS. Thus can the Lord the meke enhaunce. And from ther seats the proud thrust down, Specyally them that have no remembraunce To remember by vrysdome, or by reasovrn To know the Lord, most myghty of renown ; The Lord of Lords playnly to compile. Who sufferyth tyraunts to raygn but a wyle. For cruell murder and falce oppression Caused me to stand in great hatred^; ^ This representation of the unpopularity of Northumberland for the flagrant share he took in the destruction of the Protector Som erset is historically true. Speaking of the execution of Somerset, Sir John Hayward says: "The people, whose property it is by excessive favour to bring great men to misery, and then to be ex cessive in pity, departed away grieved and afraid, and yet feared to seem to be afraid ; and for this cause chiefly did never beare good mind to Northumberland afterwards, although in shew they dissembled the contrary : for nothing is more easie than to discerne when people observe great men from the heart, or when they do it for fashion or for feare. And as it often happeneth that men op pressed work revenge after their deaths, so the remembrance of Somerset much moved the people to faU from Northumberland in his greatest attempt, and to leave him to his fatal faU; whereat they openly rejoiced and presented to him handkerchiefs dipped in the blood of Somerset, for whom they thought he received rather late than undeserved punishment. So certain it is that the debts both of cruelty and mercy go never unpaid." BY GEORGE CAVENDISH, 145 What avayUed me my hyghe domynacion. Without love ofthe people when I had most nede? Whome for a wyle they did honor and dreade : But now love and dreade are quenched and gone, I ame but a wretche left aU alone. Take an example howe MaUios of Carthage, For all his towers and castles made of stones. For his oppression, tyranny, and owtrage. The people of Africke fell on hyme all at oons, Cuttynge his fleshe and hewgh all his bones ; Entendjmg on hyme, they were so wood 9, Unto ther gods to offer uppe his blood. Evyn so was I brought to myschefe and to dreade. For aU my great power where in I then stode ; Here may you se who lyst to take heade^ Howe gery^" fortune, furious, and wood. ' wood, i. e. mad. "° gery, changeable : probably from girer, Fr. to revolve, tum, or change. Chaucer applies the word to Venus : " gery Veiius — right as hir day Is gerfid, right so changeth she array." VOL. II. L 146 METRICAL VISIONS, Will not spare for power nor for good, Myghty prynces, which lyst not God to knowe. From ther estates to bryng lliem down full lowe. What myght avayle the conquest of great price Done by kyng Zerses in his estate royal. Which overcame in battayl, as clarkes doth devise. Ten hondreth thousand; the nomber was not small. Yet for aU that he had a cmeU faU Whan he was, as in storyes is remembred, On pieces small petyously dismembredj My seadCj my successioUj and all my bloode. By my default are brought to distmccion; Thus cmel fortune most froward and wood. For my great pride and falce usurpacion. Hath thrown me dovrn and aU my generation; Thus can fortune vrith twynklyng of an eye Bryng hyme full lowe that sometyme sat full hye. Of myn end what ned it any more to wright. Or of my deathe make farther degression, God may his vengeaunce a whUe respight. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 147 Put murder wyll owte, jhnd aU suche treason; And thoughe it ware my disposicion Falcely to murder, to you I must be playn, Nedes must murder be my guerdon" agayn. Therfore I beseche you that be here alyve, Pray for my sowle to that Lord above. To pardon my conspyracye that I did late contryve. Which ambytious honor therto did me move; What madnes is to conspire myself dothe well prove: Beware by me, therfore, thynk not to opteyn By rebellious conspiracye ayenst your soverayn. And here I make an end of this my complaynt^ Repentyng me full sore of my corrupt mynd ; My lyfe is consumed, my purpose hath me attaynt : Therfore, ye my frends, whom I have left behynd. That loved my body, to my sowle be not onkynd ; Reinember me, I beseche you; shortly to conclude. This world and fantzy did me thus delude- ' ' guerdon is reward. l2 148 METRICAL VISIONS. L'AUCTOR G. C. Whan this stout duke had ended thus his playnt, Jhesu, thought I, what, did this man intend To mount the seage royal by forceble constraynt; He was ferre overseen so madly to offend, Yt was no loyaltie thus to assend ; Thereby to enjoye the throne emperyaU, His fond enterprice requirethe a just fall. Beyng discontent partly in my mynd. To se a man of honor and of hygh discression. With ambycion to be so betyll bljmd. That he could not se the segnell progression Which dothe ensewe suche haynous transgression: With that I hard oon crie, makyng a rewfuU mone. That late was in honor, and now left alone. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 149 DUKE OF SUFFOLK. SoMTYME a duke (quod he) of highe estymacion. Of Suffolk, that bare the name and style Which hathe nowe corrupted my hole generacion; Yt was fortune and fantzy dyd me thus begyle. And brought me to rujm, alas ! alas ! the while ; I lakked wytt, I lakked also reason, Ayenst my soverajm whan I comytted treason. What neded me conspire that was so ferre in fqiyor With the queues grace, whom she called cosyn^ I myght have at lengthe with my sewte and labor, Deljrvrered my daughter from the daynger she was in; But wenyng made me thynk aUwayes to wyne AU that I went abought with a corrupt mynd, Hopyng to attayn that yet I could not fynd. And when I remember the fond^ enterprice Which I toke in hand to compasse and to bryng abought, ' frnid, i. e. fooUsh. 150 METRICAL VISIONS. Yt was the greatest folly that I could devyse ; Supposyng to assemble so great a rowte To take my part and to beare theme owt: Ther wytts ware better than I at that tyme had; To foUowe me they ware not so frantyke mad. I claimed and proclaymed, from place to place. The title to be just of my daughter Jane^; ? " I claimed and proclaymed, from place to place, The title to be just of my daughter Jane." Suffolk's narrow escape from the consequences of his participation in Northumberland's measures for placing the crown on the head of Lady Jane Gray had not taught him discretion. He had been pardoned and received into favour ; had given Mary repeated as surances of attachment to her person, and had even manifested his approbation qf her intended marriage with PhUip of Spain. But his religious scruples, it is presumed, made liim upon consideration, think it his duty to oppose himself to that match, and to risk his life and the fortunes of his famUy in support of the reformed reU gion. Accompanied by his brothers the Lords John and Thomas pr^y>,and about fifty foUowers, he suddenly retreated toward his estates in Warwickshire. It has been doubted whether his purpose was to reyive the claim of his daughter the Lady Jane, or whether in concert with Wyatt and other conspirators to set up the Princess EUzabeth. Cavendish's testimony is therefore important if not decisive upon this head. " In Leicestershire (says Holinshed) he caused proclamation to be made in semblablewise as Sir Thomas Wiatt had done aganst the queen's match with the king of Spaine BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 151 In citie and town I travelled than apase To declare hyr ty tie just; but all was prophane',) For I sawe my trust dayly decrease and wane; Than was I fajme to flee and hide my hed. For if I ware taken shortlie I shold be ded. Than was I persewed and sought for round abought, There was no place wherin I myght be suer^ At the last I was aspied, taken, apd brought owte; (lest it should bring the whole nobUitie and people of this realme into bondage and thraldome of strangers) ; but few there were that would vriUingly hearken thereto." The Earl of Huntingdon being sent in pirrsuit of him, -with very superior forces, and with the country on his side, Suffolk dismissed his foUowers, rewarding them according to their quaUty and his power, and secreted himself and his brother Lord John Gray in Astley Park, near Coventry, when they were betrayed to the Earl of Huntingdon, who brought them prisoners to the Tower of London. He was arraigned, and led to to the block Feb. 23, 1563. His fate excited little commiseration on account of his ingratitude for the leniency which the queen had shown to his former offences, and he has been blamed for a disre gard to his daughter's safety. He was foUowed to fhe scaffold by his brother Lord Thomas Gray, whose ambition equalled that of of his brother whUe he exceUed him in enterprise and talent. It was thought that he had been chiefly influenced by him to take up arms again on this occasion agaijjst his sovereign. 5 prophane, i. e. unhallowed, and therefore unsuccessfiil. 152 METRICAL VISIONS. For in whome I put my tmst did me first discure*; My presumcion no longer myght endure: Than was I taken with shame and dishonor. And led away lyke an errant traytor. And brought to the barre, tried by my peers. Who found me giltie wherin I did offend; My offence was e-rydent as plajmly it appeers. My colors of trowthe cowld me not defend, AUthoughe I excused me howe tmly I did intend. Yet wold not myn excuse so symple be taken. And whan I sawe that, I knew I was forsaken. Non other remedy than have I, none But to make me redye in charitie to dye ; Yt boted- me not to make ferther mone, I thought it best, therfore, myself to mortefie. And to receyve my deathe most paciently; -•¦ discure, that is, discover : so used by Spenser. " I -wiU, if please you it discure, assay To ease you of that Ul." He had trusted himself to the supposed fidelity of one of his ten ants named Underwood, who moved either by the hope of reward or the fear of punishment betrayed him. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 153 Down to the bloke to bowe my hed a lowe ; This is the sede that disloyaltie dothe sowe. Farewell, Lady Frances ! my most lovjmg wyfe, Lynyally dissendyd of the blood royall*. 5 FareweU, Lady Frances ! my most lovyng wyfe, Lynyally dissendyd ofthe blood royaU. She was the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suf folk, by Mary sister of Henry the Eighth. Her two brothers Henry Duke of Suffolk and the Lord Charles died ofthe sweating sickness in the reign of Edward the Sixth, upon whose death, at the instance of the Earl of Warwick, the king created her husband, Henry Gray, Marquis of Dorchester, Duke of Suffolk; at the same time Warwick was raised to the Dukedom of Northumber land. Frances had no ambition to ascend a disputed throne, and therefore her eldest daughter Jane was made the innocent victim of Northumberland's ambitious views, she having been previously married to his fourth son, the Lord Gidldford Dudley. Henry VIL I James IV.=Margaret of Scotland Louis XII.=Mary=j=Brandon Duke of France of Suffolk Frances={=Gray Duke ofSuffoUt EleanoryCUfford Earl of Cumberland Margaret Jane=LdGuUd- Catherine=Ld Herbert ford Dudley Mary=Martin Keys, Gent. Porter to Q. EUz. 154 METRICAL VISIONS. Though I be gon, and chaynged hathe my lyfe. Which myght have lyved stiU if I had byn loyaU, But presumption hathe nowe distroyed all ; Therfore comfort yourself with sober pacience. And thynke that nothyng bathe here perpetuance. FareweU, my bretheme! for I ame your dekay; This is my last fareweU; God send you of his grace To escape the pajaunt^ that I must nedes play. For I ame cheafe causer of your offence and trespace ; Farewell, all ye also, dissendyd of that race. Pray God for his mercy my sowle may be saved. And my hedlesse body vouchesave to s.e it^aved^) * pajaunt or pageant, any show or spectacle. Thus Shakspeare : ' ru play my part in fortyme's pageant.' 7 graved, i. e. buried. Thus Lord Surrey in his translation of the Fourth jEneid : Cinders, tWnk'st thou, mind this, or graved ghosts. And Shakspeare in K. Richard II. And lie fuU low grav'd in the hoUow ground. Again in Timon of Athens : Ditches grave you aU. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 155 L'AUCTOR G. C. O, Lord God! yt is to me a marvelous thyng To se the foUy, the madnes, and the pryde That now among states is dayly rajmyng; Yt is for lake of grace to be ther cheife gwyde. For vertue and wysdome they are clean sett aside ; Alas ! that you shold your honor so defile With fowle disloyaltie, to put all in exile, O ye honorables of noble and highe degrees, i Whan wUl ye be content with suffisaunce? What mean ye so wyllfiUly, so madly to leese Your highe honors and riche enheritaunce Thorowghe necligence and your myssegovemaunce : Amend your lyves, consider well your callyng, Lyve justly, uppright, and for se your fallyng, Than sawe I a ladye that tender was of age, Sodenly appeere with an hedlesse body; The sight was straynge, it abated my corage 156 METRICAL VISIONS. To se so yong a thyng to chaunce on suche folly Hir hed to loose, that myght have lyved full joUy: By signes without wordes she made me to understand To wright her doole* that I shold take in hand. LADY JANE GRAY. By sygnes she taught me thus to wright: As thoughe (quod she), why did ye me dysseyve. With faynyag fantzye ayenst all equitie and right. The regali powers onjustly to receyve. To serve your tornes, I do right well perceyve; For I was your instrument to worke your purpose by ; AU was but falshed to bleere vrithall myn eye. O ye councellors, why did ye me avaunce To a queues estate, full score ayenst my mynd, Assuryng me it was my just enheritaunce ! ' doole, or dole, sorrow. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 157 Now, contrarye to your suggestion, I perceyve andfjmd AU was in vajm, your wytts ware to blynd Me to delude ayenst the forme of lawe ; Forsoothe you ware to blame, and ^U not worthe a strawe. Your crepyng and kneljmg to me, poor innocent. Brought me to wenyng with your perswasions. That all was trewthe which ye ontraly ment; Suche ware your arguments, suche ware your reasons. Made to me at sondrye tymes and seasons; Your subtiU dealyng dissajrved hathe bothe you and me, Dissimulacion woU not serve nowe may you se. Cowld non experyence force you to know Howe dissimulacion and covert craftynes Hathe byn the occasion of the overthrowe Of many a person beyng in welthynes^. And suche as used the face of dublenes; ^ weltkines. Welth is before used in these poems in contradis tinction to woe, to signify a tranquil and prosperous condition, in the same manner as weal is used in more modem language. 158 METRICAL VISIONS. Wherfore dissimulacion and crafty dealyng Hathe brought you and me to utter undoyng. For your prjmcely powers and hault dygnyties Assured me with suche perfection, To-establyshed me in the hyest degrees ^ UntiU fortune hathe brought us into subjeccion. Of the lawes to abyde the publyke correccion; Nowe accuse we fortune as cheafe ground of our faile. And yet is she not giltie no thyng at all. Yt is your pride and pevyshe* presumpcion That hathe us led to this myschauncCi By means wherof all is in consumpcion: Where be now your promysis and your assUraunoe? Where is yoUr ayed? where is your mayntenaunce? ^ " To-establyshed me in the hyest degrees.'' The prefix to is here oidy an augmentative particle, frequently thus used in our older language. Take one instance out of many to be found in Chaucer. " His shelde to-dashed with swerds and with maces. Troilus and Cressiide, B. ii, v. 640. -*- pevyshe, i. e. fooUsh. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 159 Be they not abated and layed full lowe? Yf ye wold denye, yet all the world doth knowe. ^My sorowes are treble and full of doble woo, To remember the tragedy and wofull case That to my father, my hosbond, and me also Ys happened, thoroughe folly and lake of grace ; Yt causithe the teeres to run down my face. And to lament your mysfortune and myuj By such blynd folly to fail into rewyn. Wherfore the Lord that is Lord of lords all. And sittyth in heven above the Iherarcheyes, Behold and consider our whofuU faU, We the beseche, with thy mercyfuU eyes. And geve thy holy eares to our lamentable cries ; As thou art mercytiiU of thyn owne natures. So have mercy on us thy poore creatures. FareweU, madame! farewell, lady mother! Farewell, my sisters! fareweU, my frendes all! Helpe us with your prayers our prayers to further 160 METRICAL VISIONS. Unto God allmyght, the Lord supernall. That he his grace will unto hyme call The Sowles of his creatures that now lyeth deade. Which by the lawes hathe* receyved our meade. 5 katke for Imve, BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. IGl L'AUCTOR G. C. To answer hir complaynt I wist not what to say, Wherfore I thought to pawse and rest a while, Entendyng here to have made a stay. No more to wright of this wofull style, Supposyng that fortune cowld no more begile Men so well warned of hir fayned flatterye. The experience being of late had in memorye. Yet some there be that wanty th God's grace ^, Whos wytts be oppressed so with vice. Though fortune doth still them menace. Yet of suche precedents they set small price. But runnyng hediong without any advice ¦ This and the foUowing stanza are crossed out with a pen in the original MS. It appears that it had been the intention of Caven dish to extend his poem so as to embrace other characters, to whose appearance these stanzas are the induction. The leaves of the manuscript are very much transposed, but there are references in a cotemporary hand writing showing the order in which it is to be read. Nothing occurs after these stanzas but the Epitaph on Queen Mary, and the Author's Address to his Book. VOL. II. M 162 METRl'CAL VISl-ONS. Untill all myschefe and utter distmction, Lyke men given to all evyll dysposition. That sentence is trewe, yt cannot be denyd (Quod oon to me), for I have felt the smart; Thexperience in me is evydently aspied. Which causythe me to lament with a carefull hart : With that I cast myn eye aside, where I did advert A rowt with sorrowe woofuUy arayed. And oon most rewfuUy to me these words he sayd — BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 163 AN EPITAPHE THE LATE QUENE MARIE. DiscEND fromhevjm, O Muse Melpomene, Thou moumfoU goddesse, with thy sisters ^U, Passe in your plajmts tlie wofull Niobe, Tome musyke to mone with teeres etemall, Blake be your haibetts, dyme, aud fiineral; For deathe hathe beareft, to our gresMt dojojir, Mary our mastres, our queue of honor. Our quene of honor, compar!^ apifly To Veritas victrix, daughter of Tyme, By God assisted, amased in ajwye. When she a virgin Cleaie, wjithout pyme. By ryght, withoiut might, did happely clyme To the stage royal, just inheritor, Proclajmaed Maiy^ our quene of honor. m2 164 METRICAL VISIONS. And as a victrix, valerus endewed With justice, prudence, high mercy, and force, Dredles of danger, with sword subdued Her vassells rebells, yet havjmg remorse. With losse of few she saved the cursse ; Suche was thy mercy, surmountyng rigour, O Mary, mystress! O quene of honour! To a virgin lyfe, which lyked the best, Profest was thyn hart; whan, moved with zele And teeres of subjects expressing request. For no lust, but love of the common weale. Virginities' vowe thou diddest repelle, Knytt with a kyng coequal in valour, Thyn estate to conserve as quene of honour. The Roos and pomgranat joined in oon, England and Spain by espousal allyed ; Yet of thes branches blossomes came none Wherby ther kyngdoms myghte be supply'd ; For this conjunction a comytt envied. Influence castyng of mortal vapour On Mary the rose, our quene of honour. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 165 Then faded the flower that wyllome^ was freshe. For Boreas blasts dyd wether away The spyritt of lyfe from the tender flesh Of that impe royal, that pryme rose gay. Equal in odor to Flora in May: The virtue vanished with vitail -rigour From our fayer Mary, our quene of honour. Though virtue vitail dyd vanyshe away, Hir virtues inward remayn immortal, Eterne, and exempte from deathe and dekay. As fountajmes flowyng with course contjmuall ; As vere^ in verdure and greene perpetuall. Or lamps ever lyght and supplyed with licoure, Enduryng endles to Mary's honoure. Add there to virtue, blood, and parentage. In aU Europa no prynces equall. So noble of byrthe, discent, and Ijmeage, " wyllome, usuaUy spelt whilome, the same as erewhile, before, or onetime. ^ vere or vej; i. e. spring. 166 METRICAE VISIONS. As no man can nomber tbe joynts legaly Of Emperors old and bouses regali: No herauld hewked^ in kyngs coate artnoure> Sufficyth to blaze our Marjr's honoure. Lament, ye lords and ladys of estate, You puissaunt ptynces and dukes of degree, Let never nobles appere so ingrate As to forget the great gratuytie Of graces granted and beUifits fre, Gevyn and Restored oOidy by favour Of noble Mary, our queue of honoure. Hyghe prieste of Rome, O Paule appostolike, And college conscrypte of cardjmalls all. And ye that confesse the fayth catholyke. Of Christs Churche chief in yerthe unyversall ; O clerks and religious, to you I call. Pray for your patron, your frend, and founder, Mary our mastress, our quene of honoure. 2 ' herauld hewked' forsan hewed? from his many coloured suit. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 167 Which late restored the right religion*; And fayth of fathers observed of old, Subdewd sects and all dyvision, Reducjmg the flocke to the former fold ; A piller most firme the church to uphold : Loo, where she lyeth,rtrew faythes defendour, ] Mary our mastress, our quene of honoure. * Cavendish's lament over Mary is not merely poetical, but proceeded from a sincere and pious feeling of the loss whiph he considered the right religion, the faith of his fathers, would suffer by the faU of this piUar of the CathoUc Church. The fact is, that Mary has been painted in blacker colours than her conduct, dis passionately considered, warrants. I am not about to join in the panegyric of the text, but surely Hume and others of our popular historians have gone too far in handing her down to posterity as a monster of crime, deformed in mind and in person, without one redeeming virtue but sincerity. It should be remembered that the accounts we have of her reign are almost without exception from writers whose prejudices were strongly opposed to an impartial examination or representation of its leading events, and perhaps no mode of flattering EUzabeth could be found more grateful than that of opposing her own character to an exaggerated picture of that of her predecessor. That the annals of Mary are foully stained with bloody persecutions hardly paralleled in modern his tory must be confessed; but this was more the fault other creed, and of the unfortunate influence of a doctrine which teaches that to extirpate heretics ' to subdue sects and all division, and to reduce the flock to its former fold,' as Cavendish expresses it, is the high est of virtues, and that to effect it recourse must be had to the purifying influence of fire, to the ruthless terrors of torture and the 168 METRICAL VISIONS. Whan sacred aulters ware all defaced. Images of saints with outrage burned, Instade of priests apostatas placed. Holy sacrements with spight down sporned. Whan spoyUe and ravjm hade all overturned; This chaos confase, thys hepe of horrour, Dissolvethe Mary as quene of honoure. Elizabethe, excellent of God elect. With cepture to sytt in state imperyaU, In throne thriumphant, where thou art erect. sword. If the cathohc church was not singular in inculcating this as a duty, at least its most strenuous advocates must aUow that it has been unfortunate in the excess of zeal with which in all ages its partisans have endeavoured to compel conformity by the most cruel persecutions. By those who have viewed Mary's cha racter with more lenient eyes, she has been allowed ' the praise of piety, clemency, of compassion for the poor, and UberaUty to the distressed,' and of some acts of retributive justice to those who had been wrongfuUy despoiled by her predecessors. Her life and manners were at least free from reproach in regard to domestic virtues, her friendships were lasting and sincere, and she possessed that vigour of mind which was inherent in her family, yet knew how to yield the preference in some instances to right over expe diency. Bishop Godwin says of her : " Mulier sane pia, clemens, moribusque castissimis, ut usque quaque laudanda, si religionis errorem non spectes." And Camden: "Princeps apud omnes ob mores sanctissimos, pietatem in pauperes, liberalitatem in nobiles atque ecclesiasticus nunquam satis laudata." BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 169 Have deathe allways in thy memoryall. Death is thend of fleshe unyversall ; The world is but vayne; make for you£n^rgn^ Mary thy sister, late quene of honour. So shall thalmyghty stablyshe thy throne In quyet concord and dew obeysaunce. And send the a prince to appeas our mone With happy reign of long contynuance. This thyng reposed in depe remembraunce ; Say and pray all, O Christ, O Sa-ryoure ! Have mercy on Mary, our quene of honoure. O Virgin Mary, O mother of Jesu! O spouse unspotted, and quene etemaU! As our quene Mary was handmayd trewe To the, O lady! in this lyfe mortal. So of thy grace and bountie speciali To the Kyng on hyghe be intercessor. In hevyn to crown hir a quene of honoure. FIAT, FIAT, FINIS. 170 METRICAL VISIONS. TH'AUCTOR TO HIS BOOKE. Crepe forthe, my boke, under the proteccion Of suche as have bothe leamjmg and eloquence; Humbly submyttjmg the to the correccion Of worthy vrriters of virtuous excellence, Besechyng all them, of ther benygn pacience To take the meanyng, however the matter frame. Of this thyn auctor, abasshed of his name. For, first of all, whan I do behold Of famous writers the goodly circumstance. My quaking hand my penne unnethe can hold. So dombe I ame of doctryn, lame of experience, Stakeryng in style, onsavery of sentence. Save oonly hope, that saithe withouten fayll. That my well meanyng shall quytt my travayll. Thus, not presumyng of learnyng ne eloquence, Hope made me shove the boote from the shore ; Desyryng no thyng for my fare or expence. BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. 171 But only good wyll; I aske no more: And fori tjjg jjQj.^ Q^ (jQ.^ ^Yisit myght rore, I shaU set my shrowd* for my defence. Under the manteU of weU wy^Uyng audyence. And pryncypaUy this my worke for to assist, I humbly beseche that Lord that is etemall To defend my penne that wrott this with my fist. To be my savegard, my staffe, and my wall; And consequently for feare least I shold fall In the daynger ofthe learned ^ and honorable sort, I pray them all my lamenes to support. Least perchaunce the pleasaunt floode do faylle Of witty -writyng or sugred eloquence. ' ' And for tbe hurt of envy,' i. e. against the hurt of envy. Envy being the cause of his seeking to shroud himself. ^ A shrowd signified a shield or buckler, and metaphorically any kind of defence, coverture, or place of protection. 3 .. . _ < least I shold faU In tlie daynger ofthe learned and honorable sort.' That is, ' lest I should encounter their censure, or faU into the confrol of their severe judgment.' The phrase has its origin from the bar barous Latin in dangerio, and is common to Chaucer and our elder writers as well as to Shakspeare and his cotemporaries. 172 METRICAL VISIONS. FoUowe, therfore, good wyll at the boots tayle. Me to preserve in the waves of ignoraunce, Socoured by hope of gentill sufferaunce : Nowe hale uppe, skuUer; God graunt me wynd. And Jhesu defend me to my lives end. Whan thou, my boke, comest into the prease Bothe of the wyse and learned multitude. To excuse thyn auctor thou canst do no lesse, Wantjmg learnyng, and of utterance rude. Which did never this enterprise entrude ; Trustjmg other of wytt or learnjmg. But for an exercise, and non other thyng. FINlE ET COMPILE LE XXIIIJ JOUR DE JUNIJ A REGNOR PHILIPPI REX & REG. MARIE IllJ'i. & V«.i PER LE AUCTOR G. C. Novus Rex, nova Lex. Nova sola Regina, probz. pene ruina. * By this is meant the Fourth Year of the Reign of PhiUp, and the Fifth of Queen Mary, answering to 1558. The Latin rhyming sentence Cavendish appears to have added after the commencement of EUzabeth's reign. How far from a true prophecy it proved, the long and prosperous reign of Elizabeth may mtness. APPENDIX. EXTRACTS FROM THE LIFE OF THE VIRTUOUS CHRISTIAN AND RENOWNED QUEEN ANNE BOLEIGNE. BY GEORGE WYATT, ESQ. WRITTEN AT THE CLOSE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. FROM THE MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS OP THE KEV. JOHN LEWIS. Among the other calumnies with which the memory of the utifortunate Queen Anne Boleyn has been aspersed by the enemies of the Reformation, it has been said — " that she had long carried on a criminal intercourse with Sir Thomas Wyatt the poet; who, we are told, had gone so far as to confess to the king that he had debauched her; and had urged this, in thefirst instance, as an argument to dissuade the king from marrying her." The story requires no refutation; but Wyatt's name having been called in question when Anne Boleyn's conduct was scru tinized, gave the forgers of fabulous history an opportunity of engrafting their libellous inventions on slight circum stances, in order to give them something of the colour of probability. How far there was any foundation for these calumnies will now appear. The following interesting pages were written, it is presumed, by the grandson of the poet, George Wyatt, Esquire, sixth son and heir of Sir Thomas Wyatt the younger, who was beheaded for rebel lion in the first year of the reign of Queen Mary. The writer died at the advanced age of eighty, at Boxley in Kent, in the year 1624, and seems to have meditated a complete exposure of such parts of Saunders' Book on the Reformation as came within his own immediate know ledge. He was maternal uncle to Sir Roger Twysden, and in 1623 communicated to him part of his collections. A fragment of the Life of Cardinal Wolsey, by George Cavendish, was in the late Mr. Bindley's library, to which we have already referred, at p. 57 of the present edition; prefixed to which was the following note by Sir VOL. II. N 178 Roger Twysden. — "Ireceaved this from my uncle Wyatt, Anno 1623, who beeing yonge had gathered many notes towching this lady, not without an intent to have closed Saunders." It is remarkable that this fragment from Wolsey's Life has been twice printed as a piece of original and authentic cotemporary history; without suspicion of its being an extract from Cavendish; — thefirst time for private distribution, in 1808, and secoxtdiy by Dr. Nott, in his appendix to Wyatt's Poems, in 1816. The manuscript frdm which' the present very interesting memoir is printed, was piirchdsed at the late Sir Peter Thompson's sale. - It is in the hand writing of the Rev. John Lewis, of the Isle of Thanet, the celebrated dnti- quary. It was printed in 1617 for afew noblemen and gentlemen, but twenty'seven copies only having been takeri off, may be considered still to have almost the rarity (f a manuscript, -.'---- • ¦•' SOME PARTICULARS LIFE OF QUEEN ANNE BOLEIGNE. The pepuUar means that I have had, more than others, to come to some more particular knowledge of such things as I intend to handle, ought to draw thus much fi-om me; yet much more the request of him that hath been by authority set on work in this important business, both fbr the singular gifts of God in him, of wisdom, learning, integrity, and virtue; and also the encouragement I' have had of late from the right reverend my Lqrd of Canterburjr's grace, to set down what understanding' I have had of this matter, is both my wanrant; and a bond the more upon qiy conscience,' tO hold me Urged and constrained hot to neglect such an opportunity of my service to the church, my prince,. a^nd countryi Principally his desire was, and my purpose in satis fying it, to deliver what I knew, touching certain things that happened to the excellent lady, the Lady n2 180 MEMOIR OF QUEEN Anne Boleigne, about the time of her fu-st coming to the court. Yet, considering I had some other knowledge of things that might be found serviceable no less than that, and also might give light and life to the faithful narration of this whole matter, I have supposed it would faU best, to deliver the same, as it were, under the description of her whole life; and this the more particularly and frankly, that, all things known, those that I understood were to visit it again might take what they should think most material for their use. And would to God I could give that grace and felicity of style unto it that the worthiness of the subject doth require, notvrithstanding that in this regard I am the less carefuU, for that it is to pass through their hands that can give it better ves ture; and I shall the more tum my care tq intend the sincere and faithful delivery of that which I have received from those that both were most likely to come to the most perfect knowledge hereof, and had least cause or, otherwise for themselves, could least give just reason of suspicion to any, either of mind, or partiality, or wit, to fajme or misreport any whit hereof. And, indeed, chiefly the relation of those things that I shall set down is come from two. One a ladyS that first attended on her both before and Mrs. Anne Gainetfbrd. ANNE BOLEYN. 181 after she was queen, -with whose house and mine there was then kindred and strict alliance. The other also a lady of noble birth, living in those times, and well acquainted with the persons that most this concerneth, from whom I am myself descended. A Uttle, therefore, repeating the matter more high, I wUl derive the discourse hereof from the very spring and fountains, whence may appear most clearly by what occasion and degrees the stream of this whole cause hath grown to such an ocean as it were of memorable effects through all our parts of Christen dom, not by chance or vdts of men so much as even by the apparent work of God, as I hope presently to make plain to all men. The see of Rome having risen, in this our age, unto a fuU tide of aU wickedness, had overflowed all these parts of the world with the floods of her evils, whereby was occasioned and had beginning the ebb of all her pomp, power, and glory, every particular devising, as if it had been by one consent and accord (so showing it the more apparently to come of God), to provide for the time to come against her so great inundation of mischiefs. Hereofj in England, Germany, Italy, and in many other places, sundry persons of singular learning and piety, one succeeding another, at divers times, opened their mouths as trumpets to call men to this work upon 182 MEMOIR OF QUEEN several occasions, aU risiiig from. the outrageous cot- mptions and foaming filth of that see. But chiefly and most notoriously, in,, the time of Henry the Eighth, of famous memory, this came to pass by the. just judgiiieiit of God upon her, and his mercy upon ns, . where the. same poUty by which she had in bustolii, and then madfe herself most assured, tOi strengthen herself in giving to princes Ucence to ^unlavrful con tracts (esteeming thereby to tie them and their issue the more strongly to her); the boiid of so evil counsel breaking suddenly, set at liberty the certain means of this gireat opposition against her after almost through all Eurrip'e. So little assurance especiaUjf have evil foundations of usurped authorities against the provoked judgments of God by sin, and general displeasure of man upon just conceived indignities. There waSj at this present, presented to the eye of the court the rare and admirable beauty of the fresh and, young Lady Anne ; Boleigne, to -be attending upon the.. queen. In. this, noble imp, the graces of nature graced by gracidUs education, seemed even at the first to have jiromised bliss unto her aftertimieS. She was takeri at that time to have a beauty not go whitely as clear and fresh above all we inay esteem^ which appeared much itiore exceUient by her favour passing sweet and cheerful; and thiese, both also in creased by her noble presence of shape and fii^hion, ANNE BOLEYN. 183 representing both mildness ,tuid uiajesty more than can be expressted. There was found, indeed, upon the side of .her hail upOn one of her fingets, some little show of a nail, which yet was so small, by the report of those that have ,s,eien her, as the.workmaster seemed to leave it an occasion of g);eater grace to her Jiaild, which, .with the tip . of; one of her Other fingers, inight be and vras usuaUy by her hidden with out any least blemish to it. Likewise there were said to be upon some parts of her body certain small moles incident to the clearfe&t complexions. And certainly both these were none other than might more stain their- vmtings with note of malice that have caught at sqch Ught motes in so bright beams of beauty, thah in any part shadow it; as may .right weU appear by many: arguments, but chiefly. by the choice and exquisitfe judgments of maily brave spirits that were esteemed to honour the honourable parts in her, even honoured of envy itself. Amongst these, two were observed to be of princi pal mark. The one w&s Sir Thomas Wiat, the elder ^, the other was the king himself The knight, in the beginning, coming tp behold the sudden appearance of this new beauty, came to be holden and surprised * See the Earl of Surrey's character of him, in an Elegy on his Death, among his poems. 184 MEMOIR OF QUEEN somewhat with the sight thereof; after much more with her witty and graceful speech, his ear also had him chained unto her, so as finaUy his heart seemed to say, / could gladly yield to be tied for ever with the knot of her love, as somewhere in his verses hath been thought his meaning was to express^. She, on the other pai-t, finding him to be then married, and in the knot to have been tied then ten years, rejected all his speech of love ; but yet in such sort as whatsoever tended to regard of her honour, she showed not to scorn, for the general favour and good will she per ceived aU men to bare him, which might the rather occasion others to turn their looks to that which a man of his worth was brought to gaze at in her, as, indeed, after it happened. The king is held to have taken his first apprehension of this love after such time as upon the doubt in those treaties of marriage 3 It is presumed that the allusion is here to Sir Thomas Wyatt's verses entitled " A description of such a one as he would love:'' A face that should content me wonderous well. Should not be faire, but lovely to behold : Of lively loke, eJI griefe for to repel With right good grace, so would I that it should Speak, without words, such words as none can tell ; Her tresse also should be of cresped gold. With wit and these perchance I might be tide And knit againe the knot that should not slide. Songes and Sonettes, Svo. 1557, p. 35. 2. ANNE BOLEYN. 185 with his daughter Mary, first vrith the Spaniard, then with the French: by some of the leamed of his own land he had vehemently in their public sermons, and in his confessions to his ghostly fathers, been prayed to forsake that his incestuous life by accom panying with his brother's vrife; and especially after he was moved by the cardinal, then in his greatest trust with the king, both for the better quietness of his conscience, and for more sure settling of the succession to more prosperous issue. About this time, it is said that the knight, enter taining talk with her as she was earnest at work, in sporting vrise caught from her a certain small jewel hangiag by a lace out of her pocket, or otherwise loose, which he thrust into his bosom, neither with any earnest request could she obtain it of him again. He kept it, therefore, and wore it after about his neck, under his cassock, promising to himself either to have it with her favour or as an occasion to have talk vrith her, wherein he had singular delight, and she after seemed not to make much reckoning of it, either the thing not being much worth, or not worth much striving for. The noble prince having a watch ful eye upon the knight, noted him more to hover about the lady, and she the more to keep aloof of him; was whetted the more to discover to her his affection, so as rather he liked first to try of what 186 MEMOIR OF QUEEN temper the regard of her honour wasj which he flnd-r irig riot any way to be tainted with those things his kingly majesty and means could bririg to the battery, he in the end feUto vrin hier by treaty of marriage, and in this talk took from, her a ririg, and that wore upon his little. finger; and yet all this ^ith such secrecy was carried, and on her, part so wisely; as none or very few esteemed this other than an or dinary course of dalliance. Within few days after,.it happened that the king, spcn-ting himself at bowls, had in his compariy (as it falls but) divers noblemen and other cdurtiers of account, amongst whom might be the Duke of Suffolk, Sir F. Brian, and Sir T. Wiat, himself being, more than ordinarily pleasantly disr posed, and in his game taking an oecasionto affirm a cast to be. his that plainly appeared to be other wise; those on the other side said, with his grace's leave, they thought not, and yet, stiU he pointing with his fihgier whereon he wore her ring, replied often it was his, and speciaUy to thie knight he said, Wiat, I tell thee it is mine, smiling upon him Withal. Sir Thomas, at the lerigth, casting his 6ye upon the king's finger> perceived that the king meant the lady whose ring that was, which he Well knew, and paus ing a little, and finding the king bent to pleasure, after the words repeated again by the king, the knight replied. And if it may like yoUr majesty to ANNE BOLEYN. 187 give me leave to measure it, I hope it will be mine; and withal took from his neck the lace whisreat hung the tablet, and therewith stooped to measure the cast, which the king espying, knew, and had seen her wear,^ and therewithal spumed away the bowl, and said. It may be so, but then am I deceived; and so brokie up the game. This thing thus carried was not perceived for aU this pf Piany, but of some few it was. Now the kingj resorting to his chamber, showing some discontentment in his countenance, found means to break this matter to the lady, who, with good and evident proof how the kmght cgime by the jewel, satisfied the king so effeptually that this more confirmed the king's opinion of her tmth than hiniself at the first could have expected. Shortly, upon the return of the cardiufil, the matter. of the dutchess* CQoUng every ,4ay more and more, hjs cre dit also waned tUl it was utterly, eclipsed; gjid that so busied the great personages that they marked the less the king's bent, .the rather fpr that some way it seemed helpful to .their working against the cardinal. The king also took here opportunity to proceed to discover his fuU aqd whole n^eariing unto the lady's fathet, to whom we may be sure the news was not a little joyful. AU this notvrithstanding, her virtue + The^ King of France's sister. 188 MEMOIR OF QUEEN was not so dased with the glory of so forcible at- tractives, but that she stood stUl upon her guard, and was not, as we would suppose, so easily taken with all these appearances of happiness; whereof two things appeared to be the causes. One the love she bare ever to the queen whom she served, that was also a personage of great virtue : the other her conceit that there was not that freedom of conjunc tion with one that was her lord and king as with one more agreeable to her estate. These things being well perceived of, the queen shew she knew well to frame and work her advantage of, and there fore the oftener had her at cards with her, the rather also that the king might have the less her company, and the lady the more excuse to be from him; also she esteem herself the kindlier used, and yet withal the more to give the king occasion to see the nail upon her finger. And in this entertainment of time they had a certain game that I cannot name then frequented, wherein dealing, the king and queen meeting they stopped, and the young lady's hap was much to stop at a king; which the queen noting, said to her playfeUow, My Lady Anne, you have good hap to stop at a king, but you are hot like others, you will have all or none. So often earnest matters are delivered under game. Yet had the king his times, and she in the end yielded to give ANNE BOLEYN. 189 her consent of marriage to him, whom hardly ever any before was found able to keep their hold against. This was now so far to the pleasure of the king, that forthvrith he vrith her and her father concluded to open the matter to the councU, all other things being ripe thereunto, and speciaUy for that it was not possible to keep it any longer from the talk of men near his person, and the more, the queen being found to take such knowledge thereof. It is thought then the table was diversely carried to give opinion upon this matter; some of the nobUity vrishing ra ther to have had so good hap lighted to some of their own houses; others that it had not been at all; some inclining to either of these as depending on them; but most liked better the king's own choice, both for the hope of issue, and that the greatness of great men should not grow too great to sway with in managing of matters of state. But howsoever, it appeared manifestly that presently there were practices discovered on aU sides under sundry arts, on the parts of Spain, from Rome and that faction, and from the queen herself, and specially some with the king, some with the lady herself, plotted to break or stay at the least till something might fall between the cup and the lip, that might break all this pur pose with one of them, if it might have been. And verily one of these may seem for this present occa- 190 MEMOIR OF QUEEN sion not unmeet to be recounted; which was this: Thei-e was coriveyed to her a book pretending pld prophecies; wherein was represented: the figure of some personages, Ysith the' letter H upon' orie, A upon another, and K upon the liiird, which an ex pounder thereripon took ripon him to interpret by the king and his vrives, 'and to her pr6riouncing certain destmction if she married tlfe king. This book coming into her ch^imber, she opened, and find ing the coritents, caUed to her maid of whom we have spoken before, who also bore her name : " Come hither. Nan," said she,/* see here a book of prophecy: this he saith is the king, this the queen, mourning, weeping' and wringing her hamds^ and' this is myself with my head off." The riaaid ansvrerfcd, "If I thought it tme, though he were an emperor, I would riot myself marry hJm with that coridition<." " Yes; Nan,"TepUed the lady; ".I think theibopk a bauble; yet for 'the' hope I have tridt the 'realm may be happy by my issue, i am resolved to have him whatsoever might become' of ine.^' ^ The Romish fable-framer*, if he may be believed. ^ Sanders De Origine ac Progressn Schismatis AngTicani. Libri3'. This hqok was first printed at Cologne, jn 1585, and passed through several editions, the last in 1628,. It was subsequently, translated into French, and printed in 1673-4; which induced Burnet to write his History of the Reformation. In the appendix to his first volume ANNE BOLEYN. 191 affirmeth another practice after this sort: "That Sir Thomas Wiat coibing to the council, for his better security, confessed to have had dealings with 'that lady; before he had any perceiving of the kirig's pur pose of marriage; but npt being' credited by the king^ that Wiat, as not finding it weU he was not believed; affirmed he would bririg the king where he niight see him enjoy her. ' And that again being delivered by the Duke of Suffolk to the king, he yet believed it not." But it is certain that the whole or greatest piart of this is fiction; forthe persons, manner, and event of these things have been utteriy mistaken and misshapen. For I have heard by the report of one of right good and honourable account, and of much understanding in such things, who also hath the tmth of his word in high respect, that it was Sir Frdufcis Brian that con fessed such a like thing to the king by ariother lady, with other success more likely, which was that the king thtereupdn pardoned him indeed, but rejected and gave over the lady ever after tO him. Whether the he gives a particular account of Sanders' book, and refutes the calumnies and falsehoods contained in it. This called forth a reply from the catholic party, under the title of Histoire du Divorce de Henry VIII. par Joachim Le Grand. Paris, 1688, 3 vols. l^o. A work, not without interest on account ofthe documents printed in the third volume, some of which I have found useful as illus trations of the present work. 192 MEMOIR OF QUEEN duke might, upon the sight of that which happened at bowls, take any occasion with the king to dis suade the marriage, supposing the knight could not or would not otherwise have cleared himself and the lady, but by confessing and craving pardon for it as done before he had knowledge bf the king's intention, I cannot say; and by guess I wiU not affirm it in any case of any, much less of so worthy and noble a personage. Only this I say, that if he did so, I be lieve verily that he was greatly deceived thereiri of his expectatiori; as finding that by good proof the knight could clear himself and her of that matter, even to the full assuring and ascertaining of the king of the manner of his coming by the jewel with out her dishonour, and that so .the duke, if he did so, might come to find himself had gone too far, as to have purchased to himself thereby mislike both of the king and queen, whereupon he might tum his heavy displeasure to the knight ever after. I know of a certainty, that the knight had a most high opinion of that princely lady's noble virtues as by trial, and chiefly in the matter of the bowls ; in that she took not or interpreted Ul of his deed (as her self, being in her owm conscience clear), but as he meant it to the king's disport before knowledge of the marriage. This is true also, that Sir Thomas Wiat was twice sifted and lifted at, and that noble- ANNE BOLEYN. 193 man both times his most heavy adversary, as I have to show under the knight's own hand in his answer to his last indictment. Neither could I ever leam what might be the cause of his so perpetual gmdge, save only that it appeareth to be as old as this. Some man might perhaps be led to think that the duke might have a special end to draw him to enter and venture so far to the breaking off the match. And it is true that he was then married with the king's second sister, when the king had then remaining but one only daughter, and then she also questioned whether legitimate: That then also was procured a statute to cut off foreign titles ; and it is tme also, that after the ambition of some to occasion hereby to thrust the duke's issue, even before the proper and lawful issue of the king, into the regal seat. AU this notwithstanding, I will never be induced to give that opinion of that noble man, but rather I would think, if he did any such thing, in any sort giving colour to this fancy of the Roman legender, he did it upon zeal that in his conceit it was true, and that he thought the knight would so far confess it as done before talk of the king's marriage, when he saw he had passed so far in the measuring of the cast. And though the whole fiction have scarcely so much as shadow of colour of any appearance, yet for that part where he deviseth VOL. II. o 194 MEMOIR OF QUEEN that Sir Thomas should before the councU apeach himself and that lady, or after not being credited, offer to make the king see him to have to do with her, this showing itself sufficiently falsified to any wise and understanding reader, especiaUy consider ing it particularly with the circumstances, it is so far from all likelihood, as all presumptions are flat against it, as in a word or two shall now be showed. For that princely lady, she living in court where were so many brave gallants at that time unmarried, she was not like to cast her eye upon one that had been then married ten years. And her parents, then in good and honourable place, resident in court, and themselves of no mean condition, they would keep, no doubt, a watchful eye over her to see she should not roam to the hinderance of her own preferment, a course so foul with one where was no colour of marriage. The King's eye also was a guard upon her, as also those that pleased the king in recounting the adventures of love happening in court made it hard, specially for the shortness of time after her placing there, and the king's own love. Also she that held out against such a king where was hope of marriage, what was like she should do to the knight, where his own lady and her friends were stiU to attend upon their doings, whose testimonies of the honourable carriage of that lady are therefore here most strong for her? And ANNE BOLEYN. 195 for the knight, if he had enjoyed her, was he so far desperately wicked and a monster in love, that he would openly, purposely, and to his own disgrace, vaunt the spoU of a maid of so good friends and like lihoods of advancements, without all regard of God or man? especially when she had stood so well upon the assurance of her own innocence for the matter of the jewel without turriing him to any dis pleasure thereby. Those that knew him best, knew him far from that dishonest disposition chiefly in this kind, and for so gross a vUlany. And if he had been of that mind, yet was he known not of so little vrit or understanding, upon a point that was not very likely to be known, to discover his own and her evil ; where was a great deal more likelihood that, the king beheving her rather than him, he was to incur a more certain and greater mischief, that might in all presumption, faU by the heavy displeasure of them both upon himself ever after. And if we could ima gine him both so wretchedly dishonest, and so very a sot (neither of which could be found of him), his father then counsellor to the king, for his vrisdom, years, and experience, more grave, would not have suffered him yet to quit himself so fondly and to be so mad; especiaUy as when the king had showed not to believe it, then to run more obstinately to offer when the king had made her privy hereunto, o2 196 MEMOIR OF QUEEN to bring her that the king should see her also so mad as to yield to him after she had given consent of marriage to the king. Who would not believe them also mad, that would believe so mad a carriage of such a business amongst grave and wise men, how soever the railing Romanist be so mad to write it so as he would seem mad with reason? For the king also, besides that he. had more occasion and means than any other to note and observe her doings, yet much more (as the nature of generous spirits carries them) he was watchful upon the knight, as in other things so chiefly in this, not to be outrun at this garland of love; so as by himself and by the eyes of others, there was not any trip but would have been spied, no likelihood but would have car ried suspicion with it; how much more would the knight's confession have sunk into his head? Would he, being so wise a prince, have forgotten that the soberness of his choice would serve much for satisfy ing the world, touching his divorce? Had he not time, had he not leisure to learn, to inquire and sift out all things ? His care used in gathering opinions of universities, and in informing princes of the whole matter, with aU circumstances in the managing this cause, by the space of some years, show he was not so passionate a lover, but also withal a wise and considerate prince. But it is said the king believed ANNE BOLEYN. 197 it not! Yet what? when the knight (as this tale saith) offered to make the king see it, and that avowed to the council! Could such a prince as he swaUow this? Doubtless none that hath his wits wUl think so, none that knew the complexion of the king could induce himself to suppose a thing so incredible. The case of Sir Francis Brian's^ opening of his love had another effect, and shows plainly that the king was of another metal, since he cast off that Lady loved right dearly (as hath been said) without farther matter. And doubtless in this case, he be lieving the matter would have thrown off this lady also, the marriage not yet consummate, and he having " Sir Francis Brian was one of the most accomplished courtiers of his times : a man of great probity and a poet. Wyatt addresses his third satire to him, and pays a high compliment in it to his virtue and integrity. He was, Uke Wyatt, firmly attached to the Protestant cause : on this account he seems to have drawn on him self the hatred ofthe Roman CathoUc party. Sanders, in his ma levolent account of the Reformation in England, relates the follow ing absurd and wicked story of him. — Cum autem Henrici Regis domus ex perditissimo hominum constaret, cujusmodi erant alea- tores, adulteri, lenones, assentatores, perjuri, blasphemi, rapaces, atque adeo haeretici, inter hos insignis quidem nepos extitit, Fran- ciscus Brianus, Eques Auratus, ex gente et stirpe Bolenorum. Ab iQo rex quodam tempore quEesivit, quale peccatum videretur ma trem primum, deinde filium cognoscere. — Cui Brianus, " Omnino," inquit, "tale O rex quale galUnam primfim, deinde puUum ejus galUnaceum comedere." Quod verbum cum rex magno risu acce pisset, ad Brianum dixisse fertur. " Nse ! tu merito mens est Infemi Vicarius." • Brianus enim jam prius ob impietatem notis- 198 MEMOIR OF QUEEN in his Own realm and abroad bearities enough to content him, and means enough also to push on some other. But it is devised the king beUeved it not. Not beheving it, think we the knight could have escaped punishment of a slanderer^ though he might by con fessing, avoid the punishment of a malefactor (as they say) after? This no outrageous madman would believe. If the king would or could have passed it over, the lady in honour could not, nor might. But suppose also that supposal beyond all suppose. Though they punished it not, would they, think ye, have put him in credit and advancement after? Would they have had him chief ewerer even the very simam vocabatur, " Inferni Vacarius." Post autem et " Regius Infemi Vicarius." Rex igitur cum et matrem prius, et postea filiam Mariam Bolenam pro concubina tenuisset, demum at alteram quoque filiam, Annam Bolenam, animum adjicere coepit. De Sckismate Anglicana. p. 24. This disgusting calumny is repeated by the followers of Sanders, and among others by Davanzati, in his Scliisma d'Inghilterra p. 22, Ed. 1727. And yet that history is presented by the Curators of the Studio at Padua, to the youth educated there as " una stimabi- ' lissima Storia ; descritta con quel vivi e forti colori che soU vagliano a far comprendere I'atrocita del successo deUo Schisma d'Inghil terra." How (says Dr. Nott, from whom this note is taken) can the bonds of charity be ever brought to unite the members of the Roman Catholic communion with those of the reformed church, so long as their youth shall be thus early taught to consider our Re formation as the portentous offspring of whatever was most odious in human profligacy, and most fearful in blasphemy and irreligion?" Memoirs of Sir Thomas Wyatt, p. 84. ANNS BOLEYN. 199 day of her coronation? Would they have emiployed him ambassador in that matter of the marriage? Yea, I say more! would the king also have rewarded him with a g"ood portion of lands soon upon this? But aU these were so as we have aUeged them. The Chronicles have his service on that day of coronation. His embassages were twice about this matter known right well: I have seen the patents of the grant myself. And these things, the last especially, I the rather allege, for that the knight useth them himself as testimonies of the king's good opinion of him, in his defence before mentioned, which also by the king and his councU in those times was liked and aUowed of as his just purgation, by which they acquitted him. Finally, that his defence then may and is to be esteemed his defence now also in this case not to be contemned, and may thus be considered. This reporteth that he was twice winnowed. The matters were the same both times, the accusations so frivolous, the inducements and proofs so idle, that they prove nothing more than that there lacked no wiUs in his adversary to do him hurt, than that they had any least colour of matter to work it. Nothing so impertinent, nothing so un- ¦> 33 Henry VIII. A. D. 1540. 200 MEMOIR OF QUEEN likely that they aUege not. Yea and his most trusty and best services they had the chief matters of their accusation, nothing was so fond that they ripped not up to his discredit, at the least if it raight have been. Yet in all this was no word or signification of any such matter. Though it had not been brought as the ground of his accusation, would it not have been drawn forth to aggravate or induce the matter ? Undoubtedly it would, either in the queen's life in his first trouble, and it would have done well to revenge if he had done her this wrong, or after to her overthrow, or else in his second trouble against him. But no one word is or was in it touching any such matters. After so many cross billets of cunning polities, surmounted by the guiding providence of God, after so many trials of her truth, passed through by her wise and virtuous governance, the king having every way made so thorough proof how deep root honour had taken in her bosom, and having found it not to be shaken even by him, this royal and famous prince Henry the Eighth, resolving her matchless perfections meet alone to be joined with his, now at the length concluded forthwith to knit up this marriage, although for certain causes the same was thought more convenient to be performed some what privately and secretly. On the twenty-fifth of ANNE BOLEYN. 201 January 8, therefore, the ceremony was consummate. The king also, shortly after having himself more ascertained, and by more inward trial more assured of her spousal tmth, would yet farther testify that his opinion of her, by giving her that highest honour he could give her virtues, in having her solemnly and royally crowned. And thus we see they lived and loved, tokens of increasing love perpetually increas ing between them. Her mind brought him forth the rich treasures of love of piety, love of tmth, love of learning. Her body yielded him the fruits of mar riage, inestimable pledges of her faith and loyal love. And^ touching the former of these, it is here first not to be forgotten, that of her time (that is during the three years that she was queen) it is found by good observation, that no one suffered for religion, which is the more worthy to be noted for that it could not so be said of any time of the queens after married to the king. And amongst other proofs of her love to religion to be found in others, this here of me is to be added. That shortly after her marriage, divers leamed and christianly disposed persons resorting to her, presented her vrith sundry books of those controversies that then began to be questioned touch ing religion, and specially of the authority of the 8 A. D. 1532-3. 202 MEMOIR OF QUEEN pope and his clergy, and of their doings against kings and states. And amongst other, there hap- peneds one of these, which, as her maimer was, she having read, she had also noted vrith her naU as of matter worthy the king's knowledge i". The book lying in her window, her maid (of whom hath 9 Tyndal's Obedience of a Christian Man. »° This curious and interesting occurrence, which probably had considerable efiiect in furthering the progress of the Reformation, is told with more circumstance by Strype, from the manuscripts of Fox. It is so entirely corroborated by what is here said, that I think it incumbent upon me to place it in juxtaposition with Wyatt's narrative. " Upon the Lady Anne waited a young fair gentlewoman, named Mrs. Gainsford; and ih her service was also retained Mr. George Zouch. This gentleman, of a comely sweet person, a Zouch in deed, was a suitor in the way of marriage to the said young lady : and among other love tricks, once he plucked from her a book in En gUsh, called TyndaU's Obedience, which the Lady Anne had lent her to read. About which time the Cardinal had given command ment to the prelates, and especiaUy to Dr. Sampson, dean of the king's chapel, that they should have a vigilant eye over aU people for such books, that they came not abroad; that so as much as might be, they might not come to the king's reading. But this which he most feared feU out upon this occasion. For Mr. Zouch (I use the words of the MS.) was so ravished with the spirit of God speaking now as well in the heart of the reader, as first it did in the heart of the maker of the book, that he was never well but when he was reading of that book. Mrs. Gainsford wept because she could not get the book from her wooer, and he was as ready to weep to deliver it. But see the providence of God : — Mr. Zouch standing in the chapel befbre Dr. Sampson, ever reading upon this ANNE BOLEYN. 203 been spoken) took it up, and as she was reading it, came to speak vrith her one" then suitor to her, that after married her; and as they talked he took the book of her, and she vrithal, caUed to attend on the queen, forgot it in his hands, and she not returning in some long space, he walked forth with it in his hand, thinking it had been hers. There encountered book; and the dean never having his eye off the book, in the gen tleman's hand, called bim to him, and then snatched the book out of his hand, asked his name, and whose man he was. And the book he deUvered to the cardinal. In the meantime, the Lady Anne asketh her woman for the book. She on her knees told all the circumstances. The Lady Anne showed herself not sorry nor angry with either of the two. But, said she, ' Well, it shall be the dearest book that ever the dean or cardinal took away.' The noblewoman goes to the king, and upon her knees she desireth the king's help for her book. Upon the king's token the book was restored. And now bringing the book to him, she besought his grace most tenderly to read it. The king did so, and dehghted in the book. " For (saith he) this book is for me and all kings to read." And in a Uttle time, by the help of this virtuous lady, by the means aforesaid, had his eyes opened to the truth, to advance God's reUgion and glory, to abhor the pope's doctrine, his lies, his pomp, and pride, to deliver his subjects out ofthe Egyptian darkness, the Babylonian bonds that the pope had brought his sub jects under. And so contemning the threats of aU the world, the power of princes, rebeUious of his subjects at home, and the raging of so many and mighty potentates abroad; set forward a reforma tion in reUgioh, beginning with the triple crowned head at first, and so came down to the members, bishops, abbots, priors, and such like." — Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. i. p. 112. " Mr. George Zouch. 204 MEMOIR OF QUEEN him soon after a gentleman of the cardinal's of his acquaintance, and after salutations, perceiving the book, requested to see it, and finding what it was, partly by the title, partly by some what he read in it, he borrowed it and showed it to the cardinal. Hereupon the suitor was sent for to the cardinal and examined of the book, and how he came by it, and had like to have come in trouble about it, but that it being found to have pertained to one of the queen's chamber, the cardinal thought better to defer the matter till he had broken it to the king first, in which meantime the suitor delivered the lady what had fallen out, and she also to the queen, who, for her vrisdom knowing more what might grow thereupon, without delay went and imparted the matter to the king, and showed him of the points that she had noted with her finger. And she was but newly come from the king, but the cardinal came in vrith the book in his hands to make com plaint of certain points in it that he knew the king would not like of, and withal to take occasion with him against those that countenanced such books in general, and specially women, and as might be thought with mind to go farther against the queen more directly if he had perceived the king agreeable to his meaning. But the king that somewhat afore distasted the cardinal, as we have showed, finding ANNE BOLEYN. 205 the notes the queen had made, all turned the more to hasten his ruin, which was also furthered on all sides. On the other part, of her body she bare him a daughter on the seventh ^^ of September, to the great joy then of all his people, both for that the king had now issue legitimate of his own body, and for the hope of more after. The king also he expressed his joy for that fmit sprung of himself, and his yet more confirmed love towards her, caused her child openly and publickly to be proclaimed Princess Elizabeth at the solemnity of her baptising, pre ferring his younger daughter legitimate before the elder in unlawful wedlock. And after this again, at the prorogation of the parliament, the thirtieth of March 1^, he had every lord, knight, and burgess swoim to an act of succession, and their names subscribed to a schedule fixed to the same statute, where it was enacted, that his daughter princess Elizabeth, he having none other heir male, should succeed him to the crown. And after were commissioners " So it is in the Calendars prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer in Queen EUzabeth's reign. Lord Herbert says it was. the sixth, Sanders the eighth, and Archbishop Cranmer the thirteenth or fourteenth. '3 A.D. 1534. 206 memoir of queen sent to aU parts of the realm to take the like oath of aU men and women in the land. Neither also were her virtues only enclosed in her owm breast or shut up in her own person. She had procured to her chaplains^*, men of great learning and of no less honest conversing, whom she with hers heard much, and privately she heard them willingly and gladly to admonish her, and them herself exhorted and encouraged so to do. Also at the first, she had in court drawm about her, to be attending on her, ladies^* of great honour, and yet of greater choice for reputation of virtue, undoubted witnesses of her spousal integrity, whom she trained upon vrith aU '* Shaxton and Latimer. " To every one of these she gave a Uttle book of devotions, neatly written on vellum, and bound in covers of solid gold enam- eUed, with a ring to each cover to hang it at their girdles for their constant use and meditation. One of these Uttle volumes, traditionally said to have been given by the queen when on the scaffold to her attendant, one of the Wyatt family, and preserved by them through several generationgj was described by Vertue as being seen by him in the possession of Mr. George Wyatt of Charterhouse Square, in 1721. Vide Wal pole's Miscellaneous Antiquities, printed at Strawberry HiU, 1772, No. II. p. 13. It was a diminutive volume, consisting of one hundred and four leaves of veUum, one and seven-eighths of an inch long by one and five-eights of an mch broad; contaming a metrical version of parts of thirteen Psalms : and bound in pure gold richly chased, with a ring to append it to the neck-chain or girdle. It was in Mr. Triphook's possession in the year 1817. ANNE BOLEYN. 207 commendations of well ordered govemment, though yet above all by her own example she shined above them aU, as a torch that all might take light of, being itself still more bright. Those that have seen at Hampton Court the rich and exquisite works by her self, for the greater part wrought by her own hand and needle, and also of her ladies, esteem them the most precious furniture that are to be accounted amongst the most sumptuous that any prince may be possessed of. And yet far more rich and precious were those works in the sight of God which she caused her maids and those about her daily to work in shirts and smocks for the poor. But not staying here her eye of charity, her hand of bounty passed through the whole land; each place felt that hea venly flame burning in her; aU times will remember it, no place leaving for vain flames, no times for idle thoughts. Her ordinary amounted to fifteen hun dred pounds at the least, yearly, to be bestowed on the poor. Her provisions of stock for the poor in sundry needy parishes were very great. Out of her privy purse went not a little to like purposes. To Scholars in exhibition very much: so as in three quarters of a year her ahns was summed to four teen or fifteen thousand pounds. She waxing great again and not so fit for dal liance, the time was taken to steal the king's 208 MEMOIR OF QUEEN affection from her, when most of aU she was to have been cherished. And he once showing to bend from her, many that least ought shrank from her also, and some lent on the other side; such are the flexible natures of those in courts of princes for the most part. Unkindness grew, and she was brought abed before her time vrith much peril of her life, and of a male chUd dead bom, to her greater and most extreme grief. Being thus a woman full of sorrow, it was reported that the king came to her, and bewailing and complaining unto her the loss of his boy, some words were heard break out of the inward feeUng of her heart's dolours, laying the fault upon unkind ness, which the king more than was cause (her case at this time considered) took more hardly than other wise he would if he had not been somewhat too much overcome with grief, or not so much alienate. Wise men in those days judged that her virtues was here her default, and that if her too much love could, as well as the other queen, have borne with his defect of love, she might have fallen into less danger, and in the end have tied him the more ever after to her when he had seen his error, and that she might the rather have done respecting the general liberty and custom of falling then that way. Certainly, from henceforth the harm still more increased, and he was then heard to say to her: he would have ANNE BOLEYN. 209 no more boys by her. Having thus so many, so great factions at home and abroad set loose by the^ distomed favour of the king, and so few to show themselves for her, what could be ? what was other like but that aU these guests lighting on her at once should prevail to overthrow her, and with her those that stood under her fall? She and her friends therefore were suddenly sent to the Tower: and this gracious queen coming unto the entry of the gate, she faUing down upon her knees made that place a reverend temple to offer up her devout prayers, and as a bale there her soul beaten down with afflic^- tions to the earth, with her faithful prayers bounded up to heaven. " O Lord," said she, " help me, as I am guUtless of this whereof I am accused.'' The time approached for the hearing of her cause. The place of her trial in the Tower may somewhat dis cover how the matter was liked to be handled. Nor there was it appointed the better to conceal the heinousness of the accusation, though that might be the pretence. For that was published in parliament that it might from thence spread abroad over all. Her very accusations speak and even plead for her; aU of them, so far as I can find, carrying in them selves open proof to all men's consciences of mere matter of quarrel, and indeed of a very preparation to some hoped alteration. The most and chief of VOL. II. P 210 MEMOIR OF QUEEN them showing to have come from Rome, that popish forge of cunning and treachery, as Petrarch long since termed it. Nido di tradimenti in cui si cuova Quanto mal per lo mondo hoggi si spandi. Nest of treasons in which is .hatch'd and bred What ill this day the world doth overspread. For that most odious of them, something is to be esteemed by the apparent wrongs of the other evU handling of matters. But for this thing itself, partly it is incredible, partly by the circumstances impossi ble. Incredible, that she that had it her word as it were, the spirit of her mind, as hath been seiid, that she was Cesar's all, not to be touched of others, should be held with the foul desire of her brother. Again, she having so goodly a prince to please her, who also had showed himself able to content more than one, that she should yet be carried to a thing so much abhorring even womanly years and to nature itself, much more to so christian a queen. Impos sible, for the necessary and no small attendance of ladies ever about her, whereof some, as after ap peared, even aspired unto her place and right in the king's love; yea, by manifest prevention before their time. And indeed, hereof, it was her very accusers found it impossible to have colour to charge her with any other than her brother, whioh also made ANNE BOLEYN. 2ll it no less impossible even for him alike as other. Impossible, I say, because neither she could remove so great ladies, by office appointed to attend upon her continuaUy, from being witnesses to her doings; neither for the danger she saw she stood in, and the occasions daUy sought, would she for her own wisdom, and also by the advertisements of her kin^ dred and foUowers, whereof she had many of most great understanding, experience, and faith, about her. Besides, she could not but be made more wary and wakeful, if for none other cause, yet even to take away aU colour from her enemies, whose eyes were everywhere upon her to pick mat"- ter, and their mahcious hearts bent to make some where they found none; as plainly enough was to be seen when they were driven to those straits to take occasion at her brother's more private being with her; the more gmdged at perhaps, for that it might be supposed his conference with her might be for the breaking off the king's new love. For the evidence, as I never could hear of any, so small I beUeve it was. But this I say, well was it said of a noble judge of late, that "half a proof where nature leadeth Was to be esteemed a whole proof." On the Icontrary, in this case he would have said, whole and very absolute proofs to have been needful in such a case against nature. And I may say, p2 212 MEMOIR OF QUEEN by their leaves, it seems themselves they doubted their proofs would prove their reproofs, when tiiey durst riot bring "them to the proof of the light in open place. For this principal matter between the queen arid her brother, there was brought forth; indeed, witness; his wicked wife accuser of her own husband, even to the seeking of his blood, which- I believe is hardly to be showed of any honest woman ever done. But of her, the judgriient that fell out upon her, and the just punishment by law after of her naughtiness, show that what she did was more to be rid of him than of true ground against him. And that it seemeth those noblemen that went upon the queen's life found in her trial, when it may appear plainly by that defence of the knight that oft hath been here mentioned, that the young nobleman the Lord Rochford, by the common opinion of men of best understanding in those days, was counted and then openly spoken, condemned only upori some point of a statute of words then in force. , And this and sundry other reasons have made me^ think often that upon some clause of the same law they , grounded their colour also against her, and that for other matters she had cleared herself well enough. It seemeth some great ones then had their hands in dravring in that law to entangle or bridle one another, and that some of ANNE BOLEYN. 213 them were taken in the same net, as good men then thought worthily. Surely my Lord Cromwell and this young lord were taken in those entangle-^ ments; and the knight himself, of whom is spoken, had hardly scaped it, as may appear by his defence, if he had not by the well delivering of the goodness of his cause broken through it. And this may well serve to admonish men to be weU aware how far tiiey admit of laws that shall touch life upon construc tion of words ; or, at the least, admitting them, how far they leave to lawyers to interpret of them, and especiaUy that thereby they give not excuse to juries to condemn the innocent wheri sway of time should thrust matters upon them. Thus was she put upon her trial by men of great honour; it had been good also if some of them had not been to be suspected of too much power and no less malice. The evidence were heard irideed, but close enough, as enclosed in strong walls. Yet, to show the tmth cannot by any force be altogether kept in hold, some belike of those honourable personages there, more perhaps for countenance of others'^ evil than for means by their own authority to do good (which also perad venture would not have been without their own certain perils), did not yet forbear to deliver out voices that caused every, where to be muttered abroad, that that spotless queen in her defence had 214 MEMOIR OF QUEEN cleared herself with a most wise and noble speech. Notvrithstanding such a trial, such a judgment found her guUty, and gave sentence of death upon her at home, whom others abroad, living to fed her loss, found guiltless. The woful sentence was given; buming or head ing at the king's pleasure, leaving open some small place to pity for the kind of death, which the king's conscience (no doubt) moved him to take in ap pointing the more honourable death. Within those waUs this execution was to be done. What needed that? The love knovra indeed to her by the people was not to be feared of the king, her love being such to him as to her last breath she stood to acquit and defend him by her words at her death, carrying a very true image of her former love and Ufe. " Chris tian people!" said she, "I am come to die, and ac cording to law, and by law I am judged to death, and therefore I vrill speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak any thing of that whereof I am accused and condemned to die. But I pray God save the king, and send him long to reign over you, for a gentier and more merciful prince was there never, and to me he was ever a good, a gentle, and sovereign lord. If any person will meddle of my cause, I require him to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the ANNE BOLEYN. 215 world and of you, and I heartUy desire you all to pray for me. O Lord, have mercy on me! To God I commend my soul." And so she kneeling down said, "To Christ I commend my soul. Jesu, receive my soul !" The bloody blow came down from his trembling hand that gave it, when those about her could not but seem to themselves to have re ceived it upon their ovra necks, she not so much as shrieking at it. God provided for her corpse sacred burial, even in place as it were consecrate to inno cents. END OF THE MEMOIR OF QUEEN ANNE BOLEYN. Tlie following letters, relating to tke arrest and behaMour in prison of Queen Anne Boleyn, are in themselves so interesting that no dpo- logij seems necessary for placing them in juxtaposition with tke - foregoing interesting memoir. They have been recently given to the public in Mr. Ellis's accurate and interesting collection of Historical Letters ; that gentleman has preferred printing tkem as mutilated fragments, to supplying tke lacunae by such means as I have ventured to adopt. Strype saw tkese letters previous to tke calamitous fire in 1731 , which injured so many valuable papers in tke Cottonian Collection, and he kas given large extracts from them of tke most interesting passages : from this source, therefore, I liave filled up such ckasms as I could, tkat the reader may not he tantalized by tke enigma-like appearance qf afew disjointed words. Tlie passages supplied have been carefully distinguisked by printing tkem in Italics between brackets, and as Strype was a sufficiently accurate Antiquary, andfaitkful in kis extracts, it is presumed tkat the reader may rely upon tke authenticity of tlie passages tkus supplied. Tlie reader is already acquainted with tke writer. Sir William Kingston, ike Lieutenant or Constable of tke Tower, from tlte figure ke makes in tke Life of Wolsey. See p, 302 et seq. ANNE BOLEYN. 217 LETTER I. Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell, upon Queen Anne's committal to the Tower. (ms. cotton, otho c. X. fol. 225.) Thys ys to advertyse you apon my Lord of Norfolk and the kyngs counsell depart[z«^e] from the Towre I went before the quene in to hyr lodgyng, & [then she] sayd unto me, M. Kyngston, shall I go in to a dungyn? Now, madam, y[oM] shall go into your logyng that you lay in at your coronacion. It ys to gu[Je] for me, she sayd, Jesu, have mercy on me ; and kneled downe wepyng a [great] pace, and in the same sorow fell in to agret lawyng, and she hathe done \so] mony tymes syns. "And then she desyred me to move the kyngs hjmes that she [znygA/] have the sacarment in the closet by hyr chambr, that she vay[ght pray] for mercy, for I ara as clere frora the company of man, as for s[yn, sayd she as I] am clere from you, and am the kyngs, trew wedded wyf ; and then sh[e sa-ifd] M. Kjmgston, do you know wher for I am here, and I sayd. Nay, and then [she sayd] when saw you the kyng? and I sayd, I saw hym not syns I saw [him in] the Tylte yerde, and then M. K. I pray you to teU me 218 LETTERS CONCERNING wher my [Lord Roch]{ord ys? and I told hyr I saw hym afore dyner in the cort. O [where ys] my swet brod'er? I sayd I left hym at York place, and so I dyd. I [liear say, say]d she, that I shuld be accused with iij raen ; and I can say [no more but] nay, vrith- yowt I shuld oppen my body ; and ther with opynd [her gown sayeng, O JVor]res, hast thow accused me, thow ar in the Towre with me, & [thou and I shaV^ dy to gether: and, Marke, thou art here to. O my mother, [thou wilt dy] for sorow, and meche lamented my lady of Worcef, for by cs^wse her child] dyd not store in hyr body, and my wyf sayd what shuld [be the cawse, she] sayd for the sorow she toke for rae: and then she sayd M. ¥Jiingston, shall I dy] with yowt jusf ; & I sayd, the porest sugett the kyng [hath had justis, and] ther with she lawed. All thys sajdngs was yes- ter ny[ght] . & thys raorj^ng dyd talke with raestrys CosyS [and said that Norjres dyd say on Sunday last unto the queues aran[er, that he wold . & thay can bring now wytnes, and she had talked with the gentell[ffi)e- men] sayd I knew at Marks com myng to the Tovsrre that nyght I reysayved . . . . . at it was x. of the cloke or he ware well loged, and then she sayd knew of Nores goyng to the Towre, and then she sayd I had next yf it had bene leyd she had wone, and then she sayd I w[old God I had m]y bys- shoppys for thay wold all go to the kyng for me, for ANNE BOLEYN. 225 I thy[nke the most part of] Yngland prays for me, and yf I dy you shaU se the grette[rf punishment for m]e withyn thys vij yere that ever cam to Yngland, & then sh[e sayd I shal be in heaven, for] I have done mony gud dedys in ray days, bot zit I thynke [moche onkindnes yn the] kyng to put seche abowt me as I never loved: I showed [her that the king toke iheym] to be honest and gud wemen, bot I wold have had [of myn owne prevy chambre,] weche I favor most &c. WILLM KYNGST . , To Masf Seretory. LETTER IV. Edward Baynton to the Treasurer: declaring that only one person, named Mark, will confess any thing against Queen Anne. [ms. COTTON. OTHO C. X. fol. 209. b.] M" Treasurer, This shalbe to advertyse yow that here is myche communycacion that noman wiU confesse any thyng agajmst her, but allonly Marke of any actuell thynge. Wherfore (in my folishe conceyte) it shulde myche toche the kings bono' if it shulde no farther appeere. And I cannot beleve but that the other two bee VOL. II. Q 226 LETTERS CONCERNING as f[ully] culpapuU as ever was hee. And I thynke assnT[edly] the on kepith the others counceU. As many .... conjectures in my mynde causeth me to thynk . . . speciaUy of the communy cacion that was last het[wene] the quene and Mas ter Norres. M': Aumener [tolde] me as I wolde I myght speke with M' S[ecretorie] and yoW together more playnely expresse my . . . yf case be that they have confessyd like wret ... all thjmgs as they shulde do than my n . . . . . . at apoynte. I have mewsed myche at . . . . . . of mastres Margery whiche hath used her .... strangely toward rae of late, being her fry[nde] as I have ben. But no dowte it can- n[ot be] but that she raust be of councell there Arith, [there] hath ben great fryndeship betwene the q[ene and] her of late. I here farther that the que[ne] standith styfly in her opynyon that she wo . . . . . . whiche I thynke is in the trust that she . . . . ther two. But if yo' busynes be suche not com, I wolde gladly com and wayte ke it requysyte. From GreneAvy[f/«e] mornyng. EDWARD ANNE BOLEYN. 227 LETTER V. Sir William Kyngston to Secretary Cromwell, May l6'? 1536, upon the preparations for the execution of my Lord Rochford and Queen Anne. [harl. MS. 283. fol. 134. Ong-.] Sir, Thys day I Ams Arith the kjmg's grace and de clared the pety.syons of my Lord of Rochford, wherin I was ansAvred. Sir, the sayd lord meche desyreth to speke vrith you, weche towchet hys con- syens meche as he sayth, wherin I pray you I may know your plesur, for by cause of ray promysse made unto my sayd lord to do the same, and also I shall desyre you further to know the kyngs plesur towch- yng the quene, as weU for her comfyt as for the pre- paracion of skefolds and bother necessarys consem- jmg. The kyng's grace showed me that my lord of Canterbury shuld be hyr confessar, and was here thys day Arith the quene; & not'^ in that mater, sir, the tyme ys short, for the kyng supposed the gen- tehnen to dy to morow, and ray lord of Rocheford with the reysydew of gentelraen, & as zit Arith yowt [confession] weche I loke for, bot I have told my lord of Rocheford that he be in aredynes to morow to note. q2 228 LETTERS CONCERNING sufiiir execusyon, and so he accepse^ it very well, and AriU do his best to be redy, Notwithstandyng he wold have reysayved hys ryghts, weche hathe not bene used and in especiall here. Sir, I shall desyre you at 9 we here raay know the kyngs plesur here as shortly as raay be, at^ we here may prepayre for the same weche^" ys necessary, for the same we here have now may for to do execusyon. Sir, I pray you have gud rymembrance in all thys for hus^^ to do, for we shalbe redy al ways to our knowlage. Zit thys day at dyner the quene sayd at^ she shuld go to Anvnres^^ & ys in hope of lyf, and thus far you well. WILLM KYNGSTON. LETTER VI. Sir William Kingston to Lord Cromwell, apparently May W!' 1536. [ms. COTTON. OTHO C. X. fol. 223.] Syr, Thys shalbe to advertyse you I have resayved your letf wherin yo[M wolde] have strangerys con veyed yowt of the Towre and so thay be by the [meanis] of Richard Gressura, & WiU-ra Loke, & WytiiepoU> bot the nrabri^ of stra[ngers past] not xxx. and not mony; Hothe and the inbassif of the ^ accepts. 5 that. '° i. e. what. " Anvers, Antwerp. '3 number. ANNE BOLEYN. 229 emperor had a [servaitnt] ther and honestly put yowt. S' jrf Ave have not an OAvrei* serten [as it may] be knowen in London, I thynke he[re] Arilbe bot few and I thynk [a resonable] huraburi^ ware bes: for I suppose she vv^yU declare hyr self to b[e a good] wo man for aU men bot for the kyng at the o' of hyr Ae[th. For thys] momyng she sent for me that I myght be Arith hyr at [soche tyme] asshe reysayved the gud lord to the in tent I shuld here hy[r speke as] towchyng her innosensy alway to be clere. & in the vmty[n^ of this] she sent for me, and at my com myng she sayd, M. Kyngston, I he[ar saye I shall] not dy affore none, & I am very sory ther fore; for I thowth [than to] be dede [awjd past my payne. I told hyr it shuld be now payne it w[as so sottell. And then she said I] hard say the executr was very gud, and I have a ly[^^/e necke, and put he]x hand abowt it laAvjmg hartely. I have sen[e mony men Sf] also wemen executed and at they have bene in gre[te sorrowe, and to my knowle]ge thys lady hathe raeche joye and plesur in dethe. [Sir, hyr Amner is con?i]newaUy with hyr, and hasse byne syns ij of the clo[c/ce after midnight. This is] the effect of hony thyng that ys here at [thys tyme, and thu.sfare yow] weU. Your WILLM KYNG[SrOAr.] "+ an hour. " number, Tke following paraUel between Laud and Wolsey is referred to in a note at p. 274 of tke Life of Wolsey. It was printed at tke same time and for tke same purpose as thefirst garbled edition qf tkat life ; namely — to prejudice Arckbiskop Laud in tke minds of tlie people. The press tken teemed witk pamphlets levelled at him, and in tke same volume I find two otkers : " The Character of an untrue Bishop, with a Recipe to recover a Bishop if he were lost." And — " England's Rejoycing at tke Prelates Dowrtfall, written by an Jll-willer to tke Romish Brood:" both qftlie same date. A TRUE DESCRIPTION, OR RATHER A PARALLEL BETWEENE CARDINALL WOLSEY, ARCH-BISHOP OF YORK, AND WILLIAM LAUD, ARCH-BISHOP OF CANTERBVRIE, &C. PRINTED IN THE YERE 1641. A TRUE DESCRIPTION, on RATHER A PARALLEL BETWENE CARDINAL WOLSEY AND ARCH-BISHOP LAUD. There be two priraates, or arch-bishops throughout England and Wales, Canterburie and Yorke, both rae- tropolitans, York of England, Canterburie of all Eng^ land, for so their titles runne. To the priraate of Canterburie bee subordinate thirteene bishops in Eng land, and foure in Wales. But the priraate of Yorke hath at this tirae but two suffragans in England : namely, the Bishops of Carliele, and Durham : though hee had in King Lucius dayes, (who was the first Christian king of this our nation) aU the prelacy of Scotland Arithin his jurisdiction: Canterburie cora manding all from this side the River Trent to the furthest limits of Wales; and York comraanding all from beyond the Trent to the utmost bounds of Scot^ land, and hitherto, their prime archiepiscopall prero gatives may (not unproperly) be paraUeld. In the time of Henrie the first were potent two fa- 234 PARALLEL BETWEEN mous prelates, Anselme of Canterburie, who durst contest against the king, and Girald of Yorke, who de nyed to give place or any precedence at all to Anselrae. Thoraas Becket, who was first chanceUour, and after Arch-bishop of Canterburie, in the reigne of Henrie the Second, bore himselfe so insolently against the king his soveraigne, that it cost him his life, being slaine in the church as he was going to the altar. But above all, the pride, tyrannic, and oppression of the Bishop of Ely, in the reigne of Richard the First, wants example, who was at once ChanceUour of England, and Regent of the land, and held in his hand at once the two Arch-bishopricks of York and Canterburie, who never rid abroad without a thousand horse for his guard to attend him, whora we raay well parallel with the now great Cardinali of France : and need hee had of such a traine to keep hiraselfe frora being pulled to peeces by the oppressed pre lates, and people, equally extorting frora the clergie and laietie; yet he in the end, disguising himselfe ir\ the shape of an old woman, thinking to passe the sea at Dover, where hee aw ay ted on the Strand, a pinace being hired for that purpose, he was disco vered by a sayler, and brought backe to abide a raost severe sentence. Stephen Lancthon, Arch-bishop of Canterburie, in the time King lohn, would not ah- WOLSEY AND LAUD. 235 solve the land, being for sixe yeares together indicted by the pope, tiU the king had payd unto hun and the rest of the bishops, eighteene thousand markes in gold; and thus I could continue the pride of the prelacie, and their great tyrannic through all the kings reignes : But I now fall upon the promist pa raUel betArixt Thomas Wolsey, Arch-bishop of York, and Cardinali, and WiUiam Laud, Doctor in Divinitie, and Arch-bishop of Canterburie. They were both the sonnes of meane and mecha nick men, Wolsey of a butcher. Laud of a clothworker. The one borne in Ipsvrich (threescore railes), the other in Reading, thirtie raUes distant from the City of Lon don, both of them verie toward, forward, and preg nant grammar schollars, and of singular apprehen sions, as suddenly rising to the first forme in the schoole. From thence, being yong, they were re moved to the Vniversitie of Oxford, Wolsey adraitted into Maudlin Coledge, Laud into St. lohns; and as they were of different times, so they were of different statures; yet either of them weU shapt according to their proportions ; Wolsey was of a competent tall- nesse. Laud of a lesse size, but might be called a prettie man, as the other a proper raan: both of in genious and acute aspects, as raay appeare by tWs mans face, the others picture. In their particular coUedges they were alike proficients, both as active 236 PARALLEL BETWEEN of body as braine, serious at their private studies, and equally frequent in the schooles, eloquent ora tors, either to Avrite, speake, or dictate, daintie dis putants, well verst in philosophy, both moraU, phy- sicall, and raetaphysical, as also in the mathema ticks, and neither of them strangers to the muses, both taking their degrees according to their tirae; and through the whole acaderaie. Sir Wolsey was called the boy-batchelour, and Sir Laud the little batchelour. The maine study that either of them fixt upon was theology: for though they were conversant in all the other arts and sciences, yet that they solely profest, and by that came their future preferment; Wolsey being Batchelour was made schoole-master of Maudlin Schoole in Oxford: but Laud came in time to be raaster of St. lohns Colledge in Oxford, therein tran scending the other, as also in his degrees of Master of Art, Batchelour of Divinitie, and Doctor of Divi nitie, when the other being suddenly cald from the rectorship of his schoole, to be resident upon a countrie benefice, he took no raore academicall degrees, than the first of Batchelour, and taking a strange affront by one Sir Amias Paulet, a knight in the countrie, who set him in the stocks, he indured like wise divers other disasters! but that disgrace he made the knight pay dearely for, after he came to be WOLSEY AND LAUD. 237 invested in his dignitie. Briefely, they carae both to stand in the princes eye ; but ere I proceed any fur ther, let me give the courteous reader this raodest caveat, that he is to expect from me onely, a paral- lell of their acts and fortune, but no legend of their lives; it therefore briefely thus followeth. Both these from academicks coraraing to turne courtiers ; Wolsey, by his diUgent waiting, came to insinuate himselfe into the brests of the privie coun- seUours. His first emploiraent was in an erabassie to the emperour, which was done by such fortunate, and almost incredible expedition, that by that only he grew into first grace Arith King Henry the Seventh, father to King Henry the Eighth. Laud, by the me diation and meanes Avrought by friends grew first into favour vrith King lames of sacred memory, father to our now royall soveraigne King Charles. They were both at first the kings chaplaines, Wolseyes first preferment was to bee Deane of Lincolne, of which hee was after bishop. Lauds first ecclesiasticall dig nity was to be Deane of Saint Davids, of which he was after bishop also. And both these prelaticall courtiers carae also to be privie counsellours. Wool sey in the beginning of Henry the Eighth's raigne, was made Bishop of Toumey in France, soone after Bishop of Lincoln, and before his fuU consecration (by the death of the incumbent) was ended, translated to the 238 PARALLEL BETWEEN Arch-bishoprick of York, and all this Arithin the com passe of a yeare ; Laud, though not so suddainly, yet Very speedUy was from St. Davids reraoved to Lon don, and from London to Canterburie, and this in the beginning of the reigne of King Charles. Thus you see they were both arch-bishops, and as Laud was never cardinali, so Woolsey was never Canterburie. But in some things the cardinali much exceeded Canterburie, as in holding all these bishopricks at once, when the other was never pOssest but of one at one time. The cardinali also held the bishoprick of Winchester, of Worcester, Bath and WeUs, vrith a fourth, and two abbat-ships in comraendara: He had besides an hat sent hira from Rome, and made himselfe cardinali, (that being before but Yorke) he might over-top Canterburie. But our WiUiam, how soever he might have the will, yet never attained to that power, and howsoever hee could not corapasse a hat frora Rome, yet raade the meanes to have a con secrated miter sent from Rome ; which was so nar rowly watcht, that it came not to his wearing. More over, the cardinali extorted the chancellourship from Canterburie; but we finde not that Canterburie ever either trencht upon the jurisdiction, or tooke any thing away frora the arch-bishoprick of York. Woolsey likewise farre out-went hira in his nurae rous traine, and the noblenesse thereof, being waited WOLSEY AND LAUD. 239 on not onely by the prime gentrie, but even of earles, and earles sonnes, who were listed in his family, and attended him at his table, as also in his hospitalitie, his open house being made free for all commers, with the rare and extraordinarie state of his palace, in which there were daUy uprising and downe-lying a thousand persons, who were his domestick servants. Moreover in his raany entertainments of the K. with masks, and mightie sumptuous banquets, his sumptu ous buUdings, the prince-like state he carried in his forraigne embassages, into France, to the emperor, &c. in which he spent raore coyne in the service of his king, for the honour of his countrie, and to uphold the credit of his cardinals cap, than would (for the tirae) have paid an armie royal. But I answer in behalfe of our Canterburie, that hee had never that meanes or implojmaent, by which hee raight raake so vain-glorious a show of his pontificalitie, or archie piscopall dignitie : For unbounded raindes may bee restrained within narrow Uraraits, and therefore the paraUel raay something hold in this too. They were also in their judiciali courts equally tyrannous ; the one in the chancerie, the other in the high commission: both of them at the councell boord, and in the starre-chamber alike draconically super cilious. Blood draAvne from Doctor Bonners head by the faU of his crosse presaged the cardinals doAvnfall. 240 PARALLEL BETWEEN Blood drawne from the eares of Burton, Prin, and Bastwick, was a prediction of Canterburies ruine ; the first accidentaU, the last premeditate and of purpose ^^. The cardinali would have expelled all the Lutherans and Protestants out of the realrae, this our Canterburie would have exil'd both our Dutch and French church out of the kingdorae. The cardinali took raaine de light in his foole Patch, and Canterburie tooke rauch delight in his partie-coloured cats. The cardinali used for his agents Bonner and others, Canterburie for his rainisters. Duck, Lamb, and others. They both favoured the Sea of Rome, and respected his holinesse in it. The cardinali did professe it pub- '* This mention of omens reminds me that Dr. Wordsworth in his notes to Wolsey's Life has related the following affecting anec dote of Archbishop Laud. " The year 1639 we all know was big with events calamitous to Laud, and to the church and monarchy. In Lambeth Library is preserved a small pane of glass, in which are written with a dia mond pencil the following words: Memorand: Ecclesise de Micham, Cheme et Stone, cum aliis fulguro combusta sunt Januar: 14, 1C3|. Omen evertat Deus. On a piece of paper the same size as the glass and kept in the same case with it, is written by the hand of Abp. Wake, as follows: "This glasse was taken out of the west-window of the gallery at Croydon before I new-built it: and is, as I take it, the writing of Abp. Laud's own hand." WOLSEY AND LAUD. 241 lickly, the arch-bishop did reverence it privately. The cardinalis ambition was to bee pope, the arch bishop strove to bee patriarch, they both bid fairely for it, yet lost their aime; and farre easier it is for men to descend than to ascend. The cardinali (as I have said) was very ambitious; the arch-bishop was likewise of the same minde, though better moulded, and of a more politick braine, having a close and more reserved judgement in all his observations, and more fluent in his deliverie. The cardinali was verie curious in his attire and or nament of his body, and took great delight in his traine, and other his servants for their rich aparrell; the arch-bishop his attire was neat and rich, but not so gaudie as the cardinals was, yet tooke as much felicitie in his gentlemens rich aparrell, especially those that waited on his person, as ever the cardinali did, though other men paid for them: and if all raen had their OAvne, and every bird her feather, some of them would bee as bare as those that professe them selves to bee of the sect of the Adamists : To speake tmth, the arch-bishops men were all given to covet ousnesse and wantonnesse; that I never heard of was in the cardinals raen. As the cardinali was sumptuous in his buildings, as that of White Hall, Harapton Court, &c. as also in laying the foundation of two faraous coledges, the VOL. II. R 242 PARALLEL BETWEEN one at Ipswich, where he was home, the other at Oxford, where he had his breeding: so Christ-Church, which he left unfinished, Canterburie hath since re paired; and wherein he hath come short of hira in building, though he hath bestowed rauch on St. lohns Coledge, yet he hath out-gone hira in his bountie of brave volurainous books, being fourescore in number, late sent to the Bodleian or Universitie Librarie: Further, as the cardinali was Chancelour of England, so Canterburie was ChanceUour of Oxford: And as the cardinali by plucking doAvne of some sraall ab^ hies, to prepare stone for his greater structures, opened a gap for the king, by which he tooke the advantage utterly to raze and deraolish the rest: so Canterburie by giving way for one bishop to have a temporall triall; and to be convicted, not by the clergie, but the laitie, so he left the same path open both for himselfe and the rest of the episcopacie: of which, there before scarce remained a president. I have paraUeld thera in their dignities: I will conclude with a word or two concerning their downe- faUs. The cardinaU feU into the displeasure of his king, Canterburie into an extreame hatred of the com mons: both were arrested of high treason, the cardi naU by processe, Canterburie by parUament. The cardinaU at Keywood Castle neare Yorke, Canterburie WOLSEY AND LAUD. 243 at Westminster neare London; both their faUs were speedy and suddaine : The cardinaU sate as this day in the high court of chancerie, and within two dayes after was confined to his house ; Canterburie as this day sate at the counsell boord, and in the upper house of parUament, and the same day comraitted to the blacke rod, and frora thence to the Tower: The cardinaU dyed at Leicester sorae say of a flux ; Can terburie remaines stUl in the Tower, onely sick of a fever. Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas. FINIS. r2 244 The Will of Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal Wolsey's father; E Libro Testamentorum in Registro principali Dni. Epi. Norwic. Multon inscripto, fo. 146. a. In Dei Nomine, amen. The xxxi day of the Moneth of September the yer of our Lord God a m. cccclxxxxvi. I Robert Wulcy of Ipyswiche hool of mend and in good memory beyng, make my testa ment and my last wyll in this maid wyse. Fyrst, I bequeth my souU to Almyghty God, our Lady Sent Mary, and to all the company of hevyn, and my body to be buryed in the churche yard of our Lady Sent Mary of Neum'^ket. Also I beq. to the hey aut" of the pariche of Sent Nicholas of Ippyswiche vif vij? Also I beq. to the pentyng of the archangeli ther, xlf Itm. I Avyll that if Thomas my son be a prest, w'in a yer next after my decesse, than I wyll that he syng for me and my frends, be the space of a yer, and he for to have for his salary x marc, and if the seyd Thomas my son be not a prest than I wyll that a nother honest prest syng for me and my frends the term aforeseyd and he to have the salary of x marc. Itm. I Avyll that Johan ray Avyf have all my lands and ten'.' in the pariche of Sent Nicholas in THE WILL OF THOMAS WOLSEY. 245 IppisArich aforesaid, and my free and bond lends in the piche of S' Stoke to geve and to sell the residew of aU ray goods afor not bequethed, I geve and be- quethe to the good disposition of Johan my Avyff, Thomas ray soon, and Thomas Cady, whom I order and raake my executors to dispose for me as thei shaU think best to pies allmyghty God and p"fyt for my souU; and of this my testunent and last wyll I orden and make Richard Farrington supMsour, and he for to have for his labour xuj*- iiij''- and jrf the seid Richard deserve more he for to have raore of Johan ray wyff. Itra. I beq. to the seyd Thoraas Cady ray executor aforeseyd xiij'- iiij''- Yevyn the day yer and place above wretyn. Probatum fuit presens Testamentum apud Gipwic. coram nobis Offic. Cans. Dm. Epi Norwic. xj die mensis Octobris Anno Dm. Millimo cccc"° Ixxxxvi. In cujus rei testi monium Sigillum, Sfc. 246 LETTER VII. From the Earl of Northumberland addressed " To his beloved Cosyn Thomas Arundel, one of the Gentlemen of my Lord Legates prevy chambre." It was written soon after the death of the Earl's father, in 1527. Referred to at p. 272 of Wolsey's life. [from the ARCHIVES OF THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND.] Bedfellow, after my most harte recomendacion: Thys Monday the iijd off August I resevyd by ray servaunt. Letters frora yow beryng datt the xx"' day off July, deliveryd unto hyra the sayme day at the kyngs tOAvn of Newcastell; wher in I do perseayff my lord Cardenalls pleasour ys to have such boks as was in the Chapell of my lat lord and ffayther (wos soil Jhu pardon). To the accomplyshment of which at your desyer I am confformable, notwithstanding I trust to be able ons to set up a chapel off myne owne. But I pray God he may look better upon me than he doth. But me thynk I have lost very moch, ponderyng yt ys no better regardyd; the occasion wher off he shall persayff. ORIGINAL LETTERS. 247 Fyrst, the long lyeng of ray tressorer^, with hys very hasty and unkynd words unto hym, not on my parte deserved. Also the news off Mr. Manyng, the which ys bion obroud Over all Yorksher ; that neyther by the kyng 2, nor by my lord cardenall am I regardyd; And that he Avyll teU me at my metyng Arith hym, when I come unto Yorksher; which shall be within thys month, God A^ryUJmg: but I ffer' my words to M"^ Manyng shaU displeas my lord; for I AriU be no ward. Also, bedfellow, the payns I tayk and have taykyn sens my comyng hether, are not better regardyd ; but by a fflatterjmg Byshope of Caret* and that fals Worm^ shaU be broth^ to the messery and carfful- ness that I am in; and in such slanders, that now and my lord cardenal wold, he cannot bryng me hoAvth'^ thereof. ***** I shaU Arith all sped send up your lettrs with the ' That is his long continuance with the cardinal. '^ He had probably disobliged the king by his attachment to Anne Boleyn. 3 fear. ' Carlisle. 5 William Worm, whom he mentions in a former letter, as the person who betrayed him. * brought. ^ out. 248 ORIGINAL LETTERS. books unto my lord's grace, as to say iiij Anteffo- nars^, such as I thynk were not seen a gret AvyU; v Grails; an Ordeorly; aManuaU; viij'" Proffessioners, And ffor aU the ressidew, they not worth the sending, nor ever was occupyd in my lords chapel. And also I shaU wryt at thys time as ye have wylled me. Yff my lord's grace Avyll be so good Lord unto me, as to gyf me lychens^ to put WyU" Worme within a castell of myn off Anvryk in assurty, unto the tyme he have accoraptyd ffor more money rec*! than ever I reel, I shall gyff hys grace ij C" and a benefiss off a C. worth unto hys coUeyg, vrith such other thyngs resseived as his [grace] shall desyre; but unto such tyme as rayne Awdytors hayth takyn accorapt off hira : wher in good bedfeUow do your best, ffor els he shaU put us to send rayselff, as at owr metyng I shaU show yow. And also gyff secuer credens unto this berer, whom * Antiphonars, Grails, Orderlys, Manuals, and Professionaries, are books containing different portions of the Roman Catholic Ritual. See Percy's Northumberland Household Book, p. 446, and Burn's Ecclesiastical Law. s licence. There is a tradition at Alnwick that an auditor was formerly confined in the dungeon under one of the towers till he could make up his accounts to his lord's satisfaction. ORIGINAL LETTERS. 249 I assur yow I have ffonddon a marvellous honest man, as ever I ffoAvnd in ray lyff. In hast at my raonestary of Hul Park the iij? day of August. In the OAvne hand off Yours ever assured, H. NORTHUMBERLAND. To my bedfellow Arundel. LETTER VIII. The Earl of Northumberland to Cromwell, denying any contract or promise of marriage between Anne Bullen and himself. [original, cott. lib. otho. c. 10.] M" Secretary, This shall be to signifie unto you that I perceive by Sir Rajmold Camaby, that there is supposed a precontract between the queen and rae; wherupon I was not only heretofore exarained upon my oath before the Archbishopps of Canterbury and York, but also received the blessed sacrament upon the same before the Duke of Norfolk, and other the king's highnes' council leamed in the spi ritual law; assuring you M' Secretary, by the said oath, and blessed body which affore I received, and 250 ORIGINAL LETTERS. hereafter intend to receive, that the same may be to my damnation, if ever there were any contracte or promise of marriage between her and me. At New ington Green, the xiijth day of Maye, in the 28"' year of the reigne of our soveraigne lord King Henry the vm'". Your assured, NORTHUMBERLAND. LETTER IX. Queen Catherine of Arragon and King Henry VIII"" to Cardinal Wolsey, a joint letter, 1527. [ms. cotton, vitell. b. xii. fol. 4.] Mr. Ellis has printed this letter in its mutilated condition; I have ventured to supply the lacuna from the copy in Burnet's History of the Reformation, vol. i. p. 55. Burnet obtained his transcript when it was in a perfect state, but has unaccountably attributed the first part of the letter to Anne Boleyn. It is however said by Mr. Ellis to be in the hand-writing of Catherine, and cannot but be considered very interesting. My Lord, in my raoste hurablyst wys that my hart can thinke [I desire you to pardon] me that I am so bold to troubyl yow vrith ray sympyl [Sf rude wryteng, estemyng] yt to prosed from her that is muche desirus to kno[we that youer grace does well.] I paersave be ORIGINAL LETTERS. 251 this berar that you do; the wiche I [praye God long to continewe,] as I am moste bonde to pray, for I do know the greate paines and trowbles that] you have taken for me bothe day and nyght [is never like to be recompensyd on] my part, but allonly in loveng you next on to the [kinges grace above all] creatures leveng; and I do not dought but the [dayly proffes of my deades] shaU raanefestly declaer and aferme my Avryte[ng to be trewe, and I do] truste you do thynke the same. My lord, I do assure you I do long to heare from you som newes of the legat, for I do hope and [they come froin you they] shall be very good, and I ara seur that you deseyre [it as moche as I] and more, and ytt waer possibel as I knowe ytt ys not: And thus remaineing in a stedfast hope I raake anend of my letter, [writtyn with the hande] of her that is moste bounde to be US' Here Queen Catherine's part ends, tke rest is in the hand writ ing of Henry tlie Eighth. The Avrytter of thys letter wolde not cease tyll she had [caused me likewise] to set to my hand desyryng yow thowgh it be short to i[ake it in good part.] I ensure yow ther is nother of us but that grettly de- sjrry[^A to see you, and] muche more rejoyse to heare that you have scapyd thys plage [so well, trustyrig] the fury thereof to be passyd, specially with them 252 ORIGINAL LETTERS. that ^[epyth good diett] as I tmst you doo. The not beryng of the legates arywall [in Franse causeth] us sumwhat to rause; nottwithstandyng we tmst by your dily[^ews and vigilancy] (with the assystence of Alrayghty God) shortly to be easyd owght [of that trouble.] No raore to yow at thys tyme but that I pray God send yow [as good health] and prosperity as the wryters wolde. By your lovyng so[veraign Sffrende] HENR[K iJ.] LETTER X. Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey. [fiddes collections, p. 256.] My Lord, after my most humble recommendations this shall be to gyve unto your grace as I am most boAvnd my hurable thanks for the gret payn & travelle that your grace doth take in steudyeng by your wys- dorae and gret dylygens how to bryng to pas honer- ably the gretyst welth that is possyble to corae to any creator lyving, and in especyall reraembryng howe wretchyd and unworthy I ara in coraparyng to his hyghnes. And for you I do know ray selfe never to have deservyd by my desertys that you ORIGINAL LETTERS. 253 shuld take this gret payn for rae, yet dayly of your goodnes I do percejrve by all my frends, and though that I had nott knowlege by them the dayly proffe of your deds doth declare your v.7vrds and An-ytyng toward me to be trewe; nowe good my Lord your dyscressyon raay consyder as yet hOw lytle it is in my power to recompence you but all onely wyth my good Avyl, the whiche I assewer you that after this matter is brought to pas you shall fynd me as I ara : boAvnde in the raean tym to owe you my servyse, and then looke what a thyng in thys woreld I can immagen to do you pleasor in, you shall fynd me the gladyst woman in the woreld to do yt, and next unto the kyngs grace of one thjmg I make you full promes to be assewryd to have yt and that is ray harty love unfajmydly deweryng ray lyf, and beying fuUy determynd with Godds grace never to change thys porpos, I make an end of thys my reude and trewe meanyd letter, praying ower Lord to send you moche increase of boner Arith long lyfe. Wrytten with the hand of her that besechys your grace to except this letter as prosydyng from one that is most bownde to be Your hurable and obedient Servante ANNE BOLEYN. 254 LETTER XI. Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey. FROM fiddes collections, p. 256. Collated with ihe Original in the Cottmdan Collection. Brit. Mus. Otho c. X. fol. 218. My Lord, in my raost hurablyst wyse that my powuer hart can thynke I do thanke your grace for your kind letter, and for youer rych and goodly pre sent, the whyche I shall never be able to desarve wyth owt your gret helpe, of the whyche I have hetherto hade so grete plente that all the dayes of my lyfe I ame moaste bownd of all creators next the kyngs grace to love and serve your grace, of the whyche I besyche you never to dowte that ever I shalle vary frome this thought as long as ony brethe is in my body. And as tochyng your grace's treble with the swet I thanke ower Lord that them that I desycrd and prayed for ar scapyd, and that is the kyng and you. Not doughthyng bot that God has preservyd you bothe for grete cawsys knowen allonly to hi.s hygh wysdome. And as for the comrajmg of the legate I desyer that moche; and yf it be Goddis pleasor I pray him to send this matter shortly to a ORIGINAL LETTERS. 255 good ende; and then I trust ray lord to recompense part of your grete panys, the whych I raust requyer you in tlie raeane tyxae to excepte ray good wyll in the stede of the power, the whyche raust prosedo partly from you as ower Lourd knoAveth to whome I be sychc to sende you, longe lyfe with continew- ance in honor. Wrytten wyth the hande of her that is raost bound to be Your humble and obedyent servante, ANNE BOLEYN. LETTER XII. Cardinal Wolsey in his Disti-ess to Thomas Cromzce/l. MS. cotton vesp. f. xiii. fol. 76. Frotn Fiddes' Collections, p. 256. Collated with the original. Myn OWNE enterly belovyd Cromwell, I beseche you as ye love me and wyl evjrr do any thyng for me, repare hyther thys day as sone as the parlement ys brokyn up, lejmg aparte all thjmgs for that tyme ; for I wold nat onely coramynycat thyngs unto yow wherin for my corafort & relief I wold have your good sad, dyscret advyse & counsell, but also opon the same commytt sertyng thyngs requyryng 256 ORIGINAL LETTERS. expedicion to yow, on my behalf to be solycytyd: this I pray you therfor, to hast your comrajmg hyther assafore, with owt orayttyng so to do, as ye tendyr ray socor, reliff & corafort, and quyetnes of raynde. And thus fare ye weU: from Asher, in hast, thys Satyrday in the momyng, with the mde hande & sorroAvful hert of your assuryd lover I have also sertejm thyngs consemjmg yoAvr sylf VFych I am suere ye wolbe glad to here & knowe: fayle not therfore to be here thys nygth, ye may retorne early in the momyng ageyn yf nede shul so requyre. Et iterum vale. Mr. Augustejm^ shcAvyd rae how ye had Avryttyn ; onto me a lettre wherin ye shuld adv''tyse of the j comyng hyther of the Duke of Norfolke: I assure I ! you ther cam to my hands no suche lettre. ' Dr. Augustine, or Agostino, a native of Venice, was physician to the cardinal, and was arrested at Cawood at the same time with his master, being treated with the utmost indignity : v. Life, pp. 281, 284. In the Cottonian MS. Titus b. i. fol. 365, there is a letter of his to Thomas Cromwell, in Italian, requiring speedy medical assistance, apparently for Cardinal Wolsey. It is dated Asher, Jan. 19th, 1529-30. Cavendish describes him as being dressed in a "boistous gown of black velvet;" with which he overthrew one of the silver crosses, which broke Bonner's head in its fall. ORIGINAL LETTERS. 257 LETTER XIII. From Wolsey to Dr. Stephen Gardener, Secretary of State. Communicated to Mr. Grove by Mr. Littleton, afterwards Lord Littleton, who possessed the original. It is now in the Ashmole Museum at Oxford. My OWNE GOODE Mastyr Secretary, Goyng this day out of my pue to sey masse, your lettres datyd yesternygth at London wer delyveryd unto me; by the contjmue wherof I undyrstand, that the kjmg's hyhnes, of hys exceUent goodnes & cheryte ys contentyd, that I shaU injoy & have the adraynystracion of Yorke merly, Arith the gyftts of the promocyons spiritual & teraporall of the sarae, reservyd onely onto his nobyll grace the gyft of v or vj of the best proraocions. And that hys pleasure ys, I shal leve Wjmchester & Saynt Albons. As hereonto Mr. Secretary, I can nat expresse howe moche I ara boAvndyn to the kyng's royal raajeste for thys hys gret & bovrotawse liberalyte, reput- jmg the same to be moche raore then I shal ever be abyl to deserve. Howbeyt yf hys majeste, con- syderyng the short & lyttyl tyme that I shal lyve here in thys world, by the reason of such hevynes as I have conceyved in my hert, with the minyuose VOL. II. s 258 ORIGINAL LETTERS^ of the olde howsys & the decay of the said arch- byshopryck at the best to the sum of viii C Marcke yearly, by the reason of the act passyd for Fynys of Testaraents, wth also rayn long paynful servys and poore degre; and for the declaration of hys grace's excellent cheryte, yf hys hyhnes be myndyd I shal leve Wynchester & Saynt Albon's, Avych I supposyd, when I maid ray subrayssyon, not offend- ying in ray trewth towards hys royal parson, dyg- nyte, or raajeste royal, I should not, now have desyrvyd to have left; and rauch the raore knoA^rjmg his grace's excellent propensyon to pyte & mercy, & reraemberyng the francke departyng Arith of all that I had in thys world, that I may have summe conve nyent pension resenryd unto me, suche as the kyng's hyhnes of hys nobyll charite shal thjmke mete, so orderyng his that shal succede and my lyvyng, that the same may be of lyck valew yeerly and exstent. Whereat my tmst ys, and my herte so gevyth me, that hys majeste wold make no dyffy- culte, yf yt may lycke yx)w friendly to propone the sarae, assuryng yow that I desyre not thys for any mynde (God ys ray judge), that I have to accurau- late good, or desyre that I have to the make of world; for, God be thankyd, at thys ower I set no more by the ryches & promocyons of the world, then by the roshe nndjrr my fote; but onely for the decla- ORIGINAL LETTERS. 259 ration of the kyng's favor & hyhe cheryte, & to have wherevrith to do good dedys, & to helpe my poore servants and kynnysfolks. And furthemiore that yt wold please the kyng's excellent goodnes by your freindly medyacion, consyderyng how slendyrly I ara fumyshyed in ray howse, nowe specially that the apparell of Wynchester and Saynt Albons shal be takyn ftoxn me, to geve and appojmt unto me a con venyent femyture for the same, non ad pompam, sed necessariam honestatem. And yf I may have the free gyft and dysposycion of the benefyces, yt shalbe gretly to my comfort. And yet vriien any of tbe v or vi pryncypaU shal fortune to be voyd, the kyng's grace being myndyd to have any of thera, hys hyhnes shalbe as sure of the sarae, as though they wer re servyd. And thus by his nobyl & raercyful goodnes delyvered OAVt of extreme catamite, & restoryd to a newe fredome, I shal, vrith God's mercy & help, so ordyr my lyff, that I tmst hys majeste shal take special comfort therin, & be pleasyd Arith the sarae: Spero quod hoc, qua peto, non videbitur magna. How beyt I most humbly submyt and referre aU my pety- tions, immo ipsam vitam, to his gracyous ordynance & pleasure, praying yow to declare & sygnify the same, supplying myn indysposycion & lacke of Avyt, conceyvyd by reason of ray extreme sorowe & hevy nes, that the same, may be to the kyng's contenta- s2 260 original letters. cion, wherin I had lever be ded then to offende in word, thowght, or dede, and as towching the grant- yng of the fee of one c U. for Mr. Nores duryng hys lyff for hys good servys done unto the kjmg's hyhnes, for the Avych I have always lovyd him, and for the singuler good hert and mynde, that I knowe he hath alweys borne unto me, I ara content to make out my graA^mte upon the same, ye & it wol please the kyng to inlarge it one c. li. raore ; and semblably cause Mr. Thesauror hath the kepyng of the kjmg's garae nygh to Femam, I wold gladly, if it may stand Arith the kyng's pleasure, grawnte unto hym the reversion of such thinges as the Lord Sands hath there, with the ampliacSn of the fee above that wych is oldely ac- customyd, to the sum of xl. li. by the yeere ; & also I wold gladly geve to Mr. Comptroller a lycke fee, & to Mr. Russel, another of xx. li. by the yeere. Re- myttyng thys and aU other ray sutes to the kyng's hyhnes pleasure, raercy, pity, & corapassion, moste holly. Beseechyng hys Hyhnes so nowe gracyously to ordjrr me, that I may frora hensforth serve God quietly & vrith repose of mynd, & pray as I am most boAVTidyn, for the conservacyon & increase of his raost nobyll and royal astate. And thus vrith my dayly prayer I byd yow farewell. From Asher hastely Arith the rude hand and raoste hcA^y herte of Yowr assuryd frende & bedysman, T. car^^^ ebor. ORIGINAL LETTERS. 261 LETTER XIV. Cardinal Wolsey to Dr. Stephen Gardener. This Letter was also communicated to Mr. Grove by Mr. Littleton. It is now in the Ashmole Museum at Oxford. MY OWNE GOODE MASTYR SECRETARY, Aftyr ray moste herty comraendacions I pray yow at the reverens of God to helpe, that expedicion be usyd in my persuts, the delay wherof so replen- yshyth my herte with hevynes, that I can take no reste; nat for any vayne fere, but onely for the miserable condycion, that I ara presently yn, and lyclyhbd to contjmue yn the sarae, onles that yow, in whora ys myn assuryd traste, do help & releve me therin; For fyrst, contynujmg here in this mowest & cormpt ayer, beyng enteryd into the passyon of the dropsy. Cum prostatione appetitus et continuo insomnio. I cannat lyve: Wherfor of necessyte I must be re- movyd to some other dryer ayer and place, where I may have coraodyte of physycyans. Secondly, hav yng but Yorke, wych is now decayd, by viii C. li. by the yeere, I cannot tell how to lyve, & kepe the poore nombyr of folks wych I nowe have, my howsys ther be in decay, and of evry thyng mete for hows- sold onprovydyd and fumyshyd. I have non appa rell for my howsys ther, nor money to bring me thether, nor to lyve wyth tyl the propysse tyme of 262 ORIGINAL LETTERSi the yeere shall corae to remove thether. Thes thyngs consyderyd, Mr. Secretary, must nedys raake rae yn agony and hevynes, myn age therArith & sycknes consyderyd, alas Mr. Secretary, ye with other my lordys shewyd rae, that I shuld otherwyse be fur- nyshyd & seyn unto, ye knowe in your lemyng & consyens, whether I shuld forfet ray spiritualties of Wynchester or no. Alas! the qualytes of rayn of- fencys consyderyd, with the gret punishment & losse of goodes that I have sustaynyd, owt to move pety-^ full hertys; and the raoste nobyl kyng, to whom yf yt wold please yow of your cherytable goodnes to shewe the premyses aftyr your accustomable wysdome & dexteryte, yt ys not to be dowbtyd, but his highnes wold have consyderacyon 8c compassyon, aggment- yng my lyvyng, & appoyntyng such thyngs as shuld be convenient for my furniture, wych to do shalbe to the kyng's high honor, meryte, & dyscharge of consyens, & to yow gret prayse for the bryngjmg of the same to passe for your olde brynger up and lev ying frende. Thys kyndnes exibite from the kjmg's hyghnes shal prolong my lyff for some lytyl whyl, thow yt shall nat be long, by the meane whereof hys grace shal take profygtt, & by my deth non. What ys yt to hys hyhnes to give sorae convenyent poreion owt of Wynchester, & Seynt Albons, hys grace tak- yng with my herty good Avyl the resydew. Remem ber, good Mr. Secretary, my poore degre, & what ORIGINAL LETTERS. 263 servys I have done, and how nowe approchyng to deth, I raust begyn the world ageyn. I besech you ther fore, raovyd with pity and corapassyon soker me in thys my calarajrte, and to your power Avych I knowe ys gret, releve me ; and I Avyth aU myn shal not onely ascrybe thys my relef unto yow, but also praye to God for the increase of your honor, & as ray poore shal increase, so I shal not fayle to requyte your kyndnes, Wryttyn hastely at Asher, Arith the rude and shackyng hand of Your dayly bedysraan. And assuryd frend, T. car"** ebor., To the ryght honorable and my asguryd frende MastjT Secretary. LETTER XV. Cardinal Wolsey to Secretary Gardener, Desiring him to write to him and give him an account of the king's intentions with regard to him. (From Strype.) Myn own good mastjrr secretary, albeit I am in such altiration and indisposition of my hede & body, by the meansse of my dayly sorowe & hevynesse, that I am fen omit to A\T:it any long Ires. Yet my 264 ORIGINAL LETTERS. trastjmg frend, Thoraas CroAYtnwel, retornyng & re- paryng unto yow, I cowde nat forbere, but brively to put yow in remembrance: how that aftyr the consul tation takyn by the kjmgs hyghnes opon myn order yng, which ye supposyd shulde be on Sunday was sevennyght, ye wolde not fayle to advertyse rae at the length of the specialties thereof. Of the wch to here & have knowleg, I have & dayly do looke for. I pray yow therefore at the reverens of God, & of this holy tyme, & as ye love & tendyr my poore lyf, do so moche as to Avrytt onto me your seyd Ires: wherby I may take some cumfort & rest: nat dowting but your hert is so gentyl & pityful, that havyng knowleg in what agony I am yn, ye wole take the payne to send onto me your seyd consoUa- tory Ires. Wherby ye shal nat onely deserve toward God, but also bynde me to be as I am, your con- tjmual bedysraan. Wrytten this mornyng at Asher, with the mde hand and sorroweful hert of yours Arith hert & prayer. T. Cardinalis Ebor. Miserriraus. To the right honorable Mr. Secretary. 265 LETTER XVI. Cardinal Wolsey to Secretary Gardener. To draw up his pardon. (From Strype,) Myn OWNE good Mastyr Secretary, Aftyr ray moste herty recomraendations, with lycke thanks for your goodnes towards rae, thes shal be to advertyse yow that I have bejm inforrayd by ray trusty frend Thoraas Cromwell that ye have signifyed onto hym to ray syngular consolation how that the kynges highnes movyd vrith pety & compassyon, & of hys exceUent goodnes & cheryte consyderjmg the lamentable condition & stat that I stand yn, hath wyUyd yow with other lords and mastjrrs of hys honorable coAvnsell, to intende to the perfyghtjmg.Sc absolvyng vrithout further tract or delay of rajm end & appoynteraent; and that ray pardon shulde be raade in the moste ample forme that my counsell cowde devise. For thys the kjmgs raoste gracyous reraera brance, procedyng of hymself, I accompt ray sylf not onely raoste bowridyn to serve & pray for the preserva tion of hys raoste royal majestie, but also thancke God that ye have occasion given onto you to be a soUy- cyter & setter forth of such thynges as do & shall conserve my seyde ende. In the makyng & com- powndyng wherof myn assured truste is, that ye wole shewe the love & affection Avych ye have & bere 266. ORIGINAL LETTERS. towards me, your olde lover & frende: so declaryng your self therin, that the worlde may parcejrve that by your good meanys the kyng ys the bettyr goode lorde unto rae; & that nowe newly in maner comyng to the world, ther maye be such respect had to ray poore degree, olde age & longe contynued servys, as shal be to the kjmgs hygh honor & your gret prayse & laude. Wych ondowtydly shall folowe yf ye op- tinde yowre benyvolens towards me, & men perceive that by your wisdome & dexterite I shalbe relevyd, & in this my calamyte holpen. At the reverens there fore of God myn OAvne goode Mr. Secretary, & refugy, nowe set to your hande, that I may come to a lauda ble end & repos, seyng that I may be fumyshyd aftyr such a sorte & maner as I may ende my short tyme & lyff to the honor of Crystes churche & the prince. And besides ray dayly prayer & tme hert I shal so requyte your kyndnes, as ye shaU have cause to thyncke the same to be well iraployde, lycke as ray seyd trusty frende shaU more amply shewe onto you. To whora yt may please yow to geve firme credens and lovyng audyens. And I shall pray for the increase of your honour. Wryttyn at Assher vrith the tremylljmg hand & hevy hert of your assuryd lover & bedysman T. card"® ebor. To the ryght honorable and my singular good frende Mayster Secretary; 267 LETTER XVII. Cardinal Wolsey to Secretary Gardener, Desiring him to favour the cause of the Provost of Beverly, and to intercede with the king for him and his colleges. (From Strype.) Myne awne gentil Maister Secretary, After ray mooste herty recommendations, these shal be to thanke you for the greate humanite, lovyng & gentU recule, that ye have made unto the poore Provost of Beverly: & specialy, for that ye have in such vrise addressed hyra unto the kings highnes. presence, that his grace not onely hath shewed unto hym, that he is his goode & gracious lorde, but also that it hath pleased hys majeste to admitte & ac- cepte hyra as his poore orator & scholer. Wherby both he & I accorapte our selfs so bounden unto you, that we cannot telle how to requite this your gratitude & kyndenes; raooste hartely praying you to contjmue in your good favour towards hyra, &, to take hym & his pore causis into your patrocymye & protection. And, as myne assured expectation & trast is, to remember the poor state & condition that I stond in, & to be a meane to the kyngs high^ ness for my relefe in the same. In doyng wherof ye shal not onely deserve thanks of God, but also 268 ORIGINAL LETTERS. declare to your perpetual laud and prayse, that ye beyng in auctorite, have not forgoten your olde raais- ter & frynde. And in the wey of charite, & for the love that ye bere to virtue, & ad bona studia, be raeane to the kyngs highnes for ray poore colleges; and speciaUy for the coUege of Oxford. Suffer not the things, which by your greate lemyng, studie, coun- saUe & travaUe, hath bene erected, founden, & with good statutes & ordinances, to the honour of God, increase of vertue & lemyng established, to be dis solved or disraembred. Ye do know, no man better, to what use the raonasteries, suppressed by the popis licence, the kyngs consente concurryng vrith the sarae, & a pardon for the premoneri^, be converted. It is nat to be doubted, but the kyngs highnes, of his high vertue & equite, beyng informed how every thing is passed, his mooste gracious Ucense & consente (as is aforesaid) adhibited themnto, wol never go aboute to dissolve the said incorporations or bodyes, wherof so greate benefite & coramodite shal insue unto his realme & subjects. Superfluities, if any such shal be thought & founden, raay be resecat; but to de stroy the hole, it were to greate pitie. Eftsones therefore, good Maister Secretarie, I be seche you to be good raaister & patrone to the said ' Premunire. ORIGINAL LETTERS. 269 colleges : " Et non sinas opus manuum tuamm perire, aut ad nihUura redige." Thus dojmg, both I, & they shal not onely pray for you, but in such wise de serve your paynes, as ye shal have cause to thinke the same to be wel bestowed & imployed, like as this present berer shal more at the large shewe unto you. To whom it may please the same to geve firme credence. And thus mooste hartely fare ye wel. Frora Sothewell, the xxiij"" day of July. Your lovjmg frende, T. car"® EBOR. To the right honorable & my sing-ular good trende M' Doctor Stephyns, Secreto ry to the Kings Highnes. LETTER XVIII. Cardinal Wolsey to Secretary Gardener, Desiring his favour in a suit against him for a debt of 700/. by one Strangwish. (From Strype.) Myne awne good Maister Secretary, After my mooste harty recommendations, these shal be to desire, & mooste effectuelly to pray you to be good maister & friende unto me, concernyng 270 original letters. the uncharitable sute of StrangArishe for vij C li., which he pretendith that I shulde owe unto hjma, for tlie ward of Bovres. And albeit there was at his fyrste comyng to my serrice, by our mutual con sents, a perfecte end raade between hym & rae for the same, yet nowe digressjmg therfrom, percejrvyng that I am out of favour, destitute of socour, & in calamite, he not onely newly demaundyth the said vij C li. but also hath made complaint unto the kyngs highnes, surmittyng, that I shulde, contrary to jus tice, deteyne frora hyra the said vij C li. For the redresse whereof, it hath pleased the kyngs majeste , to direct his mooste honorable letters unto me; the contents wherof I ara sure be nat unknown unto you. And insuing the purporte therof, & afore the delyvere of the same thre days by past, notwith standing my greate necessite & poverte, onely to be out of his exclamation & inquietnes, I have writ ten to my trusty friende, M"^ Cromwel, to make cer- tejm reasonable offires unto hym for that intent and purpose; moost hartely beseching you to helpe, that upon declaration of such things, as upon ray part shal be signified unto you by the said Maister Crora- weU, some such end, by your friendely dexterite, may bee raade betwixt us, as shal accorde with good congruence, & as I raay supporte & be hable (myne other debts and charges considered) to bere. In the ORIGINAL LETTERS. 271 doyng wherof, ye shall bynde rae to be your dayly bedesraan, as knoweth God, who alwayes preserve you. Frora SotheweU, the xxv* day of August. Yours with hert & prayer, T. car"® ebor. To my right entierly welbiloved frende M' Stephyn Gardener, Secretory to kyngs highnes. LETTER XIX. Lettre de Monsieur de Bellay Evesque de Bayonne a M" le Grant Maistre. De Londres le xvij Oct. 1529. [mss. de bethune biblioth. du ROY. V. 8603. f. 113.] Monseigneur, depuis les lettres du Roy & les auitres vostres que je pensoye sur I'heure envoyer, cette depesche a est6e retard^ jusques a pr6sent, parce qu'U a faUu faire & refaire les lettres que je vous envoye tout plein de fois, & pour ce aUer & venir souvent, tant les Dues mferaes qu'aultres de ce conseU a Windesore, dont toute a cette heure ils les m'ont envoy<§es en la forme que verrez par le double d'iceux. lis me prient le plus fort du monde de faire qu'on ne trouve mauvais si en ces expeditions, 8c mesmement en ce que tow che le principal de la 272 ORIGINAL LETTERS. depesche, je ne suis de tout satisfait comme je voul- droye, 8c aussi eulx mesmes, s'excusans que leur manifere de n^gocier envers leur raaistre n'est encore bien dress^e, mais pour I'advenir doibvent faire mer- veilies, 8c en baillent de si grands asseurances 8c si bien juries, que je ne puis me garder de les croire; je n'ay point refreschy mes lettres au Roy, car je ne voy point qu'il y en ait matifere. Au demourant, j'ay est6 voir le Cardinal en ses ennuis, oti j'ay trouv6 les plus grand exeraple de fortune que on ne scauroit voir, il ra'a remonstr6 son eas en la plus mauvaise rh6torique que je viz jamais, car cueur 8c paroUe luy failloient enti^re- ment; il a bien plour^ Sc pri6 que le Roy 8c Madame voulsissent avoir piti^ de luy, s'ils avoyent trouv6 qu'il leur eust guarde promesse de leur estre bon serviteur autant que son honneur 8c povoir se y est peu estendre, mais il me a la fin laiss6 sans me pouvoir dire autre chose qui vallist mieux que son visage, qui est bien descheu de la raoiti^ de juste pris : 8c vous promets, Monseigneur, que sa fortune est telle que ses ennemis, encore qu'ils soyent An- gloys, ne se scauroyent guarder d'en avoir piti6, ce nonobstant ne le laisseront de le poursuivre jusques au bout, 8c ne voyt de raoyen de son saint, aussi ne fais-je sinon qu'il plaise au Roy 8c a Madarae de I'ay- der. De legation, de sceau d'auctorit6, de credit U n'^en demande point, il est prest de laisser tout jusques k ORIGINAL LETTERS. 273 la chemise, 8c que on lelaisse vivi-e en ung hermitage, ne le tenant ce Roy en sa mal grfi,ce : Je I'ay reconfort6 au mieulx que j'ay peu, mais je n'y ay seen faire grant chose: Depuis par un en qui U se fie, U ra'a raande ce qu'il vouldroit qu'on feist pour luy de la plus grand partie, luy voyant qu'U ne touchoit au bien des affaires du Roy qu'on luy accordast la plus raisonnable chose qui deraande, c'est que le Roy escripvist a ce Roy qu'U est un grand bmit de par dela qu'il I'ait recuUe d'autour de luy, 8c fort eslong6 de la bonne grice, en sorte qu'on diet qu'il doibve estre destmict, ce que ne pense totaleraent estre corarae on le diet; toutefois pour la bonne fratemity, qu'Us ont enserable, 8c si grant communication de tous leurs plus grans affaires, I'a bien voulu prier de y avoir 6gard, aflSn qu'il n'en entre souldainement quelque mauvaise fantasie envers ceulx qui ont veu qu'en si grant solemnit6 8c auctorit6, il ait servy d'instrument en cette perp6tueUe araiti^ tant re- norara^e par toute la Chretient6 ; 8c que si d'adven- ture U estoit entr6 en quelque raalcontentement de luy, U veiiille ung peu mod^rer son affection, comme il est bien siir que luy vouldront conseiller ceulx qui sont autour de sa personne 8c au maniement de ses plus grandes affaires. Voila, Monseigneur, la plus raisonable de toutes ses demandes, en laquelle ne me veulx ing^rer de dire mon advis, si diray-je bien VOL. II. T 274 ORIGINAL LETTERS. qu'il n'y a personne ici qui deust prendre a mal telle lettre; 8c mesment la oh ils considereront, comme de facit ils font, qu'il sont forces de prendre 8c tenir plus que jamais votre party, 8c d'advantage asseureray bien que la plus grant prinse qu'ils ayent peft avoir su2 luy du commenceraent, 8c qui plus leur a servi a le brouiller envers le Roy, a este qu'il dedara a raa venue decza trop ouvertement de vouloir aller a Cambray, car les aiUtres persuaderent au maistre ce que c'estoient, seulement pour eviter d'estre a I'ex- pedition du raariage, 8c outre cela vous proraets que sans luy les auitres raectoyent ce Roy en ung terrible train de rorapre la pratique de paix dont vous es- cripvis quelque raot en ce teraps-la, mais j'en laissay dix fois en la plume, voyant que tout estoit rabilie, je vous les diray estant la, 8c je suis seur que le trouverez fort estrange: II me semble. Monsieur, que a tout cela, 8c plusieurs auitres choses que bien entendez de vous-mesme.s, on doibt avoir quelque egard, vous donnerez, s'U vous plaist, advis au Roy 8c a Madarae de tout cecy, affin qu'Us advisent ce qu'il leur plaira en faire, s'Us pensent n'erapirer par cela leurs affaires, je croy que voulentiers, outre ce que sera quelque charite. Us vouldront qu' on cognoisse qu'Us ayent retire ung leur affectionne serviteur, 8c tenu pour tel par chescun, des portes d'enfer; mais sur tout, Monseigneur, il desire que ce Roy ne con- noisse qu'Us en ayent este requis, 8c que il les en ay original LETTERS. 275 fait requerir en fagon du raonde, cela I'acheveroit d'affoUer; car pour vous dire le vray, 8c hormis toute affection, je vous asseure que la plus grant prinse que ses ennemis ayent eue sur luy, outre ceUe du mariage, ce a este de persuader ce Roy que il avoit tousjours eu en temps de paix et de guerre intelli gence secrette a Madarae, de laquelle ladite guerre durant U avoit eu des grants presens, qui furent cause que Suffolc estant a Montdidier, U ne le se- courut d'argent comme il debvoit, dont avint que il ne prit Paris ; mais ils en parlent en I'oreille de ce propos, afin que je n'en soy adverty. Quant aux- dits presens, il esp^re que Madame ne le nuyra oit a en sera parte, de toutes auitres choses il s'en re- commande en sa bonne grice. La fantaisie de ces seigneurs est que luy mort ou mine, U defferent in continent icy I'estat de I'Eglise, 8c prendrent tous leurs biens, qu'U seroit ja besoing que je misse en chiflire, car ils le orient en plaine table; je croy qu'ils feront de beaux miracles, si m'a diet vostre grant prophfete au visaige bronse, que ce Roy ne vivra gueres plus que au quel, corarae vous sgavez, a ce que je voy par ses escriptures, U n'a baiUe terrae que de la monstre de May. Je ne veulx oubUer a vous dire que si le Roy 8c Madame veuUent fane quelque chose pour le Legat, U faudroit se haster, encores ne seront jamais icy ses lettres que il t2 276 original letters. n'ait perdu le sceau, toutefois il ne pense plus h cela, elles serriront pour le deraourant, aussi venant icy mon successeur, comme chascun s'attend qu'il viendra dans peu des jours, ils luy donnassent charge d'en parler; le pis de son mal est que Mademoiselle de Boulen a faict promettre a son amy que il ne I'escoutera jamais parler; car elle pense bien qu'il ne le pOurroit garder d'en avoir pitie. Monseigneur, tout ce qui sera de bon en tout ce discours, vous le sgaurez prendre comme tel ; s'il y aura riens qui semble party de trop d'affection, je vous supplie m'ayder a en excuser, 8c qu'il soit pris de bon part, car la oh la mati^re seroit mauvaise si vous assureray-je bien que I'intention n'est telle, 8c la dessus est bien temps pour vous 8c pour moy que je facze fin a la presente, rae recoramande humblement en vostre bonne grace, 8c pryant nostre Seigneur qu'il vous doint bonne vie 8c longue. Vostre humble Serviteur, J. DU bellay, Evesque de Bayonne. De Londres, le xvij d'Octobre. k Monsiegneur Monseigneur Le Grant Maistre & Marechal de France. 277 LETTER XX. Thomas Alward to Thomas Cromwell. A. D. 1529. [ms. cotton, vitellius b. xii. fol. 173. OWg-.] "The following Letter (says Mr. Ellis), though mutilated, pre sents a genuine picture of one of the last interviews with which Wolsey was favoured by his Sovereign. It is dated on the 23? of September; sixteen days after which the King's attorney pre sented the indictment against him in the Court of King's Bench npon the Statute of Provisors. " Thomas Alward, the writer of this Letter, appears to have been the Keeper of Wolsey's Wardrobe. He has been already incidentally named in the Letter which relates to the founda tion of Ipswich College." Maister Cromwel, In ray mooste hartiest wise I [commende me] .unto you; advertisyng the same that I have Ae\y[vered your Ires] unto my lordis grace who did imraediatly rede over [the same] after the redjmg wherof his grace did put theym in and so kepte theym always close to hym self. Th[is I note] unto you, bicause I never sawe hym do the like bifo[re time] the which your lettres his grace commaunded me And first, the sarae hertely thankyth you for your . . advertysement made unto hjrm from tyme to tyme [of soche] things as ye have written unto his grace wherin I know [ye have] 278 original letters. don unto his grace singular pleasur and good service ; and as [for] the vain brats which goth against my lords [grace] I assur you as fer as may apper unto my said [lord and] other that be his servaunts, they be raervailous false, . . and gretely I do mervaUe wherof the same shul[(Ze arise] for I assur you that in this vacacion tyme [dyvers] lettres wer ATOtten by the kyngs coraraaundment frora [Mr. Ste-] vyns unto ray said lord, by the which his adv[Me] and opinion was at sundry tymes desired ... in the kyngs causis and affaires, unto the which lettres [aunswer] was made from tyme to tyrae, as weU by ray lords [wry]tyiig as also by the sendjmg of his ser vaunts to the [courte with] instmctions by mouth to the kyng's highnes as the [mater] and case did re- quir. Over this the noblemen and gentry [as well] in ray lords goyng to the courte as also in his retoume frora [the] sarae dyd raete and incounter hyra at many places gently [and] humajmly as they wer wonte to do. On Sonday last my lords grace, with the Legat Campegius cam unto the courte at Grene- [zoiche] wher they wer honorably receyved and ac- companyed Arith sundry of the kings counsaile and servaunts, and so brought bifor masse onto the king's presence, who graciously and benigly after the ac- custuraed goodnes of his highnes, with very familiar and loving acountenance did welcome theym. And original letters. 279 after coramunication and talkyng awhiles with ray Lorde Carapegius, his grace talked a grete while with my lorde a parte, which don, they departed all to geder in to chapel. And imraediatly after dyner my lords grace went again unto the kyngs highnes beyng then in his pryvie chamber wher they wer coramonyng and talkjmg to geder at the leeste for the space of ij. houres, no person beyng present, and a friende of myne beyng of the prive charaber told me at my lords departur that tyrae from thens ther was as good and as famUiar accountynaunce shewed and used betwene theym as ever he sawe in his life heretofor. This don ray lords giace Arith the legat retoumed unto theyr logyng at Maister Erapson's place. On Monday in the momyng my lord leving the legat at his logyng went again unto the kyngs grace, and after long 'talkjmg in his privie chamber to geder, the kyng, my lord, and all the hole coun saile sate to geder all that for'none aboute the kyngs matters and affaires. In the after none, my lords grace having then vrith hym the Legat Campegius, went to the kyng's grace, and after talkjmg and com raunication had a long whUis with the legat a parte they both toke ther leve of the kyngs highnes in as good fascion and raaner, and Arith asmoche gentU- nes, as ever I saw bifor. This don, the kyngs grace went huntyng. The legate retoumed to Maister 280 ORIGINAL LETTERS. Empson, and ray lords grace taried ther in counsaile til it was darke nyght. Further mor my Lord of Suffolke, my Lord of Rochford, Maister Tuke, and Master Stevyns did as gently [6e]have theymselfs, Arith as moche observaunce and humy[lyte to] my lords grace as ever I sawe theym do at any [tyme] tofor. What they bere in ther harts I knowe n[o^.] Of the premissis I have seen with myne ies ; wherfor I boldely presume and thinke that they be ferre [furth] overseen that sowth* the said false and un- trewe reports : ascertejmjmg you if ye coulde marke som[e of the] chief- stirrers therof ye shulde do unto his grace [moche] pleasur. Assone as ye can spede your bysynes th[ere my] lord wolde be very glad of your retoume. My lord wilbe on Monday next at London. And the Legat [C«m]pegius shal departe shortely oute of Englonde. A[nd thus] raakyng an ende I commit you to the tuicion and ^widance of] Almyghty God. From Saint Albons the xxuj"' S[ep-] tember. All the gentilmen of ray lords charaber with tbe . ^ of coraraendith them hartely unto you. Yowrs to my lytle [power] THOMAS ALVARD. " soweth. =¦ /. rest thereof. 281 Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. Bishop Fisher's opposition to Henry's divorce, as noticed by Cavendish at p. 157, subsequently cost him his head. Besides his letter to Wolsey main taining the vaUdity of the marriage Arith Catherine, published by Fiddes in his Appendix to the Life of Wolsey, and in ColUer's Ecclesiastical History, vol. 2 Records. He wrote a larger discourse in Latin "De Causa Matrimonii Regis Angliae," which was long thought to exist only in MS. But in a late sale by pubUc auction in London, of Don Jos Antonio Gonde's Library, a printed copy was purchased for Mr. Heber, which appears to have issued from the press at Alcala (Complutum) in Spain. The printer of which, says the manuscript copy was given hira by the Archbishop of Toledo. It is probable that the Spanish agents in England contrived to obtain a copy and sent it to the eraperor. It would not have been aUowed to issue from the press in Eng land. It is remarkable that Ribadineira in his His toria Ecclesiastica de Inglaterra, Madrid, 1588, men tions that Fisher presented his book to the legates. "Los que por parte de la Reyna tratavan este negocio eran los mas graves y doctos Teologos y Perlados 282 bishop FISHER. de todo el Rejmo y entre ellos Gulielmo Varamo Argopispo Cantuariense y primado de Inglaterra, y otros cinco Obispos de grande autoridad. Pero el que mas se mostrava era Juan Fishero Obispo Rof- fense, varon por cierto exemplar, y no solaraente lurabrera del reyno de Inglaterra, sino de toda la christianidad, espejo de santidad, sal del pueblo, y verdadero Doctor de la Yglesia. El qual salio en pubUco, y presento a los Legados UN Libro doctissimo que avia escrito en defension del matrimonio del Rey y de la Reyna, y araonestoles con razonaraiento gravissimo que no buscassen dificultades donde no las avia, ni permitiessen que se pervirtiesse la ver dad clara y manifiesta de la sagrada Escritura, y se debilitasse la fuerga de las leyes ecclesiasticas que en esta causa eran evidentes, y estavan tan bien entendidas. Que pensassen y considerassen aten- taraente los danos innuraerables que deste divorcio se podian seguir: el odio entre el Rey Enrique y Carlos Eraperador: las parciaUdades de los princi^ pes que los seguirian: las guerras craeles de fuera y dentro del rejmo: y lo que le mas importava, las dissensiones en materia de la Vh, sgismas, heregias, y sectas infinitas. Yo dize por aver estudiado esta materia, y gastado en elia mucho tierapo y trabajo, oso afirmar que no ay en la tierra potestad que pueda deshazer este matriraonio, ni desatar lo que Dio atd. BISHOP FISHER. 283 Y esto que digo no solaraente lo pruevo claramente EN ESTE LIBRO, COU los testiraouias de irrefragable de la sagrada Escritura, y de los santos Doctores, pero tambien estoy aparejado a defenderlo con el derramainiento de mi sangre: dixolo Roffense, y como lo dixo, assi cumplio. Aviendo hablado de esta manera aquel varon illustre por la faraa de su doctrina, exceUente por la santidad de la vida, ad mirable por la dignidad de Perlado, y por sus canas venerable." A manuscript copy of Fisher's book is said to be araong the books presented by the Duke of Nor folk to the Royal Society. We raay hope to have aU that relates to this venerable prelate in a raore tangible forra when the Rev. John LcAvis's Life of hira shall be given t(^the world: we have the satis faction to add that it has been some time at press, under the editorial care of the Rev. Theodore Wil liaras of Hendon, and cannot faU to prove a valuable addition to Ecclesiastical Biography. 284 The Instrument of the King's gift to the Cardinal after his forfeiture by the premunire, which so much revived his hopes, is printed by Rymer and by Fiddes. The following is the Schedule appended to it. v. Life p. 224. The Money, Goods, and Cattells, given by the King's Grace to the Lorde Cardinali, whereof mention is made in the King's Lettres Patentes hereunto annexed. Fyrste in Redy Money, mmm li. Itera, in Plate, Njme Thovjsand Fyve Hundred Threscore Fjrve oz. dira. quarter, at iij^ viij'' the oz. araounteth to mdcclii li. iij* viii''. Itera, Dyvers Apparell of Houshold, as Hangyngs, Beddyng, Napry, and other thyngs, as appereth by the Inventorie of the sarae— araountyng in Value by Estimation, dccc li. Item, In Horses and Geldyngs Ixxx Arith their Apparel, valued by Estimation, CL li. Item, in Mules for the SaddeU vi. with their Appa rell, valued by Estimation, lx //. schedule. 285 Item, in Mules for Carriage vi Arith their AppareU, valued by Estimation, xl li. Item, in Lyng on thowsand valued by Estimation, XL li. Item, in Cod and Haberden viij c valued by Esti mation, XL li. Item, in Salt viii Waye valued by Estimation, x I. Item, in Impleraents of the Kytchen as Potts, Pannes, Spitts, Peawter Vessell, and other things necessarie for the sarae, valued by Estiraation, lxxx /. Item, LII. Oxen valued by Estimation, lxxx I. , Itera, in Muttons lxx valued by Estimation xii/. Item, the AppareU of his Body, valued by Estima tion, ccc ^. Sumraa, vi M. ccc. Ixxiv. I. iijf vii^ ob. 286 A Memoryall of suche Communication as my Lorde Legatts grace had with the Queues Almoner. [ex. MS. inter archiva academia cantabrig.] This interesting paper is published in Fiddes, from the communi cation of fhe learned and Reverend Mr. Baker. It is so neces sary a supplement to the very interesting interview of the two Cardinals with Katherine, given by Cavendish, that I could not resolve to withhold it from the reader, who may not chance to have ready access to Dr. Fiddes' ponderous volume. Fyrst my lordes grace taking for introduction 8c commencement of his graces purposes 8c devyses, excogitate by the same for the totaU extermination of suche heresies as daily encreased in Cambrydge : 8c that his grace thought more convenyent the sarae to be done by the coramyssaries then the Bysshops of Rochester or EUe, shewed his pleasure 8c deter raination was to send him thyther, as well for that he was of good reputation 8c credytt there, beinge a M'' of a coUedge in the same, as also for that he had in tymes passed used hym in lyke busyness. To which the said M' Almoner, fyrst excusing the remission of his wonte „and bounde offyce 8c dewtie in vysitinge his grace, 8c most humblie beseching the same not to impute yt as preceding of any alienation of his trewe queen katherine's OBJECTIONS, ETC 287 hart 8c devotion he bare unto the same, answered, that he woold most gladly taike upon him the said province 8c jomey; desyringe nevertheles his grace that he might defer the sarae untyU 20 dayes were past 8c expired, in which space he might well per- forrae his residence at Wjmdesore. Unto which pety- cyon his grace condescendjmg, Sc takynge the sarae as a fuU resolution in that behalfe, pretendinge also to have had noon other cause or matter unto him, fyn- ished that coramunicacion, and sodenly asked hym what tydyngs he had hard of late in the courte? — To this he answered, that he hard noon, but that yt was much brated that a Legatt shuld corae hyther into England. — ^Whereuppon his grace inferred what the quene thought of his coraynge, and for what pur pose he should corae? To this he said, that she was fuUy perswaded 8c believed that his coraynge was only for the decision of the cause of raatriraonie dependinge betweene her 8c the kinges highnes. Hereupon ray lordes grace taking just occasion further to entre in this mater, 8c fyrste makyng re hersaU of sondrie excellent benefitts with which his grace had indewed hym, to thend he shuld doo the kings highnes trewe 8c faithfull serrice, 8c sitbe ad juring bim upon his fidelitie, his othe, 8c sub sigillo confessionis, and suche other obtestations, to conceale 8c kepe secrete whatsoever his grace shuld then cora- 288 QUEEN CATHERINE'S OBJECTIONS, ETC. municate unto hyra, and never to propale the same to any raan lyvyng, oonles he had expresse com mandement by the kyngs highnes or his grace so to doo, desyred hyra that he wold faithfully entierly 8c hooly declare unto his grace all 8c singuler soche thinges as he knewe of the queues dysposicion, rainde, sayings, purpose 8c intent in this mattier. To this the said M'^ Almoner fyrst alleging 8c de- clairing of how singuler and perfytt devocyon he was towards the kyngs hyghnes and my lords grace, 8c that he wold not oonly be moost redy to execute his coraraandements, but also to kepe secrete suche things as his grace shuld Avyll him so to doo: an swered, that he hard the quene oft sale that yf in this cause she myght attaine 8c injoye her naturall defence &C justice^ she distrusted nothing butt yt should taike suche effecte as shuld be acceptable both to God 8c man. And that for theese causes : — Fyrst for that it was in the ieies of God moost plaine 8c evydent that she was never knowen of Prince Arthure. Secondly, for that neyther of the judges were competent, being bothe the kings subjects^ beneficed within his realrae, 8c delegate frora the pope at the conteraplation of the king, she being never hard, ne adraytted to her defence. Thirdly, for that she ne had ne myght have within this realme any indifferent counsaUe. Fynally, for that she had in QUEEN CATHERINE'S OBJECTIONS, ETC. 289 Spaine two bulles, the oone beinge latter daite than the other, but bothe of suche effycacie 8c strengthe, as shulde sone remove all objections 8c cavyllations to be maide to thinfringing of this matryraonie. To this my lord's grace replying said, he marvelled not a lyttle of her so undyscrete ungodly purposes 8c sayings, which caused him to conceyve that she was neyther of suche perfection, ne vertue as he had thought in tymes past to have been in her: Sc so entering in refutation of all the premisses said: — Fyrst, where she saithe that she Avas not knowen of Prince Arthure, verely it is a weake 8c much un sure groAvnde for her to leane unto, being so urgent 8c vehement presumptions non solum Juris, sed etiam de Jure to the contrarie, which and of congreuence ought to wey more in every equall judges brest then her symple allegation. For it cannot be denied but that bothe he 8c she was then of suche yers as was mete and hable to explete that act. It is also verey notarie, that thei dyd lye together, bothe here 8c in WayUes, by the space of three quarters of a yere. Furthermore, nothing was so muche desyred of bothe there parentes as the consummation of the said act: Insomuche that the counsaUers of Ferdinando being resident here for that purposse dyd send the sheets thei ley in, spotted Arith blonde, into Spaine, in fuU testimonye 8c prouf therof. The counsaiUers also VOL. II. u 290 QUEEN CATHERINE'S OBJECTIONS, ETC. of bothe parties raoste solemnelye sworne affearme in there treaties Sc saien that the matryraonie was consummate by that act. Fortherraore the coraen voyce through England is, that the said Prince Ar thure shuld oftymes boost oon mornyng how ofte he had been the nyght before in the myddes of Spaine: Insorauche that commonlye his so primature deathe was imputed onely to nimio coitu. Fynally, King Henry Vllth of blessed memorie, wold not by certaine space after the deathe of the saide prince, permytte or suffer that the kings high nes shuld injoye the narae Sc tjrtle of Prince, onely for that it was dowbted by such as than was raost abowte the quene whether she was conceaved wyth chylde or noo. And therefore these presumptions beinge of suche sorte 8c nature, my lords grace said, the quene shuld do lyke neyther Avyse ne vartuouse lady to adhere partinacely to the contrarie. To the seconde his grace replied, saying that if she shuld refuse and decline the judgment of those parsons uUto whome the pope's holiness had dele gated the exaraination of this cause, she shuld not do well, butt so doing rather incurr the indignacyon of the see apostolique, deserve the obloque Sc hatred of all good chossin people 8c ingenerate in there hartes a perpetuall hate 8c enmitie against her. For sythe the popes holines proceadythe in thys com- QUEEN CATHERINE'S OBJECTIONS, ETC. 291 myssyon at the intercession or motion of no partie, but onely ex mero motu pastorali officio, 8c sith that his holines notArithstanding he being notoriously cer- tyfied that they be the kings subjects, 8c benefyced Arithin his realme hathe approved there parsons as moost mete and worthie to have the hole decision of this cawse comrajrtted unto thera: Arith that also theire parsons be qualyfyed vrith so hyghe preemy nence 8c dignitie, as by the common lawe cannot be refused as suspect. Fjmallie sythe the same par sons being straitiy coraraanded by the king's hygh nes, all affection of mede or drede set apart, onely to attend, waye, regard Sc consyder the justyce of the cawse as they shall themnto answere on perell of there OAvne sowles 8c his dreadfull indignacion, have no cawse which thei shuld varye or deflect their sentence otherA\ryse than justyce shall require, speciaUy in a cawse of suche wayght 8c importance, 8c wherin they for unrighteouse judgement shuld acquire nothing els but theire OAvne darapnation, eter nall ignoininie 8c indignation of theire prince: yf she shuld refuse suche parsons as suspect, it might well be saide that she geveth tyties honour to the aucto ritie of the churche, Sc that this realrae were raarve- louslie destytute of raen of sincere learnyng 8c con science, to the great slaunder of the same. And fynaUy his grace said, that yf this exception u2 292 QUEEN CATHERINE'S OBJECTIONS, ETC. shuld be adraytted as suffycyent cawse of recusation, for that they be benefyced by the kings hyghnesj than this cawse of matrymonie myght nowhere be ventylated or dyscussed within Christindone, for that there are no parsons of auctorite 8c lernjmg in any regyon out of this realme, againe whome the king's highnes might not alleadge, in lyke manner, lyke cawse of recusation Sc suspicion. The pope's holines Sc the hoUe clargie of Ytallie, Flaunders, Spaine, Denmarke 8c Scotlande, being now eyther confederate or in thraldome 8c captivitie of the emperor's tyranny. To the third, concerning counsaUlors to be re tained on her behalf, my lords grace saide, that al though he was ryght well assured of the kings sin guler propencyon 8c inclination to justyce, 8c that above all things his pleasour was justyce shuld be equally mynistred to eyther parte in this cawse, being also never Avylling or in mynde at any tyme, but that she shuld have aide and assistance of so well lerned men, so wyse, and of so good conscience, as might any be founde Arithin this realme: yet his grace thought that consydering the nature of this cawse to be of suche sorte, as necessarily irapliethe the hole tytle of succession of this realme, lyke as yt were not expedyent, ne myght in any wyse be suffred withowt great dangier Sc perell which might therby ensue, to maike any aliene or straunger pre- QUEEN CATHERINE'S OBJECTIONS, ETC. 293 vie herunto, specially the Spaniards having now inteUigence vrith the King of Scotts; So his grace thought that the quene wold not insyst in so fryvo- lous petition, which might never be graunted unto her, but be content to admytt and adhybyt suche lerned men as be here in this region her counsaUlors, namely suche as by theire othes solempnly maide 8c vowed, Sc by expresse comraanderaent et optima gratia of the king's highnes, shuld Arithowt frawde or cor ruption shew unto her theire sentence and openions : and desyring the contrarie hereof his grace said she shuld doe nothing but declare her OAvne sensuall affection to sett forthe that whiche, all due prouf, bothe by Gods lawe 8c mans law hath justiy con demned. And thus ended my lords graces talke with M"^ Almoner. *^* Robert Shorten S. T. P. then master of Pem broke Hall and canon of Windsor was almoner to the queen, preferr'd by her to the deanery of Stoke Suffolk, the same that was intermmcius cardinali de evocandis viris doctis Cantabrigia Oxoniam, and sometime dean of the cardinal's chapel. 294 Itinerary of Cardinal Wolseys last Journey Northward, 1530. He set out from Richmond at the beginning of Pas sion Week, but we know not on what precise day. The first days joumey was to Hendon in Middlesex, where he lodged for the night at the house of the abbot of Westrainster. The next day he reraOved to a place called the Rye, the abode of the Lady Parry. The third day to Royston, AA^here he lodged in the monastery. The fourth day to Huntingdon, where he sojourned for the night in the abbey. On Palm Sunday he reached the Abbey of Peter borough, which he made his abode untU the Thursday in Easter week, his train for the most part being at board wages in the toAvm. Here he celebrated Palm Sunday, going with the monks in procession, and bearing his palm with great humility. He kept his Maunday on the Thursday so named, with the ac custoraed ceremonies and bounties to the poor. On Easter Sunday he also went in procession in his cardinal's habit, and performed the service of high mass very devoutly. wolsey's LAST JOURNEY. 295 From Peterborough he went to visit his old friend Sir WUliam FitzArilliams, about four miles from thence, who received him Arith great joy and hospi tality. He went there on Thursday in Easter week and remained until the Monday following, on which day he went to Stamford and lay there that night. On Tuesday he went to Grantham, where he lodged in the house of a gentieman naraed Hall. On Wednesday he reraoved to Newark, where he rested in the castle. On Thursday to Southwell, where was a palace belonging to his see of York, but this being out of repair he was lodged in the house of one of the pre bends. At Whitsuntide he reraoved into the palace, keeping a noble table, where he was visited by the chief persons of the country. At the latter end of grease time he reraoved to Scroby, another house belonging to his see of York, being as much regretted at Southwell as he was greeted at Scroby. In his way to Scroby he took Welbeck or Newsted Abbey, from thence to Rufford Abbey to dinner, and slept at Blythe Abbey, reach ing Scroby on the foUowing day, where he remained until Michaelmas. About Michaelraas day he reraoved to his seat of Cawood Castle, twelve miles (said by Cavendish to be only seven) from York, and in his way thither he 296 WOLSEY'S LAST JOURNEY. lay two nights and a day at St. Oswald's Abbey, where he held a confirmation. He lay at Cawood long after, says Cavendish, with rauch honour. His clergy here waited upon hira to take order for his inthronization, which he seems to have desired should be conducted vrith as little pomp as possible. The cereraony was fixed to take place on the Mon day after All HaUown Tide, but he was arrested on the Friday before (fourth of November) at Cawood, by the Earl of Northumberland and Mr. Welsh. They left Cawood vrith him in custody on Sunday the sixth. The first night he was lodged in the Abbey of Pomfret. The next day [7*] they removed to Doncaster. The third day [8""] to Sheffield Park, a seat of the Earl of Shrewsbury (afterwards appointed by Queen Elizabeth for the meeting of her and Mary Queen of Scots, which never took place), where he continued eighteen days, being there seized with the flux. Here Sir William Kingston the Constable of the Tower came to take charge of his person, and on Thursday the twenty-fourth of November they set forward, the cardinal hardly able to sit upright on his mule. They passed the night at Hardwicke upon Line in Nottinghamshire. (-See note on the Life, p. 311.) On Friday the twenty-fifth they rode to Notting ham, and lodged there that night. wolsey's LAST JOURNEY. 297 On Saturday the twenty-sixth at night, they reached Leicester Abbey ; he had raany tiraes like to have faUen from his mule by the way; telling the abbot as he entered he had corae to lay his bones araong them. He graduaUy became worse, and died at eight o'clock in the morning of Tuesday November the twenty- ninth. Beside tlte solemn mass performed by Cardinal Wolsey upon the ra tification qf peace between the French and English kings, which is desaHbed at p. 126 qftlie Life, he officiated at another great cere mony qf thanksgiviTig upon occasion of the Pope's deliverance from captivity. Tke particulars of which are preserved in the archives qf the Herald's College in an aneient book written by Tkomas Walle, Windsor Herald, and publisked by Dr. Fiddes at p. 179 qf his Collections. For tlie convenience qf tlie reader who may not possess Dr. Fiddes's Life qf Wolsey, I have thought it desirable to place this curious relation in my Appendix. The Comming and Reseyving of the Lord Cardinali into Powles for the Escaping qf Pope Clement VII. A. D. 1527. A" Regni Henrici VIII. XIx•^ Memorandum that the fifth day of January beyng Sunday even in the year aforesaid, the Lord Thoraas Wolcy CardinaU of Yorke Sec. landyd betweene eight of the clocke and nyne in the raorninge at the 298 CEREMONY AT ST. PAUL'S. Black fryars at London, with great company of noblemen and gentiemen, where met Arith him the Embassadours of the Pope, of the Emperour, the Frenche kinge, of Venise, of Florence, of Millain. And so procedyd on horseback unto Powles church dore, where they did alight. And ther the ofEcers of armes longing unto the king gave there theire at tendance, and at his alighting put on there sootes of armes. And here was also foure of the doctors, pre- bendarys of the sayd Powles, in copes and grey arays, which bare a rich canape over hira of cloth of gould. And so the lord cardinaU procedyd, havyng them- perours erabassadour on his right hand, and the Frenche kinges [erabassadour] on his lifte hand, untiU he carae to the arches where was prepared a bank vrith quyshions and carpets, where the said Lord kneled, and there raete hira, in Pontificalibus, the Bushop of London, the Bushop of St. Asse [Asaph] which censyd hira: And the Bushop of Lincoln, the Bushop of Bath, the Bushop of Llandaff, the Lord Priour of Westra"", the Priour of St. Saviours, th Abbots of Stratford, and of Towerhill, the Priour of Christ-churche, of St. Mary SpyteU, Arith other to the some of xvi miters. And so the procession of the hole quyer procedyd fourth, havyng thambassa- dours with him as afore, up to the quier, and so to the high aultier, wher, his oblation doon, he went CEREMONY AT ST. PAUL's. 299 \rith him into his travers, and duringe that the howre was a singing he was revestyd in Pontifica libus, and then he vrith all the other prelats, the quiere of Powles and his hole quiere, with his suit of rich copes, went in procession within the said church, the officers of arms about him, and next after him thembassadours, and then the Mayor of London, and the other estates and gentleraen, with the alderraen of the cittie. The procession doon, the Masse of the Trinity was begun, songen by the Byshop of London; the Priour of St. Mary Spittell GospeUer; the Priour of Christ Church Pistoler. The masse doon the lord cardinaU vrith the other prelatz went unto the quyer dore, where Doctor Capon declaryd the calaraities, miseries, and the opprobrious deeds and works, with the great suffrance that our raother the Holy Churche hath sufliyd, not allonly by the Lutherian sorte, which was lyke to have sortyd to an ungracious effecte; but also now of late of the great unhappy delings of the Paynymes, and violators of our Chris- tien faith, the raen of warr belonging to the emperor. In the sorroAvful destmction of Rorae, where they, like raiscreantz, nothing regarding nother God nor shame, violentlye tooke and by force imprisoned our Holy Father the Pope, the Avhich now of late by the helpe of our Lord God, which se his churche in 300 CEREMONY AT ST. PAUL'S. p'dicion, did releive hit againe; insorauch that our said Holy Father is escapyd their hands, wherfore the Lord Legats grace by the kings comraanderaent hath here caused as this day, this noble asserable to be had, to the end that lauds praysings and congra tulations might be gyven by all trae Christien peo ple unto Almighty God, and the hole corapany of Heaven. And thus doing, the said lord cardinaU did give his benediction to all the people. Which Doctor Capon sayd, much more than I can reherse, and this doon the sayd lord retoumyd to the aultier wher the lord cardinal began TeDeum, the which #as solempnly songen with the kingis trurapetts and shahnes, as well Inglishmen as Venysians, which doon every man repayred home. And the Lord Legat CardinaU went to his place to dynner, and the embassadours Arith him. Copied out of an ancient book written by Thomas Walle Windsore, and afterwards Garter, folio 126. Exa mined by us, WILLIAM LE NEVE. L. YORKE. DANCER HANCOCKE. 301 The Ceremonial of receiving the Cardinal's Hat sent by the Pope to Wolsey. Extracted from a MS. m the Herald's Office. Ceremon. vol. 3. p. 219. [from fiddes' collections. SEE cavendish, vol. i. p. 29.] In the yeare of our Lord 1515, the 15* dale of November, being Thursdaie and the seaventh yeare of our sovereigne lord King Henry the Eight, the said prothonitary enter'd into London, which before according was mett bothe at the sea side, likevrise at Canterbury and at Rochester Arith the bishop of the same, and at Black Heath theare mett with him the Reverend Father in God the Bishop of Lin colne, the Earle of Essex, and many other gent, of great honour, both spiritual and temporal, and soe proceeded through London, the Bishop of Lincolne ridinge on the right hand [of] the said prothonitary and the Earle of Essex on his left hand, having Arith them sixe horses or above, and they all well beseem ing and keeping a good order in their proceeding. The Maior of London Arith the aldermen on horse back in Cheapside, and the crafte stoode in the streets after there custome : and when the said Hatt was coraen to the Abbey of Westminster, wheare at the north door of the same was redie th Abbot and eight abbotts besides hira, all in pontificalibus, and honorabilie received it; and in like sort the sarae conveied to the high alter, wheamppon it was sett. The Sundaie next foUovring, the eightenth dale, the most Reverend Father in God my Lord Cardinal, weU accompanied Arith noble and gentiemen, both spiri tual and teraporal, being on horseback, as knights, barons, bishops, earles, dukes, and arch-bishops, aU 302 THE CEREMONIAL OF in due order proceeded from his place betwixt eight and nyne of the clocke to the abbey; and at the dore beforesaid, his grace with all the nohle raen de scended from their horses and went to the high alter, wheare on the south side was ordeyned a goodlie travers from my Lord Cardinal, and when his grace was comen into it, iraediatelie began the Masse of the Holy Ghost, songen by the Arch-bishop of Can terbury, the Bishop of Lincoln Gospeller, and the Bishop of Excester Epistoler, th Arch Bishops of Armachan and Dublyn, the Bishops of Winches ter, Duresme, Norwiche, Ely, and Landaffe, and viii abbotts, as of Westminster, Saint Albans, Bury, Glastonbury, Reading, Glocestre, Winche-Combe, Tewkesbury, and the Prior of Coventrie, aU in ponti ficalibus. The Bishop of Rochester was crosier to ray Lord of Canterbury during the mass. M' poctor Collet, Deane of Powles, made a brief coUation or proposition, in which especially he touched thre things. That is to witt, the name of a cardinal, and wheareof it is said, alsoe the highe honour and dig nitie of the sarae, and as keeping the articles due and belonging to it, and by what meanes he obtained to this high honour chieflie, as by his oavu merits, theare narainge divers and sundrie vertues that he hath used, which have been the cause of his high and joyous promotion to all the realme. The second cause of his proraotion was through our sovereigne lord the king, for the greate zeale and favour that our holy father the pope hath to his grace. The second thing, is touching the dignitie of a prince as having power judicial. The third, of a bishop signifying both the old and newe lawe, and havinge the power of them, and also the highe and great power of a cardinal, and howe he betokeneth the free beames of wisdorae and charitie, which the aposties received of RECEIVING THE CARDINAL'S HAT. 303 the Holie Ghoste on Whitsundaie, and a cardinal re- presenteth the order of seraphin, which continually brenneth in the love of the glorious Trinity; and for thies considerations a cardinal is onelie apparrelled Arith redd, which coUour oneUe betokeneth noble ness ; and howe these three estates before named be coUocated and placed in heaven, also he exhorteth theare ray lord cardinal, saying to hira in this Arise : Non magnitudo superbum extollat nobilitatissimum hono- risq; dignitate. But reraember that our Saviour in his owne person said to his disciples, Non veni ministrari, sed ministrare; Sf qui minor inter vos hie maior regno Celorum, et qui se exaltat humiliabilitur, Sf qui se humiliat exaltabitur; my lord cardinal, be glad and enforce your selfe always to doe and execute righteousness to riche and poore, and mercy with truth ; and desired all people to praie for him that he might the rather observe these pojmts, and in accomplishinge the same what his reward shaU be in the Kingdom of Heaven; and so ended. The Bull was read by Doctor Vecy, Deane of the King's ChappeU, and Excestre, and at Agnus Dei came forth of his travers my Lord Cardinal and kneeled before the middle of the high alter, wheare for a certayne tjmie he laye gravelling, his hood over his head, duriag benedictions and prayers, concerning the high Creation of a Cardinal, said over hhn by the Right Reverend Father in God the Arch- Bishop of Canterburie, which alsoe sett the hatt uppon his head. Then Te Deum was sung. All service and ceremonies finished, my Lord carae to the doore be fore-named, led by the Dukes of Norffolk and Suffolk, where his grace with all the noble men ascended uppon their horses, and in good order proceeded to his place by Charing Crosse, next before him the crosse, proceeding it the mace such as belongeth a cardmal to have, and then my Lord of Canterbury, 304 THE CEREMONIAL, ETC. havinge no crosse bome before him, with the Bishop of Winchester, before them the Duke of Norffolk and and Suffolk together, and in like order the residue of the noblemen, as the Bishop of Durham with the Popes Orator, then the Marquess Dorsett with the Earle of Surrey, the Earle of Shiewsburie, the Earle of Essex, the Earle of Wiltshire, the Earle of Derby, the Lord of St. Johns, the Lord Fitzwater, the Lord of Burgaveny, the Lord Dawbeny, the Lord WiUoughby, the Lord Hastings, the Lord Ferrers, the Lord Lattimer, the Lord Cobham, and the Lord Darcey, Sir Henry Marney, Sir John Peche, Sir Thomas a Parr, Sir Nicholas Vaux, and so all other Banneretts, Knyghts, and Gentlemen before, after their degrees, and foUoAring his grace the Arch bishop of Armachan and Dublyn, the Bishops of Lincolne and Norwiche, Excestre, Ely, and Roches ter, and the , after them, my Lords Car dinals place, being well sorted in every behalfe, and used with goodlie order, the hall and chambers gar nished very sumptuouslie Arith riche arras, a great feast kept as to suche a highe and honourable crea tion belongeth. At the Avhich were the King 8c Queene and the French Queene, vvith all the noble men above specified, alsoe present at the creation the Lord Fineaux, the Lord Read, the Barons of the Exchequer, vrith other Judges and Serjeants at Law. ' FINIS. J C. Whittingham, College House, Chlawic]^.' YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 01426 1821