diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:23:18 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:23:18 -0700 |
| commit | 7fbb163edffcd25b9a7614b5e4ca170e0293e7a7 (patch) | |
| tree | 8d0887c68743e6d4098ed990be35bcb057f74212 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4333.txt | 12522 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4333.zip | bin | 0 -> 272823 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 12538 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4333.txt b/4333.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb0cb57 --- /dev/null +++ b/4333.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12522 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Studies from Court and Cloister +by J.M. Stone + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. Do not change or edit it without written permission. +The words are carefully chosen to provide users with the +information they need to understand what they may and may not +do with the etext. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These Etexts Are Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get etexts, and +further information, is included below. We need your donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + + + +Title: Studies from Court and Cloister + +Author: J.M. Stone + +Release Date: August, 2003 [Etext #4333] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 10, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Studies from Court and Cloister +by J.M. Stone +******This file should be named 4333.txt or 4333.zip****** + +Etext prepared by Dianne Bean, Prescott Valley, Arizona. + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep etexts in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our etexts one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +https://gutenberg.org or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +etexts, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2001 as we release over 50 new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 4000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 4,000 Etexts. We need +funding, as well as continued efforts by volunteers, to maintain +or increase our production and reach our goals. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of November, 2001, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, +Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, +Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, +Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, +Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, +and Wyoming. + +*In Progress + +We have filed in about 45 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +All donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fundraising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fundraising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + +Etext prepared by Dianne Bean, Prescott Valley, Arizona. + +STUDIES FROM COURT AND CLOISTER BEING ESSAYS, HISTORICAL AND LITERARY, +DEALING MAINLY WITH SUBJECTS RELATING TO THE XVITH AND XVIITH CENTURIES + +BY J. M. STONE + +AUTHOR OF "MARY THE FIRST, QUEEN OF ENGLAND," "REFORMATION AND +RENAISSANCE," ETC. + +LONDON AND EDINBURGH +SANDS AND COMPANY +ST LOUIS, MO. +B. HERDER, 17 SOUTH BROADWAY +1908 + +PREFACE + +These studies on various crucial points connected with the history of +religion in Europe at the close of the Middle Ages, its decline, +revival, and the causes which led to both, have already appeared in +print as regards their general outline, although they have for the most +part been rewritten, added to, and in each case subjected to a careful +revision. + +Three of them were originally published in the Dublin Review, four in +the Scottish Review, two in Blackwood's Magazine, and three in the +Month. One was a contribution to the American Catholic Quarterly +Review. By the courtesy of the respective editors of these publications +I am enabled to gather them together in this volume. + +It will be seen at a glance that a certain cohesion, historical and +chronological, exists in their present arrangement, especially with +reference to Part I. + +The two first studies concern Henry VIII. and his sister the Queen of +Scots, the significance of their matrimonial affairs, and the relations +which their policy created between England, Scotland, France, and the +Empire. The third study has for its subject the distinguished and +much-maligned Lieutenant of the Tower of London, who contributed so +largely to the accession of the rightful sovereign, and who was +appointed to be governor of the Princess Elizabeth during her captivity +at Woodstock. His subsequent persecution for the sake of religion was +the consequence of Henry VIIIth's rupture with Rome, and Elizabeth's +repudiation of England's Catholic past. And as we can only gain an +intelligible view of any historical movement by studying its context, +its broad outlines, and its connection with foreign nations, the fourth +essay describes the condition to which the religious revolution had +reduced Germany in the sixteenth century, and the reconversion of a +great part of that country, as well as of Austria and Switzerland, to +the Catholic faith. This was the work of the Jesuit, Peter Canisius, +and we are thus led to a consideration of the newly-founded Society of +Jesus and its methods. Its members soon became noted for sanctity and +learning, and emperors, kings, and royal princes clamoured for Jesuits +as confessors. The manner in which these acquitted themselves of the +difficult and unwelcome task imposed on them, is unconsciously revealed +by themselves, in the private correspondence of members of the old +Society, which has now been given to the world by one of their Order. +Selections from this correspondence are contained in the fifth study. +As a further result of the revolution that had been effected in the +casting off of old beliefs and traditions, we note the revival of +Pantheism, an ancient, atheistic philosophy, whose modern apostle was +the celebrated Giordano Bruno. His otherwise fruitless visit to England +left a deep impression on certain minds, learned and ignorant, and we +begin for the first time to hear of examinations and prosecutions for +atheism in this country. And this forms the subject of the sixth essay. +The recoil that invariably takes place after any great political, +social, or religious upheaval was not wanting to the Reformation in +England, and in the reign of Charles I. High-Churchism, under +Archbishop Laud, was thought to indicate a desire on the part of the +royalists for a return to Catholic unity. A Papal agent was dispatched +to England to negotiate between the Catholic Queen, Henrietta Maria and +Cardinal Barberini, with a view to the conversion of her husband, which +would, it was hoped, ultimately issue in the corporate reunion of the +country with Rome. + +Thus, Part I. deals with some of the persons who had "their exits and +their entrances", who made history during this interesting period. Part +II. treats more especially the books and manuscripts connected with it. +The theme is therefore the same. + +Even before England was England, she was the Isle of Saints, and +throughout the Middle Ages religion was her chief care, in a manner +almost incredible in this secular and materialistic age. She not only +covered the land with magnificent churches and cathedrals, to the +architecture of which we cannot in these days approach, even by +imitation, distantly, but she also built huge monasteries, and these +monasteries were the cradles, the homes of vast stores of +ever-accumulating knowledge. A system of philosophy, to which the world +is even now returning, recognising that there is no better training for +the human intellect, is so distinctly mediaeval, that all that savoured +even remotely of St. Thomas Aquinas or Duns Scotus in the University +was utterly destroyed in a great bonfire made at Oxford in 1549. At the +dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII., the labour, the +learning, the genius of centuries were as nought. Exquisitely written +and illuminated Bibles, missals and other choice manuscripts, +displaying a wealth of palaeographic art to which we have lost the key, +were torn from their jewelled bindings, and were either thrown aside to +spoil and rot, or to become the prey of any who needed wrappers for +small merchandise. It is a marvel that so many should have escaped +destruction, to be collected when men had returned to their sane +senses, and formed again into libraries for the delight and instruction +of posterity to the end of time. And almost as strange as this +circumstance, is the fact that so few among us know of the existence of +these treasures which have become our national inheritance. Otherwise, +how could the reviewer of one of our foremost literary publications, in +his notice of the exhibition of medieval needlework at the Burlington +Fine Arts Club, in the spring of 1905, have discovered in it a +surprising revelation of the "refinement" of the Middle Ages? + +The three last studies in the present volume are, therefore, devoted to +a description of some of the precious spoils of mediaeval refinement. +Where all is so splendidly beautiful, so deeply erudite, or so tenderly +naif, choice is difficult; but at all events, here are a few of the +priceless gems with which the Dark Ages have endowed a scornful +after-world. + +And lest it should be supposed that all this mediaeval piety and +devotion sprang up suddenly, with no apparent raison d'etre, I have +gone further back, and have shown that with the first dawn of +Christianity over these Islands, religion was no other than in the +twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. The Arthurian legends, +which Sir Thomas Malory wove into one consecutive whole, had been +handed down from generation to generation for many hundreds of years. +Sometimes they had been written in the French language, but they lived +in the minds of the people, and Sir Lancelot, who died "a holy man," +was as vivid and real to them as was Richard, the troubadour king. With +the story of his sharp penance, his fasting and prayers for the soul of +Guinevere, was also handed down incidentally the tradition of Britain's +obedience to the "Apostle Pope". + +Some time after the Anglo-Saxon conquest, in the eighth century, was +set up a wonderful churchyard Cross at Ruthwell in Scotland, a +"folk-book in stone," alluded to in the Act passed by the General +Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1642, "anent the Idolatrous +Monuments in Ruthwell," and already two years previously condemned by +that enlightened body to be "taken down, demolished, and destroyed." +The story of this ancient Cross, and that of the runes carved upon it, +form the subject of the opening study of Part II. + +Little need be said here of Foxe, the great calumniator of Queen Mary's +bishops. His book, which so long deceived the world, is no more the +power it once was, but in it lay the venom which poisoned the wells, as +far as the ill-fated reign of Mary was concerned; and the essay which +deals with it could scarcely have been omitted. + +In the hope that I have been enabled to throw a faint ray of additional +light on some vexed but interesting questions, this volume is put +forward. + +J. M. S. + +September 1905. + + + +CONTENTS + +PART I + +I. MARGARET TUDOR + +II. NOR WIFE NOR WIDOW + +III. A NOTABLE ENGLISHMAN + +IV. THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN GERMANY + +V. JESUITS AT COURT + +VI. GIORDANO BRUNO IN ENGLAND + +VII. CHARLES THE FIRST AND THE POPISH PLOT + +PART II + +I. THE RUNIC CROSSES OF NORTHUMBRIA + +II. A MISSING PAGE FROM THE "IDYLLS OF THE KING" + +III. FOXES BOOK OF ERRORS + +IV. THE SPOILS OF THE MONASTERIES + +V. THE ROYAL LIBRARY + +VI. THE HARLEIAN COLLECTION OF MANUSCRIPTS + + + +STUDIES FROM COURT AND CLOISTER + +I. MARGARET TUDOR + +Notwithstanding the spy-system which was brought to so great a +perfection under the Tudors, the study of human nature was in their +days yet in its infancy. The world had long ceased to be ingenuous, but +nations had not yet learned civilised methods of guarding themselves +against their enemies. At a time when distrust was general, it was +easier, like Machiavelli, to erect deceit and fraud into a science, and +to teach the vile utility of lying, than to scrutinise character and +weigh motives. It was then generally understood that opponents might +legitimately be hoodwinked to the limits of their gullibility; but it +was reserved for Lord Chesterfield, two centuries later, to show how a +man's passions must be studied with microscopic intensity in order to +discover his prevailing passion, and how, that passion once discovered, +he should never be trusted where it was concerned. The study of men's +characters and motives as we understand it, formed no part of the +policy of sixteenth-century statecraft, or Wolsey would not have been +disgraced, or Thomas Cromwell's head have fallen on the block. Wolsey +and Cromwell were the subtlest statesmen of their age; indeed, in them +statecraft may be said to have had its dawn; yet Henry VIII., by the +sheer force of his tyranny and despotic will, baffled them both. While +Cromwell, the greatest genius in Europe, thought he held all the +threads of intrigue in his own hands, his royal master by the dogged +pursuit of one end overthrew the minister's entire scheme. Saturated +though he was with Machiavellian theories, a man of one book, and that +book The Prince, Cromwell lost all by his inability to read the bent of +Henry's mind and purpose. + +Henry VIII. and his elder sister, Margaret, were strikingly alike in +character. Both proved themselves to be cruel, vindictive, +unscrupulous, sensual, and vain. Both were extraordinarily clever, but +Henry being far better educated than his sister, contrived to cut a +much more imposing, if not a more dignified, figure. In the matter of +intrigue, there was nothing to choose between them. That Henry +succeeded where Margaret failed, was owing to the fact that +circumstances were in his favour and not in hers. Given two such +characters, the only parts that were possible to them were dominating +ones. Henry was master of the situation all through the piece; Margaret +was not, but she could play no other part. Had she been differently +constituted, had she been barely honest, true, constant, and pure, +there is no limit to the love and loyalty she would certainly have +inspired. + +But, for want of insight into Margaret Tudor's disposition, the +Scottish people were repeatedly betrayed by one whose interests they +fondly hoped had become, by marriage with their king, identical with +their own. She had come among them at an age when new impressions are +quickly taken and experiences of every kind have necessarily been very +limited, but to the end of her days she remained an alien in their +midst. + +From the moment that she set foot in Scotland, as a bride of thirteen, +she began to sow discord; but although it was soon apparent that she +would seize every occasion to turn public events to her own profit, +James IV. had so mistaken a belief in her one day becoming a good +Scotswoman, that when he went to his death on Flodden Field, he left +the whole welfare of his country in her hands. Not only did he confide +the treasure of the realm to her custody, but by his will he appointed +her to the Regency, with the sole guardianship of his infant son. + +Such a thing was unprecedented in Scotland, and it needed all the +fidelity of the Scottish lords to their chivalrous sovereign, as well +as their enthusiasm for his young and beautiful widow, to induce them +to tolerate an arrangement so distasteful to them all. Had Margaret +cared to fit herself for the duties that lay before her, her lot might +have been a brilliant one. Instead of the wretched wars which made a +perpetual wilderness of the Borders, keeping the nation in a constant +state of ferment, an advantageous treaty would have secured prosperity +to both England and Scotland, while the various disturbing factions, +which rendered Scotland so difficult to govern by main force, would +gradually have subsided under the gentle influence of a queen who +united all parties through the loyalty she inspired. Fierce and +rebellious as were so many of the elements which went to make up the +Scottish people at that time, Margaret had a far easier task than her +grand-daughter, Mary Stuart, for at least fanatical religious +differences did not enter into the difficulties she had to encounter. +But such a queen of Scotland as would have claimed the respect and won +the lasting love of her subjects was by no means the Margaret Tudor of +history, as she stands revealed in her correspondence. + +While James IV. lived she had comparatively few opportunities of +betraying State secrets, but from the disaster of Flodden to her death, +her history is one long series of intrigues, the outcome of her ruling +passions--vanity and greed. Her first short-sighted act of treachery +after the death of James was to appropriate to her own use the treasure +which he had entrusted to her for his successors, the queen thereby +incurring life-long retribution in her ineffectual attempts to wring +her jointure from an exchequer which she had herself wantonly +impoverished. Hence the tiresome and ridiculous wrangling in connection +with her "conjunct feoffment," neither Margaret nor Henry being +conscious, in the complete absence of all sense of humour on their +part, that the situation was occasionally grotesque. Stolidly unmindful +of the effect they produced on the minds of others in the pursuit of +their own selfish ends, they pursued the tenor of their way with +bucolic doggedness. The doggedness ended in the defeat of all Henry's +enemies; in Margaret's case it ended in her own. + +The eleven months which elapsed between the 9th September 1513 to the +4th August 1514, were the most eventful of her whole life. The +catastrophe of Flodden left her, perhaps not without cause, the least +mournful woman in Scotland, for James IV., with all the heroism that +attaches to his name, had little claim to be called a faithful husband. +Unhindered, therefore, by any excess of grief, she was the better able +to attend to the affairs of State, and to hasten the coronation of her +little son, a baby of one year and five months. In December she +convened the Parliament of Scotland to meet at Stirling Castle, and +formally took up the dignity of regent with the consent of the +assembled nobility of the realm. At this sitting the greatest unanimity +prevailed. In the Acts of the Privy Council of Scotland, under date +12th January 1514, occurs the following entry: "To advise of the +setting up of the Queen's household, and what persons and officers are +necessary thereto, and to advise of the expenses for the supportation +of the same, and by what ways it shall be gotten." All was peace for a +short time, and the most friendly relations existed between the queen +and her Council, till the first high-handed attempt of Henry VIII. to +interfere through his sister in the government of Scotland, resulted in +her temporary banishment, and the removal of the infant king from his +mother's care.* + +* P. Martyr, Ep. 535. For a detailed account of the state of Scotland +for the first nine years after the disastrous defeat at Flodden, see +vol. xiv. Of the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, edited by George Burnett, +LL.D., Lyon King-of-Arms, and A. Y. G. Mackay, M.A. (Oxon.), LL.D. +(Edin.), etc., His Majesty's General Register House, Edinburgh. + + +On the 30th April Margaret gave birth to a posthumous son, who received +the title of Duke of Rothesay; and scarcely had she reappeared in +public after the birth of this child, when an envoy from the Emperor +Maximilian brought overtures of marriage. About the same time, she +received a like proposal from Louis XII. of France, who afterwards +married her younger sister Mary. Dismissing both aspirants to her hand, +before the first year of her widowhood had run its course, she married +Archibald, Earl of Angus, Margaret being in her twenty-fifth, he in his +nineteenth year. The union was equally unfortunate for the queen +herself and for her wretched husband, who, when the first charm of +novelty had passed, was disdainfully flung aside, and never restored to +favour. + +There was an ancient custom of the realm, which placed the executive +power and the person of the king, should he be a minor at the death of +the preceding sovereign, in the hands of the next male heir, and the +appointment of James's widow to the regency and the guardianship of his +son was made in distinct disregard of all recognised precedent. The +consent of the Scottish lords to the innovation had been given entirely +from a sense of loyalty to their beloved and unfortunate monarch James +IV. But a proviso had been made in his will, that in the event of the +queen's remarriage, the regency, as well as the guardianship of the +king, should pass to John, Duke of Albany, the next heir to the throne. + +But Margaret, who had not scrupled to make away with the royal +treasure, was scarcely likely to be very conscientious in regard to the +duty of laying down a sceptre, the pleasantness of which she had only +just begun to taste. She was already at variance with her Council, who, +in despair of any order being established, had invited Albany, then in +France, to come over and take up the reins of government. As early as +April 1514, a Bill for his recall had been read in Parliament, and it +was formally enacted that all the fortresses in Scotland should be +given up, a blow aimed primarily at Stirling, the queen's chief +stronghold.* Here she and Angus had shut themselves up, on hearing that +Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, was marching on Edinburgh. They were +captured, but escaped and returned to Stirling, where they were +besieged by John Hepburn, Prior of St. Andrews. + +* Brewer--Preface to Cal. 2, part i. (note). + + +Margaret, assuming a tone of injured innocence, wrote to Henry VIII., +telling him that she and her party are in great trouble till they know +what help he will give them; that her enemies continue to usurp the +king's authority in Parliament, holding her and her friends to be +rebels; and she entreats him to hasten his army against Scotland by sea +and by land.* This was clearly as much an act of treason as if she had +deliberately invited any other foreign enemy to come and take +possession of the realm; for although her object was merely to regain +the powers she had lost by her own acts, she could estimate the ruin +which would have resulted to Scotland, if Henry had really been in a +position to invade the country. His answer to her appeal was to send +the most urgent instructions to his sister to prevent Albany's landing +by every means at her disposal. In the meanwhile she waited +impatiently, but in vain, for both troops and money from Henry, who did +not think it necessary to inform her that the French king had agreed to +detain Albany in France, on condition that his dear cousin should send +his sister no help, but leave the various parties in Scotland to fight +out their quarrels alone. + +* Queen Margaret to Henry VI II., 23rd November 1514; MS. Cott., Calig. +B 1, 164; Brit. Mus. + + +As a result of this policy, Margaret at last began to find her position +intolerable, and she, no less than her enemies looked forward to the +duke's arrival as a means of extricating herself from a labyrinth of +difficulties. This was perhaps what Francis I. had foreseen; +notwithstanding his promise to Henry, he had no intention of +permanently preventing Albany, who was more than half a Frenchman, from +assuming a dignity that would result in a strong bond of union between +Scotland and France. Albany was therefore quietly allowed to escape at +a given moment; and when, after running the gauntlet of Henry's ships, +which were watching for him, he landed in Scotland, Margaret resolved, +for once wisely, to be friends with him.* + +* Seb. Giustinian to the Doge, London, 5th August 1515; Venetian +Archives. + + +But Henry instructed Lord Dacre, the formidable chief of the Marches, +to stir up all the strife possible between his sister, the new regent, +and the Scottish lords, and accordingly, whenever there was a sign of a +better understanding between the three parties, Dacre was always +careful to insinuate to the queen that her brother was her best friend. +Finding that Albany had escaped the vigilance of his fleet, Henry wrote +a high-handed letter to the Scottish Council requesting that he might +be sent back to France forthwith. Their reply was as dignified as +Albany's own conduct throughout, and in strong contrast to Margaret's +attitude. They have, they say, received Henry's letter, dated 1st July +1516, desiring them to remove John, Duke of Albany, the regent from the +person of their king, in order to promote the amity of the two realms. +The duke was chosen Protector by the unanimous voice of the Three +Estates, and was sent for by them from France; he left his master, his +lady, his living; he has taken great pains in the king's service; he +has given, and proposes to give, no cause for dissatisfaction, and if +he would leave, they would not let him. Moreover, it is in exact +conformity with their laws that the nearest in succession should have +the governance; security has been taken by the queen and others to +remove all cause of suspicion, and they will spend their lives if any +attempt be made against his Highness.* This document was signed and +sealed by twenty-eight spiritual and temporal lords, whose names are +still legible. Ten other names are mutilated beyond recognition, +although their seals remain. + +* Scottish lords to Henry VIII., 4th July 1516; Record Office. + + +Albany had meanwhile written to Lord Dacre, denying that he had usurped +the king's authority, and declaring that he had done nothing but by +order of the Estates of the realm. But Henry was bent on picking a +quarrel with him, and Dacre's letter to the King of England's Council +shows the part which Dacre was instructed to play in the troubles of +Scotland, fomenting feuds between Albany and every member of his +government, in the hope of driving him out of the country.* Difficult, +however, as Henry's policy made it, the regent was bent on maintaining +peace, and would probably have succeeded but for Margaret.** + +* Cotton MS., Calig. B 2, 341; Brit. Mus. + +** Albany to Dacre,10th August 1515; R.O. + + +The good understanding between the regent and the queen was first +broken by his summons to her to deliver up the royal children into his +custody, a cruel but necessary proceeding, since the regency was +inseparable from the governorship of the king and the next heir. + +A true and tender chord is struck at last, when Margaret, appealing to +Henry, exclaims, "God send I were such a woman as might go with my +bairns in mine arms. I trow I should not be long fra you!" Nor is it +possible to feel aught but sympathy for her, when she allows herself to +be stormed in Stirling Castle before she suffers her children to be +torn from her. Dacre professed to believe, and perhaps caused Margaret +to fear, that they would be destroyed if they fell into the Duke of +Albany's power. But the very day on which Dacre wrote to Henry's +Council, advising that money should be sent to enable her to hold out, +the regent prepared to bombard her, and it was not till her friends had +forsaken her, flying for their lives and in terror of Albany's +proclamation, that placing the keys of the fortress in her little son's +hands, she desired him to give them to the regent, and to beg him to +show favour to himself, to his brother, and to her husband. The regent +answered that he would be good to the king, to his brother, and to +their mother; but that as for Angus, he "would not dalye with no +traitor." * + +* Cotton MS. Calig. B 2, 369; B.M. + + +No sooner had Margaret given up her children, than she began to +manoeuvre how to steal them back and spirit them over the Border. While +pretending to be too ill to leave her palace at Linlithgow, where she +gave out she had "taken to her chamber" in anticipation of her +approaching confinement, she effected her escape into England, but her +plan for capturing the king and his brother failed. Nothing could now +exceed her desolate condition, as, wandering from place to place, +alone, ill, and worse than friendless, she sought in vain a refuge in +all that wild Border region where she might await her hour of peril. +Angus, seeing the turn affairs had taken, had thought it prudent to +abandon her to her fate, and, after helping her to escape, returned to +Scotland in the hope of coming to terms with Albany. His wife was at +last thankful to accept Lord Dacre's rough hospitality in his gloomy +castle of Harbottle. Here in the midst of a brutal soldiery, with no +woman to render her the most needful service, she gave birth to a +daughter, the Lady Margaret Douglas, on the 5th October 1515. On the +10th she wrote to Albany to announce her delivery "of a cristen sowle +beying a young lady," and miserably ill though she was, did not omit to +demand "as tutrix of the young king and prince, her tender children, to +have the whole rule and governance of Scotland." + +To this letter Margaret received an answer written by the Council, +stating that the governance of the realm had expired with the death of +her husband, and had devolved to the Estates; that with her consent +they had appointed the Duke of Albany; that she had forfeited the +tutelage of her children by her second marriage, and that in all +temporal matters the realm of Scotland had been immediately subject to +Almighty God, not recognising the Pope or any superior upon earth. + +Herewith the queen was forced to content herself; further words would +have proved as unavailing as reeds against the tempest, and even words +were soon beyond her power to write, for the birth of her daughter was +succeeded by a long and painful illness which nearly proved fatal to +the unhappy woman. To add to the bitterness of her trials, at the +moment when she was beginning slowly to recover, came the news of the +illness and death of the little Duke of Rothesay. Grief, anger, and +anxiety for the safety of the king served naturally to increase the +gravity of her condition, and for months she lay hovering between life +and death, loudly accusing Albany of having murdered her child. + +This accusation was reiterated to Albany himself as soon as her +unsteady hand could grasp a pen; but the regent took no heed of her +stinging words, continued to invite her to return to Scotland, in spite +of her persistent refusal, and apparently succeeded at last in +convincing her of his innocence. + +On her recovery she wrote to him from Morpeth, to announce her +departure for the south, Henry having invited her to his court, +accompanying his invitation with presents of costly stuffs, and money, +and clothing for the baby. + +A letter from Margaret to the regent at this moment is significant of a +sudden change in her demeanour towards him, and to judge by her +subsequent behaviour, the change meant treachery. Instead of the fierce +denunciations she had lately indulged in, she acknowledged that she had +often received goodly and pleasant words as well as letters from him, +and "though his conduct has not always corresponded to them, yet as +matters are being accommodated" she hopes he will reform it. The +meaning of this change of tactics became clear to all but the regent +himself---who seems to have been of a singularly unsuspicious +nature--as soon as Margaret reached London. + +Albany was still hoping for a permanent peace with Henry, and more than +once expressed a wish to pay him a friendly visit. This both Henry and +Margaret encouraged him to do, and writing to Wolsey about this time, +the Scottish queen expressed the most fervent hope that the regent +would come, counterbalanced by the fears that he would not.* Had the +matter rested entirely with himself, the visit would certainly have +taken place, but his Council having some reason to doubt Henry's fair +and plausible words, were urgent in dissuading him. All things +considered, it is probable that the duke would have repented of his +temerity if he had placed his head within the lion's jaws. + +* Cotton MS., Vesp. F 3, 36; B.M. + + +Having failed to inveigle the regent into their power, the brother and +sister instructed Dacre to "sow debate" between him and his Council, +but this scheme failed also. Dacre wrote, however, to show that he was +not wanting in zeal in this behalf, saying that, being unable to +interfere with Scottish affairs in any other way, he had given rewards +to four hundred outlaws for burnings in various parts of the kingdom.* +No means proved too vile, no instrument unworthy, to be employed in the +work of destroying the regent and advancing Tudor interests. The queen +even condescended to use her truant husband, and the part played by +Angus is scarcely less reprehensible than Margaret's own, for while he +pretended to be loyal to Albany and to Scotland, he possessed himself +of every important State secret and transmitted it to his wife, in the +hope of appeasing her for his desertion. She, of course, passed on all +that she thus learned to Henry and Wolsey. + +* Dacre to Wolsey; Calig. B 1, 150; B.M. + + +Margaret was entertained for a whole year in pomp and splendour at the +English court, feasts and revels succeeding each other in bewildering +magnificence-- luxury in vivid contrast to the misery which she had +undergone during the first months after her flight from Scotland. +Pageants, tournaments, and banquets now took the place of privation and +suffering; all that met the eye was changed, but the dark and +treacherous under-currents known to but few of her contemporaries +remained the same, and were the realities that shaped her course. In +spite, however, of plots and intrigues, Margaret's position was not +improving. Her visit to England could not be prolonged indefinitely, +and as the queen was evidently not to return to Scotland in triumph, it +was desirable to make as good terms for herself as she possibly could. + +The regent promised that her jointure should be paid, and that Angus +should be allowed to join her if he were willing to do so--a somewhat +doubtful alternative, as he had not availed himself of the leave that +had already been given him. As for Albany himself, he declared that it +had always been his desire to gratify the queen, and to advise the best +for her and for her son.* Reluctantly, therefore, she at last prepared +to turn her face northwards, having obtained permission to take with +her a suite befitting her station, safe-conduct being granted, except +in the case of any person among them plotting harm to the kingdom; and +to these conditions Henry set his great seal. + +* Calig. B 2, 262; B.M. + + +A letter from the Venetian envoy to the Doge, dated 13th April 1517, +says: "The truce between England and Scotland has been arranged. The +queen is to return, but is not to be admitted to the administration of +the kingdom. She may take with her twenty-four Englishmen, and as many +Scotch as she pleases, provided they be not rebels"; and he adds that +he has been assured of these facts by Albany's secretary. + +All was done to make her journey as easy as possible; but when Margaret +arrived at Berwick, it needed all Dacre's powers of persuasion to +induce her to enter Scotland. At Lamberton Kirk, contrary to the +regent's expectation, she was met by Angus, accompanied by Morton and +others of the Scottish nobility, with three hundred men, chiefly +Borderers. Albany had left for France, taking with him as hostages the +heirs or younger brothers of the principal men in the country, whom he +had bound over to keep the peace during his absence, which he then did +not intend to prolong beyond five months. + +There was now an excellent opportunity for beginning a new and better +life, had the queen been so minded; but events proved her to be in a +more querulous, treacherous, and discontented mood than ever. "Her +Grace considereth now, the honour of England, and the poverty and +wretchedness of Scotland," wrote Magnus to Wolsey, "which she did not +afore, but in her opinion esteemed Scotland equal with England,"* and +her complaints to Henry were frequent and loud. + +* June 19, 1517; Calig. B 2, 253; B.M. + + +She complained of her husband, of her poverty, of the bad faith of the +Scottish nation who still left her jointure unpaid, of not being +allowed free access to her son. She had, she said, been obliged to lay +in wed (pawn) the plate given to her by Henry, and was likely to be +driven to extreme want, as Wolsey would learn by her messenger. She +would have been still worse off, she caused her friends to write, had +not Magnus and Dacre drawn up a book at Berwick, the day before her +entry into Scotland, by which Angus, signing it, renounced all claim to +her "conjunct feoffment."* + +* Dacre to Wolsey, Harbottle, 5th March, 1518; R.O. + + +But Margaret did not stop at complaints; Henry must begin the war +again. He may, she declares, reasonably cause Scottish ships to be +taken; for she has suffered long and forborne to do evil, although she +knew she would never get good from Scotland by fair means. + +When by dint of constant urging to renewed contests the Borders had +become one vast battlefield in her quarrel, she wrote to the Marquis of +Dorset to beg him to spare the convent of Coldstream, whose abbess had +done her good service in times past.* The motive for this intercession +was no mere charitable one, the abbess being "one of the best spies for +England." + +* Thomas, Marquis of Dorset, to Henry VIII.; Calig. B 3, 255. + + +And now, for the first time, Margaret ventures to express the wish that +has for long been forming itself in her mind. She has been much +troubled by Angus since her coming to Scotland, and is so more and more +daily. They have not met this half year, and--after some hovering of +the word on her lips, she pronounces it boldly--she will part with him, +if she may by God's law, and with honour to herself, for he loves her +not. Unlike Henry, when seeking a pretext to divorce his first wife, +Margaret was at no pains to disguise the motive which inspired her, and +a possibility of a flaw in the marriage is openly but a pretext for +getting rid of a husband of whom she was weary. We are at least spared +the nausea caused by Henry's conscientious scruples. She first puts +forward frankly her wish to be free from Angus, and then her +determination to divorce him if she may lawfully. But it was the only +piece of honesty in the whole business, for the suit itself was one +long, dreary series of misrepresentation and falsehood, without which +her cause could by no possibility have been gained. + +The usual plea of pre-contracts was brought forward, but as these were +of too flimsy a nature to bear investigation, Margaret declared that +the late King of Scots, her husband, was still living three years after +the battle of Flodden, and that consequently he was alive when she was +married to the Earl of Angus.* As the king's body had never been found, +this assertion could not be disproved, though there was no reasonable +doubt as to James having fallen on that calamitous day. + +* Magnus to Wolsey; State Papers, vol. iv., p. 385; R.O. + + +However, in spite of her bold swearing, Margaret was not so certain of +success, but that she was anxious for Henry's support, and she not only +entreated her brother to befriend her, but promised him that she would +consult only his wishes in taking another husband, and that this time +she would not part from him.* If she thought that a fellow-feeling +would make him wondrous kind in this matter, she was disappointed. It +was no part of Henry's policy that his sister should put Angus away, +for although she had not consulted him in the choice of her second +husband, Henry was very well satisfied with him. He could to a certain +extent control him, and at all events, while married to him the queen +could not contribute by any foreign alliance to the power and greatness +of Scotland. + +* Calig. B 1, 232; B.M. + + +But Angus was making himself obnoxious to his wife beyond her very +limited capacity for endurance. Not only had he proved a faithless +husband, but what was infinitely worse to her mind, he refused to give +up the income of her Ettrick Forest estate, which she had made over to +him in the days when his handsome face and figure had first struck her +fancy, and when she thought nothing too costly to lavish upon him. She +had made him great, to her own and the country's misfortune, and it was +a difficult matter to make him small again; but all Scotland felt the +evil effects of his power, of his ascendancy over the young king, and +of the feuds which resulted therefrom. So great was the scourge felt to +be, that the Council appealed to Margaret to recall the Regent Albany, +that he might restore order. + +Margaret was aware that Albany's return was the thing of all others +that Henry wished to avoid, but it suited her for the nonce to act the +part of a good Scotswoman, and she wrote an imploring letter to the +duke, begging him to come back and take pity on his unhappy country.* +Notwithstanding this, her complaints to Henry through Lord Dacre of her +bad treatment, and her supplications to be allowed to return to +England, did not cease. She had "liever be dead than live among the +Scots," and she entreats that no peace may be renewed, unless "some +good may be taken," that she may live at ease.** + +* Calig. B 1, 232. + +** Ibid. B 2, 195. + + +Wolsey was not sparing in his remarks on the queen's double-dealing, +the facts of which had all been disclosed to him by spies. He has, he +says, represented to the king her brother "the folly of Queen Margaret +in leaning to her enemies, and departing from her husband," +notwithstanding what Dacre has already written to her. Dacre, by the +king's desire, is to tell her that if she persists in her dishonourable +course she can expect no favour.* + +* Ibid. B 3, 106 + + +Meanwhile the Earl of Surrey had been dispatched with an army to the +Borders, and threatened to invade Scotland, unless the Duke of Albany +were abandoned, and Margaret reinstated as regent. On the 16th +September 1523, he wrote two letters to the queen, one intended for her +eyes alone, the other to be shown to her son's Council. In the first he +says that the King of England would approve of her son's "coming +forth," and shaking off all tutelage but his mother's, for Surrey is +about to waste Scotland, and the young king's plea for emancipating +himself should be that he cannot suffer his realm to be laid waste. +Margaret is to summon the lords to take up arms in her son's defence, +and she will then be in a position to command Surrey to retire. She +will thus form a party for her son, and be enabled to send Albany and +his Frenchmen back to France. Then Surrey will turn his arms against +her enemies. + +If Margaret keeps her promise, money will be forthcoming. In the event +of her causing James V, to "come forth" to Edinburgh, he has no doubt +that if the king will command his subjects on their allegiance to take +his part, the most of them will do so, especially the Commons, who must +be roused to drive the French to Dunbar. The Earl of Surrey will be +ready to give assistance.* + +* Calig. B 4, 196. + + +The second letter was to the same effect, though more cautiously +worded. The King of England would be glad to hear of his nephew's +prosperous estate, but would certainly be dissatisfied that his nobles +suffered their monarch and themselves to be kept in subjection by +Albany. Surrey was ready to help with men and money all who would come +forward to protect their natural sovereign; but peace could never be +between the two realms, if the Scots did not give up the duke. As for +Margaret's hope that Henry would be a better friend to Scotland on her +account, Surrey had been ordered to desist from doing any more hurt at +her request. He had now waited along time, he wrote, hoping that the +Scottish lords would have shown themselves more natural loving subjects +than they now appeared, seeing that the day appointed for the Duke of +Albany's arrival had passed, and that their king was in no greater +safety than he was before. All the world would see that the fault was +not Henry's, but that of the Scots, who refused to put HIM out of the +realm who meant to destroy the king and usurp the crown. Henry would +never refrain from making war upon Scotland until they forsook. Albany, +and sued to him for peace. On their doing this, Surrey had full +authority to treat with them, and to assist them with money and troops.* + +* State Papers, iv. 21--"Copy of my letter to be showed to the lords of +Scotland; in Surrey's hand"; R.O. + + +This advice produced no effect whatever on the Scottish lords, whose +loyalty to the regent remained unshaken. But Margaret did not consider +herself hampered by any pledges given to Albany, and two days after the +receipt of the letters, she urged Surrey to come to Edinburgh, or +somewhere near it, at once, declaring that the lords would certainly do +as she desired. As for the threatened laying waste, however, "they +laughed at injuries done only to the poor people." A thousand men with +artillery would have Edinburgh at their mercy if they came suddenly. +Surrey must go at it at once, or let it be. Failing this, she desired +leave to come to England with her true servants, adding, "for I will +come away and I should steal out of it."* + +* Ibid. 26. + + +The truth was, that, far from being certain that the lords would agree +to any part of the scheme, Margaret knew well that she had but a +handful of friends in Scotland, and that her sole hope of regaining the +regency lay in Henry's power of coercion. Trusting that Surrey would +really march on Edinburgh, she did all she could to persuade the +Council to allow the young king to be brought to that place, and to +appoint new guardians, friendly to her interests. In both these +endeavours she failed, and James remained at Stirling. + +"The lords are all fallen away from the queen, and adhere to the +governor," wrote the Abbess of Coldstream to Sir John Bulmer, and +Surrey passed on the information to Wolsey, telling him that Margaret +had no credit with the Scotch, and that they looked hourly for Albany's +arrival. + +As for Lord Surrey, even if he had been willing to besiege Edinburgh, +he would have been frustrated by the want of sufficient means of +transport for his victuals. Had he not caused his soldiers to carry +their food in wallets, and their drink in bottles, it would not have +been possible for him to have reached the North, and a raid into the +enemy's country necessitated a far ampler stock of provisions than +could be carried in this way. The queen's desire that he should take +Edinburgh, arose, he thought, from her anxiety to provide herself with +a way of escape from her difficulties.* + +* Surrey to Wolsey, Berwick, 21st Sept. 1523; R.O. + + +In England it was commonly believed that the Scottish lords were in so +great a fear of Albany, who was hourly expected to arrive, that they +would break their covenant with him even though they had each given him +four of the best of their sons as hostages. But Surrey declared +vehemently that although they might deceive Margaret, they should not +deceive him. + +The suspense was ended at last, and Margaret wrote to inform him of the +regent's arrival. Surrey replied at once, desiring to know further what +number of horse and foot soldiers had come with him, and what +countrymen they were. He could give her no advice about coming away, +but would meet her in any given part of the Marches, and at whatever +time she pleased. Margaret in return was to let him know when the Duke +of Albany intended to invade England. In conclusion, hoping to prevent +any rapprochement between her and the regent, he warned her that Albany +would most certainly be king if the king were not well guarded, "for +the Frenchmen can empoison one, and yet he shall not die for a year +after."* + +* Surrey's Letterbook; Tanner MS. 90, f. 47; Bodleian Library. + + +The slippery nature of Margaret's friendship was well known to Surrey, +and he kept up the fiction of Albany's nefarious intentions, in the +hope of making her faithful to English interests. Unluckily for his +schemes, he did not sufficiently study the springs of her actions, +which would have taught him to be more lavish with his bribes. The end +of her next letter ought to have opened his eyes to the necessity of +striking a bargain with her if he would hope to draw her into the +English net. After telling him that the duke has held a council at +Glasgow, and that he means to march into England in a fortnight, she +goes on to warn him that Scotland was never before made so strong, and +says that it is still a secret whether Albany intends to attack the +east or west Border, but she thinks both. She gives him a detailed +account of the numbers and condition of his soldiers, and estimates his +French contingent at 6000 men, adding that German reinforcements are +expected by the first fair wind. They trust to win Berwick, and if they +succeed, she and her son are undone. Then she begs to know how she is +to get away, and have some money. If Henry will not help her, she must +perforce ask help of Albany; and she declares significantly, "and he +will cause me to do as he will, or else he will give me nothing." He +has not yet come to her, but he writes "very good writings of his own +hand, and as many fair words as can be devised," to which however she +professes to give no credence.* + +*Calig. B 6, 379; State Papers, iv. 40. + + +Surrey was of the opinion that Margaret should remain in Scotland, as +her coming to England would cause embarrassment and expense. Two +thousand marks would hardly satisfy her in England, whereas she would +be content with three or four hundred pounds a year in Scotland, to say +nothing of the loss Henry would incur if she came away, in being +deprived of the information she sent. + +But it was just this haggling over bribes that prevented Margaret from +being altogether on Henry's side, and threw her into the arms of the +more generous Albany whenever there was the least hope of gain. Thus, a +month later, after the somewhat hasty retreat from Wark, she told +Surrey that she had been obliged to take what money the duke would give +her; that she would do her best to keep her son, but that she could not +displease Albany without Henry's support. She implored Surrey to plead +with the king for her, and in return for his help she would inform him +of all she knew; but he must keep it secret.* + +* Calig. B 1, 281. + + +At the same time, she gave the duke to understand that she had incurred +her brother's displeasure for his sake,* and the same legend was +repeated to the lords of the Council. Complaining to them of the bad +treatment she had received in Scotland, she begged them to bear in mind +the loyalty she had always shown to her son, to the lord governor, and +to the realm, incurring for the last three or four years her brother's +displeasure, for Albany's sake, at whose desire she was always ready to +write the best she could.** Immediately upon this remarkable statement +came Henry's answer to her last appeal, in the guise of one hundred +marks for information received, together with the refusal of the truce +which Albany had repeatedly solicited.*** The smallness of the sum +prompted Margaret to write a diplomatic letter to the Earl of Surrey, +in which she declared that she had promised before the lords to be a +good Scotswoman, and to agree to whatever was for the good of her son, +with whom she was resolved to bide as long as she might, although the +lords were bent on separating them. They cannot, they say, help her to +her "conjunct feoffment" while her brother makes war on them, and she +knows not where any other help may be got. If she is to live with her +son, Henry must contribute to her support, as he has done to a certain +extent already. She will do as he commands her, and have as few +servants as possible. She had asked the governor and lords in Council +why she was "holden suspect," and not allowed to be with her son; and +the answer she received was that she was Henry's sister, and would +perhaps take the king into England, and they knew well her brother +would do more for her than any other. She had answered that her deeds +had shown otherwise, and that she could prove the malice of such an +accusation! THUS HENRY WOULD SEE HOW SHE SUFFERED FOR HIS SAKE.**** + +* Ibid. 159. + +** Ibid. B 2, 268. + +*** State Papers, iv. 60, 26th Nov. 1523; R.O. + +**** Queen Margaret to the Earl of Surrey, Dec. 1523; R.O. + + +The next scene in the comedy is Margaret's anger on hearing that Albany +is treating with Henry for peace, without her intervention. "It is +hard," she complains, "to be out with the governor here, and not to +know what the king will do for me!" If she had flattered Albany, she +asserts, she might have had "great profits," but she will not take them +till she knows Henry's mind. She has not spoken with Albany since +Surrey left, and would not do so as long as he remained in Scotland, so +discontented were they with each other.* Upon this follows an +astounding revelation. Surrey had received a dispatch from the queen +containing another document, the seals of which had been broken and +closed again. It was a copy of an agreement between Margaret and the +Duke of Albany, but the manner in which it came to be enclosed in her +letter never transpired, though it was thought that the packet had been +opened by a spy, and the paper inserted, in order to ruin her prospects +with her brother. + +* Calig. B 1, 209, 21st April 1524. + + +The enclosed document ran thus:-- + +The queen promises that during the minority of her son, she will never +suffer anything contrary to the duke's authority, and will inform him +of it, and hinder as much as she can any wrong intended against him; +she will not consent to a truce or peace with England without the +comprehension of her son's allies; she will assist to keep him +securely, according to the decree of the last Parliament; she will do +all she can to hinder any practice against him of which she may hear, +and will inform the governor of it if he be in the country, and if not, +those who have charge of the king; she will not consent to anything +contrary to the alliance with France, or to the treaty of Rouen, and +will further a marriage between her son and one of the daughters of the +King of France. The governor promises to do the like, and to obtain for +her an honourable reception by the King of France, if she incurs the +enmity of her brother, and is forced to quit the country in consequence +of the assistance he may give to Angus, or other evil-disposed persons +who may interfere with her goods and conjunct feoffment; he will if she +requests, send some of his servants with her, and will maintain her +against everyone except the king her son. Both parties swear to keep +these promises upon the Holy Gospels.* + +* Add. MS. 24, 965, ff. 231 and 234; B.M. + + +Wolsey, upon receipt of this information, at once addressed +instructions to Dacre, charging him to find out whether such an +agreement had really been made, and if so, how the copy of it had found +its way into the queen's letter. + +Dacre therefore wrote to tell her of the discovery, and recapitulating +the contents of the enclosed document, added that the king desired to +know whether she had consented to it of her own free will, why it was +done, whether she herself sent the copy, or if not who did send it, and +with what intent. + +Margaret replied by an indignant but weak denial. The instrument in +question was one, she averred, which the duke had DESIRED her to +execute, but which she had declined at all costs to meddle with. + +This explanation was too improbable for Wolsey to accept, the whole +course of Margaret's actions tending to show that had Albany tried and +failed to draw her into such a compact, she would unhesitatingly have +disclosed the negotiation in order to make capital out of her refusal. +The opportunity for demanding large sums as a reward for her fidelity +to Henry's interests would have proved irresistible; while as a matter +of fact the transaction had never been so much as hinted at in any of +her letters. Vague allusions, to the effect that Albany was continually +outbidding Henry, had been her refrain for years; but whereas she sent +minute and circumstantial details of every other secret likely to +prejudice the country and the regent, she had been silent as to any +definite overtures such as those contained in the document referred to. + +The alternative was to believe that, while pretending to be false, for +once she was true to Scotland; and yet she stands so deeply "rooted in +dishonour," that her acquittal puts but little to her credit. Her only +resource, when Dacre persisted in his accusation, was a feeble +complaint of the bad treatment she was receiving at her brother's +hands, pleading that he neither regarded herself nor her writing; that +she had not failed, and did not mean to fail, but that if others had +been in her place they would have acted very differently.* + +* Add. MS. 24, 965, f. 223, 19th May 1524; B.M. + + +To this Dacre replied ruthlessly, that it was well known both in +Scotland and in England, not only that she had assented to the bond +found in her letter, but that it had passed her sign manual and seal, +in return for which, the Duke of Albany had given her the wardship and +marriage of the young Earl of Huntly and of others, together with other +gifts and rewards---a proceeding which, declared Dacre, was a great +dishonour to her brother, and would perhaps after all avail her but +little. He marvelled also greatly at her pretended ignorance of the +negotiations pending between Albany and himself, because in his last +letter he had informed her of all the proceedings.* + +* Ibid. 965, f. 244, 27th May 1524. + + +For some time, Margaret continued to deny feebly having formally allied +herself with the regent, murmuring at Dacre's "sharpness" towards her, +notwithstanding which Dacre continued to bring fresh proofs of her +duplicity before her, till Henry at last ordered him to let the matter +drop, whereupon she was willing to do the same.* + +* Add. MS. 24, 965, f. 253; B.M. + + +Having failed in the past to secure Margaret's undivided favour, Henry +now took a more persuasive line, and sought to convince his sister how +much good might in future accrue to her if she would but "go the +fruitful way." The unfortunate Angus, who had taken refuge in England, +was now sent back, in the hope that a possible reconciliation with her +husband might detach her from Albany. But this was far from succeeding. +Margaret could with difficulty be induced to receive him, and all the +money that Henry sent to her went to strengthen the hands of her +husband's enemies, so that Angus was obliged to entreat that no further +supplies might be provided. Margaret then veered round, and said that +Albany had sent to her with great offers if she would join his party, +adding that perhaps the duke would marry her after getting her +divorced. How this could be possible, considering that Albany had a +wife already, might puzzle a mind more fettered by the logic of facts +than was the queen's. + +That she was seriously anxious to be agreeable to the duke is seen by +the instructions which she delivered to John Cantely, who was to tell +the regent of her goodwill towards him and the kingdom of France. And +lest he should interpret unfavourably the circumstance of her having +sent ambassadors to England, she assured him that she would do nothing +without including France. Finally, she wished to know his intentions +towards her and what he would give her. In the event of her taking his +part against England, which she will certainly do if Henry continues to +help Angus, Albany must secure for her the protection of the French +king. If this king desires to have her and her son on his side, he must +support them. + +But Albany must keep the matter secret, and not allow her letters to be +sent into England, as has been done formerly, and she will take his +part against everyone except her son.* + +* Double de la credence de la Royne et memoire de Mr. John Cantely; R.O. + + +This was written on the 22nd February 1525, but on the 31st March +following, Margaret, in a stormy interview with Angus, angrily denied +having negotiated with Albany at all. She swore that she had always +sought to please Henry, and complained of his letters being "sore and +sharp." She had taken a great matter on hand at his request, and had +had much trouble with the duke for his sake, yet now that she had +plainly told the regent that she followed Henry's pleasure, Henry would +have no more to do with her. If he will not be kind to her, she hopes +at least that he will not cause Angus to trouble her in her living. She +has a plea against Angus before the Pope, and he cannot interfere with +her by law.* + +* Calig. B 7, 3. + + +It was clearly to Henry's interest to persuade Margaret to take her +husband back, for Angus belonged with the whole Douglas family to +Albany's bitterest enemies. The reconciliation between him and the +regent had been but a short interlude brought about solely from +self-interest on the part of Angus, and followed by a deep and lasting +feud. Added to this claim on Henry's friendship was the fact that he +possessed a powerful influence over the young King James. But with the +page of Henry's own domestic history open before us, it is not possible +to repress a smile at the arguments against her divorce which Henry put +before Margaret, at the very moment when he was trying to force the +Pope's hand, in order to obtain from him a sentence against his own +marriage. The following substance of a letter, written it is true by +Wolsey, but dictated by his master, applies in every detail as well to +Henry's own case as to Margaret's. If we change the pronoun, substitute +London for Rome, king for queen, Katharine for Angus, all that he +causes Wolsey to say becomes as applicable to himself as to his sister. + +After desiring her to accept favourably Henry's message, which, he +says, much concerns the wealth of her son and her own repute, the +cardinal urges her brother's hope that the "undeceivable spirit of God, +which moved him to send to her, will effectually work." Amid the cares +of his government he has never forgotten her, and he hopes she will +turn to God's word, "the vyvely doctrine of Jesus Christ, the only +ground of salvation" (1 Cor. 3). He reminds her of the divine ordinance +of inseparable matrimony, first instituted in Paradise, and hopes her +Grace will perceive how she was seduced by flatterers to an unlawful +divorce from "the right noble Earl of Angus," etc., upon untrue and +insufficient grounds. Furthermore, "the shameless sentence sent from +Rome" plainly showed how unlawfully it was handled, judgment being +given against a party neither present in person nor by proxy. He urges +her further, for the weal of her soul, and to avoid the inevitable +damnation threatened against "advoutrers," to reconcile herself with +Angus as her true husband, or out of mere natural affection for her +daughter, whose excellent beauty and pleasant behaviour, nothing less +godly than goodly, furnished with virtuous and womanly demeanour, +should soften her heart. That she should be reputed baseborn cannot be +avoided, except the queen will relinquish the "advoutrous" company with +him that is not, nor may not be, of right her husband.* + +* Calig. B 6, 194. + + +The individual here mentioned was Harry Stuart, with whom Margaret had +contracted a secret marriage, having by dint of perjury and a tissue of +lies, obtained a declaration of invalidity against her union with +Angus. She does not appear to have been in the least affected by +Henry's hypocritical reasoning, but the manner in which her son +received the news of her third marriage caused her some inconvenience. +In his displeasure, James sent Lord Erskine to besiege his mother and +her new husband in Stirling Castle; but what promised to be a tragedy +had a somewhat ridiculous end, for Margaret, in terror of what might +follow, at once gave up her husband, who after a short imprisonment was +allowed to escape. He promptly rejoined the queen, and James +subsequently forgave him, and created him Lord Methven. + +But not even when her son had come to his own did Margaret cease to +plot and intrigue. Henry's suspicious character imperatively demanded +that all that was going on in Scotland should be known without delay at +the English court, and his sister was the only possible agent for the +purpose. It does not appear that her treachery, now doubly odious, ever +cost her the least qualm. The climax was, however, reached, when after +persuading James to confide to her his private instructions to the +Scottish ambassador residing in London, she contrived that the +information thus obtained should be in Henry's hands at the same moment +that it reached its legitimate destination. + +Fortunately for the affairs of Scotland, the treasonable correspondence +was discovered; and Margaret narrowly escaped imprisonment. The +immediate result was to put an end to the more friendly intercourse +that had sprung up between the two countries, and to prevent a meeting +between the two sovereigns, in process of negotiation. + +At this interview, which was to have taken place at York, Henry hoped +to convert his nephew to his own views regarding the Pope; and in order +to pave the way to, a good understanding between them, he sent Barlow +and Holcroft to Scotland with a lengthy document containing, with much +fulsome flattery of James, all Henry's choice vocabulary of epithets +hurled against the "Bishop of Rome."* + +* Hamilton Papers--Instructions to Barlow and Holcroft, 3rd Oct. 1535, +fol. 27. + + +Margaret, ignorant that her son had discovered her treachery, continued +to urge him to proceed to York; but her eagerness only roused his +suspicions that worse treason lay behind. + +"The Queen, your Grace's sister," wrote Lord William Howard to Henry, +"because she hath so earnestly solicited in the cause of meeting, is in +high displeasure with the King, her son, he bearing her in hand that +she received gifts of your Highness to betray him, with many other +unkind and suspicious words."* + +*State Papers, iv. 46; R.O. + + +Enough has been already seen of Margaret's methods to make it quite +clear what her next step would be. Out of favour with James, she of +course threw the whole brunt of her misfortune on Henry, for whose sake +she had incurred so much danger and expense, having lived for the last +six months at court for the sole purpose of advancing his affairs.* But +Henry was beginning to weary of his sister's complaints and appeals for +money. Besides, James would in future guard his secrets better, and +Margaret almost cease to be useful as a spy. So she must not expect him +to disburse notable sums, merely because she is his sister, and must +henceforth learn to be content with the entirely sufficient provision +made for her on her marriage with the King of Scots.** + +* Add. MS. 32, 616, f. 87; B.M. + +** State Papers, v. 56; R.O. + + +This was all the consolation he could afford her for some time to come, +for besides his other reasons for disregarding the letters which she, +nothing daunted by his silence, continued to send him, Henry was too +much occupied with his own concerns to bestow much thought on a sister +whose power of helping him was now small. It was the moment of Anne +Boleyn's fall, and he was engrossed with the list of crimes of which he +was about to accuse the unhappy woman. + +On the subject of Margaret's various marriages, her brother had ever +failed to manifest that sympathy which a similarity of tastes would +seem to justify. He had assumed the tone of a moralist on her +separation from Angus, and had treated Lord Methven in his letters with +scant respect, and when in the course of time she began to be weary of +her new spouse, and to complain of him with increasing bitterness, it +was long before Henry could be roused to express any interest in the +subject. At last, however, he found a convenient season for attending +to her. She had written to inform him that whereas she did Lord Meffen +(sic) the honour to take him as her husband, he had spent her lands and +profits upon his own kin, and had brought her into debt, to the sum of +8000 marks Scots, and would give her no account of it. She trusted the +king her son would treat her to his and her own honour; but if not, she +had no refuge but in Henry, and she begged him not to suffer her to be +wronged. + +To this, Henry deigned to reply that he should be sorry if his good +brother and nephew treated her otherwise than a son should treat his +mother. As it appeared from certain evidence, she was well-handled, and +had grown to much wealth and quiet; but according to other reports, +quite the contrary, so that he was in doubt which to believe. "Also," +he continues, "having heard at other times from you of your +evil-treatment by your son and Lord Muffyn (sic), and as we are sending +the bearer into those parts, on our business, we desire you to show him +the points wherein you note yourself evil-handled, and whether you +desire us to treat of them with your son, or only generally to +recommend your condition." * + +* State Papers, v. 63, 65. + + +Margaret had remained faithful to Lord Methven for about ten years, and +it was not till 1537 that she thought of formally applying for a +divorce, her chief plea being that be wasted her money, although she +said she had "forty famous proofs" against him.* + +* Hamilton Papers, 13th Oct. 1537, f. 105. + + +James was furious, and ordered that the divorce, whether obtained at +the cost of more false oaths, or whether Margaret's so-called third +husband really had a wife living when the union was contracted, should +not be proclaimed in Scotland. + +This constituted Margaret's famous grievance against James, his +objection to her divorce being, his mother declared, the fear lest she +should pass into England and remarry the Earl of Angus. "And this Harry +Stuart, Lord of Methven, causes him to believe this of ME!" she +exclaimed contemptuously.* One plea for getting rid of the now despised +Harry Stuart is too amusing to be omitted. James was in France, whither +he had gone to bring home his bride, the young and beautiful Magdalene, +daughter of the French king, and Margaret thought to induce Henry to +interest himself in her divorce through his jealousy of the French. + +* State Papers, v. 119. + + +After begging him to send a special messenger to the king her son, to +know his "utter mind," she says: "For now, dearest brother, your Grace +I trust will consider that now the queen his wife is to come into this +realm soon after Easter, as he hath sent word here, to make ready for +the same, and that being, it will be great dishonour to him that I, his +mother, having a just cause to part, can nought get a final end; and I +trust your Grace will consider I may do your Grace and my son more +honour to be without him (Lord Methven) than to have him, considering +that he is but a sober man, and if the Queen that is to come, see me +not entreated as I should be, she will think it an evil example." * + +* Hamilton Papers, f. 109. + + +But all her efforts were fruitless; Henry could not be persuaded to +take up her quarrel, and James was obdurate. His mother, however, then +in her forty-ninth year, dispensed with legal formality altogether, and +allied herself to a certain John Stuart, who, according to some, is +identical with the adventurous Earl of Arran, so notorious in the reign +of James VI. + +A few more miserable years of petty intrigues, it being no longer in +her power to carry on important ones, and Margaret came to the close of +her faithless, undignified life. But before the end, a ray of sorrow +for her mis-spent days brightened the hitherto unrelieved gloom of her +career. Henry's messenger, sent after her death to gather up the +details of her last moments, and above all, to find out whether she had +made a will, wrote to the king as follows:-- + +"When she did perceive that death did approach, she did desire the +friars that was her confessors, that they should sit on their knees +before the King, and to beseech him that he would be good and gracious +unto the Earl of Angwische, and did extremely lament and ask God mercy +that she had offended unto the said Earl as she had." + +The friars were also to plead with her son for the Lady Margaret +Douglas, the daughter whom she had so remorselessly abandoned, and to +beg him that she might have some of her mother's goods. And thus, +making what reparation she could, with penitent words on her lips, +Margaret Tudor passed away. + + + +II. NOR WIFE NOR WIDOW + +The history of the first two marriages of Henry VIII. is of such vital +importance, affecting as they did the whole course of religion in +England, from the first whisperings of the divorce down to the present +day, that it is not to be wondered at if the royal Bluebeard's +subsequent matrimonial alliances have been considered negligible +quantities. And yet, at least one of them was of extreme political, and +even religious, importance, and was fraught with so much mystery that +until the most recent investigations, the true inwardness of the matter +has been totally misapprehended. The story of Anne of Cleves' portrait, +and Henry's supposed disappointment when he saw the lady herself for +the first time, is authentic in so far as it was exactly what the king +chose to have circulated about his fourth marriage. But if it contained +half the truth, it was the other half that really mattered. + +After the fall of Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell had by his astute policy +succeeded in bringing about a religious state of things in England that +approached very nearly to Lutheranism. Taking advantage of Henry's +pique and anger at the Pope's refusal to grant him a divorce from +Katharine of Arragon, Cromwell set about widening the breach between +England and Rome. After weakening the power of the bishops and lower +clergy, he was able to force the oath of supremacy upon the nation, and +having thus satisfied his master's pride and vanity, his next step was +by the dissolution of the monasteries to pander to Henry's greed, while +at the same time he filled his own pockets. + +In pursuit of these ends he had covered the land with gibbets, and +caused the noblest heads in England to fall upon the block. He had +branded the king's own daughter with the stigma of infamy, and to +obtain her consent thereto had kept the axe suspended over her. He had +been able to accomplish all this because thus far he had taken Henry's +measure correctly, working upon his worst passions, and suggesting ever +fresh means of satisfying them. Then came a point at which his +interests and those of the king diverged. + +Cromwell was deeply pledged to the Lutheran cause, and his plan was to +throw Henry into the arms of the Lutheran princes of Germany. He had +already flooded the country with foreign heretics, using them as his +tools to protestantise the Church in England. + +Jane Seymour died in 1537, and Cromwell at once negotiated a marriage +between Henry and Anne, daughter of the Duke of Cleves, Henry +consenting for the reason that it behoved him to fortify himself by an +alliance that would enable him to make a stand against a possible +combination of forces between the Pope, the Emperor, and the French +King. But at the very moment when Cromwell, believing himself to be at +the point of realising all his desires, was pledging his master to +marry Anne of Cleves, a reaction had set in which he so completely +disregarded as to seem in utter ignorance of it. + +Nothing annoyed Henry more than to be twitted with being a heretic, and +whenever Henry was annoyed a blow might be expected. The loathed +epithet was now very frequently used in reference to him by the emperor +and others, and he was bent on showing Europe that he could be a very +good Catholic without the Pope. It irritated him to think that Cromwell +had laid him open to retort in this contention by a formal alliance +with the Lutherans, who were undeniably heretics. It served his purpose +very well to play them off against the emperor and even Francis I., but +it was not his will to be bound irrevocably by any contract. When +Cromwell thought to put the finishing touch to his triumphant scheme, +he only effected his own doom. He boasted to the Lutherans that he +would soon bring England over to their forms of faith, and on this +promise the match between Henry and Anne was concluded; but he failed +to rouse the German princes to a contest with the emperor, which was +all that Henry, apart from his minister's policy, had aimed at from the +beginning. With Henry the whole scheme was tentative, and the proposed +marriage but a detail of that scheme. When it fell through, he desired +to turn his back upon Cleves and the rest of the German princes; +moreover, he had no further need of Cromwell himself, who was rather in +the way of his new plans, unless the minister could find a means to +disentangle the imbroglio he had created with regard to Anne. + +Like a child with a new toy, Henry was now engrossed in the fun of +being Pope in his own dominions; and as Head of the Church of England +whom it behoved to reprobate heresy in every shape and form, he +conducted a trial against one John Nicholson, who, refusing to recant +his heretical opinions, was burned at Smithfield. After this he felt +confident of being as Catholic as the real Pope, and safe from +opprobrium. He proceeded to bring forward deliberations in Parliament +on the subject of religion, with the result that the famous Act of the +Six Articles was passed. This Act, nicknamed by the Lutherans "the whip +with six cords," brought in a reaction in favour of the old religion, +which lasted till Henry's death, but matters between England and Rome +remained as they were. + +Meanwhile, the lady Anne of Cleves had made her unwelcome appearance. +One of the most curious and indeed incomprehensible facts concerning +Henry VIII., is the admiring awe and grovelling gratitude with which he +was adored by most of the women whom he had the privilege of +ill-treating. After the year 1527, when he first conceived the desire +of raising Anne Boleyn to the throne, and of divorcing Katharine, +except for the short period during which he was married to Jane +Seymour, there were always two rival claimants for his hand. Not only +was Katharine ever generously ready to forget past insults if he would +graciously extend his clemency towards her, and send Anne away, but +every other woman with whom he came in contact, addressed him in words +more suited to a divinity than to an earthly king. His daughter Mary, +after having been spurned as the most degraded and abject creature of +the realm, longed for nothing more ardently than "to attain the +fruition of his most desired presence." + +Although the personal appearance of Anne of Cleves did not bear out the +exaggerated reports of the German agent Mont, who had told Henry that +her beauty exceeded that of the Duchess of Milan "as the sun outshines +the silver moon," she was found on her arrival in England to be "tall, +bright, and graceful," her liveliness making amends for any defect as +to regularity of feature. Comparing her claim to beauty with that of +the other wives of Henry VIII., it does not appear that she contrasted +unfavourably with any, not even with Katharine Howard, who was very +generally admired. The king himself observed to Cromwell that Anne was +"well and seemly, and had a queenly manner," but that he found it +difficult to converse with her as she knew no word of any language but +German. + +He had first met her privately at Rochester, and had dined with her, +their public meeting taking place about half a mile from the foot of +Shooter's Hill, where she rested in a gorgeous pavilion prepared for +the occasion. Henry came marching through Greenwich Park with a +brilliant escort, and the bride and bridegroom met full merrily. The +king embraced the lady ceremoniously, and the chronicler Hall, some +time afterwards, in describing their entry into Greenwich, breaks out +into one of his eulogistic periods: + +"O what a sight was this, to see so goodly a Prince and so noble a King +to ride with so fair a lady, of so goodly a stature, and so womanly a +countenance, and in especial of so good qualities. I think no creature +could see them but his heart rejoiced!" + +Nevertheless, Henry's moody question, "What remedy?" which obviously +had its origin in no mere disappointment in the matter of Anne's beauty +or power to charm, was calculated to strike terror into Cromwell's +soul, the chancellor knowing full well that all this bravery was but an +appearance, and that his great scheme of Lutheranising England to the +greater glory of himself was irrevocably wrecked, and his own fate +sealed. The king went on to say that if it were not that the lady had +come so far, and for fear of making a ruffle in the world, and of +driving her brother into the emperor's arms and those of the French +king, he would not go through with the marriage ceremony. + +As a forlorn hope of escape, the bride was asked to make a declaration +that she was free from all precontracts, which she did without the +least hesitation, and there was nothing to be done but for Henry "to +put his head into the yoke," and to make an insignificant political +alliance, which would thenceforth serve no political end. As a Catholic +king, Head of the Church and Defender of the Faith, there was no room +in his plans for a Lutheran queen. However, he no longer regarded the +marriage tie as a knot that could not be undone at a pinch. Cranmer +could be counted on to be pliable in that matter, and if Cromwell made +difficulties, a sword was hanging over him that could be made to fall +at any moment, and Henry knew that the death of the man who had been +the terror of England for ten years would be hailed with enthusiasm by +the whole nation. Henry's foreign policy had always been a +non-committal one, and Cromwell's daring intrigues had carried his +master further than he intended to go. As the chancellor could find no +means of getting him out of the mess, he lost his life, and Anne of +Cleves her barely assumed dignity. + +The disgusting letters which Cromwell wrote from the Tower, in the hope +that his tardy playing into the king's hands would obtain him a pardon, +were of immense use to Henry in confusing the public mind as to the +real reason for his repudiation of Anne, for he was anxious in breaking +off from Protestant Germany not to turn the Duke of Cleves into an +enemy. The want of decency and the unchivalrous sacrifice of Anne's +honour and dignity are perhaps not surprising between such men as Henry +and Cromwell, but it is startling to find the lady's brother swallowing +the insult calmly. Nevertheless, Henry's diplomatic insight had +correctly gauged the coarsening effect of Luther's moral code on a mind +that could see less offence in a stain of this kind than in a frank +rupture of the marriage-treaty before Anne had been allowed to set foot +in England. There is this, however, to be said, that the possession of +the lady gave Henry a decided advantage over her brother. + +A few weeks after the marriage, or what passed for such, Anne was sent +to Richmond on the pretext of being out of reach of the plague, but +there was no talk at that time of any plague, and if there had been, +Henry would certainly have gone away also, for no one feared the +epidemic more than he. On her departure, a commission was appointed +under the Great Seal to inquire into the validity of her marriage, and +in an incredibly short space of time it was declared null, by reason of +a pre-contract with the son of the Duke of Lorraine. Henry then endowed +his ex-queen with lands to the value of 4000 pounds annually, with a +house at Richmond, and another at Bletchingly. + +Whatever she may have felt, Anne expressed herself willing to be +divorced--perhaps she was thankful to escape with her head--and desired +the Duke of Cleves' messenger "to commend her to her brother, and say +she was merry and well entreated." He reported of her that she said +this "with such alacrity and pleasant gesture, that he might well +testify that he found her not miscontented. After she had dined she +sent the King the ring delivered unto her at their pretended marriage, +desiring that it might be broken in pieces as a thing which she knew of +no force or value." Henry sent her many gifts and tokens "as his sister +and none otherwise," and told her that she was to be the first lady in +the realm next after the queen and the king's children. He exhorted her +to be "quiet and merry," and subscribed himself "your loving brother +and friend." After his fifth marriage she was designated as "the old +Queen, the King's sister." + +The French ambassador, in a letter of the 6th August 1540, wrote:-- + +"The King being lately with a small party at Hampton Court, ten miles +hence, supped at Richmond with the Queen that was so merrily that some +thought he meant to reinstate her, but others think it was done to get +her consent to the dissolution of the marriage, and make her subscribe +what she had said thereupon, which is not only what they wanted, but +also what she thinks they expected. The latter opinion is the more +likely, as the King drew her apart, in company with the three first +councillors he had, who are not commonly called in to such confidence." + +Marillac goes on to say that he thinks it would be great inconsistency +to take her back now, and that moreover she did not sup with him as she +did when she was queen, but at another table adjoining his, as other +ladies who are not of the blood do, when he eats in company. + +On the 15th he wrote to the Duke de Montmorency:-- + +"As for her who is called Madame de Cleves, far from pretending to be +distressed, she is as joyous as ever, and wears new dresses every day, +which argues either prudent dissimulation or stupid forgetfulness of +what should so closely touch her heart. Be it as it may, it has thrown +the poor ambassador of Cleves into a fever, who sends every day to ask +if I have no news of his master." + +Even if Anne's first feeling had been one of relief that a worse fate +had not befallen her, her gaiety was obviously forced, and no doubt the +lady did "protest too much," but she had been ordered to be "quiet and +merry," and if after such a mandate she had ventured to put on a +sorrowful countenance, or to express a vain regret, her quondam husband +would probably have been--such was his disposition--less flattered by +the compliment than irritated by the command disobeyed. And so she +prudently accepted her fate and "sate like patience on a monument +smiling at grief," as it afterwards transpired, and in her efforts to +please, imposed upon herself what must have been the most trying +ordeals. + +Her marriage had taken place on the feast of the Epiphany, 1540, and in +July of the same year Henry was united to Katharine Howard, +grand-daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. This young woman's reputation +was already so notoriously bad, that it is impossible to believe that +the king could be in ignorance of the fact. Nevertheless, for the time +being, he was deeply in love, and his scruples and righteous anger were +wont to come--afterwards. Marillac describes the new queen "as rather +graceful than beautiful, and of short stature." He says:-- + +"The King is so amorous of her that he cannot treat her well enough, +and caresses her more than he did the others. She and all the Court +ladies dress in the French style, and her device is Non autre volonte +que la sienne. Madame de Cleves is as cheerful as ever, as her +brother's ambassador says." + +But others besides Anne of Cleves had reason to mourn, and Melancthon +complained that atrocious crimes were reported from England, that the +divorce with the lady of Juliers was already made, and another married, +and that "good men of our opinion in religion are murdered." + +On the 27th September, the papal nuncio wrote grimly to Cardinal +Farnese, that "SO FAR" the King of England was pleased with his new +wife, and the other, "sister of Cleeves has retired and 'LIVES.'" +Rumours, however, were persistently current that Henry intended to take +back Anne, until in November, Marillac informed his master that the new +queen had "completely acquired the King's grace," and that the other +was "no more thought of than if she were dead." + +But Marillac had soon reason to see that in making this statement he +had somewhat exaggerated. The Princess Mary seems to have been well +informed of the loose character and behaviour of Katharine Howard, and +contrived to find pretexts for a long time for absenting herself from +court, so that the queen complained to Henry that his daughter did not +treat her with the respect she had shown to the two former queens. + +But Anne of Cleves had no scruples about associating with Katharine, +and was perhaps keen to note every detail concerning her brilliant +rival, who had been more successful than herself in capturing the +king's roving fancy. She was probably as much in the dark as most +people, as to the politico-religious embarrassment she constituted. + +The French ambassador gives an amusing description of her New Year's +visit to the court:-- + +"Sire, to omit nothing that may be written about this country, Madame +Anne, sister of the Duke of Cleves, formerly Queen of England, passed +the recent festivities at Richmond, four miles from Hampton Court, to +which place the King and also the Queen sent her, on the first day of +the year, rich presents of clothes, plate and jewels, valued at six or +seven thousand crowns. And on the second day she was summoned to appear +at Hampton Court, where she was very honourably conducted by several of +the nobility, and being arrived, the King received her very graciously, +as did also the Queen, with whom she remained nearly the whole +afternoon. They danced together, and seemed so happy that neither did +the new Queen appear to be jealous or afraid that the other had come to +raise the siege, as it was rumoured, nor did the said lady of Cleves +show any sign of discontent at seeing her rival in her place. Moreover, +Sire, if it please you to hear the end of this farce, that evening, and +the next, the two ladies supped at the King's table together, although +the lady of Cleves sat a little backward, in a corner, where the +Princess of England, Madame Mary, is wont to be; and the following day, +the said lady of Cleves returned with the same escort to Richmond, +where she is visited by all the personages of the court, which makes +people think she is about to be reinstated in her former position." * + +* De Marillac, Correspondance Politique, p. 258. + + +Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, also wrote an account of this +strange visit. He says:-- + +"On the 3rd [January 1541], the lady Anne of Cleves sent the King a New +Year's present of two large horses, with violet velvet trappings, and +presented herself at Hampton Court, with her suite, accompanied only by +Lord William, the Duke of Norfolk's brother, who happened to meet her +on the road to this city. She was received by the Duchess of Suffolk, +the Countess of Hertford, and other ladies, who conducted her to her +lodgings and then to the Queen's apartments. She insisted on addressing +the Queen on her knees, for all the Queen could say, who showed her the +utmost kindness. The King then entered, and after a low bow to Lady +Anne, embraced and kissed her. She occupied a seat near the bottom of +the table at supper, but after the King had retired, the Queen and Lady +Anne danced together, and next day all three dined together. At this +time the King sent his Queen a present of a ring and two small dogs, +which she passed over to Lady Anne. That day Lady Anne returned to +Richmond."* + +* Chapuys to the Emperor; Gairdner, Cal. 16, No. 436. + + +The public rumour of the likelihood of Anne's restoration arose +probably as much from the common talk of the queen's immoral conduct as +from the circumstance of Anne's appearance at court. The reports at +length reached Katharine's ears, and it was possibly her accusing +conscience that betrayed itself in her visible depression of spirits. + +"Some days ago [wrote Chapuys to the Queen of Hungary on 6th May 1541], +this Queen being rather sad, the King wished to know the cause, and she +said it was owing to a rumour that he was going to take back Anne of +Cleves. The King told her that she was wrong to think such things, and +[that] even if he were in a position to marry, he had no mind to take +back Anne; which is very probable, as his love never returns for a +woman he has once abandoned. Yet many thought he would be reconciled to +her for fear of the King of France making war on him at the +solicitation of the Duke of Cleves and the King of Scotland." + +This was the first intimation of the storm that was soon to burst When +it suited Henry to give ear to the scandals afloat about the queen, his +grief and indignation, or what it pleased him should pass for such, +knew no bounds. + +The palace at Hampton Court where Katharine was imprisoned, was so +strictly guarded that none but certain officers could enter or leave +it. The Princess Mary, who had spent the last few months with her +stepmother, presenting a strange contrast to her surroundings, was now +sent to join Prince Edward, and her father announced that he was +heartbroken at the queen's immorality and perfidy. Anne was thought by +Chapuys to rejoice greatly at Katharine's fall, but her execution +caused little comment throughout the country. Either the nation was +indifferent or it had become accustomed to the disgrace of queen +consorts. + +Marillac, writing to Francis I. on the 11th November, says:-- + +"The way taken is the same as with Queen Anne who was beheaded. She has +taken no kind of pastime, but kept in her chamber, whereas, before, she +did nothing but dance and rejoice; and now when the musicians come, +they are told that this is no more the time to dance . . . . As to whom +the King will take, everyone thinks it will be the lady he has left, +who has conducted herself wisely in her affliction, and is more +beautiful than she was, and more regretted and commiserated than Queen +Katharine (of Arragon) was in like case. Besides, the King shows no +inclination to any other lady, and will have some remorse of +conscience, and no man in England dare suggest one of such quality as +the lady in question, for fear, if she were repudiated of falling en +quelque gros inconvenient." + +The imperial ambassador had, it is seen, estimated Henry's character +more correctly than Marillac did, for as to "remorse of conscience," we +do not find throughout the whole length of his life that the royal +miscreant ever made an attempt to expiate any one of his crimes, or to +make amends to a single individual for wrong done. + +According to Marillac, the king was so shocked and grieved at +Katharine's behaviour, that he proposed never to take another wife; but +when it was suggested that in spite of her outrageous conduct the queen +might possibly escape the punishment of death, on account of her beauty +and her sweetness of disposition, the Duke of Norfolk said that she +must of necessity die, because the king could not marry again while she +lived. + +Francis I. does not seem to have taken his envoy's account of Henry's +grief very seriously (he had known the King of England longer than +Marillac had), and replied with some apparent cheerfulness, that he was +sorry for his cousin's misfortune, and would soon send a gentleman to +condole with the king. + +Chapuys, as usual, had with greater discernment, hit the more probable +mean. + +"This King has wonderfully felt the case of the Queen, his wife, and +has certainly shown greater sorrow at her loss than at the fault, loss, +or divorce of his preceding wives. It is like the case of the woman who +cried more bitterly at the loss of her tenth husband than at the deaths +of all the others together, though they had all been good men; but it +was because she had never buried one of them before without being sure +of the next, and as yet it does not seem that he has formed any new +plan." + +Katharine was beheaded on the 13th October 1542, on the same spot on +the Tower Green where Anne Boleyn had been executed. Her end, and that +of Lady Rochester who had encouraged her in her evil life, was +penitent, and even edifying. After the execution it was remarked that +the king was in better spirits, and during the last few days before +Lent there was much feasting at Court. + +Chapuys describes the state of affairs thus:-- + +"Sunday was given up to the Lords of his Council, and Court; Monday to +the men of law; and Tuesday to the ladies, who all slept at the Court. +He himself in the morning did nothing but go from room to room to order +lodgings to be prepared for these ladies, and he made them great and +hearty cheer, without showing particular affection to any one. Indeed, +unless Parliament prays him to take another wife, he will not I think +be in a hurry to marry; besides, few if any ladies now at Court would +aspire to such an honour, for a law has just been passed, that should +any King henceforth wish to marry a subject, the lady will be bound on, +pain of death to declare if any charges of misconduct can be brought +against her, and all who know or suspect anything of the kind against +her, are bound to reveal it within twenty days, on pain of confiscation +of goods and imprisonment for life." + +Perhaps it was this general indictment of the women of Henry's court, +most certainly the echo of public opinion, that had caused the people +to persist in the belief that Anne of Cleves would regain Katharine's +strangely coveted place. Where the reputation of a whole class was so +bad as to make the above kind of declaration impossible, virtue, such +as that attributed to the Lady Anne, was at a premium, and as it was +useless to think of a suitable foreign alliance in the state of Henry's +religious opinions, justice and necessity had alike seemed to point to +the reinstatement of the discarded queen. But Henry was exceedingly +annoyed at these repeated suggestions which, forsooth, had almost +appeared TO DICTATE TO HIM, and he determined to put a stop to the free +wagging of tongues on the subject of his matrimonial affairs. + +After the fall of Katharine Howard, and before her execution, a State +Paper records that Jane Rattsay was "examined of her words to Elizabeth +Bassett, viz., 'What if God worketh this work to make the Lady Anne of +Cleves queen again?' She answered that it was an idle saying suggested +by Bassett's 'Praising the Lady Anne, and dispraising the Queen that +now is.' She declared that she never spoke at any other time of the +Lady Anne, and she thought the King's divorce from her good." Examined +as to her exclamation "What a man is the King! How many wives will he +have?" she answered that she said it "upon the sudden tidings declared +to her by Bassett, when she was sorry for the change and knew not so +much as she knows now." + +But for all Anne's prudence, and the bold front the brave woman +presented to her misfortunes, she had been secretly hoping that when +the inevitable crash came, she would be restored to the rights which +she had only renounced, because she had no alternative. Henry, however, +made no sign, and in 1543 Katharine Parr appeared on the scene. The +first mention of the king's sixth wife in the public records is a +tailor's bill for numerous items of cotton, linen, buckram, etc., and +the making of Italian gowns, pleats, and sleeves, kirtles, French, +Dutch, and Venetian gowns, Venetian sleeves, French hoods, etc., of +various materials, the total amount of the bill being 8 pounds, 9s. 5d. +This bill was delivered "to my Lady Latymer," and was copied into the +book of Skutt the tailor. + +Katharine Parr had been first married as a mere child to the old Lord +Borough of Gainsborough, and had been left a widow before she was +seventeen. She then married Lord Latimer, who died in 1543, and was +immediately sought in marriage by Sir Thomas Seymour, brother of the +king's third wife, who became Lord High Admiral in Edward's reign. +Katharine undoubtedly intended to become his wife, but as she +afterwards wrote, her "will was over-ruled by a higher power." + +On the 20th June of the same year, Lady Latimer and her sister Mrs. +Herbert were at court "with my Lady Mary's Grace and my Lady +Elizabeth," and the next mention of her is in a licence of Thomas, +Archbishop of Canterbury, "authorised thereto by parliament to Henry +VIII. (who has deigned to marry the Lady Katharine, late wife of Lord +Latimer deceased) to have the marriage solemnised in any church, +chapel, or oratory, without the issue of banns." It took place on the +12th July following, in an upper oratory called the Queen's Privy +Closet, within the honour of Hampton Court, Gardiner, Bishop of +Winchester, officiating. + +"Anne of Cleves [wrote Chapuys to Charles V.], would like to be in her +sherte [shroud] so to speak, with her mother, having especially taken +great grief and despair at the king's espousal of this last wife, who +is not nearly so beautiful as she, besides that there is no hope of +issue, seeing that she had none with her two former husbands." + +Others, besides the poor, discarded Lady Anne were also in tribulation, +and a letter from one of the Lutherans in England to Henry Bullinger, +the reformer, reports that "the king has within these two months burnt +three godly men in one day. For in July he married the widow of a +nobleman named Latimer, and he is always wont to celebrate his nuptials +by some wickedness of this kind." + +But Katharine herself was glad exceedingly, and told Lord Parr that "it +having pleased God to incline the king to take her as his wife, which +is the greatest joy and comfort that could happen to her, she informs +her brother of it as the person who has most cause to rejoice thereat, +and requires him to let her sometimes hear of his health, as friendly +as if she had not been called to this honour." + +Wriothesley, in forwarding this letter from the queen, Lord Parr's +"gracious lady and kind sister," doubts not but that he will thank God, +and frame himself to be more and more an ornament to Her Majesty. + +The marriage was in every way satisfactory. Katharine was twenty-six, +about one year younger than the Lady Mary, and was by universal fame +reported "a prudent, beautiful, and virtuous lady." The royal family +had reason to be grateful for her influence over the king, whom she +persuaded to restore both Mary and Elizabeth to their rank. To Edward +she was a second mother, and Henry seems to have looked upon her with +something akin to respect, appointing her regent when he crossed the +Channel to invade France in 1544. + +She offended him, however, on one occasion, by venturing to express a +difference of opinion on a religious question, and it was said that +articles of heresy were drawn up against her. "A good hearing it is," +exclaimed Henry, "when women become such clerks; and a thing much to my +comfort to come in mine old days to be taught by my wife! Her prudence +and tact saved her life, if it was ever seriously in danger." + +Henry's sordid tragedy was played out on the 28th January 1547, when +the tyrant breathed his last, and left his two wives and two daughters +to unravel the skein which he had so persistently entangled for them. +Katharine Parr took her fate immediately into her own hands, and +thirty-five days after Henry's death, secretly married her former +admirer, Sir Thomas, now Lord Seymour, who was described by Hayward as +"fierce in courage, courtly in fashion, in personage stately, in voice +magnificent, but somewhat empty in matter." The union was not a happy +one, owing mainly to Seymour's intrigues with the Princess Elizabeth, a +circumstance that was thought to have shortened Katharine's life. The +ci-devant queen died at Sudeley Castle, after having given birth to a +daughter, in August 1548, aged thirty-six. + +After the one tragic episode in her life, the course of Anne of Cleves +ran smoothly enough. Mary befriended her always, and made her quondam +stepmother a prominent figure at her coronation. She frequently paid +her visits, and treated her with all the respect imaginable. Anne never +left England after her ill-starred arrival, ending her days peacefully +in 1557. + + + +III. A NOTABLE ENGLISHMAN + +While Edward's Council thought that they had effectually closed every +issue through which news of the king's death might transpire, before +their seditious plans were completed, the Princess Mary was already on +her way into Norfolk, calling all loyal men and true to rally round her +standard. Two Norfolk gentlemen were mainly instrumental in placing her +on the throne. These were Sir Henry Jerningham and the subject of this +memoir, Sir Henry Bedingfeld of Oxburgh, who came in to her assistance +at Framlingham, with 140 well-armed men. + +Bedingfeld proclaimed the queen at Norwich, and was afterwards rewarded +for his loyalty with an annual pension of 100 pounds out of the +forfeited estates of Sir Thomas Wyatt. Mary made him a Privy Councillor +and Knight Marshal of her army, and subsequently Lieutenant of the +Tower of London; and Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, vice Sir Henry +Jerningham. She appointed him custodian of Elizabeth, when that +princess was confined in the Tower and at Woodstock, on suspicion of +being concerned in Wyatt's rebellion; and so little did Elizabeth +resent his severity during the time of her imprisonment, that after her +accession, she addressed him as her "trusty and well-beloved," employed +him in her service, and granted to him the manor of Caldecot in +Norfolk, which still forms part of the Oxburgh estate at the present +day. + +He was undoubtedly one of the foremost Englishmen of his day, respected +by two sovereigns, and occupying prominent and honourable positions, +his loyalty being unimpeachable; yet Foxe, the martyrologist, with his +wonted dishonesty, has without the slightest foundation, and so +effectually, blackened his fame, that almost every subsequent writer on +this period has reproduced the calumnies set forth with malice prepense +in the Acts and Monuments. + +Strype was the first unquestioning copyist of Foxe; Burnet was the +second; and Sir Reginald Hennell is the most recent.* + +* In his volume "The History of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of +the Guard." + + +Tennyson, in his dramatic poem Queen Mary, also went to Foxe for his +historical data, with the result that, while discarding the more +malicious interpretation of Bedingfeld's character, he has, +nevertheless, passed on to posterity a coarse and grotesque caricature +as though it were a portrait. + +A fire broke out at Woodstock in May 1554, and Tennyson choosing to +suppose that Elizabeth suspected foul play, invented the following +absurd dialogue:-- + +LADY. +I woke Sir Henry--and he's true to you- +I read his honest horror in his eyes. + +ELIZABETH. +Or true to you? + +LADY. +Sir Henry Bedingfeld! +I will have no man true to me, your Grace, +But one that pares his nails; to me? the clown! +For like his cloak, his manners want the nap +And gloss of court; but of this fire he says, +Nay swears, it was no wicked wilfulness, +Only a natural chance. + +ELIZABETH. +A chance-perchance +One of those wicked wilfuls that men make, +Nor shame to call it nature. + +At the end of a long speech Elizabeth cries + +God save the Queen. My jailor-- + +BEDINGFELD. +One, whose bolts, +That jail you from free life, bar you from death. +There haunt some Papist ruffians hereabout +Would murder you. + +ELIZABETH. +I thank you heartily, sir, +But I am royal, tho' your prisoner, +And God hath blest or cursed me with a nose-- +Your boots are from the horses. + +This libel did not, however, pass unchallenged, and the father of the +present baronet wrote to the Poet Laureate the following protest:-- + +"Sir,--As a great admirer of your genius, I eagerly read your drama +Queen Mary, but was so surprised and pained at the ignoble part which +is allotted to Sir Henry Bedingfeld, that I cannot refrain from +addressing you on the subject. I feel justified in doing so, as I am +the direct descendant of Sir Henry, and date from the house which was +his home. + +"The millions who will read Mary Tudor, or witness the play on the +stage, will carry away the impression that my ancestor was a vulgar +yeoman, in some way connected with the stables, whereas he was a man of +ancient lineage, a trusted friend and servant of the queen, who +confided to him in time of danger the Lieutenancy of the Tower, and the +custody of the Princess Elizabeth. This princess so respected Sir +Henry, that although she complained of his severity during her +captivity, she visited him at Oxburgh after her accession to the +throne, and treated him with the greatest consideration. Numerous +documents in my possession, including letters from the Sovereign, from +the Privy Council, arid from the most eminent men of the time, would +prove, were such proof required, the high position held by Sir Henry. + +"I trust, therefore, to your feeling of justice that you will, if +possible, either strike out Sir Henry's name from future editions, or +allot to him a more dignified part on the stage, and one which will +convey a more correct view of his character and position.--I am, Sir, +your obedient servant, + +"Henry Bedingfeld." + +Tennyson's answer to the above, dated from the Isle of Wight, six +months later, though courteous, left the matter almost where it was, so +far as historical accuracy was secured:-- + +"Sir,--Your letter arrived when I was abroad, else would have been +answered at once; and therefore I waited till the play should be +announced for acting. I had made your ancestor an honest gentleman +though a rough one, as I found him reported to be, whether true or no; +and I regret that you should have been pained by my representation of +him. Now, in deference to your wishes, his name is not once mentioned +on the stage, and he is called in the play-bill merely 'Governor of +Woodstock.' Moreover, I have inserted a line in Elizabeth's part: 'But, +girl, you wrong a noble gentleman.'--I have the honour to be, Sir, your +obedient servant, + +"A. Tennyson." + +In spite, however, of the best intention on the part of the author, the +American edition of the play, priding itself on being "the only +unmutilated version," preserves the exact wording of the poem.* Thus +has history ever been medicated to suit the prejudices of the +uncritical and the ignorant. + +* De Witt's acting plays, No. 181, Queen Mary; a drama. Edited by John +M. Kingdom. + + +Sir Henry Bedingfeld, who was born in the year 1509, was the grandson +of Sir Edmund Bedingfeld, the favourite of three successive kings, +Edward IV., Richard III., and Henry VII. This same Sir Edmund had +served in the Wars of the Roses, and Edward IV., by letters patent of +the twenty-second year of his reign, granted to him, "for his faithful +service, licence to build towers, walls, and such other fortifications +as he pleased in his manors of Oxburgh, together with a market there +weekly, and a court of pye-powder." He also bestowed on him his own +royal badge the Falcon and Fetterlock. Richard III. made him a Knight +of the Bath, and Henry VII. visited him at Oxburgh. In the third year +of his reign this king granted three manors in Yorkshire, Wold, Newton, +and Gaynton to him and his heirs male for ever, in return for his help +in crushing the rebellion in the north, which patent was renewed and +confirmed by Henry VIII. Sir Edmund died in 1496, and was succeeded by +his only son, another Edmund, who attended Henry VIII. in his foreign +wars, and was knighted for valour by Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, +on the battle-field, after the taking of Montdidier in 1523. The king +appointed him steward to Katharine of Arragon at Kimbolton. He married +Grace, daughter of Henry, Lord Marny, and by her had four sons, Henry, +Edmund, Anthony, and Humphrey. Henry, who succeeded him in 1533, was +the famous Lieutenant of the Tower, and the "jailor" of the Princess +Elizabeth. Henry's wife was Katharine, daughter of Sir Roger Townshend, +one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and ancestor of the +present Marquis Townshend. Sir Henry Bedingfeld kept up some state at +Oxburgh, having twenty servants in livery, besides those employed in +husbandry. When he was away on the queen's business, the management of +his estate devolved on Dame Katharine, and a letter from this lady +addressed "To the right worshipful, my very good husband," and dated +Oxburgh, October 1554, is a compte rendu of all she had done for his +property during his absence. This document which has had a chequered +career, has lately, with some others, found its way back to the Oxburgh +archives. Another, the draft of which has lately been discovered among +the muniments of this venerable old house, strikes a more pathetic +note, and testifies, to the affectionate dependence with which Lady +Bedingfeld leaned on her lord. + +"Lady Bedingfeld to the lords of the Council, praying to have her +husband with her during her confinement:-- + +My Lords,--Being very near the time of my being brought to bed, and Sir +Henry Bedingfeld in the country, who is very tender in giving any +offence to the Queen's Majesty, this is humbly to beg your Lordships +will be pleased to confirm the order as he may have leave to be with me +till the time of my approaching danger be over, and I shall acknowledge +it as a very great favour done to your Lordships' most humble servant." + +On the reverse side of this draft is a recipe for "Lime drinks against +the King's Evil, or any sharp humours." + +Although a man does not necessarily write himself down angel or devil, +it is true of most people that their correspondence is a fair +indication of their character, tastes, and habits. The letters written +by and addressed to Sir Henry Bedingfeld reveal him as of the usual +type of country gentlemen of the period, interested in sport and +agriculture, but having also some experience of soldiering. He could be +counted on to raise a troop of horse or foot in an emergency, provided +it were in the service of the lawful sovereign. He made it his business +to become acquainted with the condition of Marshland, in order to +account to the queen for the fealty of those around him; and Elizabeth, +no less than Mary, knew that she could rely on him to uphold her +authority in the eastern Counties, His letters to Mary show that +notwithstanding his frankness, and his freedom from diplomatic +subtlety, his manners did not lack the polish of the courtier. In the +fulfilment of his charge he was ever prudent, cautious, and almost +timid in the matter of accepting responsibility; in no sense covetous +of office, he was yet so scrupulous in the discharge of duty, that he +scarcely ever acted on his own judgment if he could possibly wring +instructions from the Privy Council. His loyalty, uprightness, +courtesy, and modesty, stood him in lieu of more brilliant parts, and +his severity was at all times tempered by that quality of mercy which +"is not strained." To all this must be added his fidelity to his +religion in difficult and dangerous times. + +His life after Mary's accession, to which he had materially +contributed, falls naturally into three parts: 1. The period during +which he had the care of the Princess Elizabeth. 2. His term of office +as Lieutenant of the Tower. 3. The twenty-five years after Mary's +death, which he spent for the most part in retirement in Norfolk. + +On the 18th March 1554, this portentous missive was delivered to him:-- + +"My duty remembered, these shall be to advise you that on Friday my +lady Elizabeth was sent to the Tower at 10 of the clock. The Parliament +shall be holden at Westminster on the day aforesaid; and the Queen is +in good health, thanks be to God, who preserve you in much worship. +This Good Friday riding by the way.--Your servant to command, + +"Thomas Waters. + +"To the right worshipful Sir Henry Bedyngfeld give these, written in +haste." + +The causes of Elizabeth's arrest were far-reaching. Circumstantial +evidence of her connection with Wyatt's rebellion was not wanting, and +if Mary had been willing to have her sister convicted on that evidence +alone, her head would undoubtedly have fallen on the block. Elizabeth +herself in numerous instances caused blood to flow on far less certain +grounds. But her guilt could not otherwise be brought home, and in her +first Parliament Mary had restored the ancient, constitutional law of +England, by which overt or spoken acts of treason must be proved, +before any English person could be convicted as a traitor. + +The case against Elizabeth was this. The French Ambassador, de +Noailles, whose instructions were that he should play upon the popular +discontent in regard to the queen's proposed marriage to Philip of +Spain, in the interest of France, encouraged Elizabeth to associate +herself with the factious, and to become, as it were, the +stalking-horse of the disaffected. She was far too clever to commit +herself to any direct act of rebellion, but de Noailles was prodigal of +her name in all the intrigues that he fostered, and the plot organised +by means of Sir Peter Carew, in Devonshire and Cornwall, had for its +declared object the marriage of Elizabeth to Courtenay, Earl of Devon, +and the placing of these two on the throne. Sir Thomas Wyatt had +meanwhile raised the standard of revolt in the home counties, but +before leaving London for that purpose, he had written a letter to +Elizabeth, urging her for greater safety to retire to her castle of +Donnington. This letter fell into the hands of the Council, as did also +three letters from de Noailles to the French king, directly implicating +Elizabeth in the insurrection, and a copy of the letter which she had +written to Mary, refusing on the plea of illness to obey the queen's +summons to the Court. Lord Russell confessed to having carried +communications between the princess and Wyatt, and that traitor, being +brought to trial, owned that the object of his rising was to secure the +crown for Elizabeth and Courtenay. He subsequently repeated the +statement, adding that the French king had promised them men and money, +and was to attack Calais and Guisnes the moment the rebels were in +possession of London. Whether he really withdrew this accusation of +Elizabeth on the scaffold must always remain doubtful, the testimony of +the sheriffs being in direct contradiction to that of Lord Chandos, who +was also present. It was not until Wyatt had formerly declared +Elizabeth to be conspiring with Henry II. of France, that Mary was at +length convinced of the necessity of securing her person. She repeated +her summons, but not, as Foxe would have us believe, with inconsiderate +cruelty and rough haste. Elizabeth's uncle, Admiral Lord William +Howard, Sir Edward Hastings, and Sir Thomas Cornwallis, were sent to +escort her from Ashridge to Westminster, with two physicians who were +to decide whether she were well enough to travel. She was treated with +uniform courtesy and consideration, and the journey of thirty-three +miles, originally intended to occupy five days, was actually made to +cover a whole week. The imperial ambassador thus describes her +arrival*:-- + +* State Papers (Domestic), 1554, vol. xxi.; R.O. + + +"The lady Elizabeth arrived here yesterday, clad completely in white, +surrounded by a great assemblage of servants of the Queen, besides her +own people. Her countenance was pale, her look proud, lofty, and +superbly disdainful, an expression which she assumed to disguise the +mortification she felt. The Queen declined seeing her, and caused her +to be accommodated in a quarter of her palace from which neither she +nor her servants could go out without passing through the guards. Of +her suite, only two gentlemen, six ladies, and four servants are +permitted to wait on her, the rest of her train being lodged in the +city of London. The queen is advised to send her to the Tower, since +she is accused by Wyatt, named in the letters of the French ambassador, +suspected by her own councillors, and it is certain that the enterprise +was undertaken in her favour."* + +* Record Office Transcripts (Belgian Archives), printed by Tytler in +his England under the reins of Edward VI. and Mary. + + +When charged with complicity in the plot, Elizabeth replied that she +knew nothing of it. The members of the Council were divided concerning +her, some maintaining that the legal proof against her was insufficient +to justify her being sent to the Tower, while others were for giving +her short shrift. Mary availed herself of this loophole, and caused +each lord of the Council in succession to be asked to undertake the +custody of the princess in his own house. Not one was willing to accept +the perilous office, and a warrant was therefore made out for her +committal. There was a very general impression at the time, that her +life would have been in danger, but for Mary's determination that the +law should not be infringed at her trial. Nothing could be adduced that +was not already known, and in spite of the emperor's reiterated demands +for her execution, Mary would not have her convicted on the only +evidence obtainable. + +It was for Elizabeth's greater safety that the queen appointed Sir +Henry Bedingfeld to be her custodian, and Foxe's absurd description of +Bedingfeld's arrival with his hundred soldiers in blue-coats, and +Elizabeth's terror at the sight, is manifestly a fabrication of the +martyrologist's brain. We have already had a glimpse of Sir Henry's +antecedent history. He had materially contributed to Mary's triumph +over her enemies, and may be said to have been one of the train +instruments in placing the Queen on the throne; he was a distinguished +member of her Privy Council, therefore a public personage, and it is +inconceivable that Elizabeth should have asked who he was, as being "a +man unknown to her Grace," or that her attendants and friends should +have answered that "they were ignorant what manner of man he was." Foxe +himself had betaken himself to foreign parts on Mary's accession, and +may perhaps be pardoned for not knowing, although we find it hard to +forgive him for the baseless fabrication by which he sought to +discredit the queen and all those who served her faithfully. + +"About that time," romances Foxe, "it was spread abroad that her Grace +should be carried from thence by this new jolly Captain and his +soldiers; but whither it could not be learned, which was unto her a +great grief, especially for that such a company was appointed to her +guard, requesting rather to continue there still, than to be led thence +with such a sort of rascals. At last plain answer was made by the Lord +Chandos, that there was no remedy but from thence she must needs depart +to the manor of Woodstock." + +He goes on to say that on 19th May she was removed from the Tower, +"where Sir Henry Benifield [being appointed her jailor] did receive her +with a company of rake-hells to guard her, besides the Lord Derby's +band, wafting in the country about for moonshine in the water. Unto +whom at length came my Lord of Thame, joined in commission with the +said Sir Henry for the safeguarding of her to prison, and they together +conveyed her Grace to Woodstock, as hereafter followeth. The first day +they conducted her to Richmond, where she continued all night, being +restrained of her own men which were laid in out-chambers, and Sir +Henry Benifield's soldiers appointed in their rooms to give attendance +on her person. Whereat she being marvellously dismayed, thinking verily +some secret mischief to be a-working towards her, called her +gentleman-usher, and desired him with the rest of his company to pray +for her. 'For this night,' quoth she, 'I think to die.' Wherewith, he +being stricken to the heart, said, 'God forbid that any such wickedness +should be pretended against your Grace.' So comforting her as well as +he could, at last he burst out into tears, and went from her down into +the court, where were talking the Lord Thame and Sir Henry Benifield." + +We may now dismiss Foxe and his egregious insinuations of foul play, +together with his monstrous inventions of boorishness on the part of +Elizabeth's custodian. In spite of his calumnies, it remains perfectly +clear that Elizabeth had every reason to be thankful that her "jailor" +was faithful to his trust, and that firmness and caution, rather than +weak indulgence, characterised all his conduct towards her. As for his +alleged want of courtesy towards her, there is not a shadow of evidence +to support it; he frequently knelt to address her, and even in speaking +or writing of her, maintained the same deferential mode of expression +as that which he used in her presence. + +Each incident of the journey from the Tower to Woodstock is detailed in +Sir Henry's report to the Privy Council. Elizabeth apparently seized +every opportunity of making his difficult task yet more difficult; but +wayward and imperious as her temper often was, nothing in his demeanour +towards her ever approached to disrespect or even impatience. Even she +herself brought no other complaint against her custodian than that of +"scrupulousness" in the discharge of his duty, a charge which is in +itself a magnificent vindication, for the Elizabeth of history was not +one to forgive a man who had failed in the smallest degree to pay her +the homage due to her rank. Moreover, in regard to Sir Henry's +soldiers, no single instance is recorded on either side of misbehaviour +or want of decorum on their part. + +In his first letter to the queen after their arrival at Woodstock, Sir +Henry says:-- + +"My lady Elizabeth's Grace did use [? peruse] the letter which your +Highness sent her, wherein she was right weary, to my judgment, the +occasion rising of the stark style of the same letter, being warpen and +cast. This present day she hath not been very well at ease, as your +Highness's women did declare unto me, and yet at the afternoon she +required to walk, and see another lodging in the house. In the which, +and other her like requests, I am marvellously perplexed to grant her +desire, or to say nay, seeing it hath been your Highness's pleasure to +remove her person from and out of the Tower of London where I was led +to do upon more certainty by the precedent of my good Lord Chamberlain +[Sir John Gage] and also by certain articles, by me exhibited unto my +lords of the Council and by them ordered, which were to me a perfect +rule at that time, and now is very hard to be observed in this place. +Wherefore I most lowly and heartily do desire your Highness to give me +authority and order in writing from your Majesty or your Council, how +to demean myself in this your Highness's service, whereby I shall be +the more able to do the same, and also receive comfort and heart's ease +to be your Highness's daily beadsman to God for persuasion of your most +princely and sovereign estate long to endure to God's honour. + +"The 21 of May, 1554."* + +* This and the next following letters are taken from the fourth volume +of the publications of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, +"State Papers relating to the custody of the Princess Elizabeth at +Woodstock in 1554," being letters between Queen Mary and her Privy +Council and Sir Henry Bedingfeld, Knight, of Oxburgh, Norfolk, +communicated by the Rev. C.R. Manning, M.A., Hon. Sec. The originals +were formerly in Mr. Manning's possession, but have now disappeared. +The present writer has modernised the spelling. + + +In answer to this letter the Council wrote approving his doings, and +thanking Sir Henry on the part of the queen. A number of instructions +for his further conduct were also sent, the purport of which will be +gathered from his reply:-- + +"My letter answering to the former, the Council's letters. + +"So it is, most honourable lords, that upon the return of my brother +Humphrey, I received instructions signed with the Queen's Majesty's +hand, and enclosed in a letter signed by your Lordships as a warrant to +direct my service how to be used during the Queen's Majesty's pleasure, +trusting only in God to make me able to do and accomplish the same. I +travail and shall do to the best of my power till God and her Highness +shall otherwise dispose for me, wishing that shortly it should come to +pass, if it may so stand with her Highness's good contention and your +honour. As touching the fifth article, which purported this in effect +that I should not suffer the lady Elizabeth's Grace to have conference +with any suspect person out of my hearing, that she do not by any means +either receive or send any message, letter or token, to or from any +manner of person, which, under your honourable corrections, must thus +answer to that, as touching conference with suspected persons, if your +Lordships mean strangers, and such as be not daily attending upon her +person by your assents and privities, with the help above said, I dare +take upon me that to do. But if you mean general conference with all +persons, as well within her house as without, I shall beseech you of +pardon, for that I dare not take upon me, nor yet for message, letter +or token, which may be conveyed by any of the three women of her privy +chamber, her two grooms of the same or the yeomen of the robes, all +which persons and none others be with her Grace at her going to her +lodging, and part of them all night, and until such time as her grace +cometh to her dining-chamber, the grooms always after going abroad +within the house, having full opportunity to do such matter as is +prohibited. And hereunto I beseech your honours ask my Lord Chamberlain +whether it will be within possibility for me to do it or no, whose +order in all things I have and do, according to my poor wit and +endeavour put in use; and upon his declaration to direct order +possible. At the present writing hereof one Marbery, my lady Grace's +servant, brought his wife, Elizabeth Marbery, to have been received to +have wait upon her Grace, in the stead of Elizabeth Sands, and because +I received no manner of warrant from you my Lords, to do it, I have +required the said Marbery to stay himself and his wife hereabouts, till +I might receive the same, which I pray you to do with all speed, for +they been very poor folks, and unable to bear their own charge as I +perceive. + +"Her Grace, thanks be to God, continueth in reasonable health and +quietness, as far as I can perceive; but she claimeth promise of the +mouth of my Lords Treasurer and Chamberlain to have the liberty of walk +within the whole park of Woodstock. This she hath caused to come to +mine ear by my Lady Gray, but never spoke of it to me by express words +. . . . Her Grace hath not hitherto made any request to walk in any +other place than in the over and nether gardens with the orchard, +which, if she happens to do, I must needs answer I neither dare nor +will assent unto it, till by the Queen's Highness and your honours I be +authorised that to do . . . . Cornwallis, the gentleman-usher, did move +me to assent that the cloth of estate should be hanged up for her +Grace, whereunto I directly said nay, till your Lordships' pleasures +were known therein. + +"Postscript.--There was some peril of fire within the house, which we +have without any loss to be regarded, escaped. Thanks be to God." + +In answer to the above the Council thanked and commended Sir Henry for +all that he had hitherto done, adding:-- + +"Where ye desire to be resolved of certain doubts which you gather upon +your instructions, ye shall understand that although we well know ye +cannot meet such inconvenience as may happen by those that attend upon +the lady Elizabeth, in bringing unto her letters, messages or tokens, +yet if ye shall use your diligence and wisdom there as ye shall see +cause, it shall be your sufficient discharge. As for strangers, ye must +foresee that no persons suspect have any conference with her at all, +and yet to permit such strangers whom ye shall think honest and not +suspicious, upon any reasonable cause to speak with her in your hearing +only. As for placing Elizabeth Marbery in lieu of Sands, letters be +already sent from the Queen's Highness unto you therefore, which we +pray you to see executed accordingly. Where she claimeth promise of the +Lord Treasurer and me the Lord Chamberlain to walk in the park, as we +have heard nothing before this time thereof, so do not I the Lord +Chamberlain remember any such promise." + +The queen's letter was as follows:-- + +"Marye The Quene. By the Quene + +"Trusty and right well-beloved, we greet you well. And where we be +informed that Sands, one of the women presently attending about our +sister the Lady Elizabeth, is a person of an evil opinion, and not fit +to remain about our said sister's person, we let you wit, our will and +pleasure is, you shall travail with our said sister, and by the best +means ye can persuade her to be contented to have the said Sands +removed from her, and to accept in her place, Elizabeth Marbery, +another of her women, who shall be sent thither for that purpose: whom +at her coming we require you to be placed there, and to give order that +the said Sands may be removed from thence accordingly. + +"Given under our signet, at our manor of St. James, the 26th day of +May, the first year of our reign." + +It was soon found necessary to cancel the permission for strangers to +have access to the captive princess, and the Council accordingly wrote +to Sir Henry:-- + +"And forasmuch as it appeareth hereby that such private persons as be +disposed to disquiet will not let to take occasion if they may, to +convey messages or letters in and out by some secret practice, her +Majesty's further pleasure is for the avoiding hereof, that ye shall +henceforth suffer no manner person other than such as are already +appointed to, be about the Lady Elizabeth, to come unto her or have any +manner, talk, or conference with her, any former instructions or +letters heretofore sent you to the contrary notwithstanding." + +Elizabeth made difficulties with regard to every detail of her custody, +and the substitution of Marbery, although she was one of her own women, +for Sands, was not effected without a struggle; but on the 5th June Sir +Henry was able to report that: "The same was done this present day, +about 2 of the clock in the afternoon, not without great mourning both +of my Lady's Grace and Sands. And she was conveyed into the town by my +brother Edmund, and by him delivered to Mr. Parry, who at my desire +yesternight did prepare horse and men to be ready to convey her either +to Clerkenwell beside London to her uncle there, or else into Kent, to +her father, towards the which he promised she should go. This I do +signify unto your lordships, because I think her a woman meet to be +looked unto for her obstinate disposition." + +In another very long letter he certifies that the princess has asked +for an English Bible "of the smallest possible volume," desiring that +he would send to her cofferer for one. But the cofferer replied that he +had none at all, but sent a servant with three books, one of which +contained the Psalms of David and the Canticles. Leave was given for +her to have an English Bible, and for her to write to the Queen as she +desired. + +On the 12th June Sir Henry wrote to the Council a letter highly +informative as to the difficulties of his position:-- + +"Pleaseth it your honourable lordships to be advertised, that the same +day I last wrote unto you, my lady Elizabeth's Grace demanded of me +whether I had provided her the book of the Bible in English of the +smallest volume, or no. I answered, because there were divers Latin +books in my hands ready to be delivered if it pleased her to have them, +wherein as I thought she should have more delight, seeing she +understandeth the same so well; therefore I had not provided the same, +which answer I perceived she took not in good part, and within +half-an-hour after that, in her walking in the nether garden, in the +most unpleasant sort that ever I saw her since her coming from the +Tower, she called me to her again, and said in these words: 'I have at +divers times spoken to you to write to my lords of certain my requests, +and you never make me answer to any of them. I think (quoth she) you +make none of my lords privy to my suit, but only my Lord Chamberlain, +who, although I know him to be a good gentleman, yet by age, and other +his earnest business, I know he hath occasion to forget many things.' +To this I answered that I did never write in her Grace's matter to any +of you my lords privately, and said unto her Grace further, that I +thought this was a time that your lordships had great business in,* and +therefore her Grace could not look for direct answer upon the first +suit. 'Well,' said she, 'once again I require you to do thus much for +me, to write unto my said lords, on my behalf to be means unto the +Queen's Majesty, to grant me leave to write unto her Highness with mine +own hand, and in this I pray you let me have answer as soon as you +can.' To this I answered: 'I shall do for your Grace that I am able to +do, which is to write to my said Lords, and then it must needs rest in +their honourable considerations whether I shall have answer or no,' +since which time her Grace never spoke to me. Surely, I take it that +the remembrance of Elizabeth Sands' departing, and the only placing +Marbery in her room, clearly against her late desire, is some cause of +her grief [grievance]." + +* On account of the Queen's approaching marriage. + + +The effect produced by the princess's letter to Mary may be gathered +from the following reply, written by the Queen to Sir Henry:-- + +"Marye The Quene. By the Quene. + +"Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. And where our pleasure was +of late signified unto you for the Lady Elizabeth to have licence to +write unto us, we have now received her letters, containing only +certain arguments devised for her declaration in such matters as she +hath been charged withal by the voluntary confessions of divers others. +In which arguments she would seem to persuade us, that the testimony of +those who have opened matters against her, either were not such as they +be, or being such should have no credit. But as we were most sorry at +the beginning, to have any occasion of suspicion, so when it appeared +unto us, that the copies of her secret letters unto us were found in +the packet of the French ambassador, that divers of the most notable +traitors made their chief account upon her, we can hardly be brought to +think that they would have presumed to do so, except they had had more +certain knowledge of her favour towards their unnatural conspiracy than +is yet by her confessed. And therefore, though we have for our part, +considering the matter brought to our knowledge against her, used more +clemency and favour towards her than in the like matter hath been +accustomed; yet cannot these fair words so much abuse [deceive] us, but +we do well understand how these things have been wrought. Conspiracies +be secretly practised, and things of that nature be many times judged +by probable conjectures, and other suspicions and arguments, where the +plain, direct proof may chance to fail; even as wise Solomon judged who +was the true mother of the child by the woman's behaviour and words, +when other proof failed and could not be had. By the argument and +circumstances of her said letter with other articles declared on your +behalf by your brother to our Privy Council, it may well appear her +meaning and purpose to be far otherwise than her letters purported. +Wherefore our pleasure is not to be hereafter any more molested with +such her disguise and colourable letters, but wish for her that it may +please our Lord to grant her His grace to be towards Him as she ought +to be; then shall she the sooner be towards us as becometh her. This +much have we thought good to write unto you, to the intent ye might +understand the effect of those letters, and so continue your accustomed +diligence in the charge by us committed to you. + +"Given under our signet at the Castle of Farnham, the 25th day of June, +the first year of our reign." + +The gist of this letter was communicated to Elizabeth by Sir Henry in +the manner he himself describes:-- + +"Yesterday I went to hear Mass in her Grace's chamber; that being +ended, in the time of doing my duty, thinking to have departed from her +Grace, she called me, and asked whether I had heard of any answer that +was or should be made by the Queen's Majesty to her late letters. Upon +which occasion, fitly as I took it, I made her Grace answer that I had +to declare unto her an answer on the Queen's Majesty's behalf, +whensoever she should command me. 'Let it be even now,' said her Grace. +'If you will,' I answered, 'because I was fearful to misreport; +therefore I have scribbled it as well as I can with mine own hand, and +if you will give me leave to fetch it,' and, being ready to go in to +her Grace with it, I received word from her Grace by one of the Queen's +Majesty's women to stay till her Grace had dined, and then she would +hear it. Within a mean pause after dinner she sent for me, and having +Mr. Tomiou in my company, who going with me into the outer chamber, +there staying, I went in to her Grace, and required her if it so stood +with her pleasure that he might hear the doing of the message. She +granted it, and I called him in, and kneeling by with me, I read unto +her Grace my message according to the effect of the Queen's Majesty's +letter. After once hearing of it she uttered certain words, bewailing +her own chance in that her Grace's letter, contrary to her +expectations, took no better effect, and desired to hear it once again, +which I did. And then her Grace said: 'I note especially to my great +discomfort [which I shall, nevertheless, willingly obey] that the +Queen's Majesty is not pleased that I should molest her Highness with +any more of my colourable letters, which, although they be termed +colourable, yet not offending the Queen's Majesty, I must say for +myself that it was the plain truth, even as I desire to be saved afore +God Almighty, and so let it pass. Yet, Mr. Bedyngfeld, if you think you +may do so much for me, I would have you to receive an answer which I +would make unto you touching your message, which I would at the least +way, my Lords of the Council might understand, and that ye would +conceive it upon my words, and put it in writing, and let me hear it +again. And if it be according to my meaning, so to pass it to my +lordships for my better comfort in mine adversity.' To this I answered +her Grace: 'I pray you, hold me excused that I do not grant your +request in the same.' Then she said: 'It is like that I shall be +offered more than ever any prisoner was in the Tower, for the prisoners +be suffered to open their mind to the Lieutenant, and he to declare the +same unto the Council, and you refuse to do the like.' To this I +answered her Grace that there was a diversity where the Lieutenant did +hear a prisoner declare matters touching his case, and should thereof +give notice unto the Council, and where the prisoner should, as it +were, command the Lieutenant to do his message to the Council. +Therefore, I desired that her Grace would give me leave with patience +not to agree to her desire herein, and so departed from her Grace. + +"Yesterday morning again, about x of the clock, in the time of her +walk, she called me to her in the little garden, and said: 'I remember +yesterday ye refused utterly to write on my behalf unto my Lords of the +Council, and therefore, if you continue in that mind still, I shall be +in worse case than the worst prisoner In Newgate, for they be never +gainsaid in the time of their imprisonment by one friend or other to +have their cause opened or sued for, and this is and shall be such a +conclusion unto me, that I must needs continue this life without all +hope worldly, wholly resting to the truth of my cause, and that before +God to be opened, arming myself against whatsoever shall happen, to +remain the Queen's true subject as I have done during my life. It +waxeth wet, and therefore I will depart to my lodging again;' and so +she did. Thus much concerning her Grace, I thought it my duty to give +your lordships advertisement of, to be considered as it shall please +your honours, clearly omitting any part of the message, and such which +my lady's Grace would have had me to have taken upon me, and shall do +so, unless I have the Queen's Majesty's warrant for the same." + +This report had the desired effect, and the Council gave Sir Henry +leave "to write those things that she shall desire you, and to signify +the same to us of her Majesty's Council, sending your letters touching +that matter enclosed in some paper directed to her Highness, so as she +may herself have the first sight thereof." + +Mary's next letter was personal to Sir Henry himself:-- + +"Trusty and right well-beloved, we greet you well. And where we +understand that by occasion of certain our instructions lately given +unto you, ye do continually make your personal abode within that our +house at Woodstock, without removing from thence at any time, which +thing might, peradventure in continuance, be both some danger to your +health, and be occasion also that ye shall not be so well able to +understand the state of the country thereabouts, as otherwise ye might; +we let you wit that in consideration thereof; we are pleased ye may at +any time, when yourself shall think convenient, make your repair from +out of our said house, leaving one of your brethren to look to your +charge, and see to the good governance of that house in your absence, +so as, nevertheless, ye return back again yourself at night, for the +better looking to your said charge. And for your better ease and +recreation, we are, in like manner pleased that ye and your brethren +may, at your liberties, hawk for your pastime at the partridge, or hunt +the hare within that our manor of Woodstock, or any of our grounds +adjoining to the same, from time to time, when ye shall think most +convenient; and that also ye may, if ye shall so think good, cause your +wife to be sent for, and to remain there with you as long as yourself +shall think meet. + +"Given under our signet at our Castle of Farnham, ye 7th of July, ye +second year of our reign." + +Elizabeth was not slow to profit by the permission obtained for her to +write to the Council through the intermediary allowed, and Sir Henry's +letter-book contains the following transcript of his report written in +his own hand. + +"My lady Elizabeth's Grace's suit:-- + +"My lady Elizabeth, this present 30th of July, required me to make +report of her Grace's mind as her suit to your honours to be means to +the Queen's Majesty on her behalf to this effect. To beseech your +lordships all to consider her woeful case, that being but once licensed +to write as an humble suitress unto the Queen's Highness, and received +thereby no such comfort as she hoped to have done, but to her further +discomfort in a message by me opened, that it was the Queen's +Highness's pleasure not to be any more molested with her Grace's +letters, that it may please the same, and that upon very pity, +considering her long imprisonment and restraint of liberty, either to +charge her with special matter to be answered unto and tried, or to +grant her liberty to come unto Her Highness's presence, which she saith +she would not desire, were it not that she knoweth herself to be clear, +even before God, of her allegiance. And if also by your good mediations +she might not enjoy the Queen's Highness's most gracious favour without +any scruples or suspicions of her truth, she had rather willingly +suffer this that she doth, and much more, than her Majesty should in +any case be troubled or disquieted, touching her whose honour surely +and preservation she saith she doth desire above all things in this +world. Requiring me further to move chiefly as many of you my lords as +were a Council, parties, and privy to and for the execution of the will +of the King's Majesty her father, to further this her Grace's suit +above said. And if neither of these two her suits may be obtained by +your lordships for her, that then it might please the Queen's Highness +to grant that some of you my lords may have leave to repair hither unto +her, and to receive her suit of her own mouth to be opened. Whereby she +may take a release not to think herself utterly desolate of all refuge +in this world." + +To this the Council made reply on the 7th August that "the Queen's +Highness" would "take a time to consider, and at convenient leisure +make such answer thereunto as shall be` necessary"; but Elizabeth's +imperious temper brooked no delay, and Sir Henry was soon prevailed on +to jog their lordship's memories:-- + +"Upon Friday last," he wrote, "my lady Elizabeth's Grace, in the time +of her walk in the over garden here, in the forenoon of the same day, +said unto me, 'I have very slow speed in the answer of any of my suits, +and I know it is ever so, when that there is not one appointed to give +daily attendance in suit-making for answer. And therefore,' saith she, +'I pray you let me send a servant of mine own to whom I will do the +message in your hearing that he shall do by my commandment; and this I +think,' said she, 'is not against the order and service appointed unto +you.' To which I answered requiring her Grace to be contented, for I +neither could nor would assent to any such her request. 'Then,' said +she, 'I am at a marvellous afterdeal [disadvantage], for I have known +that the wife hath been received to sue for her husband, the kinsman, +friend or servant for them that hath been in the case I now am, and +never denied.' To that I answered: 'I myself am of small experience in +such case; that notwithstanding, I trust ye shall not be long, or my +lords of the Council will remember your suit, and answer the same.'" +And so her Grace ended. + +Harsh as this refusal may appear at first sight, it must be admitted +that Sir Henry, in reporting his conversations with Elizabeth to the +Council often obtained for her if not exactly what she had asked for, +at least some concession, which, had she been entirely in good faith, +would have served her purpose as well. But in spite of her jailor's +"scrupulousness " she contrived to communicate pretty freely by means +of Parry, her cofferer, and others, with the outside world. Bolts and +bars were ineffectual so long as those who surrounded her were willing +intermediaries between her and the enemies of the queen, and Sir Henry +knew it well. He desired nothing more than to be rid of his onerous +charge, as is seen by the following letter to Thirlby, Bishop of Ely:-- + +"After my hearty commendations to your good lordship, so it is that as +you do know, I have continued this service by the space of fifteen +weeks, in care of mind and some travail of body, which I would be glad +to make suit to be relieved of, if I might know it should be taken in +good part. And having no friend whom I believe myself to be so assured +of as your lordship, even thereupon I am bold by these heartily to +desire your travail in my behalf [if it so stand with your good +opinion] to the Queen's Majesty, to grant me my discharge from the +same. Wherein I trust my Lord Chancellor* will join with you, if it +content you to move him thereunto, who, by words of marvellous effect +comprising both the Queen's commandment that I should enter into it, +and his earnest request at that time also, did cause me to take in hand +the same. And lest my, said Lord should forget, I pray you put him in +remembrance that he had this talk with me upon the causeway betwixt the +house of Saint James and Charing Cross. And what it shall content you +to do for me herein, I shall desire you to be ascertained by your +letters, upon the return of the messenger. I made late a suit to you +for your house at Blackfriars, and received answer that you had +otherwise disposed the same; yet remembering that you had an house of +my Lord of Bath in Holborn, which, as the case now standeth, I think +your Lordship will have little pleasure to use, and if, by your good +mean, I might obtain the same at my Lord of Bath's hands, you should do +unto me a great good turn, which have no house of refuge in London, but +the common inn, and would be glad to give large money to be avoided of +that inconvenience. And thus remaining at the Queen's Majesty's house +of Woodstock [out of which I was never, by the space of six hours, sith +my coming into the same], I leave to trouble your Lordship with this my +rude writing. + +"At the house aforesaid, the 16th day of August 1554." + +* Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester. + + +But nothing came of his efforts to get himself released, and the +unequal contest between his "scrupulousness," and Elizabeth's astute, +unfathomable diplomacy was still to be waged for many months. Her +request to be allowed to send a verbal message to the Council by one of +her servants was indeed declined, but she received permission to commit +her petition to paper. On the 20th September, Sir Henry wrote to the +Council:-- + +Upon the return of my brother Edmund with your honourable letters dated +at Hampton Court the 15th of this present month, I did take knowledge +that your lordships had obtained of the Queen's Majesty that my lady +Elizabeth's Grace might write unto your lordships, delivering the same +unto me to be addressed unto your honours, inclosed in my letter, by +one of her grace's extraordinary servants; whereupon the Monday, being +the 17th day in the forenoon of the same, I declared that your +lordships had granted her Grace's late desire in form above said, which +was glad tidings as I took it. Yet her Grace at that time did neither +command me to prepare things for her Grace to write with nor named who +should be her messenger, and so I departed. Her Grace never spake words +of that matter more till the Sunday following, in the time of her +Grace's walk at the afternoon, at which time her Grace commanded to +prepare her pen and ink and paper against the next day, which I did. +Upon Monday in the morning her Grace sent Mistress Morton, the Queen's +Highness's woman for the same, to whom I delivered a standsel [an +inkstand] with five pens, two sheets of fine paper and one coarse +sheet, enclosing the same with this request unto the said Mistress +Morton, that she should make suit to my lady's Grace on my behalf, that +it would please her Grace not to use the same but in the sight of +Mistress Tomio or her. And the same Mistress Morton did this, and +brought me word that her Grace had consented to my said suit, and that +I should also send word unto Francis Verney, her Grace's ordinary +servant lying in the town of Woodstock, with her cofferer to be +messenger. Where I perceive they use as much privy conference to her +Grace and from her as they list, even as I advertised your lordships +long ago. The house also being a common inn wherein they do lie, and +they so politic as they be, I can get no knowledge of their doings by +any espyal; this only I am sure of they meet not together in person. At +the afternoon, in her Grace's going to walk, I heard her say she had +such pain in her head that she could write no more that day. Tuesday in +the morning, as I learned of Mistress Morton, she washed her head." + +On the 4th October he wrote to the queen:-- + +"May it please your Highness to be advertised that this great lady, +upon whose person ye have commanded mine attendance, is and hath been +in quiet state for the health of her body this month or six weeks, and +of her mind declareth nothing outwardly by word or deed that I can come +to the knowledge of, but all tending to the hope she saith she hath of +your clemency and mercy towards her. Marry, against my lords of your +most honourable Council I have heard her speak, words that declare that +she hath conceived great unkindness in them, if her meaning go with her +words, whereof God only is judge." + +His task grew daily more complicated, and the next letter is a key to +the situation:-- + +"My humble duty remembered unto your honourable Lordships, these shall +be to advertise the same, that this present 21st day of October, my +lady Elizabeth's Grace commanded me to prepare things necessary for her +to write unto your lordships, whereupon I took occasion to declare onto +her Grace that the express words of your honourable Letters, dated at +Hampton Court, the 15th of September, did trot bear that the Queen's +Majesty was pleased that her Grace, upon any occasion from time to time +moving, and as often as it pleased her, might write unto you. And +therefore I prayed her Grace to stay her determination therein until I +might signify this my doubt unto your lordships, and receive your full +and plain determination therein for my discharge; which my suit she +took in so ill part that her Grace of displeasure therein did utter, +with more words of reproach of this my service, about her by the +Queen's commandment than ever I heard her speak afore: too long to +write. At afternoon her Grace sent for me by Mrs. Pomeyow, and then in +a more quieter sort, required me to write unto your honours, and +thereby to desire the same to be means for her unto the Queen's +Highness to grant that Drs. Wendy, Owen, and Huick, or two of them, may +be licensed with convenient speed to repair hither, for to minister +unto her physic, bringing of their own choice one expert surgeon to let +her Grace's blood, if the said doctors or two of them shall think it so +good, upon the view of her suit upon their coming . . . . Most heartily +desiring your honours to return with the same your absolute opinions to +the first matter which shall be done accordingly, with our Lord's leave +and help, to understand your pleasures and commandments aright, which +this great lady saith may have good meaning in me, but it lacketh +knowledge, experience, and all other accidents in such a service +requisite, which I must needs confess. The help only hereof resteth in +God and the Queen's Majesty, with your honourable advice; from whence +to receive the discharge of this my service, without offence to the +Queen's Majesty or you my good lords, were the joyfullest tidings that +ever came to me, as our Lord Almighty knoweth, to whom no secrets be +hidden." + +The physicians were sent to Woodstock, and Elizabeth was "let blood," +Sir Henry testifying that "by her own commandment" he saw it done "by +the bleeding of her army); and some hours later he saw her foot +"stricken and bled, since which time, thanks be to God, as far as I see +or hear she doeth reasonably well as that case requireth." + +Some months later "the joyfullest tidings that ever came" were conveyed +in a letter from the queen. It was the herald of his longed-for +"discharge":-- + +"Marye The Quene. By the Quene. + +"Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. And for as much as we have +resolved to have the lady Elizabeth to repair nearer unto us, we do +therefore pray and require you to declare unto her that our pleasure is +she shall come to us to Hampton Court in your company with as much +speed as you can have things in order for that purpose; wherein you +shall not need to make any delay for calling of any other numbers than +these, which be yourself and those now there attendant upon her. And of +the time of your setting forwards from thence, and by what day you +shall think you may be there, we require you to advertise us by your +letters with speed. + +"Given under our signet at our honour of Hampton Court, the 17th of +April the 1st and 2nd of our reign." + +On their arrival at court Sir Henry Bedingfeld was relieved, Sir Thomas +Pope being appointed to replace him. Elizabeth was soon afterwards +allowed to retire to Hatfield, where she remained under supervision +till her accession. In the meanwhile, Bedingfeld was appointed +Lieutenant of the Tower, and the following selection of letters from +the family archives at Oxburgh not only affords us a further insight +into his character, but shows at the same time in what manner the State +prisoners were treated by the Queen, the Council, and the Lieutenant. + +The two first letters relate to Sir John Cheke who, together with Sir +Peter Carew, had been arrested in Flanders, and brought to the Tower +for implication in Wyatt's rebellion. Carew was released in October +1555. + +"Sir Robert Rochester to Sir Henry Bedingfeld. + +"Mr. Lieutenant,--My Lord Cardinal his Grace* being gone to Lambeth of +express purpose, there to have before him Mr. Cheke, hath required me +to write unto you, and to require you that the said Mr. Cheke may be +sent unto him unto Lambeth, in the company and with the Dean of Paul's. +Wherefore I pray you take order with the said Dean so as he may convey +him thither accordingly. The meaning is that no officer of the Tower +should be troubled with his conveyance thither, but only the Dean to be +charged by you with his person to bring to my Lord Cardinal's presence, +and he to bring him again when it shall please my said Lord to command +him, who hath the whole order and disposition of this case. This must +be done when Mr. Dean he cometh to you for the man. And so bids you +most heartily well to fare, from the Court this present morning, your +assured friend, R. Rochester." + +*Cardinal Pole. + + +"Sir John Feckenham, Priest,* to Sir John Cheke. + +* Abbot of Westminster, who was appointed to examine Cheke in matters +of religion. + + +"Gentle Mr. Cheke,--It was this day somewhat past l0 of the clock +before I could have any determinate answer of your coming unto the +Court, which is now appointed to be at 2 of the clock in the afternoon. +I shall send two of my servants to wait upon you from the Tower unto my +house, at 1 of the clock, and from thence I will go with you unto the +Court myself. I do think that Mr. Lieutenant is already put to +knowledge thereof, but if it be forgotten give unto him this my letter, +and he will not stay you. Your submission is very well liked, and the +Queen's Highness hath seen the same, with which her Majesty has found +no fault, but only that you had forgotten to make mention in the latter +end thereof of the King's Majesty. And therefore you must write it all +whole again, and in the latter end add these words which I have added +touching the King's Majesty, or else everything is as it was in your +own copy save that I added in one place the real presence of Christ's +Body and Blood. I pray you leave not out these words, and at your +coming I shall hear your cause, where notwithstanding your few lines +which is wrote unto me thereof, be you of good comfort; all things are +well, and imagined best for your furtherance. You have more friends +than you be ware of. Thus fare you well, this present 5 of Sep. 1556, +by your assured friend, John Fecknam, Priest. + +"I pray you fail not to write it all again, and that as large and plain +as you can, for I am commanded to request you that you duly so do." + +Dr. Cheke, having proved his innocence of conspiracy to the +satisfaction of the Council, and having recanted his heresy, was +released, and "through the efficacy of his language," about thirty +others followed his example, and saved their lives. He died the next +year, the heretics said, of remorse for what he had done against the +reformed religion. + +Edward Lewkner, who according to Machyn's Diary had been groom-porter +to Edward VI. and Mary, "was cast to suffer death" in the third year of +Mary's reign for participation in the Dudley conspiracy. While in the +Tower he fell so grievously ill as to excite the Lieutenant's +compassion, and Sir Henry appears to have interceded with the Queen on +his behalf. + +"To the Right Worshipful Sir Henry Bedingfeld, Knight, Lieutenant of +the Queen's Highness's Tower of London. Francis Malet, Priest. + +"Right Worshipful,--After my hearty commendations these shall be to +certify your Mastership that where your charity was declared in that it +pleased you to take pains to declare by your wise and discreet letters +the piteous state of Lewkner, your prisoner, I was thereby the more +ready and yet not wanting the counsel of a counseller to move the +Queen's goodness in the matter. And her Grace being content to take +into her hands your letter, and going with it into her privy chamber, +said she would consider the matter, and that I should learn what her +Grace's resolute mind will be therein. And therefore to tarry this +messenger any longer at this time I thought but folly, for that I shall +be ready sooner at night if it please her Highness to understand what +answer she will make to my suit; or if it will not be known this night, +as I doubt, for her Grace is as it were ever defatigate with her late +business in dispatching the King of Bohemia's ambassadors, I shall know +as soon as I may what her Grace's determination shall be; and that +known, I shall with all expedition intimate the same unto you, that so +the poor man may be certified of her Grace's pleasure. And in the +meantime I shall most heartily beseech your Mastership to continue your +favour towards the man; and divers of those that be most nigh unto her +Grace's person desire the same at your hands, and saith plainly that +the Queen's Grace will not be discontent that he may have all the +commodity that may be showed him for the recovery of his health within +the Tower. I pray God show His will mercifully upon him, and I trust +the Queen's goodness shall be extended withal unto him to his great +comfort, as knoweth Almighty Jesus, who send you with much worship long +to live and well to live in both soul and body. Scribbled in haste with +the running hand of yours to command, Francis Malet, Priest." + +The above letter is undated, but the sequel to the story is related by +the Lieutenant himself in the minutes of a letter to the Council. + +"Please it your Grace and my Lords to be advertised that this present +Sunday, the 6th September, Edward Lewkner, prisoner, attainted by long +sickness, departed this transitory life to God, about the hour of eight +of the clock of the night. Who was a willing man in the forenoon of +this day to have received the blessed Sacrament, but the priest that +did serve in the absence of the . . . * did think him so well that it +was meet to be ministered to him but after he had heard his confession. +He did minister unto him the Sacrament of Oiling, or Extreme Unction, +at the which I was present. Tomorrow I intend by God's grace to see him +buried in form appertaining to his condition in life, as I have learned +of those that have seen the like order. Instead of a will he charged me +with his service to the Queen's Majesty, that it might please her +Highness, after forgiveness of his offences towards the same, to +vouchsafe to have pity of his wife and ten poor children, which I +promised to do upon my next waiting upon her Majesty, humbly beseeching +your Lordships all in time most meet to be good lords to the same his +petition. And so as your poor beadsman I take my leave of you. + +"From the Queen's Majesty's Tower of London 1556, the night aforesaid, +about 11 of the clock. + +"Henry Bedyngfeld." + +* Illegible in the manuscript. + + +Many other letters among this collection give evidence of the kindness +and pity bestowed by the Lieutenant on the prisoners in the Tower, and +the consideration with which their friends were treated, these being +admitted to see them whenever it was practicable. His relations with +nearly all the members of the Privy Council were intimate and cordial, +but perhaps his closest friend was Sir Henry Jerningham, who was not +only a colleague, but the chosen companion of the rare occasions that +were devoted to recreation and pleasure. Their two families had always +been on terms of affectionate intimacy, although it was not until two +generations later that they became allied by marriage, when Thomas +Bedingfeld of Oxburgh, Sir Henry's grandson, married Frances, daughter +and co-heir of John Jerningham of Somerleyton. + +On the 16th February 1557, Sir Henry Jerningham, having occasion to +write to the Lieutenant of the Tower on business, ended his letter thus: + +"I do and will labour all that I can to have your company into Norfolk +this Lent, to course the hare and hawk the heron. And thus I commit you +to God, praying Him to send us our prosperity. Your assured friend, +Henry Jerningham." + +During the years 1553, 1554, and 1557, Sir Henry Bedingfeld sat in +Parliament as one of the knights of the shire for Norfolk. In 1557 he +succeeded Sir Henry Jerningham as Captain of the Yeoman of the Guard, +at which time he was also made vice Chamberlain. But Mary's death in +1558 closed his public career, and he retired to Oxburgh, which, hemmed +in on the south side by miles of fen country, was in those days for all +practical purposes entirely cut off from the world. It was probably +during a temporary absence, and when he was purposing to entertain +guests in his beautiful Norfolk home, that the following letter was +written to him presumably by his steward:-- + +To the right worshipful and my especial good friend Sir Henry +Bedingfeld, Knight, be this delivered. + +"Pleaseth it your Mastership that according to your Mastership's +commandment, I did write to Mr. R and he was not at home. I shall go to +him again, and you shall know by the next messenger; you shall +understand what plate and bedding may be had at his hand. What number +of capons and hens your Mastership would have me to provide I would +desire to know by the next messenger. I doubt fat capons are hard to be +gotten in these parts, therefore if you had any that were ready fed, or +could get any that were fed in Suffolk they might be stayed till the +time you should require them, and have them killed, and carried dead, +and have again instead of them fine lean capons. Lean capons are at 8d. +the piece, and 9d. and 10d. and 12d. Geese are at 6d. and 7d. a piece. +Lean hens 4d. and 5d. Wild fowl was never so hard to be gotten. There +is little taken; the fowlers do say the cause is the weather is so +rainy, and there is as much wait laid for the getting of it as ever +there was for my Lady's Grace and for divers others. I have done as +much as I could to have gotten some for your Mastership, and for my +masters your sons, and could get but six teals. Since Christmas there +is sent you of your own hawk's killing, eleven teals, two mallards, and +eleven bitterns. And I humbly take my leave of your Mastership. From +Oxburgh, 20 of December 1563, by your poor servant, + +"Wm. Deye." + +It would not have been surprising if Sir Henry Bedingfeld had fallen +more or less into disgrace at this time, for Elizabeth might now, if +she had wished, made him feel the effects of his "scrupulousness" +during the period of her captivity. The following letter from the queen +shows, however, that such was not the case: + +"To our trusty and well-beloved Sir Henry Bedingfeld, Knight. + +"Elizabeth R By the Quene. + +"Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. Like as we doubt not, but +by the common report of the world, it appeareth what great +demonstrations of hostility the French make towards this realm, by +transporting great powers into Scotland, upon the pretence only of +their going about the conquest of the same, so have we thought meet +upon more certainty to us of their purpose, to have good regard thereto +in time. And being very jealous of our town of Berwick, the principal +key of all our realm, we have determined to send with speed, succours +both thitherward and to our frontier, as well horsemen as footmen, and +do also send our right trusty and entirely beloved cousin, the Duke of +Norfolk, to be our Lieutenant-General of all the North, from Trent +forward. For which purpose we have addressed our letters to sundry our +nobility and gentlemen in like manner as we do this unto you, willing +and requiring you as you tender and respect the honour of us and surety +of your country, to put in readiness, with all speed possible, one able +man, furnished with a good strong horse or gelding, and armed with a +corselet, and to send the same to Newcastle by such day, and with such +further order for the furniture as shall be appointed to you by our +trusty and well-beloved Sir Edward Wyndham, Knight, and Sir Christopher +Heydon, Knight, whom we have advertised of our further pleasure in that +behalf. And at the arriving of the said horseman at Newcastle, he shall +not only receive money for his route and conduct, but also beside his +wage shall be, by the discretion of our said cousin of Norfolk, so used +and entreated as ye shall not need to doubt of the safe return of the +same, if the casualty of death be not impeached. And herein we make +such sure account of your forwardness as we thereupon have signified +among others to our said cousin this our appointment and commandment. +So shall we make account of you in that behalf, whereof we pray you +fail not. + +"Given under our signet at our Palace of Westminster, the 25th day of +September, in the second year of our reign."* + +* The original letter is at Oxburgh. + + +It was in consideration of this or of some other service rendered about +this time that Elizabeth granted to Sir Henry Bedingfeld and to his +heirs for ever, the manor of Caldecot, in Norfolk "with the +impropriation thereof." + +An undated manuscript, preserved at Oxburgh, containing a plan of an +itinerary for the queen's progress into Norfolk, would seem to support +the tradition that Elizabeth visited that place. Perhaps she intended +to visit it, for immediately after Walsingham, which then belonged to +the Sidneys, occurs the sentence: "Thence to Oxburgh, Sir Henry +Bedingfelds."* This document is printed in Blomefield's History of +Norfolk, and the date assigned to it is 1578, presumably because this +was the only time at which Elizabeth visited Norfolk. There are, +however, no details of any visit to Oxburgh, and Dr. Jessopp, +considering that the place was quite out of the line of progress, is of +the opinion that she never went there at all.** + +* The so-called Queen's room, a large apartment above that in which +Henry VII. undoubtedly slept may, it appears to the present writer, +have been occupied by Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII., who, it is +well known, accompanied him on, at least, one pilgrimage to Walsingham. +As she also was Queen Elizabeth, this may account for the tradition, + +** One Generation of a Norfolk House, p. 61. + + +But there are other and more weighty reasons than those of distance for +arriving at this conclusion. From the year 1569, when the foremost +English Catholics attempted to liberate Mary Queen of Scots, the penal +laws against Papists were redoubled in severity, and those who still +clung to the old religion fell into disfavour. Elizabeth did indeed +visit Euston Hall, near Thetford, in 1578, and Mr. Rookwood presumed to +kiss her hand. But the Lord Chamberlain severely reprimanded him for so +doing, sternly bade him stand aside, and charged him with being a +recusant, unfit to be in the presence, much less to touch the sacred +person, of his sovereign. He was required to attend the Council, under +surveillance, and when he reached Norwich, in the queen's train, was +committed to jail. + +Many other recusants were treated in 1578 as Rookwood was. Two of the +Lovells, Humphrey Bedingfeld of Quidenham, Sir Henry's brother, one +Parry, and two others, "not worth memory for badness of belyffe," were +confined in Norwich Castle" for obstinate papystrie."* + +* Mason, History of Norfolk, p. 150. + + +"At Norwich, the Queen lodged at the bishop's palace, and spent her +time, as far as the bad weather would allow, in listening to absurd +speeches and witnessing grotesque pageants, but on the 19th August, she +suddenly resolved to go a-hunting in the park of Cossey, five miles +from Norwich, which belonged to Mr. Henry Jerningham, ancestor of the +present Lord Stafford. Once more her host was a recusant, but this time +it would have been too shameless to proceed against him. Mr. Jerningham +had made himself very conspicuous in opposing the abominable attempts +to set aside Mary and Elizabeth as heirs to the Crown at the death of +Edward VI., and in return for his loyalty, had received this very +domain of Cossey at Queen Mary's hands; but for him and his gallantry +twenty years before, Elizabeth herself might never have been on the +throne. So Mr. Jerningham was left unmolested at present, though his +time was to come by-and-bye, and when three days after, the Council met +and made order for the committal to jail of such of the Norfolk gentry +as had not kept their church, and upon whom the hand of power had been +so astutely laid, Mr. Jerningham's name was omitted, though his +kinsman's, Mr. Bedingfeld's, name figures on the list, only to appear +again and again hereafter."* + +*One Generation of a Norfolk House, p. 62. Dr. Jessopp is mistaken in +identifying this Mr. Jerningham with the friend and ally of Sir Henry +Bedingfeld, who was associated with him in placing Mary on the throne. +Sir Henry Jerningham died in 1572, aged 63, and Elizabeth's host at +Cossey was his son. + + +Among the Acts of the Privy Council for 1578, it is stated that:--"This +day [August 24th], there appeared before their lordships, as warned by +the Sheriff of Norfolk, amongst persons refusing to come to the church +within that county, Sir Henry Bedingfeld, Knight, and Edmund Wyndham, +Doctor of the Civil Law, who, standing in their obstinacy in refusing +to come to the church in time of prayer, sermons, and other divine +service, were ordered, as others of the same sort before, at Norwich: +Sir Henry Bedingfeld to be bound in 500 pounds, and Mr. Wyndham in 200 +pounds, with the like conditions as they that were bound to remain in +their lodgings at Norwich, as by their obligations remaining in the +Council Chest it may appear. And for that their lordships were informed +that divers of the household servants of Sir Henry Bedingfeld did and +do refuse likewise to come to the church, it was ordered that the Lord +Bishop of Norwich, or some person appointed by him, should visit his +household, and so many of his said servants as should refuse to conform +themselves to come to the church should be discharged by the said +Bishop or his visitors, in that case, from his service." + +The Council then wrote to two justices of the peace in Norfolk, +ordering them to discharge Sir Henry's servants "that will not come to +church as is above said, and that they be not maintained by the said +Sir Henry Bedingfeld nor any other of their friends with any exhibition +or otherwise, wheresoever they shall bestow themselves, nor that there +be not any other servants admitted to serve Sir Henry Bedingfeld in any +place or office about him that shall be suspected to be of that +disposition in religion." On receiving an order to present himself +before the Privy Council, Sir Henry, although suffering from illness, +set out for London. This letter, signed by five of the members, met him +on the road:-- + +"To our loving friend, Sir Henry Bedingfeld, Knight. + +"After our hearty commendations. Whereas we are given to understand +that upon some letters heretofore written, you are on the way repairing +hither, forasmuch as we are informed by your son-in-law, Henry +Seckford, that your sickness and infirmity is such as without danger +you may not travel, we are very well contented if you shall not like to +repair up, that you return again to the place where you were committed, +there to remain until such time as further order shall be taken with +you. And so fare you well. + +"From Richmond, the 1st Dec. 1578." + +Further relief was extended to him, as appears by another letter from +the Council, allowing him to remain in his house till Lady Day, when he +was to appear and answer to the charge of papistry, "unless in the +meantime God shall turn his heart otherwise." + +Slight as were the penalties inflicted on Sir Henry when compared with +those which his brothers were called upon to endure, troubles were not +wanting to him in his old age He was not only a prisoner within five +miles of his own house, subject to heavy fines for the privilege of +absenting himself from the new service, but he was liable at any time +to have his house searched* for priests and church-stuff, to have his +household dismissed, and to be called on to endure religious +conferences. He was, moreover, in feeble health, and to complete his +misfortunes, his devoted wife was taken from him. On this occasion a +letter from eight members of the Privy Council was delivered to him:-- + +* For "the search at Mr. Bedingfeld's house," and the anonymous letter +which led to it, see Calendar of State Payers, Dom. Eliz. 1581-1590, p. +648, No. 76. A copy of a letter found directed to Cromwell accused Sir +Henry of treasonable designs in conjunction with papists and recusants. +"Diligent searches have been made at the house of Mr. Henry +Bedingfelde, but nothing suspicious found." + + +"To our loving friend, Sir Henry Bedingfeld. + +"We commend us unto you. Whereas about three years past, when you were +sent for to have appeared before us, touching your disobedience in +Religion, we were then moved in consideration of your sickness and +infirmity, and the humble suit of Henry Seckford, your son, you being +then in the way hitherward, to licence you to return back unto your own +house, whither you were before committed, there to remain until further +order should be taken with you. And whereas at this time your son has +made like humble suit unto us that you may be suffered to remove from +your said house unto St. Mary's, Wignollen, in Marshland, a house of +your daughter Seckford, there to remain for a season until you may pass +over the grief and remembrance of the lady, your wife, lately deceased, +these are in that respect to give you licence so to do. And therefore +you may, at your liking remove to that place, continuing yourself in +like degree of restraints as you did in your own house, and these shall +be your warrant in that behalf. So fare you well. + +"From the Court at Whitehall, 28 of Dec. 1581. Your loving friends."* + +* Exactly the same treatment was endured by his descendant Sir Henry +Arundell Bedingfeld in 1713. The following instance affords a proof of +the extraordinary persistence with which the penal laws against +Catholics were enforced 110 years after Elizabeth's death. + + +"Licence from the justices, August 10, 1713, for Sir Henry Bedingfeld +to go from home for a month. + +"Whereas Sir Henry Bedingfeld of Oxburgh, Bart., being a recusant, and +confined to the usual place of his abode, or within the compass of five +miles from the same, and whereas it has been represented to us on the +part of the said Sir Henry Bedingfeld that he has very necessary and +urgent business, which does require his attention at this time, and +whereas the said Sir Henry Bedingfeld has made an oath before us of the +truth of the same, and that he will not make any causeless stay from +his said place of habitation, we therefore, four of his Majesty's +Justices of the Peace for the said county upon examination taken by us +as of the premisses, do give this our licence to the said Sir Henry +Bedingfeld to travel out of the precincts or compass of five miles from +the place of his abode limited by the statute at all times, from the 13 +of this instant August, until the thirteenth of September following, by +which time he is to return again to his place of abode at the parish of +Oxburgh, aforesaid. Given under our hand and seal this Loth of August +1713." Signed in the margin, "E. Bacon, T. De Grey, Tho. Wright, Nath. +Life, H. Partridge, Dep. Lieut. I do assent to this licence." + +Sir Henry Bedingfeld succumbed to his infirmities in 1583, and was +buried in the Bedingfeld chapel in Oxburgh church, where an elaborate +monument to his memory may still be seen. It is to be regretted that +the loss of the Privy Council Registers for the year 1583 entails also +the loss of any mention of the last days of this celebrated Englishman. + + + +IV. THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN GERMANY + +In spite of the valiant efforts of isolated Catholic reformers in +Germany, to stem the tide of corruption which threatened to sweep the +Church into a vortex of ruin, for a long time little impression was +made on the vast sea of abuses, and but little permanent good was +effected. It almost seemed as though the Poor Clares of Nuremburg, the +brave Dominicanesses of Strassburg, Johannes Busch, Johannes Geiler, +Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, St. John Capistran, the Brethren of the +Common Life, and the celebrated author of the Imitation of Christ had +lived and fought, suffered and preached, in vain. They, and some few +others were like brilliant meteors, only making the darkness of the +night more apparent. + +The nations were as little responsive to preachers of reform as were +the princes of Europe to the appeals of the Pope for a crusade against +the infidel Turk, who menaced, after his conquest of Constantinople, +the very centre of Christendom. While the citadel was in danger, those +who should have assembled vast cohorts in its defence were either +suffering from the inertia that follows on some kinds of disease, or +were actively employed in spreading the new heresies. Then at last +struck the hour for the dawning of a new day. And here perhaps lies the +solution to the problem why so much energy, self-denial, penance on the +part of the preachers of reform, produced so little result; why such +brave efforts failed to restore, renew and edify the Church. Was she +then incapable of rising to a new life? The answer lies in the words of +her Divine Founder: "My hour is not yet come." Until then, all +reformers preached more or less in the wilderness; for few had ears to +hear. God's hour was assuredly winging its flight, but it would not +come till the Church was almost in extremis; till decay of faith +following on decay of morals threatened her very existence. The +catastrophe was hastened by the fatal pouring of the new wine of the +later Renaissance into the old, now worn-out bottles of Mediaevalism, +thereby paganising Rome and corrupting the College of Cardinals to so +large an extent, that the election to the papacy of a Rodrigo Borgia +was made possible. + +Neither the fiery denunciations of Fra Girolamo Savonarola, nor the +cold sarcasms of Erasmus of Rotterdam had a more lasting effect on the +world than had Busch's missionary zeal or Geiler's ascetic discourses. +Then arose Martin Luther, and centered in himself all those scandals +and floating heresies, which for a hundred years had poisoned the +spiritual and intellectual atmosphere. Insidious disease lurking in +dark places was now become a stalking pestilence that braved the +daylight unabashed. Faith was all but moribund. But the Church's +extremity was God's opportunity; His hour had struck at last, and the +spirit of the Lord brooded on the face of the waters. + +Then the whole situation was changed. The enemy was not yet crushed, +but formidable hosts were everywhere set in opposition to him. Instead +of isolated efforts there was an almost universal movement towards +reform. Begun in Italy, it spread into every country of Europe. +Seminaries sprang up for the education of priests; St. Philip Neri +became the Apostle of Rome, St. Charles Borromeo that of Milan. The +Order of Theatines was founded, and the Barnabite Order, devoted to the +education of youth was ready to send its members wherever the need was +greatest. Above all, the long-deferred General Council, assembled at +Trent in 1545, gave cohesion to all the various movements that were set +on foot by defining disputed doctrines, and by drawing up a formula +which declared the belief of the Catholic Church on all points attacked +by the new sectaries. The Church was threatened with a dozen heresies, +but so completely did she vindicate her doctrines at the Council of +Trent, that for more than three hundred years no further General +Council was needed. If Italy may boast of the victories achieved by her +great Catholic reformers, France, though somewhat later in the field +had her Bossuet, Bourdaloue, St. Francis of Sales, St. Vincent of Paul, +and many other Catholic champions. To Spain were given St. Ignatius of +Loyola, St. Francis Borgia, St. Francis Xavier, St. Peter of Alcantara, +St. John of the Cross, St. John of God, St. Joseph Calasanctius, St. +Teresa, and others whose names have first added a splendour to their +native land, and have then gone forth to illumine the uttermost ends of +the earth. + +St Ignatius died in 1556, but the effect of the Society of Jesus on the +Church was only just beginning. One of the earliest and most important +tasks of his immediate disciples was the formation of the Carmelite nun +Teresa, and her spiritual guidance in the unusual paths she was called +to tread. Even in Catholic Spain hearts had grown cold and minds lax. +The religious houses had long fallen from their first fervour. During +the space of sixteen years St. Teresa founded seventeen convents, all +following the original strict Carmelite rule. As early as 1474 Pope +Eugenius IV. had formed the project of re-establishing the strict +observance of the rule in all religious communities, but the times were +not then favourable for carrying it out. He had therefore approved +provisionally of a mitigated rule for all Carmelite houses, by means of +which discipline was to be restored. The Carmelite general, John +Soreth, made great efforts to enforce it, but his success was partial +and short-lived. + +In 1524, when Teresa de Ahumeda was still a child, Clement VII. +addressed a brief to the General Chapter of the Carmelites, assembled +at Venice, commanding them to reform their order. The brief was +cordially received, and the Chapter passed many resolutions all aiming +at the removal of abuses, such as the careless and hasty admission of +members, so that thenceforth no person might be received into the order +without the consent of the provincial, or before the age of fifteen. +Another resolution passed in this Chapter referred to the private +property of the friars; but lest more harm than good should be done by +sudden and violent measures, it was decreed that in every province +certain houses should be set apart for those members who had received +the mitigated rule of Pope Eugenius, and who were therefore considered +as reformed. But together with these houses others should be tolerated +for a season, while the religious were gradually accustomed to a state +of discipline. Those who had not accepted the mitigated rule were to be +allowed temporarily to enjoy their patrimony, as also the emoluments +accruing to them from teaching, preaching, and other services rendered. +There was to be no difference in their treatment, and the religious +habit was to be the same for the reformed and the unreformed brethren. +Subsequent Chapters-General continued to pass similar wise regulations, +but they were by no means promptly carried out; and at Vicenza, in +1539, it was decreed that provincials and friars must undertake the +reform of their convents in the course of one year, in default of which +their subjects were to be released from the obedience they owed them. +Only reformed friars might be elected superiors.* + +* Monsignanus, Bullarium, ii. 59 c, 47 b. + + +At this assembly, the representatives of the Lower Rhine Province were +Theodoric of Gouda, Martin Cuperus, and Eberhard Billick. They +presented a petition praying that the Universities of Mainz and Trier +might be included in the course open to Carmelite students, the reason +being that in order to successfully combat the Lutheran heresies, great +need was felt of men of wide knowledge, possessing degrees high enough +to inspire respect in their opponents. Many students, by reason of the +evil times, were not in a position to meet the expenses attendant upon +a sojourn at Cologne and Louvain, and the living at Mainz and Trier was +cheaper. To this petition the Carmelite general answered by ranking +Cologne first, Louvain second, Mainz third, and Trier fourth, in the +curriculum of studies. + +But the progress made in Germany was the reverse of rapid; opposition +was encountered at every step; nevertheless, the resolutions passed at +the Chapter-General at Venice in 1524, had introduced the thin end of +the wedge, and it is apparent from the decrees of the Provincial +Chapter held at Mechlin in 1531, and presided over by the general +himself, that nearly all the houses of the Lower Rhine Province had by +that time accepted the mitigated rule. It was enforced in this Chapter +that if a convent fell away from the reform, the provincial was to +appoint a reformed prior, and to send thither reformed brethren. Friars +who refused the reform were to be banished for ten years. Another +accentuated point was the rule which forbade the possession of private +property. One common purse only was allowed, and thenceforth, no +Carmelite might, under pain of excommunication, keep money in his +possession for more than twenty-four hours. Absolution for an +infringement of this rule could only be obtained from the provincial or +general. Those religious, who at their death were found to possess +property were to be buried in unconsecrated ground. When, a year later, +Theodoric of Gouda presented himself at the Chapter-General held at +Padua, he was able to state that the Lower Rhine Province had joined +the observance, and was entitled to the privileges belonging thereto. + +But another and more insidious danger had arisen. In many of the +Carmelite houses of Germany the new doctrines had been more than +favourably received; and at Strassburg, the rector, Tilmann Lyn had +been deprived of his office for having openly preached the Lutheran +heresy. Three other friars of the same house who with him had gone +astray were imprisoned. In vain the friars were forbidden, under pain +of excommunication, to possess or to read books that had been condemned +by the Holy See. Heretical writings continued to find entrance into +many of the religious houses, and were even read aloud in refectories, +and used as text-books by the professors. It must, however, be admitted +that some of these books, including several works of Erasmus which were +also prohibited, would now scarcely come into the category of heretical +writings. Still, many of the diatribes which Erasmus permitted himself +against the religious orders were not in any sense edifying, though +there was much truth in his pungent satire; so that the papal legate +Aleander did not hesitate to declare that the Dutch scholar had done +more to undermine faith than even Luther, and he accused him of being +the fomenter of all the troubles, of subverting the Netherlands, and +all the Rhine district. This may indeed have been the truth indirectly +in spite of the certainty that Erasmus had no intention of playing into +the hands of the Lutherans, whom he hated. But he was a cynic, and a +cynic's eyes are not the best through which to see things. The monks +offended him, and he poured out upon them, not the vials of his wrath +but the sharp vinegar of sarcasm. His favourite, oft-recurring themes, +the ignorance, immorality, and greed to be found in monasteries, the +quarrelsomeness and worldliness of the friars would lead the unwary to +suppose that there was not a religious community left where the rule +was kept and the religious led commonly respectable lives. But even a +slight acquaintance with Erasmus shows us that he is incapable of +justice towards monks and friars. They loved scholasticism, the enemy +which he considered himself born to slay, and there was war to the +knife between him and all upholders of Scotus and Aquinas. The monks of +the Charterhouse, who died the death of martyrs rather than perjure +themselves, win no meed of praise from Erasmus--they were, forsooth, +schoolmen; and the noble Friars-Observants who, when threatened with a +living tomb in the river Thames, for the same cause, calmly replied +that the road to heaven was as near by water as by land, are nothing to +him, for did they not learn their theology of Duns Scotus. Even Henry +VIII. himself at one time begged the Pope's favour for the Observants, +saying that he could not sufficiently express his admiration for their +strict adherence to poverty, for their sincerity, their charity, their +devotion;* but they were Scotists, and Erasmus could not therefore +admire them. + +* Henry VIII. to Leo X., Add. MS. 15,387, f. 17; B.M. Printed by Ellis, +3, 1st series, 165. + + +From his own showing it appears that the Canons Regular of St. +Augustine at Emmaus in Holland led a good life, but he makes no +honourable exception of them when he denounces other houses. He +complains of all monks that they are gluttons and wine-bibbers, utterly +careless of their rule; yet his own plea for returning to the world +after taking his vows is that his health would not stand the fasts and +vigils, the long prayers and the fish diet, things which accord ill +with a reputation for laxity. In a letter to his former prior, he says: +"I left my profession, not because I had any fault to find with it, but +because I would not be a scandal to the order." And again, "My +constitution was too weak to bear your rule."* These are either empty +phrases, or they mean that the life was a strict one. + +* Life and Letters of Erasmus, lectures delivered at Oxford by J. A. +Froude, pp. 24, 162. + + +Nevertheless it would be idle to say that there was not or had not been +a great falling-off in the fervour of monks and friars generally at +this period. As the new doctrines spread, so did also the distaste for +the religious life, and the number of those who renounced their vows +increased yearly. But many, from various causes, soon repented, and +desired to return to the cloister, and it became necessary to legislate +for such contingencies also. Moreover, it was made obligatory on every +prior to arrest notorious apostates, and all those who, without letters +of obedience, or who, abusing them, were found wandering about the +country. They were to be punished conformably to the rule, and if +necessary were to be imprisoned. + +One good effect at least resulted from Erasmus's attacks on the +ignorance of monks, and this was the revival of learning in most of the +religious orders. Every inducement was offered by the Carmelite +superiors in the Lower Rhine Province to cultivate a taste for study. +Those who had gone through a three or four years' course of theology +creditably had a distinct right to a post of some dignity, and took +rank immediately after those priests of the order who had celebrated +their jubilee, and before all conventuals who had an inferior record as +to studies. The faithful discharge of offices for a prolonged period +was also rewarded by honourable recognition. The sentiments thus +appealed to may not have been of the loftiest, but it must be +remembered that the reform was to be gradual, and higher motives could +be suggested when the subject was ready for them. The superiors of this +province were supported in all their efforts by the general, who was +bent on a thorough renewal of the religious spirit throughout the +Order; but in the midst of all these righteous aspirations it is a +little startling to find that a decree of the Chapter-General was +needed to put down drinking-bouts in sundry houses of the Rhine +Province.* + +* Dr. Alois Postina, Der Karmelit Eberhard Billick. Ein Lebensbild aus +dem 16, Jahrhundert, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1901, p. 25. + + +In 1541, Eberhard Billick was appointed provincial, and almost +immediately began to visit the houses in his jurisdiction. At Cologne +he found a condition of things sufficient to make the boldest reformer +quail. The Lutherans had entirely gained the upper hand, and a certain +Count William of Neuenar and Mors, who had been for some tine a +follower of the new doctrines, was bent on introducing them by force +into Mors. He first forbade the practise of the Catholic religion among +his tenants, and then tried to seduce the religious. They were +forbidden to say Mass except on Sundays, and then even none outside the +convent were to be admitted to it. Their church was given over to the +Lutherans, and the friars were forced into being present at the +Protestant sermons. Not content with this, Count William inflicted +seven Lutheran beneficiaries upon them, obliging them to lodge and feed +them gratis. Lutheran preachers and school teachers were salaried out +of the convent revenues, which the Count managed by fraud and cunning +to confiscate. That portion of the convent buildings which bordered on +his property he turned into stables for his own horses, so that +entrance to the friar's quarters was open to his servants, while the +Carmelites were themselves forbidden to go in and out on that side. + +The new Provincial succeeded in time by dint of courage and firmness, +in getting back all that the Count had seized by force; but other +houses were in as deplorable a condition, and little could be done to +improve matters. Billick appealed to the Emperor, who had taken all the +Carmelite convents in Lower Germany under his protection; but the +Emperor's goodwill surpassed his power to help, the whole of his money +and energy being needed to oppose the Turks, the French, and the Duke +of Cleves. + +The greatest danger and difficulty lay in the behaviour of Count +Hermann of Wied, Archbishop and Elector of Cologne. From the outset his +rule had been detrimental to the Church. The best that could be said of +him in his youth was that he was "kind and peace-loving, fond of +hunting, but not particularly learned." Charles V., in a letter to the +landgrave Philip of Hessen, who had joined the Lutherans, says: "How +should the good man be able to reform his diocese? He has no Latin, and +has never said more than three Masses in his life. He does not even +know the Confiteor." Philip replied: "I can assure your Majesty that he +reads German industriously, and interests himself in religious +questions." + +Unfortunately, these "religious questions" threw the archbishop into +the arms of the Lutherans, and already in 1536, Aleander considered him +as much lost to the Church as Philip of Hessen himself, who made no +secret of his apostasy. Melancthon was his dear friend already when he +made the acquaintance of Martin Bucer at the Diet of Hagenau in 1540. + +Two years later, Archbishop Hermann invited this violent and notorious +heretic to preach in the minster at Bonn. Immediately, Cologne rose up +in protest, and the Cathedral Chapter, the clergy and the Magistrate +presented the archbishop with a remonstrance. Hermann replied by +sending Melancthon to support Bucer at Bonn, and thus, by entrusting +the work of reform to men whose sole aim was to subvert Catholic +doctrine and to disorganise Christian society, proved himself faithless +to the solemn promise he had made neither to introduce religious +novelties into his diocese, nor to abolish customs founded on Catholic +tradition. + +The Chapter, fully alive to the critical nature of the situation, drew +up a memorandum, dated 5th February 1543, in which they showed good +reasons why Bucer could not be tolerated as a minister of religion in +the diocese. His broken vows, his marriage, his open profession of +Luther's doctrines, proved sufficiently that he was no longer a member +of the Catholic Church. Further, his preaching at Strassburg had +resulted directly in the wholesale destruction of images and altars, +and ultimately in the abolition of the Mass in that place. The +memorandum went on to affirm that, in patronising such a man the +Archbishop was acting in direct disobedience to the Pope and to the +Emperor. + +Bucer's answer to these objections was devised in such a manner as to +cause his opponents some embarrassment. It was written in the Swiss +dialect, an unknown tongue to the clergy of Cologne, as well as to the +university. Nevertheless, before long, an epitome of its purport was +furnished to the Chapter, and the refutation of the doctrines therein +set forth was entrusted to the Carmelite provincial, Billick. + +The two champions were personally not unknown to each other, as they +had met at the Diets of Worms and Regensburg, where Billick had made a +point of studying the Strassburg heresiarch carefully. The Carmelite +now skilfully exposed the weakness of Bucer's arguments, together with +his frequent misinterpretation of Scripture and the Fathers, Billick +showing himself to be an experienced polemical writer; but the taste +and tone of his book are repugnant to modern ideas, and betray the same +acrimony which characterises the writings of Luther against Erasmus, +and vice versa. Accusations of hatred, cunning, lying, slandering, and +double-dealing, are cast like a hail of bullets, with no especial aim +at any of Bucer's arguments in particular. Interspersed with much able +criticism are choice epithets of abuse and reflections on Bucer's +personal character, which, although perfectly in accordance with +sixteenth century methods of controversy, are quite beside the mark, +and certainly not such as to promote peace in any age. + +What the Church in Germany needed at this juncture, was not so much a +fiery defender of the faith, or a scholar to taunt the heretics in +finely-pointed sarcasm with their want of learning, as a saint, +demonstrating in his own life the beauty of holiness, while laying +aside polemics, he expounded the philosophy of Catholic doctrine. The +need for reform was patent to all; many, like the zealous Carmelite +provincial, were already putting their hands to the plough. The +movement had been set on foot, but it lacked an apostle to lead and +govern it. Such a man was at that moment being formed at the University +of Cologne-the second apostle of Germany, as St. Boniface had been the +first-Blessed Peter Canisius. + +Canisius was a native of Nymwegen in the Low Countries, and was born on +8th May 1521. Having studied at Paris and Orleans, he became tutor to +the sons of Rene Duke of Lorraine, whose wife was Philippine of +Guelderland. From an early age Peter had desired to consecrate himself +to God in the priesthood, and his father having given his consent, the +young man proceeded to Cologne for his course of theology and civil and +canon law. No sooner did he appear in the lecture rooms than he +attracted universal attention. It was not merely the clearness and +conciseness of his reasoning, nor altogether the humility of his +bearing, but perhaps the mingled charm of each that roused the interest +of professors and students alike. That interest led them to watch him +closely, and they not only noticed that he seemed altogether +unconscious of the plaudits which he excited, but they discovered that +he was in the habit of imposing privations on himself, in order to have +money to give to poor students, that these might be better fed and +clothed, and more amply furnished with books. It was soon related of +him that he frequently went out of his way to instruct, counsel, and +rescue those (and there were many of them at Cologne) who had fallen +upon evil ways. Broad-minded, large-hearted, enlightened beyond his +companions, and possessing a strong and well balanced character, it +needed no great gift of prophecy to foresee that Peter Canisius would +do great things in the future. + +In the meanwhile, Father Peter Faber, the first associate of St. +Ignatius, was at Mainz, whither he had been sent by Pope Paul III. to +counteract the spread of the new doctrines by all the means in his +power. His reputation for holiness Was so great in the Society of +Jesus, that St. Francis Xavier invoked him when in danger from a storm +at sea, and inserted his name in the Litany of the Saints while he was +yet living. At Mainz Father Faber gave the Spiritual Exercises of St. +Ignatius, and obtained many wonderful conversions. + +His fame soon reached Cologne, where Canisius, yet uncertain as to his +future, was praying, studying, and exercising himself in all good +works. Suddenly, it became clear to him that his vocation would be made +known to him through Father Peter Faber. He hastened to Mainz, and at +their first interview Canisius was convinced that he was called to join +the new Society. He made the Spiritual Exercises, and on the fourth day +bound himself by a vow to do so. He returned to Cologne as a novice, +and continued to live much as before, pursuing his theological studies +and making a deep impression on all those with whom he came in contact. +Associated with two other novices, also university students-the +Spaniards Alfonsus Alvarez and John of Arragon--he received a common +rule of life from Faber, and in their zeal they soon exceeded it. They +preached, instructed children in Christian doctrine, begged alms for +the poor from door to door, nursed the sick in the hospitals, and, in +short, seized every opportunity of self-denial and humiliation. + +When Faber heard of all this he wrote to Canisius, commending the +charity of the trio, but reminding them at the same time that study was +their paramount duty, and would lead to more valuable work in the +future than anything they could then do for souls. + +"As obedience requires you to finish your course of theology," he +wrote, "you must not neglect it, thinking to do more by succouring your +neighbour in his temporal necessities." + +Soon Faber came himself to Cologne, and lodged with the Carthusians, +those valiant sons of St. Bruno, whose boast it is never to have quite +departed from the spirit of their founder. + +On the 8th May 1545, his twenty-fourth birthday, Peter Canisius made +the three simple vows of the Society and the same year was ordained +priest. By this time his reputation as a Catholic reformer was as great +as his reputation for learning. His capacity for work was prodigious. +He lectured twice daily; every Sunday he preached in one of the +churches, great crowds flocking to hear him. At home, every hour was +occupied either in teaching or in receiving those who came to him for +advice and help in their doubts. He answered them all with so much +insight, wisdom, gentleness, and humility, that even Lutherans dropped +the usual epithets, and spoke of him with respect. Every free moment +was devoted to literary work, which also obtained a certain celebrity. + +But to all these strenuous efforts the Archbishop Elector Hermann von +Wied persistently remained a stranger. Relations between himself and +his Chapter were strained to the utmost. A deputation of his clergy had +waited upon him and solemnly entreated him to retrace his steps, and to +cancel the novelties he had introduced. On his refusal, they declared +that they would with a clear conscience, and for fear of incurring the +divine wrath if they further delayed, proceed by all legitimate means +to remove so grievous a scandal. Then the Chapter, including +representatives of the lower ranks of the clergy and the university, +made a public protest, and drew up appeals to the Pope and the Emperor. +They at once informed the archbishop of these measures, and again +attempted before taking irrevocable steps to bring about a peaceful +solution. But all was useless; and, forced to extremities, they +solicited for their appeal the support of other dioceses and learned +academies, in order to obtain more speedy relief. The best and most +distinguished of the bishops and clergy, as well as the universities of +the whole province, joined in the appeal, and the University of +Ingolstadt also signified its intention of seconding them. + +The archbishop on his part was also careful to procure himself allies. +As Elector of Cologne he summoned the Landtag, and its members declared +themselves in his favour. The landgrave, Philip of Hessen, to whom +Luther had given licence to commit bigamy, and other Protestant princes +naturally promised him their support, and the Schmalkaldian League did +likewise. + +The Catholics of Cologne agitated that the case might be brought before +the Reichstag at Worms, to which they had sent their representative, +the Dominican, Johann Pessel. + +But the archbishop appealed to a General Council, or rather to a +National Synod, to be held in Germany and to be entirely independent of +the Pope. + +At this juncture Eberhard Billick wrote one of his most violent letters +to Pessel, attacking the counter appeal of the archbishop which would +shortly be presented to the Reichstag, and which was calculated by its +affectation of piety to deceive even the elect. But let them be on +their guard. It would be seen that Hermann despised the Pope, the +Emperor, and the Oecumenical Council already assembled at Trent. He set +his own authority above all councils, although they had been instituted +by the common consent of Christendom, and he appealed to a lawless, +headless council which might only meet at Bonn or at Schmalkald, in +order that it might be unrestrained by any authority whatever. There +was, continued the Carmelite, no end to the archbishop's innovations. +In defiance of all justice and precedent he had transferred the Chapter +to Bonn, where people and preachers were split up into parties, and +persecuted each other with persistent malice. This he had done, not +because there was any greater safety at Bonn than at Cologne, where +senate, clergy, and people lived in peace and unity as before, and +where his friends in the Chapter might act with all freedom,* but +because at Bonn he was sure of a majority in his favour, for loyal +Catholics, in spite of his safe-conduct, would not go there. By this +stratagem it would appear as if all ranks in the diocese had consented +to his measures. + +* Others maintained, however, that some of the canons known to be +inclined towards Lutheranism had been threatened with death. + + +Billick went on to complain bitterly that the sentence against the +archbishop announced by the papal nuncio, Verallo, as imminent, had not +yet been passed. "Every postponement of the imperial mandate," he +wrote, "means a weakening of our cause and a strengthening of that of +our opponents. At Worms they speak fair, and assume a supplicating +attitude; but at Cologne they go about their business boldly. Paintings +are scratched off the walls of the churches, statues are hurled from +their pedestals, heretical preachers are multiplied and forced upon the +Catholics against their will. Four days ago, the archbishop attacked +the parish priest of Bruhl, because he still said Mass, and forbade him +to do so in future. And much more is done in this enormous diocese +which entirely escapes our notice." In conclusion, Billick implored the +Dominican to do his utmost with the Emperor, the Cardinal of Augsburg, +the Apostolic Nuncio, and the other Catholic authorities in order that +the mandate might be issued without further delay, adding, "Gropper, +the indefatigable champion of our cause, is ill, otherwise he would +have sent a learned and luminous disquisition on this subject." + +At last, the Emperor was moved to abandon the passive and +procrastinating attitude he had hitherto assumed; and towards the close +of the Reichstag he answered the Cologne appellants by citing the +archbishop to appear within thirty days, and answer the charges of +innovation brought against him. In the meanwhile he was to cancel all +the novelties he had introduced into the diocese. + +Charles V. on his way to the Netherlands stopped at Cologne, and in a +personal interview with Hermann, represented to him the terrible +consequences that would ensue if he persisted in his disobedience. + +The archbishop demanded a short time to consider and to consult with +his advisers. His answer, written on 19th August, after the Emperor's +departure, was to the effect that he could not change his opinions. He +was then cited to appear at Brussels within the space of thirty days. +At the same time Paul III. sent him a brief, commanding him and his +adherents to justify their conduct at Rome within sixty days. + +Hermann paid no attention to either of these citations, but with +renewed zeal continued to advance the Protestant reformation. On the +8th January 1546, Verallo suspended him, and confiscated the revenues +of the diocese. The archbishop made a solemn protest, but showed no +sign of yielding, and on the 16th April, the Pope proceeded to his +ex-communication, at the same time depriving him of all his +ecclesiastical dignities, offices and benefices. + +By a special brief of 3rd July, Hermann's coadjutor, Adolf von +Schauenburg, was made administrator of the archdiocese, and Gropper and +Billick were appointed to examine the deposed archbishop with regard to +his attitude towards the Catholic religion. The result was +unsatisfactory, but the Emperor could not be induced to take any +immediate steps against Hermann, his whole attention being directed +towards crushing the Schmalkaldian League. It was not till November +that the archbishop was officially informed of his excommunication, +when he made a further protest, declared the Pope incompetent to judge +him, and again appealed to a German Council. The time now seemed ripe +for putting pressure on Charles V. to carry out the Pope's sentence. +The imperial arms had been victorious over the league, and the +Catholics of Cologne commissioned Billick to proceed to the camp, and +to petition the emperor to formally depose the archbishop. + +The biographers of Blessed Peter Canisius for the most part claim him +as the hero of this expedition, which was in fact entrusted to several +delegates, of whom the principals were the veteran Carmelite +provincial, and Johann von Isenburg. Canisius was deputed to go first +to Liege, and to beg that its bishop, George of Austria, son of +Maximilian I., and uncle to the Emperor, would facilitate their +journey, the country through which they would have to pass being +invested with the enemy's troops. During the time which he spent at +Liege, Canisius completely won the heart of the prince-bishop, who +ordered him to preach in his cathedral and in his private chapel, +expressing himself greatly edified with what he had heard. His visit +being unavoidably prolonged, Canisius gave the Spiritual Exercises, +took part in theological conferences with the Lutherans, visited the +sick in the hospitals, and catechised the children. Crowds followed him +wherever he went, and there was but one opinion of his learning, +eloquence, and charity. + +It is probable that on his return to Cologne, having given an account +of his mission, he started with the other delegates for Worms. + +Writing to the coadjutor Adolf, on 6th December, Billick says that at +Mainz they heard that all the roads were occupied by the enemy. In +order to avoid all appearance of an embassy they left their baggage +behind them at Mainz, and being advised by the vicar-general, Scholl, +the Carmelite separated from his companions, and hastened on alone to +Worms to present his letters to the Dean of St. Andrew's. Here he lay +hidden for four days, in the greatest anxiety and doubt as to his +further progress. Neither he nor his advisers could hit on a safe mode +of continuing the journey, as it was known that separate parties of +defeated Schmalkaldians were making their retreat good by various roads +back to the Rhine. To add to his alarm and embarrassment Billick +discovered that his horse had been rendered useless by a mysterious +wound, so that he had reason to think he had been betrayed. Just then, +however, he received information that the imperialists were in hot +pursuit of the Schmalkaldians, and having bought another horse from a +Jew, he set out for Speyer. At Speyer he fell in with a nobleman +belonging to the imperial army on his way back to the camp, and Billick +joined him, without however revealing his name or his mission, so +necessary was it to regard every stranger as a possible enemy. + +At last the road to the Emperor was open, and the delegates, who all +arrived simultaneously at Krailsheim on the 5th December, were received +by Cardinal Granvelle. The object of their embassy was then speedily +attained. Charles V. issued a mandate, ordering the Landtag to assemble +at Cologne on the 24th January following; and at the date fixed two +imperial commissioners appeared to conduct the proceedings. + +On the same day the coadjutor Adolf was inducted as archbishop, in +spite of the opposition of a large number of the representatives of the +Landtag, who, however, gave in their adhesion by the end of the month. +Hermann still offered a futile resistance, but on 28th February 1547 +was at last forced from a position that had become untenable. He died +on the 15th August 1552. + +During these proceedings Peter Canisius had attracted the attention of +Cardinal Otto Truchsess, who desired to have him as his second +theologian at the Council of Trent, Father Le Jay having already been +sent there as first theologian to that prelate. The cardinal, in a +letter to St. Ignatius, laid stress on the circumstance of Peter's +intimate acquaintance with the state of religion in Germany, and on his +being able therefore to suggest to the Council the best means of +meeting the prevalent evils. These reasons had great weight with St. +Ignatius, and scarcely had the young Jesuit returned to Cologne, when +he received orders to set out for Trent. Great was the lamentation +among the burghers of Cologne. All whom he met in the streets greeted +him with tears and supplications not to depart out of their midst. His +leaving, they declared, would mean triumph to the enemies of the +Church. The university conferred on him unanimously the title of doctor +of divinity as a proof of their gratitude, esteem, and regret at his +loss. The clergy and senate presented him with two precious relics--the +heads of two of the martyred companions of St. Ursula. + +At Trent Canisius found four of his religious brethren, and joined them +at their lodgings in the hospital. Here the five Jesuits followed the +special rule of life which St. Ignatius had sent to them. "Three things +I wish you to bear in mind," he wrote:-- + +"(1) at the sessions of the Council the greatest glory of God, and the +general good of the Church; (2) outside the Council your fundamental +principle to labour for the salvation of souls, a matter that lies +especially near my heart in this your journey; (3) when at home not to +neglect yourselves." He recommended them to behave as prudently as +possible at the Council, not to speak hastily, and to be ever on the +side of peace. Every evening they were to confer with each other on the +day's proceedings, and to make resolutions for the morrow. "Moreover," +he continued, "you will allow no opportunity to escape you of acquiring +merit in the service of your neighbour. You must always be on the watch +to hear confessions, to preach to the people, to instruct the little +ones, to visit the sick." In their sermons they were to avoid +controverted dogmas, and to lay stress on all that appertained to the +reform of morals, and obedience to the Church. + +The meetings of the Council being adjourned till 1550, Canisius was +called to Rome, where he remained for five months, under the personal +guidance of St. Ignatius himself, who submitted him to the most +humiliating trials in order to prove his virtue. He sent him to beg and +to preach in the most frequented parts of the city, and to nurse the +sick in the hospitals, where he was day and night at the beck and call +of exacting officials, who set him to perform the most loathsome tasks, +and often curtailed his sleep and food. St. Ignatius would then cause +inquiries to be made at the hospitals concerning the behaviour of his +novice under this kind of treatment. + +In the spring of 1548, Canisius was sent with eleven companions to +Messina, where the Viceroy, Don Juan de Vega, had founded a college. On +the eve of their departure St. Ignatius put to them four questions in +writing. Canisius answered the questions thus:-- + +1. "I am ready, with the help of God's grace, to remain here or to go +to Sicily, to India, or wherever it may be that obedience requires me. + +2. "If I am sent to Sicily I affirm that I will accept with joy +whatever office is conferred on me, even should it be that of porter, +cook, or gardener. + +3. "I am ready to learn or to teach in any department of science, +although hitherto I may have been quite unskilled in it. + +4. "I will regard as best for me whatever my superiors may decide to do +with me, whether they entrust me with any office or with none. I +promise this day, the 5th February, for my whole life never to demand +anything for myself concerning my lodging, office or any other similar +thing, but once for all I leave the guidance of my soul, and every care +for my body in the complete submission of my judgment and will, to my +father in God, the Rev. Father General, 1548. Peter Canisius of +Nymwegen." + +Hereupon St. Ignatius appointed him professor of rhetoric at Messina, +and Canisius wrote to his friends at Cologne: "As I am useless for any +spiritual office I am entrusted with the insipid department of belles +lettres. I teach rhetoric for which I have little aptitude, but I take +pains to form these good youths, and am always ready, with God's help, +to do all that obedience requires of me." + +After a fruitful year, during which he had learned Italian, and having +preached in that language, had obtained some wonderful conversions from +sin, he was recalled to Rome, where he laid his four solemn vows* in +the hands of St. Ignatius. Immediately afterwards he was told to +prepare for his apostolate in Germany. + +* The first three of the solemn vows taken by the Jesuits are those of +poverty, chastity, and obedience. The fourth vow is the promise to go +wherever the Pope may send them. + + +William IV., Duke of Bavaria, surnamed the valiant, on account of his +faithful adherence to the Catholic Church, at a time when so many of +the reigning princes of Germany fell away, saw, with distress and +alarm, the daily increasing dangers to which his beloved fatherland was +a prey. Even in the college which he had himself founded at Ingolstadt, +heresies were steadily gaining the upper hand, and he besought St. +Ignatius to send him learned men, imbued with the apostolic spirit, to +stay the progress of error. + +The Church was not wanting at this time in men of learning and piety. +Theologians, such as Cardinal Cajetan, Gropper of Cologne, Eck of +Ingolstadt, Cochlaeus, and others, had a European reputation. The first +members of the Society of Jesus were all saints and scholars. Lainez, +Salmeron, Lefevre, Faber, Le Jay, Bobadilla, were formed for the +exigencies of the time; but for the special work required of him, +Canisius effaces them all, or rather, gathers up in his own character +each of the great qualities which they possessed. His strength, +moreover, was equal to his enormous task. Westphalia, Bavaria, Saxony, +Bohemia, Austria, Franconia, Suabia, Moravia, Tirol, Switzerland, from +the falls of the Rhine to its source in the Alps, both banks of the +Danube, from Freiburgim-Breisgau to Pressburg, the banks of the Main +and of the Vistula--all this was the scene of his labours during a +period of fifty-four years; and within these limits, it is an +incontrovertible fact that there is no city or district still remaining +Catholic but owes its faith to him. + +St Ignatius answered the demand of the Duke of Bavaria by sending +Fathers Le Jay, Salmeron, and Peter Canisius, the three most +distinguished men of his Society. On the way to Germany they stopped at +Bologna, in order that the two first might receive the degree of +doctor, Canisius, as we know, being already a graduate of Cologne. The +German heretics prided themselves so much on the few individuals in +their ranks who had attained to it, that it was important to provide +them with opponents whom they might meet in controversy on equal +grounds. At Munich Duke William welcomed them, assuring them that +nothing lay nearer to his heart than the maintenance of the Catholic +religion in his states, but that heresy had already taken possession of +many of his towns and villages, and had even ventured to lift its head +in the University of Ingolstadt. The three missionaries proceeded at +once to that place, where they were received by the principal +dignitaries of the University. + +A few days later they began their lectures: Salmeron, with a commentary +on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans; Canisius, with a dissertation +on the Sentences of Peter Lombard; Le Jay, with an exposition of the +Psalms. From the beginning their success was assured, but in a few +months the whole work devolved on Canisius, Le Jay being sent to the +Diet of Augsburg, Salmeron going to support Lainez, at the re-opened +Council of Trent, as the Pope's theologian. + +So great was the confidence which Canisius inspired, that already, in +1550, the University, by unanimous consent, elected him its rector. +Humility prompted him to refuse the office, but St. Ignatius bade him +accept it. The need for drastic changes in various departments was only +too apparent; Canisius not only secured the good he aimed at, but by +his tact escaped the odium which so frequently attaches to the crusader +against time-honoured abuses. As he accepted none of the emoluments +belonging to his offices, he was the more free to insist on the perfect +probity with which the administration of the funds of all offices +should be conducted. + +He next tools away from the students all heretical books, and obtained +from Duke William a mandate, forbidding the booksellers to sell such. +He abolished gambling, to which the students had been much addicted. He +settled disputes between them and their professors, and the ancient +rules and regulations concerning studies ceased to be a dead letter. +His words animated his hearers with a love of work, creating a stimulus +and a desire to excel. He re-established the unjustly discredited +syllogistic form of argument, and reverted to the learning of the +Schools in its primitive purity, deprived of the excrescences with +which would-be scholars had disfigured it. Lastly, he succeeded in +freeing the University from every reproach of immorality and license, +and this was, perhaps, his most signal victory at Ingolstadt. The +annals of the University abundantly testify to the greatness of the +work accomplished. + +At the end of his six months' rectorship, Canisius gave an account of +his administration, and declined the chancellorship then offered to +him. Ingolstadt, in that short space of time, had been transformed, and +in order to perpetuate the benefits conferred on it, the Duke resolved +to found a college to be handed over to the sons of St. Ignatius. + +Next to Bavaria, Austria was to share in the blessings which the very +presence of Canisius seemed to draw down from Heaven, but the whole +German-speaking world clamoured for his possession. The Bishop of +Saxony entreated him to come and change the deplorable state of his +diocese. Duke Albert, son and successor of William IV., stoutly +maintained that he was needed at Ingolstadt, and that he could not +suffer him to leave it; while St. Ignatius was besieged with demands +for the services of his most learned disciple. The Prince-Bishop of +Freising and the Bishop of Eichstadt each claimed him as his theologian +at the Council of Trent. Ferdinand, King of the Romans, urged that "the +Light of Germany" should be instantly sent to the capital of the +Austrian dominions, then plunged in the darkness of heresy. Pope Julius +III. solved the difficulty by desiring that he should proceed at once +to Vienna, and St. Ignatius softened the blow to Duke Albert in these +words: "The formal demand of his Holiness obliges me to send Father +Canisius to Vienna, but without taking him absolutely from your +Highness; I am merely lending him to the King of the Romans for a time, +after which he shall return to Ingolstadt." + +The capital of Austria had fallen a complete prey to heresy. For twenty +years not a single priest had been ordained there; religious vocations +were no longer heard of. Scarcely the twentieth part of the population +had remained Catholic. Three hundred country parishes near the city +were entirely without priests. The University, instead of providing a +remedy, aggravated the existing evils by a teaching that was more or +less heterodox. Society, moreover, was rotten to the core, and needed +to be entirely reconstructed. Such was the condition of things when, at +the call of the feeble but devout Ferdinand I., Blessed Peter Canisius +arrived at Vienna in March 1552. Thirteen of his religious brethren had +preceded him by nearly a year, and had opened a college which already +promised well. + +Canisius began by preaching sermons at court, and to the people, by +catechising children, and by seizing every possible opportunity of +doing good. Then the plague broke out, and he devoted himself to the +stricken. The Pope proclaimed a jubilee, and Canisius profited by the +occasion to vindicate the honour of indulgences. His method everywhere +seems to have been to do the next, the obvious thing, whatever it might +be, and to throw himself heart and soul into it. Not content with his +work in the city, he evangelised the country places. The poorest +hamlets attracted him most, and as he went on his way, he instructed, +consoled, heard the confessions of a life-time, gave the sacraments to +the living and the dying, and brought back many hundreds of lost sheep +to the fold. He continued to work thus without a break during the +winter months, among people who were Christian but in name, +intemperance, ignorance, and long neglect, having brutalised them +almost beyond human reach. But where he passed, every village changed +its aspect; conversions little short of miraculous marked his progress +everywhere. Words that from the mouth of another might have returned +unto him void, uttered by Canisius carried compunction into the hardest +hearts. It was his sanctity, his entire abnegation of self and +whole-hearted dependence on the Divine Will, far more than his +learning, vigour, or energy that gave his words wings, and worked +wonders among this forsaken and degraded country folk; and his charity +was such that he would have been well content to have laboured among +them for the rest of his life. + +But meanwhile Vienna was suffering from his absence, and all sorts and +conditions of men clamoured for his return. The episcopal see having +become vacant, the king besought the Pope and St. Ignatius that it +might be conferred on Father Canisius. But the utmost he could obtain +after long importunity was that Canisius should administer the affairs +of the diocese for one year, pending the election of a bishop, with the +proviso that he should not touch a single farthing of the rich revenues +belonging to the see, which he was to govern as a simple religious. + +The arrangement was one admirably adapted to the restoration of order +in the existing state of chaos, while no sacrifice of its discipline +was forced on the Society by the promotion of one of its members to +rank and dignity. + +Canisius was afterwards made Dean of the University, in the hope that +he would do for it what he had already done for Ingolstadt, and he set +about the work in the same masterly fashion that distinguished all his +schemes of reform. His first act was to obtain a royal decree, limiting +the admission of professors to those who had submitted themselves to a +rigorous examination in religious doctrine, and had given irrefragable +proofs of orthodoxy. The same conditions were in future to be exacted +of all who presented themselves for degrees. The university teemed with +Lutheran literature; it was swept away by the same inexorable +root-and-branch measures that had been so successfully employed at +Ingolstadt. + +The next care of the reformer was to petition the king for a seminary +wherein the ranks of the clergy, thinned almost to extinction, might be +reinforced by men carefully trained to a due appreciation of their high +calling. The result was the foundation of the seminary of priests of +noble family, recruited mainly from the college which the Jesuits had +opened at Vienna, and to which had flocked students from all the great +families of Hungary, Bohemia, Poland, etc. In conjunction with this +seminary, St. Ignatius, about the same tune, founded the celebrated +German College in Rome, for the regeneration of Germany by means of a +clergy that should be as learned as it was morally irreproachable. + +In the midst of his multifarious occupations, Canisius continued his +sermons at court, in the Cathedral, and in the principal churches of +Vienna. Lutherans frequented them largely, and some, touched by the +power of his doctrine and eloquence, asked him for conferences, which +he gladly accorded them. Among these were two preachers of some +celebrity, pillars of Protestantism, who defied him to answer their +arguments in a public disputation. He accepted the challenge, and the +day, place, and hour were fixed. A great concourse of people, composed +largely of the new sectaries, were assembled, prepared to swell the +expected triumph of their champions. The two heretical doctors held +their dissertations, one after the other, and sat down amid the +applause of their sympathisers. Then Canisius stood up with religious +modesty and humility, his bearing expressive of the calmness and +benevolence of one who has the whole Catholic Church, past and present, +on his side. His prodigious memory and profound knowledge enabled him +to refute easily every charge brought by his adversaries, whom he +completely crushed with the overwhelming consistency of his logic. They +both acknowledged themselves defeated; one returned to the Catholic +Church, and a few months later entered the Society of Jesus, of which +he remained an edifying member till his death; the other became a more +determined advocate of heresy than before, and swore to avenge his +defeat by a persistent persecution of the Jesuits. + +Nor were enemies wanting on any side; the more converts the Jesuits +made, the greater was the hatred they inspired. Calumnies were sown +broadcast, and the life of Father Canisius was in constant danger. +Ferdinand, warned of a plot to murder the holy man, obliged him, +greatly to his discomfiture, to accept a bodyguard whenever he went +out. But the work of reform and conversion went on steadily, and from +all parts of Germany, bishops, princes, and governors sought to obtain +the presence of the illustrious apostle. "I am ready," he wrote in this +regard to St. Ignatius, "to go wherever obedience calls me, and to work +for the salvation of souls however abandoned they may be, whether in +Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Tartary, or China, wherever I am sent." + +He was sent to Prague, perhaps the most God-forsaken spot in the whole +empire. Every imaginable sect had accumulated in Bohemia during the +preceding twenty years. Scarcely a vestige of Catholicism remained, and +Hussites, Wicklifites, Vaudois, Lutherans, Zwinglians, and various +other offshoots of the principal sects, were busy relegating each other +in eloquent terms to eternal damnation, when the arrival of Catholic +missionaries gave the signal for a coalition against the common enemy +of them all. At Prague itself, where Canisius was charged to found a +college with the injunction not to leave Bohemia until it should be +solidly established and in a flourishing condition, the Hussites +outnumbered the others. Scarcely had he arrived and set to work, when +the Duke of Bavaria, reminding St. Ignatius that Canisius had only been +lent to Austria, claimed him, at least temporarily, for the foundation +of the college which the Society was to establish at Ingolstadt. The +claim was admitted to be just, and accordingly the affairs of Prague +could only be proceeded with four months later, when Canisius returned +from Germany, having been made provincial. + +It was the beginning of Lent 1555, and on the 21st April twelve priests +sent to him from Rome by St. Ignatius, arrived to second him in his +perilous undertaking. The first time the Jesuits appeared in the +streets they were saluted with handfuls of mud cast at them by the city +urchins, who had been bribed to insult them. The cry "Dogs of Jesuits" +(a play upon the word Canisius) followed them wherever they went. +Father Peter was himself assailed with a large stone hurled through the +window of the church as he stood at the altar saying Mass. A plot was +formed to throw the whole community one by one into the Moldau, as they +passed over the bridge that connected the old and the new town; and +ruffians, who had received a part of their reward in advance, were +stationed in the middle of the bridge to waylay them. But a timely +edict issued by the Archduke of Bohemia threatened with the most severe +penalties whoever should raise a hand against any member of the +Society, or even treat any one of them disrespectfully. He went still +further, and sent a detachment of guards to the college daily, with +orders to accompany each of the priests wherever he went, and in +sufficient numbers to prevent any attack. + +Added to the open enmity and fierce hatred which they inspired, the +Jesuits had to encounter the jealousy of the University professors, who +would have been willing enough that they should preach, but who, on the +opening of their college, did all they could to hamper them and +prejudice people against them. + +The reputation of the Society for teaching was great all over Germany. +Wherever a college was established by them, it immediately attracted +students from all parts, and it was perhaps natural that other +educational institutions should fear for their own existence. But the +pettiness and meanness with which this fear was expressed at Prague +resulted for the Jesuits in a penury so abject, that for many months +they had nothing to eat but bread and cheese, and nothing to drink but +water from their own well. For several days they were even prevented +from going out for want of suitable garments. Nevertheless, however +much they might have to suffer in any one place, struggling through a +painful existence to the end in view, the work of reform went steadily +forward. + +About this time, the cathedral at Regensburg was in need of a preacher; +the Diet was about to assemble in that city, all the princes and +electors of the empire were to take part in it, and the new sectaries +were expected in great numbers, in order to wrench, if it might be, +such concessions from the authorities as they had not yet been able to +obtain. The chapter therefore appealed to Father Canisius, and besought +him to throw himself into this important breach. Realising all that was +at stake, he started at once for Regensburg. + +His first appearance in the cathedral pulpit was a splendid testimony +to the opinion in which he was held. The vast building was filled with +a brilliant throng, on the fringe of which the people hung in dense +crowds overflowing into the streets. In a letter to Father Lainez (who +had succeeded St. Ignatius as General of the Society) in September +1556, Canisius describes his efforts as successful in supporting and +strengthening the persecuted Catholics, but he goes on to say that the +Lutheran representatives at the Diet let loose a string of calumnies +against him, and did all they could to poison the minds of the weak and +simple. But for the States of the Empire they would have cast him out +of the city as one so dangerous to the Protestant cause that they +declared it would be wrecked altogether if Canisius continued to preach +there. + +However, continue he did during the whole of the sessions, save for a +short interval of absence. In this interval he visited Innsbruck, in +which town a college of the Society was nearing completion; and +Augsburg, whose bishop, his old friend the celebrated Otto Truchsess, +desired to consult him on the affairs of his diocese. There, +overwhelmed with his almost superhuman labours, Canisius fell ill. He +desired to be taken to the college at Ingolstadt, and Cardinal +Truchsess accompanied him thither, while the Duke of Bavaria sent him +his physicians. Thanks to their skill and to the enforced rest of his +mental and physical powers, he soon recovered, and was able on the 1st +December to return to his post at Regensburg. On all the Sundays of +Advent he preached at the cathedral, but as it could not contain the +vast concourse of people who crowded to hear him, he was obliged to +preach three times in the week also. From the pulpit he went to the +confessional, and when he returned to his lodging he was besieged by +those who came to seek his advice-princes, concerning the interests of +religion in their dominions, prelates, in regard to the reform of their +dioceses, or to their own spiritual needs. The King of the Romans, and +the Duke of Bavaria often sent for him to confer with him, and all +admired the humility, simplicity, and patience with which he listened, +no less than the frankness and freedom from human respect with which he +proffered his advice. But time was wanting for all the demands made +upon him; and that all might be satisfied he drew up for the use of +bishops a short treatise on the means of reforming the clergy, and of +introducing good morals among their flocks. + +The Diet of Regensburg ended in nothing but resolutions to continue the +controversy at Worms, and fearing the objections of Canisius, who was +known to feel great repugnance towards these public conferences with +heretics which never came to any practical conclusion, Ferdinand sought +to anticipate his refusal by obtaining a promise from Father Lainez +that so able a defender of Catholic doctrine should also be present. + +Canisius had already written to the general thus:-- + +"Knowing as I do my poverty of intellect, my great want of aptitude, +and my incapacity, I confess that I should like to run away from this +place, and would rather go and beg in India than involve myself in +those dangerous disputes, out of which nothing can come but perpetual +disgrace to religion, and great harm to the rights of the Church. But +the Lord God will make known to me His will by His servant my Superior, +and when I know it I shall have no further fear, but shall appear with +boldness in the enemy's camp; for all my confidence and all my strength +are in obedience. I can be nothing else but a beast of burden in the +house of the Lord all the days of my life." + +Father Lainez shared to the full the opinion of Canisius as to the +uselessness of these conferences, which were exacted by the Lutherans +in the hope of wresting something to their own temporal advantage, and +the Pope differed from neither in his estimation of the small amount of +good to be hoped from them. But as the Emperor was not to be restrained +from granting concessions which all Catholics agreed were futile, it +was extremely important that the interests of religion and the rights +of the Holy See should be ably defended; and Father Lainez therefore +insisted that Canisius should not only remain at the Diet of Regensburg +to the bitter end, but that he should hold himself in readiness to +reopen the campaign at Worms. + +In the interval Canisius went to Rome to pay his respects to the new +General, and on his return to Germany visited Munich. The capital of +Bavaria was also a hot-bed of heresy, and after a brief sojourn there +he wrote to Father Lainez, entreating that he would send some Fathers +capable of attracting people by their sermons and of edifying them by +the holiness of their lives. He then went to Ingolstadt, and was +greatly consoled by the results that had been obtained by the newly +founded college. Heresy no longer ventured to raise its head where +formerly it had flaunted its colours unabashed, and in every respect +the university was worthy of the care that had been bestowed upon it. +The place was naturally dear to his heart, as the magnificent +first-fruits of his labours for Germany, but tearing himself +reluctantly from the piety and peace which he had so successfully +planted there, he proceeded to confront the enemy at Worms. + +The greater number of the Lutheran disputants had already arrived, but +of the six Catholic theologians deputed to enter the lists against +them, the most celebrated, Johann Gropper, Archdeacon of Cologne, was +conspicuous by his absence. Canisius wrote to entreat him to come, but +Gropper was so thoroughly convinced of the uselessness of the +disputations, that he persistently refused to take part in them. The +organisation of the whole matter therefore devolved on Canisius, who +prepared the plan of defence, and appointed to each Catholic theologian +the subject of which he was to treat. Besides this, he continued to +preach, to hear confessions and to take counsel with his colleagues +daily. At night he allowed himself but a brief interval of sleep, the +rest of the time being spent in prayer and study. + +He had stipulated before the opening of the conferences that none but +those Protestants who belonged to the Confession of Augsburg, and who +were the only regular, and to some extent, disciplined body among them +should take part in the disputations. This condition had been accepted, +but from the very beginning, Anabaptists, Sacramentarians, and heretics +of every imaginable sect appeared, and claimed the right of speech. +Those of the Augsburg Confession were furious, and refused to make +common cause with the new arrivals. Recriminations, invectives, and +threats were hurled about the Protestant camp till a formidable tumult +ensued. The Augsburg Lutherans at last succeeded in turning out the +other sects, but ashamed of the spectacle they had presented to the +eyes of the Catholics who were all united, they left Worms secretly, +and contented themselves with attacking each other in the usual +vituperative terms. + +"It was," wrote Canisius, "as if the giants of old were seeking to +rebuild the Tower of Babel. God visited them with the same spirit of +confusion which prevented their understanding one another, so that +Melancthon was punished by the work of his own hands, like those who +are devoured by the wild beasts which they have themselves bred up with +great pains and difficulty." + +Cologne, Strassburg, and his own native Nymwegen next came in for a +share in the apostles' labours. The Bishop of Trent begged him to come +and found a college in his diocese; the Duke of Bavaria called upon him +to organise the one he had already set on foot at Munich, and to +establish another at Landshut. But Straubing, by reason of its extreme +need, detained him longer than any of these places. + +Charles V. had himself been mainly responsible for the worst of the +difficulties and complications that existed at Straubing, on account of +his famous interim, which granted to all, on his own personal +authority, permission to communicate under both kinds, pending the +decision of the Council of Trent on this point. Straubing had availed +itself without exception of the permission, and even after the decision +of the Council persisted in retaining the custom. A few priests had +attempted resistance, but numberless apostasies and half an +insurrection had followed on their action, and now the position had +come to be regarded as impregnable. + +Canisius made no attempt to storm the fortress; he arrived, and was +gentleness itself. He had scarcely passed a week in the town when he +was regarded as the friend and adviser of all its principal citizens. +His sermons drew crowds as usual, and his instructions on the subject +of Holy Communion, of which his hearers proved to be strangely +ignorant, were continued in the confessional, and on every possible +occasion. At Easter nearly the whole population approached the +sacraments, and communicated without making the least difficulty, under +one kind. The apostle, broken with fatigue, for he had preached +throughout Lent, three times a week, besides catechising, visiting the +sick, hearing confessions, and answering the objections of all who came +to him, was yet beaming with joy, so markedly had his labours been +blessed. + +It would be superfluous to follow Canisius in his journey to Poland, in +his fruitful sojourn at Augsburg, in his campaign against the ignorance +of the clergy at Wurzburg, against the Calvinism of the Swiss +Protestants. Everywhere the story is the same: ignorance, vice, and +heresy fled before the bright light of his presence, and his wisdom +provided, that where he had planted the good seed, others should follow +him, to keep it watered, so that there should be no return to the +former errors. Long after his death, the colleges of the Society which +he had founded continued his work, and formed an efficient barrier +against the modern spirit of revolt from authority and order. + +If in a sense the old ages of faith were dead, the new age witnessed a +wonderful resurrection, the effect of which is still going on in our +own day. And the scourge of heresy wherewith the Church in Germany was +scourged to its ultimate salvation in the sixteenth century, lies now a +thing of nought, effete and all but lifeless, while the Bride of Christ +has renewed her youth like the eagle. + + + +V. JESUITS AT COURT + +Lacordaire once wrote in a letter to Madame Swetchine these remarkable +words concerning the disciples of St. Ignatius: + +"Tout ce qui m'a tombe sous la main m'a toujours revolte par l'emphase +ridicule de l'eloge, ou par l'impudeur du blame. II semble que cette +nature d'hommes ait toujours ote la raison a ses amis et a ses ennemis. +Je voudrais leur consacrer dix annees d'etudes, ne fut ce que pour mon +plaisir propre; mais Dieu nous donne et nous prepare une bien autre +besogne, et il faut dire avec l'auteur de l'Imitation, 'relinque +curiosa.' Les Jesuites continueront a faire du bien, et a le faire mal +quelquefois; ils auront des amis frenetiques et des ennemis furieux, en +attendant le jour du jugement dernier, qui sera pour bien des raisons +un tres-interessant et tres-curieux jour." + +At no time has the world been more occupied with the Jesuits than at +the present moment, and the prophecy of the celebrated Dominican above +quoted seems more than ever likely to be fulfilled. If their friends +are indeed still as extravagant in their praise as Lacordaire found +them, perhaps on the other hand criticism is even louder, hatred more +profound, accusation more wild and general. Most of the governments of +Europe have banished them, on the ground that they are the enemies to +progress, to liberal ideas, that they have meddled in politics, and +constitute a danger to the State, by seeking to grasp the helm of +public affairs, secretly stirring up the nations against their rulers. + +The subject appears to be of perennial and universal application, since +even in this twentieth century, and in so tolerant a country as +England, people have been moved to some apprehension lest we should be +incurring a danger in suffering the Jesuit to live unmolested in our +midst. But it is not our present ambition to settle so burning a +question as the right of members of the Society of Jesus to exist +anywhere; rather would we make an excursion into the domain of history, +and inquire what have been the rules and regulations, and what has been +the practice of the Society concerning politics in the past, what has +been the attitude of its members, prescribed and actual towards kings, +potentates, and dynasties. + +Certain facts have recently come to light, bearing on the history of +the Jesuits at the various German courts in the sixteenth century, and +the scattered remains of the private correspondence belonging to the +archives of the old Society before its suppression have been gathered +together. What was done more or less in secret is now proclaimed on the +housetops, and the result, as might be expected, is in many ways +interesting and instructive.* + +* Die Jesuiten an den deutschen Furstenhofen des 16ten Jahrhunderts. +Auf Grund ungedruckter Quellen. Von Bernhard Duhr, S. J., Freiburg im +Breisgau, 1901. + + +This correspondence consists of communications between the rank and +file, and the superiors at Rome, and vice versa, and includes the +letters which passed between the General and the kings, archdukes and +other reigning princes, who were ostensibly friends of the Society, but +who did their best to put frequent spokes in the wheels of the +Constitutions. + +The great dearth of learned preachers and confessors that prevailed +about the middle of the sixteenth century appealed strongly to the +Jesuits to throw themselves into the breach, and thus against the +original intention of their founder, they became the spiritual guides +of those who made the history of Europe for the next hundred years and +more. It was a delicate and an onerous task, fraught with temptations +from without and from within. + +Ignatius of Loyola, being a man of the world as well as a saint, was +well aware of the perils to which he exposed his sons, in sending them +forth into the midst of vanities, while at the same time, having had +some experience of courts, he knew that princes love not contradiction. +But he decided after mature deliberation that after all his "least +Society" was created to do a certain work in the Church and in the +world, the need of which work was only too apparent in the decayed +state of faith and morals. It was not by turning his back on courts +that he could hope to regenerate them; but it would be interesting +could we discover whether by a contrary decision he would have averted +some of the odium which the name Jesuit has accumulated in the course +of ages. + +John III. of Portugal was the first king to demand a Jesuit confessor, +and to him Ignatius sent Father Luis Gonzalez de Comara, much against +the desire of the said individual. To his entreaties and objections the +first General of the Society made answer, on the 9th August 1552, that +he was indeed edified by the humility which caused Father de Comara to +shrink from a position which many envied; nevertheless, he was of the +opinion that he should obey his Highness in this, as in other things, +"for the honour of God our Lord." St. Ignatius went on to say that he +need not occupy himself with any but good and pious objects, neither +had he reason to fear that the king would, against the will of the +Society, confer upon him those honours and dignities with which it was +the custom to distinguish other confessors. If moreover, his remaining +at court was a cross to him, he must bear it with patience as he would +all else that obedience required of him. + +At the second General Congregation held in 1565, the question arose +whether Cardinal Otto of Augsburg might have a member of the Society +attached to his court, as theologian. The Congregation decided not to +allow any member to reside permanently at the court of any prince, +spiritual or secular, or to consent to his following the said court on +its travels, either in the capacity of preacher, theologian or +confessor, and that no appointment of such a kind should be permissible +for longer than one month or double that period at the most. + +Ten years later, the Provincial Congregation of North Germany was +reminded of this decree in drawing up propositions to be placed before +the third General Congregation, and it was expressly stated that none +but the General of the Society himself should have the power to make +such appointments, that they should be made as rarely as possible, +experience having proved that more harm was done to the confessor by +his residing at court than good to the penitent by his ministrations. +The reply to this proposition was to the effect that with the General +alone should rest the appointment. + +By degrees, further legislation became imperative, and the fifth +General Congregation, held in 1593, forbade in the most solemn form +every member of the Society to interfere in politics or any public +affairs whatever. The decree was so absolute that not only did it +ensure the imprudent from taking part in the questions of the day, but +timid confessors were thereby prevented by their scruples from giving +counsel, when appealed to on matters that could scarcely be supposed to +border on politics. + +In order therefore, to correct all misapprehension, the General, Father +Aquaviva, issued an Instruction for the confessors of princes, which +was formally approved by the General Congregation of 16o8. This was +considered so important a document that it was incorporated into the +Institute, a sort of code, containing the Constitutions which St. +Ignatius drew up, as well as the decrees of General Congregations. The +Instruction was in fact a summary of all previous experience on the +subject. It provided, first of all, that in cases where the Society +could not avoid compliance with the demand for a confessor at court, +great care should be taken in the choice of the individual member to +fill the office, so that he might conduce to the welfare of the prince, +the edification of the people, and the avoidance of all injury to the +Order. The last clause bore reference to the fact that not infrequently +the Society was called upon to suffer in one place for wounds inflicted +on it in another. Rules for the said confessor were then laid down, to +fit every possible emergency, and in minute detail. + +For instance, the king's confessor, although attached to the royal +chapel, must not only lodge exclusively in a college of his Order, but +he must remain subject to the rule, like any other member of the +Society. Even when travelling with the court he was obliged to sleep in +a house of his Order, or if passing through a town where no such house +existed, he must beg hospitality of any other religious community, +preferably to passing the night at court. + +It was again solemnly impressed upon him not to allow himself to be +drawn into any secular concerns, which rule the king was humbly +petitioned to enforce. + +Neither must the confessor undertake to be an emissary between the +prince, his penitent, and any of his ministers, or other officials. + +As regarded the prince himself, he was bound to listen to his +confessor, not merely when he exhorted him on the subject-matter of his +confessions, but also in matters relating to the prevention of +injustice, oppression, or other scandals such as often came about +through the fault of officials, and which were unknown to the sovereign. + +None might undertake the office of permanent confessor at court without +the consent of his provincial. It was, moreover, the duty of the +provincial before according such permission, to hand this Instruction +to the prince in order that he might thoroughly understand what the +Society was willing to bestow upon him. The prince was further to be +reminded in modest but decided terms, that superiors retained the right +to the obedience of the individual who became his confessor, as +absolutely as to that of any other member of the Society. + +At first there seemed no great need for these precautions. The emperor, +Charles V., chose Dominicans for his confessors, and his successor, +Ferdinand, followed his example. But Ferdinand held the Society in +great esteem, and at his death Father Lainez, who was then General, +ordered that each priest in the college at Dillingen should offer +twelve Masses for the repose of his soul, and the lay-brothers were to +say certain prayers with the same intention. The Society was not only +indebted to him for his unvarying friendship, but owed to his +munificence the foundation of four colleges, viz., those of Vienna, +Prague, Innsbruck, and Tyrnau. + +Ferdinand's son and successor, Maximilian, having Protestant leanings, +dispensed with a confessor altogether, but his wife, Doha Maria, sister +of Philip II. of Spain, was provided with a Spanish Franciscan, who was +chosen for her by her brother. Maximilian's sons all chose Jesuit +confessors, as did also his daughter, the Queen of Bohemia. + +At that time the Lutherans thought that Catholicism was at its last +gasp, and they eagerly anticipated the banishment of the Jesuits. But +Maximilian, in spite of his Protestant tendencies, was well disposed +towards them, and their college at Vienna received many marks of his +favour, to the great disgust of his Lutheran subjects. The Protestant +nobles assembled at the Landtag held in Vienna, attached three +conditions to their votes of supplies for his war against the +Turks:--The abolition of the procession of Corpus Christi, the +confirmation of the Confession of Augsburg, and the banishment of the +Jesuits. They declared that if the emperor refused to grant these +requests, they would not furnish him with the required subsidy for the +war. Maximilian replied that it was his business to repulse the Turks; +the other things did not concern him, but the Pope.* + +* Orig. G. Epist., 6, 48 seq. + + +Disappointed in their hopes, the Lutherans, allying themselves with the +enemies of the Jesuits within the Church, began to circulate false +reports against the Society. At one moment they accused Father Peter +Canisius of prejudicing the Pope against the emperor, at another, the +whole community at Vienna were declared guilty of openly insulting the +Protestants. Reiterated complaints poured into the emperor's ears ended +by alienating Maximilian from his former friends, and it was difficult, +almost impossible for them to obtain a hearing. But the empress +remained loyal to them, and would perhaps have been termed by +Lacordaire frenetique. + +Father Maggio, who was then court preacher, seems to have been a man of +great prudence and mildness, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of +religion. By degrees he not only convinced Maximilian of the injustice +of the attacks made upon the Society, but the two became fast friends, +so that when he was made Provincial of Austria in 1566, the appointment +gave much satisfaction at court. He was frequently summoned to private +audiences, and the emperor treated him with so much confidence that +Father Maggio would sometimes venture to address to him written words +of exhortation, words which Maximilian invariably took in good part. +The empress, observing the affection of her husband for the Jesuit +would consult Father Maggio as to the best means of confirming him in +the Catholic religion. + +When Father Maggio was made provincial, Father Antonio, a Portuguese +Jesuit, became court preacher, but so little to his own satisfaction +that he repeatedly appealed to the empress and to the General for his +release. He bewailed his unfitness for a post requiring so much +exceptional virtue, and expressed his desire to be sent to foreign +missions. If such were not the will of his superiors, he entreated that +he might have some humble office in a house of novices, where he might +live unnoticed by the world, and labour for his soul's health. + +The General, Father Mercurian, replied, on the 18th March 1576, that he +had no one to replace him at court, and that he must perforce remain +where he was. Previously to this, Father Antonio had besought the +empress to dismiss him, but she had answered that she counted on his +ministrations at the hour of death. A month after Father Mercurian's +refusal to remove him, he again wrote to the General, begging that he +might apply to the empress for, at least, a year's leave of absence, +during which time a locum tenens might be dispensed with. Two days +later, he followed up this letter with another, giving the General his +opinion why it was inexpedient for any member of the Society to remain +at court for more than a short term, such as a month or two. There was, +he said, no bishop, ambassador, or person of consequence who did not +desire to have several of the Fathers about him; the door which, at +their profession, they had shut on the world, seemed in a certain sense +to be reopened by a residence at court; unfortunately, men were not +wanting who aspired to such offices, and great inconveniences ensued +thereby. Some grew accustomed to a certain independence, little in +accordance with the rules of the Society, some were altogether spoiled, +and brought disgrace on the Order. It was, perhaps, not astonishing +that after this letter the General showed even less inclination than +before to remove Father Antonio. One who thus appreciated the dangers +of the world would be less likely than another to fall a prey to them, +and was as safe at court as in fulfilling the humblest duties of the +noviceship. + +But when all was said and done, the influence of the Jesuits at the +Court of Vienna was not very great. Their El Dorado was the Archducal +Court at Gratz, where reigned Ferdinand's son, Charles II. Here their +power was at least supposed to be so great that their enemies declared +that they possessed the master-key of all the doors in the palace, and +could pass through all the rooms composing the apartments of the +Archduchess at will. This, however, with other things, she declared +solemnly to be nothing but lies--nur lautere Lugen--and an attack on +her honour.* + +* Hurter, Ferdinand II, 3, 578. + + +Apart from these unpleasant calumnies, the Society flourished at Gratz +as hardly anywhere else, and was able to train its novices, give the +Spiritual Exercises, and administer the sacraments undisturbed. The +only difficulties that arose were in connection with the right of the +provincial to move his men about as he chose, the archduke, like the +emperor, being inclined to regard his confessors as his own property. +This was notably the case with the celebrated Father Blyssem, who +received marching orders in 1578. The Archduke at once wrote to the +General, declaring that Father Blyssem's removal would be extremely +inconvenient, and was not to be contemplated. If the General were on +the spot he would be of the archduke's opinion. First, Father Blyssem +was his and the archduchess's confessor, and they both wished above all +things to keep him. Secondly, he was not only a vigilant rector of the +college under him, and an experienced confessor, but he was also an +excellent preacher. And finally, he was beloved by all, was well +acquainted with the idiosyncrasies of the country, enjoyed a good +reputation and inspired respect even in the opponents of the Catholic +religion. His sudden departure could not therefore but be injurious to +the temporal and spiritual welfare of the college, and detrimental to +the general good. + +Not alone the archduke, the papal legate, Bishop Ringuarda, also +appealed to the General of the Jesuits in the same interest, saying +that he had already sought the intervention of the Pope and the +Cardinal of Como, to prevent the removal of Father Blyssem. As he now +heard that, in spite of his efforts, Father Blyssem was to go to Rome, +at least for three months, Bishop Ringuarda begged most urgently that +this order might be cancelled, the Father's absence for even a week, to +say nothing of a month, being likely to entail serious harm to the +Church in Austria. His daily presence was so necessary, that if he were +not already at Gratz, he must be sent there without delay. The legate +then went on to enumerate all the wonderful qualities possessed by the +rector, and ended his letter with the solemn entreaty that the General +would on no account remove him.* + +* Orig. G. Epist., 3, 298. + + +Pressure such as this being frequently brought to bear on superiors, +they could scarcely be said to exercise undivided control over their +own subjects. + +Driven into a corner, Aquaviva was obliged to leave the archduke's +confessor where he was, accommodating matters by making him Provincial +of Austria, in place of Father Maggio, Father Emerich Torsler replacing +Father Blyssem as rector of the college at Gratz. The archduke +expressed himself content with the arrangement, provided that Father +Blyssem did not absent himself on the business of the province when he +required him at his side. + +The new provincial had occasion, in January 1582, to write to the +General about the sermons of a certain Father John Reinel, which were, +he complained, too lengthy and too violent. In regard to the first +fault he had improved somewhat, but no admonition had succeeded in +causing him to desist from his biting attacks on the heretics. His +Paternity was, therefore, requested to command him to observe more +moderation and gentleness, and instead of handling the heretics angrily +and roughly, to teach and exhort them with Christian charity. In this +manner he would convert a far greater number, as every one maintained. +But if he continued as heretofore, Father Blyssem would be obliged to +send him to another college, where he would have to adopt a different +style or give over preaching altogether, and take up another occupation. + +But the removal of Father Reinel was not so simple a matter as it at +first appeared. Towards the end of the year, Father Blyssem again wrote +to Aquaviva on the same subject. It had been decided during the +preceding summer to send the unmanageable preacher to another sphere of +activity, he having been already so long a time at Gratz, where he was +too much engrossed in the court, which he had recently, against the +wishes of his superiors, accompanied in its journey of several months +through Bavaria and Suabia, to the neglect of the pulpit at Gratz. +Moreover, his harsh and aggressive manner of preaching was as repulsive +to the Catholics as to the Lutherans, but when, according to his +instructions, he was on the point of starting for Vienna, the +archduchess, whose confessions he sometimes heard in Father Blyssem's +temporary absence, was so much aggrieved at the change, that she +entreated her husband with many arguments and tears to prevent his +departure. Accordingly, the archduke begged the provincial to defer +Father Reinel's removal on account of his consort's distress, and this +he apparently did, but he wrote to the General asking him to insist on +the order being carried out, and to persuade the archduke to agree to +it. + +Sometimes varying reports were sent to the General concerning the +behaviour of certain Fathers at court. Thus, the rector of the college +at Gratz wrote somewhat severely of Father Saxo, who also was a +favourite in the most exalted circle. + +But Father Blyssem in a letter to Aquaviva, dated gist December 1585, +defended him, saying:-- + +"Your Paternity appears to be incorrectly informed as to Father Saxo. +In my judgment, and in that of other Fathers of consideration, he has +very greatly improved in his manner and conduct towards others. When I +was at Gratz last year he was in possession of a costly little alarum, +which he had received as a present from a nobleman. He was well pleased +that the clock should be taken from him, and sold for the benefit of +the noviceship. The seal which he used at missions, and which he would +willingly have kept afterwards, he gave up at once at the instance of +his superior. He had received a great many books as presents in the +course of his missions, to assist him in preaching, and these he +delivered up for the common use, after very little delay. The Fathers +whom I questioned answered that they had noticed nothing in Father Saxo +that might give scandal, nor had they ever heard anything of the kind +about him." + +The complaints against Father Viller were less easily answered. He had +filled the office of Austrian Provincial between the years 1589 and +1595, and in the latter year was appointed rector of the college at +Gratz. During this time the Archduke Ferdinand chose him as his +confessor. Not long afterwards he was accused to the General of being a +courtier, an imputation so vague as to need a discursive reply. But his +long letter of self justification addressed to Father Aquaviva is +interesting on account of the vivid scenes it lays before us. Its main +contents are these:-- + +"Already fifteen or sixteen years ago, when Father Maggio had left the +province, certain Fathers in Vienna complained bitterly to the new +provincial, Father Blyssem, that I had a courtier-like mind, because +people about the court came to me, and I associated with them. I was, +it is true, in favour with the imperial council, with the bishops and +the Hungarian nobles, also with the apostolic nuntios Delphin and +Portia, and I laboured to the extent of my power in the interests of +religion. Father Provincial removed me from my office, and I became his +secretary and admonitor. Two years later, when a visitor, Father Oliver +came, he reinstated me as Master of the alumni, discipline among them +having become relaxed. When I had been another two years in this +office, I was again accused to the provincial. I was deposed, but in +the meantime, the baselessness of the charges brought against me having +been proved, I was appointed rector at Olmutz, and Father Provincial +assured me with tears that I had been unjustly treated. Five years +afterwards I was elected provincial, and the Father Visitor was able to +testify that I suffered much, even to the danger of losing my life, in +discharging the duties of this office in Bohemia and Hungary. The next +provincial (Father Ferdinand Alber) evinced dislike of me immediately +on his taking up office, the reason of which was, I believe, merely +that we do not share the same opinions. He, like Fathers Bader, Reinel, +and Scherer, is for public penitential exercises in the refectory +daily; I, on the contrary, am for a milder proceeding, such as I have +learned of Fathers Maggio, Everard (Mercurian) Goudan, Canisius, and +Lanoy. Therefore, I am called a courtier, even when I am not at court. +The whole college will bear witness that I go there less often than +Father Reinel, who at least went once a day, whereas I go on an average +but once a week. + +"If it be objected that I suffer the princes to come frequently to the +college, I reply, as I replied to the Father Provincial, that I will +undertake they shall come no more, but the responsibility for this must +rest with others. + +"I am further reproached with having invited the princes to dinner at +the vineyard, and also at the college, and that I even played with them +at the vineyard. As for the invitation, the princes themselves asked to +be invited, and the Apostolic Nuntio, and the Bishop of Laibach, were +present at the games, which were, in my judgment, honourable and modest. + +"I have begged to be removed from both my offices, in order to remove +suspicion, and to obtain peace, for I see that I am not agreeable to my +provincial, he having forbidden me to hear the confessions of the +archduke and those of the dowager archduchess, who with her daughters +insists on confessing to me. + +"If any one has told the provincial that the college is in a bad state, +ocular demonstration will prove the contrary; everything goes on in an +orderly way. The archduke receives Holy Communion every Sunday. He is +burning with desire to reinstate the Catholic religion, and he labours +for the conversion of the nobility. Only yesterday a man in a very high +position was received into the Church. As for your Paternity's +exhortation to guard against the spirit of the world, I thank you, but +I do not see how I am to do it, unless I flee from the court and from +those about it. I will take pains to satisfy my conscience and +obedience, but I fear that I shall not content those who look on the +dark side. If your Paternity thinks that I seek the favour of princes +more for my own sake than that of the Society, it is a bitter reproach, +for I would rather die than be guilty of such a fault. The archdukes +will bear me out how often I have spoken to them on this subject, and +how I have begged them to write nothing on my behalf to the General or +to the provincial; but they insist that if I lay down the rectorate I +must retain the confessorship."* + +* Orig. G. Epist., 35, 479. + + +In the end, this suggested compromise was effected. Father Viller was +no longer rector of Gratz, but remained confessor to the archducal +family. Nevertheless, complaints of him did not cease, and he had to +defend himself against the charge of clinging inordinately to the +worldy advantages of his position. In a confidential letter to the +German Resident in Rome he wrote:-- + +"I call God to witness that I do not value the court and my present +office more than any other service which my superiors may call upon me +to render to the Society. I am cheerfully ready to leave the court at +any moment, and at the risk of losing the prince's favour, whenever my +superior expresses a wish that I should do so, to say nothing of +receiving a decided order. I have not so high an opinion of my person +that I seek consideration on account of the favour and affection of the +prince." + +Still the attacks on Father Viller did not cease. Those who were for +unmitigated austerity looked on his broad views with horror. Father +Scherer, one of the most rigid, called him "the synagogue of +Libertines." The provincial, and the Spaniard, Father Ximenes, were +among those who judged him most severely. He was, moreover, +involved--and this is perhaps less to his credit than any supposed +laxness with which he was charged--in the squabbles between the +Hapsburg and Wittelsbach royal families, concerning the bishopric of +Passau. This had for long been an apple of contention between Austria +and Bavaria, and the new rector of the college at Gratz, Father Haller, +in describing the situation to the General, wrote: "Outsiders on either +side naturally throw oil on the flames, and as regards Ours, I doubt +whether they do their best to extinguish them, exercising the necessary +charity and prudence. Father Viller does the reverse, blaming and +condemning everything Bavarian, while he praises and defends the +Austrians indiscriminately. Both parties have their adherents, who +publish everything from their own point of view. As this one-sided +material is all that is laid before Ours, the danger is that the advice +given is not in favour of investigation. It is taken for granted that +all that comes before their eyes is true, and the other side is +condemned unheard. But as it is clear that the Christian cause in +Germany would be greatly benefited by a union of the two parties, it +would be well worth the trouble, seeing the immense influence which the +Society has over the princes and their advisers, for the members of the +Order to labour with more zeal than heretofore, to bring about this +reconciliation, particularly at Prague, Vienna, Munich, and Gratz." He +concludes with the wish that not alone the Society, but the rulers of +the Church also, might advance the cause of union. + +In a postscript Father Haller returns to his charge against Father +Viller, who, he declares, has disregarded the rules of the fifth +General Congregation. At Ferrara, for instance, he engaged in a violent +controversy with the Bavarian agent, Sper, about the Passau question, +as well as that of the bishopric of Salzburg, which the Bavarians were +supposed to covet. Besides this, Father Viller, blinded by prejudice, +disapproved of the contemplated marriage between the Austrian Archduke +and the Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria, "which he would prevent if he +could. In short," wrote the provincial, "the good Father has +extravagant and dangerous notions, and gives no good example to the +college." + +In his own defence Father Viller wrote that he was by no means averse +from the alliance, that he had himself secretly applied for, and +obtained, the necessary dispensation at Rome, and had frequently +expressed his earnest desire that the marriage might take place, +considering that a union between the two princely houses would conduce +to the honour of both, and to the protection and defence of the +Catholic religion in Germany. + +Only, the health of the bride must be considered no less than her great +and remarkable piety, as it was important to provide for the +continuation of the line of the august house, into which it was +proposed she should enter. He had thought that as marriage was so +delicate an affair, foresight was needful, in order that no want of +physical health and beauty might in course of time change affection +into aversion, such as was to be daily observed in the marriages of so +many illustrious persons. This, Father Viller declared, was his whole +mind on the subject, and such as he had in all humility expressed it to +the prince. With his whole heart he wished both exalted personages the +tenderest love, firm union, and continuous happiness. He believed that +the Archduke Ferdinand could not form a more suitable alliance with any +other family in Europe, but at the same time, no one should quarrel +with him, Father Viller, for wishing that the bride might possess +sufficient corporal health and beauty to ensure the well-being of their +issue, and the continuance of conjugal affection. For this reason he +trusted in the great piety and noble character of the duke and duchess +that they would not endanger the future of their daughter, and that of +her children, as well as the happiness of their prospective son-in-law, +by concealing a want of health on the part of their most devout and +admirable daughter.* + +* The reports as to the condition of the Princess Maria Anna's health +appear not to have been without foundation. Hurter mentions her +delicacy, and Koch says that she was unhealthy. She died on the 8th +March 1616. + + +But Duke William of Bavaria was deeply offended with the Archduke +Ferdinand's confessor, and even after the marriage which took place on +the 23rd April 1600, at Gratz, Father Viller having indiscreetly +reopened the subject of the bride's want of health, complaints of him +reached the General. But, in spite of all this, he did not lose the +archduke's favour, retaining his entire confidence to the end. + +An incident connected with the jealousy with which the Society guarded +its rule of non-interference in politics, is furnished by the same +Father Viller, who, in 1599, was appointed to go to Rome on a mission +from the Austrian archduke. On this occasion the General, Father +Aquaviva, wrote to Father Viller as follows:-- + +"As at the present time general suspicion is aroused, especially in +Venice, by any semblance even of politics, it will be difficult to +avoid remarks, when it is seen that your reverence is charged with an +embassy from the archduke to the Pope. And as the good prince has +deserved so well of the Church and of the Society, and especially as +your reverence has resisted so long, excusing yourself in prudent and +religious fashion, it appears to me that a via media is possible, and +an exception may be made. That is to say, that if the mission has +nothing whatever to do with politics, but has merely regard to matters +of faith, concerning heretics or the Turks, your reverence is at +liberty to undertake it, and may set out as soon as is desired. But if +the business is a political one, you must entreat the archduke, +appealing to his love for the Society, to send some one more suitable +in your place. This will be better for the archduke himself, and will +confer a benefit on the Society."* + +*Ad. Austr., 1573-1600. + + +It cannot be denied that during the reigns of the Archdukes Ferdinand, +Charles, and Rudolph, the Court of Gratz was a model of purity, +uprightness, and activity. As the Jesuits were all-powerful there +during the whole of this period, it is obvious that this satisfactory +condition must, in a large measure, be attributed to their influence. + +The introduction of the Society into Innsbruck was the work of the +Emperor Ferdinand, and the first Jesuit to labour in the new field was +the Tyrolese, Father Charles Grim. At Innsbruck, in 1561, lived the +five so-called queens, daughters of the emperor, who lived a +semi-religious life, and who desired to be confessed, directed, and +preached to by members of the Society. In 1563 the emperor paid a visit +to his daughters, and inspected the new college at Innsbruck. He +expressed his satisfaction with it, and presented the community with a +garden. + +The five "queens," Magdalen, Margaret, Barbara, Helena, Joanna, had a +great reputation for piety and charity. A young girl, who had received +severe injuries from a fire, was received into their palace and nursed +with the most loving care. Certain persons were charged by them to +inform them of cases of need as they arose. Father Edmund Hay told the +General that three of the "queens" had dedicated themselves to God by a +vow, and had resolved to remove as soon as possible from the turmoil +and luxury of the court into greater solitude. One of them was +especially pious, frequented the sacraments once a month and oftener, +and would practise very great austerities if her confessor would allow +her. In 1565 people already declared that the court of these +archduchesses was like a convent; every sign of pomp and splendour had +disappeared, and humility and modesty reigned in their stead. + +On the 11th January 1566, Father Dirsius wrote to the General, St. +Francis Borgia, in behalf of the "queens" Margaret, Magdalen, and +Helena, telling him that their brothers, the emperor, and the Archdukes +Ferdinand and Charles, fully concurred in their making the +above-mentioned vow. They had wished, he said, to remove to Munich, +with their attendants, and to live there in a convent of Poor Clares, +apart from the world. But this plan their brothers opposed, and desired +them to remain in Austria. The emperor had even offered them deserted +convents in Corinthia, but in those parts there were too many heretics +to please the princesses. Everyone advised them to remain at Innsbruck, +where they already edified the faithful by their virtuous example, and +prevented apostasy. They themselves were willing to remain; at least +they wished to be in a place where there was a college of the Society, +and were thinking of taking the newly-built Franciscan convent, the +Italian Franciscans for whom it had been constructed being unlikely to +remain on account of the climate and the difficulties they experienced +in mastering the German language. In case the archduchesses did not get +possession of this convent they had also in view a house in the +neighbourhood of Innsbruck. In this event they humbly begged for +fathers to direct them spiritually, and to undertake the care of other +souls in the place. + +In answering this letter St. Francis Borgia said that the Society was +ready to help the archduchesses spiritually, if only out of gratitude +to their father and brother, but that it was contrary to the Institute +for the members of the Society to live for any length of time apart +from their colleges or houses, and it would in any case be displeasing +to the Fathers themselves to forego the company and edifying example of +their religious brethren. It seemed, therefore, advisable that the +three princesses should take up their abode where there was a college +or house of the Society, and preferably at Innsbruck, where they might +inhabit the house built by their father, or some other of the same +description, where they might observe the rule of life they had +adopted, and keep the vow they had taken before God. The Fathers might +hear the confessions of the princesses and preach to them. A proviso +was afterwards made that, in the event of the "queens" founding a +convent, the Jesuits should no longer be their confessors, as this +would be directly contrary to the intention of St. Ignatius, as +expressed in the Institute. + +The General then sent Father Canisius to Innsbruck to arrange matters, +and the holy apostle of Germany formulated the opinion that "Ours +should not easily receive permission to direct women, even the most +exalted in position, for we have experienced to our detriment and the +detriment of this college in particular, that Ours are liable in such +matters to suffer in their vocation, and as a consequence to become +unbearable."* + +* Kroess, p. 177. + + +The next year (16th August 1567), Father Peter Canisius reiterated his +apprehension: "I consider it extremely difficult to keep Fathers to +their obedience and religious discipline when they are in any way bound +to the court," he said. + +Meanwhile, the "queens" had chosen Hall, a little town near Innsbruck, +as their residence, and Father Dirsius announced the circumstance to +the General in these terms:-- + +"The Queens have purposed for years to withdraw from the world. Now, +with the consent of their brothers, they have decided to reside at +Hall, and there with some of their ladies and attendants who wish to +imitate them, to lead a religious life in common, but without adopting +a habit or the rule of any religious order. They need priests, however, +and wish for Fathers of the Society. They beg, therefore, that the +church to be built at Hall with all its treasures may be taken over by +the Society, for which they also wish to found a novitiate there." + +But Father Borgia again objected, foreseeing nearly all the +difficulties which arose later on. The Society might not undertake the +direction of a community of women, even though these were not leading a +thoroughly conventual life. It was not advisable for the Fathers to +accept the church offered to them at Hall, because the college they +were to establish in that place would have its own church connected +with it, which would suffice. Further, it was not convenient that a +church, communicating with the house where the archduchesses lived with +their suite, should be handed over to them, and lastly, it was not the +custom of the Fathers to go daily from their own to another church at a +distance, to conduct divine service there. The General concluded his +letter with the remark that, as the project of the "queens" was +directly opposed to the Institute, nothing further need be said about +such a foundation. + +In a second letter he instructed Blessed Peter Canisius to impress upon +the archduchesses that they should be content with the confessor chosen +by the Society as the one best suited to them. Canisius was then to +name Father Lanoy, whom the General was sending to Innsbruck from +Vienna, the empress having been very well contented with him. If they +demurred, it was to be represented to them that it was not becoming for +"Ours" to frequent palaces much. The less frequently they were seen +there the better, and the less people testified their affection for +them by sending them food and clothes, the better would they be enabled +to live a community life, and observe the Institute. The better also +would they be able to render spiritual service. + +Father Borgia communicated this instruction to the rector of Innsbruck +College also, and added that he feared the Fathers were too much +spoiled by presents from the "queens," who were in the habit of sending +meals daily from their palace to them. In answer to the rector's +question as to what was to be done with the food thus sent, the General +replied that it was to be given to the sick, or to those in need. It +was to be desired that the "queens" might be persuaded to send no more +things of the sort. If they wished to bestow an alms on the college, +they should do so in a more useful way. On no consideration should +their confessor be allowed to take his meals in his own room; sickness +being the only exception to this rule. + +It was some time before the princesses could be induced to give up +sending delicacies to their confessors, two lackeys being daily told +off to carry the various dishes from the palace to the college. At +last, however, the unwelcome favours were stopped by the rector +declaring that the dinners thus sent did not reach the destination +intended, but were distributed to the sick members of the community and +others, the "queens" confessors partaking of the ordinary fare. + +Nevertheless, the archduchesses gained their point as regarded the +other matter, for in the end, the General gave an unwilling consent to +their choosing their own confessors, but he told Canisius that this +arrangement only held good during the lifetime of the "queens," and was +to form no precedent. After their death the Society would not continue +to direct the community of ladies which they had founded, such work not +being in accordance with the rules of the Institute, which, in this +particular as in others, had been approved by the Holy See. + +In order to secure the Jesuits permanently as their directors, the +pious archduchesses determined to found a novitiate at Hall, and to +offer it to the General of the Society. St. Francis Borgia accepted the +offer, but on condition that no responsibility was to accrue to the +Society respecting the future of the community, and he wished it to be +impressed on the princesses how much he had condescended in allowing +their confessors to associate with their court, such frequent +intercourse with seculars, especially with ladies, being undesirable +for religious, and giving occasion to idle and frivolous remarks. + +In the meanwhile, the Archduchess Magdalen had given notice that the +whole machinery of her court would be broken up in six months. Those of +her ladies, ladies' maids, and attendants who desired to do so might +follow her and her two sisters into their spiritual solitude at Hall, +no longer as servants, but as companions in the service of God. +Accordingly, by the end of October 1569, all was in readiness, and the +three princesses, accompanied by six of their suite who had resolved to +share their penance, removed to Hall, where they themselves performed +nearly the whole of the housework, two servants only being engaged for +the roughest portion of the labour. Hereupon, a storm of abuse broke +over the heads of the Innsbruck Jesuits, who had, of course, originated +the whole affair, seeking their own advantage. It was they who had +persuaded Magdalen to found a novitiate, and it was their fault that +the "queens" washed the clothes, plates, and dishes of the new +community with their own imperial hands, cooking also the meals of +which they partook. Rumours were afloat to the effect that the emperor +and the archdukes were furious.* All this was, however, but the +malicious invention of enemies, and the facts communicated to the +General by the Fathers at Innsbruck reveal nothing but satisfaction on +all sides. The archduke concurred in all that was done, and the +princesses were brought to acquiesce in the arrangement by which the +Fathers were to live at some distance from their house, and the Jesuits +rejoiced, inasmuch as they were left free to use the building handed +over to them as a school or a novitiate, or to put it to any use they +thought fit. Father Hoffaus wrote that the archduke had accorded him a +long and very gracious audience, and had assured him of his affection +and esteem for the Society. On the 5th December, High Mass had been +sung in their church at Innsbruck, and on the preceding day he had +announced a plenary Indulgence to all who should assist at it, on +account of the departure of the "queens." The archduke, the "queens," +and the whole of the nobility had been present. The archduke had shown +himself extremely gracious and kind, and had paid a visit to Father +George Scharich, who was sick, and had sent him costly waters. By his +kindness he had consoled the whole community. The same day he had +conducted the "queens," his sisters, solemnly to their retreat at Hall, +and on the next had left for Prague, upon which Father Hoffaus had +taken possession of the new college. + +* Orig. G. Epist., 9, 133. + + +On the 31st January 1570, the same Father wrote from Innsbruck:-- + +"The college at Hall is going on quietly. The queen scarcely worries us +at all; she has not yet entered our house since we went there, and she +seldom sends for us. In short, she leaves us in peace, and if this +continues, no one can complain of her, except that she generally +detains her confessor for nearly two hours after Mass. But this can be +borne, as there is no danger, and as I have often called her attention +to it and have blamed her for it, she is now rather more considerate." + +The following extracts from "Queen" Magdalen's statutebook for her +community show somewhat amusingly that the continual exhortations of +the superiors of the Society had made some impression:-- + +"Jesuits are to be chosen as confessors. Out of confession none must +speak with her confessor without the permission of her superioress, who +shall not give leave unless there be sufficient reason for it. For +although one may have a scruple or a temptation, this can be deferred +to the next confession. An exception must be made for the superioress +herself, for it is needful that she speak often with him, but not +always necessary for her to take him up to the house; sometimes she can +confer with him in the lodge or in the lower corridor. They must not +make acquaintance with any other of the Fathers, or invite them to the +house, neither must they send food to any sick Father, except in cases +of great need, and only for a short time, say for a week, but not +longer. Neither must they give them money daily to buy milk, butter, +and such like things, but now and again, if necessary, they may give +them the wherewithal to procure cheese and lard." + +Notwithstanding these regulations, none must suppose that the +archduchess is devoid of confidence or regard for the Fathers or for +priests in general. All her life she has "loved them in God, and will +continue to do so to the end; but there are many things good in +themselves, and agreeable to God, which must nevertheless be avoided +for the sake of a better thing still." If her spiritual daughters are +careful to avoid exaggeration, and observe her precepts faithfully, +they will find the Society better disposed towards them, will help them +to save their souls, and will be less likely to change their confessors. + +But in spite of her naivete, and of the excellent advice she gave to +others, there were, for several years, innumerable difficulties with +regard to the Archduchess Magdalen's confessor, Father Hezcovaus. He +was infirm in health, and needed much waiting upon, day and night. +Moreover, he observed the rule as little as possible, and his august +penitent unwisely took his part against his superior far more than was +desirable. It was at last decided that he should be dispensed +altogether from keeping the rule, that he need only obey the General, +and his confessor, and that he might receive from the Archduchess +Magdalen all that he needed for his support. But even this was not +enough, and sometimes it was debated whether Father Hezcovaus should +still be included in the list of those belonging to the college. + +On the 12th October 1584, the provincial, Father Bader, ordered that +the servants of this Father should not come and go, and run in and out, +as he and they pleased. If he required anything in the night, the other +Fathers should be ready to assist him charitably and patiently. + +But there were still other difficulties at Hall, in connection with the +quasi-religious community, such as St. Francis Borgia had predicted, +and these rose to such a pitch, that in 1596, Father Hoffaus expressed +his opinion to the General, that it would be better to give up their +college there, and so once for all get rid of the burden imposed on the +Society by "Queen Magdalen." + +The whole trend of this correspondence shows the tremendous obstacles +which the Jesuits encountered, not merely at Innsbruck but throughout +Austria and Bavaria, in their efforts to abstain from all that was +alien to their vocation. It is curious in these days to note how much +the old Society suffered from a superabundance of favour on the part of +princes. And far from being stereotyped reproductions of one unvarying +pattern or spiritual automata turned out of one mould, the Jesuits, as +represented in their own private correspondence, which was never +intended for the public eye, reveal a considerable amount of +individuality. The interpretation of the rule was elastic enough to +give scope to much diversity of opinion, and if superiors were jealous +guardians of the Institute, they encountered sufficient idiosyncrasy +among their subjects to prevent any rigidity in applying it. + +It seems more than likely that if Lacordaire had had his wish, and had +been able to dedicate ten years of his life to the study of the Jesuit +character, he would have found on the whole that he had, after all, set +himself the very ordinary task of watching a perpetual conflict between +a high ideal and that frailty which is inseparable from human nature. + + + +VI. GIORDANO BRUNO IN ENGLAND + +The revolt from Scholasticism in the sixteenth century, led by Erasmus +of Rotterdam, John Colet, and other apostles of the new learning, +reached farther, and was productive of other results than these had +intended or anticipated. + +Erasmus was called an infidel by the friars, but he always stoutly +protested his adherence to the Church of which the Pope was the head; +and Colet has been considered by many as a herald of the Reformation, +although he died a Catholic. Erasmus, by his own showing, was no +infidel, and there are sufficient indications that Colet, even had his +life been prolonged, would never have gone over to the enemy; but both +had given cause for apprehension by opening doors to a profound +dissatisfaction, to novel theories and extravagant systems, which many +friends of Erasmus carried on to a denial of all revealed religion. + +In throwing discredit on the schoolmen, Erasmus had prepared the way +for a contempt of Aristotle himself, and when the ex-friar Giordano +Bruno of Nola appeared as a leader of revolt, distinct from Luther and +Calvin, he found in Italy and France a small band of intellectual +revolutionists clamouring for a philosophy that should emancipate them +from the thraldrom of Christianity, and yet save them from the +dishonourable name of atheists. + +They wished to be called deists; not because they favoured any +particular form or system of religion, but as a sign that they +acknowledged, in some vague and undefined sense, a Supreme Being, and +were content to follow the light and law of nature, rejecting +revelation, and placing themselves in opposition to Christianity. + +Bruno gave them a philosophical system that was neither platonic nor +peripatetic, nor was it mystic, but a confused jumble of all three +systems, and, according to Bayle, "the most monstrous that could be +devised, and directly opposed to all the most evident ideas of our +intelligence." He goes on to say that Bruno, in his war against +Aristotle, invented doctrines a thousand times more obscure than the +most incomprehensible things written by the disciples of Aquinas or +Scotus.* + +* Bayle, Dictionnaire, Historique et Critique, article "Bruno," vol. i. +Doc. XII. + + +The new philosopher was accused among other heresies of teaching that +there is no such thing as punishment for sin; that the soul of man is a +product of nature differing in no sense from the soul of a brute, and +that God is not its author. In his deposition at his trial, Bruno +begged the question of the immortality of the soul in these words: "I +have held and do hold that souls are immortal, and that they are +subsisting substances (that is the intellectual souls), and that +speaking in a Catholic manner, they do not pass from one body to +another, but they go either to Paradise, to Purgatory, or to Hell. +Nevertheless, in philosophy I have reasoned that the soul subsisting +without the body, and non-existent in the body, may in the same way +that it is in one body be in another; the which, if it be not true, at +least appears to be the opinion of Pythagoras."* + +* Bayle, Dictionnaire, Historique et Critique, article "Bruno," vol. i. +Doc. XII. + + +His disciples aver that, although Bruno did not enforce the doctrine of +metempsychosis, he held it to be very well worthy of consideration. +There is perhaps a distinction without a difference between the terms +"immortality of the soul," and the "indestructibility of the monad," an +expression dear to Bruno's followers, and frequently to be met with in +his writings; but we are accustomed to associate the latter term with +the worship of nature according to the pantheistic gospel which +recognises a soul in every leaf that stirs; and (this brings us to the +very essence of Bruno's philosophy, in so far as it is possible to +arrive at any definite conclusion, amid the obscure maze of words with +which he surrounded his ideas. + +None of his disciples repudiate for him the title of pantheist, but +Mrs. Besant,* an ardent defender of the Nolan philosopher, went a step +further, and declared pantheism itself to be "veiled atheism." +Moreover, she says, "So thoroughly does pantheism strike at the root of +all idea of God, as taught by theists, that we can scarce think that +Bruno was unfairly judged when called atheist by his contemporaries; +the conception of the pantheist cannot be called a God in the commonly +accepted sense of that term." + +* In her Giordano Bruno, p. 5. London, 1877. + + +Having arrived thus far, the panegyrist breaks out into eulogy of "the +grandest hero of free-thought," and claims for Bruno the proud +distinction of materialist. + +Others of his admirers, and notably his English biographer, Frith, +declare that the aim of the Nolan philosophy is to overcome the fear of +death, and to fill the soul with noble aspirations, while they maintain +that its author forestalled Darwin and Herbert Spencer in their theory +of evolution. "Nobody is to-day the same as yesterday. All things, even +the smallest, have their share in the universal intelligence, or +universal thinking power. For without a certain degree of sense or +cognition, the drop of water could not assume the spherical shape which +is essential to the preservation of its forces. All things participate +in the universal intelligence, and hence come attraction and repulsion, +love and hate. Nature shows forth each species before it enters into +life. Thus each species is the starting-point for the next." These are +some of the ideas, the conception of which is supposed to shadow forth +Bruno's anticipation of modern thought. + +Landseck, his principal German biographer, makes him the link between +antiquity and the celebrated thinkers of the nineteenth century. He +considers the doctrine of the indestructibility of the monad to be that +belief in the immortality of the soul which was professed by the +Druids, the Egyptians, the Brahmins, and the Buddhists, the belief of +Pythagoras and Plato, of Plotinus, of Lessing, and of Goethe, in unison +with the evolution of Darwin and Haeckel.* + +* Landseck, Bruno der Martyrer der neuen Weltanschauung, p. 37. + + +It is not our purpose to consider here all Bruno's articles of faith or +unfaith, but rather to show the general tendency of his teaching, in +order to trace its effect upon his contemporaries in England. His +philosophy, itself a travesty of various systems, was in its turn +caricatured and vulgarised in a manner which would, perhaps, had he +lived to see it, have gone far to persuade him of the risk to popular +order and morality which he incurred, in taking from people their +belief in a personal God, and fear of the consequences of sin. + +Some years ago a statue was raised to his honour on the Campo dei Fiori +in Rome, on the alleged spot of his execution, as a vindication of +those principles for which he chose to die. In his own day they were +held to be dangerous to the State, and subversive of public morality, +and he was forced to fly before the opposition they aroused from almost +every place in which he attempted to propagate them. The enmity of the +Calvinists drove him from Geneva; at Toulouse the Huguenots made his +life unbearable; the Oxford of Elizabeth, as intolerant as Rome, proved +no agreeable sojourn, but he left traces of his passage through +England, which Elizabeth, however much she favoured him at the time of +his visit, was afterwards at great pains to efface. + +The period of his stay in this country extended over two years, from +1583 to 1585, and although in general he met with little encouragement +from the learned, he succeeded in making some proselytes. In London, he +lodged at the house of the French ambassador, and went frequently to +court, where he maintained his footing by pretending to be smitten by +the mature charms of the queen. Among his English friends were Sir +Philip Sidney, Sir Fulke Greville, Dyer, Spenser, and Temple, and it +has even been asserted that his system to a certain degree influenced +Bacon, and may be traced in the Novum Organon.* This is, however, an +erroneous view, for Bacon's term "form" means no more than law, for the +form of a substance is its very essence, whereas with Bruno, form and +matter are expressions which stand for forces.** According to St. +Thomas Aquinas, who followed Aristotle, form is the DETERMINING +PRINCIPLE in the constitution of bodies. + +* Book ii., Aphors. 1, 4, 13, 15, 17. + +** Frith, Life of Giordano Bruno, p. 107. London, 1887. + + +Sidney's biographer,* while jealous lest any taint of error should be +supposed to infect his hero, nevertheless admits unwillingly that +Giordano Bruno, Sir Fulke Greville, and Sir Philip Sidney, were wont to +discuss philosophical and metaphysical subjects "of a nice and delicate +nature with closed doors." + +* Zouch, Memoirs of Sir Philip Sidney, p, 337, note. + + +Dr. Joseph Warton, editor of Pope's works, says that, among many things +related of the life of Sir Philip Sidney, it does not seem to be much +known that he was the intimate friend and patron of the famous atheist, +Giordano Bruno, who was in a secret club with him and Sir Fulke +Greville in 1587. The date is incorrect, but the intimacy is confirmed +by Bruno's dedication to the English poet of two of his works, the one +being entitled Spaccio de la Bestia Trionfaute, a book which is +admittedly blasphemous and obscene, where it is not so obscure as to be +unintelligible, the other the no less notorious Heroici Furori. + +Soon after Bruno's departure from England, the result of his teaching +began to appear in many places throughout the country. Elizabeth's +Council became alarmed. State indifferentism to religion was as yet +unknown, and the new sectarianism appealing strongly to the ignorant +and the profane, politicians were not slow to take cognisance that +questions of the highest moment were being introduced into tavern +brawls and gutter oratory. Others besides Catholics began to absent +themselves from the new English Church service and sermons; and +fragments of conversation that savoured of "atheism" were frequently +reported to the local magistrates. An investigation into the causes and +authors of the disturbances was set on foot, and it was felt that a +scapegoat was needed to create a wholesome fear of the long arm of the +law in the minds of would-be atheists among the people.* + +* Bruno's latest biographer, Mr. L. McIntyre (Giordano Bruno, London, +1903), entirely ignores the effect of his hero's teaching in England. + + +Sir Philip Sidney was too much the world's darling, too elegant a +figure in the Elizabethan pageant, too ethereal a poet, to be burdened +with the brunt of so serious an accusation, and he was passed by for +one who, with all his brilliant gifts and attainments, had ever been +the child of misfortune. + +Perhaps no one ever excited more jealousy and ill-will among his +contemporaries than Sir Walter Raleigh. His life at court alternated +between magnificent success and the most crushing defeat. He was +successively the friend, the rival, the enemy of Essex, and when that +favourite's star was in the ascendant, his waned, until a change in the +queen's fickle fancy made him again, for a short period, an object of +admiration and envy. A soldier of fortune, a planter of colonies, an +admiral, a courtier, a statesman, a wit, a scholar, a chemist, an +agriculturist, he was eminent as each of these, and his exploits in +Guiana read like some fantastic tale of fictitious adventure. His +History of the World, although but a fragment of what he intended it to +be, is nevertheless a monument of prodigious learning, sobriety, and +patience. + +Edwards, in his Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, says that in his graver +hours he had strong theological convictions which agreed in many points +with those of the leading Puritans. Such was probably in all sincerity +his frame of mind towards the end of his strange career; but up to the +time of his trial in 1603, he seems to have been active in +disseminating the doctrines which had become popular since the baneful +sojourn of Bruno in this country. Raleigh's biographer admits that his +attempt on his own life in the Tower, subsequent to his trial, is in +favour of the unhappy prisoner's atheism at that time.* + +* "Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have declared that his design to kill +himself arose from no feeling of fear, but was formed in order that his +fate might not serve as a triumph to his enemies whose power to put him +to death, despite his innocency, he well knows" (The Count of Beaumont +to Henry IV., 13th August 1603, Copy in Hardwick MS., p. 18). + + +The first apparently to accuse Raleigh of atheism in a formal manner +was the Jesuit provincial, Robert Parsons, who, in a book published in +1592 and now very rare, mentions "Sir Walter Raleigh's school of +atheism . . . and of the diligence used to get young gentlemen to this +school, wherein both Moses and our Saviour, the Old and New Testament, +are jested at, and the scholars taught among other things to spell God +backwards.* Cayley treats this accusation as a calumny,** and Birch +describes its author as the "virulent but learned and ingenious Father +Parsons";*** but Osborn, in the preface to his Miscellany of Sundry +Essays, Paradoxes, etc., in speaking of Raleigh, says that Queen +Elizabeth "chid him who was ever after branded with the title of an +atheist, though a known asserter of God and Providence." + +* An advertisement concerning the Responsio ad Elizabethae edictum, +1592. + +** Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, i. 140. + +*** Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, i. 140. + + +The year after the appearance of Father Parsons' little book, steps +were taken for proving the truth of the reports which had now become +common, and it is remarkable that none of Sir Walter Raleigh's +biographers seem to have been aware of an elaborate interrogatory that +was drawn up and administered for the purpose of eliciting from sworn +witnesses evidence concerning his religious opinions, and those of his +family, dependents, and friends. The original seems to have +disappeared, but a contemporary copy of this document is to be found +among the Harleian papers in the British Museum, together with the +evidence obtained by means of the interrogatory. As it is extremely +pertinent to the subject in question, and has hitherto escaped notice, +the nine questions administered with a selection of the most +interesting depositions of the witnesses are here given in detail. For +a complete account of the examinations the reader is referred to the +manuscript.* + +* Harl. 6849, f. 183. + + +Dorset. + +Interrogatory to be ministered unto such as are to be examined in her +Majesty's name, by virtue of her Highness's commission for causes +ecclesiastical. + +1. Imprimis. Whom do you know or have heard to be suspected of atheism +or apostasy? And in what manner do you know or have heard the same? And +what other notice can you give thereof? + +2. Whom do you know or have heard that have argued or spoken against, +or as doubting the Being of any God, or what or where God is, or to +swear by God, adding if there be a God or such like; and when and where +was the same? And what other notice can you give of any such offender? + +3. Whom do you know or have heard that hath spoken against God, His +Providence over the world? or of the world's beginning or ending? or of +predestination, or of Heaven or of Hell, or of the Resurrection, in +doubtful or contentious manner? When and where was the same? and what +other notice can you give of any such offender? + +4. Whom do you know or have heard that hath spoken against the truth of +God His holy Word, revealed to us in the Scriptures of the Old and New +Testament, or of some places thereof? or have said those Scriptures are +not to be believed and defended by her Majesty for doctrine, and faith, +and salvation, but only of policy or civil government, and when and +where was the same? And what other notice can you give of any such +offender? + +5. Whom do you know or have heard hath blasphemously cursed God; as in +saying one time (as it rained when he was ahawking), "if there be a +God, a pox on that God which sendeth such weather to mar our sport," or +such like? or do you know or have heard of any that hath broken forth +into any other words of blasphemy, and where was the same? + +6. Whom do you know or have heard to have said that when he was dead, +his soul should be hanged on the top of a pole and "run God, run Devil, +and fetch it that would have it," or to like effect, or that hath +otherwise spoken against the being or immortality of the soul of men, +or that a man's soul should die and become like the soul of a beast, or +such like, and when and where was the same? + +7. Whom do you know or have heard hath counselled, procured, aided, +comforted, or conferred with any such offender? When, where, and in +what manner was the same? + +8. Do you know or have heard of any of those offenders to affirm all +such that were not of their opinions touching the premises, to be +schismatics and in error. And whom do you know hath so affirmed? And +when and where was it spoken? + +9. What can you say more of any of the premises, or whom have you known +or heard can give any notice of the same? And speak all your knowledge +therein. + +Hereupon follows the report of the Royal Commissioners on the +depositions of witnesses examined by them with the above formulary:-- + +"Examinations taken at Cearne, co. Dorset, 21 March, 36 Eliz., before +us, Tho. Lord Howard, Viscount Howard of Bindon, Sir Ralph Horsey, +knt., Francis James, Chancellor, John Williams, and Francis Hawley, +esquires, by virtue of a commission to us and others, directed from +some of her Majesty's High Commissioners in causes ecclesiastical."* + +* On the last page is written: "These examinations are the trew copies +taken at Cearne, 21 March 1593." + + +From the two first witnesses examined, John Hancock, parson of South +Parrot, and Richard Bagage, churchwarden of Lo, no information was +obtained. The third witness, John Jesopp, minister, of Gillingham, +"said nothing of his own knowledge, but had heard that one Herryott, of +Sir Walter Rawleigh his house, had brought the Godhead in question, and +the whole course of the Scriptures, but of whom he so heard it he did +not remember. (Thomas Harriot was an acknowledged deist, and Raleigh +had taken him into his house to study mathematics with him.] He heard +his brother, Dr. Jesopp, say that Mr. Carew Rawleigh, reasoning with +Mr. Parry and Mr. Archdeacon about the Godhead [as he conjectureth], +his said brother, thinking that Mr. Archdeacon and Mr. Parry would take +offence at that argument, desired the Lord Bishop of Worcester [then +being there] that he might argue with the said Mr. Rawleigh, for, said +he, your Lordship shall hear him argue as like a pagan as ever you +heard any. But the matter was so shut up, as this examinate heard his +brother say, and proceeded not to argument, and further he saith that +he hath heard one Allen, now of Portland Castle, suspected of atheism, +but of whom he heard it he remembereth not." + +William Hussey, churchwarden of Gillingham, corroborated the report of +Sir Walter Raleigh's suspected atheism. + +John Davis, curate of Motcomb, "to the first interrogatory saith that +he knoweth of no such person directly, but he hath heard Sir Walter +Raleigh, by general report, hath had some reasoning against the deity +of God and His omnipotence; and hath heard the like of Mr. Carew +Raleigh, but not so directly. Also he saith he heard the like report of +one, Mr. Thinn, of Wiltshire, which he heard from a barber in +Warminster, dwelling in a by-lane there, who told this deponent he did +marvel that a gentleman of his condition should deliver words to so +mean a man as himself, tending to this sense, as though God's +Providence did not reach over all creatures, or to like effect. + +"To the second, third, fourth, and fifth interrogatory he saith he hath +heard that Sir Walter Raleigh hath argued with one Mr. Ironside, at Sir +George Trenchard's, touching the being or immortality of the soul, or +such like; but the certainty thereof he cannot say further, saving +asking the same of Mr. Ironside upon the report aforesaid; he hath +answered that the matter was not as the voice of the country reported +thereof, or to the like effect." + +The next witness, Nicholas Jefferies, declared that he did not know +personally any atheist in the county of Dorset, but testified to the +report of many "that Sir Walter Raleigh and his retinue are generally +suspected of atheism," and he quoted the above-mentioned Allen, +Lieutenant of Portland Castle, as "a great blasphemer and light +esteemer of religion, and thereabout cometh not to divine service or +sermons." He also mentioned the circumstance that "Herryott, attendant +on Sir Walter Raleigh, hath been convened before the Lords of the +Council for denying the resurrection of the body." + +This witness also gave a circumstantial account of the conversation +between Sir Walter, his brother Carew, and Mr. Ironside at Sir George +Trenchard's table, but as Mr. Ironside was himself subsequently sworn +and examined, it is better to quote his own words. It is significant of +the credibility of these witnesses, that the evidence of Jefferies, +although he merely reported what Mr. Ironside had told him of the +conversation, and could not remember all that had been said, tallies +completely with the evidence of the other witnesses. + +Ironside's examination comes last in the manuscript, but it is more +convenient to insert it here:-- + +"Ralph Ironside, minister of Winterbor, sworn and examined. To the +first interrogatory, he saith that for his own knowledge he will +answer, but for that he hath heard and knoweth no author to justify the +same, he is persuaded by counsel that he is in danger to be punished, +and therefore refuseth to say anything upon uncertain report, unless he +could bring in his author in particular. + +"The relation of the disputation had at Sir George Trenchard's table, +between Sir Walter Raleigh, Mr. Carew Raleigh, and Mr. Ironside, +hereafter followeth, written by himself and delivered to the +commissioners upon his oath. + +"Wednesday, sevennight before the Assizes, summer last, I came to Sir +George Trenchard's in the afternoon, accompanied with a fellow-minister +and friend of mine, Mr. Whittle, vicar of Forthington. There were then +with the knight Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Ralph Horsey, Mr. Carew +Raleigh, Mr. John Fitzjames, etc. Towards the end of supper, some loose +speeches of Mr. Carew Raleigh's being gently reproved by Sir Ralph +Horsey with the words Colloquia prava corrumpunt bonos mores, Mr. +Raleigh demanded of me what danger he might incur by such speeches, +whereunto I answered--'The wages of sin is death'--and he, making light +of death as being common to all, sinner and righteous, I inferred +further that as that life which is the gift of God through Jesus Christ +is life eternal, so that death which is properly the wages of sin is +death eternal both of the body and of the soul also. + +"'Soul,' quoth Mr. Carew Raleigh, 'what is that?' Better it were, said +I, that we would be careful how the soul might be saved, than to be +curious in finding out the essence. + +"And so, keeping silence, Sir Walter requested me that for their +instruction, I would answer to the question that before by his brother +was proposed unto me. 'I have been,' saith he, 'a scholar sometime in +Oxford; I gave answer under a bachelor of arts, and had talk with +divers; yet hitherunto in this point (to wit, what the reasonable soul +of man is) have I not by any been resolved. They tell me it is primus +motor, the first mover in a man, etc.' Unto this, after I had replied +that howsoever the soul were fons et principium, the fountain, +beginning and cause of motion in us, yet the first mover was the brain +or heart, I was again urged to show my opinion, and hearing Sir Walter +Raleigh tell of his dispute and scholarship some time in Oxford, I +cited the general definition of Anima out of Aristotle (De Anima, cap. +2), and thence a subjecto proprio, deduced the special definition of +the soul reasonable, that it was Actus Primus corporis organici agentis +humanam vitam. + +"It was misliked of Sir Walter as obscure and intricate. And I withal, +that though it could not unto him, as being learned, yet it might seem +obscure to the most present, and therefore had rather say with divines +plainly, that the reasonable soul is a spiritual and immortal +substance, breathed into man by God, whereby he lives and moves and +understandeth, and so is distinguished from other creatures. 'Yea, but +what is that spiritual and immortal substance breathed into man?' saith +Sir Walter. The soul, quoth I. 'Nay then,' said he, 'you answer not +like a scholar.' Hereupon I endeavoured to prove that it was +scholarlike, nay, in such disputes as this, usual and necessary to run +in circulum, partly because definitio rei was primum et immediatum +principium, and seeing primo non est Prius, a man must of necessity +come backward, and partly because definitio and definitum be naturae +reciprocae, the one convertible, answering unto the question made upon +the other. As for example, if one asked: 'What is a man?' you will say: +'He is a creature reasonable and mortal'; but if you ask again: 'What +is a creature reasonable and mortal?' you must of force come backward +and answer: 'It is a man,' et sic de caeteris. 'But we have principles +in our mathematics,' saith Sir Walter, 'as totum est majus qua libet +sua parte; and ask me of it, and I can show it in the table, in the +window, in a man, the whole being bigger than the parts of it.' + +"I replied first that he showed quod est, not quid est, that it was, +but not what it was; secondly, that such demonstration was against the +nature of a man's soul, being a spirit; for as a thing, being sensible, +was subject to the sense, so man's soul, being insensible, was to be +discerned by the spirit. Nothing more certain in the world than that +there is a God, yet being a spirit, to subject him to the sense +otherwise than perfectum. It is impossible. + +"'Marry!' quoth Sir Walter, 'these two be like, for neither could I +learn hitherto what God is.' + +"Mr. Fitzjames answering that Aristotle should say he was Ens Entium, I +answered, that whether Aristotle, dying in a fever, should cry: Ens +Entium, miserere mei; or drowning himself in Euripum, should say: Quia +ego to non capio, to me capies, it was uncertain, but that God was Ens +Entium, a thing of things, having being of Himself, and giving being to +all creatures, it was most certain, and confirmed by God Himself unto +Moses. + +"'Yea, but what is this Ens Entium?' saith Sir Walter. + +"I answered it is God, and being disliked as before, Sir Walter wished +that grace might be said, 'for that,' quoth he, is better than his +disputation.' Thus supper ended and grace said, I departed to +Dorchester with my fellowminister, and this is to my remembrance the +substance of that speech with Sir Walter Raleigh I had at Wolverton." + +"Ralph Ironside." + +Turning to the remaining depositions, we find that Francis Scarlett, +minister of Sherborne, sworn and examined, relates how that "a little +before Christmas, one Robert Hyde, of Sherborne, shoemaker, seeing this +deponent passing by his door, called him, and desired to have some +conversation with him, and after some speeches, he entered into these +speeches. "Mr. Scarlett, you have preached unto us that there is a God, +a Heaven, a Hell, and a resurrection after this life, and that we shall +give an account of our works, and that the soul is immortal; but now, +saith he, here is a company about this town that say that Hell is no +other but poverty and penury in this world, and Heaven is no other but +to be rich and enjoy pleasures; and that we die like beasts, and when +we are gone there is no more remembrance of us, and such like. + +But this examinate did neither then demand who they were, neither did +he deliver any particulars unto him, and further saith that it is +generally reported in Sherborne, that the said Allen and his men are +atheists. And also he saith there is one Lodge, a shoemaker in +Sherborne, accounted an atheist." + +John Deuch, churchwarden of Weeke Regis: "To the sixth interrogatory +this deponent saith that he hath heard one Allen, Lieutenant of +Portland Castle, when he was like to die, being persuaded to make +himself ready to God for his soul, to answer that he would carry his +soul to the top of an hill, and run God, run devil, fetch it that will +have it, or to that effect. But, who told this deponent of it, he +remembereth not. To the rest of the interrogatory he can say nothing." + +What punishment followed on these examinations does not appear. A fine +was probably imposed on all those convicted of speaking and propagating +atheism; but in spite of the investigations and the discredit thrown on +the sect, it did not by any means die out. + +Essex was accounted at that time the only nobleman who cared for +religion. His manner was to censure all men as "cold professors, +neuters, or atheists." In the declaration of W. Masham before the Lord +Treasurer Buckhurst, he said that Essex told the people when he incited +them to rise, that he acted "for the good of the Queen, city, and crown +which certain atheists, meaning Raleigh, had betrayed to the Infante of +Spain." At his execution he thanked God that he was never atheist nor +papist."* + +* Dom. Eliz., February 1601, Vol. 278; R.O. + + +On the accession of James I. the Catholics presented a petition to +parliament, begging to be allowed to practise their religion, at least +in secret, and they went on to say that there were "four classes of +religionists in England Protestant who domineered all the late reign: +Puritans who have crept up amongst them, atheists, who live on brawls; +and Catholics."* + +* Dom. James I., vol. i., 1603; R.O. + + +The stigma of atheist clung to Raleigh long after he had ceased to +deserve it. In his trial for high treason in 1603, it considerably +damaged his cause, and gave another handle to his many enemies. The +king's attorney, in addressing him, exclaimed: "O damnable atheist!" +and the Lord Chief Justice Coke, in his address to the prisoner after +his condemnation, harangued him in these words:-- + +"Your case being thus, let it not grieve you if I speak a little out of +zeal and love to your good. You have been taxed by the world with the +defence of the most heathenish and blasphemous opinions, which I list +not to repeat, because Christian ears cannot endure to hear them, nor +the authors and maintainers of them be suffered to live in any +Christian commonwealth. You know what men said of Harpool.* You shall +do well before you go out of the world to give satisfaction therein, +and not to die with these imputations upon you. Let not any devil +persuade you (the Harleian version adds, 'Hariot or any such doctor') +to think there is no eternity in Heaven; for if you think thus, you +shall find eternity in hell-fire."** + +* A mistake probably for Harriot. The name is variously spelt. Edwards, +in his Life of Raleigh, corrects it and says, "Either he applied to the +illustrious mathematician Thomas Harriot, the epithet 'devil,' or he +said that Harriot's opinions were devilish" (p. 436). The judge's words +are variously reported, but their purport is always the same. Stebbing, +in his monograph Sir Walter Raleigh, says that Harriot was accused by +zealots of atheism, because his cosmogony was not orthodox, and that +his ill-repute for free-thinking was reflected on Raleigh, who hired +him to teach mathematics (probably in what Father Parsons termed his +school of atheism) and engaged him in his colonising projects. Harriot +was the friend whose society he chiefly craved when he was in the +Tower, and is doubtless the "Herryott" of the examinations. + +** Dom. James I., vol. 4, f. 83. + + +Between Raleigh's sentence and its execution fifteen years were allowed +to elapse, during which time the prisoner in the Tower occupied himself +with the compilation of his famous History of the World, and with +chemical experiments. And as if all should be exceptional in the life +of this remarkable man, he was allowed an interval during this period +in which to flash once more upon the world in another expedition to +Guiana, in search of the gold mine which he had declared to be there. +After the ill-fated voyage he returned into durance vile, and when at +last the time came for the axe which had so long hung over him, to +fall, his words showed that at least in adversity he had learned, like +the great Arian chieftain Clovis, to burn what he had adored, and to +adore what he had burned. His device, Ubi dolor ibi amor is significant +of the change that suffering had wrought in him. His last words on the +scaffold were these: "I have many sins for which to beseech God's +pardon. Of a long time my course was a course of vanity. I have been a +seafearing man, a soldier, and a courtier, and in the temptations of +the least of these there is enough to overthrow a good mind and a good +man." Presently he added, "I die in the faith professed by the Church +of England. I hope to be saved and to have my sins washed away by the +Precious Blood and merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ." + +Then, says his biographer,* he asked to be shown the axe, and kissing +the blade, he said: "This gives me no fear. It is a sharp and fair +medicine to cure me of all my disease." + +* Edwards, Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, i. 704. + + +After Raleigh's death, the Archbishop of Canterbury, writing to Sir +Thomas Roe, ambassador of Great Britain with the Great Mogul, 10th +February 1618, said: "Sir Walter Raleigh amongst us did question God's +being and omnipotence, which that just judge made good upon himself in +overtumbling his estate, but last of all in bringing him to an +execution by law, where he died a religious and Christian +death, God testifying his power in this, that he raised up of a stone a +child unto Abraham." + +His doom had been from the first a foregone conclusion. James having +been fatally prejudiced against him before that royal pedant ever set +foot in England, to which fact the secret correspondence of Sir Robert +Cecil with James VI. of Scotland amply testifies. + +But curiously enough Sir Walter's brother Carew, although more deeply +dyed in atheism, never ceased to be a Persona grata with the +government. He was knighted in 1601, on the occasion of the visit to +England of the French Marshal de Biron.* He held several honourable and +lucrative public offices under James I., and was Lieutenant of the Isle +of Portland in 1608. During his brother's long imprisonment in the +Tower, Sir Carew Raleigh was living in prosperity at Dounton.** + +* Stebbing, Sir Walter Raleigh, p. 157. + +* Ibid, p. 248. + + +Atheists did not as a sect entirely disappear from England after the +execution of their scapegoat, but they do not seem to have been further +molested for their opinions. The persecution of the Catholics was at +its height, and at no time did professed atheism provoke the fierce +hatred that Catholicism inspired. For obvious reasons many Catholics at +this period were but indifferently instructed in their religion. Some +to escape attendance at the English Church service unlawfully feigned +infidelity. One man having written a seditious book, called Balaam's +Ass, against the king, for which he was condemned to death, was accused +at his execution of having professed atheism. He denied being an +infidel, expressed contrition for his "saucy meddling in the king's +matter," and declared himself a Catholic.* + +* Dom. James I., vol. 109, May 1619; R.0. + + +The Bishop of Exeter reported that "John Lugge, organist, retains none +of his popish tendencies, though his religion is as the market goes," +and he added that there were very few papists in his diocese, but an +infinity of sectaries and atheists. + +Many of these latter may have been secret Catholics, either extremely +ignorant, or too timid to suffer for their faith. A book published in +1602, entitled The Unmasking of the Politique Atheist is a violent +attack upon Catholicism. Another, called A Perfect Cure for Atheists, +Papists, Arminians, etc., published in 1649, is of a like nature. It is +a far cry from Aristotle to atheism, but no sooner did the votaries of +the new learning discard a system of philosophy which, however +exaggerated by pedants, was still a guarantee of exact reasoning, than +their disciples and followers fell a prey to the vagaries of their own +bewildered intellects. + +It was the reductio ad absurdum of the reformed religion, when +weak-kneed Catholics sheltered themselves from its pains and penalties +under the fairly secure roof-tree of atheism. + + + +VII. CHARLES THE FIRST AND THE POPISH PLOT + +"A fine rare show arrives from Rome, and it is all a present for the +Queen, and the news of it reaches London, and the King is impatient to +see it; and the Queen is lying in, and Mr. Panzani brings all the fine +things to the Queen's bedchamber; and all the ladies of quality crowd +in to see them; and the King with all his nobles hastens to the Queen's +palace; and the boxes are opened, and the pieces are viewed one by one; +and Mr. Conn comes in (though still without a red hat) to satisfy the +Queen's curiosity, and Mr. Conn brings more fine pictures . . . and +sees the King, and the Queen of France; and Mr. Panzani takes leave of +the Queen of England (for how could he omit it?) and the Queen begs a +red hat for Mr. Conn, and Mr. Conn must first do some signal service to +the Church; and the King talks about Mr. Conn's red hat; and the Queen +gives Mr. Panzani a fine diamond ring; and Mr. Panzani takes leave of +all the ministers; and he pays his respects to all the ladies of the +court; and the ladies send their compliments to the Pope, and they all +beg Mr. Panzani's blessing. It was the end of the year 1636." + +This Sevigne-like description was written in 179-, by the Rev. Charles +Plowden, in his "Remarks on a Book entitled Memoirs of Gregorio +Panzani." Panzani, a priest of the Roman Oratory, had been about two +years in England, with a secret mission to report to Cardinal +Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII., on the condition of the +Catholics, the condition of the court, and on the prospects regarding +an ultimate reunion of the Anglican Church with Rome. He was to pave +the way for an openly accredited envoy to the queen, was to conciliate +the ministers, disarm the Puritans, and to do what he could for the +Catholics, who were still smarting severely under the penal laws. +Executions, it is true, had become less frequent, but the royal coffers +were still replenished with the fines imposed on Catholics for their +pertinacity in assembling to hear Mass by stealth. If a priest were +caught, he was thrown into prison, tried, and punished with death. In +dealing with the Catholic laity, Charles I. was never in favour of +enforcing the extreme rigour of the law, but he was so often in want of +money that he found it useful to be very severe in the matter of fines. + +Panzani's mission to England falls about midway between the domestic +storms which had troubled the early days of the royal marriage, and the +Revolution which finally cost the most shifty of monarchs his throne +and his life. Henrietta Maria had ceased to resent the expulsion of her +French favourites, had consented at last to learn English and to +tolerate the English people. She had thrown herself heart and soul into +her husband's interests, and since the death of Buckingham was in +possession of his entire confidence. If, later on, any cloud arose over +their mutual relationship, it was the king's half expressed suspicion +that she thought little of his powers of governing, and that however +much she loved her husband, she did not admire his policy or trust his +royal word as implicitly as he could wish. This is evident from one or +two affectionate but querulous letters which he wrote to her when he +was in the hands of the Parliamentarians. + +Of the court, as well as of the private life of the king and queen, +Panzani could report but favourably. The Catholics were to-be helped by +the queen's influence, and as to reunion with Rome, he thought he had +some reason to be sanguine. A letter from Panzani to Cardinal +Barberini, of which the following is a translation, is to be found +among the Stevenson and Bliss transcripts of Vatican documents in the +Record Office. It is dated June 10/25, 1635: + +"According to your Eminence's instructions, I have had a long talk with +Father Philip (an English Capuchin and the Queen's confessor), +regarding the reconciliation of this kingdom with Rome, and the means +of bringing it about. He told me that there were unmistakeable signs of +a desire for such a reconciliation, not only in the King, but among the +clergy and laity as well, and the question is mooted almost daily. It +is well, however, to be slow in drawing inferences, because those who +are most in favour of a reunion do not venture to manifest their +desire, but rather dissemble it under the appearance of a contrary way +of thinking, on account of the severity of the law against Catholics. +This same fear possesses the King also, he being of a timid nature; +hence the great misfortune of not being able to count on his prudence +and judgment, seeing how changeable and uncertain he and his advisers +are. Moreover, if by ill-luck the present rumours of war oblige the +King to arm himself, we may expect some persecution of the Catholics, +for money being required, before he can go to war, it will be necessary +to assemble Parliament, and the Lower House, composed mainly of +Puritans, will grant no supplies unless the King makes some show of +cruelty towards Catholics. For the same reason all the bishops and +ministers of moderate views, and favourable to a reunion, begin to be +harsh and intolerant when the time approaches for the meeting of +Parliament, and do nothing but inveigh against the Pope in their +sermons, solely from fear of losing their lives or their places. Father +Philip says that there is no need to be alarmed at the difficulties we +may encounter; but that we should be determined to overcome them, and +that after God, the envoys may greatly facilitate the business, if they +study with all their might how to make themselves agreeable to the King +and the State. + +"He who comes here should be all things to all men, in order to win +all, and should take everything he can in good part, and find excuses +for the King and his officers, if sometimes they do not grant the +Catholics all the favours they ask. He should throw the blame on the +poursuivants and the informers, and should adroitly petition for +redress. He should keep Windebank (Secretary of State), considered by +the Puritans to be 'Popishly affected,' and others, well informed of +all that passes in Rome, and should manage to keep up communication +with the papal legates, in order to have news, and at the same time to +make himself agreeable to them, for they like above all things to +receive marks of confidence. He must be careful, however, in +publishing, the facts he thus learns, to give no offence to any of the +crowned heads, nor bring our religion into bad odour. + +"The envoy should distribute some gifts, and in fine, use every means +to make himself beloved. He ought to be about thirty-five years old, +and to have attained a certain solidity rarely met with before that +age. He should also be noble and rich, and of a good presence, +furnished with all qualities proper to a gentleman; and, above all, his +life should be exemplary, without affectation or hypocrisy . . . . On +the arrival of such an agent in London, speaking French well, which +language is understood by the whole court, he should first of all +contrive to please the Queen, who, being young, delights in perfumes +and fine clothes, and likes people to be lively and merry. His next +object should be to ingratiate himself with the court ladies and +others, as much is done here by the influence of women; but he should +on no account allow familiarity with the Queen and other ladies to +degenerate into lightness or worse, for that would involve the ruin of +the whole undertaking. It is customary to say here, 'if a man's life is +good, his religion must be a good one'; but the English are shocked at +every little thing. The King is extremely modest, and the Queen such, +that Father Philip told me her conscience has never lost its baptismal +innocence. + +"Having gained the good opinion of the Queen and her ladies, the agent +may aspire to greater things. The court is very accessible to bribes; +it is therefore quite possible to purchase its goodwill; and to this +end it will be well to send the Queen jewels of some value, ostensibly +as presents to her, but in reality that she may distribute them among +those ministers from whom the greatest help may be expected. The envoy +should not make very valuable presents himself, but only through the +Queen, lest he be suspected of ulterior views, or cause danger to the +recipients of them. + +"When the ministers have been won over, the Queen, instructed by the +envoy how great a reputation she may acquire by the conversion of this +kingdom, must try to persuade the King to abolish poursuivants and +informers. This he may not be able to effect immediately, being +powerless to repeal parliamentary laws, but he may be able to procure +that the poursuivants and informers shall do nothing without an express +and written order from the Privy Council, and only then in a manner +conformable to the instructions of the same. In this way, Catholics +would have nothing more to fear, because as soon as the Council +resolved to proceed against any individual, the Queen would bring her +influence to bear on any one of its members already on her side, and +the threatened Catholic would be helped, either to fly or to elude the +officials. + +"This point gained, an almost tacit liberty of conscience would follow; +the Catholics would take courage, and the moderate Protestants would no +longer fear to declare themselves openly their protectors. Then would +be the time to treat with the King, through the Archbishop of +Canterbury, for the concession of religious liberty, as far as +possible. This once conceded, Father Philip believes that in less than +three years the whole country would become Catholic. Parliament might +then safely be assembled to repeal the laws against Catholics, and +reunion with the Holy See would soon follow. + +"But how to obtain liberty of conscience it is not easy to say at +present; neither does it yet concern us, not having arrived so far. + +"This is all that Father Philip said, and whatever else he may tell me +I will write to your Eminence, having nothing further to add now, +except that the envoy should be guided in all things by Father Philip, +who has a great reputation for prudence, and is respected by the whole +court." + +Nevertheless, Father Philip's ingenious structure soon proved to be +only a house of cards. He understood the Queen, and was not far wrong +in his estimation of Charles, but he was mistaken in thinking the +king's party to be in earnest about Catholicism, and was as wide of the +mark in grasping the archbishop's bent as any Puritan in the realm. + +Laud was in some respects wiser than Buckingham had been; he was +content to govern through the King, throwing what power he could into +the hands of the prelates. All the great offices of State were filled +by churchmen. Far from contemplating any submission to the Pope, he +aimed at being a species of independent Pope on his own account. Both +he and Juxon, the Lord Treasurer, refused to see Panzani. + +Laud's greatest passion was ambition, if anything in a nature so +contracted could be said to assume the proportions of a fullblown +passion. He had a marvellous capacity for dealing with small things, +and all that came under his ken he studied to the minutest detail. He +was a believer in dreams, and owned to being greatly troubled by them. +"Thursday, I came to London," he once wrote in his diary; "the night +following, I dreamed that I was reconciled to the Church of Rome. This +troubled me much, and I wondered exceedingly how it should happen. Now +was I aggrieved with myself (not only by reason of the errors of that +Church, but also) upon account of the scandal which from that my fall +would be cast upon many eminent and learned men in the Church of +England. Going with this resolution, a certain priest met me, and would +have stopped me. But moved with indignation I went on my way. And while +I wearied myself with these troublesome thoughts I awoke. Herein I felt +such strong impressions that I could scarce believe it to be a dream." + +To a becoming gravity the archbishop failed to unite a saving sense of +humour. His temper was hasty, but also vindictive, and he never forgot +an injury, to which fact the notorious Puritan, William Prynne, was +well able to testify. Laud first incurred the enmity of this man and +his friends by his attempts to introduce some measure of ceremonial +into the churches under him. When he began his reform, the places of +public worship were nothing but buildings where discourses and +diatribes against Popery were to be heard in luxuriously upholstered +seats. "There wants nothing but beds to hear the Word of God on," said +Bishop Corbet. The notion of a priesthood had died out of people's +minds. They looked upon their clergy as preachers merely--the cure of +souls was an obsolete term. + +Archbishop Grindal had caused the altars to be destroyed, and the +places where they had stood whitewashed, so that no trace of them might +remain.* Laud had the communion tables removed from the middle of the +churches into the place formerly occupied by the altar, railed in, and +distinguished by altar-like adornments. Finally, it became customary to +designate them by the ancient name of altar, while the officiating +minister resumed the name of priest. The people, now become thoroughly +Protestantised, murmured, and thought they saw indications of a return +to Rome.** Some protested that all this superabundant care for +externals was eating the life out of Protestantism; the bugbear of +others was the appeal, now becoming customary, to the Fathers of the +Church, rather than to the Protestant divines of the continent.*** St. +Augustine was suspect, Calvin they knew to be orthodox. + +* Articles to be inquired of in the Archdiocese of York--"Whether in +your churches and chapels, all altars be utterly taken down and clean +removed even unto the foundation; and the place where they stood paved, +and the wall whereunto they joined whited over, and made uniform with +the rest, so as no breach or rupture appear." In case any altars +remained, the churchwardens were "to remove them and certify." + +** Calendar of State Papers, 1635-36; Dom. Charles I. + +*** Gardiner, Fall of the Monarchy of Charles. + + +The sequel proved that a very real source of danger lay among Laud's +own familiar friends. The archbishop could not restrain the lengths to +which they would go, in following up the track which he himself had +laid open. Burning questions were discussed in the pulpits. Thus, +Panzani, in a letter to Cardinal Barberini, dated March 13/23, 1636, +says:-- + +"Last Sunday, one of the bishops preached before the King, on the +necessity of Sacramental Confession, saying that the Church has never +been in a good state wherever it was not practised." + +Panzani, continuing, went on to say that reconciliation with Rome was +an event anticipated by all, and that many people thought the clergy +refrained from marrying, in order that they might still hold their +parishes in case of reunion. "This," he adds, "is what I hear, but +whether it is true or not, God only knows, who sees the hearts of men." + +In the same letter he mentioned another sermon, which had lately been +preached before the king and the court "touching confession, and the +preacher said that its origin could be traced to the Gospel better than +that of any other doctrine; wherefore he exhorted his hearers to +practise it. All the court are now talking of this sermon," he +continued, "and the King himself at supper afterwards spoke highly of +the practise of confession, saying that one ought to mention all the +circumstances of a sin. Someone who was present said he could not think +it right to take away another person's reputation by naming him, if he +were concerned in a sin. The King at once replied that it was not +permitted to name accomplices, and turning to Father Philip, who is +always present at supper, he asked him if he were not right. Father +Philip answered that he was. The Earl of Carlisle, a Puritan, who was +also there, assured Father Philip that he agreed with us in everything, +except that the Pope had power to depose kings. 'We do not believe that +either,' replied Father Philip, 'we only say that the Pope may do it in +extraordinary cases, such as heresy for instance.' The Earl of Carlisle +replied + +'You are not all of the same opinion, because I know that some among +you maintain that he has.' + +"Here the subject dropped. A lady conversing with Father Philip on the +same occasion said that if confession were to be practised, Protestant +ministers ought to be like ours. 'Why?' asked Father Philip. 'Because,' +answered the lady, 'if they have wives, no one will confess to them for +fear of their repeating to their wives, straight off, the sins confided +to them.'" + +In a former letter, Panzani had written: "A preacher said lately that +the Pope was the true Vicar of Christ, successor of St. Peter, and +Chief Patriarch, and he proceeded to enlarge on Papal jurisdiction, +when a tumult arose among the congregation, and afterwards the preacher +was censured." + +And again, "On the first day, and also the first Sunday in Lent, the +Bishop of London, preaching before the King, took for his subject the +preparation for our Lord's Passion, and said that it was not only +needful to mortify the spirit, but also the flesh, teaching which is +opposed to the doctrine of the greater number of Protestants." + +Thus, the Puritans had some ground for murmuring, and it was not +altogether unnatural, that they and the Catholics also should imagine +that the Church of England had set its face Romewards. The above were +not doctrines such as Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, and Hooper would have +owned, nor would they recognise the churches in which such language was +held. + +Greater still would have been the wrath of such men as Prynne, +Bastwick, and Burton, had they known that the Bishop of Gloucester had +applied to Panzani for permission to have a Catholic priest in his +house secretly, to say Mass daily for him; and that he was strongly in +favour of re-union. + +William Prynne, barrister-at-law by profession, by reputation a +vituperative pamphleteer, was always ready to denounce, cavil, and +rail. The list of his philippics fills nearly a whole folio volume of +the British Museum Library Catalogue. He had what Wharton, more +graphically than politely, describes as "the eternal itch of +scribbling." The subject of Sabbath-breaking to which he attributed the +fresh outbreak of the plague in 1636, was to him as a red rag to a +bull. Encouraged by his example a whole mass of literature appeared on +the observance of the Sabbath--not the modern Sunday which was decried +as an invention of Rome, but of the old Jewish Sabbath, considered by +the Puritans to have a far better claim to be observed. + +Prynne had no perception of the relative value of things. +Sabbath-breaking, predestination, and the supreme wickedness of curls, +or love-locks as they were then called, were of equal importance in his +mind. Laud's innovations put him into a state of frenzy, and he +declared that the Church of England was now "as full of ceremonies" as +a dog was "full of fleas." + +Giles Widdowes, entering the lists for the archbishop, argued that "men +should take off their hats on entering a church, because it was the +place of God's presence, the chiefest place of his honour amongst us, +where His ambassadors deliver His embassage, where His priests +sacrifice their own and the militant Church's prayers, and the Lord's +Supper, to reconcile us to God, offended with our daily sins." "Ergo," +answered Prynne, "the priests of the Church of England are sacrificing +priests, and the Lord's Supper a propitiatory sacrifice, sacrificed by +those priests for men's daily sins!" + +Widdowes also wrote in defence of the practice of bowing at the name of +Jesus; and considering doubtless that men should be fought with their +own weapons, took a leaf out of Prynne's book and belaboured soundly +"the lawless, kneeless, schismatical Puritan." + +Prynne retorted promptly, entitling his reply, "Lame Giles his +Haltings." Soon afterwards, being cited to appear and defend himself +for having used intemperate language in a book against plays and +players, he was sentenced to have his ears shorn off. As many copies of +his book as were forthcoming were burned by his side as he sat in the +pillory. He was degraded and prevented from pleading as a lawyer. He +only wrote the more. The titles of his book are ingenious, and would +ensure their sale at any time. As for their contents, odious as was the +language he used, Prynne always hit the nail he intended, and was very +good at a blow. In Rome's Masterpiece, he declared that the archbishop +was a "middle-man, between an absolute Papist and a real Protestant, +who will far sooner hug a Popish priest in his bosom than take a +Puritan by the little finger." + +Prynne's fellow pamphleteers, Bastwick and Burton, were not far behind +him in the violence of their invectives, but the lawyer must be +admitted to bear the palm for sharp sayings. + +In John Bastwick's Litany, instead of "from plague, pestilence, and +famine," we have "from bishops, priests, and deacons, good Lord, +deliver us." + +In 1637, Laud summoned the three men before the Star Chamber, to answer +to a charge of libel. Bastwick's crime was for writing against the +"Pope of Canterbury." They were all three found guilty, fined 5000 +pounds each, condemned to lose their ears, and to be imprisoned for +life, an astoundingly heavy sentence. But in addition Prynne was to be +branded on both cheeks with the letters S L for slanderous libeller. +Chief Justice Finch ordered the scars left by his former punishment to +be laid bare. "I had thought," said he, "that Mr. Prynne had no ears +but methinks he hath ears." Three years before, the executioner had +only clipped off the outer rims; but now Prynne was to suffer the full +rigour of the sentence. A contemporary thus describes the process:-- + +"Having burnt one cheek with a letter the wrong way, the hangman burnt +that again, and presently a surgeon clapped on a plaster to take out +the fire. The hangman hewed off Prynne's ears very scurvily, which put +him to much pain, and after, he stood long in the pillory before his +head could be got out, but that was a chance." * + +* Documents relating to Prynne, Camden Papers. + + +He seems to have borne this martyrdom with great coolness, for on his +way back to prison, he composed a Latin distich on the letters S L, +which he interpreted "Stigmata Laudis"--the scars of Laud. + +Although the sentence had been imprisonment for life, Prynne and Burton +entered London in triumph three years later; and if revenge is sweet, +Prynne was yet to swim in a sea of sweetness. When by a strange irony +of fate he was hired to search the imprisoned archbishop for papers, he +carried off Laud's diary. + +If Panzani could have seen this strange record of the archbishop's +dreams, desires, and impressions, he would doubtless have ceased to +look upon Laud as an important factor in his scheme of the corporate +re-union of the nation with Rome. + +Under date 14th August 1634, Prynne read and gloated over those +remarkable entries: + +"That very morning at Greenwich there came one to me seriously, and +that avowed ability to perform it, and offered me to be a cardinal," +and two days later-- + +"I had a serious offer made me to be a cardinal. I was then from court, +but so soon as I came hither (21st August) I acquainted His Majesty +with it. But my answer again was that somewhat dwelt within me, which +would not suffer that, till Rome were other than it is." + +No doubt, in declining the cardinalate, if indeed the offer were not a +figment of his own brain, Laud would have been diplomatic enough not to +allow his reasons to transpire, and probably the Pope never knew them. +The importance of the statement lies for posterity entirely in the +anti-Roman tendency which he expressed in his diary. For the archbishop +himself, to have committed the matter to writing, whether it were true +or imaginary, proved fatal, the entries serving his enemies as the text +of one of the chief indictments against him, when he was brought to +trial. Nothing he could plead made any impression on the minds of his +accusers. His refusal of the purple ought to have vindicated him; but +they maintained that for the offer to have been made to him at all, he +must have been friends with the Pope. Moreover, had he not objected to +the term "Idol of Rome"? and had he not expressed doubt if not denial +of the Pope's being anti-Christ? These things were more than enough for +fanatics whose piety consisted chiefly in denunciations and impolite +epithets. It was as clear as daylight to their minds that the +archbishop had "a damnable plot to reconcile the Church of England with +the Church of Rome." + +Presumably, Mr. Prynne's ears were for something in the overwhelming +potency of the argument. But another and scarcely less important +article of the indictment related to some pictures of the Life and +Passion of our Lord, which Laud had once had bound up in Bibles. He had +been so greatly pleased with the result that he ordered them to be +called the Archbishop of Canterbury's Bibles. The Puritans thought they +saw in this strong proof of his "popish and idolatrous affection," +their ignorance of human nature actually leading them to imagine that +on seeing an image or picture of a divine person men would be forthwith +moved to prostrate themselves in adoration of the material of which it +was composed, no other explanation of the word "idolatrous" being +possible in this connection. + +But we must now return to the year 1636, when popular passion ran so +high that the opinion of an onlooker is our only means of arriving at a +fairly accurate appreciation of events. Panzani, who although wrong in +his inferences was correct as to facts, describes the archbishop and +his works with great moderation. In his letters to Cardinal Barberini, +he tells him that Laud is "short in stature, aged about sixty, is +unmarried, and is first in the privy council. His views are moderate, +and he is not unfriendly to the Catholic religion. He has the King's +interests thoroughly at heart; he studies to increase the revenue, and +perhaps for this reason is preferred by the King to all his other +advisers. He is ready for any amount of work, and all ecclesiastical +affairs receive his personal attention. He is reputed an Arminian, and +in nearly all dogmas approaches nearly to the Roman Church. With the +King's permission he has made innovations in the Scotch as well as in +the English churches, has erected altars, and put sacred pictures in +many places. He has the honour and glory of the clergy extremely at +heart. Many think his aim is to reconcile this Church with Rome, others +hold quite opposite views, and both extremes have some show and reason, +for on the one hand, one sees in him great ambition to imitate Catholic +rites, and on the other, what looks almost like a positive hatred of +Catholics and their religion. Sometimes he persecutes them, but this is +interpreted by many to mean only prudence, and a way of escape from the +murmurs and quarrels of the Puritans." + +The Queen and Panzani were on excellent terms. Cardinal Barberini had +sent Henrietta Maria some very costly presents, and she was anxious to +show him a similar attention. Father Philip considered that English +horses would form a most suitable gift, but the Queen asked him to +consult Panzani. "If her Majesty wants to send a really acceptable +present to Rome, let her send the heart of the King," said the envoy, +smiling. Father Philip replied that this treasure she wished to keep +entirely for her own. + +"I make no doubt," answered Panzani, "that in sending the King's heart +to Rome, the Queen would only possess it the more entirely, and without +danger of rivalry from conflicting religious sects." + +Father Philip then told her that if it pleased the Father of Mercy, she +should send this truly precious gift, and that his Eminence cared for +no horses. + +Soon after this, Panzani returned home, and was made Bishop of Miletus. +Meanwhile George Conn, a Scotchman, had been chosen to replace him, the +papal court considering that he possessed the rare qualities described +by Panzani as necessary for the delicate position of papal envoy to the +Catholic queen of a non-Catholic country. + +Panzani being an Italian, and possessing no language but his own, could +only communicate with the Queen and the secretaries of State through an +interpreter. As he was a priest, he was liable to cause irritation to +such of the court and nation who were not "popishly inclined." + +Conn had passed twenty-four years in Italy, had courtierlike manners +and bearing. He was a layman, although a canon of one of the great +Roman basilicas, and as we have already seen, was a candidate for a red +hat. With his brilliant parts, great capacity, urbanity, and zeal, it +is not surprising to learn that he was declared to be a Jesuit, a +generic term not only in his own days, but down to our own, for all who +have laboured diligently to restore the old religion. + +We find it quite gravely asserted in the records of the reign of +Charles I., that Jesuits were of three degrees, and were to be found +among politicians, merchants, and the professed Fathers living in +religious houses. It would be obviously superfluous to refute this +ridiculous statement which seems destined to crop up at intervals to +the end of time, quite regardless of the fact that it has been +repeatedly shown to affirm an impossibility. + +Conn had no sooner arrived in England than the report was spread that +he was a disguised Jesuit, come to receive the King into the Catholic +Church. Charles, in terror of the Puritans, declared that it was a +purely malicious invention, but none the less he continued to +temporise, and the court to regulate its conscience according to his +vacillating example. Some of the nobility were received into the +Church, and among them Lord Boteler and Lady Newport. Mass was again +said in the houses of the Catholic gentry. + +In a letter to the Cardinal, written soon after his arrival, Conn gave +an account of along conversation he had had with Charles, in the course +of which he "remarked to his Majesty that the other powers of +Christendom were extremely jealous of the relations which had begun to +exist between the Apostolic See and Great Britain. They know," he +continued, "that a perfect union between the two must necessarily tend +to check their extravagances, and restore to Christ His lost patrimony +in the west." + +To this the King replied with some emotion, saying: + +"May God pardon the first authors of the rupture." + +"Sire," I answered, "the greater will be your Majesty's glory, when by +your means so great an evil is remedied." To which the King made no +further response. Not long afterwards, Charles asked Conn whether he +considered it an easy thing for a man to change his religion. + +"I told him," said Conn, "that when a man applied himself without +passion or prejudice to find out the truth, God never failed to +enlighten him." To which the King took in good part. + +"I am obliged to proceed very cautiously," he added, "that they may not +think the rumour of my coming here to receive the King into the Church +had its origin in my presumption. It was a truly diabolical invention, +and calculated to spoil everything." + +If the Puritans were angry before, Conn's sojourn in England lashed +them into fury. Rome's Masterpiece was written when his service had +come to an end, and in the first flush of Puritan triumph. On its +title-page it styles the mission "The Grand Conspiracy of the Pope and +his Jesuited instruments to extirpate the Protestant religion, +re-establish Popery, subvert laws, liberties, peace, parliaments--by +kindling a civil war in Scotland and all his Majesty's realms; and to +poison the King himself, in case he comply not with them in these their +execrable designs." + +This is how the "conspiracy" is said to have been discovered:-- + +"Revealed out of conscience to Andreas ab Habernfeld by an agent sent +from Rome into England by Cardinal Barberini, as an assistant to Conn, +the Pope's late Nuncio, to prosecute this most execrable plot (in which +he persisted a principal actor several years), who discovered it to Sir +William Boswell, his Majesty's agent at the Hague, 6th September 1640. +He, under an oath of secrecy to the Archbishop of Canterbury, among +whose papers it was casually found by Mr. Prynne, May 31, 1643, who +communicated it to the king, as the greatest business that ever was put +to him." + +Events had succeeded each other with alarming significance. Nothing was +too wild for the Puritans to invent or to believe, and it had been +found impossible to uphold Conn in the position of papal envoy to the +Queen. After nearly three years' service, he had consequently been +withdrawn, and in August 1639, Count Carlo Rosetti was sent to lead the +forlorn hope of the English Catholics. His first impression of the +state of the country and of the future of Catholicism in England was +hopeful. "I have found," he wrote to Cardinal Barberini, "in all +persons a better disposition and a readiness towards the affairs of +religion in general, and an obedience full of reverence towards the +particular person of his Holiness our Sovereign, and of your Eminence." +Windebank was fairly amenable, but Laud had pinned his faith to the +Church of England, and was no more favourable to the Catholics than to +the Puritans. He opposed Rosetti in every possible way, burned Catholic +books publicly, and threw all his weight and influence in Parliament on +the side that favoured the enforcing of the penal statutes. Meanwhile, +the Queen was not idle, and had pleaded successfully with the King for +her persecuted coreligionists, so that Rosetti was able to report, +"Through the grace of God, all the priests and Catholics are at last +released from prison, to their extreme consolation." + +Nevertheless, there was scarcely any further talk of the nation's +return to the bosom of the Church; all that was now hoped for was, that +if the King could be got to act with some degree of firmness and +consistency, the cause of the unhappy Catholics might not yet be +altogether lost. Rosetti drew, as far as it went, a life-like portrait +of Charles in one of his letters: + +"The King," he says, "is very high-minded; but having no sincere, +experienced, and capable persons to assist him, he is often either +agitated or changeable, and undecided in the administration of affairs. +He has great parts, and much benevolence, is by nature gentle and +moderate, and with regard to morals, is singular among princes. It is +not possible to exaggerate his love of justice; in the exercise of this +virtue he is little accessible to compassion, but at the same time, he +is no friend of capital punishment. Honesty is one of the strongest +points in his character, but not being surrounded with trustworthy +ministers, it often happens that he neglects the interests of the +State, and gives himself up to hunting, which is his favourite +occupation and amusement." + +But the Puritans were fast gaining the upper hand; Parliament haggled +with the King over the supplies, and frightful scenes were enacted in +the churches. + +"Last Sunday morning," wrote Rosetti, "many Protestants and Puritans +being assembled at church to celebrate their sacrament, it came to a +great contest between them; some were determined to communicate +sitting, others kneeling. From words they passed to blows, causing much +disturbance." + +The other day, a large number of Puritans went into a Protestant +Church, and upset the altars which stood against the wall with rails in +front of them, where people were going to Communion in the Catholic +manner. They took possession of twelve statues representing the twelve +apostles, and carried them with cries and tumult into the Parliament." + +On another occasion he wrote:-- + +"The Archbishop of Canterbury persecutes the Catholics more than ever. +On the vigil of Pentecost, I am told by a trustworthy person, he threw +himself at the King's feet, beseeching him to proceed against the +Catholic religion, at least from political interests, if not from +conscientious motives." + +Laud was terrified. All that he had done to imitate Catholicism he now +undid, as far as he was able, in order, if possible, to pacify the +Puritans. The order to bow at the holy Name was revoked, the +communion-tables were replaced in the middle of the churches, and from +being called altars were renamed tables. The altar rails were +abolished, and the people communicated after the Calvinist manner. A +quantity of Catholic books were ostentatiously burned in a public +square, and the state of affairs looked less like reunion with Rome +than ever. + +But all that Laud did availed him nothing; the disturbances continued +in the churches, and scarcely a service was held without a quarrel +arising as to the manner of conducting it, some fighting for one +posture, some for another. + +Neither did the Archbishop become more popular with the multitude. A +courageous stand against the Puritans might have inspired them with +some respect for their enemy; yielding to them from fear only made them +more formidable. Sometimes the High Church party would still score a +victory here and there. A Puritan holding forth one day in Westminster +Abbey, with the usual flow of epithets, on the difference between the +Catholic religion and that of the Puritans, the Bishop of Lincoln rose, +and declared that his language was unbecoming in a pulpit, put an end +to the sermon, and forced the preacher to come down. + +But these triumphs were rare; few of the king's men were as bold as the +Bishop of Lincoln. All seemed to be painfully busy in saving their +skins, while the Parliamentarians complained loudly and efficaciously +that Charles had allowed the primate to foist a new religion upon them. +Through the primate they proceeded to attack the King. Placards began +to appear all over London, with declarations to the effect that the +people were determined to enjoy the liberty with which they were born, +and to maintain the integrity of their religious worship. One of these +placards was discovered one morning nailed to the gate of the royal +palace at Whitehall. On it were these words: "Charles and Maria, doubt +not but that the archbishop must die!" + +Charles's authority had disappeared with his dignity, and the parsimony +of successive Parliaments had impoverished the royal family to so great +an extent that the want of money was not the least of their troubles. +At one time they were reduced to such straits that hunger would have +stared them in the face but for the alternative of pawning their +jewels. In these circumstances it is scarcely surprising that Charles +should have turned to the Pope for help. + +The following letter from Rosetti to the Cardinal, if somewhat +discursive, is interesting as the record of a kind of sommation +respectueuse which he now made to the King:-- + +"Oatlands, August 10/25, 1640. + +"Your Eminence's letters of the 30th June and the 7th July having +reached me, I did not omit to speak to Mr. Windebank on the subject of +his Majesty's conversion, and of the succour in the shape of men and +money that will be sent to him from Rome in the event of its taking +place. After some talk about the present state of the King's affairs, +Mr. Windebank asked me whether I had received letters from Rome +relating to the proposal he had already made me. I replied that I had, +and that your Eminence was extremely well-disposed towards this +country, sympathising deeply with his Majesty in his troubles, caused +by the disobedience and faithlessness of the Puritans. This led to my +saying that a State could not possibly be either happy or secure unless +united, and that unity was impossible without one uniform religion. I +then put forward the indisputable fact, that a prince whose subjects +profess one faith alone is beyond compare more powerful than a +sovereign whose people are split up into various religions, and that +the many sects in this realm, opposed to every form of political +government, ought to make his Majesty pause, and reflect on the remedy. + +"I added that in reality there was no other remedy than for the King, +with all his Protestants, to embrace our holy religion, when forming +one body with the Catholic party, they would be strong enough to keep +the Puritans in check. + +"On the other hand, it was, I said, only too evident, that if measures +were not taken to repress them, they would grow so powerful as to +imperil one day the very existence of monarchy in England. Every hour +it became, I held, more apparent how little they were in touch with the +King, and how determined they were never to rest till they had +introduced popular government in some form or other. + +"Here I digressed, in order to point out how often King James, his +Majesty's father, had found himself in danger of losing his life by the +machinations of the Puritans, having been menaced by them even before +he saw the light of day. I then went on to point out that King Charles +was placed in the very same danger, and his kingdom reduced to such a +state of discord and weakness, that he must fear daily to find himself +and his crown the prey of his worst enemies. + +"The Puritans have always been, and ever will be, intent on upsetting +all kingly authority. Such is the rebellious spirit of their Calvinism, +that it aims at nothing less than the total destruction of the King and +of the Catholic religion. + +"I then spoke of the greatness which would accrue to England if the +King's conversion were brought about, dwelling not only on the +advantageous relationships he might form, in disposing of the Prince +and Princess in marriage, but also on the disputes perpetually taking +place between France and Spain, in which his Majesty would be the +recognised arbitrator and peacemaker. Neither country would have the +temerity to offend him, on account of the power he would possess to +harm them, having the supreme Pontiff on his side." + +Rosetti here proceeds to define, somewhat lengthily, the exact position +of a Catholic King of England in European politics, and the kind of +prestige he would acquire if he embraced a religion to which he was +already partially inclined. Then, speaking of the King more personally, +he went on:-- + +"If, having considered all these things, his Majesty comes to a decided +resolution, he should not delay putting it into effect from fear of the +consequences. Henry VIII. risked more in his unholy determination to +destroy the Catholic religion, which had flourished in this country +with such pious results for so many centuries. I insisted that it was +time his Majesty made an end of his ambiguousness and hesitation, and +that he should once for all fix his mind, there being nothing more +injurious than leisurely deliberation when a man has need of prompt +decision and action. I told Mr. Windebank further, that the King's +procrastination was simply putting the sceptre into the hands of the +Puritans, was ruining the State, his children, and himself, and that a +really wise prince not only provides for the safety of his kingdom +during his own life-time, but orders things in such a manner that at +his death he secures his inheritance to his posterity. + +"His Majesty, I declared, could take no step more just and more +pleasing to God than by restoring to this country its ancient religion, +professed by his ancestors, and I believed that this King, so good, so +just, and so virtuous in many ways, was appointed by divine Providence +for the great work. + +"The King was, I said, already armed; help might confidently be +expected to flow in from Ireland, through the devotion and loyalty of +that people, and his Holiness would moreover assist him with men and +money. + +"Finally, I showed the necessity of this union, for the salvation of +souls, a point which I ought to have begun with, it being certain that +none can be saved out of the bosom of the Catholic Church. Of this the +Nicaean Council speaks in the great creed, in unam sanctam Catholicam +Ecclesiam et Apostolicam, in which Protestants believe as we do, and +yet it is not said that there are two or more churches. + +"Confessing as they do that ours is the Catholic Church, they +contradict their own belief in the said creed; and not only this, but +the ancient Fathers, and the Holy Scriptures agree that the Church of +God is one. + +"Having added many other things to this proposition, I said that if one +examined the reasons which induced Henry VIII. to give up the Church, +one would find that they had no other origin than in sensuality and +spleen--false and unworthy pretexts. + +"I ended by declaring that whoever considers a matter so important as +is the salvation of souls, ought to have his eyes well open, and not +consent to the errors of that king, whose actions are condemned and +abhorred by all. + +"Mr. Windebank replied that he had listened to me with pleasure, and +had weighed all my reasons, finding them very true; but that for the +accomplishment of an undertaking so momentous, a large heart and a +strong will were indispensable, and these he could not at present +promise me. He told me in confidence that never until now had +negotiations of such importance passed through his hands, to be +followed by so few results. One day the King would have recourse to an +expedient, and the next would stultify it, with the greatest +inconstancy imaginable. Nevertheless, he assured me that he would not +fail to repeat all I had said, to his Majesty at the first opportunity. + +". . . The matter is indeed so grave, that one rather hopes in the +sovereign power of God than in any human help. Still, we must be ready, +for His Divine Majesty often makes use of us creatures to bring forth +works which shall redound to His service. + +"I observed both with Father Philip and Mr. Windebank all the caution +that such an important undertaking demands. May God who gives and who +takes away realms, who changes and governs them as He pleases, +enlighten the King's mind, that he may know what he should do for the +salvation of his own soul and the souls of all his people." + +In 1641 many letters were written and received by Count Rosetti, +relating to the freedom of conscience to be granted to Catholics, in +return for a sum of 600 scudi. But freedom of conscience was still one +of the unfulfilled conditions of the king's marriage settlement, and +the Pope, it was objected, could not treat with an heretical sovereign. + +"Only in the event of the King's conversion," wrote Cardinal Barberini, +21st February 1641, "would it be possible for me to entreat His +Holiness to send a considerable sum of money." + +On the 19th July of the same year, Rosetti wrote:-- + +"I told him (Father Philip) that the only way to obtain help from the +Holy See was by His Majesty's return to the Catholic Church. He +answered that such a step would be extremely difficult at present, not +because the King had any dislike to Catholicism, neither did he wish to +prevent Catholics from saving their souls; but that it was evident if +he changed his religion just now, he would run great risk of losing his +crown and his life. But if he were enabled to recover his power and +authority, the Catholic cause would be strengthened by supporting him, +and his conversion might then be confidently looked forward to. + +"The Queen Mother told me that in speaking of certain miracles +performed by the saint in whose honour the processions are being made +just now at Antwerp, she observed the King listening attentively, +seeming to have a decided taste for the Catholic religion. She however +admitted, that although he appears to have great natural capacity, and +to understand the critical state of his affairs, he is, as they say, +timid, slow, and irresolute." + +Charles I. never went any further than the cultivation of "a decided +taste for the Catholic religion," and what would have happened had he +really thrown himself into the arms of the Pope must remain one of +those curious and unsolvable historical problems with which the world +is full. + +Would the Papacy, still a great force in Europe, have been able to save +him from the terrible fate that awaited him? + +Obliged to act from definite, logical principles in the place of his +mischievous theory of the royal prerogative, would he have gained in +moral weight as well as in the material advantages held out to him? + +It may be answered that the Puritans were as little inclined to +tolerate an infallible Pope whom they hated and feared, as an +infallible king whom they could drive into a corner; and possibly the +King would only have died in another cause. + +Under a portrait of Charles I., painted in the fortieth year of his +age, in which he is represented as grave, troubled, and with a scared +and hunted look in his eyes, Prynne wrote these lines:-- + +"All flesh is grass, the best men vanity, +This, but a shadow, here before thine eye, +Of him whose wondrous changes clearly show +That God, not man, sways all things here below." + + + +PART II + +I. THE RUNIC CROSSES OF NORTHUMBRIA + +There is at the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington a +remarkable plaster cast, the facsimile of one of the two beautiful +obelisks of Anglo-Saxon workmanship, which like far-reaching voices +speak to us across the gulf of at least nine centuries. + +The interest which surrounds these ancient crosses is of a twofold +nature. There is the marvellous art expressed in the sculptured stones +themselves, and there is the mysterious charm of the runes with which +the stones are inscribed. The art is of a very high order, and in the +opinion of archaeologists such as Haigh, Kemble, Professor Stephens, +and others, better than anything of the kind produced in mediaeval +times, before the beginning of the thirteenth century. + +The kingdom of Northumbria extended at its most flourishing period as +far north as Edinburgh, so named after the great Northumbrian King, +Edwin, its southern limit being, as its name implied, the river Humber. +Thus, the Ruthwell Cross in Dumfriesshire, and the Bewcastle Cross in +Cumberland, belonged alike to Anglia; for although Dumfries formed part +of the kingdom of Strathclyde, the territory to the east of Nithsdale +was generally reckoned a part of Northumbria, and if we were less +hampered by our modern geographical limits and boundaries, we should +better realise that the land north and south of the Tweed was one and +the same country, without distinction of race or language. And as if in +solemn protest of the political barriers, which were set up in the +course of ages, these two obelisks, the one now in Scotland, the other +in England, continue to point heavenwards, each bearing upon their +faces the same grand old Northumbrian language, which is the +mother-tongue of all English speaking people. + +Both crosses have been, down to the present day, the subject of much +diversity of opinion among antiquaries, first with regard to their +respective ages, and secondly as to the authorship of the inscriptions +on the Ruthwell Cross. The celebrated Danish antiquary, Dr. Muller, +considered that the Ruthwell Cross could not be older than the year +1000, and he arrived at this conclusion by a study of the +ornamentation, which he placed as late as the Carlovingian period, the +style having been imported from France into England. Muller, however, +though a good archaeologist, was not a runic scholar, and Professor +George Stephens maintained* that not ornamentation merely, but a +variety of other things must also be taken into consideration, and that +these are often absolute and final, so that sometimes the object itself +must date the ornamentation. Then Dr. Haigh, who had passed his life in +the study of the oldest sculptured and inscribed stones of Great +Britain and Ireland, stepped in and pronounced "this monument (the +Ruthwell Cross) and that of Bewcastle to be of the same age and the +work of the same hand; and the latter must have been erected A.D. +664-5."* + +* Old Northern Runic Monuments, Afterwrit, p. 431, + + +He was led to this conclusion not by the ornamentation, but rather in +spite of it; and in consideration of the runic inscriptions, which he +declared had not only passed out of date on funeral monuments as late +as the year 1000, but as he read the name of Alcfrid on the Bewcastle +Cross, he inferred both that and the Ruthwell Cross to be productions +of the latter half of the seventh century. The inscription, of which we +will treat more particularly later on, is to the effect that the +obelisk was raised to the memory of Alcfrid, son of that King of +Northumbria, who decided to celebrate Easter according to the Roman +precept. Alcfrid died about the year 664, and thus when we consider the +similarity of the ornamentation, and the character of the runes on both +obelisks, there seemed good reason for the above inference. + +Dr. Haigh further remarked that the scroll-work on the east side of the +Bewcastle monument, and on the two sides of that at Ruthwell was +identical in design, and differed very much from that which he found on +other Saxon crosses. In fact, he knew of nothing like it, except small +portions on a fragment of a cross in the York museum, on another +fragment preserved in Yarrow Church, and on a cross at Hexham. There +are, however, several other such stones which were unknown to Dr. +Haigh, and engravings of them may be seen in Dr. John Stuart's +magnificent work on The Sculptured Stones of Scotland. + +At Carew, in Pembrokeshire, runic crosses of the Saxon period without +figures may be seen, and there is a runic cross at Lancaster with +incised lines and a pattern in relief, supposed to be of the fifth or +sixth century. The sculptured stones of Meigle in Scotland have no +runes. Runes were, as it is well known, the characters used by the +Teutonic tribes of northwest Europe before they received the Latin +alphabet. They are divided into three principal classes, the +Anglo-Saxon, the Germanic, and the Scandinavian, bearing the same +relation to each other as do the different Greek alphabets. Their +likeness to each other is so great that a common origin may be ascribed +to all. They date from the dim twilight of paganism, but were for a +time employed in the service of Christianity, when after being imported +into this country where they were first used in pagan inscriptions cut +into the surface of rocks, or on sticks for casting lots, or for +divination, they were at last made to express Christian ideas on grave +crosses or sacred vessels. + +"In times," says Kemble,* "when there was neither pen, ink, nor +parchment the bark of trees and smooth surfaces of wood or soft stone +were the usual depositaries of these symbols or runes--hence the name +run-stafas, mysterious staves answering to the Buchstaben of the +Germans. + +* Archaeologia, vol. xxviii. On Anglo-Saxon Runes. + + +We may observe in passing, that the word Buchstaben, beech-staves, is a +direct descendant of these wooden runes. + +As early as 1695 antiquaries were busy with the Ruthwell Cross, but at +the beginning of the nineteenth century profound ignorance still +reigned in regard even to the language which the runes were intended to +convey. Bishop Gibson, in his additions to Camden's Britannia, +described the cross vaguely as "a pillar curiously engraven with some +inscription upon it." In a second edition this reads, "with a Danish +inscription." Later it was thought to be Icelandic, and it was Haigh +who first thought that Caedmon and no other was the author of the runic +verses which he deciphered, considering that there was no one living at +the period to which he assigned the monument, who could have composed +such a poem but the first of all the English nation to express in verse +the beginning of created things. + +In 1840, Kemble published his Runes of the Anglo-Saxons, showing that +the Ruthwell Cross was a Christian monument, and that the inscription +was nothing less than twenty lines of a poem in Old Northumbrian or +North English. + +Meanwhile, in 1822, a German scholar, Dr. Friedrich Blume, had +discovered in the cathedral library at Vercelli in the Milanese six +Anglo-Saxon poems of the early part of the eleventh century, which +discovery aroused great interest both in Germany and in England. Blume +copied the manuscript, and Mr. Benjamin Thorpe printed and published +it. The learned philologist Grimm again printed the longest of the +poems in 1840, but it was Kemble who identified the fourth poem of the +series The Dream of the Rood with the runic inscription on the Ruthwell +Cross, and it was he who first suggested that all the poems in the +Vercelli Codex, consisting of 135 leaves, were by Cynewulf, who like +Caedmon was a Northumbrian, and lived in the second half of the eighth +century. It was Kemble also who first gave The Dream of the Rood a +modern English rendering.* + +* A translation of the fragment in Old Northumbrian had indeed been +attempted at the beginning of the nineteenth century by Mr. Repp and +also by a disciple of the great Fin Magnusen, Mr. J. M. M'Caul, but the +least said about these versions the better, both being wide of the +mark. Being imperfectly acquainted with Old English they made the most +absurd statements regarding the purpose the monument was supposed to +have served. + + +So far steady progress had been made, except one step which is now +stated by modern Anglo-Saxon scholars to have been a false one. +Professor Stephens following Haigh thought he could decipher on the top +stone of the cross the words Cadmon Mae Fawed, and inferred therefrom +that the Cross Lay of which fragments were inscribed on the Ruthwell +monument was the work of Caedmon, "the Milton of North England in the +seventh century." But according to the evidence of the latest expert +who has examined the cross, Caedmon's name has never been on it, and +both linguistic and archaeological considerations assign the +inscription to the tenth century, and probably to the latter half of +it. This critic declares that there is "no shadow of proof or +probability that the inscription represents a poem written by Caedmon." + +Sweet, on the other hand* describes The Dream of the Rood, in the +Vercelli Book, as an introduction to the Elene or Finding of the Cross +which is unmistakably claimed as Cynewulf's own by an acrostic +introduced into the runic letters which form his name, and goes on to +assert that the Ruthwell Cross gives a fragment of the poem in the Old +Northern dialect of the seventh or eighth century, "of which the MS. +text is evidently a late West Saxon transcription differing in many +respects from the older one." He considers that The Dream belongs to +the age of Caedmon, and that the poetry of Cynewulf was an adaptation +of older compositions. + +* Anglo-Saxon Reader, p. 154, 7th edition. + + +There can be now no possible doubt but that the poems in the Vercelli +Codex are by Cynewulf, the controversy henceforth being as to whether +The Dream of the Rood or the inscription on the cross is the older. +Cynewulf, being a Northumbrian, presumably wrote in the old +Northumbrian language such as is inscribed on the cross, but all his +poems as they have come down to us have passed into the West Saxon +tongue, and if the fragment on the Ruthwell Cross is, as modern +archxologists aver, later than the Dream in the Vercelli Codex it must +be a re-translation into the dialect in which it was first written. A +further difficulty lies in the fact stated by Haigh that runes had +passed out of date on funeral monuments as late as the year 1000, and +we can indeed scarcely conceive of their use at the very eve of the +Norman Conquest when the written language had long become general. + +Nevertheless, as far back as 1890, Mr. A. S. Cook, professor of the +English language and literature in Yale University, suggested that the +inscription on the Ruthwell Cross must be as late as the tenth century +and subsequent to the Lindisfarne Gospels. "A comparison of the +inscription with the Dream of the Rood shows that the former is not an +extract from an earlier poem written in the long Caedmonian line which +is postulated by Vigfusson and Powell, and by Mr. Stopford Brooke, +since the earliest dated verse is in short lines only, and since four +of the lines in the cross inscription represent short lines in the +Dream of the Rood, it shows that the latter is more self-consistent, +more artistic, and therefore more likely to be or to represent the +original; and it shows that certain of the forms of the latter seem to +have been inadvertently retained by the adapter, who selected and +re-arranged the lines for engraving on the cross."* + +* The Dream of the Rood, by A. S. Cook, p. xv., Oxford, 1905. + + +The theme both of the Dream and of the Elene, another of the poems in +the Vercelli Book, is the Cross, and Cynewulf, says Mr. Cook, is the +first old English author, of whom we have any knowledge, to lay +emphasis upon the Invention of the Cross, and Constantine's premonitory +dream. "If," he continues, "we consider Bede's account of Caedmon, we +are struck by one analogy at least: in each case a command is imparted +to the poet to celebrate a particular theme--in the first, the creation +of the world; in the second, the redemption of mankind by the death of +the cross. As the one stands at the beginning of the Old Testament, the +other epitomises the New. The later poet may have had the earlier in +mind, and may not have been unwilling to enter into generous rivalry +with him; but there is this notable difference, Caedmon does not relate +his own dream, while Cynewulf, if it be Cynewulf, does."* + +* Ibid., p. lvii. + + +Elsewhere he says The Dream of the Rood, apart from its present +conclusion, represents Cynewulf (as we believe) in the fullest vigour +of his invention and taste, probably after all his other extant poems +had been composed. Admirable in itself and a precious document of our +early literary history, it gains still further lustre from being +indissolubly associated with that monument which Kemble has called the +most beautiful as well as the most interesting relic of Teutonic +antiquity." + +And again, "So far from the Cross-inscription representing an earlier +form of the Dream of the Rood, it seems rather to have been derived +from the latter, and to have been corrupted in the process." * + +* Ibid., p. xvi. + + +Thus the controversy remains in 1905. and until some further light is +shed upon the difficult question--for it is impossible to regard Mr. +Cook's solution as in all points satisfying--we must be content with +the results obtained. + +Let us now consider the poem itself by the help of Professor Stephens' +admirable translation. Essentially a Christian composition, it +preserves all the Gothic strength and virile beauty of the old pagan +forms. The modern words, Saviour, Passion, Apostles, etc., do not once +appear. Christ is the "Youthful Hero," He is the "Peace-God," the +"Atheling," the "Frea of mankind." He is even identified with the white +god, Balder the Beautiful. His friends are "Hilde-rinks" or "barons." +In His crucifixion He is less crucified than shot to death with +"streals," i.e., all manner of missiles which the "foemen" hurl at Him. +The Rood speaks and laments; it tells the story of the last dread scene +of Christ's suffering, His entombment in the "mould-house," the triumph +of the Cross in His resurrection, and the entry of the "Lord of +Benison" into his "old home-halls." + +The doctrine is as sober as an orthodox, theological treatise, though +the poem is essentially a work of the most fertile imagination, a drama +with all the rich accessories that tradition offered in the matter of +colouring and effect. And it is withal exquisitely simple, devout, and +noble, breathing a spirituality strangely at variance with the +semi-barbaric people with whom the poetry had originated. + +Stephens' translation is full of poetry, the translator having retained +the lilt of the original, together with many of the old English words +which, if they need a glossary, is only because we have gradually lost +the meaning in the substitution of weaker terms. + +It is interesting to compare the fragments still legible on the +Ruthwell Cross with the South Saxon rendering in the Vercelli Codex. +Where the lines are worn away or mutilated the MS. may supplement +them:-- + +Northumbrian version--------------------South Saxon version according +to the + on the Cross.----------------------------Vercelli Codex. +--------------------------------------------------------------- + +Girded Him then--------------- For the grapple then girded him youthful +hero-- +God Almighty-----------------lo! the man was God Almighty. +When He would-------------------Strong of heart and steady-minded +Step on the gallows-------------stept he on the lofty gallows; +Fore all Mankind--------------fearless spite that crowd of faces; +Mindfast, fearless---------------free and save man's tribes he would +there. +Bow me durst I not-------------Bever'd I and shook when that baron +claspt me +. . . . . . . . . ----------- but dar'd I not to bow me earthward +. . . . . . . . . -----------Rood was I reared now. +Rich King heaving-------------------Rich king heaving +The Lord of Light-realms------------The Lord of Light-realms +Lean me I durst not---------------Lean me I durst not. +Us both they basely mockt and handled-----Us both they basely mockt and +handled +Was I there with blood bedabbled---------all with blood was I bedabbled +Gushing grievous from . . . --------gushing grievous from his dear side, +. . . . . . . . . -----------when his ghost he had uprendered. +. . . . . . . . . -----------How on that hill +. . . . . . . . . -----------have I throwed +. . . . . . . . . -----------dole the direst. +. . . . . . . . . -----------All day viewed I hanging +. . . . . . . . . -----------the God of hosts +. . . . . . . . . -----------Gloomy and swarthy +. . . . . . . . . -----------clouds had cover'd +. . . . . . . . . -----------the corse of the Waldend.* +. . . . . . . . . -----------O'er the sheer shine-path +. . . . . . . . . -----------shadows fell heavy +. . . . . . . . . -----------wan 'neath the nelkin +. . . . . . . . . -----------wept all creation +. . . . . . . . . -----------wail'd the fall of their king. +Christ was on Rood-tree----------Christ was on Rood-tree +But fast from afar----------------But fast from afar +His friends hurried-------------his friends hurried +Athel to the Sufferer.------------To aid their Atheling +Everything I saw.------------Everything I saw. +Sorely was I----------------Sorely was I +With sorrows harrow'd------------with sorrows harrow'd +. . . . . I inclin'd-------------yet humbly I inclin'd +. . . . . . . . . -----------to the hands of his servants, +. . . . . . . . . -----------striving with might to aid them. +. . . . . . . . . -----------Straight the all-ruling God they've taken +. . . . . . . . . -----------heaving from that haried torment +. . . . . . . . . -----------Those Hilde-rinks** now left me +. . . . . . . . . -----------to stand there streaming with blood drops; +With streals all wounded-------with streals*** was I all wounded. +Down laid they Him limb-weary---------Down laid they him limb-weary, +O'er His lifeless Head then stood they--O'er his lifeless head then +stood they, +Heavily gazing at Heaven's . . .--------heavily gazing at heaven's +Chieftain. + +* Wielder, Lord, Ruler, Monarch, + +** Hero, from Hilde the war god. Battle brave, captain + +*** Anything strown or cast-a missile of any kind. + + +Kemble's rendering of the poem, wonderfully correct and conscientious +as a translation, is inferior in poetical merit to that of Stephens, +who, as we see, instead of choosing modern words, is careful to retain +many of the picturesque old rune equivalents. This we perceive at once +if we compare Stephens' four lines, beginning "Christ was on Rood tree" +with Kemble's: + +"Christ was on the Cross +but thither hastening +men came from afar +to the noble one." * + +* Poetry of the Vercelli Codex. + + +The runes are sharply and beautifully cut into the margin of two sides +of the Cross, the inside spaces being filled with sculptured ornaments, +representing a conventional, clambering vine, with leaves and fruit. +Entwined among the leaves are curious birds and animals devouring the +grapes. On the southeast and south-west sides are figures taken chiefly +from the Bible, with Latin inscriptions instead of runes. In the middle +compartment of each of these sides is the figure of our Lord with a +cruciform halo. On the south-west side of the Cross He is represented +as treading on the heads of two swine, His right arm upraised in +blessing, a scroll being in His left hand. Around the margin is a +legend in old Latin uncial letters, "Jesus Christ the judge of equity. +Beasts and dragons knew in the desert the Saviour of the world." + +In the corresponding panel on the south side, St. Mary Magdalen washes +the feet of our Lord, who is standing nearly in the same position. The +remaining subjects are--a figure which has been sometimes described as +that of the Eternal Father, and again as St. John the Baptist, with the +Agnus Dei; St. Paul and St. Anthony breaking a loaf in the desert; the +Flight into Egypt; two figures unexplained; a man seated on the ground +with a bow, taking aim; the Visitation; our Lord healing the man born +blind; the Annunciation; and traces almost obliterated, of the +Crucifixion, on the bottom panel of the south-west side. + +On the top stone is a bird, probably meant for a dove, resting on a +branch with the rune which Stephens took to be Cadmon Mae Fawed. On the +reverse side of this stone are St. John and his eagle, with a partly +destroyed Latin inscription, In principio erat verbum. All the subjects +are explained by a legend running round the margin, but which is in +parts scarcely legible. + +Sir John Sinclair, in his account of the parish of Ruthwell, mentions a +tradition, according to which, this column having been set up in remote +times at a place called Priestwoodside (now Priestside), near the sea, +it was drawn from thence by a team of oxen belonging to a widow. During +the transit inland the chain broke, which accident was supposed to +denote that heaven willed it to be set up in that place. This was done, +and a church was built over the Cross. + +But opposed to this story is the fact that the obelisk is composed of +the same red and grey sandstone which abounds in that part of +Dumfriesshire, and it seems far more likely that the Cross was here +hewn and sculptured than that it should have been brought from a +distance after having been adorned in so costly a manner and with a +definite purpose. It was held in great veneration till the middle of +the sixteenth century, and being specially protected by the powerful +family of Murray of Cockpool, the patrons and chief proprietors of the +parish, it escaped the blind fury of the iconoclasts till 1644. Then, +however, it was broken into three pieces as "an object of superstition +among the vulgar." + +For more than a century the column apparently lay where it fell, on the +site of what had once been the altar of the church, and was made to +serve as a bench for members of the congregation to sit upon. + +In 1722, Pennant saw it still lying inside the church, but soon after +this, better accommodation being required for the congregation, it was +turned out into the churchyard to make room for modern improvements! +Here it suffered greatly from repeated mutilations, the churchyard +being then nearly unenclosed. + +In 1802, the weather-cock of opinion having again veered round, the +then incumbent, Dr. Duncan, desiring to preserve this "object of +superstition," now become a precious relic, had the main shaft removed +to his newly-enclosed manse garden where it remained till 1887, when an +apse being added to the church, the Cross was again enclosed within the +building. Meanwhile two other fragments had entirely disappeared. The +cross-beam has never been recovered,* but the top-stone suddenly +reappeared in the following curious manner: + +* Transverse arms were supplied in 1823. A. S. Cook, The Dream of the +Rood. + + +A poor man and his wife having died within a few days of each other, it +was decided to bury them both in one grave. For this it was necessary +to dig deeper than usual, and in doing so, the grave-digger came upon +an obstacle which proved to be a block of red sandstone with sculptured +figures upon it. This block was found to be the missing top-stone of +the Cross. + +One point still needs explanation. When Pennant saw the Cross in the +early part of the eighteenth century, before the buried fragment had +been excavated, it measured 2o feet in height. At the present day, +although the top has been replaced, the height of the column does not +exceed 17 feet 6 inches, a circumstance that can only be accounted for +by the supposition that the obelisk may have sunk several feet into the +ground in the interval. + +The spirit that breathes in The Dream of the Rood is strongly imbued +with national elements. The doctrine and sentiments are strictly +Catholic, but the poem is at the same time an epitome of what St. +Cuthbert and the monks of Lindisfarne, the royal Abbess Hilda, Caedmon, +and now it appears Cynewulf also had been long doing for Northumbria, +in taking what was grand and heroic in the old heathen traditions, and +leading up through them to Christianity. But if this influence can be +distinctly traced in the runes on the Ruthwell Cross, yet another +element is seen in its ornamentation, which carries us back to the +Christian tombs in the Roman catacombs where its prototypes are to be +found. + +On the Bewcastle Cross there is less of the national element and more +of the Roman, fewer runes and more of this kind of sculpture. A few +feet from the parish church, and within the precincts of a large Roman +station, guarded by a double vallum, stands the shaft of what was +formerly an Anglo-Saxon funeral cross of most graceful shape and +design. This column, 14 feet in height, is quadrangular, and formed of +one entire block of grey freestone, inserted in a broader base of blue +stone. The side facing westward has suffered most from storm and rain. +It bears on its surface two sculptured figures, and the principal runic +inscription. The lower figure, that representing our Lord, has been +much mutilated by accident or design. He stands as He is seen on the +Ruthwell Cross, with His feet on the heads of swine, as trampling down +all unclean things. His right hand is uplifted in blessing, in His left +hand is a scroll, + +Above is St. John the Baptist holding the Agnus Dei, and near the top +are the remains of the Latin word Christus. + +The runic inscription has been translated thus: + +"This slender sign-beacon +set was by Hwoetred, +Wothgar, Olufwolth, +after Alcfrith +Once King +eke son of Oswin +Bid (pray) for the high sin of his soul." + +Beneath these runes is the figure of a man in a long robe with a hood +over his head, and a bird, probably a falcon, on his left wrist. This +figure is supposed to represent Alcfrid himself. Immediately below the +falcon is an upright piece of wood with a transverse bar at the top, +possibly meant for the bird's perch. On the east side there are no +runes, but a vine is sculptured in low relief within a border. Dr. +Haigh observed that the design on this side was the same as on the two +sides of the Ruthwell Cross.* The north and the south sides are in a +state of good preservation, and are covered with a beautiful design in +knotwork, and alternate lines of foliage, flowers, and fruit. On the +north side there is a long panel fitted with chequers, which have given +rise to a good deal of controversy among antiquaries. Camden thought +them to be the arms of the De Vaux family, and when this theory was +exploded, Mr. Howard of Corby Castle reversed it, and suggested that +the chequers on the De Vaux arms were taken from this monument. But the +Rev. John Maughan, B.A., rector of Bewcastle, in a note to his tract on +this place, cites instances of chequers or diaper-work in Scythian, +Egyptian, Gallic, and Roman art, and proves from the Book of Kings that +there were "nets of chequered work" in the Temple of Solomon. After +remarking that this is a natural form of ornamentation he calls +attention to the frequent use made of it in mediaeval illuminations.** + +* Archaologia Aeliana, p. 169. + +** Archaeological Journal, vol. xi. + + +Above this panel are the words "Myrcna Kung," and over the next piece +of knot-work is seen the name "Wulfhere" (King of the Mercians). Then +follows another vine, and above all are three crosses and the holy name +"Jesus." On the south side runs a runic inscription thus: + +In the first year +of the King +of ric (realm) this +Ecgfrith." + +The last line of the inscription is so broken that it can only be +guessed at.* + +* Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. +Bewcastle and its Cross, by W. Nanson, p. 215. + + +Fine as this obelisk is, we should be at a loss to make out that it was +ever a cross, but for a slip of paper which was found in Camden's own +copy of his Britannia (ed. 1607 now in the Bodleian Library. On the +slip of paper was written this memorandum: "I received this morning a +ston from my lord of Arundel, sent him from my lord William. It was the +head of a cross at Bucastle: and the letters legable are these on one +line, and I have sett to them such as I can gather out of my +alphabetts: that like an A I can find in non. But wither this may be +only letters or words I somewhat doubt." + +Neither Camden nor any one else got much further than this for many +years; and the general ignorance of runes is the more to be deplored +since it led to a carelessness and want of interest in the preservation +of priceless relics, even among antiquaries. The stone which thus came +into Camden's possession has utterly disappeared, and the inscription +which he tried in vain to decipher, and which might have thrown light +on a mysterious subject, is thus lost to us. + +In conclusion, we may, for the sake of clearness, recapitulate, first: +that although there can no longer be any reasonable doubt that the +runes on the Ruthwell obelisk are by the Northumbrian poet, Cynewulf, +it has by no means been satisfactorily proved that these runes are of a +subsequent date to the West-Saxon version of the poem in the Vercelli +Codex, but that probability seems rather to point to an earlier date +than the second half of the tenth century; and secondly, that so close +a resemblance between the two Crosses does not necessarily imply that +they date from absolutely the same period. The royal obelisk at +Bewcastle must have been a famous monument in its day, known and +celebrated far and wide, and it would not be unlikely that even a +hundred years later it might be called upon to serve, to some extent, +as a model for that Cross which was to immortalise the Dream of which +Northumbrians were naturally proud. If, however, the runes on the +Bewcastle Cross fix its date as the latter part of the seventh century, +those on the Ruthwell Cross cannot be earlier than the eighth century. + +Had the zeal, directed nearly four hundred years ago against our +national treasures, been bestowed on their preservation, we should have +reason indeed to congratulate ourselves on the beauty of many of our +public monuments. Instead of mutilated remains, we should have works of +art which, but for the gentle hand of time, would be as perfect as when +they left the master's hand. + +But there has never been a period when the intelligent study of the +past, whether in palaeography, philology, or history, has been so +highly cultivated as in the present day. If we have lost the +inspiration that creates, we have, at least, learned to venerate and +cherish the noble works of our progenitors. + + + +II. A MISSING PAGE FROM THE IDYLLS OF THE KING + +Although the Norte d'Arthur was one of the first books printed in the +English language, the great semihistorical figure of Arthur, together +with his Knights of the Round Table, and all their romantic exploits, +had wellnigh died out of the memory of the English people when Tennyson +published his Idylls of the King + +The Morte d'Arthur was translated, according to Caxton, by Sir Thomas +Malory, who took it "out of certain books of French and reduced it into +English." But it is no mere translation of the older romances, which +Malory rather adopted as the basis of his work, moulding them to suit +his more refined taste and fancy, much as Chaucer used Boccaccio's +tales, and Shakespeare a century after Malory adopted the plots and +outlines of inferior playwrights. + +Placed midway between the works of Chaucer and Shakespeare, the book, +which has been aptly described as a prose-poem, is one of the happiest +illustrations possible of the language, manners, modes of thought and +expression prevalent in England in the fifteenth century. Chivalry was +not yet dead, ideals were still cherished, the feudal system still +obtained, Gothic architecture had not yet said its last word, +Englishmen were papal to the backbone, and religion was a potent factor +in their live, in spite of much that was harsh, crude, and violent. +"Herein," said Caxton, "may be seen noble chivalry, courtesy, humanity, +friendliness, hardiness, love, friendship, cowardice, murder, hate, +virtue, sin. Do after the good, and leave the evil, and it shall bring +you to good fame and renommee." + +The Norte d'Arthur was finished in the ninth year of Edward IV., that +is in 1470, and Caxton printed the first edition of the book in black +letter, in 1485. Of this edition, now almost priceless, only two copies +are known to exist, both of which are in private collections. One of +these is in the United States, the other, slightly defective, is in the +possession of Lord Spencer, who has also in his library at Althorp the +only known copy of the second edition, printed in 1498 by Wynkyn de +Worde, who took over Caxton's presses at his death. Of the third +edition (1529), also printed by Wynkyn de Worde, a copy is in the +British Museum. It is incomplete inasmuch as the title, preface, and +part of the table of contents are wanting. + +The British Museum possesses two other copies, one printed by William +Copland in 1557, the other a folio without date, published by East. All +these editions are in black letter. + +Whether we agree with Caxton that "it might full well be aretted great +folly and blindness to say or think that there was never such a king +called Arthur," or whether we are of those "divers men who hold opinion +that all such books as be made of him be but fayne matters and fables, +because that some chronicles make of him no mention, nor remember him +nothing, nor of his knights," we must admit that at least incidentally, +the Morte d'Arthur is a picture of British faith and pious practices. +Its composition is mediaeval, and represents the tone of thought common +in the world as distinct from the cloister, in the Middle Ages; but it +is also a true exponent of an earlier period still, when Lucius, the +British chief, sent messengers to home to beg Pope Eleutherius to admit +him into the Fold of Christ, and to send missionaries to instruct his +people in the Faith. Comparing the Idylls of the King with Malory's +book, we are irresistibly reminded of certain Catholic books of +devotion "expurgated" or "adapted" for members of the Church of +England. All that savours too much of popery is left out. There is, no +doubt, a strong Protestant prejudice in Tennyson, struggling with his +sense of artistic beauty, and repeatedly Protestantism wins the day. We +cannot always quarrel with him for his selection, because, although the +modern mind is not a whit cleaner than the mediaeval mind, there is an +unwritten convention, that at all events a spade shall not now be +called a spade, at least in polite society, and Tennyson wrote +exclusively for the polite. In the Middle Ages evil was spoken of +plainly as in Scripture; there was no blinking of facts, no dressing-up +of vice to make it look like virtue, and consequently much +"bowdlerising" was necessary before Malory's outspoken language should +be sufficiently veiled to suit the susceptibilities, to which we have a +perfect and legitimate right in so far as they are genuine, and no +cloak for an hypocrisy that delights in the loathsome indecencies and +disgusting suggestiveness of the modern problem novel. + +But what we do regret is that apart from the coarseness, and even from +a mere dramatic point of view, much that Tennyson rejected is finer +than anything he took. His Lancelot is a grand conception, as +mournfully, but with noble self-abasement, he says: + +". . . . in me there dwells +No greatness, save it be some far-off touch +Of greatness to know well I am not great." + +He is the very knight of courtesy, in chivalry above all other knights +save Arthur--so strong that "whom he smote he overthrew"; he is brave, +noble, scornful, and "falsely true," but he is not the Lancelot of the +Morte d'Arthur. + +The story of Lancelot is incomplete in the Idylls, and by +incompleteness we do not mean only that it is deprived of its +denouement, of the climax up to which it has been working from the +beginning, but that there is also to be noted the conspicuous absence +of a refrain that should be there throughout. It is true that at the +end of "Lancelot and Elaine," one single line hints vaguely at the +penance that was to atone for his sad and sin-stained life, where he is +described as + +"Not knowing he should die a holy man." + +And in another place the long account of his confession, absolution, +contrition, and the exhortation of the priest is slurred over in these +words relating to the poisonous weeds that twined and clung round the +wholesome flowers of his life: + +"Then I spake +To one most holy saint, who wept and said +That save they could be plucked asunder all +My quest were but in vain; to whom I vowed +That I would work according as he willed." + +If we compare this with what Malory said, we shall see the total +inadequacy of Tennyson's treatment of the episode which left out the +whole root of the matter:-- + +How Sir Lancelot was shriven, and what sorrow he made, and of the good +examples that were showed him. + +Then Sir Lancelot wept with heavy cheer and said, "Now I know well ye +say me sooth." "Sir," said the good man, "hide none old sin from me." +"Truly," said Sir Lancelot, "that were me full loth to discover. For +this fourteen years I never discovered one thing that I have used and +to that may I now blame my shame and my misadventure." And then he told +there, that good man, all his life, and how he had loved a queen +unmeasurably, and out of measure long;--"and all my great deeds of arms +that I have done I did the most part for the queen's sake, and for her +sake would I do battle, were it right or wrong, and never did I battle +all only for God's sake, but for to win worship and to cause me to be +the better beloved, and little or nought I thanked God of it." Then Sir +Lancelot said, "I pray you counsel me." "I will counsel you," said the +hermit, "if ye will ensure me that ye will never come in that queen's +fellowship, as much as ye may forbare." And then Sir Lancelot promised +him he would not, by the faith of his body. "Look that your heart and +your mouth accord," said the good man, "and I shall ensure you ye shall +have more worship than ever ye had." . . . Then the good man enjoined +Sir Lancelot such penance as he might do, and to sue knighthood, and so +he assoiled him, and prayed Sir Lancelot to abide with him all that +day. "I will well," said Sir Lancelot, "for I have neither helm, nor +horse, nor sword." "As for that," said the good man, "I shall help you +to-morn at even of an horse and all that longeth unto you." And then +Sir Lancelot repented him greatly. + +After this he meets with another hermit who gives him a hair shirt to +wear as a penance, and riding on in pursuit of his quest, the Holy +Grail, Lancelot next comes to a Cross, "and took that for his host as +for that night. And so he put his horse to pasture, and did off his +helm and his shield, and made his prayers unto the Cross that he never +fall in deadly sin again. And so he laid him down to sleep." Further +on, we are told, as a sign of his sincerity and perseverance that "the +hair pricked so Sir Lancelot's skin that it grieved him full sore, but +he took it meekly and suffered the pain." + +Tennyson records no fights with conscience, no turning towards the +light, no sorrowful confessions at all. He has given us a great deal, +but it is not too much to say that what he rejected, a Catholic poet +would have seized with delight as the purplest patches of his epic, and +the climax to which the whole story led. + +The same remarks do not altogether apply to Tennyson's conception of +Arthur's character. Although there is much that is fine and beautiful +in him, as he is portrayed in the older legends, although, when pierced +with many wounds, he fought on valiantly, because he was "so full of +knighthood that knightly he endured the pain," it is Tennyson who has +exalted him into "the blameless king," "the highest creature here," and +if it had only been for what he has given us in King Arthur, the Idylls +would have been worth writing. Still even here he leaves out all those +Catholic touches which went to make up the life and soul of British +Christianity, the custom of beginning each day with the hearing of +Mass, the frequent allusions to the Pope as the Head of Christendom, +the mention of prayers for the dead, of penance, and so on. + +When Arthur had defied the Roman Emperor, who had sent to claim +tribute, and had carried his victorious arms to the gates of the +Eternal City, the legend says that senators and cardinals came out and +sued for peace. They invited him in, and there he was crowned emperor +"with all the solemnity that could be made, and by the Pope's own +hands." King Mark of Cornwall, for reasons of his own, wanted to rid +himself of Tristram, and set about it in this wily manner: + +He let do counterfeit letters from the Pope, and made a strange clerk +for to bear them unto King Mark, the which letters specified that King +Mark should make him ready upon pain of cursing, with his host for to +come to the Pope, to help to go to Jerusalem for to make war upon the +Saracens. + +Mark, pretending that he could not leave home, proposed that Sir +Tristram should go in his place, since the command of the Pope must be +obeyed. "But," said Sir Tristram, "sythen the apostle Pope hath sent +for him, bid him go thither himself." "Well," said King Mark, "yet +shall he be beguiled," and counterfeited other letters, and the letters +specified that the Pope desired Sir Tristram to come himself to make +war upon the Saracens. But Tristram began to suspect the King of +Cornwall of treachery, and at last Mark was obliged to walk into the +trap which he had set for his enemy, and to take an oath "that he would +go himself unto the Pope of Rome for to war upon the Saracens." + +Malory's book abounds in such illustrations and side lights as these, +but enough has been said to show how entirely the modern poet has +suppressed the part played by the Pope in the lives of Englishmen, at +least, up to the time of Edward IV. + +One other instance of this pre-reformation doctrine belongs to the +story of Lancelot, and will be given in its proper place. We may remark +here that whatever the shortcomings of some of Arthur's knights, they +one and all evinced a lively faith, profound veneration for holy +things, and a truly Catholic desire for reconciliation with God, +through the reception of the Sacraments, whenever they fell into sin. +Thus, the knights who were convened to assist at Arthur's coronation +"made them clean of their lives, that their prayers might be the more +acceptable unto God." And when Balan fought with his brother, Balyn, by +mistake, and both were mortally wounded, Balan entreated the lady of +the Tower to send for a priest: "Yea," said the lady, "it shall be +done," and so she sent for a priest to give them their rights. "Now," +said Balyn, "when we are buried in one tomb, and the mention made over +us how two brethren slew each other, there will never good knight nor +good man see our tomb but they will pray for our souls." + +Wherever the knights-errant slept, they never set out on their journey +on the morrow without first hearing Mass; and if they had been riding +all night and came to a chapel in the morning they "avoided their +horses and heard Mass." There are many allusions to devotion to the +Blessed Virgin, and on one occasion a tournament was proclaimed in +honour of her Assumption. + +In the poem "Lancelot and Elaine," Tennyson has followed closely on the +lines of the original story, both as to general design and detail. The +idyll "Geraint and Enid" does not, of course, belong to this history at +all, but is taken from the "Mabinogian," a collection of Welsh legends +translated into English by Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest. + +The "Coming of Arthur," as related in the idyll, is throughout an +invention of Tennyson's, or culled from other sources, and differs +entirely from the story of Arthur's origin as told by Malory. + +But the legend that has suffered the most from poetical license is that +of the "Holy Grail." + +When the young Galahad, Lancelot's son, had been brought to Arthur's +court, had been dubbed knight, and had sat in the mystical "siege +perilous," fashioned by the wizard Merlin, he drew the sword from the +magic stone that hovered over the water, and which no other knight +could take. Then the queen, hearing of these marvels, and of his great +exploits and chivalry, desired greatly to see Sir Galahad, and as he +was riding by, "the king, at the queen's request, made him to alight +and to unlace his helm, that Queen Guinevere might see him in the +visage. And when she beheld him she said: Sothely, I dare well say that +Sir Lancelot begat him, for never two men resembled more in likeness. +Therefore it is no marvel though he be of great prowess. So a lady that +stood by the queen said, Madam, for God's sake, ought he of right to be +so good a knight? Yea, forsooth, said the queen, for he is of all +parties come of the best knights of the world, and of the highest +lineage. For Sir Lancelot is comen of the eighth degree from our Lord +Jesu Christ, and Sir Galahad is of the ninth degree, therefore I dare +well say that they ben the greatest gentlemen of all the world." + +After the meeting between Sir Galahad and the queen, the book goes on +to say that the king and all the estates went home to Camelot, and that +as they sat at Supper, the Holy Grail appeared. + +Tennyson relates the vision almost in Malory's own words. + +Sir Perceval, having retired from the world, tells the monk, Ambrosius, +the history of the quest: + +"And all at once, as there we sat, we heard +A cracking and a riving of the roofs, +And rending, and a blast, and overhead +Thunder, and in the thunder was a cry. +And in the blast there smote along the hall +A beam of light seven times more clear than day +And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail, +All over covered with a luminous cloud, +And none might see who bare it, and it past. +But every knight beheld his fellow's face. +As in a glory, and all the knights arose, +And staring each at other like dumb men +Stood, till I found a voice and sware a vow. +I sware a vow before them all that I, +Because I had not seen the Grail would ride +A twelvemonth and a day in quest of it, +Until I found and saw it, as the nun +My sister saw it; and Galahad sware the vow, +And good Sir Bors, our Lancelot's cousin sware, +And Lancelot sware, and many among the knights, +And Gawayn sware, and louder than the rest." + +It was, in fact, Sir Gawayn who spoke first: + +"Certainly [said he] "we ought greatly to thank our Lord Jesu Christ, +for that he hath shewed us this day of what meats and drinks we thought +on, but one thing beguiled us, we might not see the Holy Grail, it was +so preciously covered. Wherefore I will make here a vow, that +to-morrow, without any longer abiding, I shall labour in the quest of +the Sancgreall, that I shall hold me out a twelvemonths and a day, and +more if need be, and never shall I return again unto the court, till I +have seen it more openly than it hath been seen here." When they of the +Round Table heard Sir Gawayn say so, they arose, the most part of them, +and avowed the same. + +As the knights rode out of Camelot to begin their quest there was +weeping of the rich and of the poor at their departure. "The queen made +great moan and wailing, and the king might not speak for weeping." +After some adventures Sir Perceval comes to a chapel to hear Mass, and +there he sees a sick king lying on a couch behind the altar; and he was +covered with wounds: + +"Then he left his looking and heard his service, and when it came to +the sacring, he that lay within the perclose dressed him up and +uncovered his head. And then him beseemed a passing old man, and he had +a crown of gold on his head, and ever he held up his hands and said on +high: Fair, sweet father, Jesu Christ, forget not me. And so he laid +him down. But always he was in his prayers and orisons. And when the +Mass was done, the priest took our Lord's body and bare it unto the +sick king. And when he had received it he did off his crown, and he +commanded the crown to be set on the altar." + +This king's name was Evelake. He had been converted by Saint Joseph of +Arimathwa, who was sent by our Lord "to preach and teach the Christian +faith." "Evelake," says the legend, "followed Joseph of Arimathaea into +England, to which country he brought the Holy Grail, the cup in which +our Lord celebrated the institution of the Blessed Sacrament." This cup +or chalice is said to have contained some drops of the Precious Blood. + +And ever Evelake was busy to be there as the Sancgreall was. And upon a +time he nighed it so nigh that our Lord was displeased with him. But +ever he followed it more and more, till that God struck him almost +blind. Then this king cried mercy, and said: "Fair Lord, let me never +die till that the good knight of my blood of the ninth degree be comen, +that I may see him openly, when he shall achieve the Sancgreall, that I +may once kiss him." + +This "good knight" was, of course, Sir Galahad. Meanwhile, "Sir +Lancelot rode overthwart and endlong in a wild forest, and held no path +but as wild adventure led him. And at the last he came to a stony Cross +which departed two ways in waste land, and by the Cross was a stone +that was of marble, but it was so dark that Sir Lancelot might not wit +what it was. Then Sir Lancelot looked by him, and saw an old chapel, +and there he wend to have found people. And Sir Lancelot tied his horse +till a tree, and there he did off his shield and hung it upon a tree. +And then he went to the chapel door, and found it waste and broken. And +within he found a fair altar full richly arrayed with cloth of clean +silk, and there stood a fair clean candlestick which bare six great +candles, and the candlestick was of silver. And when Sir Lancelot saw +this light he had great will for to enter into the chapel, but he could +find no place where he might enter; then was he passing heavy and +dismayed. Then he returned and came to his horse, and did off his +saddle and bridle, and let him pasture; and unlaced his helm, and +ungirded his sword, and laid him down to sleep upon his shield tofore +the Cross. And so he fell on sleep, and half waking and half sleeping +he saw, come by him, two palfreys all fair and white, the which bare a +litter, therein lying a sick knight. And when he was nigh the Cross he +there abode still. All this Sir Lancelot saw and beheld, for he slept +not verily, and he heard him say: Oh sweet Lord, when shall this sorrow +leave me, and when shall the holy vessel come by me, wherethrough I +shall be blessed, for I have endured thus long for little trespass. And +thus a great while complained the knight, and always Sir Lancelot heard +it. With that Sir Lancelot saw the candlestick with the six tapers come +before the Cross, but he could see nobody that brought it. And then +came a table of silver, and the holy vessel of the Sancgreall, the +which Sir Lancelot had seen tofore. And there withal the sick knight +set him upright and held up both his hands and said: Fair, sweet Lord, +which is here within this holy vessel, take heed to me that I may be +whole of this great malady. And therewith, upon his hands and upon his +knees, he went so nigh that he touched the holy vessel and kissed it. +And anon he was whole, and then he said:--Lord God, I thank thee for I +am healed of this malady. So when the holy vessel had been there a +great while, it went unto the chapel again with the candlestick and the +light, so that Sir Lancelot wist not where it became, for he was +overtaken with sin that he had no power to arise against the holy +vessel. Wherefore afterwards many men said of him shame. But he took +repentance afterwards. + +"Then the sick knight dressed him upright and kissed the Cross. Then +anon his squire brought his arms, and asked his lord how he did. +Certes, said he, I thank God right well through the holy vessel I am +healed. But I have great marvel of this sleeping knight which hath +neither had grace nor power to awake during the time that this holy +vessel hath been here present. I dare it right well say, said the +squire, that this knight is defouled with some manner of deadly sin, +whereof he was never confessed. By my faith, said the knight, +whatsoever he be, he is unhappy, for, as I deem, he is of the noble +fellowship of the Round Table, the which is entered into the quest of +the Sancgreall. Sir, said the squire, here I have brought you all your +arms save your helm and your sword, and therefore, by mine assent now +may ye take this knight's helm and his sword, and so he did. And when +he was clean armed he took Sir Lancelot's horse, for he was better than +his own, and so they departed from the Cross. + +"Then anon Sir Lancelot awaked and sat himself upright, and bethought +him what he had there seen, and whether it were dreams or not. Right so +heard he a voice that said, Sir Lancelot, more harder than is the +stone, and more bitter than is the wood, and more naked and barer than +is the leaf of the fig-tree, therefore go thou from hence, and withdraw +thee from this holy place. And when Sir Lancelot heard this he was +passing heavy and wist not what to do, and so departed sore weeping, +and cursed the time that he was born. For then he deemed never to have +had worship more. For those words went to his heart till that he knew +wherefore he was called so. + +"Then Sir Lancelot went to the Cross, and found his helm, his sword, +and his horse taken away. And then he called himself a very wretch, and +most unhappy of all knights. And there he said, My sin and my +wickedness have brought me unto great dishonour. For when I sought +worldly adventures for worldly desires I ever achieved them, and had +the better in every place, and never was I discomfited in no quarrel, +were it right or wrong. And now I take upon me the adventure of holy +things, and now I see and understand that mine old sin hindreth me and +shameth me, so that I had no power to stir nor to speak when the holy +blood appeared afore me. So thus he sorrowed till it was day, and heard +the fowls of the air sing. Then was he somewhat comforted, and departed +from the Cross on foot in a wild forest, and there he found a +hermitage, and a hermit therein that was going to Mass. And then Sir +Lancelot kneeled down on both his knees, and cried our Lord mercy for +his wicked works that he had done. When Mass was done, Sir Lancelot +called the hermit to him and prayed him for charity to hear his life. +With a good will, said the good man. Sir, said he, be ye of King +Arthur's court, and of the fellowship of the Round Table? Yea, +forsooth, and my name is Sir Lancelot du Lake that hath been right well +said of, and now my good fortune is changed, for I am the most wretched +and caitiff of the world. + +"Then the hermit beheld him, and had great marvel how he was so sore +abashed. Sir, said the good man, ye ought to thank God more than any +knight living, for He hath caused you to have more worldly worship than +any, and for your presumption to take upon you in deadly sin for to be +in His presence where His flesh and His blood was, that caused you ye +might not see it with your worldly eyes. For He will not appear where +such sinners be, but it be unto their great hurt and shame. And there +is no knight living now that ought to give unto God so great thank as +ye. For He hath given to you beauty, seemliness, and great strength +above all other knights, and, therefore, ye are the more beholden to +God than any man, to love Him and to dread Him; for your strength and +manhood will little avail you, and God be against you." + +Then Lancelot makes his confession to the hermit as we have already +related, is assoiled, and repents him greatly. He remained three days +with the hermit, and being then newly provided with a horse, helmet, +and sword, he took his leave and rode away. After this occurs the +episode at the Cross, and his receiving the hair shirt. On the morrow +he jousted with many knights, and for the first time was thrown and +overcome, all which he endured patiently as penance for his sins. That +night he laid himself down to sleep under an apple-tree and dreamed a +strange dream. At dawn he arose, armed himself and went on his way. He +next came to a chapel "where was a recluse which had a window that she +might look up to the altar, and all aloud she called Sir Lancelot, and +asked him whence he came, what he was, and what he went to seek." He +told her all his dreams and visions, which she expounded, and gave him +pious counsel, but told him that he was " of evil faith and poor +belief." + +About this time he met Sir Galahad, and knew that he was his son. Then, +after various adventures, he came as near the Holy Grail as it was +given to him to come. As he was kneeling before a closed door in a +castle "he heard a voice which sang sweetly, that it seemed none +earthly thing. And him thought that the voice said, joy and Honour be +to the Father of Heaven. Then Sir Lancelot wist well that there was the +Sancgreall in that chamber." Then he prayed. + +"And with that the chamber door opened, and there came out a great +clearness, that the house was so bright as though all the torches of +the world had been there. And anon he would have entered, but a voice +said, Flee, Sir Lancelot, and enter not, for and if thou enter thou +shalt forethink it. Then he withdrew him aback, and was right heavy in +his mind. Then looked he up in the midst of the room and saw a table of +silver, and the holy vessel covered with red samite, and so many angels +about it, whereof one of them held a candle of wax burning, and the +other held a Cross and the ornaments of the altar. And before the holy +vessel he saw a good man, clothed like a priest, and it seemed that he +was at the sacring of the Mass. + +"And it seemed unto Sir Lancelot that, above the priest's hands, there +were three men, whereof the two put the youngest by likeliness between +the priest's hands, and so he lift it upright high, and it seemed to +show unto the people. And then Sir Lancelot marvelled not a little, for +him thought the priest was so greatly charged of the figure that him +seemed he should have fallen to the ground; and when he saw none about +him, he came to the door a great pace, and said:-- + +"Fair sweet Father, Jesu Christ, me take it for no sin, though I help +the good man, which hath great need of help. Right so he entered into +the chamber, and came toward the table of silver. And when he came nigh +he felt a breath that him thought it was intermeddled with fire, which +smote him so sore in the visage that him thought it all to brent his +visage." + +This is the culminating point of Lancelot's quest; he swooned away, and +lay as one dead for twenty-four days. Nearer he might not come to the +Holy Grail, and the sequel shows why, for after a time he returned to +the court and fell into sin again, and forgot his good resolutions:-- + +"For, as the French book saith, had not Sir Lancelot been in his privy +thoughts and in his mind set inwardly to the queen, as he was in +seeming outward unto God, there had no knight passed him in the quest +of the Sancgreall; but ever his thoughts were privily upon the queen." + +But soon there arose a bitter quarrel between Lancelot and Guinevere, +and she banished him from her sight. During his absence from the court +she made a dinner, at which one of the guests, Sir Modor, was poisoned, +and the queen accused of the crime. Guinevere was therefore impeached, +and so truly did all the Round Table believe in her guilt, that at +first no knight would come forward to defend her. + +Ultimately, however, the "good Sir Bors," Lancelot's kinsman, was +prevailed on to be her champion, provided that at the moment of the +contest a better knight did not appear, to answer for her. Of course, +when Sir Bors is about to enter the lists in the meadow before +Winchester, where there is a great fire and an iron stake, at which +Guinevere is to be burned if her champion is overcome, a strange knight +appears in unknown armour, and turns out to be Lancelot, fights for the +queen, and overthrows her accuser. + +Here comes in the exquisite story of Elaine, to which Tennyson has done +ample justice. + +Soon after the death of the "lily maid of Astolat," Sir Agravaine, +moved by jealousy of Arthur's greatest knight, discloses the story of +Lancelot's treacherous love for the queen, and extracts from the king a +reluctant permission to take the miscreant. But Sir Modred is the real +instigator of the plot, working upon Agravaine's weakness, and Tennyson +has altered little in the dramatic situation which immediately follows. +His description of the parting scene between Lancelot and Guinevere is +fine:-- + +"And then they were agreed upon a night +(When the good King should not be there) to meet +And part for ever. Passion pale they met +And greeted: hands in hands, and eye to eye, +Low on the border of her couch they sat +Stammering and staring; it was their last hour, +A madness of farewells. And Modred brought +His creatures to the basement of the tower +For testimony; and crying with full voice, +'Traitor, come out, ye are trapt at last,' aroused +Lancelot, who rushing outward lion-like +Leapt on him, and hurled him headlong, and he fell +Stunned, and his creatures took and bare him off, +And all was still; then she, 'The end is come, +And I am shamed forever;' and he said, +`Mine be the shame; mine was the sin; but rise, +And fly to my strong castle over seas +There will I hide thee till my life shall end, +There hold thee with my life against the world.' +She answered, 'Lancelot, wilt thou hold me so? +Nay, friend, for we have taken our farewells. +Would God that thou coulds't hide me from myself!" + +Lancelot will not yield himself up lightly to his enemies; Sir +Agravaine and another knight fall in the struggle with him; but it is +not now that Guinevere betakes herself to Almesbury, and the whole +beautiful scene between her and Arthur, and his most touching farewell +to her are weavings of the modern poet's imagination. Beautiful the +scene surely is, although wanting in one supreme touch, which a more +Catholic-minded poet would have given to it. Guinevere's sin, according +to Tennyson, is merely her sin against her husband; according to Malory +it is her sin against God, and this is the very essence of the true +Guinevere's repentance. + +What really happens is this: Lancelot takes counsel with Sir Bors and +his other friends, as to how he may save the queen, and it is decided +that if on the morrow she is brought to the fire to be burned, Lancelot +and all his kinsmen shall rescue her. + +Accordingly, Arthur's nephews, Gawayn, Gahers, and Gareth, lead +Guinevere forth "without Caerleyell, and there she was despoiled unto +her smock, and so then her ghostly father was brought to her to be +shriven of her misdeeds." But Lancelot's messenger gives the alarm +duly, and Lancelot appears with all his friends. There is much fighting +and bloodshed, and Sir Gahers and Sir Gareth are slain. + +"Then Sir Lancelot rode straight unto the queen, and made a kirtle and +a gown to be cast upon her, and then he made her to be set behind him, +and rode with her unto his castle of joyous Garde, and there he kept +her as a noble knight should, and many lords and kings send Sir +Lancelot many good knights. When it was known openly that King Arthur +and Sir Lancelot were at debate, many knights were glad of their +debate, and many knights were sorry. But King Arthur sorrowed for pure +sorrow, and said, Alas, that ever I bare any crown upon my head." + +Gawayn, mourning the death of his brothers, incites the king to besiege +Lancelot in Joyous Garde, and at length, reluctantly, Arthur consents +to make war. + +"Of this war was noise throughout all Christendom. And at last it was +noised before the Pope, and he, considering the great goodness of King +Arthur and Sir Lancelot, which was called the most noble knight of the +world, wherefore the Pope called unto him a noble clerk that at that +time there was present the French book saith it was the Bishop of +Rochester. And the Pope gave him Bulls under lead, unto King Arthur of +England, charging him upon pain of interdiction of all England, that he +take his queen, Dame Guinevere, to him again, and accord with Sir +Lancelot." + +Arthur would have made peace at once, but at first Gawayn prevented +him. Then the bishop went to Lancelot and charged him to bring back the +queen:-- + +"And the bishop had of the king his great seal and assurance, as he was +a true anointed king, that Sir Lancelot should go safe and come safe, +and that the queen should not be reproved of the king nor of none +other, for nothing done before time past." + +To Lancelot the bishop ended his exhortation in these words:-- + +"Wit ye well, the Pope must be obeyed." + +And Lancelot answered that it was never in his thoughts to withhold the +queen from his lord, King Arthur, "but in so much as she should have +been dead for my sake, me seemeth it was my part to save her life, and +put her from that danger till better recover might come. And now I +thank God that the Pope hath made her peace, for God knoweth I would be +a thousandfold more gladder to bring her again than I was of her taking +away." + +So he brought Guinevere to the king, and when they had both knelt +before him, he said:-- + +"My most redoubted lord ye shall understand that, by the Pope's +commandment and by yours, I have brought unto you my lady the queen, as +right requireth." Then King Arthur and all the other kings kneeled down +and gave thankings and louings (praises) to God and to his Blessed +Mother. + +But Gawayn would not be reconciled to Lancelot, who in vain offered to +do penance for the death of Gahers and Gareth. In vain he said:-- + +"This much shall I offer you if it may please the king's good grace, +and you my lord Sir Gawayn. And first I shall begin at Sandwich, and +there I shall go in my shirt and barefoot, and at every ten miles' end +I will found and cause to make a house of religion, of what order ye +will assign me, with a whole convent, to sing and to read day and +night, in especial for Sir Gareth's sake and Sir Gahers; and this shall +I perform from Sandwich unto Caerleyell. And this, Sir Gawayn, me +thinketh, were more fairer and better unto their souls than that my +most noble lord Arthur and you should war on me, for thereby ye shall +get none avail." + +But Gawayn answered him with hard words ending thus:-- + +"And if it were not for the Pope's commandment I should do battle with +my body against thy body, and prove it unto thee that thou hast been +false unto mine uncle, King Arthur, and to me both, and that shall I +prove upon thy body, when thou art departed from hence, wheresoever I +find thee. Then all the knights and ladies that were there wept as they +had been mad, and the tears fell upon King Arthur's cheeks. Then Sir +Lancelot kissed the queen before them all, took his leave, and departed +with all the knights of his kin." + +He went to his estates over the sea; but Gawayn gave Arthur no rest +till he had made ready an army and crossed the sea to make war on him. +Modred, in Arthur's absence, seized the kingdom, and would have wedded +the queen by force, had not the Archbishop of Canterbury threatened to +curse him with bell, book, and candle. When Modred defied him, the +archbishop departed, and "did the curse in the most orgulous wise that +might be done." + +But Arthur, receiving tidings of Modred's conduct, returned to Dover, +where the usurper met him, and "there was much slaughter of gentle +knights." Here Sir Gawayn was mortally wounded, and Arthur " made great +sorrow and moan." Two hours before his death, Gawayn wrote a letter to +Lancelot, telling him of Modred's crime and beseeching him, "the most +noblest knight," to come back to the realm:-- + +"And so at the hour of None, Sir Gawayn betook himself into the hands +of our Lord God, after that he had received his Saviour. And then the +king let bury him within a chapel within the castle of Dover, and +there, yet to this day, all men may see the skull of Sir Gawayn, and +the same wound is seen that Sir Lancelot gave him in battle." + +In the "Passing of Arthur" Tennyson has kept mainly to the original, +though he omits Arthur's command to Sir Bedevere to pray for his soul. + +The king, overcome by his enemies, receives his deadly wound, and sails +away in the barge, with the three queens, to the island valley of +Avilion. But, according to Malory, Sir Bedevere finds him on the +morrow, lying dead in a little chapel on a rock:-- + +"And when Queen Guinevere understood that her lord King Arthur was +slain, and all the noble knights, Sir Modred and all the remnant, she +stole away, and five ladies with her, and so she went to Almesbury, and +there she let make herself a nun, and wore white clothes and black, and +great penance she took as ever did sinful lady in this land, and never +creature could make her merry, but lived in fastings, prayers, and +alms-deeds, that all manner of people marvelled how virtuously she was +changed. Now leave we Queen Guinevere in Almesbury, a nun in white +clothes and black, and there she was abbess and ruler as reason would, +and turn me from her and speak me of Sir Lancelot du Lake." + +Meanwhile, Sir Lancelot had returned to England to avenge King Arthur's +death:-- + +"Then the people told him how that he was slain, and Sir Modred and a +hundred thousand died on a day, and how Sir Modred gave King Arthur +there the first battle at his landing, and there was good Sir Gawayn +slain, and on the morn Sir Modred fought with the king upon Barham +Down, and there the king put Sir Modred to the worse. Alas, said Sir +Lancelot, this is the heaviest tidings that ever came to me. Now fair +Sirs, said Sir Lancelot, shew me the tomb of Sir Gawayn. And then +certain people of the town brought him into the castle of Dover and +showed him the tomb. Then Sir Lancelot kneeled down and wept and prayed +heartily for his soul. And that night he made a dole, and all they that +would come had as much flesh, fish, wine, and ale as they would, and +every man and woman had twelve pence come who would. Thus with his own +hand dealt he his money in a mourning gown; and ever he wept, and +prayed them to pray for the soul of Sir Gawayn. And on the morn all the +priests and clerks that might be gotten in the country were there and +sung Mass of Requiem. And there offered first Sir Lancelot, and he +offered an hundred pound, and then the seven kings offered forty pound +apiece, and also there was a thousand knights, and each of them offered +a pound, and the offering dured from morn till night. And Sir Lancelot +lay two nights on his tomb in prayers and in weeping. Then on the third +day Sir Lancelot called the kings, dukes, earls, barons, and knights, +and said thus:-- + +My fair lords, I thank you all of your coming into this country with +me: but we come too late, and that shall repent me while I live, but +against death may no man rebel. But sithen it is so, said Sir Lancelot, +I will myself ride and seek my lady Queen Guinevere, for as I hear say +she hath great pain and much disease, and I heard say that she is fled +into the west country, therefore ye all abide me here, and but if I +come not again within fifteen days, then take your ships and your +fellowship, and depart into your country. + +"Then came Sir Bors de Ganis, and said, My lord Sir Lancelot, what +think ye for to do, now to ride in this realm? wit thou well ye shall +find few friends. Be as it may, said Sir Lancelot, keep you still here, +for I will forth on my journey, and no man nor child shall go with me. +So it was no boot to strive, but he departed and rode westerly and +sought seven or eight days, and at the last he came to a nunnery. And +then was Queen Guinevere ware of Sir Lancelot as he walked in the +cloister. And when she saw him there she swooned thrice, that all the +ladies and gentlewomen had work enough to hold the Queen up. So when +she might speak she called the ladies and gentlewomen to her and said, +Ye marvel, fair ladies, why I make this cheer. Truly, she said, it is +for the sight of yonder knight which yonder standeth, wherefore I pray +you all call him to me. And when Sir Lancelot was brought unto her she +said, through this knight and me all these wars been wrought, and the +death of the most noblest knights of the world. For through our love +that we have loved together is my most noble lord slain. Therefore, wit +ye well, Sir Lancelot, I am set in such a plight to get my soul health; +and yet I trust through God's grace after my death to have a sight of +the blessed face of Christ, and at the dreadful day of doom to sit on +His right side, for as sinful creatures as ever was I are saints in +heaven. Therefore, Sir Lancelot, I require and beseech thee heartily, +for all the love that ever was betwixt us, that thou never see me more +in the visage. And furthermore I command thee on God's behalf right +straightly that thou forsake my company, and to thy kingdom thou turn +again, and keep well thy realm from war and wrack. For as well as I +have loved thee, mine heart will not serve me to see thee; for both +through me and thee is the flower of kings and knights destroyed. +Therefore, Sir Lancelot, go to thy realm, and there take thee a wife, +and live with her in joy and bliss, and I pray thee heartily pray for +me to our Lord, that I may amend my mis-living. + +"Now, sweet madam, said Sir Lancelot, would ye that I should return +again unto my country, and there to wed a lady? Nay, madam, wit you +well, that shall I never do: for I shall never be so false to you of +that I have promised, but the same destiny that ye have taken you unto, +I will take me unto, for to please God and specially to pray for you. + +"If thou wilt do so, said the Queen, hold thy promise. But I may not +believe but that thou wilt turn to the world again. + +"Ye say well, said he, yet wish ye me never false of my promise, and +God defend but that I should forsake the world like as ye have done. +For in the quest of the Sancgreall I had forsaken the vanities of the +world had not your lord been. And if I had done so at that time, with +my heart, will, and thought, I had passed all the knights that were in +the Sancgreall, except Sir Galahad, my son. And therefore, lady, sithen +ye have taken you to perfection, I must needs take me unto perfection +of right. For I take record of God, in you have I had mine earthly joy, +and if I had found you so disposed, I had cast me for to have had you +into mine own realm. But sithen I find you thus disposed, I ensure you +faithfully that I will take me to penance, and pray while my life +lasteth, if that I may find any hermit, either grey or white, that will +receive me. Wherefore, madam, I pray you kiss me once and never more. + +"Nay, said the Queen, that shall I never do, but abstain you from such +works. And they departed. But there was never so hard a hearted man but +he would have wept to see the dolour that they made. For there was +lamentation as though they had been stung with spears, and many times +they swooned. And the ladies bare the Queen to her chamber. And Sir +Lancelot awoke, and went, and took his horse, and rode all that day and +all that night in a forest, weeping. And at the last he was ware of an +hermitage, and a chapel stood betwixt two cliffs; and then he heard a +little bell ring to Mass, and thither he rode and alighted, and tied +his horse to the gate, and heard Mass. So he that sang the Mass was the +Bishop of Canterbury. There was also Sir Bedevere, and both the bishop +and Sir Bedevere knew Sir Lancelot, and they spoke together after Mass. +But when Sir Bedevere had told his tale all whole, Sir Lancelot's heart +almost braste for sorrow, and Sir Lancelot threw his arms abroad and +said, Alas, who may trust this world! And then he kneeled down on his +knees, and prayed the bishop to shrive him and assoil him. And then he +besought the bishop that he might be his brother. Then the bishop said, +I will gladly, and there he put an habit upon Sir Lancelot, and there +he served God day and night with prayers and fastings." + +Bedevere followed Lancelot's example, and within half a year seven +other knights joined themselves to these two and endured in great +penance six year, and then Sir Lancelot took the habit of priesthood, +and in twelve months he sang Mass. And there was none of these other +knights but they read in books and holp to sing Mass, and rang bells, +and did lowly all manner of service. And so their horses went where +they would for they took no regard of no worldly riches. For when they +saw Sir Lancelot endure such penance, in prayers and fasting, they took +no force what pain they endured, for to see the noblest knight of the +world take such abstinence that he waxed full lean. And thus upon a +night there came a vision to Sir Lancelot, and charged him in remission +of his sins, to haste him unto Almesbury--and by then thou come there, +thou shalt find Queen Guinevere dead, and therefore take thy fellows +with thee, and purvey thee of an horse-bier, and fetch thou the corpse +of her, and bury her by her husband, the noble King Arthur. So this +vision came to Lancelot thrice in one night. + +"Then Sir Lancelot rose upon day and told the hermit. It were well +done, said the hermit, that ye make you ready, and that ye disobey not +the vision. Then Sir Lancelot took his seven fellows with him, and on +foot they went from Glastonbury to Almesbury, the which is little more +than thirty miles. And thither they came within two days, for they were +weak and feeble to go. + +"And when Sir Lancelot was come to Almesbury, within the nunnery, Queen +Guinevere died but half an hour before. And the ladies told Sir +Lancelot that Queen Guinevere told them all ere she passed, that Sir +Lancelot had been priest near a twelvemonth. And hither he cometh as +fast as he may to fetch my corpse, and beside my lord King Arthur he +shall bury me. Wherefore the Queen said, in hearing of them all, I +beseech Almighty God that I may never have power to see Sir Lancelot +with my worldly eyes. And this, said all the ladies was ever her prayer +these two days till she was dead. Then Sir Lancelot saw her visage, but +he wept not greatly, but sighed. And so he did all the observance of +the service himself, both the Dirige, and on the morn he sang Mass. And +there was ordained an horse-bier, and so with an hundred torches ever +burning about the corpse of the Queen, and ever Sir Lancelot with his +eight fellows went about the horse-bier singing and reading many an +holy orison, and frankincense upon the corpse incensed. Thus Sir +Lancelot and his eight fellows went on foot from Almesbury unto +Glastonbury, and when they were come to the chapel and the hermitage, +there she had a Dirige with great devotion. And on the morn the hermit +that was sometime Bishop of Canterbury, sang the Mass of Requiem with +great devotion; and Sir Lancelot was the first that offered, and then +all his eight fellows. And then she was wrapped in cered cloth of +Raines, from the top to the toe in thirty-fold, and after she was put +in a web of lead, and then in a coffin of marble. And when she was put +in the earth, Sir Lancelot swooned, and lay long still, while the +hermit came out, and awaked him and said, Ye be to blame, for ye +displease God with such manner of sorrow-making. Truly, said Sir +Lancelot, I trust I do not displease God, for He knoweth mine intent, +for my sorrow was not, nor is not, for any rejoicing of sin, but my +sorrow may never end. For when I remember of her beauty and of her +noblesse that was both with her king and with her, so when I saw his +corpse and her corpse so lie together, truly mine heart would not serve +to sustain my careful body. Also when I remember me, how by my default, +mine orgule, my pride, that they were both laid full low that were +peerless that ever was living of Christian people, wit you well, said +Sir Lancelot, this remembered of their kindness and mine unkindness, +sank so to my heart that I might not sustain myself." + +Not long after the death of Guinevere, Lancelot "began to wax sick, and +for evermore, day and night he prayed; but needfully, as nature +required, sometimes he slumbered a broken sleep. And within six weeks +he lay in his bed and called the bishop and said, Sir Bishop, I pray +you that ye will give me all my rights that belongeth unto a Christian +man." Then Malory goes on to say that "when he was houseled and eneled, +and had all that a Christian man ought to have, he prayed the bishop +that his fellows might bear his body unto joyous Garde." + +That night the bishop dreamed he saw Sir Lancelot with two angels, "and +he saw the angels heave up Sir Lancelot towards heaven, and the gates +of heaven opened against him. And then they went to Sir Lancelot's bed, +and there they found him dead, and he lay as he had smiled; and the +sweetest savour about him that ever they felt." + + + +III. FOXE'S BOOK OF ERRORS + +To take the Acts and Monuments, and as far as it might be possible +after upwards of three hundred years, test the accuracy of each +circumstance which Foxe proposes for the edification of his readers, +would necessitate a work as voluminous as his own immense undertaking. +To sift the chaff from the wheat, and to bind up the latter into one +acceptable whole would perhaps result in a book not larger than one of +his own eight thick octavo and closely printed volumes. All that can be +done here is to indicate some of the most flagrant instances of the +unfair and uncritical spirit in which he has written, of the +carelessness, wilful misrepresentation, and neglect to rectify errors +pointed out to him, by which the martyrologist has exposed his book to +everlasting reproach. On the death of Foxe's last descendant the +greater part of his MSS. were either given to the annalist, Strype, or +were allowed to remain in his hands till his death in 1737, when many +of them were purchased by Lord Oxford for the Harleian collection now +in the British Museum. A few of them found a refuge in the Lansdowne +Library, and these also are now in the possession of the nation. They +include a mass of heterogeneous documents of the most unequal value and +interest--such as the stories, often palpably coloured, of persons who +profess to have been eye-witnesses of the scenes depicted, minutes of +the examinations of prisoners, apparently taken down on the spot, wild +statements written with the obvious purpose of pandering to Puritan +intolerance and prejudice, and fantastic tales of the martyrologist's +supposed judgments of God upon those who persecuted the followers of +the reformed doctrines. They include also several counter-statements +sent to Foxe for the express purpose of giving him an opportunity to +correct portions of his work, but of which, although he preserved them, +he never made any use. Some of these latter have been utilised by Gough +in his Narratives of the Days of the Reformation. + +In his preface to this book, Gough admits,* as indeed he was obliged to +admit that, "as a general history of the Church in its earlier ages, +Foxes work has been shown to be partial and prejudiced in spirit, +imperfect and inaccurate in execution," and Leach** asserts that, while +its compiler had recourse to some early documents, even here he +depended largely on printed works, such as Crespin's Actiones et +Monuments Martyrum, which was published at Geneva in 1560. He notes, +moreover, that Foxes chapter on the Waldenses is nothing but a +translation of the untrustworthy Catalogus Testium Veritatis, published +at Basle by Illyricus in 1556, although Foxe himself does not +acknowledge Illyricus as his authority, but claims to have consulted +"parchment documents," which he only knew from the transcriptions in +that book. "It has been conclusively shown," says Mr. Sidney Lee in the +Dictionary of National Biography, "that his chapter on the Waldenses is +directly translated from the Catalogus of Illyricus, although Illyricus +is not mentioned by Foxe among the authorities whom he acknowledges to +have consulted . . . . This indicates a loose notion of literary +morality which justifies some of the harshest judgments passed on Foxe." + +* P. 23, edited by the Camden Society. + +** Sir George Croke's Reports, edited by Thomas Leach, ii. 91. London, +1790-92. + + +Matthias Flach-Franconitz, better known as Flacius Illyricus, from the +place of his birth (in Istria, a part of Illyria) was a voluminous +writer on most of the controverted doctrines in the sixteenth century. +Having become a disciple of Luther he was for ever raising fresh +disputes on religious subjects, and was noted for the violence and +exaggeration he brought into their discussion, so that, according to a +German historian, "he seemed to have been created for an ecclesiastical +Procurator General." On his death in 1575, Jacques Andreas, one of his +friends, admitted that, taken altogether, his Illyricus was the devil's +Illyricus, and that, in the opinion of Andreas, he was then "supping +with devils."* + +* Hoefer, Nouvelle Biogaphie Generale, Art, Flach-Franconitz Matthias. + + +Such then being Foxe's authority, although unacknowledged, for his +Waldensian chapter, we can scarcely expect him to be more conscientious +in his evidence concerning matters closely connected with the passions, +prejudices, and burning questions of his own day. + +Nearly, if not quite all the material for that part of the Acts and +Monuments which deals with the reign of Mary was collected by others +for Foxe and Grindal during their absence from England. Grindal handed +over to Foxe the accounts of the various prosecutions for heresy sent +to him by his correspondents at home, taking care, however, at the same +time to warn the martyrologist against placing too much confidence in +them, he himself suspending his judgment "till more satisfactory +evidence came from good hands." He advised him for the present, only to +print separately the acts of particular persons of whom they had +authentic accounts and to wait for a larger and more complete history +until they had trustworthy information concerning the "martyrs."* The +letters, which Grindal wrote to Foxe on this subject in 1557, were +published by the Parker Society, in Grindal's Remains, and show that +the future archbishop believed not too implicitly in the truth of all +the stories which he passed on to his friend. He constantly urged him +to delay writing in order to gain "more certain intelligence." But the +careful investigation which he recommended did not fall in with the +particular genius and uncritical methods of Foxe, who, perhaps on +account of his necessitous condition, worked away with a will on the +unsifted tales and reports as they came to hand, so that the book in +its Latin form was completed, almost to the end of the reign of Mary, +and was published at Basle, before his return to England in 1559. He +afterwards made an English translation of the work, but without seeing +fit to revise his material. It bore the title Acts and Monuments, but +it was at once popularly styled the Book of Martyrs. When he was +attacked by Alan Cope (Nicholas Harpsfield) for his inaccuracy, Foxe +replied: "I hear what you will say: I should have taken more leisure +and done it better. I grant and confess my fault, such is my vice, I +cannot sit all the day (Moister Cope) fining and mincing my letters, +and combing my head, and smoothing myself all the day at the glass of +Cicero. Yet, notwithstanding, doing what I can, and doing my good will, +methinks I should not be reprehended, at least not so much be railed of +at M. Copes hand."** + +* Strype, Life of Archbishop Grindal, p. 25. + +** Acts and Monuments, i. 69 1. Edited 1570. + + +But it is not for his want of scholarly writing that Foxe has been +blamed. Father Robert Persons, in his Three Conversions of England,* +begins one of his chapters with "a note of more than a hundred and +twenty lies uttered by John Foxe, in less than three leaves of his Acts +and Monuments," and he proceeds to point them out, beginning with the +misstatement concerning John Merbeck and some others, whom Foxe counts +among the martyrs, although they were never burned at all. As, in +consequence of Father Persons' remarks concerning John Merbeck, Foxe +acknowledged the error in his second edition, we may hold him excused +thus far, but his delinquencies in this respect were by no means +unfrequent, and gave rise to the saying that "many who were burnt in +the reign of Queen Mary, drank sack in the reign of Queen Elizabeth."** + +* Quoted in Fuller's Worthies, under "Berkshire," p. 92. + +*Part iii., p. 412." + + +Two similar misstatements, which he was in a position to correct and +did not, relate to the supposed death by the vengeance of God, of Henry +Morgan, Bishop of St. David's, and of one Grimwood, another "notorious +Papist." + +Anthony a Wood, the famous antiquary and historian, who wrote his +History of the Antiquities of Oxford about a hundred years after Foxe +had become celebrated as a martyrologist, and who in his youth spoke +with people who remembered the days of persecution under Mary, tells us +that:-- + +"Henry Morgan was esteemed a most admirable civilian and canonist; he +was for several years the constant Moderator of all those that +performed exercise for their degrees in the civil law in the scholar +schools, hall and church pertaining to that faculty, situated also in +the same parish . . . . He was elected Bishop of St. David's, upon the +deprivation of Robert Ferrar . . . . In that see he sate till after +Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown, and then being deprived . . . +retired among his friends, and died a devoted son to the Church of +Rome, on the 23rd of December following (1559) of whose death, hear I +pray what John Foxe saith in this manner: Morgan, bishop of St. +David's, who sate upon the condemnation of the blessed Martyr and +Bishop Ferrar, and unjustly usurped his room, was not long after +stricken by God's hand, but after such a strange sort, that his meat +would not go down, but rise and pick up again, sometimes at his mouth, +sometimes blown out of his nose, most horrible to behold, and so he +continued till his death. Thus Foxe, followed by Thomas Beard in his +Theatre of God's Judgments. But where or when his death happened, they +tell us not, nor any author hitherto, only when, which Bishop Godwin +mentions. Now, therefore, be pleased to know that the said Bishop +Morgan, retiring after his deprivation to and near Oxen, where he had +several relations and acquaintance living, particularly the Owens of +Godstow, in the parish of Wolvercote, near to the said city, did spend +the little remainder of his life in great devotion at Godstow, but that +he died in the condition which Foxe mentions there is no tradition +among the inhabitants of Wolvercote. True it is that I have heard some +discourse, many years ago, from some of the ancients of that place, +that a certain bishop did live for some time, and exercised his charity +and religious counsel among them, and there died; but I could never +learn anything of them of the manner of his death, which being very +miserable, as John Foxe saith, methinks that they should have a +tradition of it, as well as of the man himself; but I say there is now +none, nor was there any thirty years ago, among the most aged persons +then living at that place, and therefore, whether there be anything of +truth in it may justly be doubted." + +The evidence of this negative tradition is certainly more convincing, +than Foxes unsupported allegation of a circumstance, as unlikely to +have occurred, as it was likely to be concocted by a man of his +propensity and unscrupulousness. If, however, there should be any doubt +of Foxes ability to concoct such a story, it will perhaps be removed by +the history of the drastic refutation, which befell the similar story +of the end of Grimwood. This, Anthony a Wood proceeds to record in a +passage immediately after the one above quoted. + +"In the very same chapter and leaf concerning the severe punishment +upon persecutors of God's People, he hath committed a most egregious +falsity in reporting that one Grimwood, of Higham, in Suffolk, died in +a miserable manner, for swearing and bearing false witness against one +John Cooper, a carpenter of Watsam in the same county, for which he +lost his life. The miserable death of the said Grimwood was, as John +Foxe saith thus: That WHEN HE WAS IN HIS LABOUR, STAKING UP A GOSSE OF +CORN, HAVING HIS HEALTH, AND FEARING NO PERIL, SUDDENLY HIS BOWELS FELL +OUT OF HIS BODY, AND IMMEDIATELY MOST MISERABLY HE DIED. Now it so fell +out that in the reign of Elizabeth, one Prit* became parson of the +parish where the said Grimwood dwelt, and preaching against perjury, +being not acquainted with his parishioners, cited the said story of +Foxe, and it happened that Grimwood being alive, and in the said +church, he brought an action upon the case, against the parson, but +Judge Anderson, who sate at the Assizes in the county of Suffolk, did +adjudge it not maintainable, because it was not spoken maliciously."** + +* Or Prick. + +** Anthony d Wood, Athenae Oxoniensis, vol. i., p. 691. + + +That the action was not maintainable on the ground of malice, as +against the parson, may have been true, but Foxe cannot reasonably be +acquitted, for although he went into Suffolk professedly to investigate +the matter, he never made any alteration in his story in subsequent +editions, and the very latest impression of the Acts and Monuments +perpetuates the lie and slander. + +Thirty years after the death of Sir Thomas More, Foxe undertook to +collect all the traditional gossip afloat concerning the Chancellor's +alleged treatment of John Tewkesbury and James Bainham, for heresy. +Tewkesbury was a leather-seller of London, and Foxe says that he was +sent to Sir Thomas Mores house at Chelsea to be examined, and that +"there he lay in the porter's lodge, hand, foot, and head in the +stocks, six days without release. Then was he carried to Jesus' Tree in +his privy garden, where he was whipped, and also twisted in his brows +with a small rope, that the blood started out of his eyes, and yet +would not accuse no man. Then was he let loose for a day, and his +friends thought to have him at liberty the next day. After this he was +sent to be racked in the Tower, till he was almost lame, and there +promised to recant.* + +* Acts and Monuments, vol. iv., p. 689; Pratt's ed. + + +The truth of the matter was, however, that as Tewkesbury was examined +for the first time on the 8th May 1529, and immediately afterwards +recanted, the event occurred several months before Sir Thomas More +became Lord Chancellor; and therewith falls to the ground the story of +Tewkesbury's being tortured in Mores garden, the punishment of heretics +being part of the Lord Chancellor's office. + +James Bainham was a lawyer, and Foxe declares that he was whipped at +the Tree of Truth in Mores garden, and was then sent to the Tower to be +racked, "and so he was, Sir Thomas More being present himself, till in +a manner he had lamed him." Bainham, like Tewkesbury, recanted, and +both of them bewailed and retracted their recantations, first before +their friends in a Protestant gathering in Bow Lane, and afterwards in +a Catholic Church, in consequence of which, according to Foxe, both +were burned. But a part of what Foxe wrote about Tewkesbury in one +edition of the Acts and Monuments he omitted in another, patching it on +to Bainham's story, thus stultifying himself as regards both stories,* +and affording us another signal illustration of the irresponsible and +unscrupulous way in which he could deal with evidence. + +* Vol. iv., p. 702; and Appendix, p. 769; Pratt's ed. + + +He further attributed to More the death of John Frith, who suffered +death in 1533, a year after Sir Thomas had laid down his office, +although in his Apology, the exchancellor referred to Frith as being +then in the Tower, not committed by him but by "the King's Grace and +his Council."* + +* Apology, p. 887. + + +Foxe might easily, had he been so inclined, have verified these things +by reference to the thirty-sixth chapter of the above-mentioned +Apology, in which More answered the lies "neither few nor small that +many of the blessed brethren have made and daily yet make by me." He +goes on to say:-- + +"Divers of them have said that of such as were in my house while I was +chancellor, I used to examine them with torments, causing them to be +bound to a tree in my garden, and there piteously beaten. And this tale +had some of those brethren so caused to be blown about, that a right +worshipful friend of mine did of late, within less than this fortnight, +tell unto another near friend of mine that he had of late heard much +speaking thereof. What cannot these brethren say that can be so +shameless to say thus? For of very truth, albeit that for a great +robbery, or a heinous murder, or sacrilege in a church, with carrying +away the pix with the Blessed Sacrament, or villainously casting it +out, I caused sometimes such things to be done by some officers of the +Marshalsea, or of some other prisons, with which ordering of them, and +without any great hurt that afterwards should stick by them, I found +out and repressed many such desperate wretches, as else had not failed +to have gone farther; yet saving the sure keeping of heretics, I never +did cause any such thing to be done to any of them in all my life +except only twain." + +Of these two instances he first records one relating to a child who was +a servant in his house. The boy's father had taught him "his ungracious +heresy against the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar," which heresy the +boy began to teach another child in Mores house. Thereupon, More caused +a servant of his "to stripe him like a child" before the whole +household, "for amendment of himself and example of such others." The +other case was that of a man who, "after that he had fallen into that +frantic heresy, fell soon after into plain open frenzy besides." The +man was confined in Bedlam, and when discharged went about disturbing +public service in churches, and committing acts of great indecency. +Devout, religious folk besought the Chancellor to restrain him, and +accordingly, one day when he came wandering by Mores door, he caused +him to be taken by the constables, bound to a tree in the street before +the whole town, "and there they striped him with rods till he waxed +weary, and somewhat longer." More ends by saying, "And verily, God be +thanked, I hear none harm of him now. And of all that ever came in my +hands for heresy, as help me God, saving [as I said] the sure keeping +of them, had never any of them stripe or stroke given them, so much as +a fillip on the forehead." + +He then goes on to disprove the truth of a story spread about by +Tindal, concerning the beating in his garden of a man named Segar. This +story Foxe evidently confused with the fable of Tewkesbury, which thus +completely crumbles to pieces; for as Sir James Mackintosh in his Life +of More says: + +"This statement [More's Apology] so minute, so easily contradicted if +in any part false, was made public after his fall from power, when he +was surrounded by enemies, and could have no friends but the generous. +He relates circumstances of public notoriety, or at least so known to +all his household, which it would have been rather a proof of insanity +than of imprudence to have alleged in his defence if they had not been +indisputably and confessedly true . . . Defenceless and obnoxious as +More then was, no man was hardy enough to dispute his truth. Foxe was +the first, who, thirty years afterwards, ventured to oppose it in a +vague statement, which we know to be in some respects inaccurate." * + +* Pp. 101, 105. + + +The story of the death of Robert Packington, mercer, of London, has +also provided Foxe with fertile soil for raising his usual crop of +calumny. The man was shot dead one very misty morning, in Cheapside, +according to most chroniclers in 1556, Foxe says in 1558, as he was +crossing the road from his house to a church on the opposite side, +where he intended to hear Mass. Many persons were suspected of the +murder, but none were found guilty. Hall, Grafton, and Bale all tell +the story, but the martyrologist added thereto an accusation against an +innocent person, which, although satisfactorily refuted by Holinshed, +remains in the pages of the Acts and Monuments to this day. Foxe says:-- + +"The murtherer so covertly was concealed, till at length by the +confession of Doctor Incent, Dean of St. Paul's, in his deathbed it was +known, and by him confessed that he was the author thereof, by hiring +an Italian for sixty crowns or thereabouts to do the feat. For the +testimony whereof, and also of the repentant words of the said Incent, +the names, both of them which heard him confess it, and of them which +heard the witnesses report it, remains yet in memory to be produced if +need required."* + +* P. 525, edited 1563. + + +But Holinshed, a far more credible witness tells us that:-- + +"At length the murtherer indeed was condemned at Banbury, in +Oxfordshire, to die for a felony which he afterwards committed; and +when he came to the gallows in which he suffered, he confessed that he +did this murther [that of Robert Packington], and till that time he was +never had in any suspicion thereof."* + +* Chronicle, fol. ed., 1586, p. 944. Answer to Foxes assertion. Also +Appendix to Gough's Narratives, pp. 296, 297. + + +There is another class of anecdote in the Acts and Monuments, the +errors of which do not lie so much in the facts of the story as in the +oblique vision of Foxe himself, in regarding the dramatis personae, as +heroes. Thus, a madman named Collins, who, entering a church during +Mass, seized his dog at the Elevation, and held it over his head, +showing it to the people in derision, is accounted "as one belonging to +the holy company of saints."* + +* Acts and Monuments, vol. v., p. 25; Pratt's ed. + + +Cowbridge, who was burned at Oxford, was one who would in these days be +called a criminal lunatic, but Foxe regarded him as a holy martyr. The +horrible story of the " martyrdom " of three women of Guernsey rests +entirely on Foxes authority. It was immediately contradicted. Foxe +replied, and Father Persons refuted his reply. It transpired on +investigation that all three women were hanged as thieves, their bodies +being afterwards burned; one of them had led an openly immoral life. + +Machyn and Wriothesley chronicle an outbreak of fanaticism on Easter +Sunday 1555. An ex-monk named Flower rushed into St. Margaret's Church, +Westminster, while the priest, Sir John Sleuther, was administering +Communion to his parishioners. Foxe tells the tale succinctly:-- + +"The said Flower, upon Easter Day last past, drew his wood knife, and +strake the priest upon the head, hand, and arm, who being wounded +therewith, and having a chalice with consecrated hosts therein in his +hand, they were sprinkled with the said priest's blood."* + +* Ibid. vol. vii., p. 75. + + +The only mistake which Foxe here makes is in saying that the priest was +Sir John Cheltham. The would-be assassin harangued his victim before +dealing the blow, and then struck home so forcibly that the priest fell +as if dead. A tumult arose, the multitude thinking that the Spaniards +were attacking them. Flower was apprehended, tried, and burned for +heresy and sedition, on the spot now called the Broad Sanctuary. His +claim to swell Foxe's calendar of "martyrs" rests solely on the motive +of his murderous assault, namely, outrage of the Blessed Sacrament. + +Another martyr of Flower's kidney was William Gardiner, who was living +at Lisbon in 1552 as agent of an English mercantile house. + +Foxe describes his exploits and the consequences thereof as "The +history, no less lamentable than notable, of William Gardiner, an +Englishman suffering most constantly in Portugal for the testimony of +Gods truth." Gardiner's admiring biographer relates that his hero twice +entered a church (probably Lisbon Cathedral) with intent to do some +notable thing in the king's sight and presence. The first time was on +the occasion of a royal marriage, but the throng was so great that he +could not get near the altar. However, on the following Sunday, "the +said William was present early in the morning, very cleanly apparelled, +even of purpose, that he might stand near the altar without repulse. +Within a while cometh the king with all his nobles. Then Gardiner +setteth himself as near the altar as he might, having a Testament in +his hand, which he diligently read upon and prayed, until the time was +come that he had appointed to work his feat." This time was just before +the Communion of the priest, who was the Cardinal Archbishop of Lisbon. +Gardiner sprang forward, snatched the consecrated Host from his hand, +trod it underfoot, and overturned the chalice. The first effect of this +outrage was to strike the clergy and congregation dumb with amazement, +horror, and consternation. In Foxe's words, "this matter at first made +them all abashed." But on recovering their senses, the people gave vent +to their indignation in shouts and cries of vengeance. A dagger was +drawn, and Gardiner was wounded in the shoulder. The man who struck him +was about to deal another blow, when he was prevented by the king +himself. Gardiner thereupon, being in the hands of the guards, +impudently harangued the people, and told them that "if he had done +anything which were displeasant unto them, they ought to impute it unto +no man but unto themselves, who so irreverently used the Holy Supper of +the Lord unto so great idolatry, not without great ignominy unto the +church, violation of the sacrament, and the peril of their own souls, +except they repented." + +The Portuguese, entirely inexperienced in this kind of fanaticism, +thought that Gardiner must be a political agent, with designs on the +safety of the realm. As he would confess nothing of this sort, they put +him on the rack, in order to extract from him secrets of a seditious +nature. At length, as it was clear that heresy and sacrilege were the +crimes in which he exulted, they burned him as a heretic, he +maintaining, according to Foxe, his "godly mind" to the end, declaring +even in the flames that "he had done nothing whereof he did repent +him."* + +*Acts and Monuments, vi. 277; Cattley's ed. + + +Foxe incidently bears witness to the edifying manner in which the +Portuguese assisted at Mass, the people standing "with great devotion +and silence, praying, looking, kneeling, and knocking [beating their +breasts in token of compunction], their minds being fully bent and set, +as it is the manner, upon the external sacrament."* + +* Ibid. + + +The story of Bertrand Le Blas, the silk-weaver of Dornick who +signalised himself in the same riotous manner in 1555, is said to have +ended in the same way, Le Blas declaring "that if it were a thousand +times to be done he would do it; and if he had a thousand lives he +would give them all in that quarrel."* + +* Acts and Monuments, vi. 393. + + +But these are all ex pane statements of Foxe. He is thinking of nothing +but of pointing his own particular moral and of adorning his own tale. +Historically, his evidence is valueless unless supported by more +careful witnesses. He professes to chronicle the martyrdom at Newent, +on the 25th September 1556, of "John Horne and a woman"; but Deighton, +a friendly critic, pointed out that this story was nothing more or less +than an amplification of the burning of Edward Horne, which Foxe had +already recorded as having taken place on the 25th September 1558, and +that no woman suffered at either of these times. Such instances might +be pointed out ad infinitum. + +The detestation in which most Englishmen hold the names of Stephen +Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and of Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London, +is entirely owing to Foxe's calumnies. + +Although Gardiner had been deprived of his see for his belief in +Transubstantiation in Edward's reign, and had been sent to the Tower by +a court presided over by Cranmer, it is certain that he bore the +archbishop no ill-will, but even did his best to save Cranmer's life +and that of the other reformers who refused to conform to the old +religion which Mary had brought back. It was his duty as chancellor to +enforce the law of the land, in the matter of exterminating heresy, as +in all else, but he only once sat on a commission, gave Cranmer ample +opportunity to escape if he had so minded, furnished Peter Martyr with +funds to take him abroad, shielded Thomas Smith, King Edward's +secretary, from persecution on account of his heretical opinions, and +even allowed him a yearly pension of 100 pounds for his support.* Of +Gardiner's kindness to Roger Ascham, the latter said, "Stephen, Bishop +of Winchester, High Chancellor of England, treated me with the utmost +humanity and favour, so that I cannot easily decide whether Paget was +more ready to commend me or Winchester to protect and benefit me; there +were not wanting some, who, on the ground of religion, attempted to +stop the flow of his benevolence towards me, but to no purpose. I owe +very much to the humanity of Winchester, and not only I, but many +others also have experienced his kindness."** + +* Dictionary of National Biography, article, "Stephen Gardiner." + +** Epis. p. 51; Oxford ed., 1703. + + +One of the "many others" was John Frith, whom Gardiner did his best to +save from a painful death;* and even Northumberland would have escaped +had Gardiner's voice prevailed in the council. Again, Gardiner's +patriotism prompted him to oppose boldly the project of the queen's +marriage with Philip of Spain, seeing that it was distasteful to the +bulk of the nation; yet, when he recognised that it was inevitable, he +did his best to make it more popular. + +* Grenville, MS. 11,990; Letters and papers, 6,600. + + +For some reason known doubtless to himself, but quite unknown to +history, the martyrologist represents Gardiner as keenly desirous to +hear that the sentence passed on Latimer and Ridley had been carried +out. He says:-- + +"The same day, when Bishop Ridley and Master Latimer suffered at Oxford +[being about the 19 day of October], there came into the house of +Stephen Gardiner the old Duke of Norfolk, with the foresaid Master +Munday, his secretary, above named reporter hereof. The old aged duke, +there waiting and tarrying for his dinner, the bishop being not yet +disposed to dine, deferred the time to three or four o'clock at +afternoon. At length about four of the clock cometh his servant, +posting in all possible speed from Oxford, bringing intelligence to the +bishop what he had heard and seen; of whom the said bishop, inquiring +the truth of the matter, and learning by his man that fire most +certainly was set unto them, cometh out rejoicing to the duke. "Now," +saith he, "let us go to dinner." Whereupon they being set down, meat +immediately was brought, and the bishop began merrily to eat. But what +followed? The bloody tyrant had not eaten a few bits, but the sudden +stroke of God's terrible hand fell upon him in such sort, as +immediately he was taken from the table, and so brought to his bed in +such intolerable anguish and torments, that . . . whereby his body +being miserably inflamed within (who had inflamed so many good martyrs +before) was brought to a miserable end." + +Foxe relates this story at third hand, as was his wont, but it fitted +in so admirably with his favourite theory in regard to the temporal +judgments of God on miscreants--and Gardiner to his way of thinking was +certainly a miscreant of the first rank--that he could not afford to be +fastidious as to its veracity. For he must surely have known that "the +old Duke of Norfolk could not have dined with Gardiner on or about the +19th October 1555, having been in his grave since August 1553; and as +for "the sudden stroke of God's terrible hand," by which the Bishop of +Winchester was "brought to a miserable end," the following extract from +a letter of the Venetian ambassador, resident in England, to the Doge +and Senate, written on the 16th September 1555, gives a totally +different account of the illness from which Gardiner died on the 12th +November:-- + +"After the chancellor's return from the conference at Calais," writes +the Venetian chronicler of current events, "he fell into such a state +of appilation [sic] that besides having become [as the physicians say] +jaundiced, he by degrees got confirmed dropsy, and had it not been for +his robust constitution, a variety of remedies prescribed for him by +the English physicians having been of no use, he would by this time be +in a bad way, his physiognomy being so changed as to astound all who +see him. The Emperor had sent him the remedy he used when first +troubled with dropsical symptoms, on his return from the war of Metz, +which remedy cured him, and should God grant that it take the same +effect on the Bishop of Winchester, it will be very advantageous for +England, he being considered one of the most consummate chancellors who +have filled the post for many years, and should he die, he would leave +few or none so well suited to the charge as himself."* + +* Giovanni Michiel to the Doge and Senate, Calendar of State Papers, +Venetian, vol. vi., part. i., 215; edited by Rawdon Brown. + + +On the 21st October, the queen opened Parliament in person, and +Gardiner mortally ill, rose from the bed to which he had been for weeks +confined, in order to introduce a Bill for the granting of much needed +supplies to the Crown. Michiel, the Venetian envoy, continuing his +letter says:-- + +"After the Mass of the Holy Ghost, sung by the Bishop of Ely, and the +sermon preached by the Bishop of Lincoln, her Majesty proceeded into +the great hall, where, in the presence of all those officially +summoned, the Lord Chancellor, having rallied a little, choosing at +anyrate to be there, in order not to fail performing his office on this +occasion, made the usual proposal, stating the cause for assembling +Parliament, which was in short solely for the purpose of obtaining +pecuniary supply." + +Mary had succeeded to a treasury rich only in debt, and her need of +money to carry on the government was urgent. Gardiner made a long and +effective speech, the result of which was, that Parliament at once +voted a million of gold to be levied in two years from the laity, in +four from the clergy. But exhausted by his effort, and so weak that he +was unable to return to his own house, the dying chancellor was +accommodated at Whitehall where he met his end peacefully three weeks +later. He desired during his last days that the Passion of our Lord +Jesus Christ might be read to him, and when the reader came to the +contrition of St. Peter, Gardiner exclaimed, "Negavi cum Petro, exivi +cum Petro, sed nondum flevi amare cum Petro!" alluding to his weakness +and fall in Henry VIII's reign.* + +* Wardword, 43; Lingard, History of Fn,-land, vol. v., p. 243, note, +6th ed. + + +The view which Foxe presents of Bonner, Bishop of London, in the +administration of his office, is as distorted and malicious as his +libellous picture of Gardiner. The pages of the Acts and Monuments, +which describe Bonner's examination of those brought before him on +charges of heresy, teem with such picturesque epithets as "this bloody +wolf," the "Bishop was in a marvellous rage" or "in a great fury," but +when we read what Bonner really said, we find nothing to justify these +exaggerated expressions. + +On one occasion, when Bonner was supposed by the martyrologist to be in +such "a raging heat" that he appeared "as one clean void of humanity," +we read on, expecting to find some brutal and heartless words whereby +he crushed the meek spirit of the martyr before him. The scene was +Cranmer's degradation at Oxford, with which solemn and painful act +Bonner was charged; but the strongest words used by the bishop in +answer to Cranmer's continued protests and recriminations were, +according to Foxe himself, merely that " for his inordinate contumacy, +he denied him to speak any more, saying that he had used himself very +disobediently."* + +* Acts and Monuments vol v., p 765; Cattley's ed. + + +By Foxe's own showing, when brought before the bishops, the "marytrs" +frequently twitted their judges, gave them homethrusts and "privy +nips," and behaved themselves generally in a very provocative and +irritating manner. It is surprising, nevertheless, to find how very +seldom the examiners lost their tempers, bearing with a considerable +amount of insolence in a singularly good-humoured spirit, doing their +best to give the accused a chance of escape. Of the six who came under +Bonner's examination on the 8th February 1555, Foxe affirms that the +Bishop of London sentenced them the day after they were charged, and +killed them out of hand without mercy, "such quick speed these men +could make in dispatching their business at once"--a terrible +indictment if there were a shadow of truth in it. But Bonner not only +knew all about the six heretics long before the 8th February, three of +them having been in prison for months, where he had again and again +reasoned with them; but after sentence had been passed, an interval of +five weeks was the shortest respite granted to them for reflection +before any one of them was executed. The others suffered consecutively +on the 26th, 28th, and 29th March, the last of the six on the 10th June. + +With as little regard for truth did Foxe pen the remarkable distich, +which well served his purpose of villifying Bonner in the minds of his +confiding and credulous readers:-- + +This cannibal in three years' space three hundred martyrs slew, +They were his food, he loved so blood, he spared none he knew." + +Lingard estimates that about two hundred persons suffered for their +religious opinions during the reign of Mary. The fact is no doubt an +appalling one, and horrifies us with a sense of the barbarism that +prevailed so recently as three and a half centuries ago in England. But +when we consider the outrages of which numbers of them were guilty, the +danger which they constituted to the realm, we cannot help agreeing +with Cobbett when he says that "the real truth about these martyrs is +that they were generally a set of most wicked wretches who sought to +destroy the queen and her government, and under the pretence of +conscience and superior piety, to obtain the means of again preying +upon the people."* + +* History of the Reformation, edited by Abbot Gasquet, p. 207. + + +Moreover, portentous as the numbers appear to us, they are small +compared with those which represented Henry's ruthless severity after +the Northern Rising, when the whole country was covered with gibbets, +and with those of Elizabeth's victims who were hanged, cut down alive, +drawn and quartered, for practising the religion that had been taught +in England since it was a Christian country. Nor did the persecution of +Catholics cease at the death of Elizabeth, and the reigns of the Stuart +kings, the Commonwealth, and even the Hanoverian regime testify to the +cruel insistance with which Catholic priests were hunted to death, and +the Catholic laity imprisoned and impoverished for their loyalty to the +oldest faith of Christendom. + +Bonner had had nothing whatever to do with the revival of the statute +De Heresia, but good or bad, it was the law of the land, and he could +no more help sitting on the bench in his own diocese to examine +offences against it, than could any other judge refuse to sit in any +court over which he had jurisdiction. Of the two hundred who were +condemned on this statute during Mary's reign, about one hundred and +twenty were sent to Bonner's court for judgment, the city of London +being the centre and hot-bed of the new, revolutionary doctrines. Thus, +Foxe's assertion that "this cannibal three hundred martyrs slew," must +be reduced to nearly onethird of that number. His supposed thirst for +blood was also as much a lie as that other figment of the +martyrologist's brain which represented both Gardiner and Bonner as +having a violent personal grudge against those who were brought before +them for examination. Bonner, as well as Gardiner, laboured, and not +unsuccessfully in many instances, in causing heretics to recant, upon +which they were restored to liberty. + +A striking yet dispassionate portrait of Edmund Bonner, from the pen of +the late Dr. S. R. Maitland, one of the most scholarly and painstaking +historians of the last century, forms a vivid contrast to Foxe's +caricature of the Bishop of London. + +"Setting aside DECLAMATION, and looking at the DETAILS OF FACTS left by +those who may be called, if people please, Bonner's victims and their +friends, we find very consistently maintained the character of a man, +straightforward and hearty, familiar and humorous, sometimes rough, +perhaps coarse, naturally hot-tempered, but obviously [by the testimony +of his enemies] placable and easily entreated, capable of bearing most +patiently intemperate and violent language, much reviling and low abuse +directed against himself personally, against his order, and against +those peculiar doctrines and practices of his church, for maintaining +which he had himself suffered the loss of all things, and borne long +imprisonment. At the same time, not incapable of being provoked into +saying harsh and passionate things, but much more frequently meaning +nothing by the threatenings and slaughter which he breathed out, than +to intimidate those on whose ignorance and simplicity, argument seemed +to be thrown away; in short, we can scarcely read with attention any +one of the cases detailed by those who were no friends of Bonner, +without seeing in him a judge who [even if we grant that he was +dispensing bad laws badly] was obviously desirous to save the +prisoner's life."* + +* Essays on Subjects connected with the Reformation, by S. R. Maitland, +D.D., F.R.S., F.S.A., sometime librarian and keeper of the MSS. at +Lambeth, p. 423. + + +We have disposed at some length elsewhere of Foxe's shameless calumny +of Sir Henry Bedingfeld, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, and +custodian of the Princess Elizabeth at Woodstock when she was suspected +of connivance in Wyatt's rebellion. In espousing Elizabeth's cause, and +in casting aspersions on one who was responsible for her safe custody, +Foxe was but following his general plan of campaign, the not very +subtle plan of representing all those of his own party to be saints and +martyrs, the enemy deserving every abusive term that came to his facile +pen. This simple method attained its object probably beyond the wildest +dreams of its author. All along the ages the Protestant world has +believed implicitly in the fables invented by Foxe, and even in these +days of critical analysis, although innumerable experts have given him +the lie, the effect of his calumnies remain in the deeply rooted +prejudice of the nation.* Moreover, like every other succes de +scandale, the book brought a rich harvest to its author. He was almost +penniless when he returned to England in 1559, but the English version +of his work, first published in 1563, made his fortune. The Catholics +called it derisively Foxe's Golden Legend. In 1570 a second edition was +printed in two volumes folio, and Convocation decreed that the book, +designated by the canon as Monumenta Martyrum, should be placed in +cathedral churches, and in the houses of the great ecclesiastical +dignitaries. This decree, although never confirmed by parliament, was +so much in accordance with the Puritan tone of the whole Church of +England at that time, that even parish churches far and wide were +furnished with copies of the work, chained side by side with the Bible. +In the vestry minutes of St. Michael's Church, Cornhill, of 11th +January 1571-72, it is ordered "that the booke of Martyrs of Mr. Foxe, +and the paraphrases [of the gospel] of Erasmus [pace Erasmus] shalbe +bowght for the church and tyed with a chain to the Egle bras." A few +years ago, mutilated copies of the Acts and Monuments might still be +seen chained in the parish churches of Apethorpe (Northamptonshire), +Arreton (Isle of Wight), Chelsea, Eustone (Oxfordshire), Kniver +(Staffordshire), Lussingham (Norfolk), Stratford-on-Avon, +(Warwickshire) Waltham, St. Cuthbert (Wells);** also in that of +Lutterworth and many other places. At Cheddar not very long ago was a +great black-letter copy of the Acts and Monuments chained to the +reading desk, and it is stated in the Life of Lord Macaulay that as a +child, the sight of it used to fascinate him as he sat on Sunday +afternoons in the family pew, longing to get at the bewitching pages. + +* The late Dr. Littledale lecturing at Liverpool on Innovations in 1868 +said: "Two mendacious partizans, the infamous Foxe and the not much +more respectable Burnet have so overlaid all the history of the +Reformation with falsehood, that it has been well-nigh impossible for +readers to get at the facts," p. 16. And later on he refers to the Book +of Martyrs as "that magazine of lying bigotry," p. 21. + +** Dictionary of National Biography, article "John Foxe," + + +No more potent means could have been devised for saturating the +national mind with the principles of the Reformation than the diffusion +of the Book of Martyrs on this gigantic scale. In a few years there was +scarcely a parish church in England that did not possess a chained copy +of the work. The illiterate might frequently be seen standing in a +group round the lectern, while one among them better instructed than +the rest read to them aloud its graphic and lying legends. Added to +this, in many churches a chapter was read to the assembled +congregations every Sunday evening along with the Bible, and the clergy +constantly made its dubious martyrdoms the subject of their sermons. No +wonder that it assumed an importance equal to that of the Scriptures +themselves. One of the indictments against Archbishop Laud at his trial +was the fact that he had ordered it to be removed from some churches in +his diocese.* + +* Dictionary of National Biography, article "John Foxe." + + +The secret of its charm for Puritan England did not altogether lie in +its Anti-Marian character, or in the partisanship of its garbled facts +and fictitious heroisms. The simplicity of its vigorous English, the +picturesque though minute circumstances which it detailed, the very +boldness with which it lied, in league with the primary passions to +which it appealed, made it one of the most powerful engines in the +revolution that gradually changed the face of the whole country. Its +deadly work of destruction has been effectually accomplished, and it is +almost useless to attempt to convince a people into whose frame and +tissue its stories have been woven, that the Protestant Reformation in +which they so implicitly believe is but a fairytale for the invention +of which John Foxe is mainly responsible. Gairdner, in his History of +the English Church in the Sixteenth Century, a book of the very first +importance for any serious study of the period, has again and again +expressed his opinion of the worthlessness of the Acts and Monuments as +history; and the Rev. John Gerard* has been at the pains of collecting +the learned historian's remarks on Foxes compilation. He says: + +* In his pamphlet, John Fare and his Book of Martyrs, Catholic Truth +Society. + + +"But more damaging than any other is the criticism which Foxe receives +at the hands of Mr. James Gairdner, the fullness of whose knowledge is +matched only by the calm judicial manner in which he deals with the +martyrologist's stories as he encounters them in his own history. +Discussing each case on its merits, and giving full weight to the +evidence on either side, Mr. Gairdner finds charges of untruthfulness +and dishonesty established at every turn. Foxe, he declares, ignores or +misrepresents evidence that tells against him [p. 38]; he manipulates +it to suit his purpose [56]; he counts as martyrs offenders of all +kinds [129n]; he 'was above all things credulous' [131]; he tells +stories, the falsehood of which may be gathered from his own relation +[ibid]; he suppresses facts furnished by the authorities upon whom he +draws [133]; he insinuates what is utterly false [135]; he evidently +wishes his readers to understand what he does not venture openly to say +[220-21]; he prejudices readers by irrelevant gibes [271]; he has made +people believe what is untrue [333]; he was quite as prejudiced and +unfair as the notorious Bishop Bale [342]; his narrative has been +exposed as untrustworthy by reason of its bias, but has not even yet +been subjected to complete and thorough criticism [352]. In consequence +of all this, says Mr. Gairdner, Foxe has given a false colour to the +history of the times, and especially to the sentiments and motives of +the persecutors. ' It is quite untrue, as Foxe and his school have made +the world believe, that the authorities were savage or ferocious . . . +The burning of heretics was a barbarous old-fashioned remedy, but it +is not true that either the bishops or the government adopted it +without reluctance' [349, 355]. And again, a royal commission, issued +on 8th February 1557, is printed by Foxe with the title, `A bloody +commission given forth by K. Philip and Q. Mary to persecute the poor +members of Christ.' If we read the preamble, however, we find that it +was provoked by the assiduous propagation of a number of slanderous and +seditious rumours, along with which the sowing of heresies and +heretical opinions was merely a concurrent' [387]." + +Nevertheless, that the influence of Foxe is not by any means extinct in +our own day, is proved by the successive republications of his book +during the nineteenth century. In 1836 the plea for a new edition was +put forward in a letter to the editor of the Record in these astounding +terms:-- + +"When we consider the high character of the work for accuracy of +detail; its full exhibition of the Gospel in all its holy and +triumphant efficacy; the bulwark it has proved to our Protestant faith; +its peculiar seasonableness to meet all the fresh dangers from Popery +in the present times; and its intrinsic value, as forming a sound +standard of Reformation divinity, we find it an exercise of Christian +charity to call the public attention to it. We might further adduce the +imprimatur of our own Church, by her act of Convocation appending it to +all the ecclesiastical establishments in the land, as giving to Foxe's +work, an additional claim of regard." + +Between the years 1836-41, therefore, a new edition was published by +the Rev. S. R. Cattley, with a Life and Vindication of John Foxe, by +Prebendary Townsend of Durham. + +The Rev. Josiah Pratt reprinted it in 1846-49; another edition, +purporting to be corrected by the Rev. Josiah Pratt, the younger, +appearing in 1853. But the Life and Vindication had been so greatly +discredited in the attack made upon it by Dr. S. R. Maitland, that when +the Religious Tract Society published an edition of the Acts and +Monuments in 1877, mainly from the stereotype plates of that of 1853, +they thought it prudent to omit that part altogether, Dr. Stoughton, +one of the honorary secretaries of the Society, substituting an +Introduction, a work which is, however, as much open to criticism as +Townsend's. + +A cheap edition had already appeared in 1868 with a preface by the +Bishop of Carlisle in which his lordship said that:-- + +"The Convocation of the English clergy did wisely, when in the days of +Elizabeth, they enacted that every parish Church [sic] in this land +should be furnished with a copy of Foxe's Book of Martyrs." + +There is also an illustrated edition published by Messrs Cassell; and +the Religious Tract Society still continues to make the Acts and +Monuments the subject of a quiet but active propaganda in evangelical +interests, offering the book at a reduced price to students, teachers, +and public libraries, sometimes even presenting it as a free gift. + + + +IV. THE SPOILS OF THE MONASTERIES + +The great, perhaps the sole repositories of the early historical and +topographical records of England, Scotland, and Ireland, from the +introduction of Christianity until the introduction of printing, were +the monasteries. Throughout the middle ages these libraries were the +homes, in many instances the birthplaces of treasures which would have +been hopelessly lost or destroyed in those rough times but for the +shelter thus afforded them. The monks were constantly employed in +writing, copying, and ornamenting manuscripts, while State papers and +parliamentary rolls were deposited in their archives for safety. +Moreover, as they were known to be rich, and to care for such things, +books were brought to them from time to time for sale by those in need +of money. There was scarcely any religious house but had a library, and +many of them were very good ones. Some data have come down to us by +which we can form an estimate of their bulk and value. + +The books which St. Augustine brought with him from Rome, together with +those of Theodore, formed the nucleus of the well-known monastic +library at Canterbury. In the library at Peterborough there were no +fewer than 1700 MSS. That of the Grey Friars in London was 129 feet +long by 31 feet broad, and was well filled with books. That the Abbey +of Leicester and the Priory of Dover had no mean libraries appears from +the catalogues of their books yet remaining in the Bodleian. Ingulf +tells us that when the library at Croyland was burned in 1091, the +monks lost 700 books. The great library at Wells had twenty-five +windows on each side, a fact which gives us some notion of the space +required to contain all the volumes possessed by this monastery.* + +* Tanner, Nolitia Monastica, preface, p. xl., edited 1744. + + +In the English preface to Dugdale's Monasticon mention is made of the +"incredible number of books written by the monks," and it would be easy +to multiply illustrations of this kind, and to collect notes of the +indiscriminate destruction that took place at the dissolution of the +monasteries under Henry VIII., when the contents of these libraries +were sold as waste paper. + +"I know a merchant man," wrote Bale, Bishop of Ossory as quoted by +Leland, "which at this time shall be nameless, that bought the contents +of two noble libraries for forty shillings apiece. A shame it is to be +spoken. This stuff hath he occupied, instead of grey paper, by the +space of more than these ten years, and yet he hath store enough for as +many years to come. A prodigious example is this, and to be abhorred of +all men which love their nation as they should do. Yea, what may bring +our realm to more shame and rebuke than to have it noised abroad that +we are despisers of learning? I judge this to be true, and utter it +with heaviness, that neither the Britons under the Romans, nor yet the +English people under the Danes and Normans had ever such damage of +their learned monuments as we have seen in our time. Our posterity may +well curse this wicked fact of our age, this unreasonable spoil of +England's most noble antiquities." + +Centuries had been spent in collecting that which a few short months +had sufficed to scatter abroad, and Bishop Tanner also mentions with +sorrow the loss of a great number of excellent books, to the +unspeakable detriment of the learned world. + +For a time, this havoc of the monastic libraries went on unchecked, but +during the reign of Elizabeth a reaction set in, and there arose a +little knot of men who had the good sense to recognise the value of +these memorials of the past, and to treasure up what still remained; +and the next generation produced such men as Thomas Bodley, and Robert +Cotton. These were followed by others of kindred tastes, to whom more +golden opportunities of acquiring valuable treasure-trove were afforded. + +We shall confine ourselves here to the most illustrious of these +collectors, Sir Robert Cotton, whose library now forms the basis of the +national collection in the British Museum. + +The era of English libraries began with Matthew Parker's gift to Corpus +Christi College, Cambridge, a collection of books which has preserved +from destruction more materials relating to the civil and +ecclesiastical history of this country than had ever before been +gathered into one library. Fuller styled this munificent bequest "the +Sun of English antiquity, before it was eclipsed by that of Sir Robert +Cotton." + +Sir Thomas Bodley was one of the first men in Europe to conceive the +notion of a great public library, and the rich collection of books +which he made at Oxford on the ruins of Duke Humphrey's library, and +which he bequeathed to the University, is not merely of European, but +of world-wide celebrity. Living as he did at Oxford in a learned +atmosphere, he naturally turned his chief attention to Latin +manuscripts, while Cotton made English history his special study, and +was ever on the alert for material to throw fresh light upon its +annals. Hence the numerous Anglo-Saxon MSS. in his library, and the +splendid collection of State papers, relating to England, Scotland, and +France, contained in the dress marked Caligula, and in many other +places. + +Cotton and Bodley were good friends, and not only shared the same +tastes, but sympathised actively with each other's work. In 1595 Bodley +wrote to Cotton, asking him whether he held to his "old intention for +helping to furnish the Universitie librarie," and in 1601 he +acknowledges having received from Cotton a contribution of manuscripts +for that purpose. These manuscripts were eleven in number, the titles +of which may be seen in Smith's manuscript notes to his catalogue in +the Bodleian library. + +Bodley on his part was no less generous. A folio volume on vellum, +containing the four Gospels, the four Dialogues of St. Gregory, and +some other articles, the whole in Saxon, and consisting of 290 leaves, +was a part of his contribution to the Cottonian collection.* The +contents of this volume, as described by Wanley, show it to have been +of exceeding great value, but since his time twenty-five folios have +been lost. When Planta compiled his catalogue he affixed a note to the +effect that the manuscript was so burnt and contracted as to render the +binding of it impracticable, and that it was preserved in a case. Later +on it passed through the restoring hands of Sir Frederick Madden. + +* Otho, C. i. The notes furnished by Smith also prove the identity of +the Cotton MS. Otho, C. ix. with Bodley's gift. + + +Cotton was neither a great scholar, nor did he produce any original +work of special value, but he seems to have possessed the tact and the +taste to divine, and also encourage talents superior to his own, +thereby deserving no less well of his country than those who served her +with higher gifts. His friend Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, once +called him an "engrosser of antiquities." If we add that he did not +merely "engross," but that he liberally shared his acquisitions with +others, we shall perhaps best describe his special place and work in +the world of letters. To judge by his correspondence it would seem that +all the learned men in the kingdom applied to him for the loan of some +rare manuscript or other, and that hardly a scientific, political, +historical, or heraldic work was produced in the early part of the +seventeenth century, but owed something to his labours as an antiquary. + +Selden asks for a sight of his Peterborough books, his Book of Monies +his Historic Jorwallensis. Camden writes for a treatise on Heraldry, +and for a ledger of the Abbey of Meaux. George Carew, afterwards Earl +of Totness, needs his Chronicle of Peter the Cruel. Crashaw, the poet, +sends for volumes treating of the Council of Florence, and of the +excommunication of the emperor at the Council of Lyons. Sir John +Dodderidge, judge and antiquary, asks leave to keep Cotton's maps +(perhaps for his work "Of the Dimensions of the Land of England"). +Speed requires a note of all the monasteries in the realm, as well as +the Book of Henry IV., and craves help in his Life of Henry V., signing +himself "Your loving friend, troublesome and troubled." + +All these demands on Cotton's library and Cotton's liberality, together +with many more, may be seen in the collection of letters contained in +the volume, the press-mark of which is Julius C 3. + +The fame of the Cottonian library was great among the learned at the +beginning of the seventeenth century; in 1612 it was spoken of with +enthusiasm. The following letter from Edmund Bolton, poet and +antiquary, is, despite its somewhat florid and inflated style, a proof +of the high estimation in which the collection was held. + +"Sir,--The world sees that worthy monument of witt and learning* come +forth, but with honourable acknowledgements of special' helps from you. +But we that are somewhat privie to the truth of things, do also knowe +that without your assistance, it is in vain to pretende to weightie +works in the antiquities of +this kingdom. For your studie, if we respect the glories of saints +there carefully preserved in authentic registers, it is a Pantheon and +all Hallowes. If the memorials of the honourable deceased, it is a +mausolae. If the tables and written instruments of Empire, it is a +Capitol. If the whole furniture of Cyclopxdia, it is a mart. If matters +marine, it is an arsenal--if martial, a camp and magazine. Briefly it +is the Arck, where all noble things which the deluges of impious +vastitic and sacriligious furie have not devoured, are kept to bee the +seminaries of better plantations." + +* Probably a reference to Bacon's History of Great Britain under the +Conquests of the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans, published in 1611. + + +He goes on to compare Cotton's library with that of Paulus Jovius, the +pride and glory of Italy, which, he declares, "will seem perhaps little +better than a beauteous charnel-house, filled with skeletons, and the +rotten timbers of clay-built tenements dissolved into dust, by the side +of this exquisitely instructed studie." + +Exaggerated as this praise may seem, the fact remains that the +Cottonian collection was unique, and that scholars owed more to it than +to any other sources of information. There is no account of any visit +of Cotton's to the Continent, although in one of his early pamphlets +mention is made of his having visited Italy; but people were busy in +different parts of Europe seeking for what was valuable in the shape of +parchments and old coins, to add to his treasures. + +England was, however, at that time the best hunting-ground for +manuscripts, so short a time having elapsed since our great monastic +libraries had been scattered to the winds. Chronicles, chartularies, +State Papers, treaties, family pedigrees, documents of every kind were +floating about the country, often in the possession of strange owners, +almost always to be had for gold. To acquire these was Cotton's chief +delight from the age of eighteen; and as a natural consequence, this +taste surrounded him with learned friends. At his house at Westminster +the literati of the day were wont to meet. Josceline, Camden, Noel, +Speed, Sir John Davis, and others formed, together with himself, the +then Society of Antiquaries, which Matthew Parker had founded. + +But James I., although so great an amateur of antiquities, did not +regard the society with a favourable eye. He was eminently cautious, +and fancied that these meetings might lead to a political association, +and he accordingly suppressed them. + +In recognition, however, of Cotton's merit the king knighted him at his +coronation honours; he called him "cousin," and acknowledged his claim +to be descended from the Scottish family of Bruce. From that time +Cotton quartered the royal arms of Scotland with his own, and adopted +the name of Bruce, "not," says Collins in his Baronetage, "in arrogance +and ostentation, but in distinction to those of the name of Cotton of +other families . . . and in a grateful sense of the divine favour for +that extraction, and to excite an emulation in his issue to follow the +virtues of such glorious ancestors." His descent is clearly traced in +the history of Connington Castle in Huntingdonshire, which had been the +home of his family for centuries. The house had been rebuilt at various +times. When it came into Sir Robert Cotton's hands he completely +restored it, embellishing the north front with richly moulded arches +which he had purchased and brought from Fotheringhay Castle, together +with the room in which Queen Mary had been executed.* + +* Neale. Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen, vol. ii, for +Cotton's pedigree, see Julius F 8, f. 58b. + + +Cotton's friendship with Camden began at Westminster School, where +Cotton was educated--Camden being at that time second master. In the +last year of the century, the two friends made an antiquarian journey +into the North, where they explored the old Roman wall, built to keep +out the marauding Picts, and returned to Connington laden with +trophies. These were afterwards presented to Trinity College, +Cambridge, where they are still preserved. Camden's Britannia contains +more than one allusion to this journey. His History of Queen Elizabeth +was long supposed to be their joint work; and it is probable that, +although he only acknowledged the loan of autograph letters, the part +relating to Mary Queen of Scots was at least inspired by Cotton. It is +certain that Camden obtained nearly all his materials from his friend's +library. In one of his letters he speaks of Cotton as "the dearest of +all my friends"; and in this profession he was constant till his death, +directing in his will that Sir Robert should have the first view of his +books and manuscripts; "that he may take such as I borrowed of him;" +and then he goes on to bequeath to him his entire collection, except +his heraldic and ancient seals, which he left to the Herald's College. + +About the year 1614 it began to be whispered that Sir Robert Cotton had +unlawfully come by some of the State Papers in his library, and the low +murmurs soon grew into a loud argument to the effect that the Public +Record Office was injured " by his having such things as he hath +cunningly scraped together."* The general feeling of jealousy and +suspicion is expressed in the following extract from a contemporary +letter which was prompted by the fact that Arthur Agard, keeper of the +Public Records, had left his private collection to Cotton: + +* J. Wilson to Ambrose; Randolph State Papers, Dom. James I., 1615; R.O. + + +"The late Mr. Agard has left some manuscripts, the labour of most of +his life, including a book on the exemption of the Kings of England +from the power of the Pope, abstracts of treaties, and other State +matters, which Sir Robert Cotton claims, on pretext that they were left +to him by will; but he eras at the making of the will. It is important +that such things be kept in possession of the King's officers, as +otherwise they may be suppressed when most wanted."* + +* Dom. James I., vol. lxxxiii., 69; R.O, + + +After this, charge after charge was brought against Cotton, till the +life, that had so usefully been spent in the service of learning, +closed in sadness and gloom. James, however, whether he gave credence +to the accusations of enemies or not, never quite abandoned him. He +made him a member of the " new order of hereditary knights called +baronets," which Cotton had himself advised the king to create, as a +means of replenishing the State coffers, without burdening his subjects +with taxes. (The fee was fixed at 1000 pounds.) + +Disraeli, in his Curiosities of Literature, quoting from a Lansdowne +MS., says that it appeared, "by the manuscript book of Sir Nicholas +Hyde, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, from the second to the third +year of Charles I., that Sir Robert Cotton had, in his library, +records, evidences, ledger-books, original letters, and other State +papers belonging to the King; for the Attorney-General of that time, to +prove this, showed a copy of the pardon which Sir Robert had obtained +from King James for embezzling records, etc." + +James had the greatest regard for Cotton's historical acumen, and in +the last year of his reign he ordered that no more copies of the life +of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, should be published till Sir Robert +Cotton had enlarged it, and made it more authentic by the aid of two +ample histories which had lately come out.* The similarity of their +tastes always ensured a certain sympathy between the antiquary who was +also in some sense a Scotchman, being descended from the Bruces, and +the first Stuart King of England. But James's successor never took him +into favour, and henceforth there was little in his worldly prosperity +to divert him from his beloved library--a perennial source of joy to +him-till his enemies turned it into a weapon for his destruction. He +never ceased to add to it while he lived, and casual contributions +continued to flow in from various sources. + +* Secretary Conway to the Wardens, etc., of the Stationer's Company, +25th June 1624, Dom. James 1.; R.O. + + +Thus, in 1627, Sir James Ware sent a manuscript register of St. Mary's +Abbey, Dublin; and the year after Archbishop Ussher presented a +Samaritan Pentateuch (Claudius, B 8). Already in 1625 he had mentioned +this book in a letter to Cotton: + +"Touching the Samaritan Pentateuch, the copye which I have is (as I +guess) about three hundred years old, but the work itself commeth very +short of the tyme of Esdras and Malachy. I have compared the +testymonyes cited out of it by the ancient Fathers, Eusebius, Jerome, +Cyrill, and others, and find them precisely to agree with my booke, +which makes me highly to esteeme of it." + +In 1628 he writes apologetically for his long silence and his delay in +returning books lent to him by Cotton: + +"A farre longer time than good manners would well permitt, for which +fault yett I hope to make some kinde of expiation by sending you +shortlye, together with your own my ancient copye of the Samaritan +Pentateuch, which I have long since destinated unto that librarye of +yours, to which I have been beholden for so many good things no where +else to be found. I shall [God willing] ere long finish my collation of +it with the Hebrew text, and then hang it up ut votivam Tabulam at that +Sacrarium of yours." + +A correspondent, signing his letter Jo Scudamore, gave him a whole +edition of Chaucer "in a fair ancient written hand." This manuscript +has unfortunately disappeared from the collection. + +Nicholas Saunder sent a history by Helinandus, a Cistercian monk, +written in the time of William the Conqueror,* and many other donations +are recorded. + +* Claudius, B 9. The donor of this MS. was not the Nicholas Saunders so +well-known in Elizabeth's reign. + + +Of the constant activity going on in the formation of this wonderful +library, and of the great generosity with which the books were lent the +following letters are eloquent. Archbishop Ussher writes thus: + +"Worthy Sir,--I have received from you the history of the Bishops of +Durham, together with your ancient copies of the Psalmes, whereof that +which hath the Saxon interlineary translation inserted is the old +Romanum Psalterium, the other three are the same with that which is +called Gallicum Psalterium. But I have not yet received that which I +stand most in need of, to wit the Psalter in 8vo which is distinguished +with obeliskes and asteriskes. I pray you, therefore, send it unto me +by my servant, this bearer, as also the life of Wilfrid, written in +prose by a nameless author that lived about the time of Bede; the other +written in verse by Fredegodus I received from Mr. Burnett; together, +with William Malmsburiensis de vitis Pontificum Anglia et S. Aldhelmus. +Before you leave London I pray you do your best to get master Crashaw's +MS. Psalter conveyed unto me. I doubt not but before this time you have +dealt with Sir Peter Vanlore for obtaining Erpenius his Hebrew, +Syriach, Arabick, and Persian books, and the matrices of the letters of +the Oriental languages. If he interpose himself seriously herein, it is +not to be doubted, but he will prevayle before any other. But what he +doth he must do very speedilye, because the Jesuites of Antwerp are +already dealing for the Oriental presse, and others for the Arabick, +Syriac, Hebrew, and Persian bookes. It were good you took some order +before you went, how Sir Peter may signify unto you, when you are in +the countrye, what is done in this businesse. If he send to Mr. Burnett +at any time [who dwellith at the signe of the three swannes in Lombard +Streets he will finde some means or other to communicate what he +pleaseth unto me. I thank you very hartilye for the care which you have +taken in causing my Samaritan Bible to be so faire bound. I have given +order to Mr. Burnett to content the workman for his paynes, and so with +remembrance of my best affections unto yourself and the kinde ladye +your wife,* I committ both of you to God's blessed protection, and rest +your own most assured, + +"Ja Armachanus." + +* Sir Robert Cotton had married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of +William Brocas of Thedingworth, Leicestershire, by whom he had several +sons, the eldest Thomas, alone surviving him. + + +Sir Edward Dering writes in 1630: + +"Sir; I received your very welcome letter, whereby I find you abundant +in courtesies of all natures. I am a great debtor to you, and those +obligations likely still to be multiplied. As I confess so much to you, +so I hope to witnesse it to posterity. I have sent up two of your +bookes which have much pleasured me. I have here the charter of King +John, dated at Running Meade.* By the first safe and sure messenger it +is yours, so are the Saxon charters, as fast as I can copy them, but in +the meantime I will enclose King John in a boxe and send him. I shall +much long to see you at this place, where you shall command the heart +of your affectionate friend and servant, + +"E. Dering." +Dover Castle, May 10, 1630. + +* There are two original drafts of Magna Charta in the Cottonian +Library. + + +It would be extremely interesting were Cotton's own letters extant, to +have some account from his pen of the manner in which he came by many +manuscripts, the history of which is a blank to us from the time of the +dissolution of the monasteries till they found a safe haven in his +library. But his letters are very rare; two only have been preserved in +the Record Office. They are addressed to his brother, Thomas, in the +years 1623 and 1624, and they begin "Loving David," and end "Thy +Jonathon." One is much stained, and difficult to read; both treat of +political matters. + +In 1629 the origin of a seditious pamphlet, entitled, "How to bridle +the impertinency of Parliaments," which was handed about in London, +causing some commotion, was traced to the Cottonian library. In spite +of all that Cotton could put forward to exculpate himself, an order was +issued by the Privy Council for the sequestration of his books, on the +ground that they were not of a nature to be exposed for public +inspection. And this was not all. Once before he had been deprived of +access to them for a time, and now again he was himself debarred from +entering his own library, a privation which affected him so seriously, +that from the moment of sequestration his health visibly declined, and +he declared to his friends that they had broken his heart, who had +locked up his books from him. + +Disraeli, in his Amenities of Literature, says that, "Tormented by the +fate of a collection which had consumed forty years, at every personal +sacrifice to form it for 'the use and services of posterity,' he sank +at the sudden stroke. In the course of a few weeks he was so worn by +injured feelings that, from a ruddy-complexioned man, his face was +wholly changed into a grim blackish paleness, near to the resemblance +and hue of a dead visage." + +Cotton made two separate petitions to have his rights over his own +property restored. In the first he signified to the Privy Council that +their detaining his books without rendering any reason for the same had +been the cause of the mortal malady from which he suffered. In the +second, in which his son joined, he merely complained that the +documents were perishing for lack of airing, and that no one was +allowed to consult them. The Lord Privy Seal was at last sent to him +with a tardy message from the king, but too late to avail him anything. +Within half an hour of his death the Earl of Dorset came to condole +with his son, now Sir Thomas Cotton, bearing the somewhat ambiguous +assurance that, "as his Majesty loved his father, so he would continue +his love to him." Sir Robert Cotton died on the 6th May 1631, and was +buried at Connington. Long afterwards it was discovered that the author +of the fatal pamphlet, that had done so much to kill him, was Sir +Robert Dudley, who had written it when in exile at Florence. + +Before tracing the subsequent history of the Cottonian library we will +pause and consider some of the most important manuscripts which it +contained at the death of its famous originator. + +It has been said that he turned his attention largely towards +collecting materials for every period of English history. Those +materials are particularly rich as regards the Anglo-Saxon period. + +Beginning chronologically we find here (in Vitellius, A 15) the story +of Beowulf, the oldest monument of AngloSaxon literature, reaching back +into the ages of heathendom. It is a pagan war-song which, in being +handed down from minstrel to minstrel, has lost nothing of its wild, +exultant beauty, while it has received many Christian inflexions from +the bards of a better religion than that in which it was originally +conceived, through whose minds it passed before being committed to +parchment. When the Saxons had embraced Christianity they carefully +weeded out from their national poetry all allusion to personages of +pagan mythology, so that, in an antiquarian sense, their literature +suffered. But the forcible and picturesque imagery of half-barbaric +tribes still remained. The coarseness of the beer-hall is, however, +subdued by the gold and silken embroideries with which it is adorned. +In a vivid description of a battle, in the midst of lurid flames, of +blood and carnage, the enemy is "put to sleep with the sword." When a +hero dies in peace, "he goes on his way." + +The poem of Beowulf has been variously edited. It was first noticed by +Wanley, in his catalogue of Saxon MSS. in 1705. It was printed with a +Latin translation by Thorkelin, at Copenhagen, in 1815. Conybeare, in +his Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, points out several errors into +which the Dane, Thorkelin, and the Englishman, Turner fell; and Thorpe, +in his Anglo-Saxon Poems of Beowulf, differs from all preceding +editors, who considered the heroes as mythical beings of a divine +order, he suggesting that they were kings and chieftains of the North, +within the pale of authentic history.* This opinion had been shared by +Kemble, but under the influence of Grimmperhaps the greatest authority +on these matters--he ended by regarding the poem as mythic. Later +critics have, however, considered that it deals with historical persons. + +* Preface, p. xvii. + + +Only secondary to the romance of Beowulf must once have been the +fragment of a poem on the death of Beorhtnoth.* It was printed by +Hearne in the appendix to his edition of Johannis Glastoniensis +Chronicon, but without a translation. + +* Formerly Otho A 12, in the Cottonian Library; the original perished +in the fire of 1731. + + +"It constitutes," says Conybeare, "a battle-piece of spirited +execution, mixed with short speeches from the principal warriors, +conceived with much force, variety, and character; the death of the +hero is also very graphically described. The whole approximates much +more nearly than could have been expected to the war-scenes of Homer." + +Of the poem of Judith, one of the finest specimens of Anglo-Saxon +songs, a fragment is preserved in the same volume which contains the +story of Beowulf. + +The type of the Anglo-Saxon poets in Christian times is Caedmon, whom +Professor George Stephens called "the Milton of North England in the +seventh century," and who, according to the legend told by Bede, being +singularly unblessed with the power of song, received the gift +miraculously in sleep. He is represented in the Cottonian library only +by a few prayers in Anglo-Saxon (Julius, A 2) which Junius printed from +this MS. at the end of his edition of Caedmon's paraphrase. The +interesting collection, which goes by Caedmon's name in the Bodleian +library, is a series of pieces on Scriptural subjects, with beautifully +painted illustrations. + +A manuscript of the tenth century (Cleopatra, B 13) contains a short +hymn on the conversion of the AngloSaxons; and in the same volume is a +life of St. Dunstan. + +Two important volumes (Tiberius, B 5, and Titus, D 27), one of which +appears to have been written for the use of nuns, formed part of the +material for a history of mathematics in England, during the Middle +Ages.* + +* Rara Mathematica from inedited MSS., by J. O. Halliwell. + + +Alcuin and Aldhelm were the chief Anglo-Latin poets. Some of Alcuin's +letters are to be found in this collection. St. Aldhelm, Abbot, +afterwards Bishop of Malmesbury, was regarded by King Alfred as the +prince of Anglo-Latin poets. His chief work, The Praises of Virginity, +is at Cambridge, but his metrical treatise on the monastic life and one +of his letters are here preserved. + +Alfred is well represented in his Laws, and in his Saxon versions of +Augustine's soliloquies. + +Of the works of the venerable Bede we have the Ecclesiastical History, +the Life and Miracles of St. Cuthbert, and nine other manuscripts. + +It was probably between 1615 and 1621 that Sir Robert Cotton became +possessed of the celebrated manuscript known as the Utrecht Psalter. +Its early history is obscure, and experts have differed widely as to +its probable date and origin. Sir Thomas Hardy, who summarised its +contents, and drew up a report upon the intrinsic arguments in favour +of its remote antiquity, called attention to the fact that it could not +have been written in England, because it contains certain liturgical +pieces which were not in use in this country, at the time assigned for +its age by other internal evidence. He suggested that it was brought +into England by the Christian princess, Bertha, daughter of Charibert +the Frankish king, who became the queen of Ethelbert. He based this +supposition on the costliness of the manuscript which would point to +its having belonged to a royal personage. He next considered the +probability that this Psalter was presented by Queen Bertha to the +monastery of Reculver, in Kent, where the king had built a new palace, +and where Bertha attended the services of her religion, Hardy drew this +inference from the coincidence that at the time when the volume came +into Cotton's hands there was bound up with it a charter, recording the +gift of certain lands by Lothair, King of Kent, to Bercwald, Abbot of +Reculver, and to his monastery. The charter is dated Reculver, May 7, +679, and it seems to have been the custom in smaller monasteries to +place royal and other charters inside valuable books for preservation, +in default of any more suitable depository. This charter, which Cotton +took to be an original document, he separated from the Utrecht Psalter, +preserving it in another part of his library. It is still to be found +where he placed it (in Augustus, B 2). + +Mr. Birch, however, disposed summarily of Sir Thomas Hardy's ingenious +theory, and pronounced Cotton's opinion that the charter was an +original document, as not worth much. After giving all the evidence for +and against the probability of Queen Bertha, having presented the +Psalter to Reculver Abbey, he showed reasons for the charter being a +copy of the original, and for its having been made at Christ Church, +Canterbury, a religious house very closely allied to Reculver, which +was secularised centuries before the dissolution of the monasteries by +Henry VIII. + +But the most recent authority on illuminated manuscripts, Sir Edward +Maunde Thompson, considers that the actual date of the Utrecht Psalter +may be placed about the year 800, and he maintains with Sir Thomas +Hardy, judging by internal palaeographical evidence, that without +doubt, the manuscript is of Frankish workmanship, and he assigns its +origin to the north, or north-east of France.* This carries us back to +Queen Bertha and Cotton's suggestion that she brought the book over +with her. + +* See a Paper on English Illuminated Manuscripts, A.D. 700-1066, by +Mr., now Sir Edward Maunde Thompson, Bibliographica, part ii., London +Kegan & Co. + + +Shortly after the suppression of Christ Church, which, in all +probability, inherited the treasures of Reculver, the Utrecht Psalter, +together with its incorporated charter, fell into the hands of the +Talbot family; and in Mr. Bond's report on the manuscript he said that +the name Mary Talbot could, with some difficulty, be deciphered on the +lower margin of folio 60b, in a sixteenth century hand. Various +suggestions have been made in regard to this name, but in Mr. Birch's +opinion--and here there is good reason for following him--it belonged +to the wife or daughter of "Master Talbot of Norwich, a most ingenious +and industrious antiquary." He made a collection of rare manuscripts, +most of which are now in Corpus Christi College at Cambridge, and it +was from this collection that the Utrecht Psalter passed into Sir +Robert Cotton's possession, but whether by gift or purchase is not +recorded. + +The manuscript is entered in the catalogue of the library written by +Cotton himself in 1621, under the press-mark Claudius C 7, but it is +not to be found in any subsequent catalogue. An entry occurs among the +Notes of such books as haze been lent out by Sir Robert Cotton to +divers persons, and are abroad in their hands att this daye, the 15th +of January 1630, which entry is to the effect that the Psalter was lent +"to my lord the Earle of Arundel." Birch gave it up as lost to the +Cotton library from the time that it passed into Lord Arundel's hands; +but he must have been unaware of the existence of Smith's own copy of +his printed catalogue, which contains his manuscript notes of books +borrowed from the Cotton collection, and in which these words are +written "Borrowed by Mr. Ashmole, on the 17th February 1673, Claudius, +C. 7." Smith's folio catalogue, published in 1696, has the word Deest, +marking its absence from the library. Nothing further can be discovered +till 1718, when the book appears to have become the property of +Monsieur de Ridder, a Dutchman, who presented it to the University of +Utrecht where it still remains.* Sir Robert Cotton's signature is on +the first page. + +*The History, Art, and Paleography of the Utrecht Psalter, by W. de +Gray Birch, F.R.S.L., Keeper of the Manuscripts in the British Museum. + + +The great charm of this manuscript, a facsimile of which is to be seen +in the Cottonian library, lies in its pen-and-ink illustrations, as +forcible and appealing as are the scenes of the Last judgment on the +walls of the Campo Santo at Pisa. Among the Harleian MSS., moreover +(No. 603), there is an illuminated Psalter so like it, that it seems +impossible that the artist should not have had the Utrecht Psalter +before him as he drew; unless, as Sir Edward Thompson supposes, the +older manuscript is itself a copy of a still more ancient one, which +leads him to infer that other versions of this Psalter were in +existence in England at an early date. This would account also for the +Eadwine Psalter at Cambridge, a twelfth-century imitation of the +Harleian manuscript. Neither of these Psalters can be described as an +absolute copy of the Utrecht Psalter. + +We are here led to deplore the loss of another valuable manuscript of a +totally different kind, which, although not in the collection at the +time of Sir Robert's death, once belonged to this library, and was lost +in the same way. We refer to to the "Enconium Emmae" an eleventh +century MS. which Cotton sent to Duchesne, and which the latter used in +writing his Historiae Normanorum, but never returned. It has entirely +disappeared. + +We now come to what is perhaps the noblest monument of Anglo-Saxon +times in the Cottonian library--namely, the famous Lindisfarne Gospels +also known as the Durham Book, a marvel of palaeographic art. It is +indisputably the finest production of the school of Lindisfarne. The +Latin text, written in double columns, was transcribed by Eadfrith, +Bishop of Lindisfarne, while still a simple monk, in honour, some say +for the use, of St. Cuthbert. It was finished after the saint's death, +at the end of the seventh, or beginning of the eighth century. This we +learn from intrinsic evidence, in the form of a brief note in +Anglo-Saxon at the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew, and a longer one +at the end of the volume. These notes have thus been translated by Mr. +Waring:--* + +* Prolegomena, Lindisfarne, and Rushworth Gospels, part iv. + + +"Thou, O living God, bear in mind Eadfrith and Aethelwald, and +Billfrith and Aldred, the sinner. These four with God's help were +employed upon (or busied about) this book." + +And-- + +"Eadfrith, Bishop over the Church of Lindisfarne, first wrote this book +in (honour of) God and St. Cuthbert, and all the company of saints in +the Island; and Aethelwald, Bishop of Lindisfarne, made an outer cover, +and adorned it as he was well able; and Billfrith, the anchorite, he +wrought the metal-work of the ornaments on the outside thereof, and +decked it with gold, and with gems, overlaid also with silver and +unalloyed metal; and Aldred, an unworthy and most miserable priest, by +the help of God and St. Cuthbert, over-glossed the same in English, and +domiciled himself with the three parts. Matthew, this part for God and +St. Cuthbert; Mark, this part for the bishop; and Luke, this part for +the brotherhood; with eight ora of silver (as an offering) on entrance; +and St. John's part for himself--i.e., for his soul; and (depositing) +four silver ora with God and St. Cuthbert, that he may find acceptance +in heaven through the mercy of God; good fortune and peace on earth, +promotion and dignity, wisdom and prudence through the merits of St. +Cuthbert. + +"Eadfrith, Ethelwald, Billfrith, and Aldred have wrought and adorned +this Book of the Gospels for (love of) God and St. Cuthbert." + +Old as it is, neither vellum nor illumination shows the least sign of +decay. The writing is exquisitely beautiful, and points to a degree of +refinement and cultivation which we do not usually associate with a +rough life, such as was led by the monks of sea-girt Lindisfarne. There +are to be seen wonderful initial letters, geometrical and tesselated +designs, like the most delicate and intricate mosaics, and above all, +beautifully devout representations of the four evangelists, all +evidently drawn by the same loving and reverent hand, and the whole +colouring as fresh now as if it had been painted yesterday. + +The evangelists, each accompanied by the symbolic animal, usually +assigned to him, occupy nearly the whole of their respective pages. +They are taken from Byzantine models, of which, as Westwood points out, +nothing remains but the attitudes, the fashion of the dress and the +form of the seats. There can be little doubt that these illuminations +were copied from a MS. brought into England by the missionaries sent +from Rome by St. Gregory in the seventh century. + +* Facsimiles of the Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-Saxon and Irish +Manuscripts. P. 35. + + +Sir Edward Thompson, following Dom Germain Morin,* shows that the +Capitula, or tables of sections which accompany each gospel are +according to the Neapolitan use, and that Adrian, the companion of the +Greek, Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury in his mission to Britain in +668, was abbot of a monastery in the Island of Nisita, near Naples. + +* See his articles in the Revue Benedictine line, Nov. and Dec. 1891, +pp. 481 and 529. + + +Bede tells us that these missionaries were both at Lindisfarne, and Sir +Edward Thompson gives it as his opinion that the Neapolitan MS. from +which the Durham Book or Lindisfarne Gospel derived its text, had been +brought a few years previously from Naples by the Abbot Adrian.* + +* English Illuminated Manuscripts," Bibliographica," part ii. + + +The interlineary Saxon gloss was a later addition by the monk, Aldred, +and Billfrith, as we have seen, made the sumptuous metal cover. This +binding, needless to say, has long since disappeared, and for many +years a shabby morocco covering replaced the gorgeous shrine in which +the monks of Holy Island had deposited their treasure. About sixty +years ago, Bishop Maltby of Durham, at the suggestion of Mr. John +Holmes, provided a worthy substitute, the design for which was copied +from one of the ornamented pages in the book itself. + +This magnificent manuscript has been published by the Surtees Society, +together with the very inferior Rushworth Gospels, but only one +illumination has been reproduced.* + +* The Lindisfarne Gospels or Durham Book is described in Planta's +Catalogue (Nero, D 4), as "Liber praeclarissimus, elegantissimis +characteribus et curiosissimus pro istius seculi arte picturis et +delineationibus ornatus." See also Wanley's Catalogue, Codd. MS. +(Anglo-Sax.) p. 250. + + +Of absolutely authentic history there is little to relate concerning +this celebrated manuscript, but Simeon of Durham, or rather Turgot, +whose account he copied (and both men lived in the neighbourhood), is +responsible for a story which says that it remained at Holy Island till +the ravages of the Danes forced the monks to fly, carrying with them +their two greatest treasures, the body of St. Cuthbert, and this +volume. But in their flight across the narrow strip of sea which +divides the Island from the coast of Northumbria, their boat was thrown +so much on one side that the book fell overboard. They arrived safely +on the opposite shore, but could not make up their minds to continue +their journey till they had done what they could to recover the +precious relic. So they waited at the peril of their lives till the +tide went out, leaving, as it does to this day, a stretch of bare sand +between the Island and the mainland. To the inexpressible joy of the +monks, they then found the book lying unharmed on the sand. + +Archbishop Eyre, in his Life of St. Cuthbert, following the story as it +is contained in the Rites of Durham,* places this incident in the sixth +or seventh year of their wanderings. + +* Surtees Society. + + +"And so, the bishop, the abbot, and the rest, being weary of +travelling, thought to have stolen away, and carried St. Cuthbert's +body into Ireland, for his better safety. And being upon the sea in a +ship, by a marvellous miracle three waves of water were turned into +blood. The ship that they were in was driven back by the tempest and by +the mighty power of God as it would seem, upon the shore or land. And +also the said ship that they were in, by the great storm and strong +raging walls of the sea as is aforesaid, was turned on the one side, +and the Book of the Holy Evangelists fell out of the ship into the +bottom of the sea." + +This account says that the monks found the volume about three miles +from the shore, and that their landing-place was Whithorn in Galloway, +opposite Belfast. + +When Lindisfarne became a priory cell to Durham, this famous manuscript +still remained in the city of St. Cuthbert, and in the History of North +Durham by Raine, it is mentioned in the year 1637, as "the Book of St. +Cuthbert which had fallen into the sea." We, indeed, notice a brown +stain on several of its leaves, which might be accounted for by their +having been saturated with salt water, did we but know what would be +the effect of a sea-water mark after so long a period. At the time of +the dissolution it was still at Durham, and no record of what then +befel it has been preserved.* + +* Brayley's Graphic and Historical Illustrator, 1834; article "The +Durham Book," by the Rev. Joseph Stevenson. + + +Sir Robert Cotton discovered it in the possession of Robert Bowyer, +clerk of Parliament under James I. + +The resemblance between the artistic and palaeographic peculiarities of +the Book of Kells and the Durham Book is accounted for by the fact that +Lindisfarne was founded from Iona, which had been given to St. Columba +and his Irish companions in the sixth century. The monks, who settled +at Holy Island, continued the Scoto-Irish traditions which they had +brought with them, and perpetuated them in their manuscripts. + +A brief notice of one other remarkable MS. may be made. It is to be +found in the press Claudius, B 4, and a careful description of it is +given by Westwood in his Palaeographia Sacra Pictoria, and in his +Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-Saxon and Irish MSS. An early +tradition declares it to be one of the volumes sent to St. Augustine by +Pope Gregory. However that may be, it is known as the Augustine +Psalter, and the style of its ornamentation is of Roman origin. This +ornamentation consists of initial letters in the Celtic manner; but +gold, which was hardly ever used in the Lindisfarne school, and never +in Irish MSS., is here seen in profusion, and this detail betrays a +foreign influence. It belonged to the Abbey of St. Augustine at +Canterbury, and may be a copy executed in that house of one of the +books sent from Rome. + +The Paraphrase of the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua, by Elfric, the +grammarian, in this collection, is the finest known copy of the work. +It is ornamented with 397 drawings, illustrating the text of the early +books of the Bible. The largest miniature represents the building of +the Tower of Babel. + +The Psychomachia of Prudentius is very beautifully written in red and +black ink. There are 83 drawings. A replica of this manuscript, which +belonged to the monks of Malmesbury, is now at Cambridge. + +Scarcely less interesting historically, than the Lindisfarne Gospels is +the Book of the Benefactors of Durham Cathedral. Their names are +written in alternate lines of bold and silver, the binding being also +originally of gold and silver, to which fact a Latin couplet in verse +testifies. As time went on it was carelessly kept by the monks of +Durham, but entries were made up to the eve of the dissolution of the +monastery. The book has been published by the Surtees Society under its +name of Liber Vitae, and edited by the Rev. Joseph Stevenson who also +wrote a preface. The meaning of Liber Vitae was that the fact of the +benefactor's name being inscribed in this book was coupled with the +hope and the prayer that the same name might at last find a place in +the Book of Life, in which those are enrolled, who shall be faithful +unto death.* Later on it became a sort of memorandum-book, in which +together with the names of benefactors, was entered a brief account of +the nature of their donations. Copies of charters were also inserted, +and other matters of an historical character. + +* Preface to the published volume, p. 8. + + +As far as folio 42, it is written in a beautiful ninth century hand, +but from this point onwards, the gold and silver lines are omitted, and +it is continued in varied and less elegant writing. This manuscript +remained at Durham till the dissolution, and it is not known what then +became of it, nor in what manner it passed finally into the Cottonian +library. It is thus quaintly described: + +"There did lie on the High Altar an excellent fine book, very richly +covered with gold and silver, containing the names of all the +benefactors towards St. Cuthbert's Church, from the very original +foundation thereof, the very letters of the book being for the most +part all gilt, as is apparent in the said book till this day. The +laying that book on the High Altar did show how highly they esteemed +their founders and benefactors; and the quotidian remembrance they had +of them in the time of Mass and divine service. And this did argue not +only their gratitude, but also a most divine and charitable affection +to the souls of their benefactors as well dead as living, which book is +yet extant, declaring the said use in the inscription thereof." * + +* The Ancient Rites and Monuments of the Monastical and Cathedral +Church of Durham, collected out of ancient manuscripts about the time +of the Suppression. + + +These examples may suffice as a glimpse into the nature of this +treasure-house, but where so much is rare and costly, it is not easy to +make a selection that shall be fairly representative. + +With regard to the peculiar designation of the places occupied by the +books, Sir Robert Cotton arranged them in fourteen presses, each press +being surmounted by a bust of one of the twelve Roman emperors, the two +last supporting those of Cleopatra and Faustina. The contents of each +press were placed in boxes or portfolios, or were bound up in volumes, +each box, portfolio, or volume being designated by a letter of the +alphabet, each document having a special number. + +After the death of its founder the library remained for some time in +sequestration, to the great annoyance of the new baronet, Sir Thomas +Cotton, who complained bitterly that he was shut out from his study, +the best room in his house. A schedule was at length drawn up, +consisting of a large vellum roll still extant in the collection, +showing that it contained nothing that did not belong to him, and +ultimately he gained admission. + +Sir Symond D'Ewes made no secret of his opinion that Sir Thomas was +"wholly addicted to the tenacious increasing of his worldly wealth, and +altogether unworthy to be master of so inestimable a library." We +cannot altogether agree with this verdict, since Sir Thomas avenged +himself by lending D'Ewes his father's collection of coins; and it is +but fair to add that he appears in general to have been no less +liberal, one might almost say careless, in lending than his father. +Rancour may, however, have set in later on, for Dugdale, writing to +D'Ewes in 1639 says, "I am in despair to obtain the books of Sir Thomas +Cotton which you desire." Richard James, librarian, fell under the same +condemnation as his master, for D'Ewes describes him as "a wretched +mercenary fellow." + +Sir Thomas Cotton died in 1662, and was succeeded by his eldest son, +John, who was somewhat of a scholar. Some respectable Latin verses +written by him occur among Smith's MSS. at Oxford. He married Dorothy, +daughter and coheiress of Edmund Anderson, of Stratton in Bedfordshire, +and it appears that during the civil war the library was removed to +that place for greater safety. This was the beginning of its wanderings +and vicissitudes, which lasted nearly a hundred years. + +The first regular catalogue of the Cottonian library was made and +printed at Oxford by Dr. Thomas Smith in 1696. This catalogue is +defective in many ways, especially as regards State Papers and detached +tracts, of which there are no fewer than 170 volumes, which are here +severally entered under one head only, although they each contain on an +average as many as a hundred separate documents on different subjects. +Dugdale, who was allowed to make what use he liked of the library, +discovered 80 of these volumes in loose bundles, and had them bound. +But they were still practically useless for want of proper descriptions +and indices, till Planta, keeper of the MSS. in the British Museum, +published his descriptive catalogue in 1802. Although not without +faults, it has never been superseded. + +It is to the third baronet that we are mainly indebted for the +magnificent project of bequeathing the Cottonian library to the nation. +He died in 1702, before the final steps had been taken in this +direction; but his grandson and immediate successor carried out his +wishes which had also been those of his father and grandfather. + +The statute, drawn up in the year 1700 (12 and 13 William III.) is +entitled, "An Act for the better settling and preserving the library +kept in the house at Westminster, called Cotton House, in the name and +family of the Cottons for the benefit of the public." + +The next step was to have the books carefully inspected, and compared +with Smith's catalogue, now found to be inadequate. Many of the +manuscripts were reported to be in a state of decay, the place where +they were kept not being suitable. In 1706, Sir Christopher Wren was +commissioned to fit up the study for public use, but he declared that +Cotton House was in a ruinous condition; and in consequence of his +report, in the following year, another Act of Parliament decreed that +to increase the public utility of the library, Cotton House should be +purchased of Sir John Cotton for 4500 pounds, and a new building +erected for the collection of books. Still, nothing was done, till the +house, actually threatening to tumble down, the books were removed to +Essex House, in the Strand, where they remained for twenty-eight years. +In 1730, Ashburnham House, Westminster, was purchased by the nation for +the reception of the Cottonian, together with the Royal library. It was +here, in 1731, that the terrible fire broke out in which so many +valuable manuscripts were destroyed. + +At about 2 o'clock in the morning of the 23rd October, Dr. Bentley, the +librarian, and his family, who lived at Ashburnham House, were roused +from sleep by a suffocating smoke which soon afterwards burst into +flames. The outbreak was caused by a wooden mantelpiece taking fire, in +the room immediately under the two libraries. It was at first hoped +that the flames might be extinguished by throwing water upon the +woodwork of the room actually on fire, so that they did not begin to +remove the books as soon as they should have done. But seeing that this +was useless, Mr. Casley, deputy librarian, hastened to rescue the +famous Alexandrian MS. in the Royal library, and the books in the +Cottonian press named Augustus, as being considered the most valuable. +These are principally charts, maps, grants, and papal bulls, all +relating to early English history. Several of the presses were then +removed bodily, but as the fire spread with alarming rapidity, and +there was a delay in the arrival of the engines, it was discovered none +too soon, that the backs of some of the presses were on fire. Then the +books were seized and thrown out of windows, after which they were +carried into Westminster School and the Little Cloisters. By permission +of the Dean and Chapter they subsequently found a temporary home in a +new building that had been erected as a dormitory for the school. + +A committee was at once appointed by the House of Commons to inquire +into the amount of injury sustained. It was found that a great number +of manuscripts had suffered from the engine-water, as well as from +fire, and the report of the commissioners stated, that out of 958 +volumes of MSS. 746 were unharmed, and 98 partially injured. + +The press named Otho had suffered the most. In the table drawn up by +Casley in his appendix to the Royal library, not one volume in Otho is +seen to be intact; 16 are marked defective, 55 as lost, burnt, or +defaced so as not to be distinguishable. Vitellius was the next +greatest sufferer, 46 volumes being preserved, 28 defective, and 34 +seriously damaged. Vespasian, with its fine collection of historical +materials for the history of England and Scotland, its dramas in Old +English verse, and the famous Coventry Mystery Plays and others happily +escaped altogether.* Casley's figures differ slightly from those of the +commissioners: out of a total of 958 volumes, he notes 748 as +uninjured, 99 as defective, and 111 as lost, burnt, or defaced. + +* Narrative of the Fire which happened at Ashburnham House, 23rd +October 1731. Report of the committee appointed by the House of Commons. + + +On the 1st November the work of restoration began, and was carried out +by Bentley, Casley, three clerks from the Record Office, a bookbinder, +and others. The Speaker of the House of Commons was frequently present. +Some of the MSS. inclined to mildew were dried before a fire. Some +would have rotted if they had not been taken out of their bindings, so +thoroughly had the water permeated. The paper books which had received +stains were taken to pieces and plunged into the softest cold water +that could be procured, and when the stains disappeared they were put +into alum and water, and then hung upon lines to dry. + +The best means of stretching vellum to its original dimensions, after +it has been shrivelled and contracted, had not at that time been +discovered, but the restorers did what they could. It was first +softened in cold water, then those leaves, which had become glued +together by the heat melting all kinds of extraneous matter, were +separated by means of an ivory cutter, and the glutinous substances +carefully removed with the fingers, the parchments smoothed with the +palm of the hand, and their backs pressed with a clean flannel. +Fragments were also carefully cleaned and preserved, and upon many of +these with which the original restorers could do nothing, Sir Frederick +Madden afterwards worked wonders. By his method, 100 volumes were +repaired on vellum, and 97 on paper. + +Among these mutilated fragments was the priceless fourth century +manuscript of Genesis, Otho, B 6, which was thought to have been taken +abroad as it could not be found after the fire. For a while it was +given up as irrevocably lost, but Sir Frederick Madden discovered the +much burnt remains and pieced them together. This Book of Genesis was +at one time thought to be the oldest Greek MS. in England. It is now +known that the four leaves of the gospel in Greek, Titus, C 15, are as +old or even older. The Oxford librarian, Thomas James, wrote in the +beginning of the volume that it was brought into this country by two +Greek bishops as a present to Henry VIII. They told him that according +to an old tradition it had belonged to Origen, and there was nothing in +the text to make the supposition incredible. This, if true, would carry +the manuscript back 1500 years at least, with a possibility of its +being much more ancient. It had been the subject of a dispute in the +time of the first Sir John Cotton, when it was supposed to have been +lost. All at once it was discovered in the possession of Lady Stafford, +who stoutly maintained that it had belonged to the late earl, her +husband, who had lent it to Sir Thomas Cotton; and that while it was in +his hands he caused it to be newly bound, and his coat of arms fixed +upon it. She said, however, that Sir John might have it for 40 pounds, +but that she would not take a farthing less, adding that he had already +offered her 30 pounds in her own house, but that she had refused the +sum. Mr. Gilbert Crouch, who was negotiating for Sir John, in +explaining the matter to Dugdale, said that if Sir John Cotton had "so +great a mind to the book, he were better give this other 10 pounds than +run the charge and hazard of a suit."* + +* Life, Diary, and Correspondence of Sir William Dugdale. + + +All that now remains of this uniquely beautiful MS., painted on every +page, are eighteen melancholy scraps of no use but as a monument of the +ingenuity with which they have been pieced together, mended, and +preserved. + +The Chronicle of Wendover, which was also believed to have perished, +was found and repaired in the time of Sir Frederick Madden. + +A fragment of another MS., marked as missing in Planta's catalogue, has +found its way to the Bodleian library. It consists of ten folios of the +Life of St. Basil, and a note by Hearne says that it came from a +Cottonian MS. + +Grand and imposing as the Cottonian library still is, it is painful to +consider how incomparably finer it must have been during the life of +its founder, before it suffered from the ravages of the fire, and from +the carelessness or dishonesty of so many borrowers. Sir John Cotton +avowed that many books lent to Selden were never returned; the Duke of +Buckingham was also guilty in the same respect. A manuscript now in the +Bodleian library (Barlow 49) was borrowed from the Cottonian by Dr. +Prideaux, and never returned. It was afterwards exposed for sale at +Worcester, and bought by Dr. Barlow, who presented it to the Bodleian. +Parliamentary rolls often suffered a like fate, and instances of +similar losses could be largely multiplied. The loss of the Utrecht +Psalter is, however, perhaps the most grievous that the library has +sustained from borrowers. + +Some of the manuscripts, injured by the fire at Ashburnham House, were +further mutilated by another fire which occurred on the premises of a +bookbinder on the 10th July 1865. + +In 1753 the government purchased the large Natural History and Art +Collection of Sir Hans Sloane, together with a library of 50,000 +volumes, which were deposited in Montague House, Bloomsbury, on the +site of the present British Museum Buildings. Hither the Cottonian and +Royal libraries were brought, forming, together with the Sloane +manuscripts, the nucleus of the great national collections of which we +are justly proud, and which, under their present efficient and +courteous management, are rendered so useful to students. + +The British Museum was formally opened to the public at Montague House +in 1759. But it grew so rapidly that soon more space was needed, and in +1823 the eastern wing of the present building was erected to receive +the library of George III. presented to the museum by George IV. The +whole building was completed in 1847. + + + +V. THE ROYAL LIBRARY + +The Royal library is in many ways the most splendid of our national +manuscript collections. Had it been fortunate enough, like the Harleian +library, to number a Wanley among its custodians and biographers, the +history of its formation would read like a fairy-tale. But, unhappily, +we have to depend for our chief data on what Casley, the "dry as dust" +pay excellence of librarians could tell us, and though his knowledge of +the age of MSS. was admirable, he was remarkably uncommunicative +regarding their pedigree, meagre in his descriptions, and apparently +insensible to paleographic beauty. There is scarcely, in the whole +British Museum, a less satisfactory book than his catalogue of the +Royal library. Thus, the student is hampered by the want of a guide, +and must hew paths for himself through the luxuriant growth and +accumulations of many centuries. In point of mere size, the Royal +library ranks third among the four great collections acquired by the +British Museum at the time of its foundation--the Harleian numbering +7639 MSS.; the Sloane, 4001; the Royal, 1950; the Cottonian, 900. + +Of the three others we have ample details; their hoards have been +thoroughly ransacked, and there are scarcely any surprises for the +student. We can, without much trouble lay our hands on any fact, +beauty, or excellence to be found in them, for there are hardly any +hidden gems. But with the Royal library it is different. Each student +is his own pioneer, and must make voyages of discovery if he would know +something of the riches which it contains. + +Its history is scarcely more complete than its catalogue; although the +nucleus of the collection must be almost coeval with the monarchy. +Before the reign of James I., however, there were no records except the +strangely anomalous ones contained in the Privy Purse Expenses, and in +the Wardrobe and Household Accounts of the various English kings who +have added to the library. It is curious to light, among the sums +disbursed for such items as feather-beds and four-post bedsteads, on +the price paid for a rare manuscript, or for the binding of a choice +codex. Queen Elizabeth's "Keeper of the Books" was also "Court +Distiller of Odoriferous Herbs," and received a better salary as +perfumer than as librarian. But in times when books were more costly, +the office of custodian was considered an honourable one, and a Close +Roll of the year 1252 makes mention of the Custos librorum Regis. + +Impossible though it be to fix the exact date or even reign when the +English kings began to collect books, we shall not be wrong if we infer +that the Royal library had already a very real existence in the reign +of Henry II., when a great literary revival took place. Although the +movement originated in the cloister, the court followed in its wake, +and William of Malmesbury had his secular counterpart in Alfred of +Beverley. A favourite of the king's, Walter de Map, who had been a +student in Paris, and Gerald de Barri (Giraldus Cambrensis) divided the +honours between courtly and popular themes, while a number of poets and +romanticists sprang up and wove fantastic myths and legends out of such +material as the Crusades, the Arthurian traditions, and the feats of +Charlemagne. King John, with scarcely a quality which men cared to +praise, was, strangely enough, fond of books and of scholars. A taste +for learning was gradually leavening the barbarous Normanic lump, +spreading downwards from monarch to people. Two years before John's +death Roger Bacon was born, whose opus Majus embraced every branch of +science, and whose life is the whole intellectual life of the +thirteenth century. Matthew Paris, the last of the great monastic +historians, was the intimate friend of Henry III., who delighted in his +scholarship, and loved to visit him in the scriptorium at St. Alban's +where he himself contributed to the famous chronicle, which would alone +have sufficed to make the reputation of the learned Benedictine. Thus, +indirectly, we are led to the Royal library. + +In 1250, a French book is mentioned in a State Paper as belonging to +the king, but being actually in the keeping of the Knights Templars, +who are commanded to hand it over to an officer of the Wardrobe, with +the apparent object that the king's painters might copy from it when +painting a room called the Antioch Chamber. + +In the reign of Edward I. a part of the Royal library was kept in the +Treasury of the Exchequer, and a few of the books are mentioned in the +Wardrobe Accounts of the year 1302. These included Latin service books, +treatises on devotional subjects, and romances. One book is described +as "Textus, in a case of leather on which magnates are wont to be +sworn." + +All through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there are +occasional allusions to the king's books in the Wardrobe Accounts, and +the Exchequer Inventory of Edward II. enumerates "a book bound in red +leather, De regimine Regum; a small book on the rule of the Knights +Templars, De regula Templariorum; a stitched book, De Vita sancti +Patricii; and a stitched book in a tongue unknown to the English which +begins thus: Edmygaw dorit doyrmyd dinas," and other books and rolls +"very foreign to the English tongue," the scribe, not knowing Welsh +even by sight, whereas, although he might not be able to read them, he +would probably know the look of Greek or Hebrew manuscripts. The list +closes with the Chronicle of Roderick de Ximenez, Archbishop of Toledo, +"bound in green leather."* + +* Stapleton's exchequer Inventory, Edward II. + + +A document, belonging to the year 1419, and printed by Sir Francis +Palgrave, relates to the delivery into the King's Treasury of five +volumes, consisting of a Bible, a copy of the Book of Chronicles, a +treatise, De conceptione Beatae Mariae, a compendium of theology, and a +volume entitled Libellus de emendatione vitae. But in the following +year these manuscripts were given to the monastery at Sheen. In 1426 a +book described as Egesippus, another as Liber de observantia Papa, were +borrowed from the library in the Treasury by Cardinal Beaufort, and +there are subsequent notices of the return and re-loan of the same +volumes to the same borrower. It is interesting to note that a +manuscript called Hegesippus De Bello Judaico, etc., still in the Royal +library, is ascribed by Casley to the eleventh century, and may be +identified with the former of these two books. + +In the following years entries occur of works on Civil Law, and of some +others being lent to the Master of King's College, Cambridge, and of +their subsequent presentation to that house, with the assent of the +Lords of the Council. + +In the Wardrobe accounts of Edward IV. (Royal MS. 14, C 8), there are +entries relating to "the coveryng and garnyshing of the bookes of oure +saide Souverain Lorde the Kinge," which mark his possession in 1480 of +certain choice MSS., and the same document shows that these were bound +by Piers Bauduyn for the king. Among them were a Froissart, the +binding, gilding, and dressing of which cost 20S., and a Biblia +Historians (now marked 19 D 2 in the Royal library), bound and +ornamented for the same sum. On a fly-leaf is an inscription recording +its purchase for 100 marks by William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, +after the battle of Poitiers. It had been taken as loot among the +baggage of the French king. On his death in 1397, the Earl of Salisbury +bequeathed it to his wife, who, in her will, ordered that it should be +sold for forty livres. + +When the king went from London to Eltham his books went with him, and +some were put into "divers cofyns of fyrre," and others into his +carriage. They were bound in "figured cramoisie velvet, with rich laces +and tassels, with buttons of silk and gold, and with clasps bearing the +king's arms." The only reference to books in the will of Edward IV. is +in regard to such as appertained "to oure chapell," which he bequeathed +to his queen, such only being excepted "as we shall hereafter dispose +to goo to oure saide Collage of Wyndesore."* + +* Add. MS., Transcript by Rymer, No. 4615. + + +Henry VII. stands between the Middle Ages and modern times, but his +additions to the Royal library consisted chiefly of Renaissance +literature. Notwithstanding his parsimony in most matters, his Privy +Purse Expenses contain a remarkable series of entries of payments for +books, for copying manuscripts, and for binding them. On one occasion +the sum of 23 pounds was spent on a single book, and there is an item +of 2 pounds paid to a clerk for copying The Amity of Flanders. He +bought a great number of romances in French as well as the grand series +of volumes printed on vellum by the famous Antoine Verard. Bacon +describes Henry VII. as "a prince, sad, serious, and full of thoughts +and secret observations, and full of notes and memorials of his own +hand . . . rather studious than learned, reading most books that were +of any worth, in the French tongue. Yet he understood the Latin."* + +* Life and Rein of Henry VII, i., 637. + + +He had also a taste for finely illuminated books of devotion, and +presented a beautiful Missal to his daughter Margaret, Queen of Scots, +in which he inscribed his own name in enormous letters several times. +This book is now in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire. In the +Royal collection is another Missal which belonged to the same king, +written in a late Gothic hand. + +Henry VII. was careful to have his children well instructed, and his +second son, being intended for the Church, received an education +fitting him for an ecclesiastical career. In his youth Henry VIII. +displayed considerable literary talent, posed as a patron of scholars, +and smiled benignly on such geniuses as Erasmus, More, Linacre, and +Grocyn; but in after years he was more keen to destroy other peoples' +libraries than to build up his own. The accounts of his Privy Purse +Expenses contain few entries of disbursements for books, and to take +one short period as a specimen, we find that the whole sum spent on his +library between 1530 and 1532, including not merely all moneys paid for +binding, but also an indefinite amount "to the taylour and skynner for +certeyn stuff, and workmanship for my lady Anne," was only 124 pounds, +16s. 3d. These figures become still more insignificant if we compare +them with those representing the money spent during the same period for +jewels alone, exclusive of plate, which amounted to the prodigious sum +of 10,800 pounds. + +But although Henry VIII. did not buy books extensively, he sometimes +borrowed them, and several entries chronicle the lending of books to +him by monastic and other libraries, when he was pestering Christendom +for arguments in favour of his divorce from Katharine of Arragon. + +Nevertheless, in spite of adverse circumstances, the Royal library had +been steadily growing in the course of ages, and had by this time +assumed notable proportions. Henry VIII. found himself the possessor of +a collection of books at Windsor, comprising 109 volumes in bindings of +velvet and leather, with silver and jewelled clasps; of another at +Westminster, consisting of Latin primers, some richly ornamented, of a +few Greek authors, Latin classics, and English chronicles, "bokes +written in tholde Saxon tongue." He had another library at Beaulieu +(now New Hall) in Essex, with about 60 volumes of Latin authors, +besides works of the Fathers, dictionaries, and histories. At +Beddington in Surrey he had many chronicles and romances, and "a greate +boke of parchment written and lymned with gold of graver's work--De +Confessione Amantis, which may be identified as the MS., now marked 18 +C 22, in the Royal library. At Richmond was a small collection made by +his father, consisting chiefly of missals and romances. At St. James's +Palace were, among others, works described vaguely as "a boke of +parchment containing divers patterns; a white boke written on +parchment; one boke covered with green velvet contained in a wooden +case; a little boke covered with crimson velvet," and so on, a curious +method of cataloguing and utterly useless for the purpose of +identification after so long an interval. Here and there a distinctive +title occurs, such as the Foundation Book of Henry VIIth's Chapel. + +All these different small collections together represented the Royal +library in the early part of the sixteenth century. Henry VIII. had the +greater number of the books removed to Greenwich, where there were +already some printed volumes and a few manuscripts. That part which +remained at Westminster was enriched with some of the spoils of the +monasteries, placed there perhaps by Leland to save them from +destruction.* Among these was a Latin Evangelia of the eleventh century +(1 D 3), which belonged to the monks of Rochester, and which had been +given to them by a certain Countess Goda, according to an inscription +in the book itself. From Christ Church, Canterbury, came a fine copy of +the gospels (1 A 1 8), presented to that monastery by King Athelstan, +and from St. Alban's several choice historical and theological works +from the pen of Matthew Paris. + +* Edward's Memoirs of Libraries, i., 364 et seq. + + +It is a question whether the attention bestowed on the Royal library +during the reign of Edward VI. was an advantage to it or the reverse. +It is true that the energy of Sir John Cheke, and Roger Ascham, King's +librarian, secured for it the manuscripts that had belonged to Martin +Bucer; but on the other hand, the rabid intolerance of Edward's Council +deprived it of many of its valuable contents. On the 25th January 1550, +a so-called king's letter, sent from the Council Board, authorised +certain commissioners to make a descent upon all public and private +libraries, and to "cull out all superstitious books, as missals, +legends, and such like, and to deliver the garniture of the books, +being either gold or silver, to Sir Anthony Aucher.* The havoc thus +wrought was irremediable, and not even the king's own library was +spared the terrible perquisitions. But at the same time we cannot but +marvel that still so many of the condemned books should have escaped +the notice of the commissioners. In the same year the libraries at +Oxford were also "purged of a great part of Fathers and Schoolmen," and +great heaps of books set on fire in the market-place were watched with +delight by the younger members of the university, who named the +conflagration "Scotus's funeral." + +* Council Book of Edward VI. + + +The short and troubled reign of Mary afforded no scope for literary +activity, and Elizabeth was far too busy outwitting her enemies abroad, +and controlling the factious tendencies of her friends at home, to be +able to cultivate her taste for books. Nevertheless, although in the +course of a hundred years the Royal library had suffered as much as it +had gained, it was even then a goodly sight. Paul Hentzner, the German +literary tourist, who visited it in 1598, says that it was "well stored +with Greek, Latin, and French books, bound in velvet of different +colours, although chiefly red, with clasps of gold and silver, the +corners of some being otherwise adorned with gold and precious +stones."* Perhaps the custodians vouchsafed him but a glance at these +outer splendours, for he tells us nothing of the treasures within, of +which all this magnificence was only the antechamber. + +* P. Hentzner, Itnerarium Germaniae, Angliae, etc., p. 188. + + +But the golden age of the Royal library was in the reign of James I., +and its greatest benefactor a youth who died at the age of eighteen. It +were idle to speculate on what might have been the future of Henry, +Prince of Wales, had he lived to fulfil the bright promise of his +boyhood. To a singularly well-balanced mind, he appears to have joined +an amiability of character that endeared him to all save the crotchety +doctrinaire who sat upon the throne. He loved hunting and hawking and +all healthy open-air pursuits no less than he loved books, and the +society of men, who were the history-makers of his day. He would visit +Sir Walter Raleigh in his prison in the Tower, and listen to his +brilliant projects for the future greatness of England in the +development of her colonies, and the annexation of still barbarous +lands, the fabulous wealth of which was the life-long dream of the +veteran explorer. + +But Raleigh was not a mere dreamer, as his History of the World +shows--a work which, written during his long years of captivity, became +the text-book and standard authority for the next two hundred years. +Whatever his faults, and he had perhaps grave ones, it was his +misfortune to be in some ways in advance of the age in which he lived, +in consequence of which his finer qualities were misunderstood by most +of his contemporaries. Prince Henry was not, however, among their +number; he lent a fascinated ear to Raleigh's grand, patriotic schemes, +and had they both lived, the one to reign, the other to counsel and +guide, England might not only have been spared the most disgraceful +blot on her escutcheon, but have anticipated by more than two hundred +years her subsequent achievements. It was without doubt Sir Walter +Raleigh who inspired the young prince to take the Royal library under +his protection, and his pupil threw himself heart and soul into the +work, so that rightly or wrongly he has been considered its real +founder. + +On the death of John, Lord Lumley, Prince Henry secured his fine +collection of MSS., by which means he more than made up for the loss +which the Royal library had sustained by his father's incomprehensible +warrant to Sir Thomas Bodley to choose any of the books in any of his +houses or libraries.* + +* Reliquiae Bodleiana, p. 205. + + +Lord Lumley had not only been a diligent collector himself, but had +inherited a valuable library from his wife's father, Henry Fitzalan, +Earl of Arundel, who had begun to collect at the most propitious moment +for acquiring rare MSS., and had obtained a portion of Archbishop +Cranmer's library. The prince's Privy Purse Expenses have unfortunately +been destroyed, but one single entry of the year 16og, bearing +reference to his books, has survived: "To Mr. Holcock, for writing a +catalogue of the library which his Highness hade of my Lord Lumley, 68 +pounds, 13s. 0d." This catalogue has unfortunately disappeared. + +Edward Wright, the mathematician, and the learned Patrick Young were +both candidates for the post of librarian, and Wright was appointed +with a salary of 30 pounds a year. + +Besides purchasing Lord Lumley's books, the young prince acquired the +entire collection of the erudite Welshman, William Morice, and an +unprecedented stir and activity began to animate the affairs of the +Royal library. Scholars saw in the Prince of Wales their future stay +and protector, and looked forward to his reign as to that of the first +English king in modern times, who would not merely patronise, but also +extend learning by his inherent love of, and zeal for, letters. But +this fair prospect was doomed to fade, even as they were contemplating +it, and the hope of England died in the very midst of all his literary +labours. The books which he had collected were mainly incorporated into +the Royal library, but many were dispersed after his death. Scattered +up and down the country may still be seen volumes in private +collections bearing the tell-tale conjoined names, "Tho. +Cantuariensis--Arundel--Lumley." + +James I., aptly styled by Henry IV. of France "the wisest fool in +Christendom," dabbled in books as in most other things, but does not +appear to have succeeded in doing much harm to his library beyond the +suicidal carte blanche to Sir Thomas Bodley. He appointed Patrick Young +to be custodian of the different sections of it distributed throughout +the various royal palaces, and this really great scholar retained the +post till the Revolution. + +That part of the collection which was lodged at Richmond went by the +name of Henry VIIth's library, and was shown to Johann Zingerling, a +German scholar who came to England while Patrick Young was librarian. +The only MS. which he singled out for mention was the Genealogia Regum +Anglia, ab Adamo, a roll of the fifteenth century (t4 B 8). The +Richmond collection was removed to Whitehall by Charles I., and the +Genealogia appears in a catalogue made after the Restoration. + +The reign of Charles I. is almost barren of events in the Royal +library, save at the very, beginning, for the acquisition of one MS., +which may, however, be regarded as the piece de resistance of the whole +collection. This was the famous Codex Alexandrinus, one of the three +oldest MSS. of the whole Bible in Greek. Before describing this +venerable codex, it will be well to relate what little is known of its +history. In 1624, Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, formally +presented it to James I., through his ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe. +Writing to Lord Arundel, in December of that year, Roe says: "One book +he (the Patriarch) hath given me to present his Majestie, but not yet +delivered, being the Bible intire, written by the hand of Tecla, the +protomartyr of the Greeks, that lived with St. Paul, which he doth aver +it to be authentical, and the greatest relique of the Greek Church." In +1626, he wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury: "The Patriarch also, +this New Year's tide, sent me the old Bible formerly presented to his +late Majesty, which he now dedicates to the king, and will send it with +an epistle. What estimation it may be of is above my skill, but he +values it as the greatest antiquity of the Greek Church. The letter is +very fair, a character I have never seen. It is entire, except the +beginning of St. Matthew. He doth testify under his hand that it was +written by the virgin Tecla, daughter of a famous Greek, called Stella +Hatutina, who founded the monastery in Egypt, upon Pharaoh's Tower, a +devout and learned maid, who was persecuted in Asia, and to whom +Gregory Nazianzen hath written many epistles. At the end whereof, under +the same hand, are the epistles of Clement. She died not long after the +Council of Nice. The book is very great, and hath antiquity enough at +sight; I doubt not his Majesty will esteem it for the hand by whom it +is presented."* + +* Negotiations of Sir Thomas Roe, London, 1740. + + +Sir Thomas Roe certainly did not overestimate the value of the +manuscript, and it would be extremely interesting could we trace the +evidence by which it came to be believed that it was written by the +hand of St. Tecla. A note in Arabic at the foot of the first page of +Genesis says that it was "made an inalienable gift to the patriarchal +cell of Alexandria. Whoever shall remove it thence shall be accursed +and cut off. Written by Athanasius the humble." + +* "Probably," says Sir Edward Maunde Thomson, "Athanasius, the Melchite +Patriarch, who was still living in 1308." Description of Ancient +Manuscripts in the British Museum. + + +Before his translation to Constantinople, Cyril Lucar had been +Patriarch of Alexandria, and possibly he himself risked the threatened +curse and excommunication in taking the Bible away with him, though his +deacon asserted that he had obtained it from Mount Athos. + +But besides the above-mentioned note there is another also in Arabic, +with a Latin translation at the back of the table of books. This note +says: "Remember that this book was written by the hand of Tecla the +martyr." The tradition is recalled by Cyril Lucar at the beginning of +the manuscript. He states that the name of Tecla was originally to be +found inscribed at the end of the volume, but that when Christianity +practically became extinct in Egypt, the few remaining Christians and +their books were doomed, and for this reason the name was erased, +Tecla's memory and the legend being perpetuated notwithstanding. + +Tregelles accounts for the tradition that St. Tecla was the writer of +the MS. by the supposition that the Arabic note was ignorantly added by +some scribe who had observed the name of Tecla written in the now +mutilated margin of the first leaf of the New Testament, which contains +the lesson appointed by the Greek Church for the feast of St. Tecla. +Sir Edward Thompson points out, however, that this would infer that in +the fourteenth century the Gospel of St. Matthew was in its present +mutilated state, and that then as now, the New Testament formed a +separate volume apart from the Old; and he shows that the Arabic +numeration of the leaves, which is of about the same age as the +inscription, is carried continuously through both Testaments, and by a +calculation of the numbers which have not been cut away in trimming the +edges, it appears that the twenty-five leaves which contained the +greater portion of St. Matthew were lost at a later period, the last +leaf of the Old Testament bearing the number 641, and the present first +leaf of the New Testament 667. + +Cobet and other experts fixed the date of the two codices, the Codex +Sinaiticus and the Codex Alexandrinus, as not earlier than the fifth or +sixth century, the principal reason for assigning to them so late a +date being the generally accepted theory that uncials were not in use +until vellum had entirely superseded papyrus as the medium for precious +manuscripts. But the latest authority in this department, Mr. F. G. +Kenyon, has thrown light on the whole question of early Christian Greek +MSS., by the discovery of a large uncial round hand on a papyrus dated +Anno Domini 88.* Thus it is quite possible, palaeographically, that the +Codex Vaticanus, which has been hitherto supposed to date from the +fourth century, may be much older, and there is now no conclusive +evidence to prove that the Alexandrinus was not written by St. Tecla, +whatever the probabilities may be to the contrary. + +* The Paleography of Greek Papyri, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1899. + + +The three above-named codices, the Vaticanus, the Sinaiticus, and the +Alexandrinus have certain points in common, but the MS. in the Royal +library is written in double columns, that of the Vatican in triple +columns, and the Codex Sinaiticus, some leaves of which are in the +public library at Leipzig, the main body of the work being in the +imperial library at St. Petersburg, in quadruple columns. + +Besides being numerically imperfect, the leaves of the Codex +Alexandrinus have suffered from the clipping of the outer edges by the +binder, and several of its priceless pages have been otherwise spoiled +and mutilated. + +The MS. is austere in its simplicity, being totally unadorned, save for +the red ink used in the opening lines of each book, and occasionally in +superscriptions and colophons. The letters are uncials (or capitals) +without break, their form proving that the book was written in Egypt. + +Patrick Young was librarian when this celebrated codex was added to the +Royal library, and duly conscious of its value, he did his utmost to +get a facsimile of it printed. But the king could not be induced to +take up the matter. In 1644 Young prevailed on the assembly of divines +to present a petition to the House of Commons, praying "that the said +Bible may be printed, for the benefit of the Church, the advancement of +God's glory, and the honour of the kingdom." A committee was found to +confer with him on the subject, but nothing was done, owing to the +troubled state of the country. + +During the Revolution and under the commonwealth the Royal library was +in extreme peril. Hugh Peters, successor to Young, although he belonged +to the iconoclastic faction, practically saved the books, but was +unable to protect the unique collection of medals and coins. After a +few months the custodianship was transferred to Ireton, and ultimately +a permanent librarian was appointed in the person of Bulstrode +Whitelocke, first commissioner of the Great Seal. He accepted the +office from patriotism and reverence for the antiquities which were in +such imminent danger, but he wrote deprecatingly: + +"I knew the greatness of the charge, . . . yet being informed of a +design to have some of them (the books) sold, and transferred beyond +sea (which 1 thought would be a disgrace and damage to our nation, and +to all scholars therein), and fearing that in other hands they might be +more subject to embezzling . . . I did accept the trouble of being +library-keeper at St. James's, and therein was much persuaded by Mr. +Selden, who swore that if I did not undertake the charge of them, all +those rare monuments of antiquity, those choice books and MSS. would be +lost, and there were not the like of them except only in the Vatican, +in any other library in Christendom." + +At the Restoration, Thomas Rosse was made royal librarian, but his +offices were already so numerous that he was unable to bestow much +attention on the books. Nevertheless, he revived the project of +printing the Alexandrian MS., and urged the king to interest himself in +bringing it about, saying that, although it would cost 200 pounds, it +would "appear glorious in history after your Majesty's death." "Pish," +replied Charles II., characteristically, "I care not what they say of +me in history when I am dead," and there was an end of the matter till +our own day. + +The year 1678 is noteworthy in the annals of the Royal library as the +period at which it acquired the series of valuable MSS. known as the +Theyer collection. They had been bought from Theyer's executors by +Robert Scott, a famous bookseller, who offered them to the king for +6841. He subsequently got them for 560 pounds. Next to the Alexandrian +Codex this is the most important addition to the library in +comparatively modern times. It consisted of 336 volumes, including l00 +rare treatises, a whole series of Roger Bacon's works, and the +celebrated autograph collection formerly belonging to Cranmer, and long +mourned as lost. Many of these manuscripts could be traced back to the +library of Llanthony Abbey, having passed into Theyer's possession by +the marriage of one- of his ancestors with a sister of the last prior +of Llanthony. Nearly the whole of the Theyer collection is described in +the Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum of 1697, but without the least +hint that it then formed part of the Royal library. The great Richard +Bentley was at that time librarian, and was responsible for the amazing +omission, having prohibited any mention of the Royal library in that +work, his reason perhaps being the disgraceful condition into which the +books had fallen. Bentley was by far the most distinguished of the +royal librarians during any part of its history, and he would, no +doubt, have accomplished wonders if he had not been so outrageous a +pluralist, so busy a scholar, and so pugnacious a litigant. Not only +was he Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Regius Professor of +Divinity, Rector of Haddington, Rector of Wilburn, and Archdeacon of +Ely, but he was immersed in numberless lawsuits, and in classical +studies which would alone have sufficed to fill the whole life of an +ordinary man. What he, in spite of these multifarous occupations, +attempted to do for the Royal library at least testifies to the +grandeur of his conceptions and the boldness of his schemes. His +failure to place the library within the reach of students was as much +due to the stultifying effects of red-tapeism as to the disorganised +condition of the library itself. + +Bentley's first care on taking office was to enforce the Copyright Act, +which, although passed in 1663, had been carelessly ignored. By this +means about 1000 printed books were added to the collection, but no +bindings were provided, or shelves on which to put them. In a famous +controversy with Charles Boyle, who complained that difficulties were +placed in the way of his access to one of the royal manuscripts, +Bentley answered: "I will own that I have often said and lamented that +the library was not fit to be seen," and proceeding to exulpate +himself, he added: "If the room be too mean, and too little for the +books; if it be much out of repair; if the situation be inconvenient; +if the access to it be dishonourable, is the library- keeper to answer +for it?" + +A proposal was made, during Bentley's tenure of office, to erect a +suitable building for the books, establishing it by Act of Parliament. +But nothing was done, and in the course of nineteen years the +collection was four times removed. In 1712 it migrated from the much +abused quarters at St. James's to Cotton House, and from thence to +Essex House in 1722. It was next lodged, together with the Cottonian +library at Ashburnham House, and after the disastrous fire in 1731, +from which the Cotton MSS. suffered so severely, it gained with them a +temporary refuge in the old Westminster dormitory. + +Bentley resigned his office of librarian in 1724, in favour of his son, +another Richard Bentley; but Casley, who, as deputy custodian, had been +for many years the only working librarian, continued to fill that post. + +In 1757, George II. presented the Royal library to the nation, handing +it over by Letters Patent to the custody of the trustees of the British +Museum, and thus its hitherto chequered career was turned into +prosperous channels. All that is henceforth left to desire is a +descriptive catalogue worthy of its unique contents.* + +* The Royal Library must not be confused with the King's Library +belonging to George III., and presented to the British Museum by George +IV. The King's Library included, however, a few important MSS. which +had been retained by George II. when he made over the Royal collection +to the nation. + + +The Greek MSS. in the British Museum are not very numerous, but are +widely renowned. Of those in the Royal library the Codex Alexandrinus +is by far the most interesting, not only as being the one Greek MS. of +the whole Bible in the library, but also as surpassing all the other +existing Greek fragments of the Scriptures in point of antiquity. The +next earliest MS., containing the Books of Ruth, Kings, Esdras, Esther, +and the Maccabees (1 D 2), is of the thirteenth century. The Books of +Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon (1 A 15), are of the +fifteenth century. Nearest in antiquity to the Alexandrian Bible in the +British Museum is the Cotton MS. (Titus, C 15), the Codex Clarmontanus, +a purple-dyed fragment of the sixth century, written on vellum of so +subtle and delicate a texture that even experts have sometimes mistaken +it for Egyptian papyrus. + +A few words will not be out of place here respecting the writing +materials of the ancients, and their custom of staining leaves of +vellum. Skins of animals were probably one of the most ancient mediums, +as being the most durable. There exists in the British Museum a ritual, +written on white leather, which dates from about the year 2000 B.C. But +the custom of writing on leather is known to have been much older +still. The commonest mode of keeping records in Assyria and Babylonia +was on prepared bricks, tiles, or cylinders of clay, baked after the +inscription had been impressed on them. But a wood-cut of an ancient +sculpture from Konyungik* illustrates scribes in the act of writing +down the number of heads and the amount of spoil taken in battle, on +rolls of leather, which the Egyptians used as early as the eighteenth +dynasty. At the close of the commercial intercourse between Assyria and +Egypt, rolls of leather may have been the only material employed for +writing on. Parchment, so prepared that both sides could be used, was +doubtless the development of this custom, but was a much later +invention. Together with the use of the rough skins, and of the more or +less carefully prepared surfaces of the leather, papyrus became one of +the most frequent vehicles for written words, and was used for some +time after the beginning of the Christian era. Leaves of palm or mallow +led up to the first forms of papyrus used--hence, perhaps, the word +leaf of a book. Bark was next pressed into the service of literature +and, it has often been suggested, possibly gave rise to the word book, +although it seems more likely that book was of runic origin and derived +from the beech-staves--Buch-staben, on which the runes were expressed. + +* Nineveh and its Remains, by Sir Henry Layard, ii., 185. + + +Eventually vellum entirely took the place of papyrus, but papyrus was +used not only in Egypt, but in imperial Rome before vellum became +common, and even biblical manuscripts were written on rolls of this +material. It was, however, too fragile and perishable to remain the +receptacle of writing and illumination intended to last for all time, +and therefore, by the middle of the tenth century A.D. it was +altogether discarded. Only a few tattered fragments of the New +Testament written on papyrus are still extant. + +The oldest manuscripts belonging to the Christian era were written on +the thinnest and whitest vellum. The parchment of later times is more +coarsely grained, and less well finished, manuscripts a thousand and +more years old showing no signs of decay or discoloration, unlike many +which date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Scrivener, +basing his authority on Tischendorf, observes that the Codex Sinaiticus +is made of the finest skins of antelopes, the leaves being so large +that a single animal could furnish but two of them. The Codex Vaticanus +is greatly admired for the beauty of the vellum; and the whiteness of +the Codex Alexandrinus can be seen by all who visit the British Museum, +although the exquisite thinness, softness, and delicacy of the texture +can only be appreciated by touching it. The beautiful fabric of the +Codex Clarmontanus has already been mentioned. + +But not only was the vellum finer and more durable in the earliest days +of our era than at a comparatively recent date, but the ink was better, +and the colours used in illuminating were far more beautiful. The +ancients laid on the gold very thickly, and the ink which they prepared +is still black, so that the text can be easily read, while the ink used +in the Middle Ages is now generally of a greyish brown. Red ink is very +ancient, and often seen in early Egyptian papyri. The instrument for +writing on papyrus was the reed growing in the marshes formed by the +Tigris and the Euphrates, and on the banks of the Nile. It was also +used for writing on vellum, but quills, admirably adapted for this kind +of material, came gradually into use with parchment. By degrees the +roll form was abandoned for the codex or book form, as being more +convenient, the leaves being stitched into gatherings or quires; but +for a long time both forms were used together. + +It is uncertain when the custom of staining the most precious MSS. +purple came into vogue, but it did not obtain after the tenth century. +St. Jerome and his contemporaries practised it, using letters stamped +rather than written, in silver and gold. Writing in gold ceased to be +common in the thirteenth century, and in silver when the fashion of +staining the vellum died out. The value of a manuscript does not depend +on its purple colour, but this is chiefly interesting as serving to +show one phase of the reverence paid to the Scriptures. It may also +help to fix the date of a MS.* + +* Scrivener, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New +Testament, p. 23. + + +One of the most beautiful specimens of early paleographic art in the +Royal library is the Latin MS. of the gospels, known as the Evangelia +of King Canute (1 D 9). Westwood indeed considers that it will not bear +comparison with the Gospels of Trinity College, Cambridge, though he +admits that it exceeds them in interest owing to the Anglo-Saxon +entries relating to Canute at the beginning of St. Mark's Gospel.* +Wanley has described these entries as a certificate or testimonial of +Canute's reception into the family or society of the Church of Christ +at Canterbury. One leaf bears this inscription: "In the name of our +Lord Jesus Christ. Here is written Canute the King's name. He is our +beloved Lord worldwards, and our spiritual brother Godwards; and +Harold, this King's brother; Thorth, our brother; Kartoca, our brother; +Thuri, our brother." On the next leaf is a charter by the same king, +confirming the privileges of Christ Church, Canterbury. The book was +probably the gift of Canute to the monks of that house. There are no +miniatures, but an illuminated page with a grand border, heavily gilt, +contains small figures of the evangelists in medallions. Written in ink +at the bottom of the illuminated page is the name Lumley, showing that +the MS. formed part of that collection acquired by Prince Henry. + +* Facsimiles of the Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-Saxon and Irish +MSS. + + +The Gospels of St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury (1 E 6), written in +England in the eighth century, are probably the remains of the +so-called Biblia Gregoriana. But if this codex was really among the +books sent by Pope Gregory to St. +Augustine, it must first have been sent to Rome from England, but +internal evidence points to a much later date. It contains four very +dark-purple or rather rose-coloured stained leaves, with inscriptions +in letters of gold and silver an inch long, the silver being oxidised +by age. It is one of the most precious examples of Anglo-Saxon +caligraphy and illumination now existing. The half-uncial letters of +English type are by different hands, and the miniatures are of +different dates, that of the Lion of St. Mark being probably of the +tenth century. It is also supposed that the missing verses at the +beginning of the gospels were all written on purple-stained vellum, and +that there may have been a miniature of the evangelist before each +gospel. An inscription on the fly-leaf states that it belonged to the +monastery of St. Augustine at Canterbury, and that it formed part of +that library in the fourteenth century. + +The fine manuscript, designated 2A 20, is a book of prayers and lessons +on vellum, of the eighth century. It belonged to the Theyer collection, +and several notes are inserted in the handwriting of John Theyer. It is +very much stained and spoiled, the binder, as was so often the piteous +case, having barbarously cut off some of the edges, and with them a +portion of the marginal writing, to the great detriment of the book. + +2 A 22 is a magnificent Latin Psalter of the twelfth century, the best +period of penmanship. Sir Edward Thompson draws attention to the fact +that this volume originated at Westminster, as may be inferred by the +prominence given in the calendars and prayers to St. Peter and St. +Edward, even without its identification with an entry in the Abbey +Inventory.* A further proof of this is furnished by the miniatures of +the two saints, one of which begins the series; the other leads up to +the beautiful Salvator Mundi. Between are St. George and St. +Christopher. Instead of being dispersed throughout the book, the +illustrations are all at the beginning and end, indicating by the +colourless faces, and by what for want of a better word may be styled +their Gothic outlines, that they are of English origin. Some of the +capital letters are very interesting. One of these quaintly represents +the Saviour of the world enthroned in glory, on a gold background. His +hand is raised in blessing, while a Benedictine monk, floating on the +wings of prayer, clasps a scroll, one end of which disappears under the +rainbow-hued throne. On the scroll are the words Domine, exandi +orationem mean. At the end of the Psalter are Litanies and other +prayers. + +* English Illuminated MSS., pp. 34, 35. + + +The broad manner in which these illuminations are treated, with foliage +boldly designed, and animals of various kinds disporting themselves +among the branches, is indicative of the period. There is a striking +contrast between this large, bold treatment and the minute style of the +next century, although the period of transition occupied but a few +years. The change began with the development of the initial letter, +which was the starting-point of the border and of the miniature. + +The Royal MS. 1 D 1, a Latin Bible of the middle of the thirteenth +century, forms an excellent example of this development. It is written +on fine vellum, and in a perfect style of calligraphy. The paintings +are few if we except those connected with the initial letter, which +serves admirably to illustrate the growth of the border from its +pendants, cusps, and graceful finials, showing how the initial and +miniature came to be combined. Writing about this same MS. Sir Edward +Thompson says: "In the large initial we see the combination of the +miniature with the initial and partial border, a combination which is +typical of book decoration of the thirteenth century. In MSS. of +earlier periods the miniature was a painting which usually occupied a +page, independently of the text . . . or if inserted in the text it was +not connected with the decoration of the page. It was, in fact, an +illustration and nothing more. But now, while the miniature is still +employed in this manner, independently of the text, the miniature +initial also comes into common use, the miniature therein., however, +continuing to hold for some time a subordinate place, as a decoration +rather than as an illustrative feature. In course of time, with the +growth of the border, the two-fold function of the miniature, as a +means of illustration and also of decoration, is satisfied by allowing +it to occupy part or even the whole of a page as an independent +picture, but at the same time, set in the border, which has developed +from the pendent of the initial. This development of the border it is +extremely interesting to follow, and so regular is its growth, and so +remarkable are the national characteristics which it assumes, that the +period and place of origin of an illuminated MS. may often be +accurately determined from the details of its border alone." * + +* English Illuminated MSS., p. 37. + + +The distinguished writer goes on to show that in tracing this +development one sees how the initials first terminate in simple buds or +cusps, and how, in the next stage, characteristic of the thirteenth +century, they put out little branches, the buds growing into leaves and +flowers, and how thus gradually the border comes to surround the whole +page. + +The Royal MS. 2 B 3, commonly known as Queen Mary's Psalter, is a good +specimen of fourteenth century art. This is a large octavo volume of +320 leaves of vellum, almost everyone being magnificently illuminated +on both sides, with daintily executed drawings, lightly sketched, and +slightly tinted in green, brown, and violet. One richly-decorated page +represents the Last Judgement. At the top, a miniature within the +border shows forth the judge of all mankind. Angels with green-tipped +wings hover on either side. Before the Saviour as judge kneel the +Blessed Virgin and St. John, and on the other side is a group of monks. +The background is of pure gold. Underneath, enclosed in a blue and +white border, the dead rise to judgment. Angels blow long trumpets and +the graves open. Below this again is a lovely initial, with more +figures on a gold background. The letter begins the words of the Litany +Kyrie eleison. A drawing at the bottom of the page represents Saul +receiving the letter to Damascus for the persecution of the Christians. +This page, as elaborate and glowing with colour as it is rich in design +and fine in execution, is, however, not more striking than many others +in the same manuscript, which may, without too much praise, be +described as a gem of palaeographic art. A note on the last leaf +explains that the MS. was on the point of being carried beyond seas, +when a customs officer, one Baldwin Smith, in the port of London seized +and presented it to the Queen, in October 1553, the first year of her +reign. + +The writer does not record whether the hapless owner was indemnified +for his loss. It was probably Queen Mary herself who caused the book to +be bound as we now see it, in the worn crimson velvet binding, with the +remains of large pomegranates embroidered at each corner, pomegranates +being her own badge. + +The MS. 2 B 7 is an extremely beautiful piece of workmanship of the +fourteenth century. Its delicate outline drawings, mostly in mauve and +green, are reminiscent of the Guthlac roll. They represent mainly an +illustrated Martyrology of Saints, popular in England. 1 A 18 is the +copy of the Latin Gospels presented to Christ Church, Canterbury, by +King Athelstan, with the name Lumley on the first page of the Eusebian +canons, and Umfridus me fecit on a fly-leaf. + +The beautiful French version of the Apocalypse, written in England +about 1330 (19 B R5), contains drawings of great refinement, though +scarcely to be compared with those which adorn Queen Mary's Psalter. + +The very large Bible of the end of the fourteenth century measuring +twenty-four by Leventeen inches, is splendidly illuminated and +profusely adorned with miniatures. + +But choice and variety are infinite, and to the devout lover of these +things, the Royal library resembles a goldmine with nuggets of immense +value lying in profusion wherever his adventurous footsteps lead him. +If his object be delight he will find that every step leads him there. + + + +VI. THE HARLEIAN COLLECTION OF MANUSCRIPTS + +When Robert Harley laid the foundation of his magnificent library in t +7o5, so many collectors were already in the field that the prospect of +getting together any large number of choice manuscripts did not seem +promising. But contrary to expectation, this very fact proved +fortunate, for whereas Cotton had built up his library, book by book, +laboriously, Harley had the advantage of forming his, to a great +extent, by the purchase of other well-known collections, either at the +death of their original owners, or after the manuscripts had passed +through successive hands. Of these larger acquisitions may be mentioned +the library which had belonged to the famous antiquary, Sir Symonds +D'Ewes, Cotton's friend; the greater number of the Graevius MSS.; the +23 bulky volumes of the Baker collection; many of the papers originally +belonging to Nicholas Charles, Lancaster Herald, which, at his death, +Camden had purchased for 690 pounds, and the collection of Stow, the +historian of London. + +Charles's library consisted chiefly of epitaphs, drawings of monuments +and arms, and an historical catalogue of the officers of the College of +Arms. Some of these are now at the Herald's College, one of the +manuscripts is in the Lansdowne collection, and the others were bought +by Harley. + +On Strype's death in 1737, the majority of the papers, collected by +Foxe the martyrologist, which had been in the annalist's possession, +also passed with others into Harley's hands; they form vols. 416 to +428, and vol. 590 of this collection. Some of Foxe's papers are in the +Lansdowne library. + +By means of great exertion and a lavish expenditure, Harley became +within ten years the possessor of about 2500 old MSS., and in 1721 had +collected 6000 volumes, 1400 charters, and 500 rolls, besides about +350,000 pamphlets. His entire library afterwards numbered over 20,000 +volumes. + +Robert Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, was descended from an ancient +family, existing, it is pretended, in Shropshire at the time of the +Norman Conquest, and closely allied to the French family of de Harlai. +He was the eldest son of Sir Edward Harley, member for the county of +Hereford, in the Parliament which restored Charles I I.; was born in +1661, rose to a high position in public affairs, and was created, by +Queen Anne, a peer of the realm by the style and title of Baron +Wigmore, in the county of Hereford, Earl of Oxford, and Mortimer.* Soon +afterwards he was made Lord High Treasurer of Great Britain, and Prime +Minister. He was twice married--first to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas +Foley of Whitley Court, Worcestershire, by whom he had three +children--a son, Edward, who succeeded him, and two daughters. His +second wife was Sarah, daughter of Simon Middleton, of Hurst Hill, +Edmonton, who survived him some years. + +* The Earldom of Mortimer was added, because, although Aubrey de Vere, +twentieth Earl of Oxford had died without leaving male issue in 1702, +it was necessary to guard against possible claimants among remote +descendants of the de Veres. + + +Swift drew attention to the circumstance that Robert Harley was +educated at Shilton, a private school in Oxfordshire, remarkable for +having produced at the same time a Lord High Treasurer (the Earl of +Oxford), a Lord High Chancellor (Lord Harcourt), a Lord Chief Justice +of the Common Pleas (Lord Trevor), and ten members of the House of +Commons, who were all contemporaries as well at school as in +Parliament. From both his father and grandfather he had inherited a +taste for books, and as Speaker of the House of Commons, had taken +considerable part in organising the Cottonian library when it was +bequeathed to the nation. It was on this occasion that his notice was +first drawn to Humphrey Wanley, who offered some valuable hints in +regard to the arrangement of the Cotton manuscripts, and subsequently +proved himself to be the model of librarians. + +Humphrey Wanley was the son of a country parson; he had received a +university education, and had already achieved success and some fame as +a scholar by his catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon MSS., preserved in the +principal libraries of Great Britain. He would gladly have undertaken +the custody of the Cotton library vice Dr. Smith, and wrote to Robert +Nelson, a learned writer and philanthrophist, who apparently possessed +some influence with the government, to solicit his good offices in +procuring him that post. Nelson's answer, interpolated by a remark in +Wanley's beautiful, scholarly hand, is interesting as an illustration +of the rivalry that existed between the two foremost librarians of the +day. + +"Were I as able to advise Mr. Wanley as I am desirous to offer what +might be most advantageous for his interest," wrote Nelson, "I should +immediately have answered your last letter which requires some queries +to be resolved before I can well determine how you ought to proceed. +For if there is any friendship between you and the Dr. [Smith] it will +give a different aspect to your endeavours to supplant him." + +Here there is a mark in the original letter referring to a note written +across the margin by Wanley as follows: + +"This is about the Cottonian Library, the custody whereof I did then, +and many years after, most ardently desire. As to friendship between +Dr. Thomas Smith [here meant] and me there was but little, his +conversation being not suitable to mine, by reason of his jealousies +and peevishness extreme. I always allowed the Doctor's pretensions to +be much better grounded than mine; but if he, being a non-juror, could +not swear to the Queen's government, or being much in years should +happen to decease, as he did after some time, I desired that employment +when the trustees should please to regulate that noble collection. + +"Otherwise," continues Nelson, "I can see no reason why a man that is +qualified for an employment may not fairly offer himself as a candidate +for it, without injury to others that may pretend to it, and if you +should want success, it no way diminishes those qualifications you were +endowed with, for the discharge of the employment. If the Sir Robert +Cotton you mention be of the Post Office, I believe I can find a way of +applying to him,--I am your faithful friend and servant, Wanley's +ardent desire was not destined to be satisfied, but a still more +honourable position was in store for the distinguished scholar and man +of letters, for he not only became ultimately custodian of the Harleian +manuscripts, but as we shall presently see, he deserved by his zeal, +learning, and discrimination to be considered together with Lord +Oxford, the joint-founder of the Harleian library. + +"Nelson. + +"2nd October 1702." + + +Thus, it was entirely owing to Wanley that the D'Ewes collection, +purchased for 6000 pounds, was secured by Sir Robert Harley, and it +formed the basis of what is now one of our greatest national +collections of manuscripts. The acquisition of this celebrated library +was the determining point in Wanley's career and in that of the +Harleian library itself. + +Sir Symonds D'Ewes, the antiquary, had by his will left all his books +and manuscripts to his grandson, another Sir Symonds, but without +antiquarian or literary tastes. Wanley, having discovered that +although, according to the antiquary's will, his collection might not +be dispersed, it might still possibly be bought, wrote to Harley and +suggested that he should be the purchaser: + +"Sir Symonds D'Ewes, being pleased to honour me with a peculiar +kindness of esteem, I have taken the liberty of inquiring of him +whether he will part with his library; and I find that he is not +unwilling to do so, and that at a much easier rate than I could think +for. I dare say that it would be a noble addition to the Cotton +Library; perhaps the best that could be had anywhere at present . . . . +If your Honour should judge it impracticable to persuade Her Majesty to +buy them for the Cotton Library--in whose coffers such a sum as will +buy them is scarcely conceivable--then Sir, if you have a mind of them +yourself, I will take care that you shall have them cheaper than any +other person whatsoever. I know that many have their eyes on this +collection. I am desirous to have this collection in town for the +public good, and rather in a public place than in private hands, but of +all private gentlemen's studies first in yours. I have not spoken to +anybody as yet, nor will not till I have your answer, that you may not +be forestalled." + +The D'Ewes collection was a curiously miscellaneous one, containing +much trivial matter side by side with learned treatises, transcripts of +important cartularies, monastic registers, public and private muniments +of the most varied description. A list of them is to be found in the +Harleian MS. 775. No subject seems to have been void of interest for +the great antiquary: he treasured up his school exercises as carefully +as he did any ancient Greek or Roman charter, or mediaeval paleographic +gem. + +With the purchase of this rich medley of books begins Wanley's term of +office as librarian to Lord Oxford, which continued till his death in +1726. By his knowledge and literary acumen the librarian supplied what +was lacking in his patron, for like Sir Robert Cotton, Harley, despite +his love of books, was by no means a scholar or man of letters. Even +the insignificant pamphlets, once ascribed to his pen, have since been +proved to be the work of others. His verses, some of which were printed +in the sixteenth volume of Swift's works, were condemned by Macaulay as +being "more execrable than the bellman's." But with Wanley at his side +he surpassed even Cotton as a collector, for the librarian possessed an +intimate acquaintanceship with the contents of every foreign library of +note, and Harley was always ready to spend in princely fashion whenever +Wanley considered that a manuscript was worth buying. On the sumptuous +bindings with which he adorned these acquisitions he expended as much +as 18,000 pounds. His principal binders were Thomas Elliott and +Christopher Chapman, of Duck Lane, who called forth some severe remarks +in Wanley's Diary, on the subject of their negligence and extravagant +prices. On inspecting Mr. Elliott's bill he finds him "exceeding dear +in all the works of Morocco, Turkey, and Russia leather, besides those +of velvet," and he is constantly reprimanding both book-binders for +their "negligence in executing my Lord's work." + +Perhaps the best-merited praise that has ever been bestowed on the +founder of this celebrated library is Macaulay's tribute to his +"sincere kindness for men of genius." And, however much the first Earl +of Oxford may have transgressed politically (he is accused of having +been unscrupulous, weak, and incapable as a minister), his services to +literature in the protection which he accorded to the learned, have won +for him a high place in the estimation of his countrymen. Even as a +politician he acquired some literary fame, as being the first minister +who employed the Press for ministerial purposes; and it redounds to his +honour that, amid the cares and passions of public life, and aims more +or less worthy of a statesman, he occupied his scanty leisure with the +altogether laudable endeavour to gather together under his own roof for +the benefit of students and scholars as much as possible of the lore +and erudition of past ages. + +The correspondence between Harley and Defoe, preserved at Welbeck +Abbey, and now published by the Historical MSS. Commission, reveals the +intimate relations which existed for public purposes between these two +remarkable men. + +Of Edward, second Earl of Oxford, much praise and very little blame +have been recorded. He has been quaintly described as " indeed rich but +thankful, charitable without ostentation, and that in so good-natured a +way as never to give pain to the person whom he obliged in that +respect." He was, in truth, indolent and extravagant, faults which did +not, however, detract from his popularity. He was the prey of +adventurers, and the providence of impecunious poets such as Pope and +Swift. All the literati of the day were allowed access to his library. +Oldys drew therefrom the materials for his Life of Sir Walter Raleigh; +Joseph Ames and Samuel Palmer had recourse to it in their black-letter +studies. Pope was his adored friend and kept up a lively correspondence +with him; Swift was always welcome at his table. He had many tastes, of +which book-collecting was not the least expensive, and of the fortune +of 500,000 pounds which his wife brought him, the greater part is said +to have been sacrificed to "indolence, good-nature, and want of worldly +wisdom." + +In 1740 he was obliged to sell his estate of Wimpole, in order to clear +off a debt of 100,000 pounds, a sacrifice which failed to appease his +creditors, and a prey to carking care, he found the downward path from +conviviality to inebriety a rapid one. + +It was during the lifetime of the second Lord Oxford that the Rev. +Thomas Baker bequeathed his works in manuscript to the Harleian +library. A memorandum prefixed to these papers states that, in +consideration of one guinea (to satisfy +an original copy of Baston's verses on the battle of Bannockburn; a +fine one of the Chronicle of Mailros; the Life of King David, written +by the Abbot of Rievaulx; copies of charters between Scottish and +French kings; and transcripts overlooked by Rymer and John Harding +touching the lordship of England over Scotland. A contemporaneous +document relates to the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to the Dauphin, +and there are various letters from the same queen. We also notice Papal +Bulls, enjoining the Scottish bishops to render obedience to the +Archbishop of York as their metropolitan, and the king's recognition of +that archbishop's rights; besides many other important papers too +numerous to mention. Wales and Ireland are also well represented. + +But like the Cottonian, the Harleian library spread its borders far +beyond the limits of British history. As early as 1697 it had been +Wanley's opinion that it would conduce very much to the welfare of +learning in this country if some fit person or persons were sent abroad +to make it their business to visit the libraries of France, Italy, and +Germany, and to give a good account of the most valued manuscripts in +them. "The Papists," he adds in his memorandum to this effect, "are +communicative enough, for love or money, of any book that does not +immediately concern their controversies with Protestants,"* a somewhat +cryptic utterance which Wanley does not concern himself to explain, +controversy not being one of the sciences to which his attention was +turned. But his letter of instructions to Mr. Andrew Hay, who was +commissioned by Lord Oxford 1720 to proceed to France and Italy in +order to purchase MSS. for him, shows such an intimate knowledge of the +contents of the great continental libraries, that long as it is we +cannot forbear transcribing the whole:-- + +"Mr. Andrew Hay, you being upon your departure towards France and Italy +by my noble Lord's order, I give you this commission, not now expecting +that you can execute every part of it in this journey, but yet hoping +that you will dispatch those articles which are of the greatest +importance, and put the others into a proper posture against the time +of your next return thither. + +*Marl. MS., Harl. M.S., vol. 5911, f. 2. + + +"In Paris Fr. Bernard Montfaucon has some Coptic, Syriac, and other +MSS. worth the buying. Among them is an old leaf of the Greek +Septuagint, written in uncial or capital letters. Buy these and the +leaden book he gave to Cardinal Bouillon if he can procure it for you +or direct you to it. In the archives of the Cistercian monastery of +Clervaulx, I am told there are some original letters or epistles +written by the hand of St. Hierome upon phylira or bark. One or more of +these will be acceptable if not too outrageously valued. The Duke of +Savoy has many Greek MSS., as also the Egyptian board or table of Isis, +adorned with hieroglyphics, being those which have been explained by +Pignorius, Richerus, etc. Let me have some account of these. + +"At Venice buy a set of the Greek liturgical books printed there--I +mean a set of the first edition if they may be had; if not let us have +the other. Buy also Thomassini Bibliothecae Venetae in 40. Get a +catalogue of Mr. Smith's MSS. there, and inquire how matters go about +Giustiniani's Greek MSS. In the bookseller's shops, etc., you may +frequently pick up Greek MSS., which the Greeks bring from the Morea +and other parts of the Levant. Remember to get the fragments of Greek +MSS. you left with the bookseller who bought Maffeo's library. The +family of Moscardi at Verona have many valuable antiquities, and among +the rest four instruments of the Emperor Theodosius, junior [now +imperfect] written upon phylira. These must be bought, and especial +care taken of them, etc. The first begins 'dem relectis'; the second +'ius vir in ast'; the third 'ius vir in'; the fourth 'ni Siciliensis.' +At Florence, the Dominicans or Franciscans have a large collection of +Greek MSS. You may see them and get a catalogue of them if you can. Buy +Ernstius or some other catalogue of the Grand Duke's MSS. + +"At Milan in the Ambrosian Library is a very ancient Catullus, part of +Josephus in Latin, written upon bark; a Samaritan Pentateuch in octavo, +part of the Syriac Bible in the ancient or Estrangele characters; +divers Greek MSS. in capital letters, being parts of the Bible, with +other books of great antiquity, both Greek and Latin. You may look upon +them and send me some account. + +"At Monza [about ten miles from Milan] is an imperfect Antiphonarium +Gregorii Papae. It is all written upon purplecoloured parchment, with +capital letters of gold. Buy this if you can. + +"The family of Septata at Milan have a Latin writing upon bark. Buy +this if it will be parted with. + +"In the archives of the Church of Ravenna are divers instruments +written upon bark. You may see them. + +"At Rome the Greek monks of St. Basil have very many old Greek MSS. +written in capitals, particularly a book of the four Gospels, and some +pieces of St. Gregory Nazianzen upon St. Paul's Epistles. Buy as many +as you can, for I hear they are poor, and therefore, they may sell the +cheaper. They have likewise a Greek charter of Roger, King of Sicily, +in five pieces, with some other instruments in Greek, written upon bark +or vellum. Buy these also if you can. + +"The Fathers of the Oratory at Rome have many very ancient MSS., both +Greek and Latin. See them at least, even supposing that they will not +sell. In the Cathedral library at Pisa are many ancient MSS. Let me +have some account of these also. + +"The monks of Bovio, near, if not in Pavia, have many very ancient +MSS., and among the rest a book of the Gospels in Latin, wherein St. +Luke is written Lucanus. They have many old deeds in their archives. +Buy what you can. + +"At Cava [about a day's journey from Naples], is a Benedictine +monastery. In the archives or treasury is a Greek deed of Roger, King +of Sicily, with his golden seal appendant. Buy this if you can. In the +library are some old MSS.; see these at least, if you cannot buy. + +"At Naples, in the library of the Augustin Friars of St. John de +Carbonara is a Greek MS. of the Gospels [or of homilies upon the +Gospels] all written in capitals, with letters of gold upon purple +parchment. This must be bought. There is also a Dioscorides in Greek +capitals, being a large work with figures of the planets, etc. This +must also be bought. There is also a good number of other ancient MSS., +both Greek and Latin. Among the latter is an Hieronimus de Scriptoribus +Ecclesiasticis, in Saxon letters, and the Gospels in Latin, where St. +Luke is called Lucanus. Buy of these what you can. + +"If the Greek MSS. of the monastery of St. Saviour, near Messina in +Sicily, or any of them do remain there yet, or in that neighbourhood, +as it is probable they may, they will doubtless come exceeding cheap. +You will inquire, however, how this matter stands. + +"Pray Sir, all along in your journey endeavour to secure what Greek +MSS. and Latin classical MSS. you can, provided they come at reasonable +prices, and let me be favoured with an account of your proceedings as +often as may be convenient." + +And he adds: + +"Mr. Hay, in executing this commission, my noble Lord cannot give you +positive directions how to bid upon every occasion, by reason of this +his great distance from those parts, and must therefore rely upon your +fidelity, your prudence, your usual dexterity in business, and your +personal affection to him. You will be sure always to buy as cheap as +you can, for I foresee that some of the things his Lordship chiefly +wants or is desirous of, will not come for a small matter. In most of +the monasteries you will be able to buy for ready money; but it may be +at a cheaper rate with the Greek monks at St. Basil's monastery at +Rome, whose MSS. are good, and themselves in want. + +"I beseech God to bless and prosper you all along in this so long a +journey, and to bring you back again with safety and good success; and +you may be sure that you will be more welcome to but very few than to, +good Sir, your very hearty well-wisher and most humble servant, + +"Humphrey Wanly. + +"26th April 1720."* + +* Printed in the Preface to the Catalogue of the Harleian MSS. + + +Mr. Hay's expedition was not entirely successful. Some of the +manuscripts mentioned in the above letter, which Wanley insisted "must +be bought," are clearly not in the Harleian collection, and notably the +Greek and Latin MSS. written in letters of gold upon purple parchment. +For this library contains among its choicest treasures no manuscript +entirely written upon purple vellum, the Codex Aureus being only +partially thus stained. As we have already seen, during the early ages +of Christianity, the Greeks and Romans were in the habit of writing +their most precious books in letters of gold and silver on +purple-stained vellum, that colour being the distinguishing sign of +royalty and greatness. Purple was only worn by princes, and in this +manner of distinguishing the Scriptures was shown the high degree of +reverence in which they were held. The practice was continued during +the fifth and three following centuries, although it was so little +known in England that when, towards the end of the seventh century, St. +Wilfrid, Archbishop of York, gave a copy of the Gospels ornamented in +this manner to York Minster, his biographer described the book as a +thing almost miraculous. Manuscripts entirely composed of leaves of +purple vellum are of the greatest rarity, and many are described by +palaeographers as purple-stained when they are only partially so. The +age of a manuscript may sometimes be determined among other +characteristics by the fineness and whiteness of the vellum, and +sometimes by its purple colour. The MSS. numbered 2788, 2820, and 2821 +in the Harleian library are described by Astle as purple-stained, +whereas they are only thus painted in places intended to receive the +golden letters. Frequently, only the most important parts, such as the +title-pages, prefaces, or a few pages at the beginning of each gospel +or the Canon of the Mass, were written on vellum which had been +prepared in this manner. + +Wanley, as may be seen from the foregoing letter, added to his +knowledge of manuscripts a certain fondness for driving a bargain. He +was extremely desirous of obtaining the treasures which he describes so +accurately, but he was almost as much bent on getting them cheap as on +getting them at all. This may have been the result of solicitude for +his patron's pocket, for Lord Oxford was ruining himself to enrich his +library; but at all events in this matter nature and grace seem to have +gone amicably hand in hand. Wanley's only comment on the death of the +Earl of Sunderland in 1722 is to the effect that it will make rare old +books more accessible from the fact of their being less in demand, " so +that any gentleman may be permitted to buy an uncommon old book for +less than forty or fifty pounds." + +Number 2788 is the wonderful Codex Aureus or Golden Gospels. Its +acquisition by Lord Oxford is chronicled in Wanley's Diary in the year +1720. On the 14th May he wrote: + +"Yesterday Mr. Vaillant (a bookseller) brought me a specimen of the +characters of that Latin MS. of the Gospels, which is to be sold at the +approaching auction of Menare's books at the Hague. These characters +are all uncials, gilded over with gold, and appear to be formed in very +elegant manner. Among them I observe A, G, V, M and E so shaped, which +is not commonly seen in the body or text of old MSS., although frequent +in the title or Rubrics. In my opinion this most ancient and valuable +book should be purchased at any rate." + +Lord Oxford gave orders for the Golden Manuscript to be secured, and +commissioned Mr. Vaillant to buy it with all secrecy and prudence. +There are several entries in Wanley's Diary concerning the negotiations +for this purchase, and on the 27th June all was brought to a happy +conclusion. + +"This day the Codex Aureus Latinus was cleared out of the king's +warehouse, and delivered into my custody." On the 29th its solemn entry +into the Harleian library is recorded, and on the 13th July of the +following year, we find that "Mr. Elliot, having clothed the Codex +Aureus in my Lord's morocco leather, took the same home this day, in +order to work upon it with his best tools, which he can do with much +more conveniency at his own house than here." Wanley makes a note of +this circumstance because of his "speedy journey to Oxford in case any +ill accident should happen." + +This celebrated MS. is written throughout in gold letters upon vellum, +with the exception of the first lines of chapters in the Gospels and +the first lines of the subsidiary articles, which are in red ink. The +paintings of the four evangelists are extremely interesting, and the +title-pages are stained purple. This codex is described by Sir Edward +Maunde Thompson as French, of the time of Charlemagne, and we may add +that its position in the Harleian may be compared to that of the Durham +or Lindisfarne Gospels in the Cottonian library. + +The manuscripts numbered 2820 and 2821 are further examples of +partially purple-stained vellum, in imitation of earlier work. They are +of German workmanship of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The +execution of the miniatures is condemned by Sir Edward Thompson as +"very rude" and "hard," but with all deference to so great an authority +we must put in a plea for them, on the score of their extreme naivete +and candour. + +A mediaeval roll of immense interest, one of the greatest treasures of +this collection, consists of a series of beautiful outline drawings, +known as the Guthlac Roll, representing scenes from the life of St. +Guthlac. These drawings, which are of the twelfth century, are +contained in eighteen rondeaux, intended, perhaps, as a design for a +stained-glass window in honour of the saint at Croyland. They quaintly +describe, in exquisite delicacy of form and colour, how the young +Guthlac, after taking leave of his parents, renounces the profession of +arms, and receives the tonsure at the hands of Bishop Hedda. Then, +sailing away in a boat to Croyland, he builds an oratory with the help +of two companions, Becelin and Tatwin, and an angel converses with him. +No sooner is he launched on his new career of prayer, good works, and +bodily mortification, than demons assail him, carry him to the roof of +his oratory, and scourge him with knotted cords. But he scares them +away with the white scourge given to him by St. Bartholomew. He is then +ordained priest, instructs Ethelbald in the Christian religion, and +prophecies that he will be king. The last six rondeaux show forth the +death of Guthlac, the burial of his body by his sister Pega, his +appearing to Ethelbald and his attendants who are weeping round his +tomb, and his blissful state in heaven among the benefactors of +Croyland Abbey. + +Reference has already been made to Wanley's Diary,* a chronicle of the +purchases made by Lord Oxford during the greater part of Wanley's +custodianship, and of the principal events which happened in the +library. It begins on the 2nd March 1714, when Wanley had been +librarian for about six years. Many of the entries are exceedingly +curious, as demonstrating the energy with which old manuscripts were +traced, discovered, and purchased, and the tact and discretion +employed, in order to induce their owners to part with them. A fine +manuscript of part of Bede's Ecclesiastical History in Saxon, and two +other valuable Saxon MSS. -- King Alfred's translation of Ossian and a +copy of Aelfrick's Grammar--were discovered in private hands, besides +the Psalterium Gallicanum of St. Jerome "with the * and ./., written +about the time of the last King Ethelred, with the Litany and some +prayers, being one of the most beautiful books that can be seen." + +* Lansdowne MSS., 771, 772. + + +There was, moreover, a constant movement in the library itself. All +those who had any kind of manuscript for sale came to Wanley, and he +notifies in his diary the arrival of books in Chinese, Armenian, +Samaritan, Hebrew, Chaldee, Aethiopic and Arabic (both in Asiatic and +African letters), in Persian, Turkish, Russian, Greek (ancient and +modern), Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Provencal, High German, Low +German, Flemish, Anglo-Saxon, English, Welsh, and Irish, in all about +940 manuscripts, + +"Which is," he remarks, "a great parcel, besides which my Lord hath got +many other MSS. remaining at Wimpole . . . . My Lord hath not only +other MSS. in this room, written in almost all those [languages] above +enumerated, but also in those that follow, which I call to mind on the +sudden-viz., Chinese, Japanese, Sanscrit or Hanscrit, Malabaric, +Syriac, in the Nestorian, as well as in the common characters (some few +specimens of Coptic letters), Slavonian, Wallachian, Hungarian, +Courlandish, Francic or old Teutonic, Biscayan, Portuguese." On another +occasion, a person who had some books for sale, which he was anxious +that Lord Oxford should buy, offered Wanley a douceur, in the hope that +the librarian would press their purchase, "not knowing," he says +simply, "the kind of man I am." Wanley refused the bribe, but advised +his patron to buy the books, which he did. + +At another time-- + +"A French sort of droll came to my lodging, saying he was sent to me by +Mr. Bu-Pis, of Long Acre. He pulled out a 40 paper MS., dedicated to +Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, treating of Geomancy, and other like +nonsense, being written mostly in German. Monsieur stumped up the value +of it, and often swore it was the finest thing in the world. I asked +him the price of it, and looked grum and gravely, which he saw with +satisfaction; but as soon as his answer of fifty guineas was out, I +replied that was the book mine he should have it for the hundredth part +of a quart d'ecu. The droll would, however, have made remonstrances, +but I would hear none; il ne vaut rien being my word. So I waited on +him downstairs, which he took as a piece of ceremony; but indeed it was +to see him out of the house without stealing something." + +One of the most important negotiations chronicled by Wanley relates to +the purchase of the Graevius MSS. in 1724-25. Johann Graevius was a +German classical scholar, born in 1632, and chiefly known by his +Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romanorum, and his Antiquitatum et Historianum +Italia, in 45 volumes. His library, one of the most remarkable in +Europe, was sold at his death in 1703 to the elector, Johann Wilhelm, +for 6000 Reichsthaler. The elector presented all the printed books in +this collection to the University of Heidelberg, but kept the +manuscripts, 110 in number, in his own library at Dusseldorf They were +accounted such treasures, that travellers, interested in antiquities, +were taken to see them. The German scholar Uffenbach, who visited the +elector's library in VI I, says of them: + +"Among the few MSS. that were shown to me, the most remarkable was a +beautiful old quarto codex of Horace, which Graevius once lent to Mr. +Bentley, who could not be prevailed on to restore it till forced into +it by the threat that the elector would appeal to the Queen. There were +several volumes of autograph letters from learned men, collected by +Graevius, and several very beautiful breviaries, among which was one in +duodecimo, bound in silver, and containing as many beautiful figures as +I have ever seen in such books. Mr. Le Roy also showed me the 'Officia +Ciceronis,' printed by Scheffer in 1466--namely the books De Amicitia +et Senectute." + +The above books, together with others not mentioned by Uffenbach, +subsequently found their way into the Harleian library, and have been +identified by Mr. A. C. Clark, who has made a careful study of them +aided by the dates written in Wanley's hand on the first page.* + +* See his interesting paper in the "Classical Review," October 1891, +The Library of J. G. Gravius. + + +The manner of their disappearance from the elector's library +illustrates the more than questionable dealings to which +book-collectors were often subjected at the hands of their librarians. +There is a curious correspondence preserved in the Bodleian library, +consisting of autograph letters which passed between Buchels, the +elector's librarian at Dusseldorf, and Zamboni, the resident at the +court of Great Britain for the Landgraf of Hessen Darmstadt. In +appearance the correspondence is innocent enough: Zamboni has +manuscripts for sale on behalf of persons abroad. But there is far more +than meets the eye, and the letters contain almost beyond doubt the +disguised and detailed account of how the elector was robbed of his +manuscripts, and how Zamboni defrauded the fraudulent librarian +Buchels. Indeed the whole history of the Graevius manuscripts seems to +be one of peculation, until they came into Lord Oxford's possession. +Graevius himself was by no means irreproachable in the matter of +restoring borrowed books; Buchels, a Latin scholar and bibliograph of +some merit, had a suspicious tendency to appropriate his master's +goods; and Zamboni, had he lived in these days, would certainly have +been prosecuted for criminal bankruptcy, if, indeed, the greater part +of the transaction were not considered too dishonest to risk exposure. + +Buchels, in writing to Zamboni, 13th August 1717, maintains an air of +mystery about the books which he offers to him for sale, professing to +get them from various monasteries, and describing the difficulties +which he has in obtaining them. There are English dealers about, too, +who raise the price of everything. By degrees he sends lists of what he +has to dispose of, and shelters himself behind a mysterious friend, who +is obliged to sell such and such a manuscript. Sometimes this friend is +travelling about, sometimes he is in the country, but he is always the +source of difficulties. But Zamboni is not deceived to the extent to +which Buchels wishes to deceive him, and he knows full well that the +manuscripts offered to him all formed part of the Codices Graeviani, +and he tells Wanley so, but does not of course mention Buchels. +Meanwhile there is much bargaining between Buchels and Zamboni; but it +is certain, from the correspondence in the Bodleian library, that +Zamboni never paid for the MSS. which he sold to Lord Oxford in +anything but promises. The bills which he gave were never met, and if +the elector was the loser, his librarian cannot be said to have +profited by the fraud which he undoubtedly committed. + +Wanley's part in the transaction, a strictly honourable one, is fully +recorded in the Diary. On the 26th December 1724, he wrote:-- + +"The last night Mr. Mattaire came to me and said that he had seen +Signor Zamboni, and nine MSS. which are lately come to him from +Italy--that they will soon be sent to his house without being shown to +any other, and that then I shall see them forthwith. And further, that +this Signor expects a little parcel of Greek MSS., not yet arrived." +Three weeks later he again wrote:-- + +"This morning I went to Mr. Mattaire, with whom I saw fifteen old Latin +MSS., or fragments of MSS., belonging now to Signor Zamboni, but +formerly to the Dutch Professor Graevius. + +He opened a negotiation, and after some months wrote thus:-- + +"Signor Zamboni, sending a very kind letter to me, desiring to visit +me, either here or at my lodgings, I desired he would please to call +here, my lodgings being out of order, by reason of my maid's being +married yesterday. Signor Zamboni came hither about 2, and I showed him +many more of my Lord's MSS. to his great satisfaction. At length he +desired that I would go along with him to an ordinary, where he was to +dine with some foreign persons of distinction. I complied with his +request, as thinking I might do my Lord some service; and after dinner +was over, and the rest of the company gone, he assured me that as to +the price of the MSS. which he hath sent hither, he will leave it +entirely to my regulation, and accept of whatever I shall think an +equitable price for them; only, he desires a dispatch as speedy as may +be, lest the owner should send for them back. He further said that the +owner chiefly values the two volumes of learned men's Letters, the +Saxon Spieghel, and the Prayerbook of Solyman the Magnificent." + +Three days later, 27 September 1725, the Diary further records:-- + +"Yesterday Signor Zamboni came to me, and was entertained to his own +content and satisfaction. He conferred with me about the MSS. here in +my custody, and will stand to my award, between my Lord and him. He +says that as to the things my Lord formerly had of him, that he was no +gainer, but that in one of the parcels, he of himself lowered the price +twenty pounds less than his commission ran for. I hope I shall be able +to separate the two volumes of Letters, the Saxon Spieghel and +Solyman's Prayer-book, although they are very curious and valuable +things, and so my Lord may have the others very cheap. This done, I +believe that the same Letters and two MSS. may in time fall into my +Lord's hands at a price far lower than they are now held up at. Signor +Zamboni, who proves to be a good-natured and is [I believe] an honest +gentleman, mentioned 4000 more original Letters in the possession of +his correspondent, which may soon be brought over into England." + +On the 2nd October he added:-- + +"I waited on Signor Zamboni yesterday, who is daily teased by his Dutch +correspondent about the chest of MSS. lying here." + +There was a further delay of nearly a fortnight, and then Wanley wrote +to the rogue Zamboni to the effect that Lord Oxford had at last seen +many of his manuscripts, which he was not unwilling to buy at a +reasonable price, and that he would willingly forego the two volumes of +letters, the Saxon Spieghel and Sultan Solyman's Prayerbook, "if held +up too dear." He asked for the Greek MS. of Hesiod which he formerly +saw among them, but which had since been withdrawn. Ultimately he sent +back some of the books for which "this most greedy Signor" asked "the +most horrible price." Wanley's hope that they might subsequently come +to the library for less money was fulfilled as far as the letters were +concerned; these are now to be found in volumes 4933 4934 4935 and +4936. Among them are a few other letters which were already in the +Harleian library when the Dusseldorf manuscripts were purchased. Wanley +had them all bound up together. + +The manuscripts bought by Wanley from Zamboni number eighty-four, and +comprise nearly all the important books mentioned in the Graevius +catalogue. The Hesiod is the only valuable Greek MS. missing, and the +principal Latin MS. of this collection, which did not pass into the +Harleian library, is a Terence. It is also to be regretted that Wanley +did not secure the prayers of Solyman and the celebrated Saxon +Spieghel. Of the eighty-four other MSS., two have a special historical +interest: the Cicero (2682) and the Quintilian (2664), both of which +can be traced to the Cathedral library at Cologne. + +Graevius borrowed the Cicero in 1663 from the authorities, but never +returned it. The elector, Johann Wilhelm, bought it among other books +which were sold at his death. It consists of a folio of 192 leaves of +coarse vellum written in a German hand of the latter part of the +eleventh century, and has been the subject of much learned criticism. +It was collated by Mr. A. C. Clark, but until he identified it as one +of the books that had formed part of the Graevius collection, very +little attention had been paid to it. There is no trace of it before +the sixteenth century, beyond the fact that its first collator was +Modius of Cologne, who was allowed to use the Cathedral library, to +which the Cicero then belonged. The acquisition of these manuscripts +was the last important purchase made by Wanley; he died a few months +later, aged fifty-three. + +Besides the above-mentioned treasures from the Dusseldorf library the +Harleian possesses, among other Greek classical manuscripts, some that +are unique in character. Sir Edward Thompson, in his "Catalogue of +Ancient Greek MSS. in the British Museum," calls attention to three in +the Harleian collection which appear to him to be of superior merit. +These are: (1) The Greek-Latin glossary of the seventh century. This +manuscript is of singular interest both for language and palaeography, +and consists of 277 leaves of vellum varying in thickness, some of it +being very coarse. At the end, on a fly-leaf is some scribbling in what +is described as "a Merovingian hand." (2) The Greek MS. of the ninth or +tenth century, imperfect in the beginning, and in several other places, +described by Wanley as the Codex Prusensis. The initial letters, some +of which are ornamented, are generally red. (3) A volume numbered 5694 +in the catalogue, and containing a part of Lucian's works, on 134 +leaves of fine vellum of the tenth century. On the second fly-leaf are +these words in an Italian fifteenth-century hand: "Libro de Jo. +Chalceopylus, Constantinopolitanus," and at the bottom of the page, +"Antonii Seripandi ex Henrici Casolle amici optimi munere." Wanley says +that this MS. was supposed to have been carried from the old imperial +library at Constantinople to the monastery of Bobi near Naples. He +considered it "the finest old Greek classical MS. now in England." The +library of Seripandus was preserved in the Augustinian monastery of St. +John of Carbonara at Naples, but a part of it was sold to Jan de Witt, +who took it to Holland, and this manuscript was among the number, and +was included in the sale catalogue of De Witt's library in 1701. It was +bought by Jan van der Mark of Utrecht, and on this account it is +described in the Amsterdam edition of the work as the Codex Marcianus. +Later on it came into the possession of John Bridges of +Northamptonshire, who sold it to the second Lord Oxford. + +The earliest Latin MS. in the Harleian library is a copy of the four +Gospels of the sixth or seventh century--No. 1775. It was bought by the +founder of the library from Jean Aymon, who stole it, together with +eight other manuscripts, from the Bibliothique Royale in Paris, in +1707. It still bears on folio 2 its original press-mark. Another MS. in +Lord Oxford's possession having been identified as one of these, was +restored to its rightful owners in 1729. This relic of early Christian +times consists of 35 leaves of the Epistles of St. Paul, the canonical +Epistle, and the Apocalypse, written in gold letters on vellum. The +adventure through which it found itself in the Harleian library +together with the precious No. 1775, may be thus briefly related: + +Jean Aymon was a renegade French priest who had retired to the Hague, +married, and become a Lutheran pastor. He enjoyed a considerable +reputation for learning and piety among the Dutch; but wearying of his +monotonous, uneventful life, he resolved on returning to France under +pretext of offering to Monsieur Clement, the king's sub-librarian, a +certain book which he had discovered. He accordingly wrote to Clement +asking him to procure him a passport, in order that he might present +the book in question, and reveal some important matters to the king. +Clement obtained the passport, and Aymon returned to France, where, in +order to ingratiate himself with the librarian, he declared that he +wished to be restored in religion. He was advised to retire for a time +to the seminary of Foreign Missions, in order to study his position and +to prepare for his rehabilitation as a priest. But he complained +bitterly of the treatment which he received at the seminary, and paid +frequent visits to Clement, who, with astounding simplicity, allowed +him to remain for hours, often quite alone, in the Royal library. Here +he employed himself in making selections from priceless manuscripts, +sometimes cutting out pages from the middle of a volume where the theft +would be less easily detected. When he had gathered in a considerable +harvest, he cleverly obtained another passport, and escaped back to the +Hague with his ill-gotten gains. He accounted for his absence by saying +that he had been to seek documents, important for the defence of +religion, and made no secret of having brought back rich trophies. It +was thus through public rumour that Clement first became aware that the +king's library had been robbed. But Aymon's method of pilfering had so +far succeeded that it was some time before it could be ascertained what +number of manuscripts he had carried off. By degrees, however, the list +was completed and sent to Holland. The Abbe Bignon was the king's +librarian at the time when it was discovered that one at least of the +stolen treasures was in the Harleian library. As soon as Edward, Lord +Oxford became aware of the fact, he hastened to restore it, and +received in exchange a very polite acknowledgement of his courtesy from +Cardinal Fleury on behalf of the king.* + +* L. V. Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Imperiale. + + +In 1725 Wanley enumerated the Greek MSS. in the Harleian collection as +173. Among the illuminated ones, that which bears the number 1810 +demands special attention. It is an Evangelia executed in Greece in the +twelfth century, and written in black and red characters on the finest +vellum. Some of the miniatures have suffered woefully, the paint having +cracked in parts, but the faces are still full of beauty and life. One +of the least damaged represents the death of the Blessed Virgin. The +apostles surround the bed on which she lies extended; the aged St. +Peter lifts up his hands in an attitude of grief; St. John is leaning +over her left side; another bends forward and embraces her feet. In a +lozenge-shaped medallion on a gold background our Lord holds her soul +in His arms, in the form of a little child. A crowd of people form the +background, and a figure at the head of the bed swings a censer. Three +women contemplate the scene from a small window. + +Another remarkable miniature, the last in the volume, is a good deal +cracked, but still extremely interesting for the force and delicacy of +touch which it displays. Our Lord appears to the apostles after His +Resurrection. St. Thomas is in the act of placing his finger in the +wounded side. The print of the nails is seen in the hands and feet. Sir +Edward Thompson distinguishes this manuscript with his by no means +frequent encomium, "very good." + +The Greek Evangelium of the ninth or tenth century (5787), with its +ornamental initials and borders, and St. Jerome's Latin version of the +Psalter (2793), with a preface addressed to Sophronius, and written in +a tenth-century hand, should not be passed over. + +Another Psalter (2904), executed in England at the end of the tenth or +beginning of the eleventh century, has a fine drawing of the +Crucifixion, and grand initial letters. Westwood, in his Facsimiles and +Miniatures, considers this drawing to be the finest of the kind, and +the initial B (Beatus vir qui non abiit in consilio impiorum), the +noblest with which he is acquainted. This manuscript has most of the +characteristics of the later Anglo-Saxon school-the hunched-up +shoulders to express grief, the attenuated lower limbs, and the manner +in which prominence is given to the central figure by drawing the +others much smaller. On a scroll which St. John holds are the words, +"Hic est discipulis qui testimonii perhibet." The arrangement of +Pilate's superscription--"Hic est Nazaren IHC rex judaeor"--is unusual +but not without precedent. + +The Harleian library contains no fewer than 300 MSS. of the Bible or +parts of the Bible, written and illuminated between the seventh and the +fourteenth centuries. Of the later copies we may note one of the whole +Bible, written in the thirteenth century, and described in the +"Catalogue of Ancient MSS. in the British Museum," as remarkable; and a +Psalter, written before 1339, splendidly illuminated, and further +interesting as having belonged to Philippa of Hainault, and as bearing +the arms of England without those of France. + +There is also a fine series of Talmudical and Rabbinical books; nearly +200 volumes of Fathers of the Church, as well as liturgical books of +the different Latin and Greek rites. + +The polite literature of the Middle Ages is admirably represented, +among other examples by the famous Roman de la Rose, with its brilliant +fourteenth-century miniatures, its wonderful figures gorgeously +dressed, its broad borders richly decorated with fruit, birds, insects, +and flowers, of which the rose is the most salient feature. One +fascinating miniature shows-- + +Comment Narcissus se mira +A la fontaine et souspira"; + +and after a long but delightful pilgrimage by flowery meads and limpid +streams, amid curious mediaeval gardens + +"La conclusion du rommant +Est que vous voiez ez lemant +Qui prent la rose a son plaisir +En qui estait tout son desir." + +This glimpse of the treasures of the Harleian library will at least +account for the great celebrity it attained within a comparatively +short time of its foundation. Wanley was careful to enter into his +Diary the names of visitors, and any interesting details connected with +them, and their motives for an inspection. On the 15th January 1719/20 +he observed:-- + +"Dr.Fiddes came, and communicated to me his intention of writing the +life of Cardinal Wolsey at large; and desired me to transcribe for him +all such materials in this library as I should find for his purpose. I +showed him divers things here, and gave him notice of many others in +the Cottonian library, etc., but as to transcribing for him, begged his +excuse, etc." + +On the 22nd December 1721, + +"Mr. Bowles, the Bodleian library-keeper, came, and I spent most of the +time showing him some of the rarities here, to his great wonder and +satisfaction." + +And on the 28th + +"Mr. Bowles came and saw more of the rarities here." + +Two more visits from Mr. Bowles are chronicled, when he saw "yet more +of the curious books, papers, and parchments here"; and shortly after +Wanley wrote, "many come and tarry long." A visit from David Casley, +keeper of the Cottonian and Royal libraries, on the 4th November 1725, +is suggestive of a certain amount of friction between the two rival +librarians. It is nearly the last entry in Wanley's record:-- + +"Mr. Casley came to collate my Lord's MSS. of Titus Livius for Mr. +D'Orville, by my Lord's order. I am civil to him, but when just now he +offered me a South Sea bond as security to let him carry one of the +said MSS. home to collate it there, I would by no means hearken to such +a proposal." + +Perhaps Wanley would have regarded him with still greater suspicion if +he had known that Casley was to be his successor in cataloguing the +MSS. which he kept with so jealous a care. The talents of the two men +were very different, as the catalogue itself shows. That part of it for +which Wanley was responsible contains a description and an abstract of +each manuscript. Casley, whose knowledge of the age of manuscripts has +never been surpassed, contented himself with fixing their dates without +any reference to their contents. + +The work of building up the library does not seem to have flagged or +deteriorated after Wanley's death. The search for precious MSS. was +still actively carried on, and copies of a large collection of +original, royal, and other letters and State Papers in the Lansdowne +library furnish us with an example of Lord Oxford's unabated zeal in +the pursuit of books. Appended to these papers is a note written on the +first leaf by Mr. J. West, and dated 2nd May 1742:-- + +"Mem. I went with Edward, Earl of Oxford, to view these MSS. at a +barber's shop next door to the Bull Head Tavern, in Lincoln's Inn +Fields, when we were carried up two pair of stairs, and an old woman +asked 300 pounds for the MSS., which was thought exorbitant, but which +would have been given, if she would have declared any lawful title to +us as owner of them." + +After Casley, Hocker, deputy-keeper of the records in the Tower, +undertook to continue the catalogue, but only completed it as far as +the number 7355. When the collection was brought to the British Museum, +after the death of the second Lord Oxford, Dr. Brown, Professor of +Arabic at Oxford, and Dr. Kennicott, Fellow of Exeter College, added +titles to such of the Arabic and Hebrew MSS. as needed them. Gomez, a +learned Jew, was employed to do the same for the rabbinical books that +were without titles. In 1800 the Rev. Robert Nares was appointed to +continue and revise the catalogue. In a letter to Bishop Percy, dated +British Museum, 19th January 1801, Nares wrote:-- + +"I am just now deep in old MSS., correcting all that part of the +Harleian catalogue which was left unfinished by Humphrey Wanley, and +very imperfectly executed by Mr. Casley." + +The work done by Nares was supplemented by Stebbing Shaw, and Douce. +The Rev. T. Hartwell Horne added a series of indexes, and published the +catalogue in 1812.* + +* Nichol's Literary Illustrations, vol. vii., p. 591. + + +On the death of Edward, Earl of Oxford, in 1741, his widow,* who is +described as a "dull, worthy woman," cared to retain few of her +husband's treasures. His various curiosities were sold by auction; his +printed books, pamphlets, and engravings were disposed of to Thomas +Osborne, a bookseller of Gray's Inn, for 13,000 pounds--several +thousand pounds less than the cost of their bindings. A selection of +scarce pamphlets found in the library was made by Oldys, and printed in +8 volumes, in 1746, under the title of the "Harleian Miscellany." Dr. +Samuel Johnson wrote a preface to this work. The best edition of the +"Harleian Miscellany" is that of Thomas Park, in 10 volumes, published +between 1808-13. + +* She was Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles, only daughter of John, +fourth Earl of Clare, created Duke of Newcastle. + + +There still remained the precious manuscripts, and it had been the wish +of Lord Oxford that books so carefully collected might not be +dispersed. In accordance with this wish, Lady Oxford sold them to the +nation in 1753 for the inconsiderable sum of 10,000 pounds. They then +consisted of 7639 volumes, besides 14,236 original rolls, charters, +deeds, and other documents, and these were removed to the British +Museum, where they found a safe and suitable resting-place. + +But although fortunately the Harleian MSS. have been preserved from the +fate of so many choice volumes in the Cottonian library, they have +suffered to some extent from the carelessness or dishonesty of +borrowers. The second Lord Oxford was generous to a fault in lending, +with the inevitable result. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the only one of +his literary friends whom Lady Oxford tolerated,* wrote the following +letter to her husband from Avignon in 1745, at the time when probably, +the MSS. having been removed to the British Museum, attention was +directed to the fact that some were missing:-- + +"I perfectly remember carrying back the manuscript you mention, and +delivering it to Lord Oxford. I never failed returning to himself all +the books he lent me. It is true I showed it to the Duchess of +Montague, but we read it together, and I did not even leave it with +her. I am not surprised in that vast quantity of manuscripts, some +should be lost or mislaid, particularly knowing Lord Oxford to be +careless of them, easily lending and as easily forgetting he had done +it. I remember I carried him once one very finely illuminated that when +I delivered he did not recollect he had lent it to me, though it was +but a few days before. Wherever this is, I think you had need be in no +pain about it."** + +* "It is a common remark that people of brilliant parts often have no +objection to relax or REST their understandings in the society of those +whose intellects are a little more obtuse. Here was an instance: the +gods never made anybody less poetical than Lady Oxford; and yet Lady +Mary Wortley, though in general not over tolerant to her inferior's +incapacity, appears upon the whole to have loved nobody so well. And +there was an exception equally striking in her favour; for Lady Oxford, +heartily detesting most of the wits who surrounded her husband, yet +admired Lady Mary with all her might-pretty much as the parish clerk +reverences the rector for his Greek and Hebrew. Lady Bute confessed +that she sometimes got into sad disgrace by exclaiming, 'Dear mama! how +can you be so fond of that stupid woman?' which never failed to bring +upon her a sharp reprimand and a lecture against rash judgments, ending +with 'Lady Oxford is not shining, but she has much more in her than +such giddy things as you and your companions can discern."*-- The +Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, edited by her +great-grandson, Lord Whamcliffe, 2nd ed., vol. i., p. 66. Introduction. + +** Letters, vol. ii., p. 147. + + +Two years after the removal of the Harleian library to the British +Museum, Lady Oxford died, leaving an only daughter, Margaret Cavendish, +married to William Bentinck, second Duke of Portland. She was the +"noble, lovely little Peggy" sung by Prior. As she had inherited none +of her father's and grandfather's tastes, it was fitting that the grand +collection of MSS., for the sake of which they had impoverished +themselves, should enrich an innumerable multitude of scholars and +students of all nations and for all time. + + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Studies from Court and Cloister +by J.M. Stone + diff --git a/4333.zip b/4333.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c496943 --- /dev/null +++ b/4333.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7180e76 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #4333 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4333) |