7WK , LADIES OF THE REFORMATION ,MEMOIRS OF DISTINGUISHED FEMALE CHARACTERS, BELONGING TO THE PERIOD OF THE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. REV. JAMES ANDERSON, AUTHOR OF "THE LADIES OK THE COVENANT," KTC. ILLUSTRATED BY J. GODWIN, J. W. ARCHER, &c. ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND THE NETHERLANDS. BLACKIE AND SON: LONDON, EDINBURGH, GLASGOW, AND NEW YORK. 1IDCCCLVIII. GLASGOW: W. O. BlAtKIK AND CO., VIIXAF1ELIX PBEFACE. No revolution, since the age of Christ and his apostles, can be com- pared in magnitude and beneficial results with that of the Reforma- tion in Europe in the 16th century. By elevating the authority of the Sacred Scriptures above human authority, and asserting the right of every man to judge of their contents for himself, it released the human mind from the fetters of Popish implicit faith, and restored it to the free exercise of its powers. It was thus to the mind of man like a resurrection from the dead; and from the terrible shock it gave to the Papacy, wherever established, entirely overthrow- ing that system in some countries, together with its powerful influence in advancing civil liberty, commerce, science, and literature, it forms the commencement of a new era in the history of Europe. From recent events in England, particularly from the progress of ^xford Tractarianism, and the Papal aggressions, the study of this great revolution has become anew important, that, under a deeper impres- sion of the blessings we have derived from it, our gratitude may be quickened, first to the Great Ruler of the church and the world, to vi Preface. whom, as the efficient cause, it is to be attributed, and next to those distinguished individuals who, under Him, were the instruments in achieving it. The new claims which, from these circumstances, the history of the Reformation has upon our attention, suggested to the author the composition of the present work. A series of biographical memoirs of distinguished females in the principal countries of Europe, who supported or contributed to this great revolution by sympathy, action, or heroic suffering, when adherence to the principles of the Reformation exposed them to peril, and even to death, had nob hitherto been written, though the lives of particular individuals had engaged the pen of the biographer, and such a work seemed to offer an opportunity of presenting various of the leading facts in the history of the Reformation in a somewhat new connection, as well as of introducing notices of the characteristics of the period, and episodes in real life, altogether omitted, or only slightly touched upon, in general history, though partaking sometimes even of a romantic interest. The amount of materials for such an undertaking varies as to the different lives. In some it is scanty and fragmentary ; in others it is so voluminous that a single life might easily have been extended to a volume. In the composition of the lives the materials for which are most abundant, the author has endeavoure'd to select the most interesting portions ; and, while compressing his matter within as narrow limits as possible, to give, at the same tune, a degree of fulness to the narrative. The authorities from which he has derived his facts will be seen in the course of the biographies. Whenever Preface. vii practicable he has consulted the original sources of information, the great importance of which must be obvious to all conversant with historical inquiry. These memoirs being in a great measure historical, it seemed necessary to their 'being the more clearly understood, that the reader should have placed before him the contemporaneous events and characters with which the subjects of the memoirs were con- nected. This information the author has endeavoured to supply, sometimes in the course of the lives themselves, and, as this was not always practicable without too great a digression from the point in hand, at other times in the general introductions prefixed to the biographies under each country, which embrace, for the most part, a general view of the history of the Reformation in the respec- tive countries to which they relate. This, it is hoped, will leave the reader at no loss as to the general course of the events of the period, in so far as connected with the ladies brought under review. Had the author's limits permitted, he would have included under the English portion notices of some of the female martyrs who suffered during the reign of Queen Mary, and under the Netherlands portion notices of several other females who underwent martyrdom in that country. Multitudes of the tender sex in these, as well as in other parts of Europe, thus signalized themselves for God ; and church martyrology has preserved the memorials of the mar- tyrdom of various of them, though even the names of by far the greater number have not been transmitted to posterity, and are to be found recorded only in the registers of the Lamb under the altar. The author's object has not been to write a martyrology ; viii Preface. but many illustrations of the intolerant spirit of Popery are adduced in this work. In answer to these, Eomanists and a certain class of professed liberal writers will quote the instances of Protestant into- lerance of the same period, in proof that Protestants were then no better in this respect than Romanists intolerance, as they allege, being a characteristic of the age, not peculiar to one ecclesiastical party or religious system. But this is to draw a conclusion for which the facts of the case, when fully and impartially stated, afford no warrant. For, first, all the instances of Protestant intolerance, when put together, dwindle into insignificance when compared with the dreadful details of the cruelties of the Papacy, and the vast multitudes whose lives it has sacrificed, amounting, as has been estimated, since its first rise, to upwards of 50,000,000 of persons. 1 Secondly, while persecution in no party is to be screened from merited censure and opprobrium, it is to be remembered that Pro- testants had come out of a persecuting church, and that the intole- rance of which they were in some instances guilty, being traceable to the lessons they had received from Eome, she is fairly respon- sible for it. And, thirdly, what the reader should specially notice, intolerance is at variance with one of the fundamental principles of Protestantism the principle that every man has a right to judge for himself in matters of religion ; whereas intolerance is in entire harmony with Romanism, which, in its standard books the decrees of its councils, and the bulls of its popes denies the right of private judgment, and unequivocally sanctions the principles of persecution ; so that the persecutions which it has carried on have not arisen 1 Brace's Free Thoughts on the Toleration of Popery, p. 127. Preface. ix simply from the depraved impulses of man's nature, from tempo- rary fitful outbursts of popular fury, or from the violence of certain atrocious individuals, but from the teachings of the Popish religious system. The principles of Protestantism, when acted upon, inevitably lead to toleration; those of Popery, when acted upon, as inevitably lead to persecution. The characters whose lives are here narrated, the author presents to the public rather as the representatives of the great leading principles of the Eeformation against Popery, than as the sup- porters of any particular denomination of Protestantism, for they belonged lo Protestants of different shades of opinions. In the programme of the ecclesiastical condition of Christendom during the reign of Antichrist, given in the Apocalypse, the Spirit of God takes no note of the differences and divisions among the Eeformers, de- scribing only two parties Antichrist, and those ranked on the Lamb's side in opposition to Antichrist by which he seems to teach us that earnest, intelligent, and faithful witnesses against this the great enemy of Christ, would be found among the various parties of the Reformed Church, though these parties should not all be reformed to the same extent. By this principle the author has been guided in selecting and narrating the lives of these ladies. Differing as they necessarily did in intellectual powers, in opportunities of religious improvement, in diligent inquiry, and in the circumstances in which they were placed, they were not equally enlightened in their views of divine truth, and they held different sentiments on some religious points. But they were united on many great important truths revealed in God's Word, which are denied or corrupted by Popery ; and they x Preface. all sympathized with, or promoted, by suffering or action, the great religious movement of the 16th century. In these respects they occupy the same position, and are entitled to the grateful remem- brance of Protestants of every name. The author has only to add, that he intends to continue these biographical sketches in another volume, embracing Lives of Ladies of the Reformation in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, and Spain. EDIUBUBGH, November 14, 1854. CONTENTS, Page PREFACE, ........... y LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, ........ xiii LADIES OF THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION, ........ 1 ANNE OF BOHEMIA, queen of Richard II., 33 ANNE BOLEYN, second queen of Henry VIII., 57 ANNE ASKEW, daughter of Sir William Askew, knight, of Kelsey, . 136 KATHARINE PARR, sixth queen of Henry VIII., .... 180 LADY JANE GREY, . , . . 244 KATHARINE WILLOUQHBY, Duchess of Suffolk, . . . . . 315 ANNE DE TSERCL AS, wife of Bishop Hooper, 365 KATHARINE VERSIILIA, wife of Peter Martyr, 400 QUEEN ELIZABETH, . . . 418 MILDRED COOKE, Lady Burghley, ....... 461 ANNE COOKE, Lady Bacon, 484 LADIES OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION, . . . . . . . .513 KATHARINE HAMILTON, sister of Patrick Hamilton, the martyr, . . 523 HELEN STARK, wife of James Ranoldson, 528 ISABEL SCRIMQER, wife of Richard Melville, 535 ELIZABETH ASKE, wife of Richard Bowes, and MARJORY BOWES, wife of John Knox, .... 540 ELIZABETH CAMPBELL, wife of Robert Campbell, of Kinyeancleugh, . 551 ELIZABETH KNOX, wife of John Welsh, 563 xii Contents. - * ___ LADIES OP THE REFORMATION IN THE NETHERLANDS. Pagt HISTORICAL, INTRODUCTION, ........ 577 WENDELMUTA KLAAS, a widow of Monickendam, .... 595 LYSKEN DIRKS, wife of Jeronimus Segerson, . . . . 601 MRS. EGBERT OGUIER, of the town of Lisle, 619 BETKEN, maid-servant to Peter van Knlen, goldsmith in Breda, . . 627 ELIZABETH VANDER KEKK, widow of Adam van Diemen, . . 631 CHARLOTTE DE BOURBON, Princess of Orange, .... 634 LOUISE DE COLLIGXT, Lady Teligny, afterwards Princess of Orange, . 666 APPENDIX, . . . . . . .... . 703 Anne Boleyn's Letter to Henry VIII., from the Tower, . . 703 Popish Plots against Anne Boleyn, . . . . . . 704 Lady Jane Grey's Letter to her father, written three days before her execution, ......... 708 Lady Jane Grey's Letter to her sister, Lady Katharine, written on the evening before her execution, in the end of the Greek New Testa- ment which she sent to Lady Katharine, . . . . 709 Notice of Lady Katharine Grey, sister of Lady Jane Grey, . .710 Notice of Ladies Anne, Margaret, and Jane Seymour, daughters of Ed- ward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, . . . . .713 Maria van Reigersherg, wife of Hugo Grotius. Manner in which she liberated Grotius from prison, ...... 714 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. LADIES OF THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. D: Engraver. I 'oh.e THE DAWN OF THE REFORMATION, . . Frontispiece. Godwin. Linton. AN ALLEGORY,* Engraved Title. Godwin. Vizetelly. Ornamental heading to Preface, Humphreys. Bolton. V Ornamental heading to Introduction, Humphreys. Bolton. 1 Tail-piece Preaching Cross, Hereford, Jewitt. Jewitt. 31 Tomb of Richard IL and Anne of Bohemia, in Westminster Abbey, as now existing, Archer. Williams. 33 Border and Ornamental Initial-letter, Humphreys. Bolton. 33 Court Costume, time of Richard IL, Archer. Bolton. 39 Lutterworth Church, Leicestershire, as now existing, . . Archer. Williams. 43 Hever Castle, Kent, as now existing, Archer. Bolton. 57 Part of the Gallery in Hever Castle, Archer. Bolton. 66 Horologe presented by Henry VIII. to Anne Boleyn, Folkard. Folkard. 73 Miss Gainsford and Zouch, her lover, Godwin. Linton. 76 The Papal Tiara, Folkard. Folkard. 79 The English House, Antwerp, Archer. Bo'.ton. 83 St. Mary's Abbey, York, as now existing, Archer. Bolton. 94 Anne Boleyn and Matthew Parker, Godwin. Linton. 103 ARREST OF ANNE BOLEYN, Godwin. Linton. 104 Anne Boleyn a prisoner at the Gate of the Tower, . . Godwin. Linton. 105 Archer. Bolton. 107 TRIAL OF ANNE BOLEYN, Godwin. Linton. 117 * The spirit of religion encouraging and consoling adherents to the reformed faith, under Romish persecution. The stake, accessories, and the monk officiating in the douhle capacity of jailer and executioner, typify the means resorted to for the subjugation of heretics. The upper portion of the design depicts the apotheosis of a martyr. XIV List of Illustrations. Draufoumcm. Engraver. PjQ Facsimile of the name of Aune Boleyu on the wall of the Marten Tower, . . . . , Archer. Bolton, 135 Ornamental heading, Humphreys. Bolton. 136 Anne Askew at her Midnight Devotions, Godwin. Lintou. 144 Pix of the Fourteenth Century, Jewitt. Jevritt. 152 Anne Askew examined before Bonner, Uodwin. Linton. 153 Anne Askew's Maid and the Apprentices, Godwin, Liuton. 16G Applying the tortnre of the Rack, ; . . . v '. .' . Watt. Folkard. 167 BURNING OF ANNE ASKEW AND OTHERS, .... Godwin PaUiel. 175 Ruins of Keudal Castle, Westmoreland, .'.... . Archer. Bolton. ISO Snape Hall, Yorkshire, as now existing, . . . . , . Archer. Bolton. 183 Hampton Court, time of George II., ....... Archer. Bolton. 189 London and Simons paraded in disgrace through Windsor, Godwin. Linton. 193 SERMON BEFORE QUEEN KATHARINE PARR, . . . Godwin. Thomas. 213 Gardiner inciting Henry against Katharine Parr, . . Godwin. Jackson. 216 Reconciliation of Henry and Katharine Parr, .... Godwin. Jackson. 223 THREATENED ARREST OF KATHARINE PARR, . . . Godwin. Thomas. 225 Sudley Castle, Gloucestershire, as now existing, . . . Archer. Bolton. 234 Chapel of Sudley Castle, . Archer. Bolton 233 Fail-piece Ancient Faldstool, . . Jewitt. Jen-itt. 243 Remains of Bradgate House, Leicestershire, .... Archer. Bolton. 244 LADY JANE GREY AND ROGER ASCHAM, Godwin. Thomas. 253 Rich Female Costume, time of Edward VI., .... Archer. Bolton. 261 Durham House, London, time of Charles I., .... Archer. Williams 267 Sion House, Middlesex, as now existing Archer. Bolton. 273 Ridley Preaching at St. Paul's Cross, Godwin. Jackson. 283 Baynard's Castle, London, time of Charles I., .... Archer. Bolton. 286 Lady Jane Grey at Dinner in Partridge's House, . . . Godwin. Linton. 292 Pompous Parade of Popish Priests, Godwin. Linton- 298 LABY JANE GREY AT THE PLACE OF EXECUTION, . , Godwin. Thomas. 311 Tail-piece Ancient Sconce, Jewitt. Cewitt. 314 Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire, as now existing, . . Archer. Bolton. 315 Part of Weston Stow Hall, Suffolk, time of Henry VIII., Archer. Eolton. 818 Bishop Gardiner in Confinement, Godwin. Vizeteliy. 826 List of Illustrations. xv Drati^lttmtan. Engraver . Page Remains of Winchester House, time of George IV., . . Archer. Bolton. 340 The Flight from Santon to Wesel, Godwin. Vizetelly. 350 Tail-piece Stone Pulpit, Buckenham, Norfolk, . . . Jewitt. Je\vitt. 364 Ornamental Heading Humphreys. Bolton. 365 Old St. Paul's, London, time of Elizabeth Archer. Williams. 369 The Romerberg, Frankfort, as now existing, nine. Jackson. 379 Old House in Gloucester where Hooper lodged, . . . Johnson. Bolton. 392 Place of Hooper's Martyrdom, Gloucester, Johnson. Bolton. 393 The High Street, Oxford, modern view Mackenzie. Williams. 400 The Shrine of St. Frideswide, Oxford, Jewitt. Jewitt. 412 Tail-piece Portable Shrine, Malmesbury Abbey, . . . Jewitt. Jewitt. 417 Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, Archer. Bolton. 418 Woodstock, Oxfordshire, as existing iu 1714, .... Archer. Bolton. 427 Shene Palace, Surrey, as now existing, Archer. Solton. 456 The Holbein Gate, Old Whitehall, time of Charles I , . Archer. Bolton. 459 Ornamental Heading, Humphreys. Bolton. 461 SIR ANTHONY COOKE INSTRUCTING ins DAUGHTERS, Godwin. Thomas. 461 Burghley House, Northamptonshire, as now existing, . Archer. Bolton. 470 Lady Burghley's Monument, Westminster Abbey, . . Archer. Bolton. 480 Tail-piece Bracket, Lincoln Cathedral, Jewitt. Jewitt. 483 Ornamental Heading, Humphreys. Bolton. 484 York House, London, time of Charles I Archer. Bolton. 493 Archbishop's Palace, Lambeth, time of George II., . . Archer. Bolton. 499 Gorhambury, Hertfordshire, time of George III., . . Archer. Bolton. 503 LADIES OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. Ornamental Heading to Introduction, Humphreys. Bolton. 513 Ornamental Tail-piece to Introduction, Humphreys. Bolton. 522 Ornamental Heading and Initial-letter, Humphreys. Bolton. 523 Helen Stark parting with her Child, Godwin. Jackson. 533 Tail-piece Lich-gate, Jewitt. Jewitt. 53!) John Knox's House, Edinburgh, as in 1846 Drummond. Williams. 540 Castle of Kinyeancleuch, Ayrshire, as existing, .... Johnson. Williams. 551 Tail-piece Ancient Chalice, Jewitt. Jewitt. 562 xvi List of Illustration*. Draughtsman, Engraver. Paye Ornamental Heading, Humphreys. Bolton. 563 Linlithgow Palace, as now existing Collie. Williams. 567 MBS. WELSII'S INTERVIEW WITU KING JAMES, . . Godwin. Vizetelly. 572 LADIES OF THE REFORMATION IN THE NETHERLANDS. Ornamental Heading to Introduction, Humphreys. Bolton. 577 Tail-piece Halberts of the period, Watt. Keck. 591 Ornamental Heading and Initial-letter, Humphreys. Bolton. 595 Wendelmuta Klaas aud the Dominican Friars, .... Godwin. Jackson. 597 Antwerp Cathedral, from the Egg Market, ..... Vizetelly. Vizetelly. 601 Ornamental Heading, Humphreys. Bolton. 619 Mrs. Oguier and her Son, ............ Godwin. Jackson. 624 Tail-piece Ancient Staircase, Jewitt. Jewitt. 626 Ornamental Heading, Humphreys. Bolton. 627 The Townhall, Utrecht, as now existing, Johnson. Williams. 631 Ornamental Heading, Humphreys. Bolton. 634 Charlotte de Bourbon instructing the Nuns of Jouarre, . Godwin. Jackson. 638 The Town and Castle of Heidelberg, as now existing, . Hine. Heaviside.641 Charlotte tending the wounded Prince of Orange, . . . Godwin. Vizetelly. 660 Tail-piece Ancient Lettern, Jewitt. Jewitt. 665 Ornamental Heading, Humphreys. Bolton. 666 The Elector and the Portrait of Colligny, Godwin. Vizetelly. 676 The Townhall, Delft, as now existing, Hine. Jackson. 679 ASSASSINATION OF THE PRINCE OP ORANGE, . . . Godwin. Jackson. 681 The Townhall, Middleburg, as now existing, Read. Heath. 685 The Hague, distant view, Archer. Bolton. 687 Louise de Colligny on her Death-bed, Godwin. Jackson 700 Ornamental Tail-piece Humphreys. Bolton. 716 Dairies of fl)t &*&rmation IN ENGLAND. " We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt, aud the Lord brought ue out of Egypt with a mighty hand " (Deuteronomy vi. 21). " What we have heard and known, aud our lathers have told us, we will not hide from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he bath done " (Psalm LXXVIII. 3, 4). INTRODUCTION. HE first of the subjects of the biographical sketches included in this division of our work carries us back to the times of John Wickliffe. The others lived in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. We shall therefore, in intro- ducing them to the reader, touch upon the instrumentality of Wickliffe in the advancement of Divine truth, and then advert to some of the prominent features of the reigns of these sovereigns, considered particularly in their relation to the struggles of the Eeformation in England, with the history of which the lives of these ladies are more or less connected, and a cause which all of them had embraced or supported from conviction, though not with equal zeal and intelligence, nor with the same spirit of self-sacrifice. The Reformation in England in the sixteenth century was not an outburst for which there had been no previous preparation. Revolu- tions generally seem to the superficial observer to happen abruptly, but they are always the effect of causes which, though hidden and unnoticed, have been previously in operation, preparing the way for the great catastrophe. These causes, like those in operation in the physical world, may work slowly and by insensible degrees, and there 2 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. may, from our ignorance of the counteracting influences -which may spring up in the course of events, be much uncertainty, even to the mind which sees their operation, whether they will issue in the catas- trophe to which they naturally tend. But when the catastrophe does take place, and when we philosophically trace back and investigate the causes, it will be found that the remote and general causes have had such influence, that without them the direct and immediate causes could not have produced the result. In looking at the imme- diate causes, there will often appear such a disproportion between them and the effects produced, as to excite our surprise that so great events should be brought to pass by so small causes, but when we examine the subject more minutely, we will discover that the imme- diate causes have been indebted for their efficacy to a long chain of preceding causes. It was so in regard to the Reformation in England as well as in Germany. To go no farther back than the fourteenth century in tracing the influences set at work by Providence in preparing the way for the Reformation which signalized the reign of Henry VIII., a brief glance at the labours of John Wickliffe, will show that they were intended by Providence to have something like the same relation to the Reformation as the seed-time to the harvest. Before he came into public view, his predecessors in the same cause, Fitzralph, Bradwardine, and others, had gone to their rest. Into their labours he entered. The work they had left he took up with increased energy and success. From the theological chair, when professor of divinity at Oxford, and from the pulpit, on his becoming rector of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, he boldly denounced the arrogant pretensions of the Pope and the Papal priesthood, attacked the doctrines of Popery, and proclaimed the pure doctrines of the gos- pel. He did the same thing by his numerous writings, of which the most important was his translation of the entire Scriptures, which he executed from the Vulgate, being ignorant of Hebrew and Greek. To disseminate the sacred volume in English among the people, his object in. this undertaking, was quite a novel idea, and ENGLAND.] Introduction. was in itself an important step in the cause of the Reformation. Many portions of the Bible had been translated into English before his time, but to translate them for general circulation appears never to have been contemplated by the translators, and the translations were generally buried in the library of some man of wealth, or in some monastery. It was Wickliffe who first took down the Bible from the shelf, and shook off the dust with which it had been covered for ages, that it might become common property. Was it not Heaven's great gift to the whole human family 1 Why then should it be sealed tip in an unknown tongue 1 Why should it not be translated into English, that his countrymen might be able to read in their own language the wonderful works of God 1 To do this would be doing something worth living for, something for his generation, and some- thing for posterity. Such were the thoughts which filled his mind, and he diligently set himself to the task, which, after the labour of many years, he completed about 1380. These combined labours produced great effects. His opinions infected not a few of the paro- chial clergy, the University of Oxford, many of the aristocracy, and multitudes of the common people. So numerous were his converts, even in his own day, that, according to the testimony of a popish contemporary, " starting like saplings from the root of a tree, they were multiplied, and filled every place within the compass of the land." After his death his doctrines continued to spread throughout England, notwithstanding the efforts of the adversaries to suppress them. His various writings, and especially his translation of the Scriptures, both the whole of it and copies of particular parts, were multiplied by transcription, as they had been during his lifetime, the expenses being defrayed by persons of rank and wealth, and they were the means of making many converts. A single copy of the Scriptures, or detached portions, would serve the inquirers of a whole district, who in times of persecution would assemble in some friendly house where the manuscript was secreted, and where, drawn from its place of concealment, it was read by one of their number to the company, who listened with eager and devout attention. This continued even 4 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. down to the reign of Henry VIII., when the disciples of WicklifFe were so widely diffused throughout the country, that Sir Thomas More, mainly, it would appear, upon this ground, predicted the speedy ascendency of heresy in England. 1 Thus did the humble rector of Lutter worth mightily contribute more perhaps than any other individual to prepare the way for the great revolution which shook and overthrew the Papal system in England in the sixteenth century. He was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, " Prepare ye the way of the Lord." He was " the morning star of the Beformation." Had circumstances been as favourable in England in the fourteenth century as they were in Germany in the beginning of the sixteenth, this great man would have achieved for the former country what Luther did for the latter. That step by which Henry VIII. separated England from the Papal jurisdiction, is, from its important influence on the Reformation in England, deserving of special attention, though we can only glance at some of the leading facts connected with it. In the beginning of the year 1527, if not at an earlier period, Henry began seriously to contemplate a divorce from his queen, Katharine of Aragon, the widow of his brother Arthur, on the alleged ground of scruples of conscience as to the lawfulness of a marriage contracted with a sister-in-law ; but his real motives, it was generally believed, were his decayed affection for Katharine, in consequence of her faded beauty and declining health, and his passionate desire to have a son to succeed him, a felicity he could not expect without a new marriage, as he was hopeless of more issue by his present queen. The idea of the divorce originated with Cardinal Wolsey. This is agreed upon by all contemporary writers. Katharine uniformly ascribed it to him, never to her husband, and affirmed, probably with truth, that his motives were to be revenged on her because she had censured his profligate life, and on her nephew Charles V., because he had not raised him to the Pontifical chair. Wolsey himself confessed that 1 See Vaughan's Life of Wickliffe, passim. ENGLAND.] Introduction. he was the author of the project to the French ambassador, Bellay, at a time (October, 1528) when he was not likely to have made the declaration, had it not been true, for then the subject had become so embarrassing as to occasion serious regret to all concerned that it had ever been stirred. The suggestion was made to Henry in the year 1526 ; and to strengthen him against Charles V., by allying him to Francis I. of France, Wolsey's plan was that his master should marry Margaret of Valois, sister of Francis, and at that time widow of the Duke of Alengon. In March, that year, we find him directing the attention of Henry to this princess, and he also procured her portrait for the inspection of the amorous monarch. 1 When the question was fii-st presented to the attention of Pope Clement VII., in 1527, during his imprisonment in the Castle of St. Angelo by the imperial army, which had taken Rome by storm, rest- ing his hopes of being restored to freedom upon the sovereigns of England and France, he professed the most cordial desire to gratify Henry's inclinations. 2 But after Charles, with the view of engaging him to thwart Heniy in his wished-for divorce, had determined to restore him to liberty, circumstances being changed, new motives operated on his mind, and entirely revolutionized his sentiments in regard to the divorce. Perceiving that the emperor was full of resentment at Henry's proposal of degrading Katharine of Aragon, his aunt, and would on no account consent to the divorce, he dreaded having any hand in a transaction which might bring upon him anew the wrath of the emperor, whose unscrupulous power he had so recently experienced. 3 He besides became afterwards bound to Charles by the very advantageous treaty into which he entered at Barcelona, 1 Turner's History of the Reign of Henry VIII., vol. ii., pp. 139-149. 2 Robertson's History of Charles V., book v. 3 That such were the feelings of the Pope, appears from the following passage of a letter from his secretary, Sanga, to Campeggio, dated Viterbo, 2d September, 1528, when Campeggio was preparing to go to England as the Pope's legate about the affair of the divorce, and the triumph just gained by the arms of Charles V., in Italy, over Francis I. of France, would give additional intensity to these feelings : " Our lord the Pope, esteeming himself, as your most reverend lordship knows, most deeply obliged 6 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. in June, 1529, with that sovereign, who, as some atonement for his ignominious treatment of the Pontiff, granted him highly favourable terms. Had it not been for the terror of Charles, and for the advan- tages to be derived by preserving his friendship, the Pope would certainly have yielded at once all that Henry prayed for ; but thrown into the perplexing dilemma of breaking either with Charles or Henry, neither of whose favour he was willing to sacrifice, he hesitated, would come to no decision on the question of the divorce, and having recourse to a procrastinating and duping policy, alternately encouraged Henry by promises, and discouraged him by retracting them, seemed at times to grant him all when he intended to do nothing, being resolved to hold the divorce in suspense, convinced that the moment he issued a sentence agreeable to the one sovereign, the other would become his irreconcilable enemy. Irritated at the tergiversation and delays of the Pope, Henry, set- ting the papal authority at defiance, settled for himself the long agi- tated question, by marrying Anne Boleyn in the beginning of the year 1533. On the 23d of May, Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, in a court held at Dunstable, pronounced not a divorce, but a sentence on the former marriage, to the effect, that having been contracted contrary to the law of God, which forbids marriage with a deceased brother's widow, it was null, and had been so from the beginning, and on the 28th of the same month he judicially confirmed at Lambeth Henry's union with Anne Boleyn. Indignant at Cranmer for presumptuously encroaching on his pre- rogative, by pronouncing Katharine's marriage with Henry to be, and to have ever been void, his holiness issued a bull annulling Cranmer's judgment ; and on the llth of July, braving the displeasure of the to that most serene king, there is nothing of such magnitude that he would not wil- lingly do to gratify him ; but still there is need that his holiness, seeing that the Em- peror is victorious, and having reason, therefore, to expect to find him not averse to peace, should not rashly give the Emperor cause for a new rupture, which would for ever obliterate all hope of peace ; besides, that his holiness would undoubtedly bring down ruin and destruction upon his whole estate." Ranke's History of the Popes, book i., chap. iii. ENGLAND.] Introduction. monarch, he published a decree, which was affixed on the public places at Dunkirk, threatening to excommunicate him unless he separated from Anne Boleyn, and restored all things to their former state before September following. Henry instantly appealed from the Pope to a general council lawfully called ; l and Cranmer, foreseeing the storm which was gathering around his own head, made a similar appeal, by the king's advice. Both appeals were transmitted to Edmund Bon- ner, afterwards Bishop of London, who had been sent as his majesty's envoy to the Pope, to co-operate with Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, who had previously been despatched to protect his majesty's interests. In November Boniier obtained an audience of the Pope, and on reading Henry's appeal, his holiness, to use the words of Bonner, " fell in a marvellous great choler and rage, not only declaring the same by his gesture and manner, but also by words. He was continually folding up and unwinding his handkerchief, which he never doth but when he is tickled to the very heart with great choler." He requested that the words might again be read to him, upon which, " not a little chafing with himself, he asked what I had more." Two days after, Bonner returned to the Pontiff, to receive an answer as to his majesty's appeal. He had to wait two hours, during which his holiness was engaged in the very laudable and edify- ing occupation of " blessing beads, and suffering ladies and nobles to kiss his foot," and then he received an answer expressed in a tone of civility, but yet in a manner indicating suppressed resentment. "My mind towards his highness," said he, " always hath been to minister justice, and do pleasure unto him, although it hath not been so taken. I never unjustly grieved his grace that I know, nor intend hereafter to do ; but as there is a constitution of Pope Pius, my predecessor, that doth condemn all such appeals, I therefore do reject his grace's appeal as frivolous, forbidden, and unlawful." 2 Bonner had an addi- 1 His appeal is dated 30th July, 1533. It is printed in Rymer's Fcsdera, vol. xiv., p. 476. 2 Burnet's History of the Reformation in England, Oxford, 1816, vol. vi., pp. 54, 58. 8 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. tional ungracious task to perform, that of submitting Cranmer's ap- peal ] to his holiness. By this appeal, combined perhaps with the peremptory and arrogant manner which formed a part of Bonner's character, his holiness was so exasperated, as to threaten to throw him into a caldron of melted lead, or to burn him alive. " Bonner," says Turner, " having himself no taste for the agonies of fire, to which he afterwards doomed so many without pity, was glad to make a precipitate escape." 2 In his irritation at the Pope, Henry, even while negotiations for effecting a reconciliation between them were going on, assembled his Parliament in January, 1534, and got it to pass various bills destruc- tive of the papal authority in England. It was, for example, enacted, that hereafter no appeals should be made to the court of Borne, but that all causes ecclesiastical should be judged by the prelates within the realm ; that first-fruits, annates or St. Peter's pence, should be no longer paid to the See of Eome ; nor palls, bulls, nor dispensations of any kind procured from thence ; that monasteries should be subjected to the visitation and government of the king alone ; that it was no heresy to call in question the Pope's authority; that Campeggio. Bishop of Salisbury, and Ghinucci, Bishop of Worcester, two Italians, should be deprived of their bishoprics, as being foreigners and non- resident. In the same Parliament the marriage of the king with Katharine of Aragon was declared to be void, Cranmer's sentence annulling it ratified, the marriage of the king with Anne Boleyn con- firmed, the succession to the crown settled on the issue of this marriage, and an oath in favour of this succession was to be enforced under the penalty of imprisonment during the king's pleasure, and the forfeiture of goods. On the 30th of March the Parliament adjourned to the 3d 1 It is dated 22d November, and is printed in Burnet's Reform, vol. vi., p. 61. 2 Turner's Reign of Henry VIII., vol. ii., pp. 340-345. At this time, however, as Fuller quaintly observes, " Bonner was not Bonuer, being as yet meek and merciful. . .... Bonner began to Bonner it to display the colours of his cruelty in 1540, after being made Bishop of London." Worthies of England, vol. ii., p. 468; and his History, vol. ii., p. 99. ENGLAND.] Introduction. of November, and, what was ominous of the times, during the whole session a bishop had preached at St. Paul's cross in condemnation of the Pope's authority in England. 1 The variance between Henry and the Pope was, however, not yet desperate. Some prospect of a speedy amicable adjustment still pre- sented itself. By the interposition of Francis I., in an interview with the Pope at Marseilles, in October 1533, his holiness promised to pronounce the desired sentence of divorce, if Henry sent a proxy to Eome, and submitted his cause to the Eoman See. Cardinal John de Bellay, Bishop of Paris, being immediately despatched by Francis to London with the communication, succeeded in obtaining from Henry a promise of submission, provided the cardinals of the em- peror's faction were excluded from the Eoman consistory. Bellay hurried to Eome to lay Henry's terms before the Pope, who expressed his readiness to accept them, but required that they should be drawn out in writing and subscribed by Henry, and fixed a certain day for the return of the messenger with the signed agreement. Thus a peaceful conclusion to this long and serious difference seemed to be at hand. But mark how great revolutions often turn on some slender circumstance ! The messenger having been detained, did not arrive with the document at the appointed day ; and certain reports had in the meantime reached the Vatican, "that a libel had been published in England against the court of Eome, and a farce acted before the king in derision of the Pope and cardinals." This roused the fury of these ecclesiastical dignitaries, and yet the Pope from timidity was reluctant to proceed to extremity, but yielding to his cardinals, he pronounced in conclave, March 23, 1534, twenty-two cardinals being present, a final sentence, that Henry's marriage with Katharine of Aragon was valid and canonical ; that he was bound to cohabit with her as his wife ; that he should be compelled to do so ; that all molestations against this marriage were unlawful ; and that he should be for ever Lord Herbert's Life of Henry VIII., London, 1649, fol., pp. 371, 372. 10 Ladies of t/te Reformation. [ENGLAND. silent on the subject. 1 This sentence, in the circumstances so rashly pronounced, irrevocably sealed the doom of the papacy in England. Two days after, the messenger arrived with Henry's promise of sub- mission, and the Pope now bitterly repented the precipitate step into which he had been hurried, and sat up all night perplexing his brains in the attempt to devise a remedy. Common sense might have suggested the recalling of the sentence ; but he could not do this without in the very act knocking his arrogated infallibility on the head. He survived his fatuous decision only about six months, having died on the 25th September, 1534 ; but before his death he had the mortification to see his ecclesiastical domination at an end in England. 2 The effect of his sentence, on the tidings reaching Lon- don, was most exasperating. Books immediately issued from the press, to prove that the ecclesiastical supremacy claimed by the Pope is a usurpation. Even the monarch himself girded on the har- ness, and entered the field as a polemic. 3 And when Parliament met in November, the decisive blow was struck, by abolishing the papal supremacy in England, and enacting that the king "shall be taken, accepted, and reputed the only and supreme head 011 earth of the church" within his own dominions. 4 Thus was the chain broken which bound England to the foot of the papal throne. 5 In the same Parliament it was enacted, that after the 1st of February, 1535, it would be treason for any person to call the king an heretic, schis- matic, tyrant, infidel, or usurper. It is interesting and instructive to mark the agency of a gracious 1 On the 8th of January the Pope had been vehemently urged by Charles to pro- nounce this sentence, but hesitated, and delayed till this meeting. 2 Turner's Reign of Henry VIII., vol. ii., pp. 347, 348. 3 Strype's Memorials Ecclesiastical, Oxford, 1822, vol. i., part i., p. 230. 4 Hall's Chronicle, p. 816. Lord Herbert's Henry VIII., p. 380. 5 Yet about the same time, at the instigation of the clergy, Henry issued a procla- mation against the importation and reading of the New Testament and other books in English. These books had been for the most part printed abroad, and being imported by stealth into England, had been dispersed by the secret promoters of the Reforma- tion. Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. i., part i., p. 247. ENGLAND.] Introduction. 1 1 Providence in overruling the wayward passions and actings of men for striking off from England the fetters of papal despotism, and for bringing about a revolution so beneficial to her, whether religiously, politically, or socially considered. With this great revolution, reason, conscience, religion, wise and liberal views, had nothing to do. It was not the effect of the teaching and labours of ecclesiastical reformers, or of the power of truth and patriotism on the mind of the English monarch, though he has been eulogized as a "godly and learned king," as "a Moses who delivered his people from the bond- age of Pharaoh." It proceeded solely from the violence of his proud, ungovernable temper, which would brook no restraint, driving him to this course, because obstructed in the gratification of his amatory passions by the Pope. It was what none of the actors on the stage at first contemplated or desired. "Assuredly," as has been well ob- served, "had the tiara deigned to nod to the regal solicitor, then had the 'Defender of the Faith' only given to the world another edition of his book against Luther." 1 Even for several years after the Pope refused to grant him a divorce, Henry never seriously thought of shaking England loose from the papal jurisdiction ; for he had no desire of effecting a reformation, and no desire to encourage a spirit of religious innovation. It was not till the Pope refused or shifted his demands for a divorce, denounced his marriage with Anne Boleyn as null, and threatened to excommunicate him unless he separated from her, that Henry was driven, after a marvellous exercise of patience, considering the impetuosity of his disposition, into the bold measure of abolishing the papal supremacy in England. Wolsey, who injected into Henry's mind doubts as to the lawfulness of his marriage with Katharine, and first suggested the idea of the divorce from hatred to her, and to her nephew Charles V., dreamed of no such catastrophe, else doubtless so zealous a supporter of the Eoman See, to which he was not yet without hopes of being elevated, would never have made the suggestion. Gardiner and Bonner, who were 1 D'Israeli's Amenities of Literature, vol. ii., p. 138. 12 Ladies of ilw Reformation. [ENGLAND. employed as Henry's ambassadors in negotiating with the Pope, desired nothing less than the deposition of his holiness from his supremacy over England. Yet, contrary to the intentions and wishes of all the actors, such was the issue under the overruling providence of Him who maketh the wrath of man to praise him. The reasons of the Pope's refusal to accede to Henry's wishes are also deserving of notice, as other links in the chain of causes which Providence mercifully made use of in accomplishing this revolution in England. Divorces had frequently been granted by papal authority upon grounds less specious than those produced by Henry ; and had the holy father granted the divorce sued for, he would have pre- served his power and jurisdiction over England unimpaired, and Eng- land at this day would in all probability'have still been in connection witli the Boman See. But the dread of incurring the resentment of Charles V. prevented him, and led him to adopt a policy of consum- mate duplicity towards Henry, whom he cheated at every step, the result of which was, that the Pope was found to be the only loser in the game he had been playing. He was minus England, and bitterly did he lament, as his successors have ever since done, the loss of this rich jewel in the papal tiara. Thus Wolsey, Henry VIII., Clement VH., and Charles V., each governed by different motives, but none of these motives higher than human passions and worldly interests, were all instruments, unwil- ling instruments, in the hand of Providence, in emancipating England from papal despotism. Having thrown off the papal authority, and assumed to himself the supreme jurisdiction over the English church, Henry ruthlessly per- secuted such, both ecclesiastics and laymen, as refused to acknowledge his new title as head of the church. Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas More, both strenuous maintainers of the papal supremacy, perished on the block for refusing to acknowledge the ecclesiastical supremacy of Henry. When the oath of succession was tendered to them, they expressed their willingness to swear to the act itself, but not to the preamble, which asserts Henry's new claim. ENGLAND.] Introduction. 13 The news of the execution of Fisher and More caused indescribable horror and indignation at the Vatican : and on the 30th of August, 1535, Paul III., who had succeeded Clement VII., issued a furious hull of excommunication against the English monarch. The bull decreed that Henry should be deprived of all his dominions, and that he and his abettors had incurred the highest penalties, and should be deprived of Christian burial. It laid all places where he or his partizans should come under an interdict, and prohibited the perfor- mance of any divine service or ceremonies in any church, monastery, or place under his subjection. It pronounced his offspring by Anne Boleyn, and the children of all his supporters, born, or to be born, in- famous, and deprived them of all possessions, liberties, and privileges, honours, offices, or property. It absolved his subjects from their allegiance. It forbade all trading and intercourse with him, or with the cities and districts that acknowledged his authority, and dis- solved all contracts with them. It enjoined all ecclesiastics to leave his kingdom, and commanded the nobility of England to rise up in arms against him. It disannulled all treaties with him, and called upon the sovereigns and princes of Europe to make war against him and his supporters. And it ordered the prelates to excommunicate him in their churches. The bull was posted up in Flanders, France, and Scotland. 1 Though suspended in its operation for the present, it ren- dered if possible a reconciliation between Henry and the Vatican still more hopeless. Papal bulls were not now the same terrible things they had been a century or half-a-century before ; and the attempt of his holiness, three years after, to give effect to this bull, by sending Cardi- nal Pole from Rome to foment commotions in England, entirely failed. Henry's abolition of the papal supremacy within his dominions was the first great act in his reign, by which he rendered most im- portant service to the cause of the Eeformation in England. A second was by his suppressing the monasteries, and seizing upon their pro- i Strype's Mem Eccl., vol. i , part i., pp. 511, 512. Turner's Reign of Henry VI1L, vol. ii., p. 464. 14 Ladies oftJie Reformation. [ENGLAND. perty their movables and territorial possessions which he partly appropriated to himself, and partly distributed among his courtiers. This gave a terrible blow to the ancient superstition, on the one hand by the overthrow of institutions which contributed so much to uphold it, and on the other by binding a very powerful class to the new order of things by the ties of self-interest. The third was by his sanctioning the printing and circulation of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue, which prepared the middle classes, who alone at that time could generally read, for the reception of the reformed doctrines, by enabling them to see that these doctrines were agreeable to the Scriptures, while the errors of Popery were contrary to them. A contemporary, writing in the year 1542, gives a very gratifying account of the great change to the better which had taken place in England within the course of a few years, and though it would be incorrect to say that this change was entirely owing to these acts of Henry, yet each of them, and particularly the last, had an important agency in producing it. "I think," says Thomas Becoiv "there is no realm throughout Christendom that hath so many urgent and necessary causes to give thanks to God as we Eng- lishmen have at this present. What ignorance and blindness was in this realm concerning the true and Christian knowledge ! How many [meaning how few] savoured Christ aright 1 . . . . How many believed Christ to be the alone Saviour ? . . . . How many felt the efficacy and power of the true and Christian faith 1 But now Christ's death is believed to be a sufficient sacrifice for them that are sanctified. The most sacred Bible is freely permitted to be read of every man in the English tongue. Many savour Christ aright, and daily the number increaseth ; thanks be to God ! Christ is believed to be the alone Saviour. Christ is believed to be our sufficient Mediator and Advocate. The true and Christian faith, which worketh by charity, and is plenteous in good works, is now received to justify." 1 i Right Pathway unto Prayer, published by Becon under tbe fictitious name of Theo- dore Basilic, and reprinted by the Parker Society in his works. ENGLAND.] Introduction. ] 5 But nothing was farther from Henry's intention than to promote ecclesiastical reformation. As his first great step proceeded from the ungovernableness of his temper, the other two were taken from prin- ciples not more reputable to gratify an all-grasping rapacity, to strengthen his authority for maintaining the position he had taken up, or from mere wayward impulse. By the plunder of the monas- teries he supplied himself with money ; and by dividing a large pro- portion of it among the nobility and gentry, he secured, by the bonds of gratitude and self-interest, th,eir loyalty, thus fortifying himself against the popish continental states which might be disposed to make war against him for throwing off his allegiance to the Pope. And his having sanctioned the dissemination of the Scriptures in the mother tongue, was very much owing to caprice, or to the influence acquired over his mind by Cranmer, who had greatly assisted him in obtain- ing his divorce from Katharine of Aragon. He besides granted this as a boon, which, as flowing from his royal prerogative, he might 'revoke whenever he pleased. He afterwards restricted the reading of the Scriptures in English to a few persons, and to particular occa- sions, enjoining that "no women, except noblewomen and gentle- women, no artificers, apprentices, journeymen, serving-men, husband- men, or labourers, were to read them to themselves or to any other, privately or openly, on pain of one month's imprisonment." l And shortly before his death, he absolutely prohibited the possession of Tyndale's or Coverdale's version of the New Testament to all classes of persons. 2 Having, in consequence of his breach with the Pope, be- come the head of a party opposed to the papal jurisdiction, he was led by the influence of some of that party who were in his confidence, and who contemplated a much farther departure from Eome than he ever did, to contribute in various ways to the advancement of the Pieforma- tion. But he was no Reformer, in the proper sense of the term. To speak of him as such, is altogether to mistake his real character. He was simply a schismatic, a separatist. While he denounced the papal ' Act of Parl. in 1S43. 2 See Life of DucJiess of Suffolk. 16 Ladies of tlw Reformation. [ENGLAND. supremacy, and transferred it to himself, he still continued a Eomanist in heart, 1 and maintained the popish articles of faith as ferociously as he had assailed the supremacy of the Pope. He was not less in- tolerant towards Protestants for denying the popish doctrines, especially the doctrine of transubstantiation, than towards Roman Catholics for maintaining, in opposition to his new claims, that the Pope was head of the universal church. Both were equally perse- cuted ; they were confined in the same cells, and drawn upon the same hurdle to Smithfield. The former were burned as heretics, and the latter hanged as traitors. Pointing to Bilney, Bayfield, and others, whom Henry cast into prison, and committed to the flames, D'Aubigne justly exclaims, " He was not ' the father of the Reforma- tion in England,' as some have so falsely asserted ; he was its execu- tioner." Yet it is never to be forgotten that various of this monarch's political measures had a powerful influence in promoting the Reforma- tion. This is to be remembered, not as putting any honour upon him, but to the praise of the Governor among the nations, who, in his infinite wisdom and mercy, renders, by his controlling agency, the passions of men subservient to the accomplishment of his own great purposes. During the reign of Edward VI., "the English Josiah," as the Reformers both in this country and on the continent delighted to call him, the Reformation was vigorously prosecuted under the direction of Archbishop Cranmer, aided with the advice of distin- 1 Luther correctly formed this estimate of the ecclesiastical character of Henry, of whose opposition to the Pope he speaks with the utmost contempt, though Henry gave a deadlier blow to the papacy than the great German reformer is willing to allow. " Henry VIII., king of England," says he, "is now also an enemy to the Pope's person, but not to his essence and substance ; he would only kill the body of the Pope, but suffer his soul, that is, his false doctrine, to live. The Pope can well endure such an enemy ; he hopes, within the space of twenty years, to recover his rule and government again. But I fall upon the Pope's soul, his doctrine, with God's word, not regarding his body, that is, his wicked person and life. I not only pluck out his feathers, as the King of England and Prince George of Saxony do, but I set the knife to his throat, and cut his windpipe asunder. We put the goose on the spit ; did we but pluck her, the feathers would soon grow again. Therefore is Satan so bitter an enemy unto us, because we cut the Pope's throat, as does also the King of Denmark, who aims at the essence of Popery." Luther's Table Talk, p. 205. ENGLAND.] Introduction. 17 guished foreign Protestants; and had the life of this youthful sovereign, who was only in the tenth year of his age at his accession, been spared, and the same ecclesiastical policy been persevered in, the reformed church, as established in England, would have approximated nearer than it now does to the reformed Church of Scotland, in its worship, discipline, and government, even as ita articles of faith harmonize with the confession of that church: But his death, which took place on the 6th of July, 1553, when he was aged only fifteen years, eight months, and twenty days, after he had reigned not quite six years and a half, arrested the work of reformation, and was followed by the overthrow of that work, accompanied by a sanguinary persecution. After a brief struggle, caused by the usurpation of Lady Jane Grey, his sister Mary, eldest daughter of Henry VIII. by Katharine of Aragon, ascended the throne. Mary was undoubtedly a sincere believer in the Eoman Catholic religion, in which she had been strictly educated by her mother ; and the validity of her mother's marriage, and consequently her own legitimacy and right of succession to the English throne, being bound up with the Church of Borne, personal interests as well as filial piety, combined with inward conviction to attach her strongly to that church. That revolution in England which threw off the papal yoke, having also, by pronouncing and dissolving as illegal the marriage between her father and mother, labelled and pilloried her mother as her father's mistress, and herself as a bastard in the eyes of all Europe, the Eeformation was contemplated by her as responsible for this affront this stigma, this outrageous wrong, as she believed it to be though the great body of the Eeformers had nothing to do in the matter. The Pope, on the other hand, having stood forth as the de- fender of the lawfulness of her mother's marriage and of her own legitimacy, the papacy became endeared to her by the ties of grati- tude, as it was venerated by her from blinded superstition. Thus her eager zeal as a Eomanist, uniting with the rancorous hatred pro- duced in a mind naturally sullen by a sense of wrong, made her the stern implacable enemy of the Eeformatiou. 18 Ladies oftlw Reformation. [ENGLAND. Upon the death of her brother, she was enthusiastically supported by the great body of the people, as being the rightful heir to the crown, in opposition to a noble lady of high character and accomplish- ments, and none were more zealous in her cause than the Protestants, who expected, as she promised them, to enjoy toleration in the pro- fession of their faith ; a promise which, in the true spirit of Popery, she perfidiously belied. No sooner was she securely seated on the throne, than she gave distinct indications of the persecuting policy she had purposed to adopt. Her appointment of Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, to be chancellor and her chief adviser, and her restoration of Edmund Bonner to the bishopric of London, two of the most virulent persecutors of the reformers during the reign of her father, were signs of ominous import, and awakened painful apprehensions in the minds of many of the reformers. Their worst forebodings were too truly realized. She proceeded to repeal all the acts of her brother's reign in favour of the reformed religion, to re-establish Popery, to enact persecuting laws against heresy, to restore the Pope to that supremacy of which her father had deprived him ; and during the last years of her reign a horrible scene, which must render her memory inglorious and hateful to all coming ages, opened, delighting the Roman Catholic priesthood, but inspiring the great mass of the people with terror a scene of barbarous per- secution against the Protestants, which, though shorter than many pesecutions which have raged, has hardly been surpassed in ferocity since the bloody reign of Dioclesian. Burning was the common mode of putting heretics to death; and, according to one account, there were consumed in the flames five bishops, twenty-one divines, eight gentlemen, eighty-four artificers, one hundred husbandmen, servants, and labourers, twenty-six wives, twenty widows, nine virgins, two boys, and two infants, one of which springing from its mother's womb as she was burning at the stake, was immediately snatched up, and inhumanly flung into the fire. 1 Besides these many perished in 1 Speed's History, p. 852. This account makes the number committed to the flames ENGLAND.] Introduction. 19 prisons, by starvation, impurity of the atmosphere, and barbarous, treatment, while hundreds fled the kingdom, to seek safety on foreign shores. The sanguinary character of this terrible reign is fully detailed in the pages of Foxe, whom, like many others, Mary forced into exile, and thus gave him leisure for writing his Martyrology for telling posterity the tale of her cruelties ; and harrowing as is the record, it is well that it is preserved to keep fresh in the memory of England the deeds of atrocity which give an infernal character to this reign, and exhibit a type of the true spirit of Eomanism in all ages, whenever it has had the power. Little to be envied is the man who can read the history of the cold-blooded murders then perpe- trated in England, without feeling his soul swell with indignation, and the thought simultaneously rising up in his mind, Woe to Britain when popish bigotry shall wield its destinies ! During somewhat more than a year and a half after Mary's acces- sion to the throne, no Protestant blood was shed, though many Pro- testants were imprisoned. This comparative lenity was not, however, owing to her. Had her fervent wishes, which were the extermination of heretics, been gratified, she would, immediately on her accession, have enacted the terrible scenes of persecution which darkened the close of her reign. What prevented her from doing so was not her humanity, nor even present expediency, but the restraints imposed under this persecution 277. Different writers vary slightly as to the number, some raising it to 300. These various relations, " sufficiently different to assure us that the relators were independent witnesses, who did not borrow from each other, are yet sufficiently near to attest the general accuracy of their statements." Sir James Mackin- tosh. According to Lord Burleigh, an authority of great weight on this point, who gives the number in each county and under each year, with the places of execution, the number burnt in 1555, beginning in February, was seventy-one, in 1556 eighty-nine, in 1557 eighty-eight, and from February, 1558 to September, forty ; amounting in all to 288, and giving an average of seventy-two for each year. Strype's Mem. Ecel., vol. iii., part ii., pp. 554-556. From this table it appears that the persecution proceeded at about an equal pace during the whole of that period. Towards the close, when it was conducted under Cardinal Pole, who has so often been commended, but unde- servedly, for his moderation, there was no relaxation, and no symptoms of relaxation. Had Mary's life been prolonged, the persecution, there is every reason to believe, would have been carried on with the same unmitigated rigour. 20 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. upon her by her privy council, a strong party of which, on various grounds, particularly from hostility to Gardiner, the chancellor, opposed themselves to blood-thirsty measures. This is evident from the letters of Simon Renard, Charles the Fifth's ambassador at the English court, to his master ; and it is to be observed, as giv- ing the stronger weight to his testimony, that all his leanings were in favour of the Queen. From one of these letters, dated 28th April, 1554, we learn that Mary's cruelty required to be held in check, even by this callous Spaniard, who, in recommending moderation, acted from no higher motive than state policy. " Sire, The Queen has more maturely weighed what I represented to her within these few days, (as contained in my last letters to your majesty), the troubles, namely, which might arise from the divisions in the council, of what great consequence it was to bring the Parliament to a close, and to proceed gently in the reformation of religion, to avoid giving the people any ground for a new rebellion, and to provide a strong force for the safe passage and entry of his highness into the kingdom." 1 In another letter, dated 1st May, 1554, he writes: "The Queen holds Paget in great suspicion for two reasons, which she gave me. The first, that when it was proposed in the Parliament to make it high treason for any one to take arms against his highness, Paget spoke more violently against it than any one ; although, before this, to the Queen herself he had declared it quite right : the other, that when a bill was brought in for the punishment of heretics, he used all his influence with the lords to oppose it, and to give no room for punishment of death."' 2 In a subsequent letter he says : "This morning the Queen sent me word by Basset, that the Parliament finished yesterday, much to the content- ment of the estates, the reputation of her majesty, and the satisfaction of all, that the ancient penalties against heretics were assented to by all the peers." 3 Again, in a letter dated 13th May, 1554, he writes: " Sire,- Paget, stung with remorse, has lately presented himself to the Queen 1 Tytler's Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary, vol. ii., p. 378. 2 Ibid, vol. ii., p 335. 3 Ibid, vol. ii., p. 388. ENGLAND.] Introduction. 21 after her mass, and asked her mercy for his intrigues in the late Parlia- ment against the act for the punishment of heretics, and the statute which made it capital to take arms against his highness ; . . . . pro- testing that for the future he would serve her majesty with faith and loyalty. After some remonstrances, the Queen pardoned him, re- commending him to behave better in time to come" l Some Protestant writers have affirmed that, abstracted from her erroneous notions as to the power of sovereigns and of laws over 1 Ibid, vol. ii., p. 392. Miss Strickland, the accomplished biographer of the Queens of England, attempts to whitewash Mary of the guilt of the Protestant blood shed during her reign, by throwing the blame upon her ministers. Speaking of her during her severe illness at the close of her life, she says : " So much ridicule has been cast on the mistake made in the Queen's situation [the mistake of her disease for pregnancy] that no person has asked the obvious question, Who governed England during the time which embraced the commencement of the Protestant persecution and her violent illness?" She again asks, "Who can believe that a woman in this state of mortal suffering was capable of governing a kingdom, or that she was accountable for anything done in it?" Vol. v., p. 405. In answer to this it is to be observed, 1st, that Mary distinctly knew of these barbarities. " That they were transacted by her bishops with- out her knowledge," says Ballard, " will seem very strange to any one who duly con- siders the vicinity of St. James's to the place where very many of them were put in execution. It seems impossible that Smithfield should be kept in flames for so long a period, and Queen Mary know little or nothing of it." Learned Ladies, p. 134. That she knew all about it appears from many passages in the despatches of Noailles, the French ambassador at the English court. 2dly, These barbarities were committed by her orders, or with her approbation. This also is manifest from the despatches of the same ambassador. Gardiner was her prime minister during the first stages of the persecution, and Cardinal Pole during the last three years of it. With these ministers she was in constant communication during their respective periods of power, and they enjoyed her entire confidence, because they fulfilled her wishes more perfectly than she believed any others would have done. Had she been averse to the shedding of blood, Pole, who aimed chiefly at pleasing her, would perhaps have acted with less severity. 3dly, The enacting of these cruelties was just the carrying out of the policy which, as the above extracts from Renard's correspondence abundantly show, she contemplated at the commencement of her reign. Let it further be observed, that in the directions which she gave in writing to her council, with respect to the reformation of the church, just before the persecution commenced, she expressly says : " Touching the punishment of heretics, we thinketh it ought to be done without rashness, not leaving in the mean- while to do justice to such as by learning would seem to deceive the simple. Espe- cially in London, I would wish none to be burnt without some of the council's presence, and both there and everywhere good sermons at the same time." Collier's Eccl. Hist., vol. ii., p. 372. Burnet, vol. iv., p. 402. 22 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. religious opinions, which made her a persecutor from principle, she was of a compassionate and humane disposition. 1 This estimate of her character is unhappily not borne out by facts, which prove her to have been morose, gloomy, vindictive, unrelenting. It may suffice to advert only to her cruel punishment of such as had been concerned in Wyatt's rebellion, caused by the unpopularity of her projected marriage with Philip of Spain. This rebellion not being Protestant, it could not be a misguided conscience, but the ruthlessness of her temper which impelled her to severity. So inexorable was she, that her councillors, as we learn from Renard's correspondence with Charles V., had some difficulty in prevailing with her to put a stop to these cruelties. Writing to Charles, 22d March, 1553-4, on this subject, Renard says : " On Sunday last the councillors (moved by the pre- meditated intrigues of the heretics) came to a resolution that, as it was a day of devotion, the Queen should be entreated to exercise clemency, and not to shed the noble blood of England ; that already the justice inflicted on the rebels amounted to cruelty; that the people ought to be forgiven ; and that she ought not to follow the opinion of bloody men, meaning the chancellor [Gardiner]. On the instant they determined to set off to find her majesty, and remonstrate on this subject ; and they employed Paget, who is banded with them (as much I believe from hatred to the chancellor as for his religious opinions, which are suspected to be heretical), to carry the request to the Queen. From this neither Petre nor the comptroller [Sir Piobert Rochester] dared to dissent. They found the Queen in her oratory after vespers ; and not only took her by surprise, having given her no warning, but talked in such a way that, against her wishes and goodwill, she pardoned six gentlemen, who had been sent to Kent for execution, and who had sided with Wyatt in his rebellion. The worst is that Paget told the Queen that they had already squandered 1 " Princeps apud omiies ob mores sanctissimos, pietatem in pauperes, liberalitatem innobiles, atque ecclesiasticos nunquam satis laudata." Camden in Apparat., p. 23. " Mulier sane pia, clemens, moribusque catissimis, et utquequaque laudanda, si religionis errorem lion spectes." Godwin, p. 123. ENGLAND.] Introduction. 23 the blood of the house of Suffolk, that he might work on her fears, and induce her to be merciful to the brothers of the duke, who had been condemned." l In another letter to the Emperor, written 22d April, 1554, speaking of the trial of the celebrated Sir Nicholas Throck- morton, he says: "It is six days since the trial of a rebel named Throckmorton. He was acquitted by twelve jurymen, who had been chosen and empannelled, and who were all heretics ; there being no doubt that in spite of the verdict he deserved to be condemned. And when they carried him back to the Tower, after his acquittal, the people with great joy raised shouts, and threw their caps in the air ; which has so displeased the Queen, that she has been ill for three days, and has not yet got quite the better of it." 2 The measures had recoxirse to by Mary in order to exterminate the reformers produced the very contrary result. The blameless and holy lives of the Protestant martyrs, their pious fortitude and forgiving spirit displayed in death, awakened public sympathy, excited to in- quiry, and made new converts to the cause which it was intended to crush. Even had her life been prolonged, it may be doubted whether she would have succeeded in effecting the consummation she so devoutly wished. It was only after a persecution persevered in with unmiti- gated violence for several generations, that the government of the neighbouring kingdom of France succeeded in well nigh extinguish- ing the Eeformation in that interesting country, and it would probably have been as difficult to extinguish the Eeformation in England, in which its principles had been not less widely disseminated, and had fixed their roots not less deeply. But from her obstinacy, bigotry, and fanaticism, had her life been prolonged, additional years of misery must have rolled over England, to which a termination could only be hoped for at her death, unless perchance the natural indignation against her tyranny had become so general and overwhelming as to create a revolution. 1 Tytler's Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary, vol. ii., p. 3-33. - Ibid, vol. ii., p. 373. 24 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. Mary's closing days, as the native fruit of her severe temper and misgovernment, were very unhappy. The neglect of her husband, whom she adored; the knowledge that by her cruelties she had become odious to her subjects, and that the Princess Elizabeth, the heir ap- parent to the throne, who was looked to as the destined restorer of the Protestant religion, was the favourite of the nation; her distrust of all her privy councillors, with the exception of Cardinal Pole, suspecting many of them of courting the friendship of Elizabeth; the dissatisfac- tion caused by her having forced the nation into a fruitless and expen- sive war with France in support of Spain ; the capture of Calais by the French, a fortress of great importance, from the easy access it afforded into the kingdom of France ; an exhausted and burdened treasury; these were fruitful sources of painful reflections, which preyed upon her mind and soured her temper, adding mental agony to bodily sufferings. 1 She died of a violent fever, at St. James's Palace, on the 17th of November, 1558, in the forty-third year of her age, having reigned only five years, four months, and eleven days, reckoning her accession to the throne from the death of Edward VI^ 6th July, 1553. Of the reigns of all the sovereigns who have swayed the English sceptre, hers was the bloodiest ; and of all of them since the Conquest, hers was the shortest, with the exception of that of the tyrant Richard III. She was buried on the north side of King Henry the Seventh's chapel, in St. Peter's church at Westminister. No monument was erected to her memory. 2 1 Noailles, in a despatch dated 22d May, 1556, says : " She knows herself to be neglected, and she finds little certainty in the promises of her husband." In another, dated 31st October, 1556, he says, "Most of her council are suspected. A large part is thought to be inclined to have some secret intelligence with Elizabeth. She has told Pole that there is now no one in her council in whom she has perfect confidence but himself." Quoted in Turner's Modern History of England, vol. iii., pp. 490, 491- Caricature prints were circulated, representing a withered, wrinkled queen, with Spaniards at her breasts, to intimate that they had reduced her to skin and bone, with legends noting the rings, jewels, and money she had privately given to Philip. At this she was greatly incensed, and ascribed it to some of her own council, who only could have known of these secret presents. Carte's History of England, vol. iii., p. 331. 2 Memoirs of Queen Mary's Days, printed in 1681, and reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany, vol. i., pp. 209, 210. ENGLAND.] Introduction. 25 Whatever opinion may be formed of the religious and ecclesiastical character of Elizabeth, who succeeded to the English throne upon the death of her sister Mary, and however blameable she was in her .treatment of the Puritans, her accession was a merciful providence to the Eeformation in England and throughout Europe. In England, it put an end to a sanguinary persecution, and rescued the kingdom once more from the papal jurisdiction, under which, notwithstanding the most strenuous efforts of the papacy, it has never since been brought. Had the abominable policy of Mary and her rulers securely established itself, pure Christianity and liberty of thought would have been strangled in our country ; and, bound hand and foot, it would have been hopelessly surrendered to a two-fold tyranny, that of the priest and that of the civil ruler, which would have sunk it to the same despicable condition to which Spain and Portugal have sunk among the nations of the world. But that policy was defeated when Elizabeth succeeded to the throne, and established Protestantism as the religion of the nation. Then England recommenced that career of improvement which had been arrested by Mary, and which has rendered her the freest, the most Christian, the most enlightened, the wealthiest, and the most powerful kingdom on the face of the earth the stronghold of liberty and of Christianity the patron of science, art, and literature ixnequalled for industry and commercial enterprise ; and, by the rapid multiplication of her race, planting in the most distant regions of the globe her colonies, which, carrying with them her faith, her liberty, and her literature, lay the founda- tions of mighty empires. The United States of America, in their pure Christianity, their freedom, their intelligence, their prosperity, their greatness, are the fruit of the Reformation on th,e soil of Britain, and exhibit to the world the power of its principles, in other words, the power of the religion of Jesus Christ, as unfolded in the New Testament, to make a nation great and its people happy. Elizabeth's accession to the throne was also a merciful providence to the Reformation throughout Europe. She was regarded by the Reformers of other countries as their protectress, and in the critical 26 Ladies qft/ie Reformation. [ENGLAND. circumstances in which they were then placed, she seemed as if speci- ally raised up by Providence for their support. She did not indeed afford them in their emergencies all the aid which she might and ought to have yielded ; but what she did yield was yet of essential service. The Reformers in Scotland, in their struggles with the Queen Eegent, Mary of Guise, backed by the power of France the Reformers in the Netherlands, in their struggles against Philip II. of Spain, who was so formidable from his vast resources and inveterate bigotry the Reformers of France, in their struggles against a succes- sion of their sovereigns and ot their nobility, who to fiend-like cruelty added fiend-like perfidy were all deeply indebted to her both for actual assistance and for the check which her well-known sympathy for them imposed upon their adversaries. During her reign, too, as during that of her brother Edward, England became an asylum to the persecuted Protestants of every country, and there were in it German, French, Italian, and Spanish Protestant congregations. Had she united with the courts of Spain and France in a league to exterminate everywhere the Reformers, then the three greatest powers at that time in Europe would have been embarked in this infernal enter- prise, and what the disastrous results might have been it is difficult to say. Elizabeth's legitimacy, and consequently her right of succession to the throne, depended upon her supporting the Reformation, as we shall see in her Life ; and here again it becomes us gratefully to ac- knowledge the goodness of Providence in making it the interest of this queen, who became so powerful, to support the Reformation at a period when two of the mightiest nations of the world had con- pired to crush it. One fact which particularly strikes the student of the history of the English Reformation, is the paramount agency of the Bible trans- lated into the vernacular tongue in originating and promoting that great revolution. In other countries of Europe this agency was most important, but less, pre-eminently so, than in England. 1 At an early i See this fully brought out in Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, passim. ENGLAND.] Introduction. 27 period of the struggle, Tyndale's English version of the Scriptures, which had been printed on the Continent, and secretly imported, was extensively circulated and read by his countrymen, notwithstanding the forcible measures adopted to suppress it, and it had been silently and unremittingly working for good even at times when the living voice of no preacher was lifted up against error and ignorance ; so that at the period when Henry VIII. threw off the papal authority, though much darkness still prevailed, yet so many had abandoned the popish creed for the pure doctrines of the gospel, or had lost their veneration for the old religion, that the steps he took against the papacy met with no considerable opposition. During the reign of Edward, the printing presses teemed with numerous editions of various translations of the Scriptures, which were eagerly purchased and read by the people. This contributed immensely, above all other means, to the triumph and establishment of the Reformed principles in England, and it accounts for Queen Mary's inability to eradicate them even by a relentless persecution. The interested supporters of the papacy in England foresaw from the first that the Scriptures in the vernacular tongue would be the most formidable antagonist of the established faith. They therefore opposed to the utmost their importation and circulation. They got royal proclamations issued for their suppression, and they bought up or called in whole editions of them, which they committed to the flames an old persecuting fashion, as old at least as the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, who commanded the books of the Jewish law to be torn in pieces and burnt (1 Mac. i). But no efforts were effectual in putting a stop to the circulation of the Scriptures in the mother tongue, even when the sovereign assumed an hostile attitude ; and when he favoured this great cause, the number of copies printed and purchased excites our astonishment. It is farther observable, that the state exercised a more immediate and effectual control over the movements of the Reformation in Eng- land, and left its impress more visibly on the ecclesiastical framework set up, than did any other government of Europe over the move- 28 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. merits of the Reformation within its dominions. This in part arose from no great and powerful character having appeared among the Reformers in England at that period, to awaken among the people, by stirring appeals from the pulpit and the press, such a wide-spread and burning zeal for the truth as would communi- cate its impulse even to the government. It was different in other countries. Zwingle in Switzerland, Luther in Germany, Calvin in Geneva, and Knox in Scotland, were all master-spirits, who by power of intellect, fervour of eloquence, and force of character, moulded their age, and left the impress of their minds on the religious institu- tions of their country. Each of these Reformers had more influence in settling the religious creed and ecclesiastical polity of their respec- tive countries than had their civil rulers, none of whom arrogated the position of lawgiver in matters of faith, and who, if favourable to the Reformation, proceeded in a great measure upon the principle of sanctioning and ratifying, as the religion of the state, the system of doctrine and the form of polity drawn up from the Word of God by their respective Reformers. In England matters were conducted in a less accommodating spirit. Though some of the leading Reformers were consulted as to the faith to be established, and had influence upon the sovereign, especially in the reign of Edward VI., yet, in consequence of the assumption of ecclesiastical supremacy by Henry VIII. and his successors, which implied their right to choose a religion for their subjects, the sovereign, or the state, to the injury both of religion and of liberty, acted as ecclesiastical dictator, pre- scribed to ministers and people the doctrines to be believed, the rites and ceremonies to be observed, and the form of discipline by which the church was to be governed. In Scotland the Reformers would concede no such power to their sovereigns, maintaining, and rightly, as we believe, that Christ is the alone head of his church, and that no earthly sovereign can warrantably claim that title, or the power which it involves. J As to the English Parliament of that age, such i The opposition made by the Scottish Presbyterians to James VI. and Charles I. arose from the assumption of supremacy over the church by these kings, and the true ENGLAND.] Introduction, 29 was their subserviency to the crown, that they unscrupulously approved and sanctioned whatever ecclesiastical system pleased the reigning sovereign. This their unprincipled subserviency, is graphically de- scribed by Schiller, who, in his tragedy of Mary Queen of Scots. introduces that queen as making the following sarcastic reply to the argument of Lord Buiieigh, that as her judges were the chief nobility of England, no tribunal could be more impartial : "Yes, truly ; were these Lords as you describe them, I must be mute ; my cause beyond all hope Were lost, if such a Court pronounce me guilty. But, Sir, these names, which you are pleased to praise, These very men, whose weight you think will crush me, I see performing in the history Of these dominions very different parts : I see this high nobility of England, This grave majestic Senate of the realm, Like to an eastern monarch's vilest slaves, Flatter my uncle Henry's sultan fancies : I see this noble rev'rend House of Lords, Venal alike with the corrupted Commons, Make statutes and annul them, ratify A marriagp, and dissolve it, as the voice Of power commands : to-day it disinherits, And brands the royal daughters of the realm With the vile name of bastards, and to-morrow Crowns them as queens, and leads them to the throne. I see them in four reigns, with pliant conscience, Four times abjure their faith ; renounce the Pope With Henry, yet retain the old belief ; Fiefonn themselves with Edward ; hear the mass Again with Mary; with Elizabeth, Who governs now, reform themselves again." But whatever may have been the disadvantages caused to the English Reformation by the undue interference and control of the cause of the sufferings of the martyrs under the reigns of Charles II. and James VII., was their refusing to submit to the ecclesiastical supremacy claimed by the crown. The supremacy of Christ over his own church, to the exclusion of civil rulers, and all creatures, is a doctrine which has taken such hold upon the Scottish mind, that no sovereign, we are convinced, could, even at the present day, enforce a claim to ecclesi- astical supremacy in Scotland, save at the expense of reviving the persecuting scenes of the seventeenth century. 30 Ladies of tfte Reformation. [ENGLAND. sovereign, whose nod the Parliament of course obeyed, England has much reason to remember with the deepest gratitude the history of her Reformation. It is the most memorable portion of her annals. It abounds in varied and stirring scenes, and is replete with lessons of profound instruction. It discovers much of human wickedness, but at every step it also discloses the singular interposition of a beneficent Providence, and nowhere do we meet with brighter examples of Christian heroism than in the English martyrs. For no kingdom has the Eeformation done more than for England ; and after having reaped its blessings for three centuries, is she now, for- getting all the lessons of the past, to fall back into popish superstition and idolatry, from which, by a train of such marvellous events, she was emancipated is she again to exhibit herself, as before the Eeformation, squatting blindfolded, ragged, and squalid, amidst the accumulated offal of the middle ages ? A party within the pale of her Established Church would gladly see this consummation ; and the Vatican, which, since the time it lost England, has never ceased to look upon her with a covetous eye, has of late been strongly cherish- ing the hope of seeing her, within the course of a few years, abandon the Eeformation, and return to the bosom of the infallible church. Into this belief the papal court has been led by the progress of Ox- ford Tractarianism in England, and by the representations of the Oxford converts to Popery. But we will not believe that a nation which has so long shone transcendent above all the nations of the earth for its love of liberty, civil and religious, will submit to be again enthralled by the papal supremacy, the most terrible despotism not to speak of the character of the papacy as a system of religion which the world ever saw. Notwithstanding the treachery of some in the Protestant Established Church of England, and notwithstanding the aggressive efforts hitherto made and still making by the papacy, we will not despair of the cause of Protestantism in this enlightened and free country. We will cherish the hope expressed by one of the noblest of its martyrs, even when the night of darkness and desolation was at its blackest : (< Be of good courage, Mr. Eidley, and play the ENGLAND.] Introduction. 31 man," said the venerable and intrepid Latimer, when both were bound to the stake, and about to be consumed to ashes, in the reign of the bloody Mary, " we shall this day, by God's grace, light such a candle in England as, I trust, shall never be put out." ANNE OF BOHEMIA, NNE OF BOHEMIA, queen of Eichard II,, flourished in the age of Wickliffe. Her life, therefore, does not belong to the history of the Eeformation proper, which only began early in the sixteenth century; but though the field embraced in these biographies is mainly con- fined to the period of the Eeformation, yet, as this excellent queen lived at an era when great preparations were making for that memorable revolution, and as she was known to have been !the friend and protector of Wickliffe and his followers, who were its harbingers in England, as well as in other countries, it may not 34 Ladies of tlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. be out of place to collect together the brief notices of her religious and ecclesiastical history. " To Anne of Bohemia," says an elegant biographer, " is attributed the honour of being the first of that illustrious band of princesses who were the nursing-mothers of the Reformation. The Protestant Church inscribes her name at the commencement of the illustrious list, in which are seen those of Anne Boleyn, Katharine Parr, Lady Jane Grey, and Queen Elizabeth." ' ANNE ov BOHEMIA was the eldest daughter of the Emperor Charles IV., of the house of Luxembourg, by his fourth wife Eliza- beth, daughter of Boleslaus, Duke of Pomerania, and grand-daughter to Cassimir the Great, King of Poland. She was sister to Wen- ceslaus, King of Bohemia and Emperor of Germany. She was born at Prague, in Bohemia, about the year 1367. Anne is believed to have been imbued with piety, and to have had more enlightened views of Christian truth than was common in that age, before her coming to England. This may be accounted for from the state of religion in Bohemia at that period. There were especially three Keformers who flourished in Bohemia during the childhood and youth of this princess ; and from their celebrity, as well as from the close connection of one of them with her own family, she must have been familiar with their names and their opinions. These Reformers were John Melice, Conrad Strickna, and Matthias Janovius. Melice was a native of Prague, and of noble descent. He was a popular preacher, and by his addresses made a powerful impression on the multitudes who flocketl to hear him. He vindicated the communion in both kinds, and loudly complained of the spiritual death and desolation, the glaring abuses and corruptions, which everywhere prevailed. He died in 1374. Strickna, a man of acknowledged erudition and eloquence, had been his coadjutor, but died five years before him. Janovius, also a native of Prague, maintained the cause of Divine truth with still greater effect. He was confessor to Charles IV., Anne's father. In the ardour of their zeal, he and some other learned 1 Miss Strickland's Queens of England, vol. ii., p. 371. ENGLAND.] Anne of Bohemia. 35 men, entreated Charles to call a general council for the reformation of the church ; and, though the king pleaded that it belonged to the Pope and not to him to call a general council, he laid the proposition before his holiness, and recommended it as a step much to be desired. But his holiness, who thought differently, alarmed and exasperated, demanded the punishment of these daring heretics. In superstitious veneration for the Papal authority, Charles banished Janovius from the kingdom. Communion in both kinds was then abolished. Re- cusants could celebrate the sacrament of the supper after their ac- customed manner only in private houses, in woods and caves, at the hazard of their lives. They were plundered, beaten, drowned in rivers, and according to a proclamation issued 18th September, 1376, were committed to the flames. Janovius subsequently returned to Bohemia, where, however, he now lived in privacy. He died 30th November, 1394, predicting, with his dying breath, the coming re- demption of the church. " The rage of the enemies of truth," said he, " has now prevailed against us, but this shall not always last ; for an obscure people shall arise, without sword or power, over whom they shall not be able to prevail." J Thus, before Anne came to this country, the Popish doctrines had been contested in Bohemia, and successful efforts made to enlighten the piety of her countrymen. This state of matters had a very fa- vourable influence upon her mind. She became a thoughtful in- quirer ; and though, from living in an age when only some rays of light had dawned upon the human mind, her views of Divine truth were in many respects obscure and imperfect, they were yet more enlightened than was common among persons of her rank, or indeed, among persons of any condition of life in that age of darkness. As in primitive times there were saints in Caesar's household, so in her father's palace there were individuals friendly to the truth, from whom she derived important advantages. Richard II., to whom Anne was afterwards united in marriage, 1 Vaughan's Life of Wlckliffe, vol. ii., pp. 158-163. 36 Ladies oftlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. was the son of Edward, Prince of Wales, who was usually styled the Black Prince, from the colour of his armour, by his wife Joan, ' daughter and heir of his uncle Edmund, Earl of Kent. He was born at Bourdeaux in 1367. He lost his father 8th June, 1376 ; and on the death of his grandfather Edward III., in June the following year, he succeeded to the throne, being then a boy of ten years of age. The fame of Anne having reached England, Richard, when only about thirteen years of age, began to think of her as his future part- ner on the throne, and, in the year 1380, she was sought for him by the council of regency which conducted the government during his minority. But it was not till some time after, when, having reached her fifteenth year, she was judged capable of choosing for herself, that the marriage was determined upon. She is said to have been induced to become the consort of Richard, not only from the pro- spect of being elevated to the English throne, but from the reports which had reached Bohemia of a revival of religion in England under John Wickliffe, whose name and some of whose writings were known in that country. All arrangements for her marriage with Richard having been made, she was nobly escorted from Prague on her way to England. On her arrival at Calais, the news having reached the Parliament, which was then sitting, it was prorogued till after Christmas, and divers of the nobility were sent to meet her and attend her in crossing over to Dover. Having safely landed at Dover, she rested there for two days, and then made a grand entry into Lon- don, to the great delight of the people, who were proud that their sovereign was to obtain for his wife " Caesar's sister." 2 It is worthy of notice, that the natives of her own country chosen to accompany her to England on the occasion of her marriage, and to occupy situations in her household establishment, had adopted the Reformed opinions. If her own wishes were consulted in this choice this would argue that she was of corresponding sentiments. 1 She had been previously married to Sir Thomas Holland, by whom she had several children. 2 Stowe's Annals, or General Chronicle of England, edit. London, 1615, p. 294. ENGLAND.] Avwie of Bohemia. 37 Immediately upon her ai'rival, arid before the marriage had taken place, she gave an interesting proof of her considerate, humane, and amiable disposition. In that year an insurrection had broken out in England. The tyranny and oppression of the haughty nobility and gentry had excited a spirit of strong dissatisfaction among the people, and this spirit was inflamed by a mob orator, John Ball, a priest, who perambulated the country promulgating the equality of mankind, as being sprung from the same original stock, proclaiming that there were no gentry jure divino, and denouncing all the distinc- tions of rank in a strain very like that of the levellers in modern times. In an address to many thousands of the people assembled at Blackheath, he began with these lines "When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman?" making them the text for an insurrectionary declamation, which roused the people to a high pitch of resentment against the govern- ment. 1 It was then that this couplet became as a household word among the masses of the people. The train being thus laid for an outbreak, the rigour with which the unpopular tax of three groats per head was levied by the tax-gatherers, to whom it had been farmed out, caused the explosion. The people took up arms, and in June they mustered 100,000 men. But by the prudent and prompt management of Eichard, who displayed on this occasion, an address and presence of mind which raised expectation as to his capacity, not afterwards realized, the insurrection was quelled. Tranquillity therefore prevailed when the queen landed in England ; yet many were trembling for their lives. The penalties of rebellion and trea- son hung over the heads of thousands. This was a painful thought to the young princess. The condition of the people excited her com- miseration ; she felt that they had well-founded causes of complaint, and that their sufferings had driven them to insurrection. She pleaded with Eichard and his counsellors that a general pardon 1 Stowe's Annals, or General Chronicle of England, edit. London, 16)5, p. 294. 38 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. should be extended to the insurgents and other culprits throughout the kingdom. Her entreaties, as might be expected from the cir- cumstances, were not made in vain. A proclamation was issued, granting a general pardon to culprits of all sorts with, however, a considerable number of exceptions at first upon their making application either personally or by writing, and paying the fee of the great seal. The king's letters to the sheriffs throughout Eng- land, dated 13th December, 1381, commanding them to cause the pardon to be proclaimed in the towns and places under their juris- diction, begin with stating that his majesty had been moved to this exercise of royal clemency, "from the fear of God, and at the special request of the most serene lady, the Lady Anne, about to become, by the will of God, our consort." l Anne was married to Richard with much pomp and ceremony on the 14th of January, 1382, in the Chapel-Royal of Westminster Palace. Among other demonstrations of joy on the occasion were the representation of plays, and the exhibition of magnificent page- ants, with which it was customary at that time to give eclat to the marriage of princes. From the favourable reports Richard had heard of the accomplishments and good qualities of this princess, he thought himself so fortunate in gaining her for his bride, that instead of re- ceiving a dowry with her, he gladly gave her brother the Emperor Wenceslaus ten thousand merks for the alliance, besides defraying all the expenses connected with her journey to England. The daughter of Barnabe, Duke of Milan, had been offered to him with a large sum of gold. But he had fixed his heart upon Anne of Bohemia, and was bent upon having her at any price. 2 The happy pair were greatly charmed with each other. Richard, though his character, when afterwards more fully developed, betrayed serious defects, was the goodliest personage of all the kings who had been since the Conquest, tall of stature, of a handsome person, of a Rymer's Fcedera, torn, iii., pars iii. et iv., p. 131. 2 Stowe's Annals of England, p. 294. ENGLAND.] Anne of Bohemia. 39 fair and amiable countenance ; and being of warm affections, lie was fitted in many respects for domestic happiness. Anne's " beauty," says Miss Strickland, " must have been limited to stature and com- plexion, for the features of her statue are homely and undignified. A narrow high-pointed forehead, a long upper lip, cheeks whose fulness increased towards the lower part of the face, can scarcely entitle her to claim a reputation for beauty." But in the eyes of Richard, no woman was so lovely as his own blooming Bohemian bride. " The head-dress she wore must have neutralized the defects of her face in some degree, by giving an appearance of bread tli to her narrow forehead." 1 Court Costumes, time of Richard II. At this period there were two rival popes. Gregory XI. having died in 1378, the cardinals assembled at Eome to elect a successor, 1 " In this queen's days noble women used high attire on their heads, piked horns [t. e. homed caps], with long trained gowns, and rode on side-saddles, after the example of the queen, who first brought that fashion into this land, for before women were used to ride astride, like men." Stowe's Annals, p. 295. But "the side-saddle of Anne of 40 Ladies oftiie Reformation. [ENGLAND. and three-fourths of them being Frenchmen, they intended to fill up the vacancy by one of their own countrymen. The Eoman populace suspecting their intention, and fearing that if a foreigner were chosen. he would, like Gregory, reside at Avignon instead of Rome, which they were determined should be the seat of the Roman Pontiff, assembled tumultuously around the place of meeting, and pouring forth terrible menaces if an Italian was not chosen, compelled the cardinals, who were in terror for their lives, to give their suffrages for a Neapolitan, who on his election assumed the name of Urban VI. A number of the leading cardinals, however, dissatisfied with what had been done, fled from Rome to Fondi, a city of Naples, and main- taining, that as the election of Urban was the result of intimidation, it was invalid, chose a French prelate, Robert, son of the Count of Geneva, who took the name of Clement VII. France and her allies, including Scotland, Spain, Sicily, and Cyprus, declared for Clement ; England and the rest of Europe for Urban. The former fixed his residence at Avignon, the latter at Rome. The distractions caused by these conflicting competitors for the Papal tiara, diverted the attention of the clergy to a great extent from Wickliffe, and con- tributed to preserve him from their vengeance. From the violence of the contending popes, who launched out dire anathemas, "the one against the other, he- exultingly anticipated much advantage to his efforts as a reformer. " Christ," said he, " has begun already to help us graciously, in that he hath clove the head of Antichrist, and made the two parts fight against each other." * After Anne's, marriage with Richard and her coronation, letters were sent by his majesty to Urban, with intelligence of these auspici- Boheraia was different from those used at present, which were invented, or first adopted, by Catharine de Medicis, Queen of France. It was like a bench with a hanging step, where both feet were placed. This mode of riding required a footman or squire at the bridle-rein of a lady's palfrey, and was chiefly used in processions." Miss Strickland's Queens of England, vol. ii., p. 369. In this queen's days was also introduced the use of piked shoes, that is, shoes turning up several inches at the toes, and fastened to the knees with chains of silver and gold. Stowe, ut supra. 1 Vaughan's Life of IVickliffe, vol. ii., pp. 1-5. ENGLAND.] Anne of Bohemia. 41 ous events. His holiness sent the following congratulatory letter to Bichard in reply : " Urban, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our dearest, &c., Health and apostolical benediction. The letters of your serene highness, conveying the tidings of the coronation, and of the solemnization of the marriage contracted between you and our dearest daughter in Christ, the illustrious Anne, Queen of England, we have favourably and very gladly received, and are filled with great joy at the news, confidently hoping that He who confers favours and bestows rewards, and by whose will you and the same queen, in the flower of most grateful youth, have been united in the marriage covenant, will from the same marriage grant you a noble progeny, and after a long life, accompanied with the enjoyment of peace, and passing smoothly down into a good old age, will bestow upon both of you the kingdom of everlasting blessedness. Of our good intention towards you and the queen, dearly beloved son, we have fully instructed Walter Skirlawe, deacon of St. Martin's church, Lon- don, and the nobleman, Nicholas Dagworth, your ambassadors, the bearers of the present letters, in whom, as to what communications we have to make to your highness, we wish you to place full confi- dence. Given at Eome, at St. Peter's, the llth of the kalends of May, in the fifth year of our pontificate." Addressed "To our Dearest Son in Christ, the Illustrious Eichard, King of England." ' Queen Anne is styled by the Pope "our dearest daughter in Christ," and she never formally separated from the Eomish Church. There was indeed, in her days, no formal separation in England from Antichrist. Matters were not yet ripe for such a step. But there was a distinct renunciation of a great part of what was erroneous, superstitious, and idolatrous in the Popish creed, and a reverting to the doctrines and precepts of Christianity as primitively taught by Christ and his apostles. And Anne, whatever may have been the imperfection of her acquaintance with Divine truth, exemplified, in her veneration for the Sacred "Writings, that spirit in which the 1 Rymer's Fcedera, torn, iii., pars iii., p. 153. 42 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. Eeformation originated. That book, which Rome hated with a deadly hatred, and from which the characters and sentiments of the confes- sors and martyrs were formed, was the subject of her diligent study. This is saying much for her at a period when the great fountain of Divine truth was sealed up from mankind, and salvation was sought in forms and ceremonies, in superstitious observances and mortifica- tions, instead of through faith in the perfect righteousness of the only and all-sufficient Saviour as revealed in the Word. Religious advan- tages at that time were scanty compared with what we now enjoy. Few were in possession of the entire Scriptures. A copy of one or more of the gospels, or of one or more of the epistles, was accounted an invaluable treasure. This queen had in her possession the gos- pels in three languages, Bohemian, English, and Latin. This English version, however, seems not to have been the English spoken after the conquest of William of Normandy, but the Anglo-Saxonic ; for John Huss thus quotes the words of Wickliffe, " The noble Queen of England has the gospels written in three languages, the Bohemian, Teutonic, and Latin." 1 To the reading of the gospels and commen- taries written upon them by learned men, she devoted a portion of every day, exploring them like one who had discovered a mine of gold, yea, accounting them infinitely more precious than all the mines of gold within the bowels of the earth, and deriving from them that wisdom whose price is above rubies. That Anne was devoted to the study of the Divine Word was well known to Romanists in high places in church and state. In her con- versation with Arundel, then Archbishop of York, and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, she spoke freely and in high terms of this heavenly treasure, and told him of the delight she took in reading its sacred pages. She also showed him her translations of the gospels, and her commentaries upon them. 2 Arundel, like all thorough Romanists, hated the Bible as the most formidable enemy of the Romish Church, and dreaded its dissemination among the people in 1 Lewis's English Biblical Translations, p. 6. 2 Foxe's Acts and Monuments, Townsend's edition, vol. iii., p. 202. ENGLAND.] . Anne of Bohemia. 43 the vernacular tongue. He was alarmed even at the circulation of English copies of a single gospel, or of a single epistle ; for he well knew that these, if circulated, would be like inserting the thin end of a wedge, which, driven home, would cleave the church in pieces. But the wily prelate, so far from objecting to her sentiments and practice, eulogized her piety and diligence. A humbler individual, if known to be guilty of reading the Scriptures, would have been at once suspected of Lollardism, and pounced upon as an enemy of the church. But her exalted station protected her. To attack or disturb her for her pious readings would have been dangerous ; and the sin- gular gentleness and benevolence of her nature, which gained upon all hearts, had their own influence in extorting reluctant praise from the prelate. Wickliffe, who lived only about three years after her arrival in this country, was not ignorant of her course of Scripture reading. To him she seemed like Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who " sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word," captivated by its attractions, and subdued by its power. He pleaded her example in reading an English version of the gospels in defence of his English translation of the Sacred Volume, and inquired ''whether to hereticate her on account of this practice would not be Luciferian folly?" 1 The diligence of this queen in reading the gospels was not without its fruits. She imbibed the spirit of Jesus, whose life and character she studied a spirit of benevolence and charity. Misery and distress, wherever she found them, excited her commiseration. And, though it cannot be said that to comfort and relieve the poor and the afflicted, the widow and the orphan, she sacrificed the embellishments of her palace, the luxury of her table, the splendour of her equipage, or the decorations of her person, yet, like an almoner of Divine Providence, she scattered around her princely benefactions for the relief of the suifering and the sorrowful. Six thousand persons were daily enter- tained at the royal table, the most of whom were "the indigent poor." 1 Vatiglian's Life of Wickliffe, vol. ii., p. 158. 44 Ladies oft/ie Reformation. [ENGLAND. This statement is made by "Walsingham as part of a severe censure which he pronounces on the prodigality of Eichard in the expenditure of his household establishment, at a time when famine and its atten- dant pestilence were raging in England. But such uncommon gene- rosity towards the poor, which was mainly owing to the beneficence of the queen, takes off the edge from this writer's censure, and excites our admiration, not our blame, of the generous heart of her who de- vised such liberal things. She would remember how Jesus, whose inspired life she took so much pleasure in reading, had compassion on the multitude, numbering four thousand persons, because they had nothing to eat, and wrought a miracle that they might eat and be filled. By this charity and kindness she won the affections of the people, by whom, during life as well as after her death, she was familiarly known as " the good Queen Anne." Anne, having imbibed the opinions of Wickliffe, extended her protection to the Reformer to the close of his life. She was a main instrument in saving him from the vengeance levelled against him by his incensed enemy, Courtney, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was thirsting for his blood. The law was indeed not yet in existence by which he could have been condemned to perish at the stake ; but still ways and means might have been found for com- passing his destruction. In interposing in his behalf, Anne, who was distinguished for the mildness of her disposition, pleaded with Eichard in her own delicate, quiet, and gentle way. Hers was the still small voice. She would select some striking passages from the gospels, which recommended kindness to the ministers and people of Christ, and condemned the persecution of them, as one of the works of darkness, as an effect of the malice of the wicked world against Christ himself; and she would read them to Eichard in her own touching and delightful manner. They would be such as these : " He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall re- ceive a prophet's reward ; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's re- ward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ENGLAND.] Anne of Bohemia. 45 ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily, I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." " Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes : and some of them ye shall kill and crucify ; and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city : That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias. son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar." " "Who- soever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea." 1 In the whole bearing and deport- ment of Anne there was an unaffected yet dignified benignity, a winning grace and suavity, the power of which none could resist ; and on the mind of Richard, who adored her, and to whom every- thing she said or did had an indescribable charm, her persuasions, backed by an appeal to her favourite gospels, though, intrinsically considered, they might make little impression on his mind, yet, as coming from her, had a fascinating power, and they swayed him to the side of moderation. Anne found her hands strengthened in this good work by Joan, her mother-in-law, who was a great admirer of Wickliffe, and a convert to his doctrines. Joan, who was more impassioned- and resolute than her daughter-in-law, interfered in his behalf with all the ardour of a sincere and generous admiration, and with a courage not easily to be overawed and defeated. When he appeared before the ecclesiastical Synod at Lambeth, early in the year 1378, 2 four years before Anne came to England, Joan's zeal combined with that of the people in thwarting the plans of the ecclesiastics to punish him, and to suppress the tenets he had been teaching. His doctrines had by this time gained upon the convictions and hearts 1 Matt. x. 41, 42, and xxiii. 34, 35. Mark ix. 42. 2 Miss Strickland, in her Queens of England, vol. ii., p. 372, incorrectly says 1382, a mistake which affects the accuracy of some of her statements respecting Anne. 46 Ladies of tJte Reformation. [ENGLAND. of the people, and, to protect him from danger, many of them sur- rounded the church of St. Paul's, the place of meeting, forced their way into the midst of the assembled conclave, and proclaimed their determination to stand between him and harm. Whilst this uproar filled the judges with alarm for their personal safety, Sir Lewis Clifford to their increased dismay, entered the court, and in the name of the queen-mother, boldly forbade their proceeding to pronounce a condemnatory sentence upon the doctrines and conduct of the great Reformer. Thus was the courage of the judges " shaken as a reed with the wind," as Walsingham observes, and they were afraid to proceed. l The mandate of Joan, at the time when it was given, was a proof of no ordinary fortitude and energy. It was setting herself in opposition to the Pope, who had just sent letters to the King of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and the University of Oxford, requiring the immediate suppression of Wickliffe's opinions, and the arrest of his person, and of all who were tainted with his heresies. The Pope said, " This arch heretic has gone to such a pitch of detestable folly, that he fears not to teach and publicly preach, or rather to vomit out of the filthy dungeon of his breast, erroneous and false propositions and conclusions, savouring of heretical pravity. We therefore strictly charge and command you, the King of England, and you the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, and you the Bishop of London, and you the University of Oxford, to cause the said John Wickliffe, and all who may be infected with these errors, if they obstinately persist in them, to be apprehended and cast into prison." In the face of this high authority, thus repeatedly and emphatically expressed, the queen- mother said, " No, John Wickliffe is not the detestable heretic which the Pope represents him to be, and if I can prevent it, he shall not be arrested and imprisoned." And what were the doctrines with which the man over whom she thus threw the shield of her pro- tection stood charged? Some of them were these that the holy 1 Vaughan's Life of Wickliffe, voL i., p. 360. ENGLAND.] Anne of Bohemia. 47 eucharist, after consecration, is not the very body of Christ, but is so only figuratively ; that the Church of Eome is no more the head of all other churches, than any other church is, and that Peter had no more power given him by Christ, than any other apostle had ; that the Pope of Eome has no more the keys of the church, than any other individual within the order of the priesthood has ; that lords temporal may lawfully and meritoriously deprive churchmen offending habitually of their temporalities ; that the gospel is of it- self a rule sufficient to govern the life of every Christian, without any other rule ; and that neither the Pope, nor any other prelate of the church, ought to have prisons wherein to punish transgressors. 1 Such were some of Wickliffe's doctrines, which the Pope in his con- sistory, assisted by the advice of twenty-three cardinals, condemned as heretical, and for which he commanded that Wickliffe should be arrested and consigned to a dungeon, but in maintaining and propa- gating which the Eeformer was defended and encouraged by the queen-mother. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, one of Eichard's uncles, " the political father of the Lollards," as he has been styled, and other persons of rank, co-operated with Anne and Joan in protecting Wickliffe. The circumstances of the times rendered their protection the more effectual. The antagonistic popes, from their mutual con- tests, had no time to look after heretics; and the factions by which England was distracted, so engrossed the attention of the parties, that the clergy could not obtain the support they desired in proceed- ing against the rector of Lutterworth. Whether these protectors would or would not have been able, had Providence spared him for a longer period, to have preserved his liberty and life, it is impos- sible to determine. We know that in his closing years he was living in the anticipation of martyrdom. " To live," says he, " and to be silent is, with me, impossible ; the guilt of such treason against the Lord of heaven is more to be dreaded than many deaths. Let ' Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. iii., pp. 3-8. Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. the blow therefore fall. Enough I know of the men whom I oppose, of the times on which I am thrown, and of the mysterious provi- dence which relates to our sinful race, to expect that the stroke will ere long descend. But my purpose is unalterable. I wait its coming ! " l The malice of his enemies was implacable, and he might fear that Eichard, as he needed the support of the clergy, might by their influence be swayed, notwithstanding the interces- sions of his mother and his queen, to kindle against him the fire of persecution. He was not, however, called upon to undergo the fiery trial. "While administering the bread of the eucharist in the chan- cel of his church of Lutterworth, on the 29th of December, 1384, he was suddenly seized with paralysis, which threw him on the pave- J,utt< rnorth Church, Leicestershire. ment, and on the 31st he peacefully resigned his pious spirit to God. He was interred in the chancel. His church is still standing. Had Anne lived some years longer, there is reason to believe i Vaughan's Life of Wickliffe, vol. ii., p. 257. ENGLAND.] Anne of Bolwmia. 49 that by her influence much of the severe persecution which befell the Lollards would have been prevented. Eichard was stayed from actual violence so long as she lived; and, even after her death, though he lent himself by the solicitations of the clergy to persecute in various forms, none of the Lollards were put to death during his reign. Anne continued to retain the affections of Eichard undiminished to the last, and he never dishonoured her by giving his heart to a rival. Yet from the time of her coming to England to her death, she had, from the confusion of the times, her own distresses, caused partly by the folly of Eichard in the government of the kingdom, and partly by the cabals formed by his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester against him. That nobleman, who was ambitious of engrossing the whole authority of the state, finding that the sovereign, as he grew older, was not to be retained in that subjection in which he had been hitherto held by his uncles, and that he yielded himself to the ascendency of strangers, rather than to his advice, formed a strong party against him, and having both the House of Commons and the House of Peers at his devotion, wrested the government from his hands, and transferred it to a commission composed entirely of his own faction. Eichard's great weaknesses lay in mistaking flatterers for friends ; in associating with unworthy favourites, by whom he suffered himself to be almost wholly governed; in an extreme irrita- bility of temper over which he had no control; and in an unbounded passion for show and extravagance, which injured his popularity by increasing the public burdens. These defects gave great advantage to Gloucester, and, during the time of his triumph, several of Eichard's counsellors and favourites were put to death, among whom was Sir Simon Burley, a gentleman who, for his personal merits, had been appointed governor to Eichard by Eichard's father and grandfather, and by whom the prince, from his tender infancy, had up to the present time been attended and served with devoted at- tachment.' These executions took place in the year 1388. 1 Rymer's Fcedera, torn, iii., pars iii., pp. 135-144. 50 Ladies of tlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. During these turbulent and bloody scenes, when justice and humanity were alike disregarded, Anne displayed her usual tender- ness of heart. Sir Simon Burley had been sent by Richard to Germany and Bohemia, to bring her over to England at the time of her marriage. From the date of her first acquaintance with this accomplished man, she had formed a very high opinion of his talents and engaging manners, and he ever afterwards retained her good graces. He equally retained the esteem and friendship of the king, who felt something like filial respect towards the guide of his youth, and conferred upon him various marks of royal favour. 1 Both she and Richard were much interested in his safety, and interposed, but in vain, to save his life. " The queen," says Hume, " remained three hours on her knees before the Duke of Gloucester, pleading for that gentleman's life ; but though she was become extremely popular by her amiable qualities, which had acquired her the appellation of 'the good Queen Anne,' her petition was sternly rejected by the inexorable tyrant." 2 Queen Anne died, June 7, 1394, at Shene in Surrey, at the eai-ly age of twenty-seven, to the inexpressible grief of her husband, who in her lost a wise counsellor, and his best friend. She had lived with him upwards of twelve years. Froissart thus notices her death: "At this period the Lady Anne, Queen of England, fell sick, 1 Walsingham, who is followed by Stowe, stigmatizes Burley as intolerably proud, an oppressor of the poor, a hater of the church, and profligate (Hlstoria, p. 366); but this Popish writer is too partial and malicious to be implicitly followed in his estimate of the characters he describes. Froissart, who personally knew Burley, says, " In my youth I had found him a gentle knight, and, according to my understanding, of great good sense." (See his Chronicle of England, &c., translated by Thomas Johnes, vol. iii., p. 475). " And the choice made of this gentleman," says Hume, " by Edward III. and the Black Prince, for the education of Richard, makes the character given him by Froissart much more probable." The grounds of his condemnation have been pre- served, but the evidence adduced in support of the charges and his own vindication are lost. We are therefore without the means of being able to pronounce a correct judgment in the case. The accusations of his enemies, who were bent on his destruc- tion, are, it is obvious, not to be implicitly trusted. 2 History of England, chap. xvii. ENGLAND.] Anne of Bohemia. to the great distress of the king and her household. Her disorder increased so rapidly that she departed this life on the feast of Whitsuntide, in the year of grace 1394. The king and all who loved her were greatly afflicted at her death. He was incon- solable for her loss, as they mutually loved each other, having been married young. This queen left no issue, for she had never born children." 1 She was interred with great state in St. Edward's chapel, "West- minster Abbey, on the 3d of August following, all the nobility of England, male and female, joining in the funeral procession, as we learn from the letters of invitation to her funeral in name of the king. 2 " Her obsequies," says Froissart, " were performed at leisure, for the king would have them magnificently done. Abundance of wax was sent for from Flanders to make flambeaux and torches, and the illumination was so great on the day of ceremony, that nothing was ever seen like it before ; not at the burial of the good Queen Philippa, nor of any other. The king would have it so, because she was daughter to the King of Bohemia, Emperor of Rome and Germany." 3 Her funeral oration was delivered by Arundel, Archbishop of York. In this oration, the prelate pronounced a high encomium upon her many virtues, and especially upon her piety, as shown in constantly studying the Word of God. "Her four English translations of the gospels," said he, " she sent to me for my inspec- tion, and I found them to be true and faithful. I was much sur- prised on finding that, though a foreigner, she daily studied these English versions. It appears to me a marvellous instance of godli- ness, that so illustrious a princess condescended devoutly to study these excellent works, and several commentators written upon them. 1 Frolssart's Chronicle of England, &c., vol. iv., p. 405. 2 Two of these letters, written in French, are preserved in Rymer's Fcedera (torn, iii., pars iv., p. 98), the one dated 10th June, 1394, and the other, the 14th of the same month. 3 Froissart's Chronicle, &c., vol. iv., p. 405. 52 Ladies of tJie Reformation. [ENGLAND. A lady of such extraordinary piety it was never my happiness to know." And as a rebuke to the clergy for their negligence and ignorance, he added, "In the study of the Scriptures, and in the reading of godly books, she was more diligent than even the prelates themselves, whose office and duty it is to make themselves ac- quainted with these heavenly treasures." ' From the sentiments thus expressed, it might be concluded, did we not know more of the man, that Arundel was favourable to the Lollards, and that he would stand up and fight nobly for the dis- semination of the Bible in the vulgar tongue. But he was acting a part. In eulogizing Anne for reading the Scriptures and lamenting her loss, he was speaking "with feigned words," his object being simply to please Eichard, who was so devotedly attached to the deceased queen ; and in twitting the prelates with their ignorance of the Scriptures compared with the queen, he would gratify his own personal feeling against some of his clerical brethren. So far from being favourable to the Wickliffites, and to the circulation of the Scriptures among the people, he bent all his endeavours, after the death of Anne, to the extirpation of the one and the suppression of the other. He branded the Lollards as the tail of the black horse described in the Apocalypse (chap. vi. 5), and stigmatized heresy as more enormous than treason, since it was a revolt from the King of kings. He interdicted the translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular tongue, and stirred up the king to harass, throughout the whole kingdom, whoever should dare to read and study in their native language the revelation of God's will, which was intended for all. Two years after the death of the queen he was made Arch- bishop of Canterbury, and this promotion increased both his ecclesi- astical and political power. He subsequently became a traitor to Eichard, and took an active part in the deposition of that monarch in 1399, as well as supported the usurpation of Henry IV., son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, WicklifFe's patron. To gratify 1 Fo*e's 4cts and Monuments, vol. iii , p. 202. ENGLAND.] Anne of Bohemia. 53 Arundel, who had placed the crown upon his brow, and the rest of the clergy, who had aided him in acquiring his usurped authority, and who might still powerfully aid him in supporting it, Henry passed a statute authorizing the burning of heretics, the first penal enactment in England against heresy an enactment under which many were subsequently consigned to the flames, particularly in the reigns of Henry VIII. and his daughter, the bloody Mary. By this statute it was ordained that none should preach, or teach in schools, or write in opposition to the Catholic faith ; that none should favour such as were guilty of doing so ; that within forty days all heretical books should be delivered up ; and that if any person, who was con- victed of offending in these particulars, should refuse to abjure, or who, after having once abjured, should be found to have relapsed, should "be burned in an eminent place before the people, to the intent that this kind of punishment may strike a terror on the minds of others." 1 After the death of Anne, many members of her household having returned to Bohemia, carried with them the opinions and the writ- ings of the English Reformer, and were the means of scattering the seeds of the Reformed faith among their countrymen. By the writ- ings of Wickliffe, conveyed into Bohemia by her servants or train, and by some Bohemian students attending the university of Oxford, an impulse was there given to the movement for the reformation of the doctrine and discipline of the church. It was from this source that John Huss and Jerome of Prague, the honoured successors of Melice, Strickna, and Janovius, imbibed the opinions which they dis- seminated, and for which they suffered. 2 Thus the coming of Anne to England seems to have been an important link in the chain by which Divine Providence connected England and Bohemia at that period in the struggle for church reform by which it paved the way for rendering the labours of Wickliffe instrumental in propagating Divine truth in the latter country. 1 See this statute in Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. iii., p. 239. 2 Krasinski's Reformation in Poland, vol. i., p. 58. 54 Ladies oftJie Reformation. [ENGLAND. In the agony of his grief for Anne, Richard caused the buildings of the palace where she died to be thrown down. 1 Some, from a melancholy pleasure in nursing their sorrow, love to dwell in the abode where death has smitten down the dear objects of their affec- tion ; but to Richard it seemed that to do this would awaken in his mind associations and remembrances too painful and keen to be en- dured. In Rymer's Fcedera there is a contract betwixt Richard and two architects, citizens of London, for the erection of a tomb of fine marble in "Westminster for himself and Anne, dated 1st April, 1395. In the same work there is another contract betwixt him and two copper-smiths, citizens of London, for statues and other furniture for the tomb, dated 24th April, same year. Both these contracts are written in French. 2 The tomb was to be ornamented with numerous effigies, among which were to be two of gilded bronze, the one representing Richard himself, and the other Queen Anne, both reposing and crowned, having their right hands clasped in each other, while they held sceptres in their left hands. The idea of giving the two effigies this peculiar position, strongly expressed the tenderness of Richard's affection for Anne. A ball with a cross was to be placed between the effigies. The feet of the king were to rest on two lions, those of the queen on an eagle and leopard; all of which animals are now lost. A table of the like metal gilded, on which the images should be laid, was also to be made, and it was to be ornamented with fretwork of fleurs-de-lis, lions, eagles, and leopards, emblematical of the ancestral honours of both the king and the queen; the fleurs-de-lis representing France, the lions Bohemia, the eagles the empire, and the leopards England. What is almost peculiar to this sepulchral monument, the devices impressed both upon the effigies and the table are made entirely by fine punctures, without any engraved lines. 3 Among their other engagements, the contractors were to engrave on the 1 Stowe's Annals, p. 303. Baker's Chronicle, p. 154. 2 Rymer's Fcedera, torn, iii., pars iv., pp. 105, 106. 3 Archceologia, voL MIX., pp. 32-59. ENGLAND.] Anne of Bohemia. monument suitable inscriptions, to be supplied them. The in- scriptions were in Latin. The first part, in particular, is remark- able for the touching tenderness and sympathy with which it describes Anne's personal attractions, mental virtues, and beneficent life. Hence it may perhaps be concluded that it was written either by Eichard himself, or by one who knew her well, and appreciated her worth. Of the first part we hazard the following translation : EPITAPH ON ANNE, WIPE OF RICHARD II., KING OF ENGLAND. " The dust of Anne, the second Richard's queen, Lies now entombed beneath this spacious stone ; Her lovely form enchained wherever seen, Her face with meek arid radiant beauty shone. Dear was her Saviour to her loving heart ; Her love and gentleness to all she showed ; In healing strifes she ever did her part ; With peaceful thoughts her heavenly bosom glowed. To her the poor, with want and care oppressed, Could look with hope for pity and relief; With heart and hand she succoured the distressed, Nor grudged the cost of want and pain and grief. The lonely widow's tears she wiped away, And to the sick the healing draught she brought: Whoever suffered found in her a stay ; To live for others this she daily sought." ' Eichard was subsequently married to Isabella, daughter of Charles VI. of France, a princess only seven or eight years of age. He was indifferent about a second marriage, and formed this alliance to con- solidate a peace with France. After his death she was sent home, 2 and became the wife of Charles, son and heir of the Duke of Orleans. He survived Anne only five years, having shortly after his deposition been starved to death by the usurper, Henry of Lancaster. He was 1 The next two lines, which we omit, simply state that she died on the 7th of July, 1 394 ; but there is here a mistake as to the month, for, from some of her funeral letters, still preserved, we learn that she died on the 7th of June. Crull's Antiquities of St. Peter's, or the Abbey Church of Westminster, pp. 175-177. 2 Baker's Chronicle, p. 154. 56 Ladies of t/te Reformation. [ENGLAND. privately buried at Langley, 1 in the chapel of the Dominican friars, none of the nobility nor of the gentlemen commoners being present. He lay there till the year 1414, when his remains were removed thence by King Henry V., and honourably entombed in St. Edward's chapel, Westminster Abbey, in the same spot where Anne was buried. A Latin epitaph to his memory, expressing partly the graces of his person, and partly the qualities of his mind, was in- scribed on the tomb. 2 1 King's Langley, in Hertfordshire, was formerly a royal mansion. Here was horn, and from the place was named, Edmund de Langley, one of the sons of Edward III., and Duke of York, and here was a little house of friar preachers. Camden's Britannia, edit. London, 1789, vol. i., p. 339. 2 Holmshed's Chronicles, edit. London, 1808, vol. iii, pp. 14, 15. Cnill incorrectly represents the tomb of Anne and Richard as erected by Henry V. It was erected, as we have seen, by Richard himself. Hevcr Castle, Kent. ANNE BOLEYN, SECOND QUEEN OF HENKY VIET. CHAPTEE L FROM HER BIRTH TO HER MARRIAGE WITH HENRY VIII. 7 b HE life of Anne Boleyn forms an interesting episode in the history of the English Keformation. Without f/o intending it, she became the occasion of the ecclesias- tical separation of England from the Papal supremacy. Conquered by her engaging qualities, Henry VIII., in order to gain her for his wife, persisted in demanding from the Pope a divorce from his former queen, Katharine of Aragon, until his patience being exhausted by the refusal of his holiness, who, by this demand, was thrown into the dilemma of displeasing either Henry or Charles V., or placed "between the hammer and the 58 Ladies of tJie Reformation. [ENGLAND. forge," as his holiness expressed it he indignantly threw off the Papal yoke, claiming to himself ecclesiastical supremacy within his own dominions. Anne having been thus the occasion of the loss of so rich a prize as England to the Papal see, her memory has been assailed with the most indecent and virulent abuse by Popish writers. They cannot mention her name without losing all temper, and pouring forth a torrent of foaming, defamatory invective. This, though natural, is unreasonable enough. It is to make it a crime for a lady to be loved because she is lovely. It amounts to saying that Anne, "like the forgotten abbess of Coldingham, when Danish pirates were prowling around, should have mutilated her countenance in order to make it ugly." Like every other personage in the field of history, her character and conduct are to be examined impartially and without prejudice. If historical justice requires that her imper- fections and faults should not be concealed, it also requires that she should receive credit for whatever good qualities she possessed, and whatever good actions she performed. In the sketch of her life now proposed, it is not our wish to exalt her above her merits. In respect of deep ardent piety, high Christian character, accurate and enlarged acquaintance with evangelical truth, and moral intrepidity in main- taining it, we do not place her on a level with Queen Katharine Parr- Bene"e, Duchess of Ferrara, or Jane, Queen of Navarre. But neither do we admit her to have been the Jezebel, the Messalina, the depraved monster which foul-mouthed Popish slanderers pitilessly delight to describe her. It is, happily, not necessary for the defence of the English Eeformation that we should lavish upon her unmerited en- comiums. That great revolution did not originate with her. It had been commenced by other instruments, for a variety of instrumen- tality was employed by Providence in producing it. It was steadily advancing previous to her elevation to royal honour and power, and by her downfall, though thereby it suffered the loss of a protectress, its progress was not to be arrested. New influences and new agents were brought into operation for leavening England with the doctrines of the Eeformation, and for its more complete emancipation from the ENGLAND.] Anne Roleyn. 59 thraldom of the Papacy. But during the short period of her elevation Anne had not surrendered herself to neutrality or indifference to the new ecclesiastical movement. She had shown a zeal in encouraging it, shown by none in high places before her time. She was the patroness of Cranmer, Latimer, Tyndale, and others ; and had her life been prolonged, there was the prospect of her rendering still more important services to the infant cause. This affords an additional explanation of the inveterate hatred cherished against her by the partizans of Popery. Perhaps no other personage in England was regarded with more rancorous feelings at the Vatican ; and Borne in due time got a terrible revenge. Its emissaries were unceasingly spreading snares for her, and her destruction at last, there is reason to believe, was the result of a Popish conspiracy, combined with the alienated affections and jealousy of Henry. On these grounds we have given her a place in our sketches. ANNE BOLEYN was the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn. by his wife, Elizabeth Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, and afterwards Duke of Norfolk. The usual residence of her parents was at Rochford Hall, in Essex, but they also sometimes resided at Blickling, near Aylsham, in Norfolk, and at this latter place she was born. 1 The exact date of her birth is uncertain. Camden, an accurate antiquary, whose authority is of great weight, and who lived not very remote from her own times, places it in the year 1507 ; 2 and he is followed by Bayle and Burnet. But if the statement made by Lord Herbert, that she was twenty years of age at her return from France in 1521, be correct, and various circum- stances tend to confirm it, she must have been born about the year 1501. The family of the Boleyns is supposed to be of French origin ; and Anne's father, though only a knight, was nobly descended. His 1 The erection of the present mansion of Blickling Hall was commenced by Sir Henry Hobart, Bart., during the reign of James I., but not finished until the year 1628. It is one of the most perfect examples of architecture of that monarch's time remaining. Baronial Halls of England, London, Chapman, 1848, vul. ii. 2 Apparatus to his Annals, Rerun Anglicarum, &c , p. 2. 60 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. grandfather, Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, who had been Lord Mayor of London, was married to one of the daughters and heirs of Lord Hast- ings ; and his mother was one of the daughters and heirs of the Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond. 1 Sir Thomas was a man of learning and ability, as well as a generous patron of learned men. Erasmus, whom he admired and patronized, thus writes from personal knowledge concerning him, in a letter to Damianus a Goes : " He is a man whom all unite in praising, almost the only learned man among the nobility, and manifestly of a philosophic mind." The same great scholar applauds him for having the greatness of mind not to pride himself upon a noble ancestry and honourable rank, but to seek the distinc- tion arising from the honoured studies of philosophy. Sir Thomas, being a man of letters and of refined manners, had acquired a high place in the esteem of Henry VIII., all whose favourites, it must be allowed, were men of superior capacity and attainments, whatever they might be in other respects ; and such was his reputation for talents and discretion, that he was early and frequently sent on important embassies to foreign courts. He appears to have been habituated to serious thought ; and coming in contact, in the dis- charge of his diplomatic duties, with men of liberal views in Germany and other countries on the Continent, he embraced the new opinions. Erasmus applauds him as more illustrious for the cultivation of piety, than for the ornament of fortune. And in a letter to him he com- mends his diligence in the study of the sacred volume : " I do the more congratulate you, when I observe that the sacred Scriptures are so precious to a man such as you, so powerful, a layman and a cour- tier, and that you are actuated by a desire to possess that pearl of price." To Sir Thomas the world was indebted for some of the labours which proceeded from the prolific pen of Erasmus. At his request, that distinguished scholar wrote three treatises, one an Ex- position of the Twenty-third Psalm, another an Exposition of the Apostles' Creed, and the third, Directions how to Prepare for Death. a 1 Burnet's Reformation, edit. Oxford, 1816, vol. i., p. 79. * Strype's Cranmer, pp. 4, 5. Jortiri's Life of Erasmus, vol. ii., pp. 42-49. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 61 His desiring Erasmus to favour him and the world with his thoughts on these important subjects, bears testimony to the pious temper of his mind. Few memorials respecting Anne's early education have been pre- served. In the early period of her life, the education of English ladies was less complete than some years later, when Sir Thomas More, by his enthusiastic diligence in instructing his daughters in solid learning, set an example which was zealously followed by Henry VIII. and by the English nobility, in the tuition of their daughters. Greater attention, however, appears to have been be- stowed upon the education of Anne than was common at that time, even in regard to ladies of her own rank ; a circumstance probably owing to her father's taste for letters. She studied with assiduity and success the French language under a French governess, called Simo- nette, and in that language, as well as in her own, she frequently corre- sponded with her father during his absence at court. She also received lessons in Latin, though it may be doubted whether the same pains had been taken to make her a proficient in that tongue as in the French. She was carefully instructed m music, singing, and dancing, as also in the use of the needle, then reckoned an essential accom- plishment of ladies of the first rank, since much of their leisure time in mature years was employed in tapestry work, an occupation which, by ladies in our day, would perhaps be considered somewhat mono- tonous and irksome. Her father, it would appear, proud of the pro- mising mental capacity, beauty, and loveliness of his daughter, while desirous that she should be good, was ambitious to give her every elegant accomplishment fitted to make her shine in courts. Hence his avidity in embracing an early opportunity of sending her to France, where, it was then thought, the most polished manners were to be acquired. In the autumn of the year 1514, when in the fourteenth year of her age, she was honoured by being appointed one of the attendants of Henry the Eighth's sister, the Princess Mary, who, having been affi- anced to Louis XII., went to France with a considerable retinue to G2 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. have the marriage consummated. 1 On receiving from her father a letter informing her of his hope of obtaining for her this honourable appointment, intimating his desire that she should appear at court in a manner creditable to herself and him, and pressing upon her the importance of a pious and exemplary deportment, she, in her reply, written in French, expresses her delight at the prospect of being in- troduced into the society of the princess, as what would contribute greatly to improve her both in speaking and writing good French ; tells him that her governess, Simonette, had left the composition of this letter entirely to herself, that nobody might know what she was writing to him ; and assures him of her resolution to lead as holy a life as he could desire. 2 From the knowledge this letter displays, and from the excellence of its composition, it is evident that she must have been older than Camden's date of her birth would make her. A child of seven years of age could not have written such a letter. Besides, her father, it is probable, would not have sought for her, nor would he have obtained for her at so early an age, an appointment as attendant on the Princess Mary. Mary and her suite having proceeded to France, she was married to Louis on the 9th of October, 1514, in the church of St. Denis, with becoming splendour and ceremony. Louis having died on the 1st of January, 1515, his widow soon after married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and returned to England. But Anne, instead of return- ing with her, remained in France at the desire of her father, or of some others of her friends, and was preferred, probably upon the recommendation of Mary the Queen -Dowager, her former mistress, to an honourable situation in the court of Claude, daughter of Louis XII., and, queen-consort of Francis I., a young princess of retired habits, of uncorrupted virtue, sincerely pious, though her piety was tinged with superstition, and who, in order to preserve the moral purity of her court, maintained in it those salutary restraints 1 Her name appears in the list of the Princess Mary's retinue, signed by Louis XII. Ellis'g Original Letters, first series, vol. i., p. 116. 2 Ellis's Original Letters, second series, vol. ii., p. 10. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 63 which had been introduced by her mother, Anne of Bretagne. To the young ladies of the nobility who were her attendants, her palace was a school of virtue and instruction. Their hours of leisure were employed in embroidery or in similar useful occupations, and their intercourse with the other sex was only permitted under such re- strictions as might tend to preserve decorum and purity of manners. During her residence in the French court, Anne enjoyed the benefit of the society of the beloved sister of Francis I., Margaret of Valois, then Duchess of Alengon, and afterwards Queen of Navarre, a lady not less distinguished for her virtues than for her talents, the patroness of letters, scholars, poets, and philosophers, and a nursing mother to the. Reformed Church in France in its infancy. She had also the advantage of the society of those learned and liberal-minded men whom this enlightened and accomplished princess brought to the palace for the intellectual improvement of herself and of others in the court. Anne being of a lively and gay humour, the society of Margaret of Valois, in whom the lively and the grave were happily blended, would relieve the sombre monotony felt by a young person of vivacity in the society of Claude, whose sedate retiring manners were partly owing to ill-health, and partly to natural disposition. She had the pleasure, too, of often seeing her father, whom official duties frequently brought to Paris. Henry VIII. having proclaimed war against France in 1522, Anne returned to England, to the deep regret of the French monarch, and especially of Queen Claude, who, with much reluctance, allowed her to depart. Her father, who was then ambassador at the French court, being recalled, is said by some historians ' to have brought her 1 As Lord Herbert, who is followed by Burnet and Rapin. Miss Berger says, that " a formal requisition was made to Francis for her restoration, and that Anne in con- sequence returned to England, under whose protection is not specified by any his- torian." Life of Anne Boleyn, vol. i., p. 197. Camden, Sir Roger Twysden, and several other writers, seem to have been ignorant of the fact, which is LOW fully established, that she returned to England in 1522, for they make no mention of it, saying that she continued in the French court till the death of Claude, which took place in July, 1524, after which, not being yet wearied of France, she was received into an honour- 64: Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. over with him to England. On his return, from his favour with Henry, he had little difficulty in obtaining for her an appointment as one of Queen Katharine's maids of honour. She is said to have been the most admired star in the French court, and she returned with all the advantages which French politesse could add to an English beauty. Gay, sprightly, witty, graceful in her carriage, affable in her be- haviour, tasteful in her dress, singing with a voice melodious, sweet, touching, like that of the nightingale ; mingling in the dance with the ease and skill of a perfect mistress in the art possessing such a choice assemblage of charms, she was an object likely to be admired and caressed in the English court. Nor was she without a share of coquetry; and with her fine bright eyes she knew how to conquer ; for, " Much as her form seduc'd the sight, Her eyes could even more surely woo ; And when, and how to shoot their light Into men's hearts, full well she knew. For, sometimes, in repose, she hid Their rays beneath a downcast lid ; And then, again, with wakening air, "Would send their sunny glances out, Like heralds of delight, to bear Her heart's sweet messages about." ' It is, however, only justice to add, that at this period her manners, even according to the testimony of her greatest enemies, were marked by exemplary modesty. After her introduction to the court, a romantic attachment sprung up between Anne and Lord Percy, the son and heir of the Earl of Northumberland. But their affectionate intimacy was broken up by the king, who, smitten by her engaging qualities, was uneasy at the thought that another should possess her heart ; and disclosing his feelings to Cardinal Wolsey, employed the prelate to put an end to able situation in the household of Margaret of Valois, Duchess of Alenqon. Caven- dish's Life of Wolsey, edited by Singer, vol. i., pp. 55-58. 1 Metrical Histoire d'Anne Boleyn, quoted and translated in Edinburgh Review for March, 1827, p. 323. ' ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 65 the correspondence between her and that young nobleman. The Cardinal, ready to gratify Henry's wishes, never dreaming that she would rise higher than a royal mistress, severely reprimanded Percy for making love to " a foolish girl," beneath him in rank, without ask- ing his father's and the king's consent ; and with the aid of the father, the Earl of Northumberland, he succeeded in terminating the court- ship, for which he was afterwards regarded with no friendly feelings by either of the lovers. It may indeed be doubted whether Anne, though she suppressed her resentment, and even afterwards professed the warmest friendship towards him when she thought him willing and able to advance her schemes of ambition, ever fully forgave him for the part he acted on this occasion. She was sent away from the court to her father's house of Hever Castle, in Kent, 1 while Lord Percy, though permitted to remain at court, was forced to marry Lady Mary Talbot, daughter to George, Earl of Shrewsbury, which turned out a most unhappy union. 2 His marriage with that lady was solemnized in the autumn of the year 1523, as appears from a letter written by Anne's cousin, the Earl of Surrey, dated September 12, that year, in which he says, "The marriage of my Lord Percy shall be with my lord steward's (Shrewsbury's) daughter, whereof I am glad. The chief baron is with my Lord of Northumberland to conclude the marriage." 3 This letter fixes 1523 as the year in which Anne was thus crossed, in what appears to have been her first love. Some time after Henry unexpectedly paid her a visit at Hever Castle, but knowing or suspecting his errand, she determined not to encou- rage his love advances, and, under pretence of indisposition, took to her chamber, which she did not again quit till after his departure. 4 To ingratiate himself in her favour, he created her father Viscount Rochford, on June 18, 1525 ; and, to bring the whole family to the court, he appointed him treasurer of the royal household, and William ' This castle is still in good repair. It is at present in possession of the Medleys. 2 Cavendish's Life of Wohey, vol. i., pp. 57-69. 3 Ijngard's History of England, vol. vi., p. 112. * Lingard. E 66 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. Carey, her sister Mary's husband, a gentleman of the privy chamber. But her high spirit did not easily forget the affront put upon her by her dismissal from court, and the loss of her beloved Percy, whose countess, as Lord Herbert perhaps rightly observes, she would rather have been, than Henry's queen. Such was her continued chagrin, that she would not appear at court. Henry thus saw that her heart was not to be moulded to his wishes like wax ; and when he first avowed his passion for her, she gave him distinctly to under- stand that she was not to stoop to dishonour. " Most noble king !" she replied, falling on her knees, " I will rather lose my life than my virtue, which shall be the greatest and the best part of the dowry that I shall bring my husband." By this honourable repulse Henry Part of the Gallery in Hever Cutle. was not to be discouraged, and conscious of the splendid advantages he possessed, he declared that he would not abandon hope. Her answer was becoming a woman of virtue and self-respect : " I under- stand not, most mighty king ! how you should retain any such hope. Your wife I cannot be, both in respect of my own unworthiness, and ENGLAND.] Antie Boleyn. 67 also because you have a queen already, and your mistress I will not be." ' Even Sanders and Cardinal Pole, who have so fiercely defamed her, admit that she had declared it to the monarch to be her resolu- tion to devote her virtue to her husband, and to no one else. But not allowing her to have possessed a single good quality, the inter- pretation they put upon this is, that she was ambitious of becoming queen-consort ; a dignity to which she would have had little chance of being raised had she been willing to be Henry's mistress. 2 But so improbable at that time was the prospect of her attaining such an elevation, that nothing, save the most inveterate prejudice, would ascribe the expression of her virtuous determination to a speculation of the contingency of her becoming queen. How does the case stand ? The question of Henry's divorce from Katharine of Aragon had not then been moved. Were we, however, to grant that there had been some secret motions respecting it, its ever taking place was far from certain. It would be unpopular in England. It would meet with the most strenuous opposition from Charles V. That the Pope would grant it was extremely doubtful. And even should it be obtained, that a high-minded monarch should set aside the considerations of state policy, which were repugnant to his marrying a subject, and condescend to wed one of Anne's comparatively humble rank, who was the servant of his own queen, was what she could hardly have 1 These particulars are taken from the Sloane MS., Life of Henry VIII., from his falling in love with Anne Boleyn to the death of Queen Katharine, in the British Museum, No. 249. This MS. was written in the 16th century, and as it takes the Papal side, its testimony in her favour is the more valuable. 2 Sanders, De Schism. Angl., p. 26. Pol. ad Reg. Scotl., p. 176. Turner, in his History of the Reign of Henry VIII. (vol. ii., p. 191), speaking of Sanders's libels against Anne and her family, says, "More wilful calumnies, I believe, never issued either from the pen or the press. He has a command of Latin style, but a most bitter mind against the English Reformation. The very next sentence after his defamation of Anne, shows us why he inserted it: 'She was addicted to the Lutheran heresy.'" 'De Schism., p. 25. Pole, in his work Pro Ecclesiastics Unitatis Defensione, a work submitted to the revisal of the Roman pontiff, and the first edition of which was printed at Rome, heaps upon her the vilest slanders, and never mentions her name without applying to her some deeply defamatory sobriquet, as " ineretricula," p. 390 ; " adultednam," p. 266 ; " meretricio amore," p. 336 ; " scortum," p. 280 ; " nova Jeze- bel," p. 399, &c. 68 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. dreamed of, even in the enchanting moments when fancy most gor- geously painted the future. Can her becoming answers to the king be then justly represented as intended to cloak over ambitious designs with the semblance of virtue, as the cool and crafty calcula- tion of the chances of dispossessing Katharine of Aragon, and suc- ceeding her as Henry's wife and queen ? It is more natural, as well as more just, to regard them as the unsophisticated utterances of a heart which trembled at the thought of sullied virtue and a dis- honoured name. In his endeavours to induce her to return to the court, Henry con- tinued unremitting, and wrote her several entreating letters, breath- ing professions of the most ardent affection. But still she could not be prevailed upon to revisit the spot where her dearest and earliest hopes lay buried. After remaining for some time in her father's house, sorrowfully ruminating on her blighted prospects, she is sup- posed by Bishop Burnet to have gone again to France, and entered the service of her old friend and patroness, Margaret of Valois, Duchess of Alengon. This journey, if it took place, would be about the beginning of the year 1526, when Francis I. had been released from his captivity in Spain, to the great joy of France, and especially of his sister, the Duchess of Alenc.on. Anne is supposed by the same historian to have returned to England with her father in 1527, when he was recalled from France, whither he had been sent that year, along with Sir Anthony Brown, to take the oath of the French king to a solemn league not long before concluded betwixt the crowns of England and France. 1 The cause of Anne's final return from France to England may have been the marriage of her mistress, Margaret, with Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre, in the beginning of the year 1527. That event having rendered it necessary for Margaret to leave France for the family residence of the kings of Navarre, in Gascogne or Beam, Sir Thomas Boleyn, naturally preferring that his daughter should return 1 Htylin's History of the Reformation, edit. London, 15G1, p. 86. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 69 to England and to the English court, rather than retire to that secluded residence among the Pyrenees, brought her home to England. By some Roman Catholic writers, as Sanders and Cardinal Pole, Anne is represented as having sunk, when in France, to the lowest depth of hackneyed and shameless profligacy. So extravagantly gross are their scandalous accusations, that to extract them would be to pollute our pages ; but this extravagant grossness is in itself a sufficient proof that they are malignant slanders. 1 The court of France during the period of Anne's residence in it was a school of virtue, and not that hotbed of licentiousness which it became during the later years of the reign of Francis I. ; and this her father knew, for his diplomatic engagements had given him an opportunity of becoming acquainted with its manners and habits. Had she been so notoriously abandoned as to become a bye-word and a proverb among all classes of Paris, as these Popish writers would have us to believe, a queen of the strict virtue of Claude would not have con- tinued to retain her around her person. Besides, it is incredible, upon such a supposition, that her father, who must have known what every body in Paris knew, would have permitted her to remain in a situation where her virtue had been lost and her character ruined. Nor, in the case supposed, would Katharine, queen of Henry VIII., a woman of unimpeachable moral purity, though superstitious, have consented to receive her as one of her maids of honour. Henry, who through Wolsey and his ambassadors was minutely acquainted with every court of Europe, must have known it well, had she been the infamous character described by these scandalmongers. And yet Henry, after his marriage, speaks to the Pope of " her approved and excellent virtues ; that is to say, the purity of her life, her con- . stant virginity, her maidenly and womanly pudicity, her soberness 1 Not content with defaming Anne, they are equally zealous in assailing the repu- tation of her mother and sister. See these slanders combated in Burnet's Reformation, vol. i., pp. 74-78; and in Turner's Reign of Henry VIII., vol. ii., pp. 191, 430. Miss Wood, on the strength of an old MS., vindicates the mother, but surrenders the defence of the daughter Mary. Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies, vol ii., p, 193. 70 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. her chasteness, her meekness, her wisdom." 1 " This," says Turner, " is the king's own portrait of her, after six years acquaintance, and amid all the enmity that attacked her." 2 Even Cavendish, the gentleman-usher of Cardinal "Wolsey, who knew her well, and who was the reverse of prepossessed in her favour, speaks of her at the time of her return to England, and when she first became the object of Henry's affections, as a lady of unblemished reputation. In his Metrical Versions he introduces her as saying to Henry, "At home with my father a maiden he found me." 3 The residence of Anne in the royal family of France was well calculated to enlarge and liberalize her mind in matters of religion. The social circle in which she there moved, if it did not go the length of throwing off the Papal yoke, and branding his holiness as the Antichrist and the Man of Sin foretold in Scripture, was yet fully alive to the corruptions of the Popish Church, in so far as related to the lives of the clergy. It freely canvassed and sharply censured the character of the Papal hierarchy, from the Pope downwards, their ambition, avarice, idleness, libertinism. Louis XII. had been engaged in war with that restless and domineering pontiff Julius II., and setting at defiance the anathemas of the Vatican, had contem- plated the deposition of his holiness, and the introduction of great ecclesiastical changes in France ; and this had the effect of weaken- ing the power of superstition over the minds of the French courtiers, and of impregnating them, so far, with liberal views. 4 Francis I. threatened to wrench the Church of France from its connection with the Papal throne, should an ecclesiastic whom he disliked be chosen to the primacy. His mother Louise lets us see, by some passages in her journal, how her mind had been emancipated from a blind abject devotion to the Papacy. In December, 1522, she makes this entry : 1 Burnet's Reformation, vol. vi., p. 84. * Reign of Henry VIII., p. 202. 3 Life of Wolsey, vol. ii., p. 41. Turner's Reign of Henry VIII., vol. i., p. 98. ENGLAND.] Anne oleyn. 71 " My son and I, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, begin to know the hypocrites, white, black, gray, smoky, of all colours from whom may Heaven, of its clemency and infinite goodness, defend us ; for if Jesus Christ did not speak falsely, there is not a more dangerous rival in all human nature." 1 Margaret of Valois, the most intellec- tual personage of the court, and a woman whose winning manners, combined with her talents, gave her great influence over others, had equally little veneration for the Roman pontiff and the shavelings of the Papal hierarchy. Cardinal Wolsey, when ambassador in France in 1521, says in one of his despatches, "I devised with the king's sister, and she showed me many things of the Pope's act, which, if it be as she saith, his deeds be as little to his honour as may be." 2 And when the light of the Reformation broke in upon France, bring- ing into view the pure doctrines of the gospel, which had been for ages obscured and overlaid by the impieties, superstitions, and absurdities of Popery, this illustrious lady was attracted by the simplicity and beauty of divine truth. She became devoted to the reading and study of the sacred Scriptures, and earnestly inculcated the reading and study of them upon others. She was the friend and patroness of such men as Brigonnet, Lefevre of Etaples, Farel, Vat- able, Arnold and Gerard Roussel, and other ardent apostles of reform. She delighted in conversing with them on the great doctrines of the gospel, and listened with the deepest attention and interest to their interpretations of God's "Word, as well as encouraged them in boldly proclaiming the truth in Paris. Such was the society in which Anne Boleyn was daily and hourly mingling, and such were the excit- ing topics which occupied no inconsiderable share of its attention and conversation. We have, indeed, no definite information as to its influence in the formation of her religious sentiments ; but from what we know of them afterwards, it may fairly be concluded that the exposures of the Popish Church she heard in the French court, ' P. 434. 2 MS. letter, dated 2d August, quoted in Turner's Reign of Henry VIII, vol. i. p. 270. 72 Ladies of live, Reformation. [ENGLAND. had the effect of impairing, if not of destroying, her veneration for the Popedom, and that listening to the exposition of the pure doctrines of the gospel, pouring like honey from the honeycomb from the persuasive lips of Margaret of Valois, or of her proteges, she perceived their reasonableness and their truth. English and French historians of the best authority, agree in admitting that it was from her residence and intercourse with Margaret of Valois that she received the first grounds of the Protestant religion, and that to this source is to be traced the value which, as was afterwards shown, she attached to the Sacred Volume, and the protection she extended to such as were active in its circulation. Whether Burnet's supposition as to Anne's return to France be correct or not, it is certain that she did not again appear at the English court till after an absence of four years, namely, in 1527, when. Henry's contemplated divorce from his queen, Katharine of Aragon, had become generally known, 1 and formed the all-engross- ing conversational topic of the day. On the return of Anne from France, Heniy was as deeply ena- moured with her as ever, and she was reappointed one of Queen Katharine's maids of honour. Hitherto, delicacy and respect for Katharine, her mistress, together with the shock given, by the loss of Lord Percy, to her affections, which she could not easily transfer to Henry, made her discourage his tender aspirations. " She stood still upon her guard," says an old memorialist, " and was not easily carried away with all this appearance of happiness ; first, on account of the love she bare ever to the queen, whom she served, a personage of great virtue ; and secondly, she imagined that there would be less freedom in her union with her lord and king, than with one still more suitable to her estate." 3 This was true of her feelings and conduct 1 The news " by secret ways and means " had reached Margaret, governess of Flan- ders, in August, 1527. Letter of Wolsey to Heury VIII., dated Amyas, llth August [1527], in State Papere, vol. i , p. 254. And about the same time they had reached Charles V. Letter of Wolsey to Henry VIII., dated Campeigne, 5th September [1527], in ibid., vol. i., p. 257. 2 The Life of the Virtuous, Christian, and Renowned Queen Anne Boleyn, by George ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 73 for some years after her dismissal from the court; and after her return to it in 1527, she was deaf to his passionate addresses for more than a year. 1 To gain her heart he loaded her with presents, and, among other tokens of affection, he is said to have presented her with a horologe. At last, the united importunities of Henry, Horologe presented by Henry VIII. to Anne Boleyn. Wyatt, written at the close of the 16th century, in Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, vol. ii The author was grandson of the poet, George Wyatt, Esq., and sixth son and heir of Sir Thomas Wyatt the younger, who was beheaded for rebellion in the first year of the reign of Queen Mary. He derived his information, as he tells us, from Miss Anne Gainsford, who attended on Anne both before and after she was queen, and from another lady of noble birth, a relative of his own. 1 This appears from the love-letters Henry wrote to her after her return from France. If a letter in Miss Wood's Letters of Royal, fyc., vol. ii., p. 14, translated from Leti's Italian Life of Queen Elisabeth, said to be from Anne Boleyn to Henry, be genuine, the fact would be quite the reverse. From internal evidence it must refer for it is without date to the time of her appointment to be maid of honour to Queen Katharine in 1527, and it expresses the most idolatrous affection for Henry, and a readiness to do or become whatever he should please. But this is so contrary to the whole tenor of Henry's unquestionably authentic love-letters to her at this period, which show that she acted with great reserve, that we cannot believe in its authenti- city. Leti, indeed, too often draws upon his imagination to be an authority of much weight. Most of these love-letters of Henry to her are in French. The originals are in the Vatican at Rome, forming part of the Codices Vaticani, No. 3731. They were obtained, it has been supposed, " by some secret management, probably by Wolsey's aid, and sent to Rome by Cardinal Campeggio They have been pub- lished, incorrectly in some parts, in the third volume of the Harleian Miscellany, pp. 52-62, and elsewhere. Mr. Gun has given the most complete edition of them, being seventeen, in the Pamphleteer, Nos. 42 and 43, correctly copied from autographs in 74 Ladies of tJie Reformation. [ENGLAND. her father, and others of her friends, who assured her that the king's marriage with Katharine was contrary to the divine law, and that the divorce was what must take place, prevailed, and she not only encouraged his advances, but became dazzled by the gilded splendours of royalty. The expectation of being one day the queen of the greatest monarch in Europe, became the pivot upon which her thoughts began and continued to turn. Still, perhaps, every now and then she wavered, partly from compunctions of conscience at the thought of inflicting wrong upon Katharine, and partly from the apprehension of finding the situation of queen-consort in the circum- stances far from enviable ; and it was not till Campeggio came to the English court, in October, 1529, with the professed design of granting the divorce, but with the real intention of doing nothing, that, seeing the highest authorities in the church, and her greatest enemies to all appearance favouring her advancement, she ceased to hesitate. 1 Wolsey, though not ignorant of Henry's vehement affection for Anne, probably never dreamed of its going fai'ther than making her his mistress ; or he imagined that if the monarch, in the fever of passion, had resolved upon making her his wife and queen, he would gradually cool and alter his intention. 2 It may be doubted whether Henry himself, till the last half of the year 1527, had decidedly and irrevocably formed such a resolution. Between July and October that year Wolsey was in France, negotiating a matrimonial alliance between his master and Een6e, daughter of Louis XII., afterwards Duchess of Ferrara. This looks as if Henry's mind had not been altogether made up as to whom he should marry upon the divorce of his present queen. But his passion for Anne mightily increased the Vatican palace, with a valuable introduction, and some fac-similies of the writing and notes.'' Tamer's History of the Reign of Henry VIII., vol. ii., p. 227. Turner has given the most of them in that work. "Their respectful language," he justly observes, " is an irresistible attestation of Anne Boleyn's virtue, and of the impression it had made upon her royal admirer." Our limits prevent us from giving an abstract of these effusions of royal affection. 1 This is proved from Henry's love-letters to her. See D'Aubigne's Reformation in England, book xx., chap. iii. 2 Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, vol. i., p. 67. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 75 during Wolsey's absence, and obstacles being thrown in the way of his obtaining Renee, probably by the King of France, he recalled the cardinal, and disclosed to him his intention of making Anne his wife. Astounded at the announcement, and disapproving of the match, the prelate fell at the feet of the monarch, imploring him for several hours, with the greatest earnestness, to reconsider his resolu- tion. The monarch was inflexible. His purpose he was determined to accomplish, cost what it might. Wolsey behoved to yield his political and personal motives to the will of his master. ' The liberal views acquired by Anne in the court of Claude, Queen of France, and in the court of Margaret of Valois, Queen of Navarre, prepared her for reading, without prepossession, heretical books. Among other books of this kind she read with much interest Tyn- dale's Obedience of a Christian Man a bold performance, in which the author vindicates the diffusion of the Scriptures in the mother tongue, unfolds the duties of men in their different relations and conditions of life, exposes the false power claimed by the Pope, and condemns the Popish doctrines of penance, confession, satisfactions, absolution, miracles, the worshipping of saints, and other Popish dogmas. The history of a book, could it be told, would often be as remark- able and instructive as that of an individual. Anne's copy of Tyn- dale's work caused some striking incidents about the year 1529. It converted one of her household to Protestantism ; it had well-nigh brought down upon his head the penalties of heresy ; and it ulti- mately fell into the hands of Henry, who read it with advantage. She had lent it to a beautiful young lady, one of her attendants, Miss Gainsford ; or, according to another account, this lady, finding it lying in a window where her mistress had left it, took it up to 1 Anne, in one letter addressed to the cardinal, expresses the warmest gratitude for his efforts to obtain for her the crown matrimonial of England. In another, written to him after he had "abandoned her interests to embrace those of the queen," she is full of indignation. She cannot comprehend how, after " having allured her and Henry, by so many fine promises about divorce," he had endeavoured " to hinder the con - summation of it." Miss Wood's Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies, vol. ii., pp 46,48. 76 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. read it. But in whatever way it fell into her hands, she was em- ployed in reading it when a young gentleman, also in Anne's service, of comely person and great suavity of disposition, named George Zouch, who was courting her, and to whom she was afterwards married, paid her one of his visits. Zouch, wishing to have some tender and agreeable talk with his fair Geraldine, was annoyed at the apparently exclusive attention she was bestowing upon the book ; and he snatched it from her hands in frolic. At this moment, being Hiss Gainsiori! and Zouch, her lover. called to attend on her mistress, she left him ; and as she did not return for a considerable time, he went away, carrying with him the book, thinking it was her own. Retiring to his own apartment, he began to read it ; his attention was instantly ri vetted by its contents ; it opened up to him new views, and awakened in him new thoughts. " The Spirit of God," says the old annalist quoted by Strype, " spake ENGLAND.] Anne fioleyn. 77 now in the heart of the reader as at first it did in the heart of the author of the book, so that he was never well but when he was read- ing it." Miss Gainsford, afraid of offending her mistress, entreated him with tears to deliver it up. So deeply had it impressed him, and so earnest was he to master its doctrines, that " he was as ready to weep " at the thought of parting with it, and he still kept it. He even carried it with him when he attended the chapel royal ; and at the very time when the music, chantings, kneelings, crossings, and mut- terings in an unknown tongue were going on, he stood poring over it, heedless of the superstitious services performing before him. Dr. Sampson, dean of the chapel, who usually officiated, observing his attention wholly absorbed in reading some book, the curiosity of the dean was excited, and calling the young gentleman up to him, he rudely took the book out of his hands, and perceiving from the title- page its heretical character, demanded, in an impertinent and snap- pish tone, as if little doubting that he had encountered a real heretic, " What is your name, and in whose service are you V The dean afterwards delivered the book to Cardinal Wolsey, who had enjoined the clergy, and especially Dr. Sampson, to exercise the strictest vigilance in order to prevent heretical books from obtaining circula- tion, or getting into the hands of the king, lest they should corrupt his Roman Catholic principles, and make him an enemy of the church. Zouch being sent for by the cardinal, was fully examined concerning the book, and he would have been brought into trouble, had it not been found that he was in the service of a lady so beloved by the king as was Anne Boleyn, which made the cardinal think it would be better to delay proceeding farther till he had first consulted his majesty. Meanwhile Zouch, having explained the whole affair to Miss Gainsford, the young lady, in dread of having involved both her- self and her mistress in danger, fell on her knees before Anne, and telling her all the facts of the case, implored forgiveness. Anne heard all without expressing the least dissatisfaction, either with the lady or with her lover ; but knowing that for any person to have such a book in his possession was enough to convict him of heresy, 78 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. and, consequently, to bring him to the stake, and convinced that Dr. Sampson and Wolsey, had it been in their power, would have made this circumstance the means of ruining her attendants, and ulti- mately herself, her anger kindling against these men, she said, " Well, it shall be the dearest book that ever the dean or the cardinal took away." "Without delay she went to the king, and falling down on her knees before him, imparted to him the whole matter, informed him that the book was hers, prayed him to cause it to be restored, and tenderly besought him to read it for himself, as it was not so detestable a production as Dr. Sampson and Wolsey would have him to believe, telling him that she had noted various passages with the nail of her finger as being, in her judgment, especially worthy of the attention of his majesty. After she had withdrawn from the royal presence, Wolsey entered with the book in his hand, to point out such of its heresies as he thought would rouse the indignation of the monarch, and to com- plain of the favourers of such books in general, and particularly of women, with the design, as may be supposed, of proceeding more directly to attack Anne, had he found the king favourably disposed. But Henry, who before this had become cold towards the cardinal, took the book into his hand, and opening it, observed the passages marked by Anne with her nail, at which he hastily glanced, remarking that they seemed very good. He examined the book more carefully in his closet, and was so delighted with its denuncia- tions of Papal usurpations, and its vindication of regal and niagis- tratical authority, that he afterwards said to Anne, " This book is for me and for all kings to read." ' 1 The authorities for the preceding narrative as to Anne's copy of Tyndale's Obe- dience of a Christian Man, are Strype, who derives his account from Foxe's MSS. (Mem. Eccl, vol. i., part i, pp. 171-173); and Wyatt, iu his Life of Anne Boleyn, (printed in Cavendish's Wolsey, vol. ii., pp. 200-205), who got his information from Miss Grainsford herself. The latter authority records the anecdote less circumstantially than the former, and with some slight variations. In the text we have combined all the particulars supplied by the two annalists. Dr. D'Aubigne, iu his History ofihe Refor- mation in England, book xx., chap, x., has extended the narrative to much greater length, interweaving various extracts from Tyudale's book, and throwing them into a ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 79 According to the chronicler from whom Strype derives his nar- rative, the reading of Tyndale's work had a powerful influence in opening Henry's eyes to the truth, and in causing him to pursue the course by which England was emancipated from Papal domina- tion. " In a little time," says he, " by the help of this virtuous lady, by the means aforesaid, the king had his eyes opened to the truth, to advance God's religion and glory, to abhor the Pope's doctrine, his lies, his pomp and pride, to deliver his subjects out of Egyptian darkness, the Babylonian bonds that the Pope had brought his subjects under. And so contemning the threats of all the world, rebellions of his subjects at home, and the raging of so many and mighty potentates abroad, he set forward a reformation in religion, beginning with the triple-crowned head ' at first, and so came down to the members, bishops, abbots, priests, and such like." To the eulogium pro- nounced in the first part of this extract Henry is certainly not entitled. His eyes were never opened to the truth ; his aim never was to advance God's religion and glory; he never abhorred the Pope's doctrine and lies. And perhaps also, in the latter part of the extract, fully too much is attributed to the incident of the monarch's reading The Obedience of a Christian Man. For some years after he had no intention of throwing off the Pope's authority, a step to which at last, contrary to his wishes, he was impelled by his violent and impetuous temper, in consequence of the Pope's refusal to grant him the much-wished-for divorce. Tyndale's work, however, having been brought under his notice at a time when he was quite in a dramatic form ; as an example of the manner in which this gifted and popular author sometimes dramatizes his historical compositions. 1 " The first pope who caused himself to be crowned was Damasus It., in the year 1048; which ceremony has since been observed by all his successors. Urban V., by others reckoned r* -yg-^s^ay ^ VI., was the first who used the triple crown, commonly called (j "\ W j^r i?f \\\ tne tiara, which he did to show that the pretended vicar of ftf "StcS / fef Christ is possessed of a threefold power, the pontifical, imperial, The Tiara. an( l rO yal. For the same reason Peter was wont to be painted, as may be seen still in the palace of the Vatican, holding three keys in his right hand," Bruce's Free Thoughts on the Toleration of Popery, p. 38. 80 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. temper for reading a powerfully- written book, in vindication of the authority of kings and rulers, in opposition to the encroachments of a usurping priesthood, may have contributed not inconsiderably to weaken his veneration for the Roman see ; and the commendation he pronounced upon it may therefore have been sincere, and not merely the flattering compliment of a wooer, intended to gain the good graces of the lady who had recommended it to him for his perusal At last having obtained an opinion favourable to his wishes from the majority of foreign universities, which, at the suggestion of Thomas Cranmer, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, he had consulted, Henry, indignant at the dissimulation and delays of the Pope, from whom he was now hopeless of obtaining a divorce, cut for himself the Gordian knot by marrying Anne Boleyn about the 25th of January, 1533. This is the date assigned by Stow in his Annals, who states that the ceremony was performed by Dr. Row- land Lee, afterwards Bishop of Chester. Cranmer says, " It was much about St. Paul's day," that is, the 25th of January. 1 It was reported throughout a great part of the kingdom that Cranmer had performed the ceremony ; but he denies the truth of this report, and affirms that he " knew not thereof a fortnight after it was done." 2 "Whether the marriage was preceded by the private divorce of Henry from Katharine of Aragon, though this is asserted by various con- temporary authorities, 3 is doubtful. If no divorce preceded it, he would satisfy himself by resting its validity on the ground that his first marriage, being contrary to the law of God, was void from the beginning. 1 Hall and Holinshed, perhaps erroneously, give an earlier date, namely, St. Erken- wald's day, 14th November, 1532, the very day on which Henry and Anne arrived at Dover, from their interview with Francis I. of Ifirance, at Calais and Boulogne. 9 Ellis's Original Letters, first series, vol. ii., pp. 33-40. s These authorities are quoted by Turner in his Reign of Henry VIII , vol. ii., p. 333. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 81 CHAPTER II. INDIGNATION OP POPISH PRIESTS AT HER MARRIAGE WITH HENR5T VIII., AND HER PATRONAGE OF THE REFORMERS AND OF LEARNING. A VIOLENT outcry was raised against Henry's marriage with Anne by the Popish priests, all of whom, with the exception of such as had been infected with heresy, were in favour of Queen Katharine and of the legality of her mai-riage. One of them, Friar Peto, of the order of the Observants of Greenwich monastery, and Queen Katha- rine's confessor, openly denounced the monarch in a sermon preached before his majesty, in the royal chapel at Greenwich, on the 1st of May. The subject of the friar's homily was the latter part of the story of Ahab, which he boldly applied to the king, saying, " Where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, even there shall the dogs lick thy blood also, O king ;" and after telling him that he had been deceived by lying prophets, added, pretending a divine commission, " I am that Micheas whom thou wilt hate, because I must tell thee truly that this marriage is unlawful ; and I know I shall eat the bread of a'ffliction, and drink the water of sorrow, yet because our Lord hath put it into my mouth, I must speak of it." Under this outburst of vituperation the king betrayed no symptoms of impa- tience or displeasure ; but, to prevent its repetition, he provided that on the following Sabbath the pulpit of the royal chapel should be occupied by a more friendly preacher, Dr. Curwen, one of the royal chaplains. Curwen vindicated the king's marriage, branded Peto as a dog, slanderer, base beggarly friar, close man, rebel, and traitor ; and in the close, after calling upon him in vain to appear in self- defence, stigmatized him as a coward. This roused the indignation of another Observant friar of Greenwich monastery, named Elstow, who vociferated from the gallery that Peto was necessarily absent at a provincial council at Canterbury, but would return to-morrow, adding, " I am here, as another Micheas, and will lay down my life 82 Ladies oftlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. to prove all these things true which he hath taught out of the Holy Scripture : and to this combat I challenge thee before God and all equal judges ; even unto thee, Curwen, I say, which art one of the four hundred prophets into whom the spirit of lying is entered, and seekest by adultery to establish succession, betraying the king unto endless perdition, more for thy own vain glory and hope of promo- tion, than for discharge of thy clogged conscience and the king's salvation." ElstoVs vehemence, like the gathering force of a tor- rent, increased as he proceeded, and he could not be got to stop until the king bade him hold his peace, and gave orders that he and Peto should be brought before the privy council. This was done on the following day, and they were rebuked for their temerity, a slender punishment for such a tyrant as Henry to inflict for so grave an offence. Upon their escaping so easily, the Earl of Essex told them that they deserved to be put into a sack and cast into the Thames. With a sarcastic smile, and as if thirsting for martyrdom, Elstow rejoined. " Threaten these things to rich and dainty folk, which are clothed in purple, fare deliciously, and have their chiefest hope in this world ; for we esteem them not, but are joyful that for the dis- charge of our duties we are driven hence : and, with thanks to God, we know the way to heaven to be as ready by water as by land, and therefore we care not which way we go." 1 These professions of austere sanctity and of a high sense of duty will be suspected by such as know the real state of the English monasteries at that period. The monastery of Greenwich was soon after suppressed, and its friars banished the kingdom. 3 Other Popish priests were equally violent in expressing their opposition to the new marriage. A parish priest of Kettering was summoned before the privy council for saying it was a pity the king had not been buried in his swaddling-clothes, and that whoever 1 Stow's Annals, p. 562. 2 Peto subsequently returned and became confessor to Queen Mary, as he had been to her mother Katharine. His zeal was at length rewarded by a cardinal's hat. But in that character he never set foot on English ground one cardinal, Reginald Pole, being deemed sufficient for England, even in the reign of the bloody Mary. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 83 should venture to call the Lady Anne Boleyn queen at Bugden should Lave his head knocked to a post.' But the priest who filled the chair of St. Peter at Rome was, if possible, filled with still deeper indignation, and impelled partly by Charles V., partly by his cardinals, and partly by resentment at the disregard of his authority, proceeded, as we have seen in the Intro- duction, to extreme measures against Henry, the result of which was that the English sovereign, with the assistance of his parliament, cast off the Papal supremacy, and adopted a variety of measures fatal to the Popish system in England. Anne, both from judgment and from interest, heartily concurred in these formidable innovations. To confirm her anti-Papal senti- ments, learned and pious persons who had access to her, presented her after her marriage with various books relating to the contro- versies then agitated touching religion ; and especially touching the authorit3 r of the Pope and his clergy, and their evil practices against kings and commonwealths. 2 To the struggling cause of infant Protestantism in England, the new queen rendered important services, for which she is entitled to the grateful remembrance of posterity. She encouraged and ad- vanced learned and worthy men, who promised to be useful in the church. She protected the Reformers from the machinations and violence of their enemies. She promoted the printing and circulation of the sacred Scriptures ; and she maintained promising young men at the universities. Among the individuals of the reformed party indebted to her patronage for advancement, was Nicholas Shaxton, a man who, though some years after he turned out a persecutor of the reformed faith, was at that time its ardent advocate ; and whose burning zeal had as early as 1530 so pi-ovoked the wrath of Richard Nix, the old Bishop of Norwich, an implacable enemy of the new learning, that 1 State Paper Office Mi&cell. Letters, quoted in Miss Wood's Letters of Royal and Jl'.ustrious Ladies, vol. ii., p. 205. 2 Wyatt. 84 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. Nix, on consigning the martyr Thomas Bilney to the flames, expressed his fears " that he had slain Abel and saved Cain alive." In May, 1534, Shaxton was appointed the queen's almoner. On the 21st of February following, he was promoted to the see of Salisbury, in the room of Cardinal Campeggio, an Italian ecclesiastic, who had been deprived of that bishopric on the ground of his being a foreigner and non-resident ; and on the 28th of that month he was preaching before the queen.' Another eminent man, specially favoured by Anne, was Hugh Latimer, the noblest character at that time in England. Cranmer, by whom he had probably been first introduced to her, being well assured of her powerful protection, licensed him, about the close of the year 1534, to preach throughout the entire limits of the arch- bishopric of Canterbury. In a letter dated 9th January, 1535, he says that for doing this he had already "suffered great obloquy;" while Latimer, besides being similarly treated, had " lately been endan- gered." But disregarding the wrath of Stokesly, Bishop of London, Gardiner, and others of the same stamp, he continued to patronize Latimer, honouring his piety and judgment so highly that, " at his instance and request," he "licensed divers to preach within the province of Canterbury," a degree of boldness which, considering Cranmer's timidity and caution, could have proceeded only from his enjoying i^he encouraging support of the queen. With the authority of the king and queen, he also summoned Latimer to London to preach before their majesties on all the Wednesdays in Lent, that is, from the 10th of February to the 24th of March. Being extremely solicitous that his friend should gain acceptance with his royal audi- tors, he advised him through his secretary, with characteristic caution, " to be very circumspect, to overpass and omit all manner of speech, either apertly or suspiciously sounding against any special man's facts, acts, manners, or sayings ;" and " in any condition, to stand no longer in the pulpit than an hour, or an hour and a half" at the most 1 Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. i., pp. 441, 442. ENGLAND.] Anne, Boleyn. 85 for Latimer, it would appear, was a long preacher, which is further confirmed from the length of his printed sermons "lest the king and the queen wax weary at the beginning," or " have small delight to continue throughout with you to the end." Of these sermons no specimens now remain, and as to their subject-matter we have no definite information. We only know in general that Latimer boldly and faithfully spoke the truth before their majesties, which they were seldom accustomed to hear ; and such was the favourable impression he produced on their minds, especially on the mind of Anne, that in September that same year he was appointed Bishop of "Worcester, on the deprivation of Cardinal Jerome de Ghinuccii, an Italian. 1 So highly respected was he by the queen, and such was her confidence in his wisdom, that she entreated him to point out what was amiss in her conduct, that she might correct it. "She had procured to her chaplains" (Shaxton and Latimer), says Wyatt, " 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 she exhorted and encouraged them so to do." In 1533 or 1534 she promoted Matthew Parker, a Reformer, after- wards Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to be her chaplain, upon the death of Mr. Betts, "a good man and zealous and so remained" (as Foxe describes him), who held that situation. 2 "William Barlow, afterwards Bishop of St. David's in the time of Henry VIII., of Bath and Wells in the time of Edward VI., and of Chichester in the time of Queen Elizabeth, was indebted to Anne for various preferments in the church. And in a letter to Archbishop Cranmer, in reference to a benefice she solicited for Bar- low, she adds, in a postscript, " My Lord, I beseech your grace to 1 Jerome de Ghinuccii was at one time auditor of the apostolic chamber. He was the person who in 1518 summoned Luther to appear at Rome within sixty days. He was afterwards made Bishop of Worcester, of which dignity he was deprived in 1534, on the ground of his being 1 a foreigner and non-resident. He had, in fact, never seen England. Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. i., pp. 249, 441, 442, 487. 2 Strype's Life of Parker, Oxford, 1821, vol. i., p. 14. 86 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. remember the parson of Honey Lane for my sake shortly." 1 This was Thomas Garret or Gerard, curate ot All Hallows, in Honey Lane, London, who, as early as 1526, being then curate of All Hallows, was charged with having in his custody, and with distributing the writings of Luther and of other heretics, and who though, from the dread of being burned, he abjured at the close of that year, was never truly gained over by the Komanists. He at last suffered at the stake with great constancy, for denying the real presence, on the 30th of June, 1540. 2 Among other excellent men in whose advancement she interested herself was Dr. Crome, incumbent of St. Anthony's, a man of acknow- ledged learning and piety, and a preacher of the true gospel ; though, being deficient in intrepid resolution, the dread of the stake, of which he was in danger at different times, extorted from him concessions condemned by his better judgment. 3 By her influence he was pro- moted to the rectorship of St. Mary's, Aldermary. But having for some time, from causes not explained, resisted, or caused the delay of his formal and legal admission into that benefice, the queen sent him a letter, expressing it as her pleasure that he should no longer throw obstacles in the way of his speedy instalment. 4 Anne had read with entire approbation the powerful arguments in defence of the circulation of the Scriptures in the vernacular tongue, contained in Tyndale's Obedience of a Christian Man; and acting upon these enlightened views, she threw her broad shield over the disseminators of the sacred volume. An interesting instance of this we find in the protection she extended to a man who was among 1 Strype's Annals of the Reformation under Elizabeth, vol. i , part ii., pp. 266, 578. 3 Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. i. f pp. 92, 93. Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. iii., part ii., p. 259; and his Cranmer, pp. 116, 246, 664. 3 James Bainham, who was committed to the flames for heresy iu 1532, declared on his examination that " he knew no man to have preached the word of God, sincerely and purely, and after the vein of Scripture, except Master Crome and Master Latimer." Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. i., p. 332. For various notices of Cromc, see Index to Strype's Works. 4 See this letter in Miss Wood's Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies, vol. ii., p. 189. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 87 the first to engage in importing Tyndale's English version of the New Testament into England, namely, Eichard Harman, a citizen of Antwerp, and merchant in the English house of that city. Harman's zeal had involved him in persecution, and even endangered his life. It roused the fury of Cardinal Wolsey; and, in 1528, the cardinal, by means of the English ambassador Hackett, resident in the Nether- lands, requested Princess Margaret, 1 then regent of that country, to seize Harman, with the view of his being immediately sent into England. Margaret and her council agreed to apprehend him, and on condition of his being found guilty, either to send him into Eng- land or to punish him according to his deserts. In July that year he and his wife, who was not less obnoxious for heresy than himself, were taken prisoners at Antwerp, and an inventory was made of all their goods for behoof of the emperor. This, however, did not satisfy the intolerant Hackett, who, afraid that Harman might be permit- ted by the Netherlands government to escape with impunity, urged Wolsey -with great earnestness to call upon that government to deliver him up as guilty not only of heresy but of treason. " In this manner," says he, '' we may have two strings to our bow : for I doubt greatly, after the statutes of these countries, that, revoking his heresies, for the first time he will escape with a slender punishment; but for treason to the king, they cannot pardon him in these parts, after the statutes of our intercourse, dated the year 1505." 2 Acting upon this suggestion, Wolsey transmitted to Hackett royal letters, warranting him to seize Harman as a traitor. But Margaret interposed her veto, wishing, before delivering up Harman, to be 1 Margaret, daughter of the Emperor Maximilian, and aunt of Charles V. She died in December, 1530, having governed the Netherlands eighteen years. Brandt's History of the Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. i., p. 59. * The allusion here is to the treaty in the reigu of Henry VII., 1505, in which " there was an express article against the reception of the rebels of either prince by the other ; purporting, that if any such rebel should be required by the prince, whose rebel he was, of the prince confederate, that forthwith the prince confederate should by proclamation command him to avoid the country : which, if he did not, within fifteen days, the rebel was to stand proscribed, aud be put out of protection." Bacon's Henry VII 88 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. informed of what particular acts of treason he had committed. Har- man and his wife, after lying in prison upwards of seven months, were set at liberty; and such was the altered state of matters in England only a few years subsequent, that we find him in London in 1534, seeking redress for the injury and losses he had sustained by his imprisonment, and by his excision from the privileges connected with the English house at Antwerp, through the persecuting fury of Hackett and Wolsey. And " every one acquainted with the history of the Hanse towns knows how much had been involved in the for- The English House, Antwerp. feiture of his privileges as a merchant adventurer. The ' English house,' like all these towns, exercised a judicial superintendence over its members, and punished them by a species of commercial excom- munication. Mr. Harman had evidently been suffering under this for years." 1 Audley was now Lord Chancellor; Cromwell chief Secretary of State; and Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury; all favourable to the Eeformation ; but Harman applied to the queen, not to any of them. His application was successful. Sympathizing 7 Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. i., p. 411. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 89 with a man who had imported the Sacred Volume, and done so at great worldly sacrifices, she wrote a letter to Cromwell in his behalf, the original of which is still in existence. "ANNE THE QUEEN. " TRUSTY and right well-beloved, we greet you well. And whereas we be credibly informed that the bearer hereof, Richard Harman, merchant and citizen of Antwerp, in Brabant, was, in the time of the late Lord Cardinal, put and expelled from his freedom and fellow- ship of and in the English house there, for nothing else (as he affirmeth) but only for that he still, like a good Christian man, 1 did, both with his goods and policy, to his great hurt and hindrance in this world, help to the setting forth of the New Testament in Eng- lish . we therefore desire and instantly pray you, that with all speed and favour convenient, ye will cause this good and honest mer- chant, being my lord's true, faithful, and loving subject, to be restored to his pristine freedom, liberty, and fellowship aforesaid, and the sooner at this our request, and at your good leisure to hear him on such things as he hath to make further relation unto you in this behalf. Given under our signet, at my lord's manor of Greenwich, the 14th day of May. " To our trusty and right well-beloved, Thomas Cromwell, squire, Chief Secretary unto my Lord the King's Highness." 2 This letter, though the date of the year is not given, was probably written in 1534 ; and if so, Cromwell had been made chief secretary of state only a week before, and the act of justice to Harman here requested, must have been one of his earliest acts in his new office. To do full justice to Anne Boleyn for her gracious interposition in behalf of Harman, it is necessary to take into consideration the 1 In the original, the pen has been drawn across the words " still like a good Chris- tian man." Hence Strype has omitted them altogether, and Sir Henry Ellis has placed them in a note at the bottom of the page. But there is reason to think that some hostile person has perpetrated this erasure. The words are in harmony with the whole spirit of the letter, and there is no conceivable reason why, having ouce written them, she should thus obliterate them. 58 Ellis's Original Letters, first series, vol. ii., pp. 45, 46. 90 Ladies of tlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. violent hostility of those in high places, at that period, to the dis- semination of the Scriptures in the vernacular tongue. In March, 1526, Henry had condemned Tyndale's translation of the New Testa- ment into English to be burned, and "sharp correction and punish- ment" to be inflicted on "the keepers and readers of the same," under the pretext that it contained "many corruptions of the sacred text, as also certain prefaces and other pestilent glosses in the margins, for the advancement and settingforth of his [Luther's] abominable here- sies." In the same year Cuthbsrt Tonstal, Bishop of London, had, for similar reasons, denounced it, both the copies with " glosses " and those without them, and charged his archdeacons to warn all within their archdeaconries to bring in and deliver up such copies as they possessed to his vicar-general, within the space of thirty days. In 1527, Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, had purchased all the copies of Tyndale's New Testament he could meet with, that they might be destroyed, expending in such purchases a sum equivalent to not less than 1000 of our present money ; and in the following year, the readers and importers of the same book were seized and punished. In 1529 Tonstal had purchased all the copies of Tyndale's New Testament which he could find in Antwerp ; and in May, 1530, he made a bonfire of them, and of other heretical books, in St. Paul's church-yard, London. In 1532 Sir Thomas More condemned to the stake such as affirmed that it is lawful for every man and woman to have God's word in their mother tongue. 1 Such were the times in which Anne Boleyn lived, and such was the character of the most of those by whom she was surrounded ; for though Wolsey and War- ham were now in their graves, and Sir Thomas More in the Tower, the courtiers, with few exceptions, were not less hostile to the diffu- sion of the Scriptures in the English tongue than these men had been. In such circumstances, to vindicate Harman as acting the part of " a good Christian man," in his zealous exertions to disse- minate the Scriptures, and to interpose for his restoration to the Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. }., pp. 112, 113, 158, 262, 333. ENGLAND.! Anne Boleyn. 91 rights and privileges of which on that account he had been unjustly deprived, was no small proof of her enlightened understanding, her moral courage, and her Christian humanity. Being still the object of Henry's idolatrous affection, she could bend his will in this instance to the side of justice; and neither Tonstal, Gardiner, Stokesly, nor her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, much as they hated the Scriptures and their circulation among the people, dared to express their dissent, lest by opposing the queen they should excite the dis- pleasure of the monarch. The queen's friendly interference in behalf of Harman, and her favourable sentiments as to the diffusion of the Word of God in the mother tongue, was soon made known to Tyndale, who was now at Antwerp, about to print in that city a new and improved edition of his New Testament, and the tidings were felt by him as a great encouragement. Surrounded by numerous and powerful enemies, who were thirsting for his blood, and who to open hostility added base and artful treachery, it cheered him to know that a woman of Anne's influence appreciated his labours, and sympathized with the sufferings of himself and of others engaged in the same cause. Not one in high places in England had ventured, like her, to plead the cause of Bible circulation, and to give the sanction of their name to his translation. He had received this intelligence probably from Harman himself, before he had begun to print his new and improved edition of the New Testament, and in expression of his gratitude to the queen, when the work was passing through the press, ' he ordered a copy to be beautifully printed on vellum with illuminations, intended as a present to her, and he got it bound in blue morocco, with these words upon the gilding of the leaves, in large red letters, " ANNA REGINA 1 The printing of this edition was finished in the month of November, 1534- 2 After passing through various hands, this elegant copy came into the possession of the Rev. Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode, who bequeathed it, with his large and valuable library, to the British Museum, into which it was brought after his death, in April, 1799, and where it is now preserved. 92 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. Anne's favour for the Reformation and the Reformers was well known to the Popish party in England, and it disconcerted them exceedingly. So fully were they convinced of her leanings on this side, that when, with Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, at their head, they had formed a plan for the destruction of Tyndale, which was by sending a hired agent from England into the Nether- lands to make every effort to induce the government of that country, according to the persecuting laws then in force, to apprehend and burn Tyndale as an heretic, the plot was carefully concealed from Henry. No good reason can be assigned for this but their fears lest Anne, had she been apprised of their intentions, should have effectually defeated them, by her powerful intercessions with the king in behalf of Tyndale. 1 There is even ground for believing that Anne had actively pro- moted the printing of the first edition of the New Testament printed in England ; which was Tyndale's English translation. The previous editions had been issued from the press at Antwerp. This edition was printed in London, by his majesty's printer, in folio, with the valuable prologues of that Reformer prefixed to each of the inspired books, and with his long-proscribed name exhibited on the title- page. It was published in the year 1536, though in all probability the printing of it had commenced in the close of the year 1535. The name of the printer, who was Thomas Berthelet, does not indeed 1 Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. i., p. 417. The plot was successful. In the beginning of the year 1535 Tyndale was arrested at Antwerp, and carried to the castle of Vilvorde, a distance of twenty-three and a half miles. After being im- prisoned nearly two years in that castle, he was condemned to the flames. On being bound to the stake, he uttered aloud, with great fervour, the prayer, "Lord, open the eyes of the King of England." He was first -strangled by the hangman, and then consumed by the flames. This took place on the morning of Friday, 6th October, 1536, shortly before the printing of his New Testament by the king's printer, as mentioned in the next paragraph in the text. England must ever revere the memory of Tyndale, the first who translated the Scriptures from their inspired originals into the English tongue, and the father and founder of our authorized version of the Bible. He trans- lated the whole of the New Testament, and the historical books of the Old, from Genesis to the end of the Second Book of Chronicles, when martyrdom put an end to his labours. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleijn. 93 appear on the title-page, but the most competent judges, as Ames, Herbert, and Dibdin, maintain that it must have proceeded from his press ; and the type, as well as the ornamental title of the boys in triumph, peculiar to his press, place this beyond dispute. The his- tory of the printing of this edition is involved in mystery ; but the expensive style of its execution, and its issuing from the press of the king's printer, bespeak it as undertaken under high authority. Ber- thelet himself was indifferent about the "Word of God. In 1530 he had officially printed a royal proclamation prohibiting any from having copies of the Holy Scriptures in the vulgar tongues, English, French and Dutch, that is, German ; ' and he was not the man to print so obnoxious and heretical a book as Tyndale's New Testament, had he thereby been exposed to danger. He must therefore have been employed by such as had both the ability and the will to protect him in doing so, as well as to pay the expenses. "Would he have deemed himself secure under any other patronage save that of royalty 1 If not, under whose auspices but those of Anne could he have engaged in this undertaking ? Such a supposition is certainly in harmony with her expressed approbation of Tyndale's version, and her earnest intercession in behalf of Harman, its most active disseminator. In the Manual of Devotions, said to have been pre- sented by her to her maids of honour, the following striking passage occurs, expressing gratitude to God for the approbation the king had given to the publication of the Scriptures in the English tongue : " Grant us, most merciful Father, this one of the greatest gifts that ever thou gavest to mankind, the knowledge of thy holy will and glad tidings of our salvation ; this great while oppressed with the tyranny of thy adversary of Rome, and his fautors, and kept close under his Latin letters ; and now at length promulgated, published, and set at liberty, by the grace poured into the heart of thy supreme power, our prince, as all kings' hearts be in thy hand, as in the old law [thou] didst use like mercy to thy people of Israel by thy high 1 Many years after this, namely, in 1546, he printed the proclamation which de- nounced Tyndale's New Testament, and all his writings. Ladies of t/te Reformation. [ENGLAND. instrument the good king Josias, who restored the temple decayed to its former beauty, abolished all worshipping of images and idola- try, and set abroad the law by the space of many hundred years before clean out of remembrance." 1 This evidently expresses her own sentiments ; and as to the change now wrought upon the king in favour of the circulation of the Scriptures in the mother tongue, by whose influence was it more likely to have been produced than by that of Anne 1 This edition of Tyndale'a New Testament, it would seem, was one of the fruits of that change. To studious youths in narrow circumstances, particularly such as favoured the Reformation, Anne was also a generous patroness. John Aylmer, afterwards tutor to the celebrated Lady Jane Grey, was indebted to her liberality for the ability to continue the prosecution Ruing of St. Mary' Abbey, York of his studies at Cambridge. He had been a candidate for the situation of abbot in St. Mary's Abbey, York, but was unsuccessful, 1 Lewis's History of English Translations of the Holy Bible, vol. i., p. 97. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 95 one William Thornton having gained the election, March 2, 1530, and received the temporalities, April 10. Anne, however, from the highly favourable accounts she had received of his character and capacity, made provision for his continuing to prosecute his studies. And Thornton having, in violation of an express agreement at the time of his election, removed Aylmer from the university, and brought him to St. Mary's Abbey, in which he employed him in certain menial offices, Anne, upon the complaint of Aylmer or of some of his friends, immediately ordered Thornton to allow Aylmer to return to the university of Cambridge. 1 Strype, in his Historical Collections, has recorded the names of other ingenious young men, converts to the new opinions, and after- wards celebrated in their day, who were supported by her at the university. " She was very nobly charitable, and expended largely iu all manner of acts of liberality, according to her high quality. And among the rest of her ways of showing this Christian virtue, she being a favourer of learning, together with her father, the Lord Wiltshire, and the Lord Eochford, her brother, maintained divers ingenious men at the universities. Among the rest were these men of note : Dr. Hethe, afterwards Archbishop of York, and Lord Chan- cellor ; Dr. Thirlby, afterwards Bishop of Ely ; and Mr. Paget, afterwards Lord Paget, and Secretary of State : all whom in her time were favourers of the gospel, though afterwards they relapsed. Of Paget one hath observed that he was a most earnest Protestant, and being in Cambridge, gave unto one Reynold West Luther's book, and other books of the Germans, as Franciscus Lambertus de Sectis, and that at that time he read Melancthon's Rhetoric openly in Trinity Hall, and was a maintainer of Dr. Barnes, and all the Protestants then in Cambridge, and helped many religious persons out of their cowls." 2 Dr. Bill, master of St. John's College Cam- bridge, Dean of Westminster, almoner to Queen Elizabeth, and a 1 See her letter to Thornton to this effect, in Miss Wood's Letters of Royal and Il- lustrious Ladies, vol. ii., p. 191. - Mem. Each, vol. i., part i., p 430. 96 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. man who bore a conspicuous part in the ecclesiastical and literary history of his time, also shared her liberality when a poor student at Cambridge University. 1 An imputation on the memory of Anne by her enemies is, that her days were spent in idle frivolity, and her nights in song and dance. For some time after her marriage some ground for such an imputa- tion may have existed ; but she gradually became thoughtful, and sought her happiness in devotion and in works of benevolence. Her selecting for her attendants honourable ladies of virtuous reputation, was one proof of at least a sound judgment and a commendable prudence. The spare hours of herself and of her ladies were occupied in tapestry work, and she employed her maids and others in making garments for the poor. From her own privy purse she relieved the wants of the needy with a princely liberality, planned the institution of manufactures to supply them with per- manent employment, and established bursaries in the universities for the education of promising youths. " Also," says Wyatt, " at the first she had in court drawn about her, to be attending on her, ladies 2 of great honour, and yet more choice for reputation of virtue, undoubted witnesses of her spousal integrity, whom she trained up with all the recommendations of well-ordered government, though yet, above all, by her own example, she shined above them all as a torch, that all might take light of, being itself still more bright. 1 Strype'sit/e of Sir John Clerke, Oxford, 1821, pp. 8, 9. 8 ''To every one of these," says Singer, "she gave a little book of devotions neatly written on vellum, and bound in covers of solid gold enamelled, with a ring to each cover, to hang it at their girdles, for their constant use and meditation. One of these little 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 generations, was described by Vertue as being seen by him in the possession of Mr. George Wyatt, of Charterhouse Square, in 1721. Vide Walpole's Miscellaneous Antiquities, printed at Strawberry Hill, 1772, No. ii., p. 13. It was a diminutive volume, consisting of one hundred and four leaves of vellum, one and seven-eights of an inch long, by one and five-eights of an inch broad ; containing a metrical version of parts of thirteen psalms ; and bound iu 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." ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 97 Such as have seen at Hampton Court the rich and exquisite works, for the greater part wrought by her own hand and needle, and also those wrought by her ladies, esteem them the most precious furniture, and 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 heavenly flame burning in her ; all times will remember it, no room being left for vain flames, no time for idle thoughts. Her ordinary amounted to fifteen hundred pounds at the least yearly, to be bestowed on the poor. Her provisions of stock for the poor in sundry needy parishes was very great. Out of her privy purse went not a little to like purposes ; to scholars in exhibition very much : so that in three quarters of a year her alms were estimated at fourteen or fifteen thousand pounds.'' CHAPTER HI. FROM HENRY'S ALIENATION FROM HER AND THE PLOTS OF HER ENEMIES, TO THE ATTEMPTED EXTORTION OF EVIDENCE AGAINST HER FROM HER ALLEGED ACCOMPLICES. IT has been justly remarked that Providence often punishes us by fulfilling our desires, and favours us by thwarting them. Had circumstances interposed to prevent Anne's advancement to be Queen of England, of which she was so passionately desirous, this, though adverse to her wishes, would, had she been able to penetrate the future, have been a mercy, calling forth her deepest gratitude. Her situation was extremely perilous, though she was not aware to the full extent of its perils. In the first place, Henry being one of the most capricious of beings, to have any connection with him o 98 Ladies of t/te Reformation. ' [ENGLAND. was to stand on the brink of a precipice. The man or the woman whom he honoured to-day, he might, from mere change of humour, bring to the scaffold to-morrow. Anne, by her beauty, her wit, and her accomplished manners, had subdued his heart. She seemed necessary to his happiness. With her was associated in his mind all that was lovable and lovely in the world. To gain her he had perilled the peace of his kingdom. In the hey-day of his passion he had lavished upon her honours and caresses. He had waited for six years to obtain her in wedlock, and this, in ordinary circum- stances, would have been good security for a permanent affection. But Henry was not to be judged by ordinary rules. His fancy, now when he possessed her, might soon be attracted by the blooming charms of another, and in that event he would not hesitate to cast her off. In the second place, she was surrounded by malicious Popish enemies, both male and female, in the court and elsewhere, who were thirsting for her ruin. Her removal, it was thought, would pave the way for the restoration of England to the Papal jurisdiction ; and some of these leading personages were eagerly watching for an opportunity to accomplish her downfall. Her uncle, " the Duke of Norfolk," says Burnet, " at court, and Gardiner beyond sea [then in France], thought there might easily be found a means to accommodate the king both with the emperor and even Paul HI., if the queen were once out of the way, for then he might freely marry any one he pleased, and that marriage, with the male issue of it, could not be disputed ; whereas, so long as the queen lived, her marriage, as being judged null from the beginning, could never be allowed by the court of Home." Vain indeed would have been all the machinations of her enemies had the king continued constant in his affection. For some time after the marriage he was in this respect all that could be desired ; but his fickle heart having at length gone astray after another paragon of beauty, in the person of Jane Seymour, one of Anne's maids of honour, it was gradually withdrawn from Anne. He ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 99 began to look upon her with altered countenance, and to speak to her in an altered tone. His former admiration and tenderness gave place to indifference, which at last settled into inveterate hatred. Such was his state of feeling towards her when she was near the period of her second confinement. On the 29th of January, 1536, she was prematurely delivered of a dead son, and her life was believed to be in danger. Some have attributed this premature birth to grief caused by the king's decayed affection and unkindness, for she had observed his rising passion for Jane Seymour, and this had occasioned some disagreeable words between her and his majesty. Others have ascribed it to alarm, excited by the intelligence that he had been thrown from his horse while hunting. But whether it was owing to the one or the other of these causes, or to both combined, the king, it is certain, so far from cherishing and comforting his sorrowful wife in her afflicted circumstances, treated her harshly. He is even said to have inhumanly reproached her with the loss of his child, telling her that he would have no more boys by her. ' These cruel, outrageous words, so different from what she had been once accustomed to hear from his lips these words of fatal augury, the signal of the coming storm, and the sullen tone in which they were spoken sent pangs of agony to her wounded heart. But though she could not fail to see the total revolution his affections had undergone, she did not and could not now anticipate all that was to follow. Her enemies, on the watch for her overthrow, had observed his growing coldness towards her, which they now laboured with malig- nant industry to increase, by filling his ears with reports injurious to her conjugal fidelity ; and her open frank disposition, which made her of easy access, and led her to allow her domestics a freedom in conversing with her not consonant to the restraints of royal eti- quette, afforded these liers in wait an opportunity of representing her as being on terms of unlawful familiarity with some of her at- 1 Wyatt. 100 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. tendants. Jane Parker, 1 a wicked and profligate woman, to whom Lord Rochford, Anne's brother, was unhappily married, and who mortally hated Anne, was the most zealously active of these tale- bearers. She had told the king, with every aggravating circum- stance malice could invent, the story of an alleged declaration made by Lady Wingfield upon oath on her death-bed, prejudicial to Anne's chastity ; 2 which is said to have made a deep impression on the mind of Henry, for he was naturally jealous, and jealousy is always credulous. His eager desire to be released from the nuptial ties, that he might exalt another, to whom he had now transferred his heart, to his bed and throne, would give strength to his credulity. These various passions combined, under the strong, irresistible, overmastering influence of which men will harden themselves against every feeling of compassion, and commit crimes of the black- est dye, easily account for his haste in adopting measures against Anne, and for his unrelenting cruelty in at length bringing her to that dreadful end which has imparted such a tragic interest to her history. Before the queen had fully recovered from the sorrow of mind and feebleness of frame caused by her premature confinement and the loss of her boy, investigations into her conduct had been set on foot, with the sanction of Henry. On the 24th of April, a secret com- mission was formally appointed, consisting of certain peers and judges, expressly for this purpose ; but previous to the formal ap- pointment of this commission, scandalous matter against her must have been collected, and various deliberations must have taken place in regard to it, and its consequences as to her honour, station, and 1 The daughter of Sir Henry Parker, Lord Morley. She was a blinded devotee of Popery, which may partly account for her hatred of the queen, whose principles she held in detestation. 2 Lady Wingfield was Anne's intimate friend ; but who the person was to wnom she made this solemn dying declaration, and what was her state of mind when she made it, if she made it at all, is not known. " The safest sort of forgery," says Burnet, " to one whose conscience can swallow it, is to lay a thing on a dead person's name, where there is no fear of discovery before the great day." History of the Reformation, vol. i., p. 360. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 101 even life. The men selected for this commission were the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk ; the Earls of Oxford and Westmoreland, Wilt- shire and Sussex ; Lord Sands ; Sirs William Fitz-james, William Patilet, John Fitz-james, John Baldwin, Richard Lyster, John Porte, John Spelman, Walter Luke, Anthony Fitz-herbert, Thomas Ingle- field, and William Shelly, with Audley as Lord Chancellor, and Secre- tary Cromwell. But what was the character of these men ? This is an important question, as it will serve to assist us in determining the amount of justice and impartiality to be expected from such judges. All of them were slaves to the will of Henry, and, with one or two ex- ceptions, the determined supporters of Popery. " Here was Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who, though her maternal uncle, hated the queen as cordially as he did ' the new learning ;' Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, Henry's brother-in-law and special favourite, so ready to gratify him in all his humours ; John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who supported all the measures of the court ; Robert Radcli/, who had been restored to honour by Henry as Lord Fitz-walter, in 1525, and since then created Earl of Sussex ; William Sands, the Lord Cham- berlain of the king's household, who had been made a barou, and got the Buckingham estates. Here we have eleven knights, eight of whom were compliant judges ; and as for another, William Paulett, the Comptroller of the king's house, he was a man of the most con- venient politics, who, when asked, at the end of a long life, how he preserved himself through so many changes ? answered, ' By being a willow and not an oak.' Audley was always obsequious to his royal master ; and as to Cromwell, the share he took in this business must speak for itself, in connection with his future career. But with regard to the Earl of Wiltshire, the father of the queen and of Lord Rochford, his name being inserted, was a stroke of hand quite worthy of Henry's barbarity, and must have been done to save ap- pearances. His name never occurs afterwards, and it is certain that he did not preside at the mock trial." ' 1 Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. i., p. 462. Burnet at first inserted Anne's father's name, but he had not then seen, as he afterwards saw, a record of the 102 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. Coming distressing events often cast back their shadows to the pre- sent, and the mind, from causes difficult to be explained, is haunted with forebodings of some inevitable calamity. Henry IV. of France, long before Eavaillac armed himself with the deadly weapon, often thought he heard the tread of the assassin's foot, and felt in his breast as it were the assassin's knife, and the fearful impression would startle him both in his waking and sleeping hours. Anne, too, had presentiments, warning her, like prophetic voices, of some- thing terrible looming in the distance. Notwithstanding the affir- mation of most historians to the contrary, she was, it appears, not altogether ignorant of the conspiracy formed for her ruin ; and she seems, from her knowledge of Henry's alienation from her, and from rumours communicated to her, to have foreboded but too truly the fatal issue. About a day or two after the appointment of a special commission to inquire into her conduct, she had a long and serious interview with her chaplain, Matthew Parker, to whom she expressed great anxiety about her daughter Elizabeth, of whose religious education she with solemn earnestness besought him to take the charge. 1 To this scene Parker refers in a letter to one of Queen Elizabeth's councillors, in which, while declining the archbishopric of Canterbury, he says, " Yet I would fain serve my sovereign lady in more respects than my allegiance, since I cannot forget what words her grace's mother said to me not six days before her appre- hension." 2 On the first day of May, called May-day, the court being then at Greenwich, the king had a splendid tilting match or mock fight; and on that day he gave the first public demonstration of his evil intentions against the queen. Though a secret commission was at that very time sitting to collect evidence against her, and the whole plan for the destruction of herself and of her alleged accomplices trial, now lost, from which he was convinced that the earl was not present. He there- fore expunged the name from the subsequent edition of his history. 1 Lingard. 2 Burnet's Reformation, vol. iv., p. 492. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 103 had been settled, 1 two of them, her brother Lord Rochfield, and Sir Henry Norris, were the principal actors in the amusements of the tilt-yard, the one being the chief challenger, and the other the defendant, while she sat by the side of the king witnessing the Anne charging Matthew Parker to lake charge of the education of her daughter. spectacle. In his present state of morbid jealousy he was probably more intent upon discovering, from the conduct of his wife, some- thing confirmatory of her guilty intimacy with the combatants, than i Of this there can be no doubt. On the 14th of April, 1536, Henry dissolved a Parliament which had sat for six years. On the 27th of that month writs were issued for a new Parliament to meet 011 the 8th of June. And that the conspiracy against Anne had been matured when these writs were issued, that is, four days before the May-day scene, is evident from Sir Thomas Audley, the Lord Chancellor's address at the opening of the new Parliament ; in which he tells them that his majesty's objects in assembling them so early after the dissolution of last Parliament, were, 1, " To settle an heir-apparent to the crown, in case he should die without children lawfully begotten; and 2, to repeal an act of the former Parliament as to the succession of the crown, to the issue of the king by Q,ueeu Anne Boleyn." These objects, it thus appears, were full in view on the 27th of April. 104 Ladies oftlw Reformation. [ENGLAND. upon deriving amusement from their feats of arms. The interest she would naturally evince, and the gratification she would natu- rally express, on witnessing the achievements of an accomplished and beloved brother, and of a gallant knight of her acquaintance, anxious to win her approbation, would almost inevitably rouse the suspicions of Henry. The particular incident upon which he first openly expressed his displeasure is not known with certainty. It is said to have been upon the queen's having dropped a hand- kerchief to one of the combatants, heated in the course, to wipe his face, a use to which he instantly applied it. l This, if true, either excited Henry's jealousy, or afforded him, as he thought, a plausible pretext for giving vent to his pent-up hatred against her, and suddenly i-ising from his seat, he withdrew from the bal- cony in great wrath. Extremely alarmed, she immediately hurried after him to inquire the cause; which, however, from rumours previously conveyed to her, she probably conjectured. The king, who had renounced all idea of being ever again reconciled to her, that she might not see him again, which she never did, had mounted his horse for "Westminster with only six attendants, one of whom was Sir Henry Norris, leaving orders that she should not quit her apartments. On the way he minutely examined Norris, putting to him a thousand questions with great earnestness, and promising him his freedom provided he would make disclosures ; but Norris on no consideration would criminate the queen. He was therefore committed to the Tower next day, being the 2d of May, and on the same day, Sir Francis Weston, with Lord Eochford, were also imprisoned in the Tower. Anne had resolved to proceed in the afternoon of that day to Westminster, to meet with the king, and endeavour to allay his irritation. But she had not proceeded far up the river on her way, when her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, who, throughout the whole of the proceedings against her, acted a very i Sanders is the sole authority, and he is certainly not one of the best, for her dropping the handkerchief. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 105 unfeeling and unnatural part, and several other members of council came on board, and produced an order for her arrest. 1 "It is his majesty's pleasure," said Norfolk, " that you should go to the Tower." At the announcement she blanched and was unnerved for a moment ; but, regaining her self-possession, she replied, "If it is his majesty's pleasure, I am ready to obey." On arriving about five o'clock in the Anne Boleyn a Prisoner at the Gate ol the Towr. afternoon at the gate of the Tower that Tower which had once been her palace falling down upon her knees, she uttered -with great emotion the prayer, " O Lord, help me, as I am guiltless of this whereof I am accused." 2 With a shudder of horror, she asked Sir William Kingston, lieutenant of the Tower, "Mr. Kingston, do I go into a dungeon T Kingston, who was a man of a stern unfeeling character, but who affected great courtesy towards prisoners of dis- 1 According to others they produced their order to her before she left Greenwich. 2 Herbert's Henry VIII., p. 194. 106 Ladies of tlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. tinction.' replied softly, as if he had been her guardian angel, " No, Madam, you shall go into your lodging, that you lay in at your coronation." This was indeed true, for instead of being shut up in a cell, she was allowed to occupy the royal apartments in the Tower, usually appropriated to the queens of England, a portion of which was called the Marten Tower. 2 But the answer awakened painful recollections. The thought that within the building where the crown of England had been placed upon her brow, she was now to be im- prisoned, the contrast of the imposing splendour of her coronation day, when she felt as if the happiest of human beings, with her pre- sent wretched condition, almost overwhelmed her, and she cried out, " It is too good for me Jesus have mercy on me." She then kneeled down, weeping bitterly, and in the midst of this sorrow fell into a fit of laughing, as she frequently did afterwards the laughter of anguish, and not the effect merely of strong nervous agitation. Anguish venting itself in laughter is indeed the most terrible of all. It is anguish, in the delirium of agony or despair, betaking itself to opposites, when its natural forms of expression by tears and cries are felt to be inadequate. She desired Kingston to petition his majesty " that she might have the sacrament in the closet by her chamber, that she might pray for mercy; for," she added, "I am as clear from 1 Cardinal Wolsey well knew the character of this cold-hearted but smooth-tongued jailer. Upon Wolsey's fall, when the Earl of Northumberland Anne's old lover had received orders to arrest him for high treason, and to bring him to London, to un- dergo his trial, Cavendish, the cardinal's gentleman-usher, having told his master that Mr. Kingston and twenty-four of the guards had been sent to conduct him to his majesty, " Mr. Kingston ! " replied the cardinal, repeating the name several times, and then clasping his hand on his thigh, he gave a deep sigh. And when Kingston treated him wiih all the marks of respect which had been paid to him in the pride of his glory, and to revive his dejected spirits, reminded him of the generosity of his noble-hearted master, Wolsey, in whose ears all this sounded very like mockery, knowing that he had fallen, never to rise again, simply 'said, "Mr. Kingston, all the comfortable words ye have spoken to me, be spoken but for a purpose to bring me into a fool's paradise : I know what is provided for me." Cavendish's Life of Wolsey. 2 The autograph of her name is still to be seen in the wall of the Marten Tower. The part where it appears is now a lobby, and represented iu the annexed engraving. See a facsimile of the autograph, on the last page of this life. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 107 the company of men, as for sin, as I am clear from you, and am the king's true wedded wife." She expressed much anxiety about her brother, and also evinced the tenderest solicitude about her mother- iu-law, with whom she was on terms of endeared affection, exclaiming, " my mother, thou wilt die for sorrow." ' Part of the Marten Tower as now existing. The fullest accounts of the last days of her life, from her imprison- ment in the Tower to her death, is contained in a series of letters written by Sir William Kingston to Cromwell. 2 From these letters 1 Her own mother died in 1512 2 These letters of Kingston, which are preserved in MS., Cotton, Otho, c x , fol. 225, British Museum, were in part mutilated by the ravages of the fire of 1731. They are printed in Ellis's Original Letters, first series, vol. ii , pp. 52 65 ; and in vol. ii. of Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, edited by Singer, who has filled up the blanks from Strype, who had seen the letters before their being damaged by fire. 108 Ladies of tlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. we learn that female attendants, in whom she had no confidence, and of whom she bitterly complained, Lady Boleyn' and Mrs. Cosyns, attended her by day and by night, sleeping on the pallet at the foot of her bed ; that these heartless and faithless women triumphed over her misfortunes, insulted her by their unfeeling remarks, were on the watch to catch and report every word she uttered, in the wild frenzy of grief; and that, with the view of extorting from her own lips a confession of criminality, they artfully questioned and cross-questioned her, but that she persevered to the last in avowing her innocence. Kingston and his wife slept at the outside of her chamber door. Two other ladies, who, it would appear, were truly friendly to her, one of whom Miss Strickland supposes was Mary Wyatt, sister of her early and devoted friend, Sir Thomas Wyatt, were permitted to attend her, though under such restrictions, that they were not allowed to have any communication with her except in the presence of Kingston and his wife ; and they slept in an adjoining apartment. During her imprisonment, she sometimes thought that Henry was only trying her ; at other times she believed that her doom was sealed. But she gradually disciplined her mind to submission, whatever might happen. Cranmer had not been made privy to what had been secretly going on against the queen; yet as his official services would be afterwards needed in some of the measures contemplated, he was summoned by Cromwell, in obedience to the king's orders, from the country, where he was then residing, to Lambeth. Only a week before the May-day scene, namely, on the 22d of April, he was residing at Knole, in Kent, as appears from the date of a letter which he then wrote to Cromwell, and he was probably stil] there when he received Cromwell's letters requiring him to return to Lambeth, but forbidding him to come into the royal presence until he should receive further orders ; a prohibition which, on the part of the king, looked very like the shrinking of a self-condemned i This lady was the wife of Anne's uncle. Sir Edward Boleyn. ENGLAND.] Anne fioleyn. 109 wrong-doer from meeting with a man whose office it was to condemn injustice and cruelty. But still the king, not being ignorant of Cranmer's pliancy of disposition, had no fears that the prelate would traverse his designs, and believed that it would be easy to convert him into an instrument for carrying into execution that part of the plot requiring his assistance. Cranmer arrived at Lambeth on the 2d of May, the day on which Anne was sent to the Tower. He was now in great perplexity. Two different kinds of feelings were struggling in his breast, a desire to vindicate the queen, whom gratitude as well as justice bound him to protect if innocent, and a desire to please the monarch, to whom he was too often criminally obsequious. These two sorts of feelings will explain the peculiar character of his letter to the king, written on the following day, a letter which has been very oppositely described by different his- torians. Influenced by the one class of feelings, he pleads in behalf of Anne, of whose character he affirms he had always entertained a, very high opinion ; impelled by the other class, he seems willing to gratify the monarch's thirst for vengeance. Speaking of the reports as to the queen's grace, he thus writes : " I am in such a perplexity that my mind is clean amazed : for I never had better opinion of woman than I had of her, which maketh me think that she should not be culpable." And again, " I think that your highness would not have gone so far except she had been surely culpable. Now I think that your grace best knoweth that, next unto your grace, I was most bound unto her of all creatures living. Wherefore I most humbly beseech your grace to suffer me in that which both God's law, nature, and also her kindness bindeth me unto ; that is, that I may, with your grace's favour, wish and pray for her, that she may declare herself inculpable and innocent. And if she be found cul- pable, considering your grace's goodness towards her, and from what condition your grace, of your only mere goodness, took her, and set a crown upon her head, I repute him not your grace's faithful servant and subject, nor true unto the realm, that would not de- sire the offence without mercy to be punished to the example of 110 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. others. And as I loved her not a little for the love which I judged her to bear towards God and his gospel ; so if she be proved cul- pable, there is not one that loveth God and his gospel that ever will favour her, but must hate her above all other ; and the more they favour the gospel, the more they will hate her ; for then there was never creature in our time that so much slandered the gospel. And God hath sent her this punishment, for that she feignedly hath pro- fessed his gospel in her mouth, and not in heart and deed From Lambeth, the 3d day of May." This letter, so far from being serviceable, must have been deeply injurious to the cause of Anne. Cranmer, indeed, expresses the high opinion he had always formed of her character, and speaks in lauda- tory terms of the encouragement she had given to the Reformation ; but the verbosity and emphasis with which he dwells upon the severe punishment deserved by her if guilty, tended, as coming from one in whose judgment Henry placed as much confidence as a mon- arch so ungovernable and self-willed could repose in any man, to justify to his own mind his murderous purpose. It was giving pro- minence to that side of the question on which the thoughts of Henry most dwelt, and in his present state of mind would rather slacken the reins than restrain him in the course he was so furiously driving. Why did not Cranmer introduce and dwell with equal force on another supposition the fearful guilt the monarch would incur should he condemn the queen if she was innocent ? This, as he well knew, would have been ungrateful to the royal ears ; but the life of an unprotected lady was at stake, and the whole truth should have been plainly told at all hazards. Fain would Cranmer have bridled the monarch's fury, and claimed even-handed justice for the accused queen ; but his cautious timorous disposition unqualified him to be the firm and fearless defender of the innocent and the oppressed against the ruthless power of a royal oppressor. This letter betrays the leading defect in his character the want of decision, so espe- cially necessary in those stormy times to thorough integrity of con- duct, and a facility of disposition which made him too easily led ENGLAND.] Anne Solemn. Ill astray by others, contrary to his own better judgment and feelings a defect regretted by his warmest friends, and sneeringly blazoned by the enemies of the Reformation, who can never forgive his zeal- ous services in its behalf. After having finished this letter, he was sent for to the star chamber by some of the king's ministers. On his arrival they recounted to him the tale of her alleged guilt, and succeeded -in getting him to believe in her criminality. This we learn from the postscript added to the letter: "After I had written this letter," says he, " unto your grace, my Lord Chancellor, my Lord of Oxford, my Lord of Sussex, and [Sands] my Lord Chamberlain of your grace's house, sent for me to come unto the star chamber, and there declared unto me such things as your grace's pleasure was they should make me privy to, for the which I am most bounden unto your grace. And what communications we had together, I doubt not but they will make the true report thereof unto your grace. 1 am exceedingly sorry that such faults can be proved against the queen, as I heard of their relation, but I am, and ever shall be your faithful subject." This portscript, even more than the letter, tended to confirm Henry in his fatal purpose. Cranmer, we see, now believed the queen to be guilty, and gives up her defence, upon the simple authority of the story told him by these lords. Thus to condemn her without proof, was equally uncharitable and unjust. Had he expressed his resolute determination not to condemn her till her guilt was established had he made the most earnest in- tercessions in her behalf there is no reason to think that he could h'ave preserved her from destruction ; but this course, injurious though it might have been to his temporal interests, justice de- manded, and it would have yielded true satisfaction to his own mind, for no one will ever repent of leaning to the side of charity and of mercy. On the 6th of May Anne wrote her celebrated letter to the king a letter universally admired for its beautiful composition, its affecting eloquence, and indicating a highly cultivated mind. She 112 Ladies of tlie Reformation. [ENGLAXD. acknowledges her deep obligations to his majesty, for exalting her from a comparatively low station to the highest rank to which female ambition could aspire. She assures him that this sudden vicissitude had not taken her by surprise, as, even in the hey-day of prosperity, she had anticipated such an event as not improbable. She maintains her innocence of the crimes imputed to her, demands a lawful and open trial, and the exclusion of her sworn enemies from acting as her accusers and judges. In short, she expresses a generous solicitude about the preservation of the lives of the indivi- duals criminated on her account. 1 But in vain did she appeal to Henry's justice and mercy ; and his heart remaining impenetrably obdurate to her touching eloquence, she could appeal to no other quarter for her life. His will was supreme, and she had, therefore, now to make up her mind patiently to submit to whatever treat- ment he should doom her to undergo. Forgetting, or not knowing, from her imperfect experience of human character, how her fallen fortunes would change the coun- tenances and the hearts of her friends, she placed upon those whom she conceived to be the best portion of them a confidence doomed, alas ! to disappointment. " I would I had my bishops," said she to Kingston, u for they would all go to the king for me." 2 That Bishop Shaxton, then professedly a zealous disciple of the Reformation, but a wolf in sheep's clothing, made no effort in her behalf, need not excite our surprise. He had pressed forward to do her honour ; he had courted her favour, fawned upon and flattered her, so long as he expected some brilliant advantage as the fruit of his cringing homage ; but when calamity had now overtaken her, instead of applauding he condemned her, instead of respectfully bowing the knee he contemptuously shook the head. His letter to Cromwell on the 23d of May, four days after her execution, betrays the genuine spirit of the man. It is now much mutilated by fire, but these imperfect passages are still legible : " She sore slandered the 1 See this letter in Appendix, No. I. 2 MS. Olho, c. x., p. 260; quoted iu Turner's Rei^n of Henry VIII., Tol. ii., p. 431. ENGLAND.] Anne Soleyn. 113 same hath exceedingly deceived me that vice that she was found Lord have mercy on her soul." But even the best of her bishops, partaking of the imperfection and infirmity of human nature, and afraid of incurring the monarch's displeasure, left her solitary and unprotected. They shrunk from claiming for her case, what grati- tude and justice equally bound them to do, an impartial investiga- tion; the avoidance of precipitation, as injurious to dispassionate inquiry and an upright decision ; and that mercy which, even should she be found guilty, it would have been creditable for all concerned in the prosecution to have extended to her. Finding at length that she was thus unbefriended and forsaken by all, the thoughts, trite, because founded on daily experience, expressed in the Rambler, would affectingly and strongly suggest themselves to her mind: " When smiling fortune spreads her golden ray, All crowd around to flatter and obey ; But when she thunders from an angry sky, Our friends, our flatterers, and lovers fly." On the 10th of May, seven of those judges who had been on the special commission for making inquiry into the conduct of the queen, having met with the grand jury of "Westminster, consisting of seven squires and nine gentlemen, the criminating matter col- lected against her was considered, and by the verdict of the jury, given upon their oaths, a bill of indictment for high treason 1 was found against her; Sir Henry Norris, groom of the stole to the king ; Sir Francis Weston and William Brereton, gentlemen of the 1 "Two legal explanations of this proceeding have been attempted. The first is founded on the statute of treasons, 25 Ed. III., which made it high treason to violate the queen; a word which had been understood as applicable to any illicit connection with her. A.S accessory to the treason of her paramours, she became, by operation of law, a principal in the crime. The other represents the indictment as under the late statute, which made it treason ' to sland?r the succession of her issue* by the profes- sion of love to others, with which she was charged. It is hard to say which of these constructions was, the most forced and fantastic. But it seems evident, from the use of the word violaoit in the indictment, that the prosecutors, in spite of the common meaning of this word, which implies force, chose to rely on the statute of Edward III." Sir James Mackintosh's History of England, vol. ii., p. 195. 114 Ladies of Hie Reformation. [ENGLAND. privy chamber; Mark Smeaton, a man of inferior rank, who, on account of his skill as a performer on musical instruments, had been promoted to be groom of the chamber ; and George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, Anne's brother. The indictment, which is in barbarous Latin, is too gross for the public eye ; and the very grossness of the accusations is a strong presumption of their being base and clumsy fabrications. It re- presents her as being in every instance the seducer, and while the charges go back nearly three years, there is always an interval of several days, sometimes of several weeks, between her solicitations and the commission of the crime, a circumstance unlike the impetu- osity of passion, and giving the document very much the appearance of having been manufactured for the occasion. " It is hard to be- lieve," says Sir James Mackintosh, " that Anne could have dared to lead a life so unnaturally dissolute, without such vices being more easily and very generally known in a watchful and adverse court. It is still more improbable that she should in every instance be the seducer ; and that in all cases the enticement should systema- tically occur in one day, while the offence should be completed several days after." l Turner, the apologist of Henry, and by no means a partizan of Anne, after giving an abstract of the indict- ment from one of the Birch manuscripts, 2 observes, " These circum- stances do not resemble those of a true case, nor suit the natural conduct of a shameless woman. I have more doubt of her crimi- nality since I met with this specifying record than I had before. The regular distinctions between the days of allurement and the days of offence are very like the made up facts of a fabricated accusation." 3 "The first alleged offence," says Miss Strickland, "is with Norris, and is dated October 6, 1533, within a month after the birth of the princess Elizabeth, which statement brings its own refutation, for the queen had not then quitted her lying-in chamber." 1 History of England, vol. ii., p. 196. * It is printed in full in Bayle's Dictionary, art. Boleyn. 1 Reign of Henry VIII., vol. ii., p. 444. ENGLAND.] Anne Bdayn. 115 As to the imputation involving her brother, the only circum- stance adduced in proof was that he was once seen leaning on her bed ' a circumstance to which only such as were malignantly set on framing a criminal charge from nothing would have attached the smallest importance. How malicious the enemies by whom she was surrounded, and with what minute unceasing attention must her conduct have been watched and pried into, when a harmless incident like this was converted into a monstrous crime ! The more unna- tural, and consequently the more improbable the crime, every prin- ciple of reason and of justice demanded that the proof of guilt should be so much the stronger. And if, upon the slender cir- cumstance mentioned, her enemies in their eagerness to ruin her honour, and blast her name, and bring her to the scaffold pronounced her guilty of the atrocious, the unnatural crime of incest, we may be sure that they would have little scruple in pro- nouncing her guilty of all the other accusations, however lame the evidence. In their ardour to find criminating matter against her, her enemies had recourse to the artifice of insinuating or directly say- ing to each of the prisoners, which was a base falsehood, that his fellows had confessed, in order to induce him to make confession. This artifice was practised even upon Anne, who was told by her uncle, or by his orders, that Norris had confessed the truth of all the charges, which was false. Verily, men who could make use of such unprincipled arts, would stick at no falsehood, however flagrant, at no sort or size of calumny, by which they might compass the destruction of their victim. Smeaton was the only one of the prisoners who confessed any- thing to her disadvantage. But how his confession was obtained, how far it extended, or what were the conditions of it, we are igno- rant. 2 Whatever was its amount, it is said to have been obtained 1 Harriet's Reformation, vol. i., p. 197. - Soames's Reformation in England, vol. ii, p. 135. Sir James Mackintosh's History of England, vol. ii., p. 196. 116 Ladies of ilie Reformation. [ENGLAND. by means of the rack, though, from the secrecy with which his examination was conducted, this has not been authenticated. " Upon May-day in the morning," says Constantine, a contemporary, "he was in the Tower ; the truth is he confessed it, but yet the saying was that he was first grievously racked, which I could never know of a truth." J It has also been said that he was encouraged to con- fess by a promise of life. " He was provoked thereunto," says Graf- ton, "by the Lord Admiral Fitzwilliams, that was after Earl of Southampton, who said unto him, Subscribe Mark (meaning to a confession, criminating himself, the queen, and others), and see what will come of it." 2 A confession obtained by such means, in a case like the present, is entitled to little credit. And what is to be thought of statesmen who, in their eagerness to accomplish the pur- pose of their master, were so base as to make such a promise, while they had no intention of keeping it ? The other three, Lord Eochford, Norris, Weston, and Brereton, persisted to the last in denying their own criminality, and in asserting their conviction of the queen's innocence. Norris in particular, though offered his life by Henry if he would make confession against her, spurned the offer. His humanity and generosity revolted at the idea of purchasing life upon such terms, and he declared that in his conscience he believed her to be blameless, and that he would die a thousand deaths rather than betray the innocent. On hearing this strong protestation of Norris, Henry cried out, "Hang him up, then ! Hang him up, then !" 3 the words of a man who, maddened into demoniacal fury against the woman whom he now mortally hated, could have thrust the dagger to the very hilt in her heart with his own hand, and who was clearly determined to get quit of her, at whatever cost. The fact that Smeaton alone would criminate the queen, greatly perplexed her enemies. Sir Edward Baynton thus writes with much concern to Sir William Fitzwilliams, treasurer of the household, a very active agent in the plot : -" Mr. Treasurer, this shall be to advertise you, 1 Archteologia, vol. xxiii., p. 64. 8 Grafton's Chronicle, edit. London, 1809, vol. ii., p. 456. * Godwiu. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 117 that here is much communication that no man will confess anything against her, but only Mark [Smeaton]. Wherefore, in my foolish conceit, it should much touch the king's honour if it should no far- ther appear ;" and, as has been truly said, it never did. CHAPTEE IV. FROM HER TRIAL TO HER EXECUTION. ON the 15th of May, the queen and her brother were brought to trial before their peers. Her maternal uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, who was constituted Lord High Steward, presided, supported on the right hand by Lord Chancellor Audley, and on the left by the Duke of Suffolk, while the Earl of Surrey sat as Earl Marshal in front, before his father, the Duke of Norfolk. Only twenty-seven peers in all were present, though the number of the peerage at that period amounted to fifty-three ; the rest not choosing to attend, or doubts being entertained of their subserviency to the wishes of the monarch, they had not been summoned, or means had been adopted to prevent their attendance. It is an important fact that these peers were men notorious for their servility to the monarch, and indebted to him for honourable titles and lucrative appointments, to which must be added, that with one or two exceptions, they were hostile to the Reformation, and therefore far from being actuated by friendly feelings towards the queen, its friend and supporter. From a court constituted of such men, it could hardly be expected that either she or her brother would obtain an impartial trial. The court was held in a temporary wooden hall, erected for the purpose within the Tower ; and the trial was private, only Sir Ralph "Warren as Lord Mayor, with divers aldermen and citizens, being permitted to be present. 1 This privacy, it was pretended, pro- 1 Lord Herbert's Henry VIII., p. 195. 118 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. ceeded from motives of delicacy, from respect to Anne's feelings, to save her the pain of being exhibited to public view under such scandalous imputations. But it was rather intended to prevent the manifestation of popular feeling in her favour, of which Henry, who, notwithstanding his self-will and tyranny, was not indifferent to the good opinion of the people, had evinced during the whole of the pro- ceedings a sensitive dread. That this was the real motive for excluding the public from witnessing her trial, as afterwards from witnessing her execution, is evident from some statements in a letter of Sir William Kingston, lieutenant of the Tower, to Cromwell, to be afterwards quoted. " It could not be," as has been well observed, " to conceal the heinousness of the accusation, though such might be the pretence ; for that was published in Parliament a few weeks after." This privacy was a strong temptation to injustice, for whatever unfair dealing might be practised, it would not meet the public eye ; and it seems to betray a conviction that the proceedings would not stand the open light. Lord Rochford was first brought to the bar of the court. His indictment being read, he pleaded not guilty. His own wife, Jane Parker, his principal accuser, appeared a willing witness against him. He made an eloquent and powerful defence, and his judges were at first divided. But he was finally found guilty, and con- demned to be beheaded. The trial of her brother having been concluded, Anne was brought to the bar by a gentleman-usher. She appeared attended only by the faithless and cold-hearted women who waited upon her as spies in her prison. On entering the court she bowed with becoming respect and dignity to the judges. She was desired to take her seat on a chair which had been made for the occasion. The trial pro- ceeded, and her manner throughout was composed, but without the effrontery of a hardened culprit. The indictment was read, upon hearing which, she held up her hand and pleaded not guilty. Jane Parker, her brother's unprincipled abandoned wife, was one of the witnesses brought forward against her. "Who the others were, and ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 119 what were their depositions, cannot now be known, the whole of the evidence produced having perished, 1 nothing remaining but the indictment, precepts, and conviction. "For the evidence," says Wyatt, " as I never could hear of any, so small I believe it was. It seems the triers themselves doubted their proofs would prove their reproofs when they durst not bring them to the proof of the light in open place." Whether or not use was made of Smeaton's con- fession at the queen's trial is unknown. His evidence was perhaps produ3ed in court; but he was never confronted with her, her enemies being apparently afraid lest, when brought to face her, he would shrink from the criminating testimony extorted by pro- mises and threatenings another circumstance creating a strong suspicion that these men were far from being satisfied themselves as to her guilt. No counsel being allowed to appear in her behalf, to question and cross-question the witnesses, and to present her cause in the most favourable light, she was left to defend herself as she best could. This in all cases would be a hard alternative, but especially in the case of woman. Had Anne, when placed in such unusual and trying circumstances, made no defence, it would not have been wonderful. But she was not altogether silent; and her defence, though brief, left on the minds of at least some of the spectators, the conviction that she was innocent, and that the accusations against her were the offspring of malice and revenge. "The evi- dence was heard, indeed," says Wyatt, " but close enough, as enclosed 1 " The records of her trial," says Lingard, the Popish historian, " have perished, perhaps by the hands of those who respected her memory." " Whether destroyed," says Ellis, " by Henry VIII., or Elizabeth, is not known." It is, however, unnatural to suppose that Elizabeth, or any who respected Anne's memory, would have destroyed the evidence, and preserved the indictment which loads her with such infamous crimes. It is more reasonable to ascribe the destruction of the records of the trial to Henry, who, convinced of the lameness of the evidence, took this precaution to prevent posterity from testing its inadequacy. This is a strong presumption in favour of the innocence of Anne. Henry's motives in allowing the indictment to remain, could only be to brand her name with dishonour, and to vindicate himself in the eyes of posterity. 120 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. in strong walls. Yet to show that the truth cannot by any force be altogether kept concealed, some belike of those honourable person- ages who were there, more perhaps for countenance of others' evil than that by their own authority they might do good (which also, peradventure, would not have been without certain peril to them- selves), did not yet forbear to say things which caused it to be everywhere muttered abroad, that that spotless queen in her defence had cleared herself with a most wise and noble speech." l The Lord Mayor, and others who were present, afterwards told some of their friends, " that they saw no evidence against her, only it appeared that it was resolved to get quit of her." 2 But a majority, if not all of the peers on the trial, crouching beneath the remorseless power of Henry, pronounced her guilty. Whether any of them resisted this finding is not known, but their opposition would have been fruitless, for unanimity is not required to give effect to the decision of the peers, as is the case with regard to the verdict of a jury, a majority being deemed sufficient either for condemnation or acquittal. The sentence, which was that she should be beheaded or burned, according to his majesty's pleasure, was pronounced by her unnatural uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, and she heard it with unaltered countenance. On hearing the fatal words, lifting up her hands and eyes towards heaven, she exclaimed, " Father and Creator ! O thou who art the way, the truth, and the life ! thou knowest that I have not deserved this death." 3 "It is difficult," says Turner, "to connect with Anne Boleyn's character such a mockery of what she most venerated, as to reconcile this ejaculation with her consciousness of guilt." 4 This solemn ejaculation, which was like laying hold on the arm of Omni- potence, imparted to her mind a degree of tranquillity, and turning to the judges, she addressed them with uncommon self-possession, in these words : " My Lords, I will not say that your sentence is unjust, nor presume that my opinion ought to be preferred to the ' Wyatt. Meteren, Hisloire des Pays Bos, edit. Haigue, 1618, p. 21. * Ibid. p. 21. 4 Reign of Henry VIII., vol. ii., p. 446. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 121 judgment of you all. I believe you have reasons and occasions of suspicion and jealousy, upon which you have condemned me ; but they must be other than have been produced in this court : for I am entirely innocent of all these accusations ; so that I cannot ask pardon of God for them. I have always been a faithful and loyal wife to the king. I have not, perhaps, at all times shown him that humility and reverence which his goodness to me, and the high honour bestowed by him upon me, did deserve. I confess that I have had fancies and suspicions of him, which I had not strength nor discretion enough to manage; but God knows, and is my witness, that I never trespassed otherwise against him : and at the moment of my death I shall confess nothing else. Think not that I say this to prolong my life : God has taught me how to die, and by his grace he will fortify my spirit. Yet do not think ftiat I am in such a state of mind, as not to lay the honour of my chastity to heart. Of this I should make small account now, in my extremity, if I had not maintained it, my whole life long, as much as ever queen did. I know that these, my last words, will signify nothing, but to justify my honour and my chastity. As for my brother, and those others who are unjustly condemned, I would willingly suffer many deaths to deliver them ; but since I see it so pleases the king, I must bear with their death ; and shall depart with them out of the world, under an assurance of leading with them an endless life in peace." ' The tone of candour, subdued feeling, natural eloquence, and good sense pervading this address, could hardly fail, in the circumstances, to make a deep impression on all present. 1 This, as well as her ejaculation on hearing the sentence pronounced, is from Meteren, the Dutch consul-general's Histoire des Pays Bos, who has given in prose her address and ejaculation from a poetical narrative by Crispin, Lord of Milherve, a Frenchman, who was in London at the time, and an eye-witness of what he describes. The poet, for the sake of the metre, may have somewhat amplified what she really said. The metrical Histoire d'Anne Boleyn, par un Contemporain, published a considerable number of years ago, from a manuscript in the Bibliotheque du Roi, is supposed to be Crispin's work. It is dated London, 2d June, only fourteen days after Anne's death. 122 Ladies of tJie Reformation. [ENGLAND. Life is sweet, and Anne, it would appear, even after the sentence, indulged the hope of the commutation of capital punishment into banishment from England. This hope, during the short time of its continuance, brightened up her countenance. She spoke of retiring to Antwerp, and there spending the remainder of her days in peace- ful obscurity. " This day [16th May], at dinner," writes Sir William Kingston to Cromwell, " the queen said that she should go to Ant- werp, and is in hope of life." But she was not to be allowed to live, even in exile and seclusion, forgotten by the world. On the 17th of May, Lord Eochford, Norris, Brereton, and Smeaton were executed. The first three were beheaded, in conside- ration of their rank, and the last was hanged. The mother and wife of Sir Francis Weston had earnestly implored Henry for the lite of Weston, and offered a ransom of a hundred thousand crowns. But the relentless heart of the monarch was not to be moved by the tempting bribe. Lord Eochford on the scaffold protested his inno- cence, and encouraged his companions to meet death with unshrink- ing fortitude. 1 Then turning to the spectators, he thus addressed 1 Lord Rochford was a man of great personal beauty, and possessed, in no common degree, a talent for poetical composition ; qualities which made him the idol of the ladies in Henry's court. He is supposed to have been the author of several poems, published along with those of his friends, the Earl of Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyatt, lu Tottel's Miscellany of Songs and Sonnettes, 1568. Only one, however, has been expressly named as his, printed in Ellis's Specimens and other Miscellanies of Ancient Poetry. It has been much admired for its beauty, and begins thus: " My lute, awake, perform the last Labour that thou and 1 shall waste." In the verses prefixed by Richard Smith to George Gascoigne's Poetical Works, he is thus eulogized : " Rochford clarab the stately throne Which muses hold in Helicon." Cavendish, too, Wolsey's gentleman-usher, though, being a Papist, he is strongly pre- possessed against Anne on account of her favour for the reformed doctrines, and regards her, and all who were involved in her fate, as guilty of the crimes imputed to them, and therefore as justly punished by death, yet celebrates, in his Metrical Legends, both the personal attractions and poetical genius of Lord Kochford. He introduces his lordship after death as thus passing in vision before him, and speak- ing: ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 123 them : " I am come here to die, since the king has so ordered it. I desire you that no man will be discouraged from the gospel on account of my fall. For if I had lived according to the gospel as I loved it, and spake of it, I had never come to this. Wherefore, Sirs, for God's love, leave not the gospel, but speak less and live better. For I had rather have one good liver according to the gospel, than ten babblers. I would exhort all who hear me, not to trust to courts, states, and kings, but to rely on Heaven alone. For my sins I have deserved heavy punishment, but I have deserved none from the king, whom I have never injured. Nevertheless, I earnestly pray God to grant him a long and happy life." ' Norris, Weston, and Brereton, like Rochford, persisted on the scaffold in asserting their innocence. Smeaton, who was the last executed, and who, it has been supposed, harboured hopes of life to the last, is commonly understood to have confessed. His words, as reported by an eye- witness, 2 were, " Masters, I pray you all pray for me, for I have deserved the death." This language is ambiguous, but the impres- sion conveyed to those who heard it was that it implied a con- fession of guilt. His dying words being reported to the queen on the following day, she exclaimed with warmth, " Has he not, then, cleared me from the public shame which he has done me ? Alas ! I fear his soul will suffer from his false accusation. My brother and the rest are now, I doubt not, before the face of the greater King, and I shall follow to-morrow." 3 To inflict additional degradation upon Anne, she was brought to Lambeth on the morning of the 17th of May the day on which her " 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 dignyties, In such abondauce that combred was my witt, To render God thanks that gave me eche nhitt." While Anne was in favour, Rochford stood high in Henry's good graces, and notwith- standing his youth, was exalted to an honourable place in the privy council. 1 Constantine's Memorial to Secretary Cromwell, in Archceologia, vol. xxiii , p. 65. Meteren, p. 21. 2 Constantiue. 3 Meteren, p. 21. 124 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. brother and her other alleged accomplices were executed that Cranmer, whose pliant temper was here again displayed, might officially pronounce the nullity of her marriage with the king. As to the specific grounds of this sentence we have no authentic information. From a parliamentary statute passed about a month after her death, 1 it appears that Cranmer pronounced the marriage never to have been good, but "utterly void, in consequence of certain just and lawful impediments unknown at the time of her pretended marriage, but confessed by the said Lady Anne before the most reverend father in God sitting judicially." What these "just and lawful impediments" were is not mentioned in the statute, an omission affording a strong presumption of their in- validity. The most probable supposition is, that they were the pretended discovery of a matrimonial contract between Anne and the Earl of Northumberland, formerly Lord Percy, previous to her marriage with Henry. 2 That Anne and young Percy had contemplated marriage as the consummation of their wishes, there can be little doubt; but no legal contract had existed, and their courtship had been broken up by the influence of Percy's father and of Cardinal Wolsey, at the desire of the king. At the desire of the king, be it observed, so that if the mutual interchange of affection and vows between her and Percy constituted the "just and lawful impediments" to her marriage with Henry, this was no new matter risen up against her, but an old story revived, perfectly well known to the king at the time when he married her. The Earl of Nor- thumberland, being examined upon oath before both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York, denied that such a precontract had ever existed, and in farther attestation of the truth of this he had received the sacrament. In a letter to Secre- ' This was a statute passed in the Parliament 28 Henry VIII., c. 7, declaring the said marriage never to have been good, nor consonant to the laws, and repealing an act of a former Parliament, which fixed the succession of the crown to the issue of the king by Anne Boleyn. By this act it was even made treason to assert Elizabeth's legitimacy 2 Strype's Cranmer, pp. 48, 49. ENGLAND.] Anne Holeyn. 125 tary Cromwell, dated 13th May, he made a similar denial. 1 Anne being also examined, a confession of the truth of the "just and lawful impediments " was extorted from her, if we are to believe the words of the statute above quoted. 2 As there had been mutual professions of love between her and Lord Percy, and as she was ignorant of nice legal distinctions, it is not difficult to see how such an admission might be obtained from her, an admission also pro- bably drawn from her in the hope of life. Did it never occur to these men, that if her marriage with the king was null from the beginning, she could not, though the charges against her had been proved, have been guilty of adultery, which can only be committed where there is legal marriage, and that if not guilty of that crime, the sentence pronounced upon her only two days before for treason the construction put upon the infidelity of the sovereign's wife was illegal? It is also remarkable, as Collier has observed, that the record of the decree pronouncing the nullity of her mar- riage with Henry is not entered in Cranmer's register, though that of Anne of Cleves is inserted at length. What was the reason of this difference ? Did Cranmer, in not giving that of Anne Boleyn a place ad perpetuam rei memoriam, act of his own accord, or had he received orders to that effect from the king ? Either supposition betrays a consciousness that the alleged impediments were a mere pretext, and that, reflecting discredit on all concerned, it would be better to consign the whole proceedings to oblivion. " Men may justly marvel," says Fuller, " what King Henry meant by this solemn and ceremonious divorce, which the edge of the axe or sword was more effectually to perform the day after, her death being then designed. Was it because he stood on this punctilio of credit, that he might not hereafter be charged with cruelty for executing his wife, that first he would be divorced from her, and so could not be said to put his queen, but Anne Boleyn, to death ] . . . . Or was it because he conceived the execution would only Herbert's Life of Henry VI II., p. 834. 2 Strype's Cranmer, pp. 48, 49. 126 Ladies of tlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. reach the root, the queen herself, and not blast the branch, the Lady Elizabeth, whom by this divorce he desired to render illegiti- mate ? " l That this last supposition is well-founded there can be no doubt. Henry's alienation from Anne extended even to their mutual issue. Their daughter Elizabeth, in whose favour the right of the succession had formerly been violated, must now be degraded, as well as the mother. 2 On the evening of the 17th, it was intimated to Anne that it had been determined to carry the sentence of death into execution. As a means of preparation for death, she had previously devoted herself to religious exercises ; and now she engaged in them with renewed earnestness. From some statements in Sir William Kingston's letters to Cromwell, it appears that she still retained her belief in transubstantiation. In one of these letters, probably written on the 17th of May, he says : " Sir, The queen hath much desired to have here in the closet the sacraments, 3 and also her almoner, whom she supposeth to be Devet ;" and in another, probably written on the 18th, he says : " This morning she sent for me, that I might be with her at such time as she received the good Lord, to the intent I should hear her protestations touching her innocence.'" 4 It is, however, to be observed, that at this infant stage of the Eeformation in England, there remained in the minds of many, whose eyes had been opened to see the truth partially, and who sincerely advocated the diffusion of the pure doctrines of God's word, much darkness and superstition, and they only gradually discovered the absurdity, idolatry, and blasphemy of transubstantiation. This doctrine was still believed in by Cranmer, one of Anne's chief instructors in reli- gion. It was not till a later period that he adopted the doctrine, that Christ's presence iu the sacrament is exclusively limited to his spiritual presence.* i Church History of Britain, vol. iii., p. 126. * See p. 124, Note 1. 3 In such cases the desire of persons to have the consecrated elements in their closet, was for the purpose of adoration. 4 Ellis's Original Letters, first series, vol. ii., pp. 59-63. * In a letter written the year after Anne's execution to Joachim Vadian, a native of ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 127 Since her imprisonment, Anne had often remembered with bitter remorse the wrongs she had done to the Princess Mary, daughter of Henry by his first queen ; and now, in the near prospect of judgment and eternity, she could find no peace in her soul till she had made the only reparation now in her power to make a free and humble confession. She had not herself an opportunity of meeting with the princess, but on the 18th of May, the day before she suffered, taking Lady Kingston into the presence-chamber for, as has been stated before, she was allowed to occupy the royal apartments in the Tower and desiring her to sit down in the canopied chair of state, she fell on her knees before Lady Kingston, and holding up her hands, with tearful eyes, charged her, as in the presence of God and his angels, and as she would answer to her before them when all should appear to judgment, that she would in like manner fall down before the Lady Mary's grace, and ask forgiveness for the wrongs she had done her ; " for," added she, " till that is done, my conscience cannot be quiet." z This does not look like a remorseless hardened woman, who lay under some potent spell which prevented her from confessing her crimes. Henry having decided to put her to death by the less painful method of beheading, it was determined to consummate the deed, not with an axe, the usual method in England, but with a sword, 2 Switzerland, and distinguished as a scholar and mathematician, who had published a work, entitled Aphorisms upon the Eucharist, intended to disprove the corporeal presence, and sent the present of a copy to Craumer, the archbishop says, "The subject you treat of in those six books, which you sent me as a present, is altogether displeasing to me ; and I could wish you had bestowed your labours to better purpose, and commenced an agreeable friendship with myself under better, or at least more approved auspices. For unless I see stronger evidence brought forward than I have yet been able to see, I desire neither to be the patron nor the approver of the opinion maintained by you." Zurich Letters, first series, p. 13. Cranmer held the doctrine of transubstantiation np to the year 1546, when, by conference with Dr. Ridley, after- wards Bishop of Rochester, and his fellow-martyr, he renounced it, and embraced the sentiments of Zuinglius as to the nature of Christ's presence in the supper. Ibid., pp. 71, 72. Strype's Cranmer, pp. 94, 97. 1 Speed. 2 An axe shown in the Tower is represented as the instrument of her decapitation, 128 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. according to the French fashion, and a French executioner, famed for expertness in his profession, was brought over from Calais for the purpose. The public, who had been excluded from witnessing her trial, were also to be excluded from witnessing the closing scene of the tragedy. Cromwell, on the 18th of May, wrote to Kingston, order- ing him to remove all strangers from the Tower. And from Kingston's reply we learn that the privacy of her execution did not proceed from the humane desire to free her from the ignominy of a public spectacle, but from a dread of the expression of popular sympathy. "Sir," said he, "this shall be to advertise you that I have received your letter, wherein ye would have strangers conveyed out of the Tower, and so they be but the number of strangers passed not thirty, and not many others the ambassador of the emperor had a servant there, and honestly put out. Sir, if we have not an hour certain, as it might be known in London, I think here will be but few, and I think a reasonable number were best ; for I suppose she will declare herself to be a good woman for all but the long at the hour of death." ' On the morning of the 19th of May, the day of her execution, she sent for Kingston, to whom, after solemn protestations of inno- cence, she said, " Mr. Kingston, I hear that I am not to die before noon, and I am very sorry for it, for I thought ere then to be dead and past my pain." "It will be no pain, it is so subtle," said Kingston, ministering to her, in his usual aifected courteous man- ner, that species of comfort so characteristic of a bai-dened jailer. " I have heard say," she answered, " that the executioner is very expert, and I have a little neck," upon which she put her hand about it, laughing. She had become reconciled to her fate, and had risen superior to the terrors of death, anticipating and it is fondly but incorrectly, though it may have been employed in the execution of Cromwell and others during the reign of Henry VIII. 1 MS. Cotton, Otho, c. x., fol. 223, quoted in Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. i., p. 475. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 129 to be hoped upon good grounds rest from all sorrow, and perfect happiness in a better world. Her jailer Kingston bears testimony not only to her calm and collected, but even to her joyful state of mind, in the prospect of what was awaiting her. " I have seen many men," says he, "and women also, executed, and they have been in great sorrow, but to my knowledge this lady hath much joy and pleasure in death. Her almoner is continually with her, and has been since two of the clock after midnight." Immediately before being brought out for execution, she sent a verbal message to the king, by a gentleman of his privy chamber, solemnly protesting her innocence, a message remarkable for its dignified and yet mild tone : " Commend me to his majesty," said she, " and tell him he hath been ever constant in his career of advancing me; from a private gentlewoman he made me a mar- chioness, from a marchioness a queen, and now that he hath left no higher degree of honour, he gives my innocency the crown of mar- tyrdom." " But the messenger," says Lord Bacon, who relates the anecdote, " durst not carry this to the king, then absorbed in a new passion, yet tradition has truly transmitted it to posterity." ' On the 19th of May, a little before noon, she was brought to the scaffold. The chief of the select company admitted as spectators were the Duke of Suffolk, the Duke of Eichmond, Lord Chancellor Audley, Secretary Cromwell, the Lord Mayor, sheriffs and aldermen of London ; the most of whom, not long ago, cringed for her favour, and were elated with her smile, but who now left her, when aban- doned by the tyrant, unpitied, to her fate. On the scaffold her forti- tude did not forsake her. With the utmost composure she addressed a few words to the spectators: " Christian people ! I am come hither to die according to law : by law I am judged to death, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that whereof I am accused 1 Bacon is a good authority, for, though not contemporary, he had access to the best means of information. His grandfather. Sir Anthony Cooke, was tutor to Edward VI. , and a courtier, while his mother, Lady Bacon, and his aunt, Lady Cecil, had from their youth moved in the circle of the court, and were maids of honour to Queen Mary. I 130 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. and condemned to die. But I pray God save the king, and grant him long to reign over you, for a gentler and more merciful prince was there never, and to me he was ever a good, a gentle, and sove- reign lord. If any person will meddle with my cause, I require him to judge the best And thus I take my leave of the world and of you, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord, have mercy on me ! To God I commend my soul." " Surprise has often been expressed that Anne, at her death, should have eulogized a monarch as lenient and merciful, the effects of whose bloody and malignant temper she was now suffering. This may have proceeded from a wish not to provoke him against their daughter Elizabeth, maternal feeling having triumphed over the desire to pro- test against her own wrongs ; and Cranmer, in his private interviews with her on the preceding day, may have advised her to speak in this guarded manner. It may, however, be doubted whether her dying words, as reported, may not have passed under the revision of Henry, who, to save his own reputation, represented her as using language which she never uttered. Having concluded her address, she prepared for the fatal catas- trophe, removing with her own hands her hat and collar ; and such were her composure and fortitude, that she would not consent to have her eyes bandaged, saying that she had no fear of death. On kneeling down, she continued for some time in prayer, and her last words, which she repeated several times before the fatal stroke, were : " To Christ I commend my soul. Jesus, receive my soul !" The moment the blow fell, amidst the shuddering horror and shrieks of the spectators, who felt as if they had received it upon their own necks, there was a discharge of artillery, a novel accompaniment of an execution, but which, as we shall presently see, had been ordered for a special object. After her head was cut off, her eyes and lips were observed to move, and a faithful attendant or two, in testimony of their devotion to their mistress, with deep emotion and dissolved in tears, washed away the blood which now made her once fair face 1 Wyatt. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 131 ghastly, and a terror to behold. Her body was then barbarously thrown by the executioner into a box of elm-tree, used for holding arrows, and was interred without ceremony, in the chapel of the Tower, before twelve o'clock. Tradition, however, reports that during the night after her execution her remains were secretly removed by her friends, and conveyed for interment to Salle church, the burial- place of her family. A plain black marble slab is still pointed out in that church, as marking the spot where her ashes repose. 1 This tradition receives confirmation from Wyatt's indefinite but grateful allusion to her final resting-place. " God," says he, " provided for her corpse sacred burial, even in a place, as it were, consecrate to innocence." Henry did not witness with his own eyes the perpetration of this deed of blood. He was to spend that day in the chase, and sur- rounded by his dogs and attendants, had breakfasted under an oak in Epping Forest, still standing, and known by the name of Henry's oak. But by the tragedy about to be enacted he was greatly excited; and he had arranged that, the moment the queen fell under the stroke of the executioner, the news should be heralded to him by the discharge of artillery. As the appointed hour drew near, he was anxiously listening to hear the signal. At length the report of cannon booming through the wood announced, to the delight of his heart, that he had now got rid of the hated queen, and could wed the new object of his affections. In the delirium of depraved pas- sion, and exulting with ferocious infernal glee, he started up, and cried out, " Ah ! ah ! it is done ! the business is done ! uncouple the dogs, and let us follow the sport !" 2 "We have read few trials, bringing out at every stage of the pro- ceedings so many grounds of suspicion of evil intention and premedi- tated murder, as the trial of this unfortunate queen. The secrecy of the plot till it was ripe for execution ; the corrupt and venal char- acter of the junto appointed to collect the criminating matter, of the jury and judges who found a bill of indictment for high treason 1 Miss Strickland's Queens of England. 2 Tyndal's Rapin Tytter, 132 Ladies of t/ie Reformation. [ENGLAND. against her, and of the peers, who were carefully selected for trying her, men who had no rule, save the capricious will ot the monarch to regulate their determinations ; the privacy of her trial, depriving her of one of the most effectual safeguards of justice publicity, and indicating a consciousness, on the part of her prosecutors, of the incompetency of the evidence ; the haste of the whole procedure, so prejudicial to calm and impartial investigation ; the slender occur- rence upon which she was pronounced guilty of incest ; the unprin- cipled arts resorted to in order to extract from her pretended accomplices confessions against her ; the testimony borne by them all, with only one exception, to her innocence ; the suspicions resting on his testimony, and the fact that he was never confronted with her ; the judgment confidentially expressed by one of her most active prosecutors, that the evidence was so glaringly defective, that her condemnation would damage the popularity of the king, unless the other culprits should testify to her guilt ; the consideration that had she been so abandoned as the indictment represents her to have been, evidence would not have been wanting, as in that case she would, what invariably happens when every modest feeling is extinguished from the breast, have thrown off circumspection, laying herself open to conviction, upon proofs of criminality so abundant and manifest, as to leave no room for doubt, the more especially as many hostile eyes were upon her in the court : these, and other circumstances, stamp suspicion upon the whole proceedings, and force upon us the conviction, that though the forms of a trial were gone through, they were a mere mockery of justice, a shocking and shameless pretence ; and that her condemnation and execution were the triumph of power and calumny over the weak and defenceless. The reflecting mind is appalled at the precipitate violence, the cool deliberation, the unshrinking steadiness of purpose displayed by Henry in this transaction, from the commencement to the close. Never for a moment did he exhibit a single symptom of relenting, or betray the slightest returning tenderness of feeling, but, as in his whole career, evinced a determined resolution, a carelessness of ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 133 the means employed to effect his purposes, and a disregard of all consequences. One cannot always Finish one's work by soft means. 'Dash and through with it.' That's the better watchword. Then after come what may come. 'Tis man's nature To make the best of a bad thing once past." * That such was the temper of Henry is attested by Cavendish, who informs us that Wolsey said of him : " Rather than miss or want any part of his will 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." To a man of this reckless and violent character, the sacrifice of the life of a queen towards whom he had conceived an aversion, or whom he suspected of conjugal infidelity, was nothing; especially when she stood in the way of the consummation of his union with a new object of affection. On the day of Anne's execution he arrayed himself in white, as if he meant to express his joy or his innocence of the brutal murder. His marriage the next day to Jane Seymour, eldest daughter of Sir John Seymour, of Wolf Hall, Wilts, goes far to explain the mystery of these proceedings, by showing that he had determined the destruc- tion of Anne, to make way for another to occupy her place. What seems very surprising is the eagerness of Jane Seymour to ascend the perilous eminence of becoming the wife of a monarch whose hands were yet reeking with the blood of his former queen. Young and inexperienced, and perhaps believing in the guilt of Anne Boleyn, she little thought how brittle and transitory that happiness was which depended on the changeful temper of a ruthless tyrant like Henry, who might be loving to-day, and animated by the fury of a demon to-morrow. From a hardened conscience, or from the boil- ing frenzy of passion, the monster himself, in the meantime, appa- ' Schiller. 134 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. rently felt no compunction. But the crime met him on a future day the day of his death when the horrors of remorse and the dark- ness of despair gathered around and settled on' his soul. At that solemn period, when conscience forced upon his memory the past, and unveiled to him at but a short, an almost imperceptible dis- tance in the future, the dreadful tribunal of a righteous God, who will bring every work into judgment, and with whom there is no respect of persons, he is said to have confessed to some around him the bitter anguish he felt on account of the severity with which he had treated this unfortunate queen. "Many English gentlemen," says an old Roman Catholic writer, " have assured me that Henry VIII., on his death-bed, greatly repented of the offences he had committed, and, among other things, of the injury and crime committed against Anne de Boleyn, in her condemnation and death on the ground of the false charges brought against her." l This horrible tragedy was bewailed by the secret tears of many of the good in England, who traced it to a secret Popish conspiracy, in combination with the furious passions of the monarch ; 2 though, over- awed by his terrible decision, even the leaders of the reformed party had pusillanimously deserted the hapless queen. The friends of the Reformation in other countries were shocked, and deeply lamented her unmerited fate. Viewing all the circumstances, the States of Germany confederated for the defence of the reformed religion, con- sidered her guilt so improbable, that they now laid aside all further thoughts of an alliance with him. 3 Melancthon, who had contem- plated visiting England, now abandoned the idea, and, moved with a generous pity, pronounced her innocent. In a letter to Joachim Camerarius, written in June, 1536, he thus writes : " I am altogether released from concern about my English journey. After events so tragical have happened in England, a great change of counsels has followed. The late queen, rather accused than convicted of adultery, 1 Thevet, Cosmograpfiie Universelle, liv. 16, c. v^, p. 657, quoted in Turner's Reign of Henry VIII, vol. ii., pp. 458, 459. ' 2 See Appendix, No. II. * Godwin. ENGLAND.] Anne Boleyn. 135 has undergone the last sentence of the law. How wonderful are the turns of things, my Joachim; how great the wrath of God they denounce against mankind ; into how great calamities, also, do the mightiest of earthly potentates at this day fall. When I think upon these things, the conclusion to which I am brought is, that our afflictions and our dangers should be borne with a more patient mind." ' The tidings created a great sensation in France, and must have struck with horror Margaret of Valois, Queen of Navarre, Anne's old patroness and friend, who could hardly fail of being impressed with a feeling of gratitude to Providence that, when the offer was made to her, she refused to supplant Katharine of Aragon, by becoming the queen of a sovereign who, under similar charges, might have brought her to the same terrible end. " Melancthon's Epist., quoted in Ellis's Original Letters, first series, vol. ii., p. 65. ANNE ASKEW, DAUGHTER OF SIR WILLIAM ASKEW, KNIGHT, OF KELSEY/. this lady, whose story we are now to relate, we have a noble example of female Christian heroism. She fell a martyr for denying the doctrine of tran- substantiation, during the reign of Henry VIII., and her name must ever stand among the foremost in the list of the venerated martyrs of the English Reformation. Her calm unshrinking fortitude in maintaining the truths of God's Word in opposition to the Popish doctrines, and in suffering a cruel death rather than abjure them, places her on a level with the most illus- trious martyrs of any age or country. ANNE ASKEW was the second daughter of Sir William Askew, knight, of Kelsey, in Lincolnshire, 1 a gentleman of an ancient and honourable' family. Of her education and early life nothing is now known. She is said to have been "a lady of great beauty, of gentle manners, and warm imagination." 2 The earliest notice in her 1 Sir William, besides Anne and an elder daughter, had a third, named Jane, who was married, first to Sir George St. Paul, and secondly to Richard Disney, Esq., of Norton Disney, ancestor of the present John Disney, Esq., of the Hyde, Essex. He had also two sons, Francis, the eldest, and Edward, who was one of his majesty's body-guard. Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. ii., pp. 190, 191. 2 Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors, vol. i., p. 634. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 137 history respects her marriage with the son and heir of Mr. Kyme, who had extensive property in Lincolnshire. Her father lived on terms of familiar intercourse with Mr. Kyme, who resided in the same county, and was his near neighbour ; and, allured by the prospect of a wealthy connection, he had engaged to give his eldest daughter in marriage to the son and heir of his friend, without, how- ever, asking or obtaining the consent of the young lady herself ; such were the worldly views which regulated the formation of marriages in England among persons of rank at that period, as in later times. The lady having died before the marriage was completed, Sir William, unwilling to lose so rich an alliance, entered into new engagements, to give his second daughter, Anne, to be the wife of his friend's son and heir. This engagement was not less objectionable than the former. The young man was but of indifferent character, and the proposed union was the reverse of agreeable to Anne, whose affections were either fixed elsewhere, or did not rest upon him. His prospec- tive wealth made no impression on her mind, and she earnestly objected. But her father, dazzled and blinded by the prospect of wealth, deemed the match to be most eligible, and would listen to no objections, nor break his engagements, not reflecting that he was perilling the happiness of his daughter, by forcing her into a relation so important, contrary to her inclinations. She yielded to his com- mands, and is said to have conducted herself like a Christian wife. She bore to her husband two children. But marriages originated and formed in such circumstances are seldom happy, and the present instance formed no exception to the general rule. The tender emo- tions, feeble before the marriage, had not been subsequently improved ; causes of domestic disquiet arose between Anne and Mr. Kyme, and the bitter preponderated over the sweet in their conjugal cup. The conversion of Anne to the reformed faith, like that of many others at the period of which we now write, was principally owing to the reading of the Scriptures, which, after being locked up for ages, had recently been unsealed by being translated, printed, and circulated in the English tongue. 138 Ladies oftlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. In the year 1536, Tyndale's English translation of the New Tes- tament was printed by Henry the Eighth's printer. 1 At the same time the printers, Grafton and Whitchurch, who subsequently became so eminent in their profession, undertook the expense of completing at the press at Antwerp the printing of the folio edition of the whole Bible in English, which the martyr John Eogers, who was resident in that city, had secretly begun to print there, consist- ing of Tyndale's version of the New Testament, and such portions of the Old Testament as Tyndale had translated, with the other books supplied frornCoverdale's translation of the whole Bible, made in 1535. This edition of the entire Scriptures was dedicated to Henry VIII. The whole was completed before the 4th of August, 1537, for on that day we find Archbishop Cranmer, to whom a copy was presented by Grafton, sending Grafton with his Bible to Cromwell, and requesting that statesman to show it to the king, and to obtain, if possible, the royal " license that the same may be sold, and read of every person, without danger of any act, proclamation, or ordinance, heretofore granted to the contrary." 2 The license was obtained, and thus the people of England might now read in their own tongue the whole Word of God, which they could not do before, only certain portions, as the five books of Moses, some of Paul's epistles, or the gospels, having been previously printed. Numerous new editions of the Bible were afterwards printed during the reign of Henry VIII., with the sanction of that monarch, obtained chiefly through the influence of Archbishop Cranmer and Cromwell, to whom is to be attributed whatever steps Henry made in the reformation of the church at that period. 3 Anne Askew had procured a copy of the Bible, which she read with the freshness and intensity of interest, inspired by the novelty and importance of the truths which beamed, for the first time, upon 1 See Life of Anne Boleyn, p. 92. 2 Biographical notice of Tyudale, prefixed to his Doctrinal Treatises, printed for Parker Soc., pp. Ixxiv-lxxvi. 5 Strype'* Mem. Eccl, vol. i., part i., pp. 472-476, 546-548, 573, 574. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 139 her mind. A permanent change was wrought upon her understand- ing and her heart. Finding the doctrines of Popery at complete variance with the doctrines of the Bible, she renounced the former, and embraced the latter, as professed by the Lollards or followers of Wickliffe, to which she continued to adhere, till her life was closed by martyrdom. The defection of a lady of her position in society greatly enraged the priests ; and her husband, partly prompted by his own Popish intolerance, on which no restraint was imposed by warmth of affection for his wife, and partly instigated by the priests, who, with despicable meanness, have very frequently shown a peculiar propen- sity to meddle with domestic affairs, and to create quarrels between Protestant ladies and their Popish husbands, and vice versa, treated her with great cruelty on account of the change in her religion ; and as, acting on the principle that God alone was the Lord of her con- science, she would not renounce her convictions of truth and duty at his bidding, he even proceeded so far as to expel her from his house. In consequence of this violence, she is said to have actually applied for a legal divorce, and to have vindicated the proceeding from 1 Cor. vii. 15 : " If a faithful woman have an unbelieving husband, which will not tarry with her, she may leave him, for a brother or sister is not in subjection to such." This contemplated step was the cause, it would appear, of her going to London. During her abode in the capital, she obtained introduction to those illustrious personages in the court who either professed, or were friendly to the reformed sentiments, among whom were Queen Katharine Parr, the Duchess, of Suffolk, and other ladies of distinction. She is even said to have been one of Queen Katharine Parr's maids of honour. To these ladies, some of whom had experienced domestic trouble from a simi- lar source, she made known her cause. Whether she persevered in seeking a divorce is uncertain. The probability is, that being soon involved in cruel persecution on account of her religion, she aban- doned all thoughts of prosecuting a cause which, there could be little doubt, would have gone against her, as her heresy would, by Popish judges, have been deemed, in those times of judicial corruption, a 140 Ladies oftlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. sufficient justification of whatever harshness or even brutality she had suffered from her husband. She, however, never thought of returning to him again, and resumed her maiden name. Before proceeding to narrate the sufferings and martyrdom of this lady for her adoption of the reformed doctrines, it will be necessary, for the clearer understanding of the narrative, briefly to bring under the notice of the reader the leading particulars as to the penal sta- tute she was accused of violating, and for the violation of which she was condemned and put to death. This was an act of Parliament respecting what is commonly called the Six Articles. Henry VIII., in his zeal to maintain the Catholic faith, and prompted by the bishops, especially by Bishop Gardiner, desired the Parliament which met in 1539 ' to appoint a committee to draw up a series of articles, expressing the faith of the English Church. The result was, that six articles were embodied in a bill, which, having passed both houses of Parliament, in opposition to the influence and arguments of Archbishop Crannier, who strongly opposed it, 2 and received the royal assent, thus became the law of England. 3 The act was entitled, " An act for abolishing diversity of opinion in certain articles of the Christian religion." The Six Articles, which Fuller, in his usual quaint manner, has styled "Gardiner's Creed," 4 from the principal share which that prelate had in this business, were as follows : " 1. That in the most blessed sacrament of the altar, by the strength and efficacy of Christ's mighty word (it being spoken by the priest), is present really, under the form of bread and wine, the natural body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, conceived of the Virgin Mary; and that after the consecration there remaineth no substance of bread or wine, or any other substance but the substance of Christ, God and man. 2. That the communion in both kinds is not necessary 1 This Parliament assembled April 28, aud ended June 28. 2 Cromwell, though opposed in sentiment and heart to the bill, gave to it a tem- porizing assent. 3 Fuller's Church History of Britain, vol. ii., p. 98. Strype's Mem. EccL, vol. i., part i., p. 542. 4 Worthies of England, vol. ii., p. 331. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 141 to salvation, by the law of God, to all persons. 3. That priests may not marry by the law of God. 4. That vows of chastity or widow- hood, made to God advisedly ' by man or woman, ought to be observed by the law of God. 5. That it is meet and necessary that private masses be continued and admitted in this English Church, as by them good Christian people receive godly consolation and benefit ; 2 and they are also agreeable to God's law. 6. That auricular confession is expedient, and necessary to be retained and continued, used, and frequented, in the church of God. The act or law as to these six articles was sanctioned by bloody penalties. For enforcing the first article it was enacted, that who- ever within the realm of England, or any other part of the king's dominions, after the 12th of July ensuing, "by word, writing, print- ing, or otherwise, should publish, preach, teach, affirm, argue, or hold any opinion " contrary to that article ; or whoever aided and abetted such as did so, should, on conviction, be adjudged heretics, and should suffer death by burning, without benefit of abjuring " an unheard of severity,'' says Hume, "and unknown to the Inquisition itself" with- out benefit of clergy or sanctuary, and should, as in the case of high treason, forfeit to the crown all his honours and possessions whatso- ever. As to the other five articles it was enacted, that speaking, writing, printing, or otherwise publishing sentiments contrary to them ; that the marriage of priests ; that the incontinence of unmar- ried priests ; that abstaining from confession, and from receiving the eucharist at the accustomed times ; that every such offence commit- ted after the aforesaid day should, for the first time, be punished by forfeiture of goods and possessions of whatever kind, and by impri- sonment during the king's pleasure. The punishment for the second offence was forfeiture of life and goods, as in the case of felony, with- out benefit of clergy or sanctuary. The marriages of priests con- tracted previous to this Parliament were declared void ; and the same 1 " Advisedly " means made above the age of twenty-one, in the case of all except priests. 2 By this benefit of private masses is meant the helping of souls in purgatory. 142 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. penalties incurred by priests who married were to be enforced against women who married priests. For the more effectual execution of these enactments, commis- sioners were to be appointed in every shire by the authority of the Parliament, to make inquiries as to the violations of the act. These commissioners, of whom three were to form a quorum, of which the archbishop or bishop, or his chancellor, or his commissioner, were always to be one, were to sit four times at least in the year, and had full power to take informations, accusations, the depositions of wit- nesses n ot less than two witnesses being necessary before a jury of twelve men upon their oaths, and to proceed to a final sentence. The justices of peace in their sessions, and every steward or under- steward, or his deputy, in their law-days, were invested with the same powers. The act of the six articles afterwards underwent several altera- tions. As it was first enacted, an offender, when once convicted, could not save his life by recantation. But by the Parliament held in 1543, it was decreed/ that for the first offence he should be admitted to recant in such form as his ordinary should dictate. In case of his refusal, or if after recantation he offended again, he was, for the second offence to be admitted to abjure and bear a fagot. 2 Should he refuse life on a condition so humiliating, or should he, after abjuration, offend the third time, the penalties of law were to be inflicted without mercy In a subsequent Parliament, held in 1544, 3 other qualifications or alterations on the side of moderation were made on the act. As it originally stood, when a complaint was lodged against any of his majesty's subjects for violating the act by any person, though from pure malice, the accused was immediately to be indicted. But by this Parliament it was ordained that no i This session of Parliament closed May 12, 1543. 8 The allusion here is to the public ceremony of recantation, according to which the person recanting brought a fagot of dry sticks and burned it publicly, to signify that he was destroying that which should have been the instrument of his death. Calder- wood's History, vol. i., p. 109 ; and Knox's History, vol. i , p. 58. 3 This session of Parliament closed March 29, 1 544. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 143 person should be brought to trial before the authorized commis- sioners, upon an accusation of violating the act, till after he had been legally presented with an indictment, on the oath of twelve men of reputation, purged of corruption and malice. It was also enacted, that such accusations or indictments were not admissible, unless within a year from the time when the offence was committed ; that the accused should not be arrested or committed to ward before he was indicted, except by special warrant from the king ; and that a preacher could not be accused of words publicly spoken against the six articles, unless within forty days after they were spoken. The accused had also the right to challenge any juryman. Such was the state of the law as to the six articles at the time when Anne Askew fell under its dreadful operation. From the bloody cruelty with which it was enforced, it received the sobriquet of "the whip with the six strings." 1 Yet in the face of its terrible penalties, the reformed doctrines gained ground in different parts of the country, and even at court. In consequence of this severe law against heresy, and the cruel deaths inflicted on heretics, Anne exercised considerable reserve in disclosing to others her reformed sentiments. But it was difficult for her to refrain at all times from expressing sentiments, of the truth and importance of which she was deeply convinced ; and this, com- bined with her earnest devotion, created suspicions of her heretical pravity. During her abode in the capital, a worthless Papist, named Wadloe, a cursitor of the chancery, rented lodgings about the Temple, next to the house where she had taken up her temporary residence, with the view of finding grounds upon which to accuse her of heresy, being probably bribed for the purpose. But he was constrained to confess to Sir Lionel Throgmorton that she was the most devout woman he had ever known ; "for," said he, "at midnight she begins to pray, and ceases not for many hours, when I and others are addressing ourselves to sleep or to work." 2 She had more malignant 1 Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. v., pp. 262-265, 502-505, 526-528. 2 Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. i., part i., pp. 597, 598. 144 Ladies of ttie Reformation. [ENGLAND. and persevering enemies than Wadloe. Her own husband and the Romish priests had combined for her destruction. Surrounded by ---. *ir Anne Askew at her midnight devot:on. spies, who watched her every word and action, it was hardly possible for her to escape being ensnared. They succeeded in getting hold of certain heretical opinions to which she had given utterance. For example, she had said on one occasion that she would rather read five lines of the Bible, than hear five masses in the chapel. She had also expressed her disbelief as to the efficacy of the sacrament of the eucharist being dependent on the character or intention of the priest ; and observed, that whatever was the character or intention of the priest who administered to her the eucharist, he could not prevent her from receiving spiritually the body and blood of Christ. These expressions were reported to the legal authorities, and she had not been long in London when she was arrested on the charge of heresy, and examined concerning her faith. In all the examinations she underwent the question most strongly pressed was, what her senti- ments were as to the doctrine of transubstantiation. The anxiety evinced, and the arts resorted to, both on this occa- jflN GLAND.] Anne Askew. 145 sion and at her subsequent examinations, to draw from her an expression of her sentiments, prove that she had not been given to disputation, but held her sentiments quietly, her great delight, indeed, having been in secret devotion, and in reading the Scriptures. Anne's first examination took place in March, 1545, before a London inquest, probably a standing one, specially intended for heretics, at Sadler's Hall, Cheapside. Her principal examinator was Christopher Dare. His questions related chiefly to transubstantia- tion, the sacrifice of the mass, the dependence of the efficacy of the sacrament of the Lord's supper on the good intention of the priest, and auricular confession. To some of the questions she refused to answer, not choosing to criminate herself ; others she answered with great freedom, point, and scriptural accuracy. The questions, with her answers, taken from her own account, 1 with which we inter- sperse a few explanatory observations, are as follows Christopher Dare. " Do you believe that the sacrament upon the altar is the very body and blood of Christ T Anne AsJccw. '' Please inform me why Stephen was atoned to death ?" Had she answered the question in the negative, agreeably to her sentiments, this would have been to confess herself guilty of 1 Anne while in prison wrote a full account of her examinations, at the earnest request of certain Christian ladies and gentlemen. It is an artless and an affecting tale, and proves the writer to have been a woman of no common talents. Bishop Bale published this account, accompanied with numerous remarks of his own, written iu his peculiar pungent style, and other particulars he had collected respecting- her birth, marriage, sufferings, and martyrdom. The work was printed at Marburg, in Hesse, January 16, 1547. It has recently been printed by the Parker Society. Each examination has a different title-page, but the same wood-cut in the centre, namely, the representation of an angel holding the Bible, and trampling on a dragon wearing a triple crown. At these two pieces, edited and published by Bale, Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, who had a chief hand in the death of Anne, and whom Bale satirizes as "the Pope's great dancing bear," was mightily enraged, calling them pernicious, seditious, and slanderous. On the accession of Edward VI., he wrote from Winchester a long letter of complaint on the subject to Protector Somerset. His great exceptions were that Bale made her die a martyr, " whereas she was a sacramentary, and so by the law worthy of the death she suffered; that he had falsely set forth her examination, misrepresenting it; and that thereby his late master, King Henry, was slandered, religion assaulted, and the realm troubled."- Strype's Mem. Eccl.,\ol. ii., part i., p. 56. K 146 Ladies oft/ie Reformation. [ENGLAND. denying a doctrine, the denial of which had been made capital by act of Parliament. Determined, therefore, not to put into their hands the means of putting her to death, she answered Dare's ques- tion by asking him another. C. D." I cannot tell." A. A. "Neither will I tell you whether I do or do not believe the sacrament upon the altar to be the very body and blood of Christ." C. D. " A woman has testified that you told her you had read in the Scriptures that God was not in temples made with hands." Her inquisitors understood her to employ these words as an argu- ment against transubstantiation. A A. "As to this I would refer you to the 7th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, verses 48-50, where Stephen says, ' Howbeit the mosc High dwelleth not in temples made with hands ; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool ; what house will ye build me 1 saith the Lord ; or what is the place of my rest?' and to the 17th chapter of the same book, verse 24th, 'God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands."' C. D. " Why did you say that you would rather read five lines in the Bible than hear five masses in the church ?" A. A. " I confess that I said no less, because the one greatly edi- fies me, the other nothing at all." " And without animadverting upon the idolatry of the mass, she quoted, in proof of the uselessness of performing the service connected with it in a dead tongue, the words of Paul, in 1 Cor. xiv. 8, " If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle T The apostle, in the 19th verse of the same chapter, still more explicitly says, " In the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue ;" on which Bishop Bale well ob- serves, " This proves the temple service of the Papists all the year to be worth nothing.'' I ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 147 C. D. " You also said, did you not, that if a wicked priest minis- tered, it was the devil and not God ?" A. A. "I deny that I ever said any such thing. What I said was, that whoever ministered unto me, his bad character could not injure my faith, but that I, notwithstanding, received in spirit the body and blood of Christ. C. D." If a mouse eat the host, does it receive God or no ?" To this question she made no answer, as it deserved none, but smiled. And yet the question has been gravely discussed among learned Popish doctors; and the Pope, it would appear, having given no infallible deliverance on the subject, they have been divided in their opinions about it, some asserting that the sacrament eaten of a mouse is the very and real body of Christ; 1 others, as Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, maintaining, "that a mouse cannot devour God," though " Christ's body may as well dwell in a mouse as in Judas." 2 "The sacraments are not eaten of mice," says another, " though they seem so to be in the exterior similitudes ; for the vir- tues of holy men are not eaten of beasts when they are eaten of them." "That which is material," says a fourth, "in the bread, is consumed by digestion ; but that which is spiritual remaineth uncor- rupted." 3 Such is a specimen of the gabble of Popish casuistry in dealing with questions as contemptible as the quidlibets and quod- libets of the schoolmen, not to speak of their impiety and blasphemy. C. D. " What are your sentiments concerning confession T A. A. "I believe, as the apostle James teacbeth, that Christians ought to confess their faults one to another, and pray one for another." C. D. " What is your opinion as to the king's book ? ' A. A. "I can pronounce no judgment upon it, as I never saw it." The book here referred to was the Erudition of a Christian Man. In 1537 a book, entitled The Institution of a Christian Man, was com- piled by a commission, consisting of several bishops and other divines, 1 Three Notable and Godly Sermons, by W. Peryn, friar. 2 See the Bishop's Detection of the Devil's Sophistry, pp. 16, 21. 3 Bishop Bale's Select Works, p. 154. 148 Ladies nft/te Reformation. [ENGLAND. appointed by Henry VIII., and was intended to be a standard of .orthodoxy to the nation. 1 It asserted the leading dogmas of Popery, with some leanings towards the sentiments of the Eeformers. In 1543 a second edition, with alterations and additions so numei'ous as to make it almost a new work, was published by the authority of the king, under the superintendence of Archbishop Cranmer and other learned bishops and divines. This book, which is the one referred to in the question, was entitled the Erudition of a Christian Man; and among other things it included the seven sacraments, the ten commandments, the Lord's Prayer, called the Pater Noster, the Salu- tation of the Angel, called the Ave Maria, and separate articles on freewill, justification, good works, and prayer for souls departed. It made considerably nearer advances to the reformed sentiments than the former work. In the former the worship of images, pray- ing to saints, masses for the dead, and various Popish rites were approved and confirmed. In the latter these points were spoken of more doubtfully and cautiously, or rejected altogether. An article on purgatory occupied a prominent place in the former ; in the latter it is entirely omitted. 2 G. D. " Have you the Spirit of God ?" This he said mockingly. A. A. " If I have not, I am but a reprobate and a castaway." C. D. " I have brought a Popish priest to examine you, and he is at hand." The priest then proceeded to examine her. He asked her, among other things, what she said as to the sacrament of the altar, and strongly urged her to give her opinion on this point ; but know- ing him to be a Papist, and suspecting him of the crafty design of involving her in the confession of sentiments punishable by death, she requested to be excused in declining to answer the question. C. D. " Do you not think that private masses help souls departed ?" A. A. "It is great idolatry to believe more in these than in the death which Christ died for us." 1 The Institution of a Christian Man is reprinted in the addenda to the first volume of Burnet's History of the Reformation. " Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. i., part i., pp. 485, 436, 583-590. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 149 The examination being closed, she was sent from Sadler's Hall to the Lord Mayor, Sir Martin Bowes, who, after having, with the Bishop of London's chancellor, Thomas Bage or Williams, examined her on the same topics, and received similar answers, illegally ordered her to be committed to prison. 1 Some of her friends, deeply inte- rested in her safety, were ready to become her sureties, provided she could be admitted to bail ; but the Lord Mayor, in answer to her inquiries, harshly told her that such a favour would not be granted. She was therefore conducted to the Compter, where she remained seven days, so secluded that no friend was admitted to speak with her. A priest, however, was sent by Bonner to examine her again as to " the sacrament of the altar" and other Popish doctrines. He affected a humane sympathy for her sufferings, but distrusting his professions of kindness, she answered his questions with prudent reserve. " If the host," said he, " should fall, and a beast should eat it, does the beast receive God or no ?" " Seeing you have taken the trouble to ask this question," she replied, " I desire you also to take the trouble to answer it yourself : for I will not, because I perceive you are come to tempt me." On the 23d of March her cousin Brittayne, who felt for her deep sympathy, paid her a visit in the Compter. After an interview, he immediately repaired to the Lord Mayor, with the view, if possible, of getting her admitted to bail. But his lordship, with professions of readiness to do his utmost to befriend her, declared that the sanc- tion of a spiritual officer, which had been necessary in order to her committal, was equally necessary in order to her liberation on bail, and desired him to call upon the Bishop of London's chancellor. But neither would the chancellor, when waited on, interfere without the consent of the bishop. He, however, promised to speak to Bon- ner on the subject, and desired her cousin to call back on the morrow, when the bishop's pleasure might be known. Brittayne returned on the morrow to the chancellor, and met at the same time with Bonner, 2 1 In proof that her imprisonment was illegal, see act of Parliament referred to, p. 144. 2 Edmund Bonner, who figures so conspicuously in the prosecution of this lady, 150 Ladies oftlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. who appointed her to appear before him for examination on the fol- lowing day, being the 25th of March, at three o'clock in the afternoon. The prelate at the same time expressed his desire that Dr. Crome. Sir William Whitehead, and Huntington, for whom she had a par- ticular respect, might be present to be able to report from observa- tion that she was humanely treated a crafty proposal, intended not to advantage her, but to afford an apportunity of arresting these gentlemen and throwing them into prison, as he boasted to some of his own party. He also besought Brittayne to urge her freely to disclose her sentiments, protesting in the most solemn manner that her freedom of speech should not be turned to her prejudice, and that all he should do, did she say anything amiss, would be to put her right by godly counsel and instruction. On the 25th of March she was brought before Bouner for exami- nation. So intent was the blood-thirsty prelate upon extracting a confession of heresy from her own mouth, by which she might be condemned without the aid of witnesses, that he again entreated her cousin Brittayne, who, with several others of her friends, was pre- sent, to urge her unreservedly to declare her sentiments ; and with expressions of warm concern for her welfare, and assurances that no hurt should be done to her for a single word she should utter, he himself endeavoured to persuade her to speak her mind without apprehension. " If a man," said he, " have a wound, no wise sur- was the natural son of John Savage, a richly-beneficed priest in Cheshire, who was the sou of Sir John Savage, knight of the garter, and privy councillor to King Henry VII. Savage, the name he inherited from his father, was most befitting him, and he should never have received another. He was educated at Oxford, and under Henry VIII., who appointed him Archdeacon of Leicester, he was employed in several embassies on the Continent. During this time he had not developed his real character. In 1539, he was advanced to be Bishop of London by Cromwell and Cranmer, who believed him, as he pretended to be, a friend to the Reformation. Not long after he appeared in his true colours. On the enactment of the law of the Six Articles, he immediately erected his crest, and displayed his fangs and talons. In brutal cruelty he is hardly surpassed by any name in English history. " He had," says Fuller, "sesqui corpus, a body and half (but I hope that corpulency without cruelty is no sin) ; and towards his old age he was overgrown with fat, as Mr. Foxe, who is blamed for having persecuted perse- cutors with ugly pictures, doth represent him." Worthies of England, vol. ii., pp. 468, 469. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 151 geon would minister to its relief without first seeing it uncovered. In like manner, I can give you no counsel unless I know wherewith your conscience is burdened." "My conscience," she replied, "is clear in all things, and it would appear very foolish to apply a plaster to a whole skin." She placed no reliance on his professions of good- will, and as little on his promise and oath ; for what depend- ence could be placed on the promise and oath of a man who held, as ah 1 Papists do, that no faith is to be kept with heretics. The examination was substantially the same with that which she underwent before Christopher Dare and the Lord Mayor. Bonner, who was her principal examinator, grossly misrepresented her answers to Dare and the Lord Mayor, and made every endeavour, by artfully questioning and cross-questioning her, to extract from her own mouth a confession of her faith ; but her guarded answers rendered it impossible to found a charge of heresy upon them. '' I believe as the Scripture teacheth," was the only reply she would make to the fatal question, whether the consecrated host is, or is not, the real body of Christ. To Dr. Standish and other priests, who as- sisted Bonner in attempting to entangle her, she uniformly answered, "What I have said to my Lord Bishop of London, I have said." Standish having desired Bonner to bid her explain the sense in which she undei'stood the language of Stephen and Paul, as to God's not dwelling in temples made with hands, she told them that it was against St. Paul's learning, that she, being a woman, should inter- pret the Scriptures, especially where so many wise and learned men were present Glad woujd her persecutors have been had they been able to blacken her name with some odious imputation, in addition to the charge of heresy ; but so unblemished had been her reputation, that they could accuse her life of nothing inconsistent with the Christian character. " There are many," said Bonner, not daring to make a direct charge against the sanctity of her life, but malignantly intending to convey insinuations against it, " that read and know the Scripture, and yet do not follow it, nor live according to it." 152 Ladies of t/te Reformation. [ENGLAND. " I would, my lord," said she, with the confidence of conscious integ- rity, " that all men knew my conversation and living in all points ; for I am so sure of myself this hour, that there is none able to prove any dishonesty in me. If you know any that can do it, I pray you bring them forth." Failing to extract from her answers any proof of heresy, Bonner. whose ensnaring arts were not yet exhausted, retired to commit to writing the substance of her answers, as he pretended, which she might subscribe as the confession of her faith. The document he drew up, which was false in every particular, is as follows : " Be it known to all faithful people, that as touching the blessed sacrament of the altar, I do firmly and undoubtedly believe that, after the words of consecration be spoken by the priest, according to the common usage of this Church of England, there is present really the body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, whether the minis- ter that doth consecrate be a good man or a bad man ; and that, also, whensoever the said sacrament is received, whether the receiver be a good man or a bad man, he doth receive it really and corporally. And, moreover, I do be- lieve, that whether the said sacrament be then received of the minister, or else reserved to be put into the pix, 1 or to be brought to any person that is impo- tent or sick, there is the very body and blood of our said Saviour. So that, whether the minister or the receiver be good or bad, yea, whether the sacra- ment be received or reserved, always there is the blessed body of Christ really. And this thing, with all other 1 The pix is a covered vessel, various in form and material, used in Catholic countries as a depository for the consecrated wafer or host. One form of this vessel is shown in the engraving, but it was sometimes simply a chalice with a cover, and at others, a small square chest or box These were not unfrequently very richly ornamented, made of the richest metals, and enriched with costly gems. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 153 things touching this sacrament, and other sacraments of the church, and all things else touching the Christian belief, which are taught and declared in the king's majesty's book, lately set forth for the erudi- tion of the Christian people, I, Anne Askew, otherwise called Anne Kyme, do truly and perfectly believe, and so do here presently con- fess and acknowledge. And here I do promise, that henceforth I shall never say or do anything against the premises, or against any of them. In witness whereof, I, the said Anne, have subscribed my name unto these presents." l Having read to her this fabrication, in which she is made to acknowledge, in the most explicit terms, doctrines which in her exa- minations she had steadily refused to admit, he asked her whether it did or did not contain the confession of her faith. " I believe," she answered, " as much thereof as is agreeable to the Holy Scripture, and I desire that you will add to it this sentence." The bishop stormed, and cried out in a furious rage that he was not to be die- Anne Askew examined before Bonner, tated to by her as to what he should write ; and required her to affix her name to the document. She at first objected, but impor- ' Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. v., pp. 537-553. 154 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. tuned by her friends, she appended the following sentence, "I, Anne Askew, do believe all things contained in the faith of the Catholic Church." Had she used the phrase, " the Roman Catholic Church," this would have satisfied the prelate ; but rightly judging that by " the Catholic Church" she meant such pestiferous sects as the Waldenses, Albigenses, Hussites, Wickliffites, and the numerous heretics then living in the different countries of Europe, and that she hereby ignored the Popish Church as a part of the Church of Christ, he became yet more infuriated, and rushed into an adjacent chamber. " For God's sake, treat her kindly," said her cousin Brit- tayne, alarmed at the bishop's wrath. "She is a woman," said Bonner, his choler towering still higher, " and I am nothing deceived in her." " Take her as a woman, then," said Brittayne gently, wish- ing to allay his fury, " and do not set her weak woman's wit to your lordship's great wisdom." Bonner's resentment, which at first seemed uncontrollable, was at last so far overcome that he was per- suaded to come out of the chamber, and take her name, with the names of her sureties, who were Brittayne and Mr. Spilman of Gray's Inn. This being done, it was expected that, agreeably to the forms of law, she should be immediately admitted to bail. But Bon- ner, reluctant to let go his grasp of the victim, ordered her to be led to prison until the next day, when he again commanded her to ap- pear in Guildhall, which she did, and was again conducted thence to prison. At last, by the exertions of her friends, the bishop's storm was in some measure laid, and a bail-bond being taken of her sureties, she was set at liberty. Anne felt deeply grateful to her cousin Brittayne, and Mr. Spil- man, who had brought her out of prison. But her enemies, resolved to bring her to the stake, did not give her a long respite. Bonner and Gardiner had already tasted blood, and it was their purpose now, when heretics were in their power, to strike terror by making a ter- rible example of this lady. In less than three months after, she was again in the hands of her persecutors. On Saturday, June 19, she and her husband, Mr. Kyme, I ENGLAND."] Anne Askew. 155 were brought before the lords of privy council at Greenwich. He was dismissed ; but " for that she was very obstinate and heady in reasoning of matters in religion, seeing no persuasion of good reason could take place, she was sent to Newgate, to remain there to answer to the law." ' She was again examined on Friday, the 25th, and her examination lasted about five hours. "Wriothesley, the Lord Chancellor of Eng- land, 2 having asked her what was her opinion as to the bread in the eucharist, she answered, " I believe that as oft as I, in a Christian congregation, receive the bread in remembrance of Christ's death, and with thanksgiving, according to his holy institution, I receive therewith the fruits also of his most glorious passion." Gardiner required her to give a direct answer, charged her with speaking in parables, and, forgetting the dignity becoming a member of the privy council, scornfully called her a parrot. " I am ready," she calmly replied to his insolent sneers, " to suffer all things at your hands ; not only your rebukes, but all that shall follow besides, yea, and that gladly." Others of the council reprimanded her for not being free and ingenuous. On the following day she was examined on the same vexed ques- 1 Harl. MS., 256, fol. 224, b., quoted in Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. ii., p. 193. 2 Thomas Wriothesley " was a warm adherent of the old faith ; and, with the Duke of Norfolk and Gardiner, he formed the party actually opposed to the Reformation, who procured the passing of 'the six articles.'" Lord Campbell's Chancellors of England, vol. i., p. 628. On the 1st of January, 1543, he was created by Henry VIII. Baron of Titchborne, and on April 30th, next year, Chancellor of England. He was a man of undoubted ability; but that he was, at the same time, narrow-minded, bigoted, and cruel, is abundantly proved from his treatment of Anne Askew. On the accession of Edward VI. he was removed from his place as Lord Chancellor, though, as some compensation, he was raised to be Earl of Southampton. He was also excluded from the privy council, but was afterwards restored to it. He died at his house in Holborn, on the 30th of July, 1550. Fuller's Worthies of England, vol. ii., p. 70. It is worthy of notice that the famous Rachel, wife of the illustrious patriot, William, Lord Russell, who suffered on the scaffold in the reign of Charles II., was the great- great-grand-daughter of Wriothesley, and her father dying without male issue, she was his sole heiress. See Introduction to Lady Russell's Letters. Her son, who succeeded his grandfather in 1700, became Duke of Bedford ; and thus, the old Chancellor Wriothesley is at present represented by that honourable family. 156 Ladies of ilie Reformation. [ENGLAND. tion. After being teazed for some time with interrogations, she was ordered to stand aside till the lords of council should consult to- gether. During the interval Lord Lisle, Lord Essex, and Gardiner, entering into conversation with her, earnestly pressed her to confess the sacrament to be flesh, blood, and bone. " It is a great shame for you," said she to Lord Parr and Lord Lisle, whose sentiments, she had reason to believe, very much coincided with her own, " to counsel contrary to your knowledge." The Lord Chancellor having renewed the examination, her answers as to the corporal presence not satisfying Gardiner, that bloody prelate cried out, " You will be burned." " I have searched all the Scriptures," she promptly rejoined, unterrified by his sanguinary threat, " yet could I never find that either Christ or his apostles put any creature to death." She was again commanded to stand aside ; and to Mr. Paget, who, its seems, had a greater share in her confidence than the others, she then opened her mind more freely. "How can you avoid," said he, "the very words of Christ, 'Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you.' " " Christ's meaning," she replied, " in that passage, is similar to the meaning of these other places of Scripture, ' I am the door,' ' I am the vine,' ' Behold the Lamb of God,' ' That rock was Christ,' ' and such like. You are not in these texts to take Christ for the material thing which he is signified by, for then you will make him a very door, a vine, a lamb, a stone, quite contrary to the Holy Ghost's meaning. All these indeed do signify Christ, even as the bread signifies his body in that place. And though he said there, ' Take, eat this in remembrance of me,' yet did he not not bid them hang up that bread in a box and make it a god, or bow to it." Not only did Anne condemn the absurd doctrine of transubstan- tiation, but what shocked her pious mind still more was the Popish adoration of the host, making the consecrated wafer a god, and yield- ing to it divine worship. Idolatry more manifest than this there cannot be. The body of Christ being now in heaven, and there being only bread and wine in the eucharist as our senses, our reason, and 1 John x. 7; xv. 1 ; i. 36; 1 Cor. x 4. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 157 the Scriptures unitedly testify the obvious conclusion is, that those who adore the host adore bread alone, and are therefore idolaters. This outmatches, in folly and grossness, even much of the heathen idolatry. " Among the old idolaters," says Bale, " some took the sun, some the moon, some the fire, some the water, with such other like, for their gods Now come our doting Papists here, wading yet deeper in idolatry, and they must have bread for their god, yea, a wafer-cake, which is scarce worthy to be called bread. In what sor- rowful case are Christian people now-a-days, that they may worship their Lord and Eedeemer, Jesus Christ, in no shape that his heavenly Father hath set him forth in, but in such a shape only as the wafer- baker hath imagined by his slender wit! God's creatures are they whom the idolatrous took for their gods, but the cake is only the baker's creature, for he alone made it bread, if it be bread." On Sabbath, the day after her examination, Anne being seized with severe sickness, and thinking herself dying, earnestly requested that Mr. Latimer ' might be permitted to visit her. She felt desir- ous of opening up the state of her mind to this excellent man, and of receiving from him instruction and comfort. But her request was denied. Under her present and prospective sufferings, this confessor betook herself to Him who has ever proved the unfailing refuge of His people in the time of trial ; and, sustained by the power of His grace 1 This was the famous Reformer and martyr, Hugh Latimer, formerly Bishop of Worcester. The act of the six articles placed him at the mercy of his persecutors. Upon the passing of that act, he resigned his bishopric, and returned to a private life. On laying aside his robes of office, which was on the 1st of July, 1539, he exult- iiigly exclaimed, " I am now rid of a great burden, and never felt my shoulders so light before." Gardiner having sent for him. and expressed surprise that he would not submit to the authority of the traditions then enjoined by the Council, Latimer answered, " I will take the Word of God alone as my rule, and rather than depart one jot from it, I will submit to be torn in pieces by wild horses." The sequel proved that this was not an empty boast Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. i., part 1, pp. 542-546. Soon after he was imprisoned in the Tower, where he was lying at the time when Anne Askew expressed a strong desire to see him, and where he continued to lie till the accession of Edward VI., when he was releaseil, after an imprisonment of more than six years. As is well known, he suffered at the same stake with Ridley, at Oxford, on the 16th of October, 1555. 158 Ladies of tJie Reformation. [ENGLAND. and the consolations of His Spirit, she was enabled to glory even in tribulation ; to rejoice that her afflictions, though severe in themselves, were yet light compared with that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which was prepared for her in heaven. This is evi- dent from the poem she composed during her imprisonment in New- gate. In this poem, which has been justly praised for its simple beauty and sublimity of sentiment, and for its euphony, too, when com- pared with the poetry of even more than a century later, she declares her resolution, by Divine grace, to stand by the truth of Christ even in the face of death ; celebrates the power of faith in overcoming the united opposition of earth and hell ; rejoices in Christ, assured that he was on her side, and would finally deliver her from all evil ; be- seeches God, on whom she cast all her care, to strengthen her by his grace, and to fight her battles, that her soul might escape her nume- rous enemies uninjured; denounces the tyranny, oppression, and cruelty which had usurped the throne of justice ; anticipates the awful doom awaiting unjust judges at the great day of righteous retribution ; and closes with an earnest prayer to God for forgive- ness to her persecutors. Like as the armed knight, Appointed to the field, With this world will I fight, And Christ 1 shall be iny shield. Faith is that weapon strong, Which will not fail at need : My foes, therefore, among Therewith will I proceed. As it is had in strength And force of Christ's way, It will prevail at length, Though all the devils say nay. Faith in the fathers old Obtained righteousness ; Which makes me very bold To fear no world's distress. 1 " Faith " in another copy. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 159 I now rejoice in heart, And hope bids me do so ; For Christ will take my part, And ease me of my woe. Thou say'st, Lord, whoso knock To them wilt thou attend : Undo, therefore, the lock, And thy strong power send. More enemies now I have Than hairs upon my head : Let them not me deprave, But fight thou in my stead. On thee my care I cast, For all their cruel spite : T set not by their haste, For thou art my delight. I am not she that list My anchor to let fall, For every drizzling mist, My ship substantial. Not oft use I to write, In prose, nor yet in rhyme; Vet will I show one sight That I saw in my time. 1 saw a royal throne, Where Justice should have sit, But in her stead was one Of moody, cruel wit. Absorbed was righteousness, As of the raging flood ; Satan, in his excess, Sucked up the guiltless blood. Then thought I, Jesus, Lord, "When thou shalt judge us all Hard is it to record On these men what will fall. Yet, Lord, I thee desire, For that they do to me, Let them not taste the hire Of their iniquity. l 1 Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. v.. Appendix, No. xix. 160 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. Anne had hitherto cautiously avoided, under all her examinations, giving a definite answer as to the deadly question of transubstan- tiation. But at last convinced, from the persevering zeal with which the proceedings against her were conducted, that she could only avert the dreadful fate of perishing at the stake by recantation, and resolved that, by the grace of God, she never would recant, she at last thought it needless any longer to conceal her sentiments. She therefore wrote to the Privy Council the confession of her faith as to the eucharist, in these terms : " That the sacramental bread was left us to be received with thanksgiving in remembrance of Christ's death, the only remedy of our souls' recovery, and that thereby we also receive the whole benefits and fruits of his most glorious passion." On Monday, June 28, she was brought before the council at Guild- hall. They told her that she was a heretic, and condemned by the law, unless she fell from her opinion. She repelled the imputation of being a heretic: "Neither do I deserve," she added, " death by the law of God. But as concerning the faith which I uttered and wrote to the council, I will not deny it, because I know it to be true." They next desired to know whether she denied the sacrament of the eucharist to be Christ's body and blood. " Yes," she unhesi- tatingly answered, " for the same Son of God that was born of the Virgin Mary is now glorious in heaven, and will come again from thence at the last day in like manner as he went up. And as to what you call your god, it is but a piece of bread. As an additional proof of this (mark it when you please), let it lie in the box but three months and it will be mouldy, and so turn to nothing that is good. I am therefore persuaded that it cannot be God." "Do you deny the bread in the pix to be God?" She replied "that God is a spirit," and not a wafer-cake, and " that he is to be wor- shipped in spirit and in truth," not by the impious superstitious homage paid to a wafer, converted, by Popish jugglery, into a god. " Do you plainly deny Christ to be in the sacrament T her interro- gators further demanded. " I believe," she answered, " the eternal Son of God not to dwell there," in proof of which she referred to ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 161 various passages of Scripture, 1 concluding with these words, "I neither wish death nor yet fear his might. God have the praise thereof, with thanks." They requested her to take the benefit of a priest, at which she smiled, observing that she would confess her faults to God, from whom alone forgiveness could be obtained. It was probably at this time that Sir Martin Bowes, the Lord Mayor, an ignorant, blustering Popish devotee, 2 who, it appears, was sitting with the council, asked leave to examine the prisoner. Leave being granted, he tried his skill in the interrogatory art, in whioh, from Anne's adroitness, he made a somewhat ludicrous figure. Lord Mayor. " Thou foolish woman, sayest thou that the priest cannot make the body of Christ ?" Anne Askew. " I say so, my lord, for I have read that God made man, but that man can make God I never yet read, nor I suppose ever shall." L. M. " Thou foolish woman, after the words of consecration, is it not the Lord's body V A. A. " No, it is but consecrated or sacramental bread." L. M. " What if a mouse eat it after the consecration ? What shall become of the mouse ? What sayest thou, foolish woman T A. A. " What shall become of it, say you, my lord?' L. M." I say that that mouse is damned." A. A. "Alack, poor mouse!" "By this time/' says Strype, " my lords heard enough of my Lord Mayor's divinity, and perceiving that some could not keep from laughing, proceeded to the butchery they intended before they came thither." 3 1 As Acts vii. 48-50 ; xvii. 24 ; and Matt. xxiv. 23, 24. She also quoted a passage quite in point from the History of the Destruction of Bel and the Dragon, in the Apocrypha :" Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and there was spent upon him every day twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine. And the king worshipped it, and went daily to adore it ; but Daniel wor- shipped his own God. Then said the king unto him, Thinkest thou not that Bel is a living God? seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day? Then Daniel smiled and said, O king, be not deceived : for this is but clay within, and brass without, and did never eat or drink any thing." 2 " Sir Martin left a sum for an anniversary sermon to be preached in St. Mary, Woolnoth, where the venerable John Newton so long proclaimed such doctrine as the poor mayor never heard. Bowes lies there interred, under a close marble tomb." Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. ii., p. 191. 3 Mem. Eccl., vol. i., part i, pp. 597, 598. 162 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. Anne's plain confessions being deemed sufficient proof of her hereti- cal guilt, she, with two other persons, were condemned to be burned, without a formal trial by jury, to which they were entitled. " On Monday " [June 28], says a contemporary authority, " Mrs. Askew, Christopher White, and a tailor [Adams], who came from Colchester or thereabout, were arraigned at Guildhall, and received their judg- ment of my Lord Chancellor [Wriothesley] and the council, to be burned, and so were committed to Newgate again." ' Wriothesley and Gardiner were the leading agents in their condemnation. From the relentless severity with which the six articles were at this period enforced, there was little hope that Anne, now when the condemning sentence had been pronounced upon her, would escape. Gardiner, whose chosen function was the suppression of heresy by the most desperate means, and who never swerved from pursuing his bloody purposes to their appalling issue, had her fully in his power ; and what could she expect from him ? Of only one resource did she attempt to take advantage, that of appealing from the unjust tribunal that condemned her to the mercy of the sovereign. This resource, indeed, offered but a very slender ground of hope. Henry had never been particularly susceptible to the emotions of pity, and during his latter years his heart had become hardened into stone by the many cruelties he had committed. He who " sent a minister or a wife to the scaffold with as little compunction as he would have shown in ordering a dog to be drowned," was not likely to feel the smallest concern about the life of any other human being. Besides, still believing, as he had been taught from infancy, that heresy was the greatest of all crimes, and still proud of the title he had earned as "defender of the faith," he held it to be an acceptable service to the Deity, as well as necessary to establish his reputation for ortho- doxy, to burn heretics, the punishment denounced against them by the Eomish Church, and especially to burn whoever denied transub- stantiation, his favourite doctrine. Anne, however, purposed to 1 Otwel Johnson to his brother, 2d July, quoted in Anderson's Annals of the English Uille, vol. ii., p. 195. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 163 make the appeal, and wrote out a brief confession of her faith, to be laid before the monarch, in which, while asserting the injustice of her condemnation, she speaks, perhaps intentionally, of the eucharist in language so general and indefinite, that it would be impossible for the monarch to gather from it whether she believed in transubstan- tiation or no. " I, Anne Askew, of good memory, although God hath given me the bread of adversity and the water of trouble, yet not so much as my sins have deserved, desire this to be known to your grace : That forasmuch as I am by the law condemned for an evil-doer, here I take heaven and earth to record, that I shall die in my innocence : And according to what I have said first, and will say last, I utterly abhor and detest all heresies. And as concerning the supper of the Lord, I believe so much as Christ hath said therein, which he confirmed with his most blessed blood. I believe also so much as he willed me to follow and believe, and so much as the Catholic Church of Him doth teach : for I will not forsake the commandment of his holy lips. But look ! what God hath charged me with his mouth, that have I shut up in my heart. And thus briefly I end, for lack of learning. " ANNE ASKEW." This confession of her faith she sent to Wriothesley, the Lord Chancellor, accompanied by the following letter, in which she requests him to communicate it to the king : " The Lord God, by whom all creatures have their being, bless you, with the light of his knowledge. Amen. " My duty to your lordship remembered, &c. May it please you to accept this my bold suit, as the suit of one who, upon due conside- ration, is moved to the same, and hopeth to obtain. My request to your lordship is only that it may please your lordship to be a means for me to the king's majesty, that his grace may be certified of these few lines, which I have written concerning my belief ; which, when it shall be truly compared with the hard judgment given [against] me for the same, I think his grace shall well perceive me to be weighed in an uneven pair of balances. But I remit my matter and cause to Almighty God, who rightly judge th all secrets. And thus 164 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. I commend your lordship unto the governance of Him, and fellow- ship of all saints. Amen. By your handmaid, ANNE ASKEW." It would be a mistake to conclude, as some did, from this appeal to the monarch, that Anne shrunk from the dreadful fate to which she had been doomed. " O friend," said she, in a letter to her fellow- sufferer, John Lascels, who had been her tutor, "most dearly be- loved in God, I marvel not a little what should move you to judge in me so slender a faith as to fear death, which is the end of all misery. In the Lord I desire of you not to believe of me such wickedness ; for I doubt it not, but God will perform his work in me, like as he hath begun." Her appeal proceeded not from the fear of death, but from the principle on which she had all along acted, that she was not only entitled, but bound to avail herself of every legitimate and honourable means of defending her liberty and life, of pleading for them on the grounds of universal justice, if not of English law, and of submitting to death only when she could pre- serve her life in no other way than by denying the truths of Christ. This is the rule laid down in the New Testament for the guidance of Christians, on their falling into the hands of their persecutors, and by this rule were the apostles governed on every such occasion. Had Anne, like the Christians of the third century, actuated by a false heroism, delivered herself up to her persecutors, and evinced a carelessness about life, and an impatience to earn the crown of mar- tyrdom, instead of making a calm and spirited defence, exercising caution under her examinations, that she might not criminate her- self, 1 and appealing to the monarch after being condemned, she would have been guilty of violating apostolic precept and example. But, like the great body of the martyrs of the Reformation in the sixteenth century throughout Europe in England, France, Spain, and Italy she understood divine truth and Christian duty better than the Christian confessors and martyrs of the third century. 1 This caution she had carefully observed till her last examination at Guildhall, when she saw that her death had been determiued upon, unless she should distinctly recant. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 165 Anne's appeal to her sovereign, as might have been expected, was in vain. Endeavours were, however, made to bring her to recant, and, by yielding, she probably might still have saved her life. On the 13th of July, she was brought from Newgate to the Sign of the Crown, where Mr. Eich, Mr. Nicholas Shaxton, who had recently renounced the reformed faith, 1 and the Bishop of London, did their utmost by promises, as threatenings had been found ineffectual, to persuade her to abjure her faith. The gentler arts had as little suc- cess as the sterner appliances. She was neither to be smiled nor frowned into a denial of the truth. Shaxton in particular, whom she regarded as a traitor to her Lord and Saviour, might as well have spared his pains. She told him that it had been good for him had he never been born. She was next sent to the Tower, where remaining till three o'clock in the afternoon, she then underwent a new examination. One great object of this examination was to extract from her discoveries as to others, her instructors, or participators in heresy, and especially as to several ladies and gentlemen of the court, who were suspected of holding the reformed opinions. The ladies of rank belonging to the court, whom the persecutors were extremely anxious to involve in a charge of heresy, were the Duchess of Suffolk, the Countess of Sussex, the Countess of Hertford, Lady Denny, and Lady Fitzwilliams. 2 From the kindness of soms of 1 Shaxton, as we have seen before, was raised to the see of Salisbury by Queen Anne Boleyn. On the passing of the act of the six articles, rather than renounce his sentiments, he resigned his bishopric, and languished seven years in prison. At length he was indicted for denying transubstautiation, and sentenced to the flames. " The prospect of the fiery trial overcame his courage, and Bishops Bouner and Heath having visited him by the orders of the king, he professed to be convinced by their arguments, and subscribed a paper expressing his belief in the six articles; upon which he was pardoned and set at liberty, on the 13th of July, 1545. He subsequently took an active part in the persecution of the Protestants, both in the reigns of Henry VIII. and of Mary. He was poorly rewarded by the party to which he went over, having been merely constituted a suffragan iu the diocese of Ely, in which situa- tion he died in 1556. Burnet's Hist. Records, vol. i., pp. 386, 526. Strype's Hem. Eccl, vol. i., part i., pp. 542-546. Many of Shaxton's letters are contained in Mis- cellaneous Correspondence, second series, vol. xxxvii. 2 Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. i., part i., p. 597. 166 Ladies oftfo Reformation. [ENGLAND. these ladies in sending her money for her support in prison, it was concluded that she and they had been on intimate terms, and hopes were entertained that she might be made their accuser. Aware of their malignant purpose, and too generous to betray her friends, she would disclose nothing as to what she knew of their religious sentiments. From the examination it appears that, dur- ing her imprisonment, she had chiefly, if not altogether depended for 'her subsistence upon the private bounty of charitable indivi- duals. " Tell us," said her examinators, " how you were maintained in the Compter, and who willed you to stick to your opinion." " There was no creature," she replied, " that strengthened me therein. And as for the help which I had in the Compter, it was by means of my maid ; for as she went abroad in the streets, she made moan to Anne i Maiu lottciting aid from the Apprentice. the prentices, and they by her did send me money, but who they were I never knew." "Were there not several ladies who sent you money ?" they asked. " There was a man in a blue coat," she answered, " who delivered me ten shillings, and said that my Lady of Hertford sent it me ; and another, in a violet coat, gave me eight shillings, and said my Lady Denny sent it me. Whether it was true or not I cannot tell ; for I am not sure who sent it me, but as the maid said." Defeated in their attempts to inveigle Anne into a discovery of the heresy of these ladies and of others, they determined to gain ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 167 their object by putting her to the torture, a horrible custom then common in judicial proceedings, and not altogether abolished in England for nearly a century later. " They did put me on the rack," says she, " because I confessed no ladies or gentlewomen to be of my opinion, and thereon they kept me a long time." She was let down into a dungeon in the Tower, where Sir Anthony Knevet, the lieu- tenant, ordered the jailer to apply the instrument of torture. This being done, without any of the wished-for discoveries being extorted, the lieutenant ordered her to be taken down. But Wriothesley, the chancellor, incensed at her obstinacy in making no confessions, and observing that she lay quiet without uttering a cry or groan, insisted that the torture should be renewed. Touched with compassion, the lieutenant objected, excusing himself from the weak and delicate frame of the young lady. The proud chancellor, whose indignation waxed hotter at finding that he, the highest judge in the land, should be disobeyed, threatened him with the displeasure and ven- geance of the sovereign. But the lieutenant was not to be brow- beaten and menaced into a mean-spirited compliance. Upon which the chancellor and Eichard Eich, afterwards lord chancellor, one of Bonner's creatures, throwing off their gowns, plied the machine with their own hands, first asking Anne whether she was with child. " Ye shall not need to spare for that," she answered, " do your wills upon me." With great barbarity they continued to stretch her on the rack, 1 till her bones were almost broken and her joints pulled 1 The torture of the rack, or stretching, was applied in various ways, but it is ordi- narily understood as the fearful agonies produced by the extension of the criminal or sufferer on the machine shown in the engraving;. This consisted of two rollers or windlasses, placed horizontally, seven or eight feet apart, to which the arms and feet were fastened by sharp cutting cords; the windlasses were then turned by levers uutil the body of the tortured was in a state of tension, sometimes so great as not only to dislocate the limbs, but also to tear the muscles, and the agony was farther increased by the cords cutting through the flesh of the wrists and ankles to the very bone. 168 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. asunder; 1 but her fortitude was not to be subdued. Torture, which has often wrung secrets from the stoutest hearts, and made them betray their dearest relatives and friends, was applied in vain to this gentle and delicate female. This she might suffer till even life itself was extinguished ; but not a word would she utter crimi- nating others, and more especially the noble ladies from whom she had received the warmest kindness and sympathy. Baffled in their object, Wriothesley and Rich desisted, afraid lest she should die among their hands. Immediately upon their loosing her from the rack, she swooned from the dreadful agony. By the use of means they succeeded in recovering her to consciousness, after which she was kept sitting two long hours on the bare floor disputing with the chancellor, who, notwithstanding his ruthless inhumanity, urgently importuned her, with great professions of good-will, to renounce her faith. " But," says she, " my Lord God I thank his everlasting goodness gave me grace to persevere, and will do, I hope, to the very end. Then," she adds, " was I brought to a house, and laid in a bed, with weary and painful bones as ever had patient Job ; I thank my Lord God therefor." By the torture she lost the use of her limbs, and was left in a condition so dangerous that she could not have lived long, though her enemies had spared her the fire ; but severe as were her bodily agonies, it was a great alleviation to think that under the torture she had said nothing to peril the safety of any Christian friend. Wriothesley and Rich, immediately after leaving the Tower, pro- ceeded on horseback to the court by land, while the humane lieu- tenant, taking boat, proceeded in haste by water, that he might, if possible, arrive before them, and obtain the royal ear before it was prejudiced against him by their misrepresentations. He was the first in reaching the court, and being admitted into his majesty's presence, represented the whole matter exactly as it stood how Anne Askew had been tortured how, not knowing his majesty's pleasure, he refused, at the simple bidding of the chancellor, to pro- > Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. v., pp. 537-553. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 169 long her torture, which, from compassion, he could not find in his heart to do and humbly craved forgiveness if he had thereby offended his majesty. The king, who seemed somewhat displeased with the extreme severity of the chancellor and Rich, approved of the lieutenant's conduct, and dismissed him with assurances of con- tinued favour. The officers of the Tower, who much respected the lieutenant, were anxiously waiting for his return, and were delighted to hear of his gracious reception at court. 1 It would have been honouring to the memory of Henry, and a redeeming act in his history, amidst the numerous atrocities by "which it is blackened, had he given orders that the proceedings against this lady should be stopped. But an idea so merciful seems never to have entered his mind ; and the displeasure he expressed at the severity of the chan- cellor and of Rich, proceeded, there is reason to believe, merely from a capricious impulse, and not from sentiments of compassion, which, if he ever felt, were, " like angels' visits, few and far between." The lord chancellor afterwards sent a notification to Anne, assur- ing her that, provided she would renounce her opinion as to the eucharist, she should want nothing ; but that if she continued obsti- nate, she should be forthwith sent to Newgate, and should undergo the ignominious death to which she had been condemned. Her reply was brief but decisive " that she would rather die than re- nounce her faith." In giving this account to a friend, she concludes with these words, so expressive of her forgiving and pious spirit " Lord, open the eyes of their blind hearts, that the truth may find entrance. Farewell, my dear friend, and pray, pray, pray !" The council, and especially "Wriothesley and Rich, though hardened by the frequent repetition of cruel deeds, yet not altogether indiffer- ent to public censure, were anxious to have the torture of Anne concealed, dreading that they might incur, barbarous as was the age, the odious imputation of torturing a lady. " I understand," says she, in a letter to John Lacels, " the council is not a little displeased that it should be reported abroad that I was racked in the Tower. They 1 Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. v., pp. 537-553. 170 Ladies of tlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. say now that what they did there was but to fear me ; whereby I perceive they are ashamed of their own uncomely doings, and fear much lest the king's majesty should have information thereof. Wherefore they would no man to noise it. Well, their cruelty God forgive them." If the council desired to conceal their barbarity, Bale was determined to give it the widest publicity : " It is so honest a part ye have played, that ye will not have it noised. But I promise you so to divulge this unseemly fact of yours in the Latin, that all Christendom over it shall be known what ye are." To damage Anne's reputation in the estimation of the public, and to abate the sympathy which her condemnation and death might excite, Bonner and his confederates, after her condemnation, printed and circulated the paper which he had fabricated, before her libera- tion after her first imprisonment, as the confession of her faith, ' with her own name as subscribing to it unreservedly, and with the names of upwards of a dozen of ecclesiastics and laymen appended to it as witnesses. This paper, which obtained a place in the public registers, bore the following title : " The true copy of the confession and belief of Anne Askew, otherwise called Anne Kyme, made before the Bishop of London, on the 20th of March, in the year of our Lord God, after the computation of the Church of England, 1544, 2 and subscribed with her own hand, in the presence of the said bishop and other whose names hereafter are recited, set forth and published at this present, to the intent the world may see what credence is now to be given unto the same woman, who in so short a time hath most damnably altered and changed her opinion and belief; and therefore rightfully in open court arraigned and con- demned." The date of the paper is incorrect ; 3 and Anne, as we have seen, subscribed it only with such qualifications as amounted to a disavowal of it as the confession of her faith. Upon the moral baseness of this malicious attempt to blast her good name by a false 1 See p. 152. 2 As at that period the year began on the 25th of March, the date here assigned to Anne's confession, according to our present computation, would be 20th March, 1545. 3 It should have been dated 25th March, 1546. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 171 imputation, it is unnecessary to dwell. It was worthy of such a man as Bonner, and of men who identified themselves with a system which teaches that the end sanctifies the means, and that to forge false accusations to ruin the credit of heretics is a venial sin, or rather no sin at all. The evil was that many, and even some Chris- tian acquaintances, on seeing the paper with the names of so many witnesses attesting its genuineness, believed that her liberation after her first imprisonment had been purchased at the price of abjura- tion. She had an approving conscience, the best of all comforters ; but still as malicious calumnies, especially when credited by esteemed friends, cause deep concern to an ingemious mind, she felt uneasy till she had publicly explained that the circumstances connected with her release involved no desertion or compromise of principle. She accordingly drew up a " purgation or answer against the false sur- mises as to her recantation." " I have read," says she, in this pur- gation, " the process which is reported of them that know not the truth, to be my recantation. But as sure as the Lord liveth, I never meant anything less than to. recant. Notwithstanding this, I con- fess that in my first troubles I was examined of the Bishop of London about the sacrament. Yet had they no grant of my mouth but this, that I believed therein as the Word of God did bind me to believe. More had they never of me. Then he made a copy, which is now in print, and required me to set thereunto my hand ; but I refused it. Then my two sureties did will me in no wise to stick thereat, for it was no great matter, they said. Then, with much ado, at the last I wrote thus : ' I, Anne Askew, do believe this, if God's Word do agree to the same, and the true Catholic Church.' Then the bishop, being in great displeasure with me, because I made doubts in my writing, commanded me to prison, where I was a while; but afterwards, by means of friends, I came out again. Here is the truth of that matter. And as concerning the thing that ye covet most to know, resort to John vi., and be ruled always thereby. Thus fare ye well, quoth Anne Askew." The number of her enemies, and the many iniquitous forms in 172 Ladies of tJte Reformation. [ENGLAND. which they had exercised their cruelty upon her, as il to make her taste again and again the bitterness of death before they committed her to the excruciating flames, deeply oppressed her spirit for this, to a pure mind, must ever give dark distressing views of human nature and extorted from her earnest appeals to the justice and compassion of God. But it is delightful to witness the meekness of spirit she cherished towards these miserable and hardened men, even when she most agonizingly felt the iron entering her soul. She can- not make her appeal to God against their injustice and cruelty, with- out, like Christ in his passion, and like the proto-Christian martyr Stephen, earnestly praying for their forgiveness, and that their understandings might be enlightened by the knowledge of the truth, and their hearts changed by Divine grace. " O Lord," says she, in a brief prayer which she composed and committed to writing when in prison, " I have more enemies now than there be hairs on my head ; yet, Lord, let them never overcome me with vain words, but fight thou, Lord, in my stead, for on thee cast I my care. With all the spite they can imagine, they fall upon me, who am thy poor creature. Yet, sweet Lord, let me not set by them that are against me ; for in thee is my whole delight. And, Lord, I heartily desire of thee that thou wilt, of thy most merciful goodness, forgive them that violence which they do and have done unto me. Open also thou their blind hearts, that they may hereafter do that thing in thy sight which is only acceptable before thee, and to set thy verity aright without all vain fantasies of sinful men. So be it, O Lord, so be it !" When in Newgate she drew up a confession of her faith, probably with the intention of leaving it as a memorial to her Christian friends. In this confession, while acknowledging herself to be a sinner before God, though not a heretic, and while maintaining that she was un- justly condemned to suffer death, she denies the doctrine of transub- stantiation, repudiates the authority of traditions, defends the suffi- ciency of the Scriptures in all matters of Christian faith and practice, and asserts the offering of the mass to be idolatry. Of this document the following is a copy : " I, Anne Askew, of good memory, although ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 173 my merciful Father hath given me the bread of adversity and the water of trouble, yet not so much as my sins have deserved, do con- fess myself here a sinner before the throne of his heavenly Majesty, desiring his eternal mercy. And forasmuch as I am by the law unrighteously condemned for an evil-doer concerning opinions, I take the same most merciful God of mine, who hath made both heaven and earth, to record that I hold no opinions contrary to his Holy Word. And I trust in my merciful Lord, who is the giver of all grace, that he will graciously assist me against all evil opinions, which are contrary to his most blessed verity. For I take him to witness that I do, and will unto my life's end, utterly abhor them to the uttermost of my power. " But this is the heresy which they report me to hold : that after the priest hath spoken the words of consecration, there remaineth bread still. They both say, and also teach it for a necessary article of faith, that after those words are once spoken, there remaineth no bread, but even the self-same body that hung upon the cross on Good Friday, both flesh, blood, and bone. To this belief of theirs say I nay. For then were our common creed false, which saith, ' that he sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.' Lo, this is the heresy that I hold, and for it must suffer the death. But as touching the holy and blessed supper of the Lord, I believe it to be a most necessary remembrance of his glorious sufferings and death. Moreover, I believe as much therein as my eternal and only Ee- deemer, Jesus Christ, would I should believe. " Finally, I believe all those Scriptures to be true which he hath confirmed with his most precious blood. Yea, and as St. Paul saith, those Scriptures are sufficient for our learning and salvation that Christ hath left here with us ; so that I believe we need no unwritten verities to rule his church with. Therefore, look, what he hath said unto me with his own mouth in his holy gospel, that have I, with God's grace, closed up in my heart. And my full trust is, as David saith, that it shall be ' a lantern to my footsteps ' (Psalm cxix. 105). 174 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. " There be some that do say that I deny the eucharist, or sacrament of thanksgiving ; but those people do untruly report of me. For I both say and believe it, that if it were ordered like as Christ insti- tuted it and left it, a most singular comfort it were unto us all. But as concerning your mass, as it is now used in our days, I do say and believe it to be the most abominable idol that is in the world ; for my God will not be eaten with teeth, neither yet dieth he again. And upon these words that I have now spoken will I suffer death." The day of her execution having arrived, 1 she was brought to Smithfield in a chair ; for she had been racked till the dreadful tor- ture had deprived her limbs of the power to carry her. Three others were executed with her for the same opinions, Nicolas Belenean, a priest of Shropshire, John Adams, a tailor, and John Lacels, a gentle- man of the family of Gatford in Nottinghamshire, and of the king's household. The four martyrs were bound to three separate stakes ; Anne to one stake, to which she was fastened by a chain passing round her middle ; one of her fellow-sufferers to a second, and the other two to a third. They mutually encouraged one another to a calm and willing self-immolation. Anne in particular confirmed the rest, who, though not deficient in fortitude, 2 became more intrepid 1 According to Foxe, in his Acts and Monuments, she was executed about the month of June; according to Bishop Bale, in his work, De Scriploriuus Britannicis, fol. ed., p. 670, on the 16th of July. Southey, in his Book of the Church (vol. ii., p. 92), says, ' The execution was delayed till darkness closed, that it might appear the more dread- ful " This, there is reason to believe, is a mistake. Executions of this kind in Eng- land, so far as we have discovered, uniformly took place iu the broad light of day, and generally in the morning. Southey, even in his second edition, in which he supplies an omission iu the first an entire want of references does not note his authority for this statement ; but we apprehend it rests solely on an indefinite expression used in a brief notice of the martyrdom by an eye-witness, found among Foxe's MSS., and printed iu Strype's Memorials, vol. i., part i., p. 599. The expression is, " When the hour of darkness came and their execution," the allusion of the writer, there can be little doubt, being to these words of Christ to his enemies, "This is your hour and the power of darkness." 2 Lacels, on returning to prison after his condemnation, was not only tranquil, but cheerful. To some Christian friends who paid him a visit, though at the risk of their personal safety, he said, " My Lord Bishop would have me confess the Roman Church to be the Catholic Church; but that I cannot do, for it is not true." Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. i., part i , pp. 599, 600. A letter, which he wrote when in prison, refuting ?_ -J ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 175 on witnessing her invincible constancy, and hearing her Christian exhortations. The place of execution was defended from the pressure of the crowd by a rail. In those days unceasing efforts were made to the last to convert condemned heretics. After they had been bound to the stake, a Popish priest from a pulpit, which it was com- mon to have erected beside them, endeavoured to convince them of their pretended errors, and bring them to recant. In the present instance the usual practice was followed. But if the object of the persecutors was to convert the sufferers, they could hardly have made a worse selection of a priest to officiate. Dr. Shaxton. whom they had appointed, being a renegade from the reformed faith, his charac- ter on that account was damaged in the estimation of all the martyrs, and' especially of Anne, in whose mind he was associated both in character and in doom with Judas the traitor. Shaxton mounted the pulpit and began his homily ; but he might as well have spent his oratory on the desert air. It made no impression on those for whom it was professedly intended. Anne, who remarkably preserved her powers of attention and presence of mind at the stake, expressed her approbation when he spoke the truth ; but her dissent on his advancing anything contrary to the Scriptures, saying, " There he misseth, and speaketh without the book." On the conclusion of the sermon the martyrs began their devotional exercises. To witness the appalling scene, an immense multitude of spectators had assembled. Here were to be seen, as at every public execution, the scum, the most barbarous and brutal of the London population, who had come out of their dens of filth, and vice, and infamy, from an all-devouring eagerness to gratify their curiosity, and gorge their eyes with spectacles of cruelty. Here, too, were the fanatical Papists, in whom Popery had extinguished the common feelings of humanity uttering, like fiends in vindictive triumph over the destruction of their victims, wild cries of jubilee. Wriothesley. Chancellor of Eng- land, the old Duke of Norfolk, the old Earl of Bedford, the Lord transubstantiation, and proving that Christ is received in the supper only spiritually, is preserved iu Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. v , pp. 550-553. 176 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. Mayor, and several other persons of rank, were all here, sitting on a bench under St. Bartholomew's Church. They had no commisera- tion for the sufferers, hut they were afraid of any harm accidentally befalling themselves. Before the fire was lighted, one of them, under- standing that a quantity of gunpowder was to be used in the execu- tion, became alarmed lest the fagots, by the explosion, should come flying about their ears. His alarm was allayed by the Earl of Bed- ford, who assured him that, as the gunpowder was lodged about the persons of the sufferers, with the view of hastening their death, not under the fagots, there was no danger. All of them, therefore, remained on the bench, remorselessly looking on till the fire had consumed the devoted martyrs. Other lords of council were enter- taining themselves by looking on, leaning over the window of a neighbouring house. The gratification felt by these Popish council- lors in witnessing this horrible scene, is not altogether to be accounted for from the influence of the frequent atrocious punishments inflicted at that period, in hardening the hearts of all classes. It is very much to be attributed to the influence of Popery in brutalizing, or rather demonizing, the human character This is confirmed from the fact, that in every country, and especially in the most intensely Popish countries, the execution of heretics was witnessed with every demon- stration of satisfaction and delight, by Papists of all ages, sexes, and conditions, from the monarch to the peasant, from " the tender and delicate lady, that would not adventure to set her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness," down to the lowest of her sex ; while yet the execution of ordinary malefactors excited the compassion of the very same spectators. Others, however, were present at this tragedy from very different motives, and witnessed it with very different feelings. " These dread- ful spectacles," says Southey, " were attended not by the brutal multi- tude alone," and the brutal of the nobility, " who cam* as to a pastime, and by those who, for the sake of gratifying their curiosity, chose to endure the sight : the frieuds and fellow-believers of the sufferer seem generally to have been present, as an act of duty; they derived, ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 177 from his example, strength to follow it when their hour should come ; and to him it was a consolation to recognize sympathizing faces amid the crowd ; to be assured that in his agony he had their silent but fervent prayers to support him ; and to know that, as faithful witnesses, they would do justice to his memory, which else was at the mercy of his enemies. For it was one of the pious frauds of the Komanists to spread reports that their victims had seen and ac- knowledged their error, when too late to save their lives, and had asked pardon of God and man for their heresies with their latest breath." ' A new temptation to unfaithfulness to God and conscience, this lady and her fellow-sufferers had to encounter just on the eve of their execution ; but in the strength of God's grace they nobly overcame it, and it added "a fresh garland to their crown of martyrdom." Before the fire was lighted, Wriothesley, the chancellor, sent letters to Anne, to which was affixed the great seal, offering her the king's pardon, provided she would abjure her heretical opinions. This he did in conformity with an Act of Parliament, 1543, by which it was ordained, that such as were convicted of the violation of the law as to the six articles, for the first time, should be admitted to recant. Not a moment did she hesitate as to her duty ; with letters offering her pardon on such a condition, she would have nothing to do ; she would not even look at them. " I am not come here," she said heroi- cally, " to deny my Lord and Master." She indeed appears to have experienced a large measure of the support and consolations of the Holy Spirit ; and her very countenance reflected the peace and joy of her soul. An eye-witness bears testimony, that on the day before her execution, and on the day of it, " she had an angel's countenance, and a smiling face." Similar letters were offered to her three fellow- sufferers, who, imitating her constancy, nobly refused to recant. All four were therefore dealt with as obstinate, irreclaimable heretics. The lord mayor, thinking that as they had the offer of their lives on such easy terms, their blood was on their own heads, and not on 1 The Book of the Church, vol. ii., p. 13. M 178 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. his, cried with a loud voice, " Fiat justitia," ' and the fire was imme- diately kindled. At the first lighting of the fire, the sky all of a sudden became gloomy, a thunder-clap was heard, and a slight shower of rain de- scended. Very different were the interpretations put upon these phenomena by different spectators, according to their respective reli- gious creeds. By the reformed party they were accounted tokens of God's approbation of the martyrs, and of his indignation against the persecutors. " God knows," said a friendly spectator, " whether I may truly term it a thunder-crack, as the people did in the gospel, or an angel's, or rather God's own voice. But, to leave every man to his own judgment, methought it seemed rather that the angels in heaven rejoiced to receive their souls into bliss, whose bodies these Popish tormentors cast into the fire, as not worthy to live any longer among such hell-hounds." 2 "The sky," says Bale, "abhorring so wicked an act, suddenly altered colour, and the clouds from above gave a thunder-clap, not at all unlike to what is written in Psalm Ixxvi. 8 : 'Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven ; the earth feared and was still.' The elements both declared therein the high displeasure of God for so tyrannous a murder of innocents, and also expressly signified his mighty hand present to the comfort of them which trusted in him." The Popish priests, on the other hand, observing the sudden gloom, and hearing the thunder, not doubting that these were signs of the perdition of the sufferers, cried out with fanatical fury, gnashing their teeth, "They are damned, they are damned." 3 The interpretation put upon these phenomena by the Eeformers has the merit of being humane and pious ; that put upon them by 1 i. e., "Let justice be done." 2 Strype's Mem. Ecd., vol. i., part i., pp. 599, 600. 3 These executions struck terror into the English refugees on the Continent. John Hooper, afterwards Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester, in a letter to Henry Bullin- ger, without date, hut probably written from Basle about the close of the year 1546, says, " For his impious mass the king has this last summer committed four respectable and godly persons to the flames." Zurich Letters, first series, printed for Parker Soc., p. 41. ENGLAND.] Anne Askew. 179 the Papists has the discredit of being savage and vindictive. "Yet as a guide in determining God's love or hatred towards the sufferers, we are not disposed to lay much stress on these phenomena, which were too vague and indefinite to enable either the martyrs or others to form anything like a correct judgment on the point, and which might be easily explained from natural causes. As to the martyrs themselves, they needed no outward signs to convince them that God loved them. From the workings of love to him in their own hearts, and from the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit to their adoption, they knew that he loved them. This knowledge confirmed their faith and strengthened their courage when they were called to the honourable though very trying distinction of sacrificing their lives " for the witness of Jesus, and for the "Word of God ; and because they would not worship the beast, neither his image, neither would receive his mark upon their foreheads, nor in their right hands." It inspired them with the triumphant hope a hope of which the wicked and cruel men who put them to this terrible death could not deprive them that the flames which consumed their bodies Avould be a chariot of fire, in which they would ascend to heaven, that having suffered for Christ on earth, they might reign with him there for ever. Anne Askew, at her martyrdom, was in the twenty-fifth year of her age, in the prime of youth, in the meridian and summer of her existence, when life is generally most full of enjoyment, and the future most kindles into brightness to the eye of youthful hope. This made the sacrifice she made of her life the nobler, the more heroic ; for, as Foxe observes, K she might have lived in great wealth and prosperity, if she would have followed the world rather than Christ ;" ] and it fixes a blacker, a more indelible brand of infamy upon the cruelty of her murderers. 1 Acts and Monuments, vol. ii., p. 489. Balni of Kendl Cutle, We.taiorelnd. KATHARINE PARR, SIXTH QUEEN OP HENRY VIII. CHAPTER I. FROM HER BIRTH TO THE RETURN OF HENRY FROM FRANCE TO ENGLAND, IN THE AUTUMN OF 1544. lATHABINE PARR was born at Kendal Castle, in Westmoreland, 1 about the year 1513. She was the eld- 9 [!*' N Wr * est daughter of Sir Thomas Parr, of Kendal, knight, ]J^LV^! ky Matilda or Maud Green, his wife, daughter and co- heiress of Sir Thomas Green, of Boughton and Green's Norton, in Northamptonshire. At the time of her birth, her father 1 Kendal Castle is situated on a knoll in the middle of a valley, about half-a-raile on the east side of the town of Kendal. Its situation is both strong and beautiful, com- manding a delightful prospect of wood, pasture, and running water. In Camden's ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 181 was Master of the Wards and Comptroller of the Household to Henry VIII. He enjoyed the favour of the monarch, by whom he was presented with a gold chain, valued at .140. He died in 1517, leaving Katharine, by his last will, a fortune of .400, a small inherit- ance for a lady who afterwards became Queen of England. He left a similar fortune to her only sister, Anne, and bequeathed the gold chain he had received as a token of the royal favour, to his only sou, William, afterwards Earl of Essex, and Marquis of Northampton. Having lost her father when only in her fifth year, Katharine owed her education mainly to her mother, a woman, it has been said, of much wisdom and good management, who carefully culti- vated the talents of all her children. Not only was she educated in the ordinary branches of learning, in the art of music, in the use of the needle, then deemed a necessary accomplishment to ladies of the highest distinction, and in the modern languages, but she was taught the Latin and Greek tongues, in which, since the revival of letters in England, it had become fashionable for English ladies of rank to be instructed. From her good natural abilities, her progress in learning corresponded to her opportunities and her mother's expectations. She soon acquired as high a reputation for intelligence and sound discretion as for learning ; and on reaching womanhood, though of small stature, she is described by our historians as possessing great personal beauty ; as remarkable for her amiable, engaging, and po- lished manners ; and as adorned with many virtues, especially humi- lity, the crown and ornament of all others. An anecdote has been recorded, illustrative of her liveliness of disposition and her ready ingenuity, if not of her ambition in early life. The belief in astrology, or in the existence of some pre-ordained and unchangeable connection between the fate of an individual in life and the position of the stars at his birth, was common at that time; and Katharine, like many others, consulted some professed time it was " decaying with age," and in 1670, according to the Pembroke Memoirs, it was " ruinous." Since that period it has suffered still more from the destroying hand of time. Beauties of England and Wales, vol. xv., p. 193. The prefixed engraving represents it in its present state. 182 Ladies of the Re/urination., [ENGLAND. astrologer, to know, from the revelations of his science, her future destiny. Casting her nativity, he told her that she was born to sit on a throne, encircled by all the stars and planets. That this prognos- tication, if not pure imposture, was entitled to no credit, no one now needs to be told. As some hundreds, if not thousands of females would be born in England at the same time, and under the same astrological aspect of the stars, the same prediction might have been uttered, but could not prove true as to them all. Whether or no Katharine believed in astrology, and had faith in the prediction of the star-seer she consulted, it was usual for her after this, when her mother called her to work, to say, " My hands are ordained to touch crowns and sceptres, not needles and spindles." 1 This she may have spoken partly in jest, and partly in earnest. Doubts of the truth of the nativity-caster's vaticination may have mingled with flattering, though vague and undefined, dreams of her being elevated one day to the dizzy eminence of royalty. She, however, did not neglect the use of the needle, and attained a degree of perfection in the art of embroidery equalled by few. At a very early age the exact date is unknown Katharine was married to Edward Lord Borough, of Gainsborough, a wealthy widower, distantly related to her, who could easily have been her grandfather. To this nobleman, with whom she resided at his manor of Gainsborough, she had no children ; and by his death, which took place in 1528-9, she became a widow, when she could not have ex- ceeded her fifteenth year. She became, secondly, the wife of another wealthy aged widower, John Neville, Lord Latimer, 2 who had been previously twice married. The date of her marriage with this noble- man is uncertain, but she did not, perhaps, at the time exceed twenty 1 Strype's Mem. Eccl, vol. ii., part i., pp. 203-209. 2 He possessed large property in Worcestershire and other couuties. George Neville, Lord Latimer, a previous representative of the house, marrying Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, had the manors of Great Cumherton, Wadborough, and other estates in the county of Worcester. These John Lord Latiiner, on his marriage with Katharine Parr, settled in jointure on her, and she held them during her life. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 183 years of age. She now resided with him, chiefly at his stately man- sion of Snape Hall, in Yorkshire, a goodly castle, distant about two miles from Great Tanfield. By this second marriage she had no Snape Hall. children, and she / again became a widow early in 1543. Lord Lati- mer was a decided Roman Catholic, and died in that faith, as is evident from his leaving, by his will, funds " to endow a grammar- school at Wells, and to pray for him, the founder." Katharine's ami- able dispositions, her good sense, and her conscientious performance of her duties as a step-mother, gained her the esteem and affection of the children of both the noblemen to whom she had been united. At what period she became a convert to the reformed doctrines it is difficult, perhaps impossible, now to determine. It is a mistake to suppose, as has been done by some writers, that the knowledge and belief of them were instilled into her mind from childhood. From a treatise written by her after her marriage with Henry VIIT., and found among her papers after her death, ' it is evident that she had 1 This work, with a preface from the pen of Secretary Cecil, was printed at London. 184 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. been educated in Popery, and, during a great part of her life, had observed and trusted to its idolatrous and superstitious services, conceiving, in her ignorance, frequent though her opportunities were of becoming acquainted with the reformed principles, that the Popish religion, since the vast majority embraced it, behoved to be right, and the only way to heaven. " "What a wretch and caitife," says she, " am I, that when the Prince of princes, the King of kings, did speak many pleasant and gentle words unto me, and also called me so many and sundry times that they cannot be numbered, and yet, not- withstanding these great signs and tokens of love, I would not come unto him, but hid myself out of his sight, seeking many crooked and by-ways, wherein I walked so long that I had clean lost sight of him. And no marvel or wonder, for I had a blind guide, called Ignorance, who dimmed so mine eyes that I could never perfectly get any sight of the fair, goodly, straight, and right ways of his doc- trine, but continually travelled uncomfortably in foul, wicked, crooked, and perverse ways ; yea, and because they were so much haunted of many, I could not think but that I walked in the perfect and right way, having more regard to the number of the walkers than to the order of the walking ; believing also most assuredly, with company, to have walked to heaven, whereas, I am most sure, they would have brought me down to hell. I forsook the spiritual honouring of the true living God, and worshipped visible idols and images made of in 1548, under the title, The Lamentation or Complaint of a Sinner, made by the most virtuous and right gracious Lady, Queen Katharine, bewailiny the ignorance of her blind life, led in superstition ; very profitable to the amendment of our lives. It was again printed at London in 1563 " at the instant desire of that right gracious lady, Katharine, Duchess of Suffolk, and the earnest request of Lord William Parr, Marquis of North- ampton, brother to Queen Katharine Parr." It has been reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany, vol. v., pp. 277-298. It is an original work, not a compilation, and though posthumous, is the best of all her writings. As a piece of English composition, it reckons with the very first productions of that age. Without assuming a controversial form, it yet condemns the leading dogmas of Popery, and vindicates the doctrines of the Reformation. It is pervaded by a Christian wisdom, a knowledge of the human heart, and a just estimate of the comparative value of heavenly and earthly things, which must leave on the mind of every candid reader an impression highly favourable to her talents and Christian excellence of character. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 185 men's hands, believing by them to have gotten heaven Fur- thermore, the blood of Christ was not reputed by me sufficient for to wash me from the filth of my sins, neither such ways as he had appointed by his Word, but I sought for such riffraff as the Bishop of Home hath planted in his tyranny and kingdom, trusting, with great confidence, by the virtue and holiness of them, to receive full remission of my sins." ' At length, however, by the study of the Sacred Scriptures, and of the writings of the Reformers, accompanied by sincere humble prayer for the illuminating grace of the Holy Spirit, her faith in Popery became unsettled, the truth in its purity beamed with serene effulgence upon her mind, and receiving it cor- dially, as impressed with the seal of Heaven, she was brought under its saving power. This change upon her sentiments and feelings, it is probable, took place during the lifetime of Lord Latimer, though she may not then have made open profession of her faith. After his death her house, it appears, became the resort of the most learned and zealous of the Reformers, and conventicles were held in it for the celebration of the Protestant worship. Being again loosed from the matrimonial tie by the death of her second husband, Katharine soon found new candidates for her hand and heart. Among these appeared no less a personage than her sovereign, Henry VIII., thus bidding fair to verify to the full the astrological soothsayer's flattering prediction. Henry, in his former selections of a wife, had been resolutely bent on wedding a maid, but having some doubts whether in this respect he had not hitherto been imposed upon, he purposed now to marry a widow, who had given proof of chastity and loyalty to her former husband. He fixed upon Katharine, who still retained so many charms as captivated his fickle heart; and for once he found a lady whose piety, discretion, and many excellent qualities, surpassed even her personal attractions. To this flattering offer her heart at first gave a cold response : her affections were placed elsewhere. She passionately loved a nobleman of captivating person and manners, though not of corresponding ex- 1 Harlelan Miscellany, vol. v., p. 280. 186 Ladies of ttte Reformation. [ENGLAND. cellence of character, who, on the death of Lord Latimer, attracted by her beauty and winning deportment, and no doubt also by her wealth for she posessed two ample jointures sought her in mar- riage. This was Thomas Seymour, Lord High Admiral of England, and brother of the Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector during the reign of Edward VI. ; and, as we learn from an amatory letter she wrote from Chelsea to Seymour, after the death of Henry, it cost her a severe struggle to renounce the idol of her heart for the old de- bauched worn-out monarch. " I would not have you," says she, " to think this mine honest good-will towards you to proceed of any sudden motion or passion, for, as truly as God is God, my mind was fully bent, the other time I was at liberty, to marry you before any man I know. Howbeit, God withstood my will therein most vehe- mently for a time, and through his grace and goodness made that possible which seemed to me most impossible, that was, made me renounce utterly mine own will, and to follow his most willingly." Another serious objection she must have felt to this marriage was the character of Henry. In the prospect of becoming his wife, it can hardly be doubted that she would feel secret presentiments of calamity. Little as the young, to whom time has not yet brought the changes and misfortunes which it has brought to the old, are disposed to form gloomy presages of the future, and prone as they are, in the flushing luxuriance of health and of animal spirits, to paint it as the golden age, as the scene only of enjoyment and happiness, there was much in the character of Henry, and in the tragic history of his former queens, to dispel pleasing dreams, and to create dark forebodings in the mind of any young lady, and especially in the mind of a lady so reflective and intelligent as was Katharine Parr. She might win the proud name of queen, but she would win it with more than its ordi- nary cares, anxieties, and sorrows. On becoming the wife of Henry, while invested with the dazzling splendours of royalty, she would, in reality, " put on the poisoned robe of Nessus, which, though given as a token of affection, would be found, in the experiment, to eat into the flesh and burn up the vitals of the person who wore it." She ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr, 187 could only anticipate tliat, amidst imperial honours, wealth, and enjoyments, her rest by night and her tranquillity by day would be often disturbed, from the dread of a sudden reverse ; from the appal- ling visions of the capricious affections of Henry changed into jea- lousy, suspicion, mortal hatred ; of her incarceration in the Tower under false charges ; of a mock trial, with none to show her mercy ; and all ended by the axe of the executioner. Nor could the most exalted virtue, any more than the most dazzling beauty, afford secu- rity against such a fate. By a word or a look, on her part meaning nothing, but construed by jealousy into something criminal, or by a slight accidental circumstance, or simply because he had transferred his affections to another object, his caresses of to-day might be exchanged for frowns and mortal feud to-morrow. That such a train of thought actually passed through her mind, is manifest from the answer she returned to Henry when he first disclosed to her his in- tention of making her the sharer of his bed and throne, "that it was better to be his mistress than his wife ;" a sarcasm overlooked by him at the time, from the ardour of his new affection, but which, had he lived long enough, might afterwards have cost her, though nothing else could have been laid to her charge, her life. ' Had she then been left to her voluntary choice, never would she have become his wedded wife. But she had satisfactory reasons for consenting to the proposed union. If it was dangerous to accept of his proposal, to have declined it would have been equally perilous. - To Wriothesley, the Lord Chancellor, this contemplated marriage was a cause of great uneasiness. The fall of Katharine Howard had l When, on looking out for another queen-consort, after the death of Jane Seymour, his third wife, Henry made his first offer to Christiana, the duchess-dowager of Milan, then in Flanders, at the vice-regal court, that lady is said to have given an answer still more cutting that she had but one head; if she had had two, one should have been at his majesty's service. Ellis's Letters, first series, vol. ii., p. 123. From other ladies he would have received similar answers, had they as freely spoken their mind. They had too much respect for their heads to be disposed to contest an alliance with a monarch who could, with the utmost unconcern, decapitate his wives whenever he tired of them, and kick about their severed bleeding heads as indifferently as he would an old hat. 188 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. inflicted a heavy blow on him and on the -whole Popish party, of which she was the avowed protectress; and desirous to see a devotee of the Romish Church in the influential position of queen- consort, he had taken every opportunity of recommending to Henry an alliance with some of the royal families of Europe who continued adherents of the old faith. His advice was not followed ; and great were his terror and distress on learning one morning, from the mo- narch's own mouth, that it was his intention to marry the Lady Katharine Parr. 1 The bigoted chancellor dreaded that, as the con- sequence of this marriage, an arrest would be put on the attempts now making to suppress the reformed doctrines, and that, from the influence she might acquire over Henry, facilities hitherto withheld would be given for their propagation, which, despite the deadly per- secution maintained against them, were making steady progress in England. He had, however, more discretion than to oppose the monarch's inclinations. Keeping his chagrin concealed within his own breast, he assumed the appearance of satisfaction with what he could not prevent, and was present at the marriage ceremony. 2 The requisite arrangements being made, the marriage took place at Hampton Court, July 12, 1543, the bride being at the age of twenty-nine. The union was formed by Gardiner, Bishop of Win- chester. On the morning of that day, being in attendance on his majesty at Hampton Court, Gardiner, without previous notice, was ordered, to his great surprise and mortification, immediately to pro- ceed. Like Wriothesley, he was extremely desirous, for the sake of Romanism, of seeing a lady of indisputable orthodoxy elevated to the throne ; and though too prudent to condemn the marriage, dis- tasteful as it was to him, he complacently reminded his majesty that it behoved him, as an example to his subjects, to observe ecclesias- tical forms, and that the banns not having been proclaimed, nor other requisite preliminaries observed, it would be irregular and tin canonical, in the meantime, to celebrate the intended marriage. 1 It is observable that, though a widow, she was called by her maiden name. * Lord Campbell's Chancellors of England, voL i., p. 629. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 189 Henry had provided against this objection, by obtaining from Arch- bishop Cranmer, who was delighted that his sovereign had chosen a queen who patronized the new faith, a license dispensing with the publication of banns, and allowing the ceremony to take place at any hour, and in any place, " for the honour and weal of the realm." Hampton Court, time of George II. On being informed of this by his majesty, the prelate shrewdly sus- pected that it was intended to play a trick upon him, by employing him to perform a service, to which, it was well known, he was in heart vehemently opposed. But with great self-command he re- strained his feelings, and being conducted into a small private chapel in the palace, performed the ceremony as if entirely satisfied with the king's choice ; but his haughty spirit felt as if insulted ; as he retired to his own house his proud blood boiled with indignation, and he re- solved to watch his opportunity, when he might at once gratify his thirst for vengeance, and do the old faith good service, by ridding England and the world of this heretical queen. 1 Wriothesley and Gardiner were not mistaken as to Katharine's sincere and ardent devotion to the reformed faith, though she may not have openly professed it. In her Lamentations of a Sinner, 1 Lord Campbell's Chancellors of England, vol. ii., pp. 45, 46. 190 Ladies oft/te Reformation. [ENGLAND. her sentiments on the subject are expressed in the strongest terms ; and though this work was not committed to writing till some time after her marriage with Henry, she had previously formed a matured judgment on its great leading principles. At present it will be suffi- cient to quote only, as a specimen, the passage in which she com- pliments Henry with somewhat extravagant adulation, it must be allowed, according to the manner of the times, and from conjugal par- tiality for having shaken off the Papal authority, and for allowing the circulation of the Scriptures in the vernacular tongue among his subjects, and in which she denounces the Pope as a persecuting monster and a soul-deceiver, unequalled in all preceding ages. " Thanks be given," says she, " unto the Lord, that hath now sent us such a godly and learned king, in these latter days, to reign over us ; that, with the virtue and force of God's Word, hath taken away the veils and mists of errors, and brought us to the knowledge of the truth, by the light of God's Word ;' which was so long hid, and kept under, that the people were nigh famished and hungered, for lack of spiritual food. Such was the charity of the spiritual curates and shepherds. But our Moses, and most godly wise governor and king, hath deli- vered us out of the captivity and bondage of Pharaoh. I mean by this Moses King Henry VIII., my most sovereign favourable lord and husband; one (if Moses had figured any more than Christ), through the excellent grace of God, meet to be another expressed verity of Moses' conquest over Pharaoh. And I mean by this Pharaoh the Bishop of Home, who hath been and is a greater perse- cutor of all true Christians than ever was Pharaoh of the children of Israel : for he is a persecutor of the gospel and grace, a setter forth of all superstition and counterfeit holiness, bringing many 1 By the close of the year 1541, only four years and four months from the time that Rogers's English Bible, before referred to (see p. .139), was imported to this country, there had issued from the press not fewer than twelve editions of the entire Bible, ten in folio, and two in quarto. The impression of each of these editions, it has been cal- culated, amounted, on an average, to 2000 copies, thus furnishing in whole 24,000 Bibles. Besides this ample supply, thousands of copies of the New Testament, printed at home, with numerous foreign editions, were in circulation among the people, and ardently read. Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. ii., p. 153. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 191 souls to hell with his alchemy and counterfeit money, deceiving the poor souls tinder the pretence of holiness ; but so much the greater shall be his damnation, because he deceiveth and robbeth under Christ's mantle. The Lord keep and defend all men from his jug- glings and sleights, but specially the poor, simple, and unlearned souls. And this lesson I would all men had of him, that, when they begin to mislike his doing, then only begin they to like God, and certainly not before." ' The persecuting Papists having thus some reason to dread that such a woman as Katharine would exercise a powerful influence over the mind of Henry against Popery, and in favour of heresy, her marriage had hardly been consummated, when Gardiner and others began to plot against her and the reformed members of her household. He found a ready tool in Dr. London, a canon of Windsor, formerly one of Cromwell's most active agents in the visitation of the monasteries. 2 London having collected matter sufficient to criminate, under the act of the six articles, four pious individuals, Anthony Person, a priest, Eobert Testwood and John Marbeck, both choristers, and Henry Filmer, who had impugned the doctrine of transubstantiation, transmitted this information to Gardiner, >who resolved not only to bring them to the stake, in defi- ance of the queen, but to convert, if possible, the discovery of their heresy into the means of her ruin. He laid the information before the king and council, moving, at the same time, that a warrant should be issued, authorizing a search to be made for prohibited books and heretical papers, both in the town and in the castle of Windsor, the very residence of the queen. Henry, either thinking it would be something like an insult for his palace to be rummaged by officers of justice, or shrewdly guessing that the repositories of his queen contained prohibited books, would not permit inquisition to be made within the precincts of his own residence, but he allowed search to be made in the town, upon which several heretical books and papers were seized. About the same time, besides the four i Harleian Miscellany, vol. v., p. 289. 2 Ellis's Letters, first series, vol. iL, p. 79. 192 Ladies of tJie Reformation. [ENGLAND. persons accused, Sir Philip Hoby, one of the gentlemen of the royal household, and Dr. Haines, a canon of Windsor and dean of Exeter, all suspected of heresy, were committed to prison. Person, Testwood, Marbeck, and Filmer were brought to trial, and a packed jury hav- ing found them guilty of heresy, they were condemned to the flames. Marbeck's life was saved at the intercession, it would appear, of the queen. Some MS. notes upon the Bible, and a MS. English con- cordance, carried down to the end of the letter L, which he had taken from a Latin concordance (having acquired some knowledge of the Latin tongue when a boy), by comparing the references in it with the corresponding passages in the English Bible, had been found in his house. As he was evidently illiterate, his examinators doubted his veracity when he asserted that these papers were exclusively the fruits of his own industry : but he soon removed their doubts, for being allowed the use of a Latin concordance and of an English Bible, he filled, in the course of a single day, no less than three sheets of paper with words under the letter M. The circumstance being told to Henry, it would seem by Katharine, who pleaded the cause of the condemned, he exclaimed, in a spirit of sympathy to which his bosom was generally a stranger, " Poor Marbeck has been in the habit of employing his time far better than those who examined him." It was, however, difficult to manage the fierce and intractable spirit of the monarch, and Katharine was unable to save the lives of the other three, who suffered at the stake with unshrinking fortitude, July 26, exactly a fortnight after her marriage. Gardiner was still intent upon the destruction of Katharine and the heretical members of her court; for he never lost sight of an object he was earnest to accomplish ; and his caterer, Dr. London, in concert with a lawyer named Simons, had, as the fruit of their vile ferreting labours, sent him pretended criminating matter affecting some mem- bers of the royal household, together with additional papers contain- ing others of their machinations, by a person named Ockham, who had acted as clerk of the court which condemned the martyrs just mentioned. But the plot was discovered ; for intelligence of what ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 193 was going on being communicated to one of the gentleman accused, Ockham, while on his way to the prelate, was seized, with all the papers upon his person. It was certainly contrary to Gardiner's usual prudence thus to attempt to invade the peace of Katharine's household before the honeymoon was over, as a preliminary step to making an attempt upon herself, and Henry resented the audacity. Gardiner, however, had kept himself behind the scenes, and escaped. London and Simons, less fortunate, were apprehended and examined. Ignorant of the seizure of Ockham, they alleged upon oath false pretences in self-vindication, after which, to their utter confusion, their own papers were produced. They were sentenced to be publicly paraded through the streets of Windsor, Eeading, and Newbury, on horseback, with their faces towards the horses' tails, London and S!inon paraded through and having fastened on their heads a paper proclaiming their per- jury. They were next placed iu the pillory. This ignominious punishment made so deep an impression on the mind of London, that he died soon after in prison.' Katharine in all respects performed the duties of a faithful wife, and conducted herself with uncommon prudence. Being a very amiable woman, as well as a person of great good sense, she studied to humour Henry, whose temper, in addition to its imperiousness, 1 Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. v , p. 486. Soames's Hist, of Ike Ref. in England, Tol. ii., pp. 538-512. 194 Ladies of tlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. had, in consequence of his bodily infirmities, become peevish and fro ward. At all times she greeted him -with looks of affection, and paid him every kind attention, which, together with her unim- peachable virtue, secured his affection, respect, and confidence. She was, in truth, rather his nurse than his wife, his intemperance having brought on him prematurely the infirmities of old age. Though, from the smallness of her stature, without the command- ing majesty of some other ladies, Katharine yet had something in her countenance and bearing peculiarly charming, and her winning suavity, and polite vivacity of manner, was eminently fitted to give dignity and grace to the court, to which she had been suddenly and unexpectedly elevated. The notices of the interview which Don Manriquez de Lara, Duke of Najera, a Spanish nobleman, had with her and Henry, and the Princess Mary, during the close of the year 1543, and in the beginning of the year 1544, are interesting, as giving the impressions of a stranger as to the etiquette of the Eng- lish court, and the personages who came under his observation. "Before the duke arrived," says his secretary, "at the king's chamber, 1 he passed through three saloons, hung with tapestry ; in the second of which were stationed, in order on either side, the king's body-guard, dressed in habits of red, and holding halberts. In the third saloon were nobles, knights, and gentlemen, and here was a canopy made of rich figured brocade, with a chair of the same material. To this canopy and chair the same respect was paid by all as if the king himself were present, every one standing on foot, with his cap in his hand. Here the brother of the queen 2 and the 1 This was at Westminster Palace. 2 William Lord Parr, of Kendal, created Earl of Essex, Dec. 23, 1543, aud by Ed- ward VI. Marquis of Northampton, Feb. 16, 1545-6. Bishop Hooper, in a letter to Henry Bullinger, dated London, June 29, 1550, describes this nobleman, who was then Lord High Chamberlain of England, as " a man active in the cause of Christ." Zurich Letters, first series, pp. 88, 93. King Edward used to call him " his honest uncle." On the accession of Queen Mary he was deprived of his honours for having supported the claims of Lady Jane Grey to the crown; but was restored by Queen Elizabeth. He is said to have excelled in the arts of war, music, and poetry. He died about the beginning of August, 1571, and was buried in St. Mary's Church, Warwick. Granger's Biog. Hist, of England, vol. i., p. 234. Zurich Letters, second series, vol. i., p. 257. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 195 other noblemen entertained the duke a quarter of an hour, until it was announced that he should enter the chamber of the king. Don Eodrigo de Mendoga and Tello de Guzman entered with him, and no one else, nor did .they permit us even to see the king. I do not know the motive of this, unless it be according to a saying of the ancients, 'that he whom many dread, must necessarily himself be subject to fear and distrust.' I say this, because for many centuries there has never been Christian prince nor infidel who has ordered so many executions as this king, as well of his immediate relations, as of gentlemen, clergy, and other persons, for having spoken against his proceedings, and against the opinions he maintains, that the Pope is only Bishop of Eome, that his power extends not beyond his bishop- ric, and that he cannot ordain bishops ; yet, although a layman, he holds himself capable of ordaining them ! Throughout his kingdom obedience to the Pope is forbidden, and he constitutes himself head of the church ! The duke remained with the king half-an-hour, and when he came forth he went with the above noblemen to the chamber of the queen, who was accompanied by the Princess Mary, daughter of the king and Queen Katharine, daughter of our good monarch Don Ferdinand and Donna Isabel. Many ladies attended the queen, and amongst them a daughter of the Queen of Scot- land, 1 and another called the Queen of Mongoga? The duke kissed the queen's hand, by whom he was received in an animated manner. . . . The king is said to be a man of great authority and beauty. The queen has a lovely and pleasing appearance, and is praised as a virtuous woman. She was dressed in a robe of cloth of gold, and a petticoat of brocade, with sleeves lined with crimson satin, and trimmed with three-piled crimson velvet : her train was more than two yards long. Suspended from her neck were two crosses, and a jewel of very rich diamonds, and in her head-dress were many and beautiful ones. Her girdle was of gold, with very large pendants." 3 1 Lady Margaret Douglas, daughter of Margaret, sister of Henry VIII., who married, first, James IV. of Scotland, and secondly, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus. 2 Can this be Anne of Cleves ? 3 Archieologia, vol. xxiii., pp. 351-354. 196 Ladies of tlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. It is not, however, from seeing Katharine mingling, as from her situation it was necessary for her to mingle, in the pageantry, eti- quette, and amusements of the court, that we can learn her true character. To do this we must follow her into seclusion, observe how much time she spent there in meditation and devotion, and see the deep fountains of piety opened and welling out in her soul. Though not beyond the period of youth, she was not inexperienced, and her heart was less caught than it might have been some years earlier by her great, her sudden elevation, and by the mere glare of external splendour. These did not blind her mind to the littleness of all earthly things, and the greatness of eternal interests. She aspired after the better part, the one thing needful, an interest in God, and in the Saviour of men, as necessary equally for all, for kings and queens as well as for peasants and beggars. In proof of this, reference might be made to the various pious works she wrote, and some of which she published during the period of her union with Henry. A few extracts from one of them may suffice, namely, from The Manual of Devotion she published, 1 which, though a com- ' This work was entitled Prayers or Meditations, wherein the mind is stirred pa- . liently to suffer all afflictions, to set at nought the vain prosperity of this world, and always to long for everlasting felicity. Collected out of Holy Works, by the most virtu- ous and gracious Princess Katharine, Queen of England, France, and Ireland. These prayers or meditations are arranged in verses or sentences. They were twice printed by Berthelet in 1545, and a third time, without date or printer's name, in 48 pages, 16mo, with the additions of A Prayer for the King A. Prayer for Men to say entering into Battle A Devout Prayer to be daily said Another Prayer and A Devout Prayer; making in all above 60 pages. Herbert's Ames, p. 449. The whole of this manual, with the exception of the additional five prayers, is printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1790, vol. Ix. Katharine gave to the world some other fruits of her studies on divine things, all indicating the pious temper of her mind ; as, Fifteen Psalms, composed by her in imitation of David's Psalms, and abounding in quotations from them, as well as from other parts of Scripture. Each psalm has its proper sub- ject, and is arranged into verses. To these is subjoined the Twenty-first Psalm, en- titled, The Complaint of Christ on the Cross, and a Psalm of Thanksgiving. She also published a tractate of St. Jerome's, translated by her from Latin into English, under the title, A Godly Exposition, after the manner of a Contemplation upon the Fifty-first Psalm, which Hierom, of Ferrary, made at the latter end of his days. To this are added short essays on Faith The Power of Faith The Work of Faith Good Works, to- gether with the Prayer of the Prophet Daniel. Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. ii., part i , Katharine Parr. 197 pilation from various authors, may, as consisting of passages form- ing, in her estimation, a casquet of devotional gems, be regarded as a genuine expression of her sentiments and feelings. " Wherefore, Lord Jesus," says she, " I pray thee give me the grace to rest in thee above all things, and to quiet me in thee above all creatures, above all glory and honour, above all dignity and power, above all cunning and policy, above all health and beauty, above all riches and treasure, above all joy and pleasure, above all fame and praise, above all mirth and consolation that man's heart may take or feel besides thee. " For thou, Lord God, art best and most wise, most high, most mighty, most sufficient, and most full of all goodness, most sweet and most comfortable, most fair, most loving, most noble, most glori- ous, in whom all goodness most perfectly is. " And therefore, whatsoever I have beside thee, it is nothing to me, for my heart may not rest, nor fully be pacified, but only in thee. O Lord Jesus, most loving spouse, who shall give me wings of per- fect love, that I may fly up from these worldly miseries and rest in thee? " O when shall I ascend to thee, and see and feel how sweet thou art ? When shall I wholly gather myself in thee so perfectly, that I shall not for thy love feel myself, but thee only above myself, and above all worldly things, that thou mayest vouchsafe to visit me in such wise as thou dost visit thy most faithful lovers. " Jesus, King of everlasting glory, the joy and comfort of all Christian people that are wandering as pilgrims in the wilderness of this world, my heart crieth to thee by still desires, and my silenca speaketh unto thee, and saith, How long tarrieth my Lord God to come to me 1 " Make me strong inwardly in my soul, and cast out thereof all pp. 204-207. Her Lamentations of a Sinner, as we have already seen, breathes through- out, like all these pieces, an eminently devout and Christian spirit. Among her various letters still extant, one addressed to Lady Wriothesley. comforting her under the loss of her only son, may be referred to as particularly excellent. It is inserted in Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. ii , part ii., p. 339. 198 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. unprofitable cares of this world, that I be not led by unstable desires of earthly things, but that I may repute all things in this world (as they be) transitory and soon vanishing away, and myself also with them drawing to mine end. " Send forth the hot flames of thy love, to burn and consume the cloudy fantasies of my mind. " Let me, thy humble and unworthy servant, joy only in thee, and not in myself, nor in anything else beside thee. " For thou, Lord, art my gladness, iny hope, my crown, and all mine honour. " Lord, give me peace, give me inward joy, and then my soul shall be full of heavenly melody, and be devout and fervent in thy lauds and praisings. But if thou withdraw thyself from me (as thou hast sometime done), then may not thy servant run the way of thy com- mandments, as I did before." 1 The prayer for his majesty and soldiers to offer up OH entering battle, included in the same Manual, breathes an eminently humane Christian spirit, and has been considered preferable to the prayer directed by the English Liturgy to be used in time of war : " O Almighty King and Lord of hosts, which by thy angels thereunto appointed dost minister both war and peace, who didst give unto David both courage and strength, being but a little one, unversed and inexpert in feats of war, with his sling to set upon, and over- throw the great huge Goliah, our cause now being just, and being enforced to enter into war and battle, we most humbly beseech thee, O Lord God of hosts, so to turn the hearts of our enemies to the desire of peace, that no Christian blood be spilt ; or else grant, O Lord, that with small effusion of blood, and to the little hurt of inno- cents, we may, to thy glory, obtain victory, and that, the wars being soon ended, we may all, with our heart and mind knit together in concord and unity, laud and praise Thee, who livest and reignest world without end. Amen." " This, to my ears," says Dr. Nash, " sounds better than ' Abate their pride, assuage their malice, and 1 Gentleman'* Magazine, TO! In, pp. 701, 785, 986, 937. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 199 confound their devices.' " l The prayer was probably composed in 1544, when Henry having, in co-operation with Charles V., concerted a plan for invading France with a powerful army, and having en- gaged to undertake the- expedition in person, appointed Katharine regent of the kingdom in his absence. Henry did not remain long in France. 2 Charles V., apprehensive of the difficulty of subduing that kingdom, and earnestly desirous of turning his arms against the Protestant princes of Germany, con- cluded a peace with France on the 18th of September, without con- sulting Henry, who upon this, judging it hopeless to persevere unaided in the attempt to conquer France, returned to England on the 30th of September, 1544. CHAPTER II. FROM NOTICES OF HER DOCTRINAL SENTIMENTS TO THE DEATH OF HENRY VIII. THE doctrinal sentiments of Katharine are more fully brought out in her Lamentations of a Sinner than in any of her other writings. The accuracy of her views as to the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ's righteousness, without any works or merits on the part of the sinner, and the importance she attached to this, the great central doc- trine of revelation, are exhibited in every part of that work. "I have no hope nor confidence in any creature, neither in heaven nor earth, but in Christ, my whole and only Saviour. He came into the world 1 Archteoloyia, vol. ix., p. 9. 2 A letter, written by her to Henry, during his absence, is to be found in Strype's Mem. EccL, vol. ii., part ii., p. 331. Three additional letters, written by her when regent at this time, one to the council attendant on the king's person, and two to the king himself, are inserted in Miss Wood's Letters of Royal, &c, vol. iii., p. 171, &c. In Ellis's Letters, first series, vol. ii., p. 130, is a letter from Henry to her, dated Sept. 8, 1544, from before Boulogne, which he was then besieging. 200 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. to save sinners, and to heal them that are sick, for he said, ' The whole have no need of the physician.' " After adverting to the confidence she formerly placed in Popish observances for justifi- cation on hearing mass, praying to departed saints, and especially to the Virgin Mary, worshipping relics, giving alms, performing pil- grimages, submitting to penances and bodily mortifications she laments her sin in thus derogating from the all-sufficiency of the Saviour's merits, the only ground of a sinner's hope : " And so I did as much as was in me obfuscate and darken the great benefit of Christ's passion, than the which no thought can conceive anything of more value. There cannot be done so great an injury and displea- sure to Almighty God, our Father, as to tread under foot Christ, his only begotten and well-beloved Son. All other sins in the world, gathered together in one, be not so heinous and detestable in the sight of God. And no wonder, for in Christ crucified God doth show himself most noble and glorious, even an Almighty God and most loving Father in his only dear and chosen blessed Son. And therefore I count myself one of the most wicked and miserable sin- ners in the world, because I have been so much contrary to Christ my Saviour. Saint Paul desired to know nothing but Christ cruci- fied ; after he had been rapt into the third heaven, where he heard such secrets as were not convenient and meet to utter to men, but counted all his works and doings as nothing, to win Christ. And I, most presumptuously thinking nothing of Christ crucified, went about to set forth mine own righteousness, saying, with the proud Pharisee, ' Good Lord, I thank thee I am not like other men ; I am none adulterer, nor fornicator,' and so forth." l While holding the doctrine of justification by faith in the righte- ousness of Christ without works of law, she, on the one hand, attached no merit to faith, nor, on the other, disparaged good works. Faith she regarded as only the hand of the soul which embraces the Saviour and a free salvation ; and good works, though not imputed to us for our justification, as necessarily springing from justifying faith. 1 Harleian Miscellany, vol. v., p. 280. ENGLAND. I Katharine Parr. 201 " St. Paul saith, ' We be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the deeds of the law ; for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain.' St. Paul meaneth not here a dead human and histo- rical faith, gotten by human industry, but a supernatural and lively faith, which worketh by charity, as he himself plainly expresseth. This dignity of faith is no derogation to good works, for out of this faith spring all good works ; yet we may not impute to the worthiness of faith or works our justification before God, but ascribe, and give the worthiness of it, wholly to the merits of Christ's passion, and refer and attribute the knowledge and perceiving thereof only to faith, whose very true and only property it is to take, apprehend, and hold fast the promises of God's mercy, the which maketh us righteous." 1 Tn regard to the Scriptures, she taught " that they are so pure and holy that no perfection can be added unto them." Eenouncing "men's traditions and inventions" as of no authority in religion, and condemning the Popish priesthood for " extolling men's inven- tions and doctrines before the doctrine of the gospel," she expressly asserts the supremacy of the Scriptures in all matters of faith and practice. " Truly, in my simple and unlearned judgment, no man's doctrine is to be esteemed or preferred like unto Christ's and the apostles', nor to be taught as a perfect and true doctrine, but even as it doth accord and agree with the doctrine of the gospel." 2 There is one, and only one doctrine of Popery, to which she has been said to give countenance in this work the celibacy of the clergy. In describing what is required of the children of God in their several vocations, she thus expresses herself: " The true fol- lowers of Christ's doctrine have always a respect and an eye to their vocation. If they be called to the ministiy of God's Word, they preach and teach it sincerely to the edifying of others, and show themselves, in their living, followers of the same. If they be married men, 3 hav- ing children and family, they nourish and bring them up, without all 1 Harldan Miscellany, vol. v., p. 283. - Ibid., pp. 290, 295, 296. 3 Here, on the margin of the first edition?, the word " laymen " is inserted. 202 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. bitterness and fierceness, in the doctrine of the Lord, in all godliness and virtue, committing the instruction of others which appertain not to their charge to the reformation of God and his ministers, which chiefly be kings and princes, bearing the sword even for that purpose to punish evil-doers." ' From this passage it has been inferred that " Katharine evidently approved of clerical celibacy." 2 Even had she approved of a dogma so contrary to Scripture, and so unnatural, this would by no means be surprising. The wonder is, not that she should remain in error on some particular point, but that, in the imperfect state of the English Reformation during the reign of Henry VIII., she should have attained such clear and comprehensive views of Divine truth as her writings prove her to have possessed. 3 But the justice of the inference may be fairly questioned. Celibacy being then enforced by Henry upon the functionaries of religion, " priests " and ''married men" was the phraseology often employed simply to dis- tinguish between ecclesiastics and laymen, without any judgment being thereby pronounced either for or against clerical celibacy. " Priests " is a designation claimed by the Popish clergy, from their pretending to offer, in the mass, Christ as a true, proper, and propitiatory sacri- fice for the living and the dead, and this appellative they now uni- versally receive, from Protestants as well as from Papists ; but no 1 Harleian Miscellany, vol. v., p. 296. 2 Miss Strickland's Queens of England, vol. v., p. 42. s In her time there were not wanting ecclesiastical reformers who were favourable to the perpetual continence of the clergy, and who wrote in defence of it, erroneously judg- ing that this was most becoming the sacred character of their office, forgetting that, to impose such a law upon ecclesiastics, was to impose a restraint in a matter which God had left free was to do violence to the constitution of man's nature, and to perpetuate the enormous evils of which Popish celibacy had been for ages the prolific source. Even under the reign of Edward VI., the prejudices of the Parliament and of the nation were so strong against the marriage of ecclesiastics that, had it not been for the persevering exertions of Archbishop Cranmer, who, having himself a wife and' children at that time in exile, was deeply interested in settling the question in favour of the marriage of ecclesiastics, it is probable that the reformed ministers would not have obtained, as they finally did, in the reign of that monarch, the sanction of the legislature to marry. Among others, besides Cranmer, who vindicated from the press, or who approved of the marriage of the clergy, were Cox, P'oult, Hooper, with some of whom Katharine was on terras of intimacy. Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. ii., part i., p. 8. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 203 one concludes from this that Protestants maintain the doctrine of the sacrifice of the mass, though the premises for drawing such a conclusion are about as good as those from which it is attempted to deduce Katharine's belief in clerical celibacy. To Henry's children, some of whom, as Mary, were not many years younger than herself, 1 Katharine acted the part of a mother. Under her superintendence the Princesses Maiy and Elizabeth prosecuted their studies in the various branches of learning ; and while aiming at their improvement in knowledge, and in every suitable accomplish- ment, she particularly turned their attention to the study of the Scrip- tures, and of the writings of the Reformers. Elizabeth, when only eleven years of age, probably at her suggestion, translated into English Margaret, Queen of Navarre's poetical work, entitled Le Mirroir de LAme Pecheresse, i.e., The Mirror of the Sinful Soul, into English prose. 2 After having completed the translation, she sent it to Ka- tharine for examination and revision, accompanied with an interest- ing letter. 3 Immediately after this Elizabeth translated Katharine's Prayers or Meditations, &c., above referred to, into Latin, French, and Italian, and dedicated the translation to Henry, her father. The dedication is dated Hatfield. December 30, 1545. 4 Under the care of Katharine Parr, and Dr. Grindal, Elizabeth's tutor, who, solicitous about her improvement in Christian knowledge and piety, engaged her in this and similar exercises, this princess acquired no inconsiderable know- ledge of theology and of the Sacred Scriptures. Upon her son-in-law, Prince Edward, the youngest of Henry's 1 Mary was born February 18, 1516, and consequently was Katharine's junior by about three years. 2 Ballard's Memoirs of Learned Ladies, p. 212. 3 See this letter in Miss Wood's Letters of Royal, &c., vol. iii., pp. 177-179. 4 Ballard's Memoirs of Learned Ladies, p, 213. These translations are to be found among the Royal Manuscripts, in the British Museum, iii a small volume in em- broidered binding. " Elizabeth had great fondness for the Latin and Italian tongues, but, late in life at least, seems, like her sister, Mary I., to have had but small love for, and probably little skill in French ; though Mary and Elizabeth were both instructed in that language under the direction of Queen Katharine Parr." Note of Ellis, in his Letters, first series, vol. ii., p. 246. 204 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. three children, and the heir-apparent to the throne, Katharine be- stowed particular attention. Over his education she watched with maternal care and tenderness, endeavouring to give the sapling the hope of the nation in the freshness of its prime, its proper direc- tion. Several of Edward's letters addressed to her, in English, Latin, and French, probably written in 1546, when the prince was in the ninth year of his age, are still extant, and are full of the warme&t expressions of affection and gratitude for her kind and endearing attentions. 1 Henry's war with France being extremely expensive, had exhausted his coffers, and reduced him to great pecuniary difficulties. To raise money he had adopted various expedients, as adulterating the coin, procuring " benevolences," and raising loans which he never meant to pay. All this being inadequate to supply his necessities, he was obliged to summon Parliament and the Convocation. They met on the 23d of November, 1545. The Convocation granted him a liberal percentage on their incomes for two years. The House of Commons voted him a still larger subsidy ; and, apprehensive of additional de- mands being made upon their purses, placed all colleges, chantries, 2 and hospitals in the kingdom, with their lands and entire property, at his sovereign disposal ; thus exposing the universities to the risk of sharing the fate of the monasteries. On this occasion Katharine, in her zeal on behalf of the interests of education, extended her pro- tection to these seats of learning. The University of Cambridge, in 1 In the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts a volume is preserved, containing a fair transcript of Edward's Latin letters to Katharine and others, entitled, Epistola Ed- wardi Principis illustrissimi, quas suopte marte composuit et scripsit anno atatis nono. From the tenderness of Edward's age, as well as from the quotations from Erasmus, Job, Solomon, Ludovicus, Vives, St. Paul, Horace, Cicero, and Aristippus, which they contain, it may be fairly concluded that his majesty was assisted in the editing of them by his Latin tutor." Ellis's Letters, first series, vol. ii., p. 133. Some of Edward's letters to Katharine are printed by Ellis (Ibid., vol. ii., pp. 131, 132), and by Strype, Mem. Eccl., vol. ii., pp. 53-60. 2 " A chantry was a little church, chapel, or particular altar in some cathedral church, &c., endowed with lands or other revenues, for the maintenance of one or more priests, daily to say mass, or perform divine service, for the use of the founders, or such others as they appointed." Hume's History of England, chap, xxxiii., note 27. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 205 dread of being broken up, as the monastic institutions had been, sent letters to her in Latin, by Dr. Smith (afterwards Sir Thomas Smith, the learned secretary of state to King Edward), praying her to lay their representation before his majesty, and employ her influence for preserving intact institutions of such indisputable utility. Entering with the ardent sympathies of a scholar into the sentiments and feelings of the learned men of the university, she earnestly pled their cause with the sovereign, and so successfully, that needy and greedy as he was of money, waiving the right granted him by act of Parliament to the property of all such establishments, he consented to leave this university, and also that of Oxford, in full possession of their revenues. Her answer to the university, dated February 26, 1546, bears testimony to her correct and comprehensive views of what constitutes a good education, not confining it to mere instruction in the various branches of secular knowledge, however important in their own place, to mere instruction in the vernacular tongue, in the learned languages, in mathematics, philosophy, natural and moral, but extending it to what must rank still higher, to instruction in the great truths of revealed religion, as the best means of cultivating the moral and religious feelings of the young, improving and regu- lating their temper, and forming them to virtuous habits, thus ren- dering them useful and ornamental members of society, and preparing them for the eternal state. She strongly combated a separation between the Bible and secular knowledge in the education of youth, and contended for the combination of moral and religious with in- tellectual training. " Your letters," says she, " I have received by Mr. Doctor Smith, your discreet and learned advocate And forasmuch as I do well understand all kind of learning doth flourish amongst you in this age, as it did amongst the Greeks at Athens long ago, I require and desire you all not so to hunger for the exquisite knowledge of profane learning, that it may be thought that the Greeks' university was but transposed, or now in England again revived, forgetting our Christianity ; since their excellency did only attain to moral and natural things : but rather, I gently exhort 206 Ladies of t/ie Reformation. [ENGLAND. you to study and apply those doctrines, 1 as means and apt degrees to the attaining and setting forth the better Christ's reverend and most sacred doctrine, that it may not be laid against you in evidence at the tribunal of God, how you were ashamed of Christ's doctrine ; for this Latin lesson I am taught to say of Saint Paul, Non me pudet evangelii. To the sincere setting forth whereof, I trust universally, in all your vocations and ministries, you will apply ; and conform your sundry gifts, arts, and studies, to such end and sort, that Cam- bridge may be accounted rather an university of Divine philosophy, than of natural and moral, as Athens was. " Upon the confidence of which, your accomplishment of my expec- tation, zeal, and request, I, according to your desires, attempted my lord, the king's majesty, for the stay of your possessions ; in which (notwithstanding his majesty's property and interest through the consent of the high court of Parliament) his highness, being such a patron to good learning, will rather advance and erect new occasion therefor, than confound these your colleges ; so that learning may hereafter ascribe her very original, whole conservation and sure stay, to our sovereign lord, her only defence and worthy ornament : the prosperous estate and princely government of whom, long to preserve, I doubt not but every one of you will, with daily invo- cation, call upon Him, who alone and only can dispose all to every creature." 2 Katharine's zeal was not limited to the dissemination of the re- formed doctrines among the comparatively small number who at- tended the universities. She earnestly desired their diffusion among the great body of the people, and with this view advocated the circu- lation of the Bible in the vernacular tongue. In her Lamentations of a Sinner, she laments "the ignorance of the people as great" in those things " which were most necessary for Christians to know ;" and combats the reasoning of such men as Bishop Gardiner, who argued that the circulation of the Bible in English made men contentious, 1 That is, the various branches of human learning. 2 Strype's Mem. Eccl, vol ii., part ii., p. 337. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 207 arrogant, and vain-glorious. "These men," says she, "might be enforced by this kind of argument to forsake the use of fire, because fire burneth their neighbour's house ; or to abstain from meat and drink, because they see many surfeit. blind hate ! They slander God for man's offence, and excuse the man whom they see offend, and blame the Scripture which they cannot improve." l To promote the knowledge of the Scriptures among the people, Katharine resolved upon translating into English Erasmus's Latin Paraphrase of the New Testament, 2 in order to its being printed for general circulation. This work, from its intrinsic value, as well as from the fame of its author, which would induce many to read it, who would not have read a similar work by an author of inferior reputation, was well adapted for the proposed object. By exhibiting the doctrine of justification by faith, and the necessity of repentance and purity of life ; by condemning the worship of images and of saints, pilgrimages, and superstition in various forms ; by exposing the tyranny, blasphemy, hypocrisy, ambition, and usurpations of the see of Eome, the abuses of monasteries and the jugglery of priests ; by describing the duties of a Christian pastor, and particulary how his lessons of instruction ought to be drawn from the fountain of the Sacred Scriptures, it was fitted to open men's eyes to the errors, absurdities, and impieties of Popery, and to give increased currency to the reformed sentiments. That the translation of this paraphrase might be executed in a 1 Ilarleian Miscellany, vol. v., p. 294. 2 The paraphrase on the various books appeared at distant intervals. If we may judge from the dates of the dedications, that ou the Epistle to the Romans was pub- lished in 1517 ; that on the First Epistle to Timothy, on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and on the Epistle to the Ephesians, in 1519; that on the Epistle of James, in 1520; that on Matthew, in 1522 ; that ou John and Luke, in 1523; that on the Acts of the Apostles, in 1524 ; and that on Mark, in 1533. The paraphrase on Matthew is dedicated to Charles V., Emperor of Germany; that on John, to Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria ; that on Luke, to Henry VIII. of England; and that on Mark, to Francis I. of France, it being Erasmus's object "to dedicate the four gospels to the four principal mouarchs of the world. And," adds he, " would to God that, as the evangelical books appropriately join together your names, so the evangelical spirit may harmoniously unite your hearts." The paraphrase on the Book of Revelation was executed, not by Erasmus, but by Leo Jude. 208 Ladies oftlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. creditable manner, Katharine engaged the services of some of the best scholars of that period. The general superintendence of the work was committed to Nicolas Udal, 1 then master of Eton school ; and he translated the paraphrase on the Gospel of Luke, which he had finished in 1545, as appears from his epistle dedicatory, addressed to Katharine, bearing the date of that year. That on Mark's Gospel was translated by Thomas Key, registrary of Oxford, who was recom- mended by Dr. Owen, the king's physician ; that on the Gospel of Matthew was, according to the supposition of Strype, translated by Katharine herself; and at her earnest solicitation the Princess Mary undertook to translate the paraphrase on John's Gospel : while the other portions of the work engaged the labours of various learned men. 2 Katharine was not ignorant of Mary's dislike of everything con- nected with the Reformation ; but the princess having previously made her submission to the will and religious creed of her father, the queen, if she did not altogether believe in the sincerity of this submission, might think that it would have a beneficial effect on the mind of Mary, to get her to engage in the translation of a paraphrase on one of the gospels, written by a man then universally admired for his learning, and from whose writings, considering his well-known moderation, she might more readily imbibe correct and liberal sen- timents, than from the writings of the avowed opponents of the Romish church. This literary exercise unfortunately neither softened the temper, nor enlightened the understanding of that princess. She is, however, said to have taken much pains upon the translation of the portion assigned her ; but falling sick before it was completed, she desisted, leaving the remainder to be executed by Dr. Francis Mallet, 3 her chaplain. Strype ascribes her sickness to "overmuch study in this work ;" on which Walpole, who, it seems, imagined that 1 Udal was rewarded, in 1551, with a prebend of Windsor, and, in the following year, with the parsonage of Colborn, in the Isle of Wight. 2 Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. ii., part i., pp. 41-49. 3 Mallet, on her becoming queen, was promoted to the deanery of Lincoln, and, at her death, was on the eve of being raised to the see of Salisbury. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 209 her sickness was fully as much owing to her aversion to the task as to over-exertion, observes, that " she would not so easily have been cast into sickness had she been emploj^ed on the legends of St. Teresa, or St. Catherine of Sienna." An elegant letter in Latin from the queen to Mary, in reference to this translation, has been pre- served, from which we learn the anxiety of the queen to have the whole work executed with accuracy, and ushered into the world with every recommendation promising to procure it acceptance and popularity. Of this letter the following is a translation : "Although, most noble and dearest lady, many considerations readily induce me to write to you at present, yet I am chiefly influ- enced by a solicitude for your health, which I hope is now perfectly restored, and concerning which I am greatly desirous to be made acquainted. I have, therefore, despatched this messenger, whom I doubt not you will kindly welcome, both on account of his eminent skill in music, which affords most delightful entertainment at once to you and to myself, and because, coming immediately from me, he can give you certain information as to my health and my whole cir- cumstances. It was indeed my intention, before now, to have paid my respects to you in person, but things have not fallen out in all respects as I could have wished. I now hope that during this winter, and at no distant day, we shall meet together, than which nothing will aiford me greater pleasure. " As I have been informed that the finishing hand has been put by Mallet to the translation of Erasmus's paraphrase on John, and that nothing now remains but that all diligence and care be taken in revising it, I entreat you to transmit to me this most elegant and useful work, now amended by Mallet or some of your learned friends, that it may be committed to the press in due time, and that you would also signify whether you wish it published with your name, which would be most advantageous to the work, or anonymously. In my opinion, you will considerably obstruct its success if you refuse to let it go down to posterity under the sanction of your name. You have bestowed much labour in accurately translating it for the 210 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. great good of the public, and would have undertaken still more, as is well known, had the health of your body permitted. Since, there- fore, the great pains you have taken on this work is universally known, I see no reason why you should reject the praise deservedly awarded you by all. But I leave all to your own prudence, and am ready to approve of whatever you shall think best to be done. " I return you abundant thanks for the purse you have sent me as a present. I beseech the all gracious and Almighty God to vouch- safe to bless you with long life, and with true, unalloyed happiness. From Hanworth, the 20th of September. Your most attached and affectionate friend, ' KATHARINE THE QUEEN. K. P." ' The whole expense connected with the translation of Erasmus's work was defrayed from the queen's privy purse. This we learn from Nicolas Udal's epistle dedicatory to her, before referred to, in which he says, that " at her exceeding great costs and charges, she had hired workmen to labour in the vineyard of Christ's gospel, and procured the whole paraphrase of Erasmus upon all the New Testa- ment, to be diligently translated into English by several men, whom she employed upon this work." He at the same time expresses his hope that the king would not allow it to remain buried in silence, but would cause it to be printed, as the queen intended, " to the commodity and benefit of good English people, now a long time sore thirsting and hungering after the sincere and plain knowledge of God's Word." Henry, it thus appears, was privy to the undertaking^ and had he lived till the work was ready for the press, it would pro- bably have been printed and published under his patronage. During the lifetime of Katharine, the only portion of it printed was that on the Gospels and on the Acts of the Apostles, which was printed at London in 1548, in folio, accompanied by three epistles composed by Udal, one to King Edward, another to Queen Katha- rine, and the third to the reader. 2 1 The original is in Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. ii., part ii., p. 330. - The translation of the remainder, forming the second volume, was published about a year later, accompanied with a dedication to King Edward, by Myles Coverdale. A ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 211 In his epistle dedicatory to Katharine, Udal pays a merited com- pliment to the ladies of rank in England, many of whom at that period cultivated with enthusiasm prot'ane and sacred learning ; and pronounces a high eulogium on the devotion of the queen to the study of letters, and of divine things. " A great number," says he, " of noble women at this time in England are not only given to the study of human sciences and strange tongues, but also so thoroughly expert in Holy Scriptures, that they are able to compare with the best writers, as well in enditing and penning of godly and faithful trea- tises, to the instruction and edifying of realms in the knowledge of God, as also in translating good books' out of Latin or Greek into English, for the use and commodity of such as are rude and ignorant of the said tongues. It is now no news in England to see young damsels in noble houses, and in the courts of princes, instead of cards and other instruments of idle trifling, to have continually in their hands either psalms, homilies, and other devout meditations, or else Paul's epistles, or some book of Holy Scriptui'e matters, and as fami- liarly both to read and reason thereof in Greek, Latin, French, or Italian, as in English. It is now a common thing to see young vir- gins so trained in the study of good letters, that they willingly set all other vain pastimes at nought for learning's sake. It is now no news at all to see queens and ladies of most high estate and progeny, instead of courtly dalliance, to embrace virtuous exercises, reading and writing, and with most, earnest study, both early and late, to apply themselves to the acquiring of knowledge, as well in all other liberal arts and disciplines, as also most specially of God and his Holy Word. And in this behalf, to your highness as well for com- posing and setting forth many godly psalms, and divers other con- templative meditations, as also for causing these paraphrases to be translated into our vulgar tongue, England can never be able to second impression of the whole work was issued in 1552. In the reign of Edward, a copy was ordered to be placed in every parish church in the kingdom, to be read ou the Sabbaths and holy days to the people. Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. ii., part i., pp. 101, 102. 212 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. render thanks sufficient." 1 He then proceeds with a mixture of flattery, the common fault of learned men in that age, and even at a later period, to praise the Princess Mary's diligence and ability in prosecuting, till interrupted by sickness, her part of the under- taking. The zealous endeavours of Katharine for the translation and pub- lication cf Erasmus's paraphrase, excited the bitter opposition of Bishop Gardiner, and deepened his enmity against her. After it was published he violently urged his objections in a letter to the Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector, and in other ways. He agreed with those who said that Erasmus had laid the eggs and that Luther had hatched them. He represented the paraphrase as hostile to the power of princes, as well as full of other dangerous doctrines, and as powerfully tending to foster in evil men the monstrous opinions which had lately sprung up. He might term it, in one word, " abo- mination," on account both of the falsehood and malice of much of its matter. In Latin it was bad enough, but much worse in English, the translators, who knew neither of the two languages, having often from ignorance, and often from design, misrepresented the meaning. Besides, being written by Erasmus in his youth, it contained many sentiments which, in his mature judgment, he had renounced. And as to the law requiring every parish to purchase a copy, it was. calcu- lating from the price of the book and from the number of probable purchasers, equivalent to the imposition of a tax of ,20,000. 2 But Gardiner, much as he detested the English translation of Erasmus's paraphrase, had it not in his power to suppress it till the accession of Mary to the throne. Besides devoting herself to the reading and study of the Holy Scriptures, Katharine retained several learned and pious chaplains for the improvement of herself and her household. Every afternoon, and especially in Lent, a discourse upon some portion of the Sacred 1 Ballard's Learned Ladies, pp. 127-130. 2 Strype's Mem. of Cranmer, book ii., chap. iiL, p. 151. Jortin's Life of Erasmus, London, 1808, vol. i., pp. 120, 121, 384 ; and vol. ii., pp. 103, 104. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 213 Volume, extending to about an hour's length, and frequently touching upon some abuses rampant in the church, was delivered by one of her chaplains in her privy chamber, she herself, her ladies, and such of her household gentlemen and others as were inclined, being pre- sent. Of these exercises she by no means made a secret, and they were neither unknown nor disagreeable to the king, who at first, and for a considerable time, seemed rather pleased than dissatisfied with them, though he himself never attended. Gathering confidence from his tolerance, if not approbation of her house conventicles, Katharine began to take the liberty to converse with him, in their hours of social intercourse, on religious questions, defending the Protestant doctrines from Scripture and reason with much ability and spirit. So far did she carry this freedom, as fre- quently, from her Protestant zeal, to urge him, by all the gentle arts of persuasion, to purge the Church of England from the remaining dregs of Popish superstition and idolatry, and thus complete the work of reformation he had commenced, to the glory of God and his own honour, by delivering England from the thraldom of the Pope. In pressing religious subjects on his attention, she was influenced by another reason, chiefly affecting himself. Perceiving that his natu- rally vigorous constitution was broken down by a complication of diseases, to all appearance mortal, though lingering, and knowing that the dreadful burden of the unpardoned, because unrepented, guilt of some of the most dreadful crimes which man can commit was lying upon his soul, she was desirous of bringing him, while yet he had time and space to repent, seriously to think of the awful account he be- hoved soon to render at the bar of the righteous Judge of all, and " to lament, sigh, and weep for his life and time so evil spent," to use in application to him the language she applies to herself, and to seek " absolution and remission through the merits of Christ," trusting to him as " the only advocate and mediator between God and man." This led her in her converse with him to advert to the most solemn topics of religion, ungrateful to him at all times, and not more grate- ful now, when he ought especially to have felt their importance ; and 214 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. though she exercised a wise discretion, none in possession of the royal ear would have ventured to use equal plainness of speech. In arguing with Henry on theological questions, Katharine was exposing herself to no small personal danger. Having towards the close of his life become increasingly opinionative, as well as increas- ingly fierce in temper, by reason of his bad health, he would listen to counsel from very few, and still less would he bear to be opposed by argument on points of theology, as to which, proud of his title of Defender of the Faith, and as strenuous an asserter of his own in- fallibility as the Pope, he thought that every one should think exactly as he thought ; but, from the singular affection he unquestionably felt for her, till prejudices against her were successfully infused into his mind, he listened to her counsels and arguments on such topics with respect, or at least without any indication of his taking offence. Even when his ulcerated leg, which gradually waxed worse, had re- duced him to a state of sickness, and rendered him still more cross and difficult to be pleased, she continued, on visiting him at his re- quest or of her own accord, to endeavour, after her usual manner, to move him zealously to proceed in the reformation of the church. And though his aggravated pain and restlessness made him listen less patiently than formerly to such discourse, so much of his favour and affection did she enjoy, that there was some prospect of liberty being granted freely and fully to preach the gospel throughout England, and of the Reformation being carried to a much greater extent than before. These promising appearances were, however, soon blasted, partly from the caprice of the king, and partly from the malicious conspira- cies formed against her life. Gardiner and Wriothesley, with other ferocious and implacable enemies of the Reformation, both of the king's privy chamber and of the privy council, about a year after the king's return from Boulogne, that is, towards the close of the year 1545, indignant at learning not only of the king's connivance at the sermons preached in her privy chamber, but at the influence she was exerting over him in private in favour of the new opinions, and ENGLAND.] Katliarine Parr. which, if continued, would issue in the utter ruin of Popery in Eng- land, formed a plot not only to decrown but to decapitate her, that, having removed out of the way the most illustrious patroness of the Eeformers, they might openly, and without fear of control, fall upon and exterminate, with fire and sword, the whole of that hated body. Great as was the influence they had acquired over Henry by pander- ing to his worst passions, they yet judged it prudent to proceed with caution. His great favour and warm affection for the queen made them doubtful of success, and for some time they did not dare once to open their lips against her in his presence, or even behind his back, save to their own confidants. But their deep malignity determined them to watch the course of events, in the hope that an opportunity would occur of infusing into the royal mind ill-will against her. At no distant date an opportunity did occur, and it was eagerly seized upon. Gardiner, happening to be present at one of the visits she paid to the king, at a time when the more than ordi- nary pain he suffered from his ulcerated leg rendered him unusually irritable, observed the impatience of the monarch as she began to plead the cause of the oppressed, and to xirge upon him the impor- tance of carrying on the reformation of the church how, not seem- ing to relish the theme, he made an abrupt transition to more agree- able topics. On that occasion, indeed, the king conversed with her on other subjects with courteous affection, and in taking farewell called her, as usual, " sweetheart ;" but immediately upon her departure he gave vent to his chagrin, deeming it the highest presumption for her to pretend to instruct him. " A good hearing it is," said he to the bishop, " when women become such clerks, and a thing much to my comfort, to come in mine old age to be taught by my wife." Gardiner, observing the king's displeasure at the queen, and think- ing that now the hour of vengeance had at last arrived, resolved to strike the iron when it was hot, by stirring up in Henry such sus- picious, jealousies, and prejudices against her as might lead to her overthrow, and thus defeat all her endeavours in behalf of the Refor- mation. " I dislike," said the impudent and malignant prelate, 216 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. eagerly, "that the queen should so much forget herself as to take upon her to stand in any argument with your majesty, so eminent for your rare virtues, and especially for your learned judgment in matters of religion, above not only princes of this and other ages, Gardiner inciting Henry against Katharine. but also above doctors professed in divinity. It is an unseemly thing for any of your majesty's subjects to reason and argue with you so malapertly, and it is grievous to me, and others of your majesty's counsellors, to hear the same. They all know from experience your wisdom to be such that you do not require to be instructed in these matters. How dangerous and perilous is it, and ever lias been, for a prince to suffer such insolent words from his subjects ; who, as they have boldness to contradict their sovereign in words, want only the power to oppose him in deeds ! Besides, the religion so stiffly main- tained by the queen, not only disallows and dissolves the civil go- vernment of princes, but also teaches the people that all things ought to be in common. So odious are these opinions, and so perilous to the estate of princes, whatever may be pretended, that, notwithstanding the reverence I bear her for your majesty's sake, I am bold to affirm ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 217 that the greatest subject in the land, speaking such words as she spake, and defending such arguments as she defended, had deserved death. Yet I will not and dare not, without good warrant from your majesty, speak what I know in the queen's case, although I have good grounds for doing so, and such as my dutiful affection towards your majesty, and my zeal for the preservation of your estate, will scarcely permit me to conceal, though the uttering thereof may, through her and her faction, be the destruction of myself, and of such as have most at heart their prince's safety, unless your majesty become their protector. Which if you do (and for your own safety you ought not to refuse), I, with others of your faithful counsellors, can within a short time disclose such treasons, covered with the cloak of heresy, that your majesty will easily perceive the danger of cher- ishing a serpent within your own bosom. Howbeit, I will not for my parb willingly meddle with the matter, both from reverent re- spect to the queen for your majesty's sake, and also lest the faction should be grown already too great to render it consistent with your majesty's safety to discover it." In this speech Gardiner, affecting, with malignant craft, a tone and manner of great concern for the preservation of the authority and rights of the crown, assured his majesty that the toleration of these Reformers was inconsistent with his safely enjoying his crown ; that their sole, though disguised motives, were to undermine the royal authority, to destroy the distinctions of rank, to place all men on an equality, and that the queen, by embracing and advocating their sentiments, had become the supporter of traitors to the throne, and of the enemies of social order. This was the common slang brought against the Reformers by their enemies, either ignorantly or mali- ciously, probably both, in every country of Europe ; and calumnious though it was for the Reformers earnestly inculcated submission to the lawful authority of princes, and respected the distinctions of rank in society it contributed powerfully in creating preju- dices in the minds of monarchs against the Reformation, and in exciting them to attempt to crush it, if possible, by deadly persecu- 218 Ladies of t/ie Reformation. [ENGLAND. tion. Gardiner's fierce invectives against the Reformers, and the extravagant flattery he lavished upon Henry, were not without their effects. So jealous did the king become of his authority and rights, and so displeased with the queen for adopting rebellious principles and patronizing rebels, that before Gardiner's departure he gave warrant for articles of impeachment to be drawn up against her, so that she might forthwith be brought to trial, declaring it to be his fixed resolution not to spare her should she be found to have violated the statutes of the realm. With this commission Gardiner departed, fully anticipating that ere long this Protestant queen would follow the way of Henry's former wives. The more effectually to compass their purpose, Gardiner and Wriothesley suborned accusers, and adopted measures for discover- ing what books forbidden by law she had in her possession. They thought it best to begin with some of those ladies of her privy chamber suspected of heretical pravity, with whom she was living on terms of intimate friendship. The chief of these were her sister, Anne, wife of Sir William Herbert, afterwards Earl of Pembroke ; Lady Lane, her cousin-german ; and Lady Tyrwhit. 1 These ladies, like the queen, were friendly to the reformed principles, and in their social confidential intercourse they would discuss the great questions now contested by the Reformers, and now shaking the long-established ecclesiastical fabrics of Europe transubstantiation, the adoration of the host, purgatory, praying to angels, saints, and the Virgin Mary, pilgrimages, the virtues of saiuts' relics, and other Popish dogmas, each bringing the force of her understanding to bear on the point at issue, and contributing her store of remark, derived from the Scrip- tures, or from the writings of the Reformers, and thus opening up new sources of mutual intellectual enjoyment. It was agreed upon by the conspirators that these three ladies should first be accused of violating the statute of the six articles, and that, upon their appre- hension, their chambers and cabinets should be searched, in the hope that something, as prohibited books, might be found, supplying 1 The wife of Sir Robert Tvrwhit. ENGLAND.] KatJiarine Parr. 219 matter for criminating the queen herself; in which case she was to be instantly arrested and carried prisoner, by barge, during night, to the Tower. Articles of impeachment were drawn up, and brought by Wriothesley to the king. His majesty signed them without hesitation, so that, to all appearance, the tragedy of the execution of another queen would speedily be enacted. According to Foxe, Henry acted throughout dissemblingly, having no real intention of bringing Katharine to the block, but merely wishing to see how far her enemies would carry their persecuting cruelty. From the frequency with which the martyrologist interjects a clause to this effect during the course of his narrative of this affair, he seems very anxious to impress on the minds of his readers a belief of the generous intentions of Henry, which are extremely doubtful. " If he were not in earnest," says Lord Herbert, " it was thought a terrible jest, especially to a queen that had the reputation of a virtu- ous, humble, and observant wife." ' Besides, if the monarch in this instance was governed by generous feeling, lie acted somewhat at variance with his past character and conduct. He had hitherto shown no reluctance to shed the blood of his wives ; he had already butchered two of them, and from an ominous clause of an act passed at his dictation in the Parliament which met January 14, 1544, regulating the succession to the crown, only six months after her marriage, and from a clause equally significant in his will, it appears that, notwithstanding her youth and health, and his advanced years and declining health, he contemplated surviving her, and wedding another wife. In the act of Parliament referred to is the following sentence: " And forasmuch as it standeth in the only pleasure and will of Almighty God, whether the king's majesty shall have any heirs begotten and procreated between his highness and his most en- tirely beloved wife, Queen Katharine, or by any other his lawful wife.'"' And in his will, dated December 30, 1546, settling the succession, after nominating Prince Edward his immediate successor, 1 Life of Henry VIII., p. 5G1. 2 Lord Herbert's Life of Henry VIII., pp. 503-506. 220 Ladies oftlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. he appoints that, in default of issue by that prince, the crown shall come to the heirs of his own body, lawfully " begotten of the body of our entirely beloved Queen Katharine, that now is, or of any other our lawful wife that we shall hereafter marry." 1 Meanwhile the queen, ignorant and unsuspicious of the fatal snares laid for her destruction such was the secrecy observed dwelt, as formerly, on paying her accustomed visits to the king, on the impor- tance of church reformation. And he listened to her without con- tradiction or displeasure ; her strong good sense, and her winning gentleness of manner, gaining on his heart, hard as it was, and caus- ing him to relent, if he ever really intended to permit the bloody purpose of her enemies to take effect. For her first knowledge of the conspiracy she was indebted to an accidental circumstance. Wriothesley having casually dropped from, his bosom the articles of impeachment, they were providentially found by one of Katharine's friends, who immediately put them into her hands. On reading the document, and observing the royal sig- nature appended to it, the sudden and unexpected discoveiy of a wicked plot against her life came upon her like a sti'oke of light- ning ; and, stunned with the blow, she fainted away. On recovering consciousness she was in the deepest distress, and felt as if her doom was sealed. The fate of Anne Boleyn and Katharine Howard rushed with horror upon her mind ; and the truculent temper and past conduct of the monarch made it but too probable that she would now end her days upon a scaffold ; " for," as has been justly observed, " hitherto the king had never relented in any capital prosecution, once commenced, against wife or minister." 2 Her agitated feelings affecting her bodily frame, brought upon her an illness which even threatened her life. Hearing of her dangerous condition, the king sent Dr. Wendy and others of his physicians to attend her. Dr. Wendy alone knew that the real cause of her illness was mental distress ; for the king himself, one evening after the queen's depar- 1 Fuller's Church History. - Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors of England, vol. i., p. 037- ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 221 ture, expressed to this physician his dislike of her religion, professing that he intended no longer to be troubled with such a doctress, and disclosed to him the plot formed for her destruction, charging him with secrecy upon peril of his life, naming at the same time the con- spirators, all the circumstances of the conspiracy, and how it would issue. 1 Dr. "Wendy, who was an excellent man, revealed to her the secret. " I know," said he, " that articles of impeachment have been devised against you, and though I stand in danger of my life, should it be discovered that I make this known to any human being, yet from concern for your life, and to discharge my own conscience, by preventing, as far as in my power, the shedding of innocent blood, I feel constrained to give you warning of the ruin impending over you. I beseech you instantly, and with due secrecy, to consult your own safety, and to conform somewhat to the king's inclina- tions ; assured that by humble submission you will find him exorable." Not long after, Henry, understanding that she still continued in a dangerous state, his sympathy being awakened, he personally visited her, remaining with her about an hour, and assuring her of his con- stant fidelity and affection. Encouraged by his majesty's gracious visit, and by Dr. "Wendy's confidential communications, she gradually recovered ; and that no time might be lost, she embraced an early opportunity of repairing to the king, in the hope that by her address and submissions she might still avert the threatened crushing calamity. From her know- ledge of his moods and habits, she judged that the most effectual method of producing a favourable impression on his mind, would be to act as if entirely ignorant of the hostile purpose of her enemies, so that her soothing and submissive language might seem the spon- taneous effusion of the heart, and not assumed for any personal object. Having commanded her ladies to remove the prohibited heretical books in their possession, she went the following night into 1 Foxe's favourable judgment as to the king's intentions with regard to the queen, appears to rest upon this part of Dr. Wendy's testimony. 222 Ladies of t/ie Reformation. [ENGLAND. his majesty's apartment, attended only by Lady Herbert, her sister, and Lady Lane, who carried the candle before her, and she there found him sitting, engaged in conversation with some of the gentle- men of his chamber. He welcomed her with courteous affection ; and, contrary to his former manner, entered at once into conversa- tion with her on some controverted theological questions, as to which he professed a desire that she might resolve his doubts. With great presence of mind, she concealed her emotions of alarm, though her life, it may be said, hung upon the chances of this interview, and answered his questions with coolness and even vivacity, without, however, greatly committing herself. To have spoken her whole mind, explaining and vindicating all her views of religious truth to a monarch like Henry, who was too self-willed to listen to his wives as oracles, either on political, ecclesiastical, or religious questions, and too ferociously arbitrary to tolerate any creed materially differ- ent from his own, would have been a somewhat perilous task. " Your majesty," said she, " right well knows, nor am I myself igno- rant, what great imperfection and weakness, by our first creation, is allotted unto us women, who are ordained inferior and subject unto man, as our head, from which head all our direction ought to pro- ceed ; and that as God made man in his own likeness, whereby he, being endued with higher gifts, might rather be stirred to the con- templation of heavenly things, and to an earnest endeavour to obey his commandments, even so, also, made he woman of man, of whom and by whom she is to be governed, commanded, and directed; whose womanly weaknesses and natural imperfection ought to be aided and borne with, 80 that by his wisdom, such things as be lacking in her onght to be supplied. Since, therefore, God hath appointed such a natural difference between man and woman, and your majesty, ex- celling so much in gifts and ornaments of wisdom, and I a silly poor v o.nan, so much inferior in all respects of nature unto you, how then cometh it now to pass that your majesty requireth my judgment on theological problems ? as to which, when I have said what I can, yet must I, and will I refer my judgment in this and in all other Katharine Parr. 223 cases to your majesty's wisdom, as my only anchor, supreme head and governor here on earth, next under God to lean upon. 1 ' This speech, framed so dexterously as to chime in with Henry's extravagant ideas of his own superiority, and of the inferiority of woman, whom, in fact, he only regarded as a slave to his passions, and delivered with the fascinating, the easy -humoured conversa- tional vivacity in which she excelled, so mollified the heart of the stern monarch, that he exclaimed, " Not so, by St. Mary, you are become a doctor, Kate, to instruct us (as we take it), and not to be instructed or directed by us." " If your majesty take it so," replied the queen, following up her success, "then hath your majesty very much mistaken me, who have ever thought it very unseemly and preposterous for the woman to take upon her the office of a teacher to her lord and husband, of \ Reconciliation of Henry and Katharine. whom she ought rather to learn. And whereas I have, with your majesty's leave, been formerly bold, in conversing with yonr majesty, sometimes to express and defend opinions different from yours, I have 224 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. done this not so much to dogmatize as to beguile the weary hours, by diverting your majesty in this the painful time of your infirmity, and to receive some profit to myself from your majesty's learned discourse ; in which last, I assure your majesty, I have not missed any part of my desire, always referring myself in such matters to your majesty, as by the ordination of nature it is my bounden duty to do." " And is it even so, sweetheart !" replied the king, " and tended your arguments to no worse end ? Then, perfect friends we are now again, as ever at any time heretofore." And as he sat in his chair, he affectionately embraced and kissed her, adding, that it did him more good at that time to hear these words from her mouth, than if he had heard of a hundred thousand pounds having come into his possession. Katharine thus bowed to the storm, and it passed over her head. It was fortunate for her that Henry, the violence of whose amorous propensities was somewhat subdued through age and excess, had not conceived a passion for any of the beautiful ladies of the court, else Katharine's good sense and adroitness, her eloquence and sub- mission, her engaging manners and virtuous character, would have availed little in appeasing his wrath, and in saving her from being beheaded or burned .on Tower Hill for treason or heresy, to make way for the elevation of the new favourite to the throne. As he had fixed his affections upon no rival, she succeeded the more easily iu mollifying his hard heart, and retired with assurances of his con- tinued favour and protection. After her departure, he was as loud in her commendation as formerly in her condemnation. Gardiner and Wriothesley, ignorant of this interview, and of the favourable impression she had produced on the mind of Henry, had made all necessary preparations for arresting her, and carrying her prisoner to the Tower on the succeeding day, accompanied with Lady Herbert, Lady Lane, and Lady Tyrwhit ; for they had altered their former purpose of apprehending first these three ladies, and after- wards the queen. But Providence ordered things differently from ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 225 the intentions of these implacable ami unprincipled men. At the time they had fixed upon for the apprehension of their victims, which was in the afternoon, the weather being fine, the king, attended only by two gentlemen of his bed-chamber, was amicably conversing in the garden with the queen, whom he had sent for, and who was attended by the three ladies already named. While the royal party was thus engaged, the lord chancellor entered the garden, with forty of the royal guard at his back, in the full expectation that his majesty would say to him, " See these four heretics forthwith lodged in the Tower." In this he was completely disappointed. The king, who knew his errand, looked with indignation at him and the guards, and stepping aside to a short distance from the queen and her atten- dants, called to the chancellor, who on his knees addressed a few words to his majesty, inaudible to the others in the garden. " Knave ! arrant knave! beast! fool !" replied his majesty gruffly, in a low whispering tone, and yet so vehemently as to be overheard by the queen and her ladies, at the same time commanding him instantly to quit his presence. Mortified at being thus cheated of his prey, and in terror for the wrath of the monarch, the chancellor withdrew and till his train. Thus was the plot entirely broken, though no punish- ment was inflicted on the culprits who had committed this grievous outrage on the Queen of England, an outrage which, if committed on the humblest woman in the kingdom, ought to have been severely punished. Immediately after the departure of Wriothesley, Henry returned to the queen, who was ignorant of the hostile purpose of the chan- cellor. Perceiving his majesty, though he still spoke kindly to her, offended at him, she interceded for her enemy, urging that, though ignorant of the chancellor's offence, it must have proceeded from ignorance, and not perversity of will ; and therefore beseeching his majesty, if the cause was not very heinous, to regard it in this light at her humble suit. " Ah ! poor soul," replied the king, " thou little knowest how ill he deserveth this grace at thy hands. Upon my word, sweetheart, he hath been towards thee an arrant knave, and so let 22G Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. him go !" Her reply breathed no malice, but a Christian forgiving spirit towards the man who, could he have compassed his purpose, would have speedily brought her to an ignominious execution. 1 Thus was Katharine at this time indebted for her escape to a tem- porary impulse of generosity on the part of Henry. But there is reason to fear, from the persevering malignity of her enemies, and from the capriciousness of the monarch, that had not death soon after overtaken him, she would at last have fallen a sacrifice on the scaffold ; 2 and the terrors of a sudden reverse, it is probable, clung to her imagination so long as he lived ; for what dependence could be placed on a selfish, cruel voluptuary, who was governed by ever- varying impulses ; who, in regard to his wives, never observed the laws of chivalry and honour ; whose all-engrossing devotion to his own gratification blunted his heart into callous indifference to the happiness or misery of every other human being but himself. In living with him she was in the tiger's den, and all the chances were that, though the savage monster might spare her for a time, he would one day, and all of a sudden, falling upon her, ramp and rend, with the ferocity proper to his nature, leaving her a mangled, lifeless victim. Thus haunted by funereal images, the splendour of a court was stripped of its attractions, and seemed darkened by the shadow of death. Such feelings were destructive of earthly happiness, but they powerfully promoted the religious turn of her mind, and excited her, more frequently than ever, to retire from the gaiety and pomp of fashionable life, to indulge in serious and solemn meditation on Divine things, that, come what may, she might be prepared. Henry was now approaching the close of his earthly career. He did not live long after Katharine had made so narrow an escape ; ' Oar chief authority in the preceding narrative of the conspiracy against Katharine is Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. v., pp. 553-561. * The Jesuit Parsons affirms that " the Icing, notwithstanding, purposed to have burned her as a heretic, if he had lived." Fuller calls in question the truth of this assertion, observing, that Parsons was neither confessor nor privy-councillor to King Henry VIII. Church History of Great Britain, vol. ii., pp. 116, 11". Worthies of England, vol. ii., p. 9. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 227 and his closing scene, as might have been expected, was embittered by the agony of remorse. His last words, as one of his attendants presented to him a cup of white wine to allay his scorching death- thirst, were, " All is lost !" He died on the 28th of January, 1547, in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, and the fifty-sixth of his age, leaving Katharine a widow, after she had been his wife three years, six months, and five days. The death of this tyrant, whatever were the feigned expressions of sorrow uttered on the occasion, must have been felt as a merciful deliverance to multitudes of his subjects. There is no reason to believe, as is asserted by some of our histo- rians, that he retained to the last the affection with which, at his ac- cession to the throne, and even long after, he was universally regarded. From the sudden and violent outbursts of fury to which in the latter period of his life he was liable, from the imperious caprice which rendered it impossible for any human being long to please him, even such as stood highest in his favour could hardly contemplate his death with regret. To the privy-councillor, whom he might exalt to the highest honours to-day, and consign to the axe of the execu- tioner to-morrow ; to the monks, whom he had disgraced and beg- gared, that he might appropriate to himself their accumulated wealth; to staunch Roman Catholics, whom he remorselessly committed to the flames for impugning his ecclesiastical supremacy ; and to the Reformers, on whom he as unscrupulously inflicted the same punish- ment for denying transubstantiation, he was equally an object of terror ; and his death must have been equally a cause of secret con- gratulation. How different this state of feeling from the enthusias- tic joy with which his accession was hailed by his united subjects ! William Montjoy at that time thus wrote to Erasmus, from the court at Greenwich : " I doubt not, my Erasmus, but that when you have once heard of the succession of our prince, Henry VIII., to the king- dom, on the death of his father, this will banish all sadness from your mind. Did you see how all here leap for joy, how they are delighted with so great a prince, how they desire nothing more cor- dially than the prolongation of his life, you could not refrain from 228 Ladies oftlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. shedding tears of gladness. The sky smiles, the earth exults, all things are full of milk, of honey, of nectar. Our king covets not gold, nor jewels, nor metals, but virtue, glory, eternity." 1 How dif- ferent a man did Henry turn out from the portrait here sketched ! and how did his reign, when brought to its close, disappoint, in all respects, the flattering hopes expressed at its commencement in these extravagant hyperboles ! On the death of Henry, Edward VI., his son and successor, wrote letters of condolence to his mother-in-law, whom he loved with filial affection, and to his sisters. Three letters of this description, in Latin, the earliest he wrote as king, are still extant. From the tenderness of his youth, he doubtless experienced, on the death of his father, bitter pangs of sorrow ; and yet these letters are not written in the style and tone of deep, heartfelt grief. They appear rather as if dictated by his Latin tutor, Cox, than the free effusions of Edward's own feelings. " Cox," as Ellis observes, " it should seem, could not assume for his pupil that expression of natural grief which he did not personally feel." a CHAPTER III. FROM HER MARRIAGE WITH LORD ADMIRAL SEYMOUR TO HER DEATH. AFTER Henry's death Katharine resided for some time at Chelsea, 3 which was part of her jointure. During her residence there, her affection for the former object of her choice, Thomas Seymour, Lord High Admiral of England? and brother to the Duke of Somerset, the 1 Erasrai Epist., torn, i., p. 7. 2 lillis's Letters, first series, vol. ii., p. 141. The Manor-house had been built by Henry. It was pulled down many years ugo, when Cheyne Walk was erected. * The admiral was also brother to the deceased Jane Seymour, third queen of Henry VIII., and mother of Edward VI. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 229 Lord Protector, revived. To this nobleman, whom she had looked upon with eyes of affection before her marriage with the deceased monarch, she now surrendered her heart, and they were soon upon terms of courtship. Seymour " was a man of insatiable ambition, arrogant, assuming, implacable ; and though esteemed of superior capacity to the protector, he possessed not to the same degree the confidence and regard of the people." l A. marriage with the queen- dowager would, therefore, be highly flattering to the pride of such a man. It has indeed been said, and not without foundation, that his first thoughts were of a more ambitious kind than even a union with her ; that marriage with the Princess Elizabeth, and the acquisition of the English crown, were his most potent wishes. Before receiving from Katharine explicit declarations of her attach- ment for she seems to have been first in making blushing confes- sion of her love Seymour was apprehensive that by his addresses he might fail in insinuating himself into her good graces, and there- fore he solicited the friendly assistance of the Princess Mary, who, however, from various circumstances, declined to interfere. 2 But, in reality, Seymour did not need the services of any to assist him in gaining the heart and hand of Katharine. He had every external accomplishment calculated to captivate the female heart; and in courting her he certainly experienced no difficulties. Like himself, she was desirous of his obtaining the consent of his brother, the lord protector, and of other influential parties, to his marrying her, though she by no means imagined that any obstacles thrown in the way by them ought to be a sufficient bar to^tne union. In one of her letters to him about this time, signed, " Your humble, true, and loving wife, during her life, Keteryn the Quene, K.P.," after adverting to his letter to her brother-in-law, Herbert, from which she gathered that he dreaded his brother, the Protector's opposition to the marriage, and expressing it as her wish that he should account it sufficient once to have sought his brother's good-will, she bids him endeavour 1 Hume. - See Mary's letter to him, dated June 4, in Ellis's Letters, first series vol ii., pp. 149-151. 230 Ladies oftJie Reformation. [ENGLAND. to obtain favourable letters from the king, and also the friendly aid of the most notable members of council. " My Lord," she adds, with playful affection, " whereas ye charge me with a promise 'written with mine own hand, to change the two years into two months, I think ye have no such plain sentence written with my own hand ; I know not whether ye be a paraphraser or not ; if ye be learned in that science, it is possible ye may of one word make a whole sen- tence, and yet not at all times after the true meaning of the writer, as it appeareth by your exposition upon my writing." ' The marriage took place clandestinely, about the middle of May, 1547, 2 so soon after the death of Henry, that, as has been said, had Katharine immediately proved pregnant, a doubt would have arisen to which husband the child belonged. This haste exposed her at the time to censure, and though it involved no immorality, it was certainly a breach of the laudable usages of society, which dictated the propriety of her allowing a longer period of time to elapse before entering into a new conjugal alliance. Henry, indeed, had little claim upon her sorrow ; but whatever were his demerits, it would have been wise in her to have avoided seeming to offer any disre- spect to his memory. Hardly, indeed, had a longer period elapsed from the death of her second husband, Lord Latimer, when she was married to Henry ; but in that case she had no choice. The author of her life, published by the London Religious Tract Society, apolo- gizes for her listening to the addresses of a man of rank and power sooner than modern ideas of propriety would countenance, from the circumstance that the provision made for her by Henry, namely, four thousand pounds, in addition to her jointure, was inadequate ; and that she was thus left an unprotected female in troublous times. But Katharine was by no means in narrow circumstances, having, besides, ample jointures left her by her two first husbands. The real explanation of this precipitate marriage was the strength of a revived passion for Seymour, hurrying her on, in disregard of the prudence that usually marked her conduct. 1 Kills'* Letters, first series, vol. ii., pp. 151-153. 2 King Edward's Journal. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 231 The Princesses Mary and Elizabeth were deeply offended at the precipitation of their step-mother in entering into a new marriage, though they judged it prudent to conceal their displeasure from others. Mary wrote to Elizabeth in terms strongly condemnatory of Katharine's conduct; and Elizabeth, who partook of the same feelings with her sister, thus writes in reply : " Princess, and very dear sister, you are very right in saying, in your most acceptable letters, which you have done me the honour of writing to me, that, our interests being common, the just grief we feel in seeing the ashes, or rather the scarcely cold body of the king, our father, so shame- fully dishonoured by the queen, our step-mother, ought to be com- mon to us also. I cannot express to you, my dear princess, how much affliction I suffered when I was first informed of this marriage, and no other comfort ca.n I find than that of the necessity of sub- mitting ourselves to the decrees of Heaven ; since neither you nor I, dearest sister, are in such a condition as to offer any obstacle thereto, without running heavy risk of making our own lot worse than it is ; at least so I think. We have to deal with too powerful a party, who have got all authority into their hands, while we, deprived of power, cut a very poor figure at court. I think, then, that the best course we can take is that of dissimulation, that the mortification may fall upon those who commit the fault." ' King Edward, on the contrary, was well-pleased with the marriage, and sent Katharine a congratulatory letter on the occasion. 2 After the nuptials, Katharine and Seymour left Chelsea to reside at Hanworth, in Middlesex, one of Henry the Eighth's favourite royal seats, which he had settled in dower upon her. Here, as at Chelsea, subsequently to Henry's death, she had residing with her the celebrated Lady Jane Grey, daughter of the Marquis of Dorset, afterwards Duke of Suffolk, a lady whose tragic history will here- after be related. Whilst resident with Katharine, who herself was 1 Leti, Vita Elisabetta, vol. i., p. 180, quoted in Miss Wood's Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain, vol. iii., p. 193. 2 See his letter to her in Strype's Mem. Ecd., vol. ii., part i., pp. 203-209, 232 Ladies oftfie Reformation. [ENGLAND. a cultivator and patron of literature, young Jane was not likely to suffer any loss in the prosecution of her literary studies. And in regard to elegance of manners, mental refinement, the knowledge of the Scriptures, and all that can improve the female character and render it attractive, there was, perhaps, no lady of the age from whom she could have derived greater benefit. The Princess Elizabeth, whose education was committed to the care of Katharine, who was kind to her as if her own daughter, also joined the new married pair. Auguring, from the distinguished abilities of Elizabeth, that Providence intended to elevate her to sovereign power, Katharine gave her much wise and pious counsel. " God," she would often say, " has given you great qualities ; culti- vate them always, and labour to improve them, for I believe that you are destined by Heaven to be Queen of England." ' But the accession of Elizabeth to the family added to the comfort of neither of the parties. Seymour soon began to use indelicate freedoms with the young princess, which he carried so far as to give rise to scan- dalous reports, exceedingly prejudicial to her good name ; and these freedoms exciting the jealousy of Katharine, caused a degree of domestic discord. This we learn from the depositions of the wit- nesses examined on the lord admiral's impeachment, subsequently to Katharine's death. Mrs. Katharine Ashley, Elizabeth's gover- ness, and Parry, her cofferer, bore explicit testimony to that effect. - The consequence was, as the latter witness deponed, that she was sent from the "queen, or else that her grace parted from the queen." The probability is that she was sent away. Had Elizabeth's charac- ter been ruined, of which there was some danger, Katharine would have been severely blamed, and her concern for the safety of the princess, as yet only fifteen years of age, would naturally suggest to her that the most effectual means of putting a stop to these unbe- coming scenes was removing her from the family. Seymour was, indeed, an unprincipled and irreligious character, 1 Lett's Elisabeth, quoted in Miss Strickland's Queen* of Ewjland, vol. vi., p. 28. " See Hayues's State Papers, London edit., 1740, p. 99. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 233 and this rendered Katharine's union with him less happy than she had anticipated. As to the celebration of the offices of religion she was particularly strict, having established family worship in her mansion every morning and evening, besides having sermons fre- quently preached in it ; but, as might be expected, such was Seymour's neglect or contempt of these exercises, that on all such occasions he was sure to be absent. In a sermon preached before Edward VI., l Hugh Latimer discloses this piece of domestic history : " I have heard say that when the good queen who is gone had ordained in her house daily prayer, both before noon and after noon, the admiral gets him out of the way, like a mole digging in the earth. He shall be Lot's wife to me as long as I live. He was, I heard say, a covet- ous man, a covetous man indeed : 1 would there were no more in England ! He was, I heard say, an ambitious man : I would there were no more in England ! He was, I heard say, a seditious man, a contemner of common prayer : I would there were no more in England ! Well, he is gone. I would he had left none behind him." " In another sermon, preached before the same monarch, Lati- mer says, " He was a man, the farthest from the fear of God that ever I knew or heard of in England." 3 The admiral's whole life, indeed, showed that he had no regard to the obligations of equity and justice, or to moral and religious obligations of any kind, never shrinking from dishonourable practices, if his objects of ambition or of pleasure could thereby be promoted. Katharine did not give birth to an infant till considerably more than a year after her marriage. In the prospect of this auspicious event, both she and her husband were desirous that the child should be a son. Writing some time before to Seymour, who was then absent from her, she says, " This shall be to desire you to receive my humble and most hearty recommendations and thanks for your let- ter, which was no sooner come than welcome. ... I gave your little knave your blessing, who, like an honest man, stirred apace 1 April 19, 1549. 2 Latimer's Sermons, printed for Parker Soc., p. 228. 3 Ibid., p. 164. 234 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. after and before It hath stirred these three days every morning and evening, so that, I trust, when ye come it will make you some pastime. And thus I end, bidding my sweetheart and loving husband better to fair than myself. From Hanworth, this Saturday, on the morning. By your most loving, obedient, and humble wife, Kateryn the Quene. K.P." 1 Previously to her confine- ment she retired to Sudley Castle, in Gloucestershire, accompanied Ruins of Sudley Guile. with the youthful Lady Jane Grey. Here she received a friendly letter from the Princess Mary, expressing the hope that her grace would have a safe delivery. On the 30th of August, 1548, the expected little stranger, who turned out to be a daughter, made her appearance, to the great joy of Seymour, though a boy would doubt- less have gladdened him still more. But the birth of the child proved fatal to the mother, in whom, on the third day after the birth, unfavourable symptoms began to make their appearance. On the fifth day, namely, September 3, Dr. Huick, her physician, having informed her of her dangerous condition, she made her i Haynes's State Papers, p. 62. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 235 will, ' by which she, " lying on her death-bed, sick of body, but of good mind and perfect memory and discretion, being persuaded, and perceiving the extremity of death to approach her," bequeathed all she possessed to her husband, " wishing them to be a thousand times more in value than they were." Two days after, namely, on Wednesday, the 5th of September, being the seventh day after she was delivered, she expired, between two and three o'clock in the morning, at the castle of Sudley, in the thirty-sixth year of her age. 2 It has been often said that she died of a broken heart, caused by the harsh treatment of her profligate husband, and not without suspi- cions of having been poisoned by his orders, suspicions probably first created by his enemies, and the more readily received from a very pre- valent impression that he aimed at a match with the Princess Eliza- beth, who, he anticipated, might one day become queen of England. That Seymour ill-used his wife was much talked of at the time. Parry, Elizabeth's cofferer, in his examination on the trial of Seymour, states that he said to Mrs. Ashley, in a conversation with her as to Eliza- beth's marriage with Seymour, after the death of Katharine, " I had heard much evil report of the lord admiral, that he was not only a very covetous man and an oppressor, but also an evil jealous man ; and how cruelly, how dishonourably, and how jealously he had xised the queen." From the evidence of Elizabeth Tyrwhit, 3 in her ex- amination on the same occasion, we learn that Katharine on her death-bed reproached him for having treated her with unkindness, an idea which seems to have taken possession of her mind, to the exclusion of all other cares. But this paper bears internal evi- dence, that through the violence of disease Katharine's reason had become affected. " Two days before the death of the queen," says J Miss Strickland's Queens of England has the 5th of September as the date of the will, evidently a typographical error. 2 A breviate of the interment of the Lady Katharine Parr, &c., in Archceologia, vol. v., p. 232. 3 This is the lady formerly mentioned (p. 218), whom Gardiner and Wriothesley in- tended to prosecute for heresy in the same bill of indictment with Katharine. 236 Ladies of tfte Reformation. [ENGLAND. Lady Tyrwhit, " at my coming to her in the morning, she asked me where I had been so long, and said unto me she did fear such things in herself that she was sure she could not live ; whereunto I answered, as I thought, that I saw no likelihood of death in her. She then, having my lord admiral by the hand, and divers others standing by, spake these words, partly, as I took it, idly : ' My Lady Tyrwhit, I am not well handled, for those that be about me care not for me, but stand laughing at my grief ; and the more good I will to them, the less good they will to me ;' whereunto my lord admiral an- swered, ' Why, sweetheart, I would you no hurt !' And she said to him again, aloud ' No, my lord, I think so ; ' and immediately she said to him in his ear, 'but, my lord, you have given me many shrewd taunts.' Those words I perceived she spake with good memory, and very sharply and earnestly, for her mind was sore unquieted. My lord admiral, perceiving that I heard it, called me aside and asked me what she said, and I declared it plainly to him. Then he con- sulted with me that he would lie down on the bed by her, to look if he could pacify her unquietness with gentle communication ; where- unto I agreed. And by that time he had spoken three or four words to her, she answered him very roundly and shortly, saying ' My lord, I would have given a thousand merks to have had my full talk with Hewyke, the first day I was delivered, but I durst not for displeasing of you ;' and I, hearing that, perceived her trouble to be so great that my heart would serve me to hear no more. Such like communication she had with him the space of an hour, which they did hear that sat by her bedside." ' If what Katharine uttered at this time proceeded, as it evidently did, from a distempered imagination, if it was the broken and incohe- rent ravings of delirium, it is entitled to no great weight ; for that per- sons under a partial or total eclipse of reason will reproach with un- kindness friends who have ever treated them with the tenderest affection, and whom they themselves have loved with idolatrous at- tachment, is a fact which, however explained, frequently occurs in 1 Haynes's Stale Papers, p. 103. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 237 the history of mental derangement. But that Katharine's reproaches were not altogether unfounded, seems implied in the depositions of Lady Tyrwhit, from her representing Katharine, in her censures of Seymour, as speaking only " partly idly," and " with good memory," from her saying that she declared plainly to Seymour what Katharine had said against him, and from the entire absence of even a single word in favour of his past conjugal kindness. Under her illness he, indeed, acted with apparent affection, endeavouring by tender words to divert her thoughts from the distressing ideas preying upon her mind ; but observation frequently furnishes examples of persons acting with similiar kindness towards relatives on a death-bed whom they have been far from treating well during life, their sympathy, perhaps, being excited at the moment, or this apparent affection being assumed to save their reputation. The suspicion that she was poisoned, in order to make room for his intended marriage with the Princess Elizabeth, is totally destitute of evidence. That, from his boundless ambition, he contemplated gain- ing the hand of the princess before marrying Katharine, there seems little room to doubt. From a letter of Elizabeth to him, we learn that he had made proposals of this kind to her immediately on her father's death. " I confess to you," says she, " that your letter, all elegant as it is, has very much surprised me, for, besides that neither my age nor my inclination allows me to think of marriage, I never could have believed that any one would have spoken to me of nuptials at a time when I ought to think of nothing but sorrow for the death of my father. And to him I owe so much, that I must have two years at least to mourn for his loss. And how caft I make up my mind to become a wife before I shall have enjoyed for some years my virgin state, and arrived at years of discretion." ' After the death of Ka- tharine he again paid his addresses to Elizabeth ; and, notwithstand- ing the disparity of their ages, though she was only in her sixteenth year, while he was many years older, yet such were his advantages of person, and his insinuating manners, that he succeeded in captivat- 1 Miss Wood's Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies, vol. iii., p. 191. 238 Ladies of the Reformation. [ENGLAND. ing her young heart. 1 It may, however, be doubted, whatever im- proper freedoms he had used with her, whether during the lifetime of Katharine he had formed any project of this sort, and there is no evidence of his having attempted, as a means of carrying it into effect, to get rid of Katharine by poison. The state of preservation in which her body was found when discovered, as we shall afterwards see, towards the close of the last century, nearly two hundred and forty years after the breath had quitted it, is a strong presumption against her having been poisoned ; for, had she been so, the effect of the poison would have been to cause a rapid putrefaction and decay. Seymour had many crimes to repent of, but this is one of which there is every reason to believe he was innocent. The body of Katharine was wrapped in cerecloth and chested in lead ; and on the part of the lead which covered the breast was en- graved a simple inscription. The body then remained in her privy Chspel of Sudley Cattle. chamber till the day appointed for interment. It being intended to bury her in the chapel of Sudley, preparations were made for the 1 This is evident from the testimony of Mrs. Ashley, Elizabeth's governess, of the princess herself, and of others examined on the impeachment of Seymour. Elizabeth ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 239 performance of the funeral service in the chapel. On the morning of the funeral day her corpse was carried from the castle of Sudley to the chapel, with all the marks of distinction due to her rank, Lady Jane Grey being chief mourner.' The corpse, when carried into the chapel, was set down within the rails, and the mourners having taken their places, the whole choir commenced singing certain psalms in English, after which three lessons were read. At the close of the third lesson the mourners, according to their degrees, and in confor- mity with the custom on such occasions, put their offerings into the alms-box ; such solemn circumstances being eminently fitted, by herself acknowledges that slie loved him, and Mrs. Ashley secretly encouraged the project of a marriage between them. Parry, the princess's cofferer, depones that the governess said to him, " I would wish her [Elizabeth] his wife of all men living." For this reason the lords of council, much against the will of the princess (Ellis's Letters, vol. ii., pp. 153-158), dismissed her governess, and substituted Lady Tyrwhyt in her place. The Duchess of Somerset blamed Mrs. Ashley for indulging the princess with too much liberty. In their letter to Elizabeth, informing her of the change, dated February, 1548, the lords of council simply state, as their reason for depriving Mrs Ashley " of the special charge, to see to the good education of Elizabeth's person," that she "had shown herself far unmeet to occupy any such place about her grace." See Haynes's State Papers, pp. 95-107. ! The order of the procession, and the badges of mourning worn, are recorded in A Breviate of her Interment, written at the time, and printed in Archceologia, vol. v., pp. 232-236. It is also inserted in Rudder's History of Gloucestershire. The place of Katharine's interment was long unknown. George Ballard, the indus- trious antiquary of Camden, a town about ten miles from Sudley, says, in his Memoirs of Learned Ladies (p. 96), that the particulars of her death and burial are desiderata; and his ignorance of these facts appears the more extraordinary, as his business of a staymaker must often have led him into those parts. He had not seen the Breviate of her Interment just referred to, which determines the points he desiderated. The read- ing of this document in Rudder's History of Gloucestershire, by some ladies interested in the history of Katharine, led them to the discovery of the spot of her sepulture, and of some curious particulars respecting her remains, in May, 1782, when they happened to be at the castle of Sudley. They found her grave at the north wall, within the ruined chapel ; and having pierced the leaden envelope, and removed the portion of the cerecloth covering the face, they discovered the features, and particularly the eyes, in a state of uncommon preservation. In 1784, some other persons visiting the chapel had the curiosity again to open the grave. And on October 14, 1786, the Rev. l)r Nash went to Sudley Chapel, in company with two gentlemen, to gratify his curiosity by a personal investigation of the grave and remains of Katharine ; and they were satisfied that the body was in entire preservation. A particular account of these several visits to her last resting-place is given in Archceologia. vol. ix., pp. 1-9, accom- panied with an engraving of Katharine's incased body as found by Dr. Nash. 240 Ladies of tlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. reminding those in possession of this world's goods how the grave ultimately reduces all mankind to a level, to soften their hearts and open their hands to relieve the sorrows and privations of poverty. The mourners having made their contributions, the others, both gentlemen and ladies, followed their example, each giving as a sense of duty or as inclination prompted. Then Dr. Myles Coverdale, almoner of the deceased, as a means of leading the living to improve the affecting dispensation, preached an appropriate and impressive sermon, in which, among other things, he warned his hearers against thinking, or spreading abroad the idea, that these offerings were made for the benefit of the dead, being intended solely for the poor. He also took occasion to caution them against supposing that the lights carried and stationed about the corpse were for any other purpose than the honour of the departed lady. The sermon being concluded, he offered up a solemn and an affecting prayer, in which the whole audience joined with becoming seriousness. The corpse was then deposited in the earth, and during the time of interment the choir sung Te Deum in English. The last offices of respect having been thus performed to the mortal remains of this excellent woman, the mourners and others, after partaking of a dinner prepared for them, returned to their homes. 1 Katharine's chaplain, Dr. Parkhurst, 2 subsequently Bishop of Nor- wich, wrote a Latin epitaph commemorative of her many virtues. Of this epitaph, which was probably engraven on the monument erected to her memory in the chapel of Sudley, the following is an English translation : " In this new tomb the royal Kath'rine lies, Flower of her sex, renowned, great, and wise. A wife by every nuptial virtue known, And faithful partner once of Henry's throne. ' A Breviate, &c , in Archceologia, vol. v., pp. 232-236. 2 Parkhurst, in a letter to Heury Bullinger, dated Ludham, August 10, 1571, while informing him of the death of her brother, the Marquis of Northampton, which took place in the beginning of that month, designates her " my most gentle mistress, whom I attended as chaplain twenty-three years since." Zurich Letters, second series, vol. i., P. 257. ENGLAND.] Katliarine Parr. 241 To Seymour next her plighted hand she yields (Seymour who Neptune's trident justly wields) ; From him a beauteous daughter bless'd her arms, An infant copy of her parents' charms. "When now seven days this tender flower had bloom'd, Heaven in its wrath the mother's soul resum'd. Great Kath'rine's merit in our grief appears, "While fair Britannia dews her cheek with tears ; Our royal breasts with rising sighs are torn ; "With saints she triumphs we with mortals mourn." ' Within less than a year after Katharine's death, namely, on March 17, 1549, Seymour perished on the scaffold, under a bill of attainder for high treason. Their only child, whose name was Mary, upon the death of both her parents, after remaining a short time at her uncle Somerset's house, at Sion, was, according to her father's dying request, conveyed to Grimsthorpe, in Lincolnshire, the residence of Katharine, Duchess- Dowager of Suffolk, a Protestant and intimate friend of the deceased mother, to be brought up under the care of that lady. She was accompanied by her governess, Mrs. Aglionby. her nurse, two maids, and other servants. Her mother having made her will in favour of Seymour, and his property having been confiscated on his condemna- tion, the little helpless orphan was left upon the charity of her friends. At the time of her leaving Sion, her uncle, the Duke of Somerset, promised that a pension should be settled upon her for her support, and that a portion of her nursery plate and furniture, brought to Sion House, should be sent after her to Grimsthorpe ; promises which, to the disgrace of that nobleman, were never ful- filled, notwithstanding the persevering efforts of the Duchess of Suffolk to prevail upon him to fulfil them. 2 This noble lady re- peatedly wrote to him, to his duchess, and to William Cecil, after- wards the celebrated Lord Burghley, on the subject. Miss Strick- land, who has given specimens of the letters to Cecil, which are written in a familiar tone, and with a vein of humour running through them quite characteristic of the writer, asserts that they 1 Archaologia, vol. ix., pp. 1-9. * Strype's Mem. Eccl, vol. ii., p. 201. Q 242 Ladies of t/te Reformation. [ENGLAND. betray a " worldly spirit and sordid temper," and that " the help- less little one," though the child of a lady who had honoured the duchess with her friendship, and shielded her from persecution, and whom she regarded as a saint, "had become the unwelcome recipient of her charity."' But the letters by no means warrant this uncharitable construction. The case, as brought out in them, only requires to be fairly represented in order to vindicate the duchess from these hard censures. The maintenance of the babe, with her train, consisting of some dozen of persons, involved consi- derable expense, and the duchess found herself unable, without running into debt, to support this large train, considered suitable, according to the etiquette of the times, to the child of the Queen- Dowager and of the Lord Admiral of England. Again, Somerset, as has been just now said, had promised that a portion of the nursery plate should be delivered with the child when she was sent to Grimsthorpe, and that a pension should be granted for her mainte- nance. Under these circumstances was it unreasonable, was it any proof of ingratitude to Katharine Parr, or of unkindness to her daughter, was it worldly or sordid for the Duchess of Suffolk to be urgent in endeavouring to obtain from Somerset the fulfilment of these promises, the more especially as the child had been wrongfully deprived of the vast wealth which she ought to have inherited from her parents 1 This, so far from being blameworthy, was what she was bound in duty to do. In other cases the gifted authoress of the Queens of England can carry her charity to a somewhat ex- travagant extent. She attempts, even in the face of facts prov- ing the contrary, 2 to screen Queen Mary from the guilt of the Protestant blood shed under her reign ; and yet, upon such totally inadequate evidence as these letters, she holds up the Duchess of Suffolk to contempt as an ungrateful, sordid, selfish being, who, while pretending piously to venerate the memory of Katharine Parr by " editing and publishing the devotional writings of that queen/' " grudged a shelter and food to her only child." 1 Queens of England, vol. v., pp. 125-129. 2 ee Introduction, p. 2]. ENGLAND.] Katharine Parr. 243 Mary Seymour continued, it appears, for some years at least, under the care of the duchess, and she was ultimately married to Sir Ed- ward Bushel a respectable alliance, though inferior to what she would probably have obtained had her parents' wealth come into her possession.' 1 Queens of England, vol. v., pp. 129-131. of BradgaU House LADY JANE GREY CHAPTEE I. FROM HER BIRTH TO THE CLOSE OF HER CORRESPONDENCE WITH CONTINENTAL DIVINES. JEW characters in English history have occupied, within so short a time, a more important part in the political transactions of their day, than the lady whose life we are now to relate, and few are fraught with a deeper and more permanent interest The purity and loveli- ness of her character, the vigour of her intellectual powers, the extent of her literary acquirements, the seraphic fervour of her devotion, were enough of themselves to have rendered her an engaging object. But the interest derived from these attractions has been greatly ENGLAND.] Lady Jane Grey. 245 enhanced, and the sympathies ot the human heart powerfully en- listed on her behalf, from the romantic events crowding the narra- tive of her brief course, and from the tragic death by which it was closed. LADY JANE GREY was the eldest daughter of Henry Grey, third Marquis of Dorset, by his second wife, 1 Lady Frances Brandon, eldest daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by Mary, widow of Louis XII., King of France, second daughter of Henry VII. of Eng- land, and youngest sister of Henry VIII. Thus she was of the blood- royal of England on the mother's side, and she was also connected, though not by consanguinity, with the royal family on the father's side, her paternal great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Woodville, 2 relict of Sir John Grey of Groby, having been queen-consort to Edward IV. Her father. Henry Grey, when he succeeded to the honours of his family, on the death of his father, which happened in 1530, was, in point of rank, one of the first noblemen of his time. In 1547, the first year of the reign of Edward VI., he was made lord high-con- stable for that monarch's coronation, and was elected a knight of the garter ; in 1550 he was constituted justice-itinerant of all the king's forests ; in the following year he was appointed warden of the east, west, and middle marches towards Scotland ; and on October 15, 1551, he was created Duke of Suffolk. If not entirely without am- bition, he appears to have been a man quietly disposed ; and though not possessed of those powerful talents and that force of character which exert a commanding influence over others, and which, seizing upon circumstances, can convert them into the means of promoting the success of great undertakings, he was a warm friend of the Reforma- tion, and a patron of learned men. The date of Lady Jane's birth has not been exactly ascertained. If, according to Fuller, she was eighteen years of age at the time of her 1 His first wife was Katharine Fitz-Alin, daughter of William, Earl of Arundel. She is supposed to have died without issue. 2 Elizabeth Woodville and her family have been immortalized by Shakspeare in his King Richard III. 246 Ladies of tlw Reformation. [ENGLAND. execution, February 12, 1554, this would make the date of her birth about the year 1536. The place of her nativity was Bradgate, her father's seat, a magnificent mansion about five miles from Leicester, and the ruins of which are yet remaining. She was the eldest of three daughters, the names of the other two being Katharine and Mary, and she had no brothers. In her early years she was remark- able for gentle and engaging dispositions, combined with more than ordinary natural abilities, and a passionate love of learning. Among her earliest tutors were Thomas Harding ' and John Aylmer, 2 her father's chaplains, both learned men, and supporters of the reformed doctrines, though the former, who had not the high principle of the latter, relapsed into Popery on the accession of Mary to the throne. Aylmer being a kind-hearted man, as well as an eminent scholar, treated Jane, whom he soon discovered to be a girl of superior talents, with affectionate gentleness ; and under his care she assiduously studied, and became deeply versed in the Latin aud Greek languages, which she both wrote and spoke with great facility and purity. She also got lessons in Hebrew, Chaldaic, Arabic, French, and Italian ; i Thomas Harding was educated at Winchester, and at New College, Oxford, of which he was elected a fellow in 1536. He was afterwards appointed by Henry VIII. Hebrew professor iu that university. Of a temporizing character, he was just a bom. as much a Reformer as Henry VIII. during the life of that monarch, and on Edward's accession to the throue, he professed the reformed faith then established. After this he became chaplain in the family of the Marquis of Dorset, aud was accounted a very good Protestant ; but no sooner had Mary ascended the throne, than he embraced Popery. He was preferred by the queen to a prebend of Winchester, and the treasurer- ship of Sarum. Upon the accession of Elizabeth he withdrew to th.3 Continent, and engaged in warm and protracted controversy with Bishop Jewel. 3 John Aylmer was, as we have seen before (p. 94), patronized in early life by Queen Anne Boleyn. Lady Jane's father had supported him at school, and also at the university of Cambridge, where he took his degree of master of arts, and made him tutor to his children. Aylmer was a superior Latin and Greek scholar, and a steady, active pro- moter of the Reformation. He was for some time, according to the testimony of Thomas Becon, who knew him well, the only Protestant preacher in Leicestershire. On the accession of Mary, he boldly opposed Popery, which, exposing him to danger, he retired to the Continent, where he remained till Elizabeth came to the throue. In 1576 he was appointed Bishop of London, and died June 3, 1594, being, at least, seventy-three years of age. Becon's Jewel of Joy, in his works printed for Parker Soc., vol. iii., p. 424. See his Life, by Strype. ENGLAND.] Lady Jane Grey. 247 but it was hardly possible for her to attain, as some have affirmed,' to great proficiency in all these languages, which it would require the study of a long life to master. The lighter branches of education she successfully cultivated. She played admirably on various musical instruments, and accompanied them with a voice of exquisite sweet- ness. In embroidery and other works of the needle she eminently excelled, and the hand she wrote was remarkable for its beauty, which may be accounted for from her having received, with her sis- ters, lessons in the art of writing from Roger Ascham, 2 an exquisite penman, and one of Queen Elizabeth's tutors. She was also probably taught, as ladies then generally were, some knowledge of physic and surgery, and even spinning. In the extent of her attainments, and in the ready acquisition of every kind of knowledge, she surpassed all her equals. Prince Edward, her second cousin, though a boy of uncommon capacity, and nearly of her age, being born October 12, 1537, was considered decidedly her inferior. She was frequently brought to court by her parents ; and though little more than a child, 1 Sir Thomas Chaloner, for example, in his Latin elegy upon her. This piece is in- serted in Strype's Mem. Eccl., vol. iii., App., No. IX, 2 Roger Ascham, who was bom at Kirby Wiske, near Northallerton, in Yorkshire, about the year 1515, and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, was one of the most accomplished scholars of his day. He was elected fellow of his college at the early age of eighteen, and in 1548 was appointed tutor to the Princess (afterwards Queen) Elizabeth, whom he taught writing, as well as the Greek and Latin languages, of which he was a consummate master. He was afterwards made Latin secretary to Edward VI., and in 1550 he accompanied Sir Richard Morison on his embassy to the Emperor Charles V. On his return to England, Mary was the reigning sovereign, but, though he continued to profess himself a Protestant, he was allowed, in considera- tion of his great abilities, to retain his fellowship in his alma mater, together with his office as public orator. On the elevation of Elizabeth to regal power, he was rewarded by his former pupil with a prebend in the church of York. He died of ague, according to some accounts, in December, 1568, according to others, on the 4th of January, 1569. His last words were, " I am suffering much pain, I sink under my disease ; but this is my confession, this is my faith, this prayer contains all that I wish for, ' I desire to depart hence, and to be with Christ.' " His published letters in Latin have been ad- mired at once for the excellence of the inatter and for their classic style. He is also the author of various poems, of the Schoolmaster, and of a somewhat whimsical work, entitled Toxophilus; a treatise of shooting in the long-bow, to which he was passion- ately addicted. Granger's Biographical History of England, vol. i., pp. 326, 327. Ackermann's History of Cambridge College, vol. ii., pp. 117, 118. 248 Ladies of tlie Reformation. [ENGLAND. was, from her learning, set up