If !-fe::?i:- /*.•<,,: $!;< v^'% «f':'.5'- '• ooec^J«^VMSfctt^ttQw«tt«H«F^ ' l NARRATIVES OF THE DAYS OF THE REFORMATION, CHIEFLY FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS OF \ JOHN FOXE THE MARTYROLOGIST; WITH TWO CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHIES OF ARCHBISHOP CRANMER. GOD is never better served than in adversity. Wealth maketh us wantons ; peace breedeth pride. We have quite forgotten Mariana tempora." Edmund BicknoWs Sword against Swearers and Blasphemers, 1561. EDITED BY JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS, F.S.A. PRINTED FOR THE CAMDEN SOCIETY. M.DCCC.LIX. WESTMINSTER : J. B. NICHOLS AND SONS, PRINTERS, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET. [LXXVII.] COUNCIL OF THE CAMDEN SOCIETY FOR THE YEAR 1860-61. President. THE MOST HON. THE MARQUESS OF BRISTOL, F.S.A. WILLIAM HENRY BLAAUW, ESQ. M.A. F.S.A. BERIAH BOTFIELD, ESQ. M.P. F.SA. JOHN BRUCE, ESQ. V.P.S.A. Director. JOHN PAYNE COLLIER, ESQ. F.S.A. Treasurer. WILLIAM DURRANT COOPER, ESQ. F.S.A. JAMES CROSBY, ESQ. F.S.A. JOHN FORSTER, ESQ. EDWARD FOSS, ESQ. F.S.A. THOMAS W. KING, ESQ. F.S.A. THE REV. LAMBERT B. LARKING, M.A. JAMES HEYWOOD MARKLAND, ESQ. D.C.L. F.R.S. F.S.A. FREDERIC OUVRY, ESQ. Treas. S.A. ROBERT PORRETT, ESQ. F.S.A. WILLIAM JOHN THOMS, ESQ. F.S.A. Secretary. WILLIAM TITE, ESQ. M.P. F.R.S. F.S.A. The COUNCIL of the CAMDEN SOCIETY desire it to be under- stood that they are not answerable for any opinions or observa- tions that may appear in the Society's publications ; the Editors of the several works being alone responsible for the same. CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE. Foxe's Acts aud Monuments ...... ix His Manuscript Collections . . . • . . . xii The Works of Strype ........ xvi The character of Foxe and of his great work .... xxii I. THE REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTH, Archdeacon of Nottingham, written in the year 1579. Biographical Memoir of the Writer ..... 1 Introductory letter addressed to John Foxe . . . .15 The examination of the blind boy of Gloucester . . .18 The strange and hasty death of doctor Williams, chancellor of Gloucester ......... 20 The tragical life and end of a right Catholic priest in London . 23 Of an ancient Protestant called Mr. John Petit, burgess for the City of London in Parliament ..... 25 Visits of John Frith to Mr. Petit 27 The history of Mr. William Ford, usher in Wyckham college at Winchester 29 The story of Richard Wever of Bristol 31 Of Mr. Anthony Quynby of Oxford 32 Of the shameful murdering of Mr. Edmund Louthe, of Sawtrey More of Mrs. Anne Askew ....... 39 More of Mr. John Phil pot, archdeacon of Winchester . . 47 Of Cooke, the registrar of Winchester, and persecutor of Mr. Philpot, and God's vengeance upon him .... 49 The first occasion of the Cardinal's overthrow by good Queen Anne .......... 52 The death of Mr. Zouch of Codnor castle .... 57 Postscript, addressed to Foxe . . . . . .59 VI CONTENTS. PAGE II. THE IMPRISONMENT OF JOHN DAVIS, a Boy of Worcester, written by himself in after-life ....... CO III. THE MARTYRDOM OF EDWARD HORNE, at Newent, in 1558 . . 69 IV. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVE OF THOMAS HANCOCK, Minister of Poole. His suspension under the Six Articles . . . . .71 Preaching at Christchurch and Salisbury in Edward's reign . 72 Interview with the Duke of Somerset at Syan. ... 76 His ministry at Poole ........ 77 Second interview with the Duke of Somerset . . . .79 The Mass restored at Poole 81 Hancock goes into exile ....... 84 V. THE DEFENCE OF THOMAS THACKHAM, Minister at Heading, in regard to his conduct towards JULINS PALMER . . .15 Letter of Thomas Purye to Foxe 87 VI. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ANECDOTES OF EDWARD UNDERHILL, esquire, one of the Band of Gentlemen Pensioners . . . 132 His arrest at Limehouse, for a balled he made against the papists, upon the proclamation of Queen Mary . .134 Digression 1. His controversy with sir Edward Hastings at Calais concerning the natural presence of Christ in the sacrament of the altar . . . . . . .136 His examination before the council at the Tower . . .138 Digression 2. His preserving Lord Russell from drowning in the Thames . 140 His altercation with secretary Bourne, and allusions to that statesman's history ....... ib. His delivery to the charge of the sheriff of Midd^sex . . 145 His committal to Newgate . . . . . . .146 Digression 3. His services at Landreci and Boulogne . .147 Digression 4. God's mercy to his servants during the great persecution in Queen Mary's time . , . .149 Underbill's illness in Newgate . . . . . .150 CONTENTS. vii PAGE VI. UNDERBILL'S AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ANECDOTES — continued. Digeession 5. Christening of his son Guilford, queen Jane being Godmother, and the lady Throckmorton her deputy : the latter, on her return to the Tower, finds her mistress's royalty terminated . . .' . . . .152 His release from Newgate, and return to Limehurst . .153 Rides on horseback to see queen Mary's coronation procession pass St. Paul's .- 154 Digression 6. His prosecution before archbishop Cranmer of the vicar of Stepney, quondam abbot of Tower-hill . .157 Digression 7. His prosecution of certain notorious gamblers, and of the ballad he put forth against them, and a bill he wrote in defence of bishop Hooper . . . . .158 Digression 8. His contest at Stratford on the Bow, on taking the pyx from the altar . . . . . . . 1GO His removal from Stepney parish for fear of religious persecu- tion, and lodging in Wood Street 161 His anecdotes of Wyat's rebellion ...... ib. Serves with the band of pensioners at the queen's marriage at Winchester, having withstood and overcome the scruples of bishop Gard.yner and mr. Norris . . . . .168 His religious books are walled up in his chamber by Henry Daunce, the preaching bricklayer of Whitechapel . .171 Removes to a house near Coventry . . . . . ib. Digression 9. Notices of master Luke of Coleman Street, physician, the author of John Bon and Mast Parson, and anecdotes of the publication of that book . . . 1 73 Digression 10. Underbill's arrest of Allen the prophesyer, who had circulated a false report that King Edward was dead .......... t&. A prayer composed by Edward Underbill, out of the Psalms of David .... . . 175 His verses on Christian Charity .... .176 vni CON1I.N1-. PAGE VII. I'm TROUBLES OF THOMAS MOWNTAYNE, Rector of St. Michael, Tower-Ryal, in the reign of Queen Mary: written by himself . .177 The Communion at St. Michael's Tower-Ryall . . .178 Interview with bishop Gardyner . . . . . .179 Good works in the days of King Henry and King Edward . 182 Imprisonment in the Marshalsea . . . . . .184 Wyat's offer to the prisoners . . . . . . 185 Libel against King Philip . . . . . . .187 Racking of Thomas Stoning in the Tower .... 188 Mowntayne is sent to Cambridge Castle . . . . .190 Entertained by the sheriff of Huntingdonshire . . .194 Pacifies the keeper of Cambridge castle . .... 199 Arraigned at the sessions ....... 205 Discharged upon sureties ....... 208 Royal procession through Cheapside ..... 209 Mowntayne escapes to South wark, and to Colchester . .210 Sails from Gravesend to Dunkirk . . . " . . .212 Teaches school at Antwerp 216 Returns home after the death of Queen Mary ... . ib. VIII. THE LYFE AND DEATH OF THOMAS CRANMER, LATE ARCHE- BUSHOPE OF CANTERBURY. His birth and education . . . . . . .218 His judgment on the King's divorce . . . . .219 Embassies to France, to the Emperor, and the Pope . . 220 Made Archbishop . . . . . . . .221 His Collections of Law, and on the Sacraments, and from the Holy Scripture and the Holy Fathers . . 221, 338 His arguments against the Pope's supremacy .... 222 Preparation of the Bishops' Book or "The Institution of a Christian Man N ........ 223 His conduct in King Edward's settlement of the Crown . . 225 His letter on the mass being re-established at Canterbury . 227 His disputation at Oxford ....... 228 His dying declaration ...... 229 CONTENTS. IX VAGE IX. ANECDOTES AND CHARACTER OF ARCHBISHOP CRANMER: by Ralph Morice, his Secretary . . . . . . .234 Notices of Ralph Morice, and his various contributions to John Foxe 235,341,342 Birth and education of Cranmer 238 His first marriage at Cambridge . . .... 240 Arguments on the King's divorce 241 His embassies to the Pope and Emperor .... 243 His second marriage in Germany ...... ib. Made Archbishop 244 Qualities wherewith he was specially endowed . . . ib. His lenity and kindness towards the Papists .... 246 His opposition to the Six Articles ...... 248 His coat of arms ......... 250 Parries the attacks of the prebendaries and justices of Kent 251, 252, 342 of Sir John Gostwyck . . . 251, 253 of the popish members of privy council 251,254 Saves the lady Mary from imprisonment in the Tower, and dis- closes the behaviour of queen Katharine Howard . .259 Manner and order of his hospitality and housekeeping . .260 His maintenance of the temporalities of his see . . .263 Behaviour towards his family . . . . . .268 The " infamy " that he had been an osteler . . . .269 X. CRANMER AND CANTERBURY SCHOOL : by Ralph Morice . . 273 XI. THE ANSWERS OF MR. THOMAS LAWNEY : by the same. Concerning priests' wives ....... 276 Concerning Bishop Stokesley and his portion of the New Testament translation . . . . . .277 XII. CHRONICLE OF THE YEARS 1532 — 1537, written by a Monk of St. Augustine's, Canterbury ... . 279 XIII. SUMMARY OF ECCLESIASTICAL EVENTS IN 1554 . 287 CAMD. SOC. b x CONTENTS. PAGE APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES AND DOCUMENTS. To the Reminiscences of John Louthe . . . . 292 The first Protestants at Oxford 293 Bearing a fagot 294 John Petit, citizen for London in Parliament . . . 295 The Murder of Robert Packington in 1536 . . 296 The Racking of Anne Askew 303 Protestant Ladies of the Court of Henry VIII. . . .311 Anne Hartipole and the Countess of Sussex . . .313 To the Imprisonment of John Davis . . . . .315 To the Autobiographical Narrative of Thomas Hancock . . ib. Extracts from Bale's " Expostulacion," &c. . ' . . ib. To the Defence of Thomas Thackham 319 Letters patent for the Mastership of Reading School . ib. To the Autobiography of Edward Underbill .... 320 The Band of Gentlemen Pensioners . . . . . ib. King Edward the Sixth and Saint George . . .323 Doctor Luke Shepherd, the author of John Bon and Mast Person 325 Allen the Prophesyer and his charms .... 326 Examination of William Wicherley, conjurer . . .331 To the Autobiography of Thomas Mowntayne . . .335 George Eagles, or Trudge-over-the-world . . . .336 To the Life and Death of Archbishop Cranmer . . .338 The Literary History of Cranmer's Collections from the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers . . . . . ib. To Morice's Anecdotes, &c. of Cranmer ..... 341 Further Additional Notes. — Mary of Henawde and Queen Philippa, and the families of Beaumys and Le Moyne . 344 The Cruel Treatment of William Maldon when a Boy, at Chelmsford, by his Father 348 Glossarial Index .......... 353 1 k-ueral Index . 357 PREFACE, THESE Narratives are derived, for the most part, from documents which have great literary as well as historical importance, in rela- tion to the works of the two most voluminous authors upon the Ecclesiastical History of this country. They were the stores once laid up in the study of John Foxe — the reliquiae or "remaines" of the ACTES AND MONUMENTS OF THE CHURCH. On the other hand, they were the very materials which first encouraged John Strype to embark on those researches that occupied nearly forty years of his laborious life. But since they passed from the hands of Strype they have not received all the attention that is due to their interest and importance. Notwithstanding the suspicions upon the veracity of John Foxe which have been sedulously suggested by his enemies, and, in part, too readily admitted by many who ought to have stood his friends, there has been little attempt to test his statements by contemporary documents. Indeed, such was the mass to which his work had grown, that it would seem rather to have been the ordinary effort of its successive editors to compress or abridge, than in any way to add to its information, or authenticate and illustrate its statements.* Even in the last edition, professedly " complete," prepared by the * The work has always had inattentive editors, among whom we must include even John Foxe himself. A remarkable instance of this is pointed out in p. 290 of the present volume. An important erratum committed in the first edition, discovered before its publication, and there acknowleged, was never rectified in the text until the printing of the last edition by Mr. Cattley. xii PREFACE. Rev. Stephen Reed Cattley, this was the last thing thought of. That gentleman contented himself with comparing the old printed editions and forming a text from them ; and- it was not until the great deficiencies and inaccuracies of his book, in every respect, had been exposed by the repeated criticisms of the Rev. Dr. Maitland, that an attempt was made to supply, in some measure, what was so manifestly wanting, by the means of supplementary notes and appendices. Recourse was then at last had to Foxe's Manuscript Collections, preserved in the British Museum — partly in the Har- leian and partly in the Lansdowne collections * — and a very few pieces resembling those which form the present volume were transcribed and printed.f At the same time copies of Foxe's letters were placed * Dr. Bliss, in his edition of the Athenae Oxonienses, erroneously stated that " all Foxe's original collections were purchased for Lord Oxford, and are now in the Harleian Collection." But some that had been in Strype's hands were not included in that purchase, but found their way into the Lansdowne Collection. Dr. Bliss made a still more unfortunate assertion when he remarked that it was perfectly unnecessary to enlarge on the biography of John Foxe, because it had been written so often and so well. In no case could such an encomium have been so undeservedly paid. Mr. Townsend and Dr. Maitland are agreed upon that point, if not on any other. The former laments " that the memoir of Foxe by his son, is written without any attention to dates," and that "it is impossible to reconcile its discrepancies." The latter maintains that it was not written by Foxe's son at all, and is of no authority. Yet upon that life the several biographers of Foxe have hitherto relied. One of the most important points upon which Dr. Maitland considers that the life in question is not to be believed, and which, if so, goes far to condemn it, is its assertion that Foxe was expelled from his fellowship at Magdalene College. I should state that I was not aware of this circumstance when I printed the note in p. 59. f John and Roger Hall to John Foxe : [their] information of one Day, a priest, curate of Maydston. In Mr. Townsend's Life, 1841, p. 149; 1843, p. 94; from MS. Harl. 416, fol. 123. Morice's paper concerning the communication of Latimer with Baynehain PREFACE. Xiii in the hands of Mr. Canon Townsend, who had undertaken to write the Martyrologist's life; and in that composition, which is prefixed to Mr. Cattley's work, some fifty of these letters were printed, in many instances very incorrectly. Besides these, Grindal's corre- spondence with Foxe has been edited by the Parker Society in their " Remains of Archbishop Grindal." Such is the inadequate attention that has in modern times been paid to these important records. It is true that Strype in most of his works had made very considerable use of them : but it should not be supposed that he had exhausted all their stores of information, nor that in every case he has employed them to the best advantage, or even always viewed their contents in their true light. Neither has he edited them with that exactitude which is now generally required and bestowed. Some he has printed entire, but in the or- thography of his own day ; of others he has given a part here and a part there, or stated their substance in his own language; and of others he has employed the information without referring to its source. Strype did not introduce into his published works so much of Foxe's personal history as he might have done, because he contem- plated the Life of Foxe as a distinct book. This appears from a letter of the Eev. Dr. Samuel Knight (author of the Life of Erasmus) to the Rev. Dr. Zachary Grey, written after visiting the venerable historian when " turned ninety, yet very brisk, and with only a decay of sight and memory,1' — in the following passage : — Mr. Strype told me that he had great materials towards the Life of the old Lord Burghley and Mr. Foxe the martyrologist, which he wished he could have finished, but most of his papers are in characters ; his grandson is learning to decypher them. * when in Newgate. In vol. iv. p. 770, of the 1843 — 49 edition ; but not in that of 1841, as I have incorrectly stated in p. 237 hereafter. These are all, or nearly so. * Nichols's Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, vol. v. p. 360. XIV PREFACE. Strypc is an author to whom very frequent reference has been, and must continue to be, made by all writers who follow him in the field of the Ecclesiastical History of this country. His compila- tions, however imperfect in many respects, are, from their great scope and extent, not likely to be readily superseded ; and even if they were so, by the production of some very superior work, they would still continue to be cited, both for the documents which they contain, and for the various passages in which their statements are now interwoven with our subsequent literature, both historical and controversial. But it is not ungrateful towards an industrious and honest, but not very judicious author, to assert that it has been too much the practice for modern writers to adopt the statements of Strype upon events in the sixteenth century, as if they came with the authority of a contemporary, a deference to which they certainly are not entitled. Every earnest searcher after truth will, on the contrary, be desirous to ascertain upon what evidence the statements of Strype are founded; and in this view alone the " Foxii MSS." from which he derived so much, must be esteemed as of especial importance. The earliest of Strype's historical works was his " Memorials of Cranmer," published in the year 1693, in the preface to which he made the following acknowledgment : — I have been conversant in what remaineth of the papers of John Fox, communicated to me by the favour of my good friend William Willys, of Hackney, esquire, among which there is a MS. Life of Cranmer * ; Annals writ by an Augustine Monk of Canterbury, from the year 1532 to 1538 f ; many letters of Fox, and other learned men to him, relating to the affairs or afflictions of the Church in those times ; and abundance more, too long here to be inserted. Again, in the preface to his Ecclesiastical Memorials, written nearly thirty years later, Strype says — * That printed in pp. 218—233 of the present volume. f Printed in pp. 279—286. PREPA< XV I have had also the use of numerous MSS. of ecclesiastical affairs, sometime belonging to the famous Martyrologist, John Fox ; and that by the kindness of a gentleman that was executor to the said Fox's last descendant deceased. By " Fox's last descendant" Strype appears to have meant Sir Thomas Fox Willys, Bart, who died in 1701 a lunatic; and by the latter's "executor," his cousin William Willys, esquire,* before named in the preface to the Memorials of Cranmer. The mother of Sir Thomas Fox Willys was Alice, daughter and sole heir of Thomas Fox, M.D. of Waltham Abbey, who was the son of Samuel Fox, and grandson of John Foxe, the Martyrologist. The manuscripts, it would seem, were either eventually given to Strype, or allowed to remain in his hands until his death, at a very advanced age, in 1737. The greater part of them were then pur- chased by the Earl of Oxford, whose agent Humphrey Wanley had long kept his eye upon -them. These now form the volumes 416 to 426 inclusive of the Harleian collection;! besides which, some of Foxe's papers are bound in a volume of larger dimensions, numbered * Sir Thomas Willys and Sir Richard Willys, two brothers, were both created Baronets by Charles the First, the former in 1641 and the latter in 1646. Sir Richard married Alice, daughter and sole heir of Thomas Fox, M.D. who had issue an only son, Sir Thomas Fox Willys, on whose death the baronetcy conferred on his father became extinct in 1701. Of the other family there were six Baronets, the last of whom died in 1732. William Willys, esquire, of Hackney, to whom Strype was indebted for the use of Foxe's manuscripts, was a Hamburgh merchant, a younger son of Sir Thomas, the first Baronet of Fen Ditton, co. Cambridge, and consequently cousin to Sir Thomas Fox Willys. He died in 1726. (Courthope's Extinct Baronetage, 8vo. 1835, p. 216.) f They are described at considerable length in the Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts, vol. i. pp. 236 — 250. Their arrangement, however, both as respects subjects and dates, is as confused as it could possibly be : no trouble whatever, in that respect, had been taken when they were bound. XVI PREFACE. 590.* A few, however, were separated from the rest; but, having found their way into the collection of the Marquess of Lansdowne, are now, like the others, in our national museum. These are now interspersed in the Lansdowne collection (Nos. 335, 388, 389, 819, 1045, and possibly others, for others of the Lansdowne MSS. belonged to Strype). A learned and judicious gentleman, already named, well known for the attention which he has for many years bestowed upon eccle- siastical history, as well as for the peculiar advantages which he has enjoyed of access to some of its most important sources, has not long since circulated among his friends a few pages bearing the title of NOTES UPON STRYPE ;f repeating the arguments which he had written some ten or twelve years before, in recommendation of a new edition of Strype's works, at the request of a London publisher. It will (Dr. Maitland remarks) be admitted by all who are in any degree acquainted with it, that there is no period of our history which is more interesting than that of the Reformation. And this, not merely considered in an ecclesiastical, but in a political and philosophical point of view ; and as bearing on our constitution, our laws, habits, modes of thought and action, — on the whole history of our country since that time, and our own state and circumstances at the present day. Neither will it be denied, that for anything like familiar acquaintance with this period, we are incomparably more indebted to Strype, than to any other man. The industry and integrity with which, during a long course of years, he devoted himself to the collection of materials * It is in this volume that the narrative of William Maldon occurs, which, having been observed too late for the text of this volume, is placed at the end of the Appendix. There is a remarkable passage at its commencement, showing Foxe's habits in soliciting materials for his work. In the same volume is also preserved a contemporary narrative (but imperfect) of the murder of the Hartgills by Charles Lord Stourton : this is introduced by Strype, but with several errors, in his Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. iii. and is reprinted by Sir R. C. Hoare in his Modern Wiltshire, Hundred of Mere, p. 153. f Octavo, pp. 15, dated Gloucester, Feb. 22, 1858. PREFACE. xvii for the history of those times, entitle him to our warmest gratitude ; and the treasure of facts and documents which he collected, whether considered in respect of its bulk, or of its interest and importance, is altogether unrivalled. . After bestowing upon Strype this well-merited eulogy, Dr. Mait- land proceeds to lament that the works of that laborious compiler are less familiar than they ought to be to English readers ; that they are presented in a very uncomfortable, unreadable state, or kept from circulation by their costly price ; that, whether in the old unwieldy folios, or in the twenty-five octavo volumes reprinted by the Clarendon Press, they are individually unfurnished with indexes; and though, in the latter respect, there is a general index to the whole series, yet it is unreasonable and absurd to require the purchaser of any one of the works to buy an index to the whole, itself forming two thick volumes; whilst the total cost of the series is an expense which few students will be disposed to incur at one time.* Such are some of Dr. Maitland's objections against the works of Strype in their present state : but the more important charge which he brings against them is, that they are full of errors of transcription and the press, of which he exhibits many examples that very mate- rially affect the meaning of the documents and quotations introduced. On these grounds Dr. Maitland recommends that the labours of a careful revision should be bestowed upon the works of Strype, and that they should be again issued in an amended state .f * The price of the Oxford edition, in 27 vols. (including the General Index) is now reduced from 14/. to 71. 13s. f There have been two modern attempts to republish Strype, the Memorials of Cranmer having been edited anonymously for the Ecclesiastical History Society in 1848, and by Philip Edward Barnes, esq. B.A. for Mr. Rout- ledge, in 1 853. On both occasions it was proposed that Strype's other works should follow, but no more made their appearance. Indeed, the Ecclesiastical History Society broke down after having published only two volumes out of three. CAMD. SOC. C xviii PREFACE. On the other side of the question it might be alleged, and perhaps with equal truth, that not any one of Strype's works is in itself complete as respects any particular period or transaction ; that most subjects of which he treats are discussed in more than one of his. books,* and that therefore a General Index is the best, and indeed the only satisfactory, key to them ; and consequently, in order to make them really what could be wished, the whole should be recast into a chronological narrative, or at least the disjecta membra of certain important transactions should be brought together, and properly connected. On the whole, the more the subject is considered, the more evident it appears that it is not merely revision, but a remoulding and rewriting, that the works of Strype require. Whilst on the one hand his documents undoubtedly ought to be collated, and should never be again reprinted without collation, because they are imper- fect and incorrect ;f so, on the other, his narrative ought to be remodelled, not because it is often prejudiced or intentionally unfair, but because it is frequently confused in arrangement, imperfect in information, and now obsolete in style. In many places where Strype has reported, in his own terms, a story of the sixteenth century, his language is now really more old-fashioned and unlike our own, than the plain but effective * The history of Foxe's Actes and Monuments affords an example, among scores of others. That work, and the various editions of it which appeared during the reign of Elizabeth, form a subject which is treated of by Strype in some half-dozen different places. f " I do not mean to reflect on Strype, whose integrity and good faith are beyond, all doubt : but to the question whether the documents and extracts, as they stand in his works, are in fact accurate copies of their originals, only one answer can be given. They are NOT In many cases, — and some- times in documents of great importance, whereof one would desire to have correct copies, — there is, as the words now stand, nothing but obvious non- sense." (Notes on Strype, by the Rev. S. R. Maitland, D.D. p. 6.) PREFACE. XIX phraseology of his original. Of this circumstance the present volume will afford frequent proofs. Whether Strype will yet obtain an editor so patient and so devoted as Dr. Maitland has imagined, may now be doubted; but it must be generally admitted that it would be only a well-deserved testimony to the past labours and merits of the industrious historian in question, as to his more eminent predecessors, that any future Ecclesiastical History of England, on a large and comprehensive scale, whether accomplished by university, society, or individuals, should acknowlege upon its title-page that it was " founded on the works of Foxe, Burnet, Strype," &c. By printing " The Diary of Henry Machyn " in its integrity the Camden Society has already made public one of the most curious sources of Strype's information, and the present volume may be regarded as a further instalment towards a critical edition of the documents employed by Strype. There are few historical students who will not prefer to read the ipsissima verba of the actors and sufferers in the perilous days of the Keformation rather than any modern version of their histories; and, though most of the writers in the present volume are shockingly astray from any recognised standard of orthography, yet it is well that at least one edition of their narratives should be printed as they themselves penned them. If the assertion of Doctor Johnson, that " those relations are com- monly of most value in which the writer tells his own story," be admitted to be just, and 'one of general acceptation, then the amount of autobiography contained in the present volume will be greatly in its favour. Archdeacon Louthe,* the writer of the first paper, relates his * Among the letters transcribed in Foxe's copy-book, which is now bound up in the Harl. MS. 417, at fol. 102 v. is the following, which is attributed to John Aylmer, bishop of London, in a side-note written by Strype ; but I think it much more probable that it was written by our friend John Louthe, the archdeacon of Nottingham : — XX PREFACE. anecdotes as of matters in which he had a personal concern, and of which he might say with the poet, Quorum pars magna fui. The narratives of John Davis, Thomas Hancock, Edward Underbill, Thomas Mowntayne, and William Maldon were all written by themselves; and the justification of the conduct of Thomas Thack- ham towards Julins Palmer also proceeded from his own pen. In several instances the accuracy of Foxe's book is brought into question. Archdeacon Louthe offers a determined defence of the rnartyrologist upon that point, and it is on that account that I have placed his papers foremost in the present collection. He attributes the outcry that had been raised against Foxe's work entirely to the malice of the mortified papists, and alludes especially to the attack which had proceeded from Louvaine, under the name of Alan Cope, but really written, as was supposed, by Nicholas " Salutem in Christo. Accepimus Reginam Scotorum paralysi graviter laborare, vel ad desperationem, et aliis nonnullis torqueri morbis. Rex ipse, optimae spei adolescens, parliament! autoritate decrevit de una religione confirmanda et papistica e finibus suis exterminandii, ita ut quisque missam auditurus prime moneatur, secundo bona ipsius fisco adjudicentur, si tertio peccaverit solum vertere cogatur. Hsec ad te scripsi, turn ut hujus boni participem faciam ; turn ut a te preces cum lachryrnis Christo nostro fundantur, et nos beare, et suum evangelium propagare pergat. Quse concedat optimus Jhesus noster, quern non minus tibi familiarem existimo quam est amicus quisque amico. Ora, ora, mi frater, nam pluriinurn apud Christum tuas valere preces non dubito. " Tui amantiss. JOHANNES LOND." Strype has introduced this letter in his Life of Bishop Aylmer, p. 43, (Oxford edition, p. 24,) and assigned it to about the year 1578. If the bishop of London addressed the martyrologist in these terms, they are certainly very extraordinary proof of the high estimation in which he was held by a prelate in so eminent a position ; but I am inclined rather to think that they came from the enthusiastic and highly intolerant John Louthe — who yet did not choose to appear exactly in propria persona, but signed JOHANNES LOUD, hot LOND. as printed by Strype, and as it had been before by Foxe (see p. 14). PREFACE. XXI Harpsfield. But Louthc's own anecdotes furnish some proofs of the inexact reports to which Foxe was unavoidably subject, particularly when the reminiscences of years long past were revived. The third article, that relating to Edward Home, was purposely written to correct some imperfect information in " the Booke of Martyrs," and yet it seems never to have been brought into its >per place. "he " Defence of Thomas Thackham " is a direct expostulation Foxe in regard to some statements respecting Julins Palmer in whih Thackham's name had been introduced. His protestations, how&er, appear to have obtained little credit with Foxe's original infonknts, in consequence of the opinion they had formed of his insince\ty. Though Thackham's arguments are excessively prolix, and too, tedious to be desirable as a whole, the portions I have extractecWill be found to contain some remarkable passages, and some very^urious examples of Elizabethan phraseology. Foxe, tnugh a very laborious, was never a careful author. He admits this 5m self in the reply which he made to Alan Cope with respect to uk story of Sir John Oldcastle lord Cobham: " I heare what you wilVaie, I should have taken more leisure, and done it better. I gra% and confesse my fault; such is my vice, I cannot sit all the daiem. Cope,) fining and minsing my letters, and combing my hea\ an(J smoothing myself all the daie at the glasse of Cicero. Yet notVhstanding, doing what I can, and doing my good will, me think j should not be reprehended." The contents of V present volume certainly prove that Foxe, though always busy, \s not foncl of revising his writings. Several of the papers preservl among his Manuscripts were, like that of Home, communicated \i^m for t^e express purpose of correcting his great work, were pkrve(} by him for that purpose, and yet were never brought to the\|estjne(j use I deem it perfectly unn\ggarv? however, to attempt any formal XXli .. PREFACE. defence of Foxe's honesty and veracity. I believe him to have been truth-seeking,* but liable to mistakes in an age of difficult communication, and perhaps occasionally subjected to intentional misinformation. f The violence of his invective too often overshoots its object, and the coarseness of his abuse is necessarily offensive in the ears of a more refined age. In that respect he too much re sembles his friend and associate Bale, who may very probably ha^e been the author of some of the comments, particularly in the sue- notes, of the Book of Martyrs, that are so much in his style. It nust also be admitted that in his remarks on the conduct and suffeings of those from whom he differed in matters of faith and discipline, Foxe too constantly discovers a merciless and unsympathisinf spirit, as well as a jocularity towards holy things which is both Xl-timed and profane. The Rev. Dr. Maitland, in his various essays J on Feme's great work, has not only taken just exception to the tone a*d spirit in which its author wrote, but has shown some instances c^ what must * See in p. 17, note, his own admission, " Although I deny i>t," &c. t I am not myself aware of any proved instance of thi; but it is thus stated, and judiciously commented upon, by Granger, in his Biographical History of England : " The same has been said of Foxe wfch was afterwards said of Burnet ; that several persons furnished him with ac°unts of pretended facts, with a view of ruining the credit of his whole pfformance. But the author does not stand in need of this apology ; as it waFimpossible in human nature to avoid many errors in so voluminous a worJ a great part of which consists of anecdotes." J A Review of Fox's History of the Waldenses. J3?. 8vo. Six Letters on Fox's Actes and Monuments. 18^- Six more Letters. 1841. Notes on the contributions of the Rev. George ownsend to the new edition of Fox's Martyrology: Part 1. On the memor°f Fox ascribed to his Son; Part 2. Puritan Thaumaturgy ; Part 3. Historic x authority of Fox. 1842. 8vo. Essays on subjects connected with the Refoaation in England. Reprinted, with additions, from the British Magazine. S4^. 8vo. PREFACE. xxiii be condemned as culpable carelessness in the treatment of historical evidence, and imperfect skill in learning and scholarship. All this Dr. Maitland has demonstrated with such minuteness and perse- verance as might have been deemed unnecessary, or excessive, had not the advocates of the martyr ologist, in a spirit of blind and injudicious partisanship, assumed undue weight for his historical authority. The proposition of the Convocation of 1571, that "the Monuments of the Martyrs" should be placed for public perusal in the houses of bishops, deans, and dignitaries, and in cathedral churches — which last expression has been grossly exaggerated into " all parish churches," — in company with the Holy Bible and other like books pertaining to religion, seems to have exalted the Actes and Monuments of John Foxe, in the estimation of his over-zealous admirers, to a rank scarcely inferior to that of the Acts of the Apostles. It can now no longer be disputed that as a general history of the Church, in its earlier ages, Foxe's work has been shown to be partial and prejudiced in spirit, imperfect and inaccurate in execution; but it is when approaching his own times — if allowance be still made for the prejudices and partiality which of course continue — that the book becomes most valuable as a record of the doings and sufferings, a mirror of the opinions, passions, and manners of the people of England. For the early annals of the Church there are other authors to be preferred, both of antecedent and of subsequent date; but for familiar pictures of public and private struggles for conscience sake, it is probably unequalled in any country or language. It is the Chronicle of the days of the Reformation, the BOOK OF MARTYRS upon which the intense interest of their own and many subsequent generations was concentrated. John Foxe had set himself the task of writing a History of the Church in Latin, and he thought it derogatory to his character as a XXIV PREFACE. scholar to appear in any other language.* It was the demand of the English public — or, if there was then no literary public in England, of John Day his London publisher, supported , no doubt, by Bishop Grindal and other influential persons, — that, even against the author's will, produced the English edition, and it was the zeal and enthusiasm of a Protestant people that made it so successful. Foxe had given his work in its original language the title of Commentarii, and in its English form that of " The Actes and Monuments of the Church ; " t .it was the English people themselves that called it The Book of Martyrs. This popular title in itself * This appears in his dedication addressed to Queen Elizabeth, in which he apologises that " the story being written in the popular tongue serveth not so greatly for your own peculiar reading, nor for such as be learned ;" and again in his letter sent with a copy of the first edition to the President and Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford : — " Hoc unum dolet, Latino non esse scriptum opus, quo vel ad plures emanare fructus historia, vel vobis jucundior ejus posset lectio. Atque equidem hoc multo maluissem, sed hue me adegit com- inunis patrias ac multitudinis sedificandae respectus, cui et vos ipsos id idem redonare aequum est." We have also Foxe's own statement that the transla- tion of his Latin book into English was not made by himself, but executed by others whilst he was occupied in further researches into episcopal registers. f The title of " Actes and Monuments " appears to have been borrowed from the book entitled Actiones et Monimenta Martyrum, printed by Jean Crespin, at Geneva, in 1560. Grindal, to whom Foxe was chiefly indebted for the materials relating to the Marian persecution, speaks in his letter to Foxe dated Strasburgh, 19 Dec. 1558, of their projected work as Historia Martyrum. It is therefore contrary to what might have been expected that the word Martyrs did not appear on the English title-page. But, although it did not, there are many proofs that the work was from a very early time recognised as The Book of Martyrs. It is so called by Thackham at p. 93 of the present volume, and by Deighton in p. 69. Archdeacon Louthe, in p. 15, styles it " the booke of Actes and Monumentes of Martyres." When directed to be placed in cathedral churches, &c. in 157 1> it was called " Monumenta Martyrum," PREFACE. xxv shows that the portions of the work which really fastened themselves upon the public mind, were not its early historical details, whether faithfully or partially related, but its heart-stirring narratives of events of more recent occurrence, which came home to the sympa- thies and the passions of those who had shared or witnessed their transaction and their effects.* For a similar reason the autograph Narratives of some of the sufferers still appeal to us with a more than ordinary degree of interest. Nor are they altogether merely the details of private doings and sufferings. They are connected, indirectly, with many of the most important national events, as will at once be perceived on turning over the leaves of this volume, or by looking down its Table of Contents. In order to render its illustrative notes more complete, I have trespassed on the time and attention of many of my friends. To the Rev. James Raine,! of York, I am indebted for a copy of * Foxe himself looked forward to this sort of personal interest that would be taken in his work — " Neque non juvabit et illud nostrorum fortasse animosi quuni multi in his historiae monumentis suos reperient, alii parentes, alii filios, nonnulli uxores, pars maritos, quidam cognates aut affines, plurinii vicinos aut amicos : de quibus hie legere aliquid, velutique loquentes audire, pro suo quisque affectu avebit." (Dedication of the Commentarii to the Duke of Norfolk, dated at Basle, September 1, 1559.) And yet he seems to have expected that all his readers should understand Latin. f In how different a position, unfortunately for literary and biographical research, are the records of the two archiepiscopal courts at present placed ! While those of the province of York haye been liberally thrown open, and to a certain extent made public by the aid of the Surtees Society, those of the province of Canterbury, by the arrangements of the new Courts of Probate and Divorce, have become more rigidly closed than ever. No other copies or notes are permitted than those which are made by the official scribes, and are officially authenticated. Above a certain date, when the handwriting becomes especially CAiyrp. soc. d XXVI 1'KEFACE. the will of Archdeacoii Louthc. The Rev. W. II. Gunner and the Rev. Mackenzie Walcott have both assisted me in illustrating Louthe's biographical anecdotes by extracts from the records of Winchester College, The Right Hon. Lord Monson has obliged me with many valuable suggestions in my endeavours to trace the domestic history of Anne Askew, but which have been rewarded with less success than I was willing to anticipate. To William Hobbs, F.S.A. of Reading, I owe some information respecting Thomas Thackham, and particularly the patent for the mastership of Reading school which is printed in the Appendix. But the most important contribution I have received is that of Morice's Anecdotes of Archbishop Cranmer, communicated by the Rev. J. E. B. Mayor, and which led me to introduce the preceding paper, entitled " The Life and Death of Archbishop Cranmer,5' Both of these articles I fully expect will be regarded as adding materially to the value and interest of the present volume, as they plain and legible, and free from the pothooks and hangers of modern legal pen- manship, the fees for transcription are unreasonably doubled, as if in especial despite to historical inquiry. It will scarcely be credited that the brief will of John Petit, which occupies fourteen lines of the present volume, cost, with the formal record of probate (for we must take the husk with the kernel), the sum of five shillings. At the recent change of the Ecclesiastical Courts a great opportunity for the propagation of historical knowledge was suffered to pass by. The proper course would have been to have relieved the Will Office by removing its records of a date anterior to the year 1700, to the Public Record Office, or to the British Museum. Can it not still be arranged that literary inquirers should be allowed to take WMuthcnticated copies or extracts, when furnished for that purpose with a certificate from II. M. Keeper of Public Records ? Some such concession may, perhaps, yet be made, when the new buildings of the Prerogative Oflice are completed. xxvn show the principal sources of one of the most important portions of Foxe's work.* The llev. W. D. Macray, of Oxford, has examined for me the Ashmolean MS. 861, and has ascertained that it contains extracts Irom the same Journal, kept by Anthony Anthony, which was quoted by Bishop Burnet with respect to Queen Anne Boleyne, as mentioned in the note in p. 305 ; and also in regard to the racking of Anne Askew. Though the passages relating to the latter subject have not been recovered, yet the Ashmolean extracts are sufficient to prove that the document whicb (as I have remarked) was ignored by Mr. Jarcline once existed, if it is not now to be found, and that it proceeded from a contemporary writer whose testimony is entitled to some respect and consideration. By the use of the unpublished sheets of the u Athenae Canta- brigienses," with which I have been favoured by their authors, Charles Henry Cooper, Esq. F.S.A., and his son, Mr. Thompson Cooper, I have had the gratification to be the first of a long line of editors that will have to acknowledge their continual obligations to a work which is as elaborate and careful in its execution as it is important and comprehensive in its design. It was my intention to have included in this preface some account of the origin, formation, and literary history of Foxe's great work; but, in pursuing this intention, I have found the materials grow upon my hands to an extent exceeding the limits to which it is * Morice's paper was communicated by archbishop Parker to Foxe before the preparation of his second edition in 1570, (not 1576, as misdated in p. 234,) in the Index to which the reader's particular attention is directed to it by the following singular entry : — "Thomas Crannicr made Archbyshop of Canterbury 1200. Ilis storye is worthc the reading, and begynneth 2032." It lasts from that page to p. 2072. XXV111 PREFACE. necessary that I should here confine myself. I must therefore defer " The Literary History of the Book of Martyrs " to some other occasion. I have only further to apologise for a slight error that has been more than once repeated in the present volume. There were nine standard editions of the ACTES AND MONUMENTS, which were published in the years 1563, 1570, 1576, 1583, 1596-7, 1610, 1631-2, 1641, and 1684. All of them, except the last, are nqw more or less scarce books; and two, those of 1570 and 1583, are not at present in the library of the British Museum. It arose from this circumstance that I have in several places termed the edition of 1576 the second edition instead of the third. By the kindness of Mr. George OfFor I have since seen a copy of the edition of 1570, NARRATIVES OF THE DAYS OF THE REFORMATION. L THE REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUDE OR LOUTHE, ARCHDEACON OF NOTTINGHAM, ADDRESSED TO JOHN FOXE IN 1579. JOHN LOUDE, Louthe, or Lowth, as the name was more commonly written, claimed descent from several families of importance. His grandfather Thomas Louthe esquire was of Castle Hedingham in Essex, Cretingham in Suffolk, and Sawtrey Beaumys in the county of Huntingdon, and had married Anne, daughter and heir of Thomas Mulso a of Cretingham ; Lionel Louthe,b father of Thomas, had married Katharine Dudley, of the family of Sutton alias Dudley, barons of parliament and knights of the Garter ; and Roger Louthe,* father of Lionel, is said (by John Loude) to have married " Mary of Henawd," a cousin of Lionel earl of Ulster, and duke of Clarence, son of king Edward the Third. Queen Philippa, the mother of that prince, was a princess of Hainault ; but who " Mary of Henawd" may have been it would perhaps be a Called sir Edmund Mulso by John Loude, but see the note, p. 4. b Lionel Louthe died Nov. 30, 1471, leaving his widow Katharine possessed of the manor of Bealmes in Sawtrey : see an abstract of his inquisition post mortem in the Appendix. His name occurs as a feoffee in 22 Hen. VI. in Collectanea Topogr. et Geneal. iv. 136. c Roger Lowth was one of the gentry of the county of Huntingdon returned by tb« commissioners in 12 Hen. VI. List printed in Fuller's Worthies of England CAM1X SOC. B 2 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. vain to inquire.4 Possibly this part of the Loude genealogy partakes of imagination, suggested by the Christian name Lionel. The other alliances, however, are confirmed b by the coats of arms which were found in the manor- house of Sawtrey when Nicholas Charles made his Visitation of Huntingdon- shire in the year 1613. From that book (already printed for the Camden Society) the following is an extract, with the names of some of the coats of arms supplied : — In Laurence Farron's howse at Sawtrey in the hall wyndowes. These 3 in the north wyndowe of the hall. [Lovetoft.] [Edward Sutton, lord Dudley, elected E.G. 18 May, 1509, died 31 January, 1521-2.] [John de Vcre, earl of Oxford, elected K.G. before 22 April, 1486, died 10 March, 1512-13.] These 6 escocheons stand in the south wyndowes of the hall aforesaid. [Louthe=Stukeley.] [Louthe=Mulso.] [Louthe=Dudley.] a See, however, some further remarks in the Appendix. b The arms of Edward lord Dudley, E.G., were evidently set up as those of a kins- man of whom the family of Louthe was proud. From a similar reason, or as a mark of 11EMINISCENCE8 OF JOHN LOUTHE. [Louthe=IIenawd?] [Louthe— Somayne ?] [Louthe.l In Sautrey Church 9 August! 1613. Upon a monument in the south side of the chancell : Mense Aprilis, Anno Domini Mcccciiij. et Maria uxor ejus, quor' animab' propiciet' deus. Amen. [Moyne.] [Moyne=» Somayne ?] [Moyne.] feudal respect, they were accompanied by those of the earl of Oxford, upon whom the family were doubtless dependent at Castle Hedingham. The coat of Louthe or Lowth is blazoned thus : Sable, a wolf salient argent and in dexter chief a crescent of the second. The first impalement appears to have been intended for Stnkeley, the wife of Edmund Louthe (p. 4) : it was properly Argent, on a fess sable three mullets of the field (as on the monument, p. 6) , The fourth coat seems to partake of the like error, in having two bars instead of a fess. The fifth impalement is the same as that impaled on the monument of Moyne below : with a bordure nebulee instead of engrailed it is assigned by Glover to the name of Somayne. See the blazon of Moyne in p. 6. 4 NABEATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. Thomas Louthe became possessed of the manor of Kettlebers in Cretingham, Suffolk, either from his wife or his mother the heiress of Mulso.a lie died on the 26th Oct. 1533, having survived his son Edmund and grandson Lionel, whereupon Margaret his great-granddaughter, being then of the age of four years and more, was by inquisition found to be his heir. Edmund Louthe had died in 1522, of wounds received in an affray with two of his neighbours, the circumstances of which are related at length in the following pages b by his son John, who represents the occurrence as a shame- ful and deliberate murder. Its perpetrators were tenants of the abbey of Sawtrey, and the son plainly asserts that this atrocity was instigated by the monks. He adds that the widow, who was Edith daughter of John Stukeley, lord of Stukeley near Huntingdon, sued an appeal of murder, but that, through ecclesiastical influence, her suit was unavailing, her late husband being regarded, as a heretic. Lionel Louthe, the son of Edmund, died in 1532 c (the year before his grandfather,) having married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of sir Thomas Blener- hasset of Frenze in Suffolk ; who was remarried to Francis Clopton esquire of Melford park in the same county .d Margaret Lowth, the heiress, carried the representation of the family into that of Cornwallis. Sir John Cornwallis, of Brome in Suffolk, the lineal ancestor of the earls and marquesses Cornwallis, and who died steward of the a In the note from the Inquisition on his death, (Inq. 26 Hen. VIII.) " Pro terris in Sawtre, Bealmes man', [et] Stilton," given in the Visitation 1613, p. 11, his wife is named Thomasine. John Loude (in his Reminiscences hereafter) states that she was Anne, daughter cf sir Edmund Mulso. A pencil note in MS. Coll. Arm. Vincent 125, f. 40, makes Anne, daughter and coheir of Thomas Mulso of Newton, the mother of Thomas Louthe. Mr. A. Page, in his " Supplement to the Suffolk Traveller,1' 1844, 8vo. p.. 91, stated that the heiress of Mulso was Anne, only daughter of William Mulso the son of Thomas. Mr. Davy's Suffolk Collections do not clear these discrepancies, but the following notes in them show that the manor of Kettlebers descended from Thomas Mulso to Thomas Lowth: — " Rentale manerii de Kessingland, fact, ibidem 16 Edw. IV. Imprimis, heredes Thomaj Mulsoe armigeri tenent manerium de Kettlebers, et alia terr. et ten. in Cretingham et Ashfield, et reddunt per ann. de libero redd. lijd. vjd. (At another date.) " De Thoma Lowth pro manerio voc. Ketylburgh haule, lijs. vjd." (MS. Addit. 19,096, f. 180.) b See pp. 35—39. c Monument at Cretingham, described hereafter. d Compare pedigree of Blenerhasset in Harvey's Visitation of Suffolk, 1561, and Davy's Suffolk Collections, MS. Addit. 19,118, f. 353. KEMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 5 household to prince Edward (afterwards Edward the Sixth) in 1544, by his will, made a few days before his decease, left " To my [third] son Richard my ward Margaret Low the, which I bought of my lord of Norfolk, to marry her himself if they both will be so contented, but if not that he should have the wardship and marriage of her, with all advantages and profits." The lady is described in the Cornwallis pedigree as Margaret, daughter and heir of Lionel Lowth, of Sawtrey-Beaumys in the county of Huntingdon, esquire. She was married a to Richard Cornwallis esquire, and had issue six children, of whom the eldest was John, and the second sir Thomas Cornwallis, groom- porter b to Queen Elizabeth and King James, knighted in 1603, to whom there is a remarkable monument, with his effigy, in the church of Porchester in Hampshire. Richard Cornwallis esquire had resided at Okenhill hall, and was buried at Shotley, in Suffolk.c His widow resided at Badingham, and having reached an advanced age, she died on the 4th Sept. 1603, and was buried at Cretingham. A few years before she had erected in the church of that place, where her family had inherited the manor of Kettlebers, a grand monument to the heraldic glories of her race, and nominally to her father, who had died sixty-four years before. It is thus described by Mr. Davy : d u Against the north wall of the chancel a large mural monument of stone, painted, and under the arch thereof, adorned with Attic pilasters, the figure of a man in armour, with his head bare, a ruff about his neck, kneeling to the front on a cushion, his hands joined and erect, his helmet and sword lying by his side. On the architrave above is the following inscription : Hunc tumulum charo vult Margarita parenti De Sawtry antiqua Louthorum stirpe creato. Cui pater Edmundus, Thomas avus, hie Leonellus, Hsec heres ex asse fuit, conjunxq. Richardi Cornwaleys, parili pietate et sterninate claro. Hoc viduata viro, quern sexta prole beavit, a John Blenerhasset, of Barsham in Suffolk, esquire, brother to Elizabeth the wife of Lionel Louth, married Elizabeth daughter of sir John Cornwallis ; and there were several other alliances between the two families. b The office of groom-porter remained long in the Cornwallis family : the uncles of sir Thomas, Edward and Francis, having been successively groom-porters to queen Elizabeth. c The date of his death does not occur, but it was more than forty years before that of his wife, as is stated in her epitaph. d Suffolk Collections, MS. Addit. 19,096, fol. 187 b, and fol.!93b. 6 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. Nunc annosa suis memoranda nepotibus offert, Jure sepulturse cineres venerata paternos." On the pediment above, a large shield of five coats, three and two: 1. Louth, Sa. a wolf salient arg. ; 2. Mulso, Erm. on a bend sa. three goat's heads erased arg. armed or ; 3. Moyne, Arg. two bars sa., in chief three mullets of the second ; 4. Milverton,* Arg. on a cross az. five garbs or ; 5. Louth. Crest, on a knight's helmet and torse a demi-man full-faced, clothed sa., his right hand elevated, his left across his breast. On the dexter side of the arch a shield, quarterly : 1 and 4. Louth ; 2. Moyne ; 3. [Beaumeys] ; impaling Mulso. Be- neath this shield is written " Tho. Lovth — and Mulso." On the sinister side, another shield of five coats, as the large one above ; impaling Stukeley, Arg. on a fess sa. three mullets of the field. Below this is written, " Ed. Louth — Stewcley." On the base of the monument : "Leonellus obiit A° D'ni MDXXXII. Margarita posuit MDXCVI." And in the middle of this inscription, Louth of five coats as before, impaling Blenerhayset, Gules, a chevron between three dolphins embowed sa., on the chevron a trefoil argent within an annulet or. Beneath this shield is written : " Leo. Louth — Blen'hayset." The heiress's own monument stands in the same church, at the south-east angle of the chancel, facing westwards, inlaid with English marble, and inscribed on the cornice : In memoriam Margaritse relictae Richardi Cornwaleis armigeri hoc posuit Johannes filius. On a black tablet these verses : Shotleia busta viri, sed conjugis ossa sacellum Hoc tenet : unanimes corpore, morte duo. Parturiit, fovit geniali foedere sola Tergeminam prolem ; junxit, adauxit opes. Namq. lares coluit viduas labentibus octo Lustris, et nono mortua viva jacet. Et tu nate tuse priscos venerate Penateis Matris, qua vivis, vivere morte jubes. Obiit 4° die Septemb. 1603°. On the summit of the monument, Cornwallis of nine coats: 1. Cornwallis^ 2. Buckton, 3. Braham, 4. Tye, 5. Tyrrell, 6. Samford, 7. Butler, 8. Mepersall, a This coat was not Milverton, but Beaumeys, as borne by the ancient family which gave its name to one of the manors of Sawtrey. (Visitation of Huntingdonshire, 1613, p. 16.) The Louths appear to have assumed the quarterings of Moyne and Beaumeys, and the crest of Moyne, whether by any right of blood may be doubted : but see some further remarks on this point in the Appendix. REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTI1K. 7 9. Cornwallis; impaling Louth of five coats, 1. and 5. Louth, 2. Mulso, 3. Moyne, 4. [Beaumeys]. Crests of Louth and Cornwallis, but both broken. On the upper frieze, between festoons of fruit, are two shields, Cornwallis of six coats, impaling Blenerhasset ; and the like impaling Molineux of nine coats ; on the lower frieze four shields, Hearing, Bacon, Dade, and Futter, each impaling Cornwallis quarterly of six (as more fully blazoned by Mr. Davy in his descriptions). By a deed of 34 Eliz. 16th Jan. Margaret Cornwallis of Badingham, widow, late wife of Richard Cornwallis esquire deceased, with John Cornwallis her eldest son, &c., recites a settlement on John 23 Dec. 30th Eliz. of the manor of Sawtrye in Huntingdonshire, — to the use of Margaret for life; to John for life; to such wife as John may leave him surviving during her life ; to Philip son of said John, and his heirs male ; to Thomas son of said John, in tail male ; to Francis, &c. ; to the heirs male of John ; to Thomas son of Margaret, and his heirs male ; to the heirs of Margaret in fee.* The manor of Kettlebers in Cretingham descended in the family of Corn- wallis until the close of the seventeenth century, when Mary Cornwallis, the heiress of this branch, having married John Rabett gent, he held his first court in the year 1701. The Rev. Reginald Rabett was lord of the manor in 1810, and in that family is still vested the representation of the family of Louth at Cretingham. We return to the member of the family whose Reminiscences have led us into these genealogical researches. JOHN LOUTHE, the writer of the following pages, was the youngest son of Edmund Louthe, and born in the summer of 1519. He tells us that on the day when his father received his mortal wound he was a child of three years old, and carried in his father's arms. The circumstances of his father's fate appear to have imbued him with a thorough detestation of monks and priests, and yet eventually he was himself ordained and amply beneficed. He received his education in the colleges of William of Wykeham at Win- chester and Oxford, to the former of which he was admitted at the age of fourteen,b and had for his fellow-student and friend John Philpot, afterwards archdeacon of Winchester, and a distinguished Protestant martyr, of whom he relates various anecdotes. And at Winchester he received his first impressions of Protestantism from a perusal of Frith's " Disputacion of Purgatory." a MS. Addit. 19,096, f. 180. b " 1534. Johannes Lowthe de Sawtre, xiiij annorum in festo Nat. (sc. Sancti Jo- hannis Baptistse.) Line. Dioc. In margine, recessit Oxon." Register of Admissions to Winchester College. 8 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. He became a fellow of New college on the 24th July, 1540, and so continued until 1543 ; and was admitted to the degree of bachelor of laws.* Having been taken into the service of sir Richard Southwell, a privy councillor, (master of the ordnance, and one of the executors of Henry VIII.) he accompanied the eldest son of that gentleman to Bene't college, Cambridge, where his name occurs as " mr. Lowth " in fellows' commons in the year 1545," and afterwards to Lincoln's-inn, in which latter quarter he describes himself as narrowly escaping from detection and consequent imprisonment as a heretic. After the accession of Elizabeth, Louthe received several ecclesiastical pre- ferments. On the 20th of April, 1560, he was installed prebendary of Leicester St. Margaret's in the cathedral church of Lincoln0; on the 22nd July, 1561, prebendary of Gaia Minor in the church of Lichfield.d In 1562 he became chancellor of Gloucester, which office he retained until 1570. In the same year (1562) he was proctor of the church of Gloucester at the convocation, but did not appear when the votes were taken on the changes in the articles and common prayer.e In 1565 he was collated by Thomas Young archbishop of York to the archdeaconry of Nottingham' ; and on the 7th October, 1567, he a See note c below. b Masters, History of Corpus Christ! or Bene't College, 1749, 4to. p. 342, A biogra- phical notice of Louthe is there given, derived entirely from Strype, whose sole authority was Louthe's own narrative, which is now before us. Strype, however, fell into more than one misapprehension. He stated (Memorials, vol. i. p. 368,) 1. That " he was a member of Bene't College, and after removed thence to the inns of court p' but Louthe does not tell us that he was himself either a member of Bene't college or of Lincoln's-inn, but merely that he taught mr. Southwell at both places. 2. Strype states that his pupil was "afterwards sir Richard Southwell, a privy counsillor,0 &c. but it will be found that Louthe distinctly describes his pupil as the son of sir Richard. Strype erroneously makes him tutor both to father and son. Though unnoticed by Anthony a Wood, Louthe certainly went from Winchester to New college, Oxford, and completed his own education at that university. Misled by Strype, Masters has further (at p. 373) claimed sir Richard Southwell as a member of his college, and given a memoir of him ac- cordingly. « His name is printed as " John Londe, LL.B." in Le Neve's Fasti Ecclesise Anglicanse, edit. Hardy, 1854, ii. 169. The next prebendary mentioned was installed 1581. d " John Lounde, Lanne, or Lownde," Hardy's Le Neve, i. 609. The next prebendary collated 1578. e Strype, Annals, i. 339. f Willis, Cathedrals, i. 107. He was installed on the 30th June, 1565. REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 9 was instituted to the rectory of Gotham, which he held until his death. On the 2nd March, 1568-9, he was instituted to the vicarage of St. Mary's in Nottingham, which he resigned in 1572. In 1570 he became prebendary of Dyndre in the church of Wells.* On the 7th August, 1574, he was insti- tuted to the rectory of Hawton near Newark, which he resigned in October 1589. In the year 1572 he contributed to the work of a physician, who resided near Nottingham,5 and wrote in praise of the medical waters of Bath and Buxton, the following commendatory lines : — Johannis Ltidi Archidiaconi Nottinghamiensis Tirpa^ntaffr^ov in laudem et usum Tkermarum nostrarum. Balnea sunt variis calefacta salubria morbis, Ad multosque usus us ^roXu^^ffrce, valent. Non externa valent curare pathemata tantum, Ast interna etiam tollere posse scio. Si bene quis novit thermis cautissimus uti, Proderit ille sibi : sin male, damna ferent. Ni prius evacues, pletorica corpora laedunt, Nee minus et succis corpora facta malis. Gens sua quaeque solet plenis extollere buccis, Anglica sed cunctis sunt meliora duo. Altera rex Bladud nobis, comes alt'ra c Salopse Exornata dedit sumptibus ipse suis. Tot bona (lector) habes magno tibi parta labore, Prseter sudorem nil tuus Author habet. The archdeacon of Nottingham died in the year 1590, having shortly before made his will, in which he mentions his son John Louthe, then in his minority : the son of Mary Louthe alias Babington his wife. To that son he left his house at Keyworth in Nottinghamshire, in which he then resided ; and for want of heirs of the said John the house was entailed to the heirs male of the testator's daughter Thomasine the wife of mr. Zachary Babington of Lichfield ; and, such failing, to the heirs male of Humfrey Louthe of Sutton in Ashfield, co. Nottingham, gentleman, — to the heirs male of William Louthe of Maldon in Essex, gentleman, — to those of Robert Louthe of the Queen's majesty's * Le Neve's Fasti Eccl. Angl. (edit. Hardy,) i. 193. b " The Bathes of Bathes Ayde : compendiously compiled by John Jones, Phisition, anno Salutis 1572, at Asple hall besydes Nottingam." c i.e. Buxton. This alludes to the second part of doctor Jones's work, which sets forth " The Benefit of the auncient Bathes of Buckstones." CAMD. SOC. C 10 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. court, — to those of Peter Louthe late of Nottingham ; so that there were several junior branches of the family, though the main stock in Huntingdon- shire had terminated in a female heir. The archdeacon's widow was to occupy the house during his son's minority ; but in the case of her re-marriage she was to vacate it in favour of her brother mr. Francis Babington clerk, who was made one of the supervisors of the will, together with the archdeacon of Nottingham for the time being, Henry Pierpont esquire, Launcelot Kolston gentleman, mr. Richard Syrnney, mr. John Parker, and mr. Humfrey Louthe the testator's cousin; the widow being executrix. He desires his body to be buried in the north side of the choir of St. Mary's at Nottingham, and a small monument of brass to be nailed upon a stone in the wall to his memory; but no such memorial is mentioned by the historians of Nottingham as having existed in recent times. He also contemplates that funeral sermons might be preached by his " scholars and friends," which seems to intimate that he continued a schoolmaster after he was well preferred in the church. WILL OF JOHN LOUTHE, ARCHDEACON or NOTTINGHAM. (From the Original in the Registry at York.) In the name of God, Amen. The xxixth daye of July, anno Domini 1590, I John Louthe, archdeacon of the archdeaconrye of Not', whole of bodie and mynde, thanked be God, doe make this my last will and testament in maner and forme followinge. First, I give and bequethe my soule into the handes of Allmightie God my heavenly Father, who hath from the begininge of the world ordayned his sonne Jesus Chryst to be a Saviour and Redeemer to me and to all other sinners that beleve to be saved by the deathe and passion of Chryst, in whom only I hope and surely trust in my harte to be redeemed from all my sinnes and by non other meanes. And as touchinge the disposinge of my transitorie goodes I doe give and bequeth to my daughter Thomazine Babington the wyfFe of mr. Zacharie Babington of Litchfeld the some of xxu poundes of good and lawfull money of England, to be payd her for her chyldes parte, besydes those thinges which she and her husband mr. Zacharie Babington have allreadie taken and receaved at my handes to their owne use : which some of xxfi poundes my mynde and will is shalbe payd to her at two severall dayes of payment next after my decease, viz. the one hallf therof within three monethes next after my decease, and the other half to be payd her within foure monethes next after that. Item I doe give to my sonne John Louthe the sonne of Marye Louthe alias Babington my wyflfe my mansion house with all other houses and buildinges therunto belonginge, scituate, lyinge, and beinge in Kayworthe within the REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTIIi:. 11 countie of Nottingham, wherin I nowe dwell, with all and singular the ap- purtnances appertayninge unto yt, and all other landes, pastures, medowes, feedinges, commons, royalties, and eomodities whatsoever which in anie wyse appertayne unto the same house and landes ; to have and to hold the same house with all landes and commodities appertayninge to yt as aforesayd to the sayd John Louthe my sonne the sonne of the sayd Marye duringe his natural! lyffe, and after his decease to the heyres of his bodie lawfully begotten for ever, provyded notwithstandinge that duringe the minoritie of the sayd John Louthe my sonne I give and bequeth unto the said Mary Louth my wyffe (so longe as she keepeth her self widowe) the use, occupyinge, and possessinge of the sayd house and landes, with all and singuler the appurtenances aforesayd ; and by this my last will and testament doe ordayne and appoynte that she shall and may peaceably and quyetly without anie maner of lett, interruption, or contradiccion of anie person or persons whatsoever, have, hold, use, occupie, possesse and enjoye to her owne proper use and uses all that my sayd mansion house and landes with all and singuler their appurtnances as aforesayd, so that yearly, and from yeare to yeare duringe the minoritie aforesayd, she doe well and trulye paye, satisfye, and content, or cause to be payd, satisfyed, and contented, unto the sayd John Louthe my soune for and towardes his inayn- tenaunce and bringinge up in good learninge ten poundes of good and lawfull Englishe money at the feastes of the Agnunciacion of Marie and St. Michaell th'archangell by equall porc'ons : and allso so that duringe her sayd widowheade and the sayd minoritie she doe mayntayne and uphold the sayd mansione house with all other the buyldinges thereunto appertayninge in good and sufficient reparacions : and yf it fortune that Marye my sayd wyffe doe marrye duringe the minoritie of my sayd sonne, then my last will and mynde is that from and after the daye of her sayd marriage she shall have nothinge to doe with mj sayd house and landes, neyther that she shall occupie, possesse, or enjoye anie parte or parcell therof, but that forthwith she shall leave and departe from the same : and from and after the daye of her sayd marriage, by this my last will and testament I doe ordayne and appoynte that my brother in lawe mr. Francis Babington shall duringe the minoritie of my sayd sonne peaceably and quyetly occupye and enjoye my sayd mansion house and landes in suche maner and sorte and not otherwayes as my sayd wyffe shold have donne yf she had kepte her self widowe. And for want of heyres of the bodie of the sayd John Louthe my sonne lawfully by him to be begotten I doe give the same house and landes with all and singuler the commodities and appurtnances appertayn- inge unto yt as aforesayd to the heyres males of my daughter Thomazine Babington lawfully begotten of her bodie for ever. And for wante of suche heyres males lawfully begotten of the bodie of the sayd Thomazine Babington 12 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. I doe give the same house and landes with all and singuler the commodities and appurtnances appertayninge unto yt as aforesayd to the heyres males of Humfrey Louthe of Button in Ashfield in the countie of Nott. gent, lawfully begotten of his bodie for ever. Arid for wante of suche heyres males of his bodie lawfully begotten I doe give the same house, landes, and commodities with th'appurtnances as aforesayd to the heyres males of William Louthe of Maldon in Essex gent, lawfully begotten of his bodie for ever. And for wante of suche heyres males of his bodie lawfully begotten I doe give the same house and landes and commodities pertayninge to yt as aforesayd to the heyres males of Robert Louthe of the queenes maties courte lawfully begotten for ever. And for wante of suche heyres males of the same Robert Louthe to the heyres males of the bodie of Peter Louthe late of Nottingham lawfully begotten for ever. And for wante of suche heyres males of the bodie of the sayd Peter Louthe to remayne to the crowne of England for ever. The residewe of all my worldly goodes not herin given nor bequethed I doe give and bequethe the same wholly and fully to Marye Louthe my sayd wyffe and to John Louthe my sayd sonne equally to be devyded betwyxt them imediatly after that my funerals are fully discharged, my debtes clearly payd, and legacies sett outt : after whiche devision equally made my last will and mynde is that all that whole part and porcion which shall fall out to be due and belonginge unto my sayd sonne John Louthe shalbe delyvered into the handes of my sayd brother in lawe Frances Babington by him to be used and letten forthe for the benefyte, commoditie, and good mayntenaunce in learninge of my sayd sonne, so that the sayd Frances Babington doe with one or two sufficient suerties enter into sufficient bonde unto Marie my sayd wyffe to repaye all that sayd parte and porcion unto the sayd John Louthe my sonne at his full age of xxitie yeares or when otherwyse he shall lawfully demaunde the same : and in the meane tyme duringe his sayd minoritie, to paye unto my sayd sonne yearly for and towardes his sayd mayntenaunce in good learninge all the increase and proffitt that shall redounde by his sayd parte and porcion. And for the bodie of my sayd sonne duringe his minoritie I make Mary my wyffe and Frances Babington my sayd brother in lawe tutors and gardians. And of this my last will and testament I make Marye my sayd wyffe my full and sole executrix, revokinge herby all former wills and testamentes. And I doe ordayne and make the supervysors herof my good brothers in Chryst the archdeacons of Nottingham my successors for the tyme beinge, the right worshipfull mr. Henry Perpoynte esquyar, Lancelot Rolston gent., mr. Richard Symney, mr. John Parker, mr. Frances Babington my welbeloved brother, and mr. Humfrey Louthe my cosine. And my mynde and will is that my REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 13 executrix doebestowe xxs. in gloves and bestowe themuppon my supervisors, viz., to everye one accordinge to his callinge and degree, to see to the full- fillinge of my will, and the educac'on of my sonne in true religion in the universities and the innes of the courte, untill he come to the age of xxiiiilie yeares as I have sett downe in my whyte written booke. And as for my bodye I commaunde my executrix and will my supervysors to see yt buryed in the north side in the quyer in St. Maries in Nottingham without anie pompe or solemnitie, savinge only a sermon to be made to teache the people to dye well : and a small monument of brasse to be made with my name, to be nayled uppon a stonne in the wall. I leave it to the discrec'on and devoc'on of my executrix what sermons shalbe made by my scollars and frendes, and what money shalbe delt to the poore. In witnesse wherof unto this my last will and testament I the sayd John Louthehave subscrybed my hande the day, moneth, and yeare first above written. Further I the sayd John Louthe the testator, concerninge the bestowinge of John Louthe my sonne in marriage, I referre it to mr. Henry Perpoynte esquyer, Frances Babington clarke my brother, and Launcelot Rolston gent., or to two of them. In witnesse whereof hereunto I have putt my hande and seall the daye and yeare above sayd. JOHN LOUTHE, Archd. Nott. These being witnesses, Our.) (jur.) (jur.) FRANCES BABINGTON, RICHARD SYMNEY, WILLIAM BARKER. And further my will is, and by this my last will and testament I doe ordayne and appoynte, that yf yt shall please God to take awaye the lyffe of my sayd sonne John Louthe duringe his minoritie, that then Mary my sayd wyffe shall duringe her naturall lyffe hold, occupie, possesse, and enjoye (notwithstandinge her marriage yf hereafter she shall marrye) all that my house and landes aforesayd with all and singuler the appurtnances whatsoever as aforesayd to her the sayd Marye and her assygnes, yeldinge and payinge therefore yearly duringe her sayd lyffe unto William Babington sonne of Zachary Babington of Litchfeld aforesayd fyve poundes of good and lawfull Englishe money at the feastes of the Agnunciacion of Marye and St. Michaell th'archangell by equall porcions. In witnesse wherof hereunto allso I have subscrybed my name the daye and yeare aforesayd. JOHN LOUTHE, Arch. Nott. Witnesses herof, (jur.) (jur.) (jur.) FRANCES BABINGTON, RICHARD SYMNEY, WILLIAM BARKER. 14 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. The death of the archdeacon shortly after the making of his will is shown by its being proved at York on the 12th September following its date. What became of his son John has not been ascertained. His son-in-law Zachary Babington, M.A., was chancellor of the diocese of Lichfield in 1581? was made prebendary of Curford in that church Feb. 19, 1583-4, and installed precentor July 10, 1589. He afterwards proceeded doctor of laws at Oxford in 1599." The ensuing anecdotes, which exist in Louthe's own handwriting among the papers of Foxe the martyrologist, directed on their back " To Mr. John Foxe» p'chere, at mr. Jo. Dayes, printen " are dated in the year 1579. Very small portions of them were published b} Foxe ,b but various others were worked up by Strype in different places of his Memorials and Annals, and Life of Cranmer. They were disregarded by the editors of the last edition of the Actes and Monuments. The writer wished his name to be kept secret, and it was evidently on that account that he somewhat disguised it by writing Loude instead of Louthe, for in the MS. he continually wrote Louthe habitually, and altered it to Loude. Foxe effectually, though apparently by accident, fulfilled that object by printing the name Lond. In the Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts it is perverted into Lodon. a Wood's Fasti Oxon. His successor as precentor was appointed in 1608, and his successor as chancellor in 1613. The epitaph of his grandson Zachary Babington esquire, at Whittington near Lichfield, is printed in Shaw's Staffordshire, i. 378. b See pp. 19, 20. c Except in the following brief notice, wherein the writer's name is mistaken, and a Lansdowne MS. is quoted instead of the original in the Harleian collection : *' A little before this he received one from Mr. John Lond, containing several new materials for his Martyrology, and insisting more especially on the miserable end of divers Romish priests, as of Dr. Wyllyams, the priest of St. Margaret's Eastchepe, &c. Lansdowne MS. 982, fol. 103." Life of John Foxe, by the Rev. George Townsend, M.A. p. 208. REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 15 JOHN LOUDE TO JOHN FOXE. [MS. Harl. 425, f. 134.] Salutem in Christo Jhesu. The love that I beare to the church e of Chryste constraynythe me to gyve yow thankes for the happy and dayly paynes yow take in set- tynge forthe the worthy actes of those late martyres of Chryste in Englande. That worke servythe to the glory of Chryste, the corn- forte of his members lyvyng, and godly memory of them which are departed ; to the overthrow of Antichryste and eternall shame of all antichrysteanes ; and I doghte not but that booke wyll brynge to repentance the rable of the reste bloody butcheres yet lyvynge, so many at lest as are not gyvyne up into a reprochfull mynde, who have shutt up theyre eyes that thei may not see, &c. Of these sorte are they that cry dayly, u Lyes, lyes ! more lies founde in the booke of Actes and Monumentes of Martyres !" Wherwith yow owght not to be discowraged (as I truste yow are not), but rather encowraged to go forwarde in the same. Tu solus hanc Spartam nactus es, hanc adorna. Rejoyce that yow are lyke to them same martyres that so were ray led apon, yea lyke to Jeremy, crying: Cur fecisti me virum rixoe ? hominem objurgiorum ! When ye reade of these Romyshe raylynges, ye may have greate joye and cawse to thanke God that in this poynte ye are resembled to his owne sonne the lorde Jhesus Chryste. The dy vyles cryed against hym ; but they most rored when thei sawe thei muste come forth of the man, and lose theyre kyng- dome and power. Therfore wryght styll, cease not, seyng the booke dothe so muche good in Chrystes churche, yt wyll doe more good after your dethe then lyff. The memory of mr. John Philpott, a ons my compaygnion in Wynthone,b Oxforde, and London, wyll never dye. The same may be sayd of the other sanctes and martyres, and god a mercy c to yow, and your booke. God wyll not forgett your labores and paynes, that hathe cawsed his sainctes, his servantes, and a Archdeacon of Winchester : of whom Loude gives some anecdotes hereafter. b At Winchester College. ° Above the line is written gra mercy. 16 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. his enymies to be in perpetuall memory. Yt ys he that gyvyth yow the wytt, the lernyng, the wyll, the philopony, and infrangyble diligens. Els your helthe wolde be a lett, these peynes wold weary yow, these tawntes wold dismay yow, wych dayly come forthe of those lyyng lypps that crye, " Lyes, lyes ; so many lynes so many lies !" Yet they perceave not that are of that religyone, how that the father of lies and murder hathe devysed by ther helpe to deface the heavenly doctryne of our Savioure Jhesus Chryste, by whome com- ythe all trewth and grace, beynge hymselfe the lyght to lyghten the gentyles, and to be the glory of hys people Israel. You are weak and to weake of yourself to doo this noble acte ; but he hathe enabled yow therto, that sayd to Pawle, Virtus mea in infirmitate perficitur. Admitte that a Lovanyone luske,a lyinge longe in wayght with so many felows, hath fownd in yowr great volume some smalle un- throths (untruths), muste he therfor cry owt lyke adyvylle agaynst the whole booke, for a letter, a syllable, a man's name, a towne, or suche tryfle ? In multis peccavimus omnes. The poettes can suffer theyr good Homere sometyme to slomber and sleepe, and the papistes theyr a " A lusJce, lowt, lurden, a lubberly sloven," &c. Cotgrave. See also Nares and Hal- liwell. The " Lovanyone luske " intended by Louthe was probably Alanus Copus, who was a real person (see Wood's Athense Oxonienses, edit. Bliss, i. 465,) but under whose name the more celebrated Nicholas Harpsfield (archdeacon of Canterbury, and bishop elect of Winchester,) published his Dialogi sex contra Summi Pontificatus, Monastic® Vitae, Sanctorum, sacrarum Imaginum Oppugnatores et Pseudo-Martyres. Antverpise, 1566. The sixth dialogue was especially directed against Foxe's work, and Foxe himself answered it at considerable length in the matter of sir John Oldcastle lord Cobham. To the charge of having uttered " lies " he thus earnestly replied : " This Alanus Copus Anglus contendeth and chafeth against my former edition, to prove me in my historie to be a Iyer, forger, impudent, a misreporter of truth, a depraver of stories, a seducer of the world, and what els not ? whose virulent woordes and contume- lious termes, how well they become his popish person, I knowe not. Certes, for my part, I never deserved this at his hands wittingly, that I do know. Maister Cope is a man whom yet I never saw, and lesse offended, nor ever heard of hym before. ****** And therefore seriously to say unto you (M. Cope) in this matter, where you charge my History of Actes and Monuments so cruelly, to be full of untruthes, false lies, impudent forgeries, depravations, fraudulent corruptions, and feyned fables ; briefly and in one word to answere you, not as the Lacones answered to the letters of their REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTIIE. 17 erthly God the Pope; they can full smothly solve in horryble sores of lyffe, doctrine, relygione, and conscience. An historiogra- pher ys excusable, not when he maketh a lye, but when he of an other's informatione setteth down an untrothe. Then wee and the papistes must neades alow the commun rule : Sit fides penes aucthorem : imo sit culpa penes eundum. In some thynges that yow wryght, I can shew that yow have not putt in wrytyng very muche that wolde dawnte theadversares, honor God, comforte his churche, and sett owt the mighty power of God. As here folowing I wyll doo yow under- stand. Now to yow pestilent papistes : I myght more justely falle owt with my brother John Foxe then yow, I (aye), for that [he] hathe not wrytten these thynges so necessary as ys declared. But he hathe one answere for us bothe: " The fawlte was not in me, but in the informatione gyven, or not gyven; truly gyven, or not truly gyven." But this I say, yf mr. Foxe wer as swhyfte a scrybe as Esras, yet he shoulde not be able to wryght all your abhominable lyffes and doc- trines, yowr cruell tormentyng and manaclyng of Chrystes saynctes in this lyff, and (lyke divyles) ye labore so muche as any fynde of hell can do to bereave them, by yowr doctrine, of lyff everlastyng. Then what lye can he or any man wryght of yow, but yt shalbe fownde trew, ether in your detestable cruel tee, fylthy sodomy, or divyllyshe doctrine: he as muche offendythe that thus termythe yow, as he that should call yowr father the divill knave, by whose suggesyons yow fullfylle the measure of your fathers in all manner of cruel tee and butchery of godly men. Theyr blood with Abel's cry owt for vengans agaynst yow. Yowr forfathers could not murder all God's chyldren, for some escaped theyr handes, and some were not adversarie, with si, but with 6 si, Would God ( M. Cope) that in all the whole booke of Actes and Monuments, from the beginning to the latter end of the same, were never a true storie, but that all were false, all were lies, and all were fables ! Would God the crueltie of your catholikes had suffred all them to live of whose death ye say now that I do lie. Although I deny not but that in that booke of Actes and Monuments, containing such diversitie of matter, some thing might overscape me, yet have I bestowed my poore diligence. My intent was to profit all men, to hurt none." Edition 1579, p. 559. CAMD. SOC. D 18 NAKKATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. then borne as yet to fulfyll the number of their bretheren by martyr- dome; but those that to yow were left by them, how butcherly have yow slayne ! Ye are the chyldren of your murdryng fathers, havyng the same hate that they to Gode [and] godlynes, the same tyranny, all laws caste behynde yow, the same doctrine, the same syar the devyll, and therfor the same murderyng hartes as perteynyth to suche a race, to make havoke (0 cruell wolves !) of Chrystes flocke. God forgive yow; God open yowr eyes; God, thorow repentance, make yow meeke Pawles, wych have ben so ragyng Sawles, thret- nyng blasphemously wrath and slawghter to innocent lambes of Chrystes flocke ! Now, mr. Foxe, thoghe your booke ys paste the prynte, yet I wyll sett downe truly here (God ys wytnes) what I have creably herd of some of the martyres more then yowr booke reportyth, in the wych I beleeve I shall nether make lye, nor tell lye. The aucthores therof ar so lawfull, I myght saye authentycke. Of whom I may say with the poett : Quorum pars magna fuere. I know not whyther ye may be occasyoned to use any of these additionall historyes wych I have sent yow, as a taste of many more I have wrytten, a Mar- ty rio Jo. Frythi. I pray yow encreace yowr booke, for I hope it wyll be adbrydged,a and also enlarged, when yow shalbe gon to Chryste. Nam tuus hie genium fertur habere liber. Oportet imperatorem stantem et militem Christi pugnantem mori. Cogita quae dico, inquit Stus Paulus. The examynatyone of a blynde boy called the blynde boy of Gloucester15 afore doctor Wylliams the judge. And of the myserable ende of the same judge. Thys boy called blynde Tome was browght afore the sayd doctor a This anticipation, which has since been so repeatedly fulfilled, was accomplished shortly after Louthe wrote. The first Abridgement of Foxe's work, by Timothe Bright doctor of phisicke, was printed at London, 1589, in 4to. b This blind boy had already figured in Foxe's narrative of the last days of bishop Hooper. When the bishop was brought to Gloucester on the 8th of February, 1555-6, the day REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 19 Wyllyams the chawncelor,* and John Barkere alias Taylore the register, b in the consistory by the south dore in the nether ende of the churche. The ofTycers in whose custody the boy remeyned, by commandment of the chawncelor, presented the poore boy at the barre before the judge. Then doctor Wyllyams examined hym apon sondry articles magistrall and usuall emonge the tormentors at that tyme, as ye may fynd folio (blank) in mr. Foxe. c And namely he urged the article of Transubstantiatyone. Wyllyams. Doest yow not beleeve that after the wordes of con- secratione of the preeste that ther remaynyth the veery body of Chryste? Tome. No, that I doo not. Wyllyams. Then yow arte an heretyke, and shalte be burnte. Who tawght thee thys heresy ? Tome. Yow, mr. Chawncelor. W. Where, I pray thee ? Tome. When in yonder place (poynting with his hande and lokyngd as it were towerde the pulpytt, standynge apon the north syde of the before his suffering at the stake : " The same day, in the after noone, a blinde boy, after long intercession made to the guard, obtained licence to be brought unto master Hooper's speech. The same boy not long afore had suffered imprisonment at Gloucester for confess- ing the truth. Master Hooper, after he had examined him of his faith, and the cause of his imprisonment, beheld him stedfastly, and (the water appearing in his eyes) said unto him: Ah, poore boy ! God hath taken from thee thine outward sight, for what consideration he best knoweth : but he hath given thee another sight much more precious, for he hath in- dued thy soule with the eye of knowledge and faith. God give thee grace continually to pray unto him that thou lose not that sight, for then shouldest thou be blind both in body and soule." (Folio edition 1641, iii. 153). Subsequently, at p. 702 of the same volume, we read that the blind boy's name was Thomas Drowrie, and that he was finally burned at Gloucester, about the fifth of May 1556, together with Thomas Croker a bricklayer. Foxe has on that occasion introduced the conversation given in the text, " Ex testimo. lo. Lond." as our author's name is there misprinted. a See p. 20. b "John Tayler, alias Barker, occurs soon after the foundation of the bishopric, and August the 31st, 1569." (Rudder, Hist, of Gloucestershire, p. 170.) In 1552, the sum of forty marks was settled to be paid yearly to John Tayler, alias Baker, (sic) gent, for keeping the register of the bishop of Gloucester. Strype's Memorials, ii. 357. c "such usuall articles as are accustomed in such cases, and are sundry times men- tioned in this book." Foxe, ubi supra. d Above the word " loking" is written " turning," and so Foxe has printed. 20 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. churche). W. When dyd I so teache thee? Tome. When yow preched there (namyng the day) a sermone to all men as well as to me, apon the sacrament Yow sayd the sacrament was to be receaved spiritually by fayth, and not carnally and really as the papistes have hertofore tawght. W. Then do as I have done, and yow shalt lyve as I do, and escape burnynge. Tome. Thoghe yow can so easly dyspense with yowr selfe, and mocke with God, the world, and yowr conscyence, I wyll not so doo. Wyllyams. Then God have mercy apon thee, for I wyll reade thy condemnatory sentense. Tome. Godeswyllbe fulfylled! Here the register stoode up and sayd to the chawncelor, Fye for shame, man ! Wyll ye reade the sentense, and condemne yowr selfe ? Away, away ! and substitute another to gyve sentense and judgement. Wyllyams. Mr. registere, I wyll obbey the lawe, and gyve sentense me selfe acordynge to myn offyce. And so he redd the sentense with an unhappy tounge, and more unhappy conscience. Ex testimonio John Taylore alias Barker, Registrarij Glouc\ olim ex cenobio Oxon. quod vocatur Omnium Sanctorum. The strawnge and hasty a dethe of the same doctor Wyllyams.b When God, of hys inestimable mercy havyng pytye of us, and pardonyng owr synnes for hys sonnes sake Chryste Jhesus, hadd now taken from us that blooddy prynces and sent us thys Jewell of joye the quenes majestie that now raygnyth (and long myght she a The word " hasty " is altered into " fearful " by Foxe, who (edition 1641, iii. 962) appended this anecdote to his series recounting " God's punishment upon persecutors, and contemners of the Gospel." He does not there give the authority of John Loude, nor of Loude's informant the dean of Gloucester. b John Williams, LL.D. He had been first appointed chancellor of Gloucester jointly with Richard Brown, LL.B. 28 Nov. 1541. " This Williams, in king Henry's reign, ap- pears very zealous in the execution of the six articles. In the next reign he was a sudden convert to protestantism, and he began queen Mary's with depriving several clergymen of their livings for marriage. In 1555 he condemned Henry Hicks, a carpenter or joiner in this city, to carry a faggot in Berkeley church and in this cathedral. He was some time REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 21 raygne!) over us, and that the commissyoners for restitutione of religione were commyng towarde Gloucester, and the same day doc- tor Wyllyams the chawncelor dyned with W. Jenynges a the deane of Gloucester, who with all his men were booted and ready at one of the clocke to set forwarde towerd Chyppyng Norton, abowte xv. myles from Gloucester, to meete the commissyoners, wych wer at Chyppyng Norton, and sayd to hym, Chawncelor, are not thy boots on? Chawnc. Whye should I putt them one? To go with me (quoth the Deane) to meete these commyssioners.b Chawnc. I wyll nether meete them nor see them. Deane. Thow muste needes see them, for now it ys paste twelfe, and they wylbe here afore three of the clocke, and therfor, yf thow be wyse, onne with thy bootes and lett us go togyther, and all shalbe well. Chawnc. Go yowr wayes, mr. deane ; I wyll never see them. As I seyd, W. Jenynges the deane satt forwarde with hys com- pany towarde the commissyoners ; and by and by coinmy th one upon incumbent of the Holy Trinity in Gloucester, of Rockhampton, Beverstone, Painswick, Sid- dington St.Mary, Coin St. Dennis, and Walford, and a prebendary of Gloucester." After dr. Williams's death, his office was performed by the vicar-general of the province of Can- terbury, during the vacancy of the see, after which John Louth, the writer of these pages, succeeded to it. Rudder, History of Gloucestershire, p. 163. a William Jennings, B.D. chaplain to the king, became in 1541 the first dean of Gloucester, having been previously a monk of St. Peter's and prior of St. Oswald's in that city. He must have been a person very accommodating to the changes of the times, as he held the deanery until his death in 1565, when his body was buried before the door of the choir. See his other preferments and epitaph in Willis's Cathedrals, ii. 729, and Rud- der's History of Gloucestershire, p. 161. Bishop Hooper's dedication of his Annotations on the Thirteenth Chapter to the Romans, commences " To my very loving and dear-beloved fellow- labourers in the word of God, and brethren in Christ, William Jenins dean of the cathedral church in Gloucester, John Williams doctor of the law and chancellor, and to the rest of all the church appointed there," &c. Hooper's Works, printed for the Parker Society, ii. 95. b This commission for visiting the dioceses of Salisbury, Bristol, Exeter, Bath and Wells, and Gloucester, was dated July 19, 1559, and addressed to William earl of Pem- broke, John Jewel, S.Th.P., Henry Parry, licentiate in laws, and William Lovelace, lawyer. Strype's Annals, i. 167. Sir John Cheyne was apparently substituted for the earl of Pembroke, as shown by one of their reports : see the life of Jewel prefixed to his Works printed for the Parker Society, pp. xiv. xv. 22 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. horsebacke to the deane, saying, " Mr. cliawncelor lyethe at the mercy of God, and ys speechlesse." At that worde the deane with his company prycked forwarde to the commissyoners and told them the whole matter and communicacion betwene them two as above ; and they sente one of theyr men, with the beste woordes they cowlde devise, to comforte hym, with many promises. But to be shorte, albeyt the commissyoners were nowe nearer Gloucester then the deane and his company thoght, makyng veary greate haste, espe- cyally after they hadd receaved these newes, yett dr. Wyllyams, thoghe false of religione, yet trew of his promyse, kepte his ungra- cious covenante with the deane, for he was dedd er they came to the cyty, and so never sawe them in dede. Hoc mihi narravit dictus decanus Glouc. cum ego Jo: Loude apud eum una cum multis aliis ceneremus. Hys woman or howsekeper (for suche wold bee with owt wyves, but not with owt women) told hur fryndes many tymes, that hur master kylled hym selfe with eatyng of rew. Jo. Aoi;Se. A lerned man may hereby gathere that the doctore havyng an evyll con- science, and no good opinione of the commissyoners' curtesy, poy- soned hymself, more Romano, but, as it semeth by conjecture, re- ceavyng suche a chearefull message by poste from the commissyoners, wold have recovered hym selfe by medicyne, to late taken ; for nuttes, rew, and fygges, ys a good antidotary preservative agaynst poysone, being taken in tyme. Otherwyse, acordyng to the verse, sero medicina paratur Cum mala per longas invaluere moras. The Commissyoners were these : mr. Jewell, a mr. Alley, b mr. Parray, c mr. Lovelase,d mr. Dalabare, e &c. a John Jewel, afterwards bishop of Salisbury 1559. b William Alley, bishop of Exeter 1560, c Henry Parry, afterwards an exile at Frankfort. Zurich Letters, iii. 763. d William Lovelace, serjeant at law 1567. In 1572 he was recommended by Lord Burghley to be steward of archbishop Parker's liberties. Correspondence of Parker, Works, (Parker Society,) p. 405. See also the Index to Strype's Works. e Anthony Dalaber, of St. Alban's hall, Oxford, brother to the parson of Stalbridge in REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 23 The tragicall lyfT and ende of a ryght Catholyke preeste at London. Ther ys a lytle paryshe (I thynke called St. Margaret*) in the ende of Estcheape, in the wych served a curate of as good religione as lyvyng, for bothe were sterke nowght, as any man by that wych folowyth may judge, si homo ex fructibus. To be shorte, and as clenly as I can devise in suche bawdy men's matters. A commande- ment was gy ven that all curattes (what so ever) should not be at ser- mones nor servyce longer than ix. of the clocke, that then the cu- rattes with the paryshes myght come to Poles crosse and heare the prechers. To this sayd this good curatt, " I wyll (quod he) make an ende of service at the proscribed hower gladly, seing I muste needes so doo. But so longe as any of these heretykes preche at the Crosse as no we adayes thei do, I wyll never here them, for I wyll not come there. I will rather hange." He was not so well occu- pied, as ye may conjecture, by the proces of the matter. This curatte tooke an howse-ende or a chamber in the paryshe wheare he served. Yt chawnced the rente to be behynde. The rentegatherer was angry, and axed wheare he was. " Belyke (sayd the neyghbores) he ys gonne by Erythe bote into Kente, to some good wyves labore, as he usythe every munday or sonday at night to doo." The rent- gatherer takyng these wordes for a jeste, sayd in a great fume, " Telle hym, and understand yow also his neyghbores, that yf the rente be not payd me at suche a tyme, &c. I wyll breake apon the chamber dore and distrayne." The day and tyme came, and the rente-gatherer was there with a smyth and brake apon the dore. At Dorsetshire. He was the author of a long and very remarkable narrative respecting the persecutions of those who entertained the new doctrines in Oxford, inserted by Foxe in his Actes and Monuments (commencing at vol. v. p. 421 of Townsend and Cattley's edition), respecting which see Dr. S. R. Maitland's Essays on subjects connected with the Reformation in England, 1849. Svo. pp. 13 et seq., and the Rev. J. A. Froude's History of England, 1856, ii. pp. 45 et seq. « Possibly St. Martin Orgar : for there seems to have been no church there dedicated to St. Margaret. 24 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. the entryng thei fownd an horryble stynche; when the people drew neare they saw a woman, all moste kneelyng in a cheare, hanged in a roope ; but approchyng neare, thei perceaved that it was a man smothely shaven and pared to the harde lether, maggottes crawlyng owt of his mouthe, eyes, and eares. The paryshners sayd it was there curatte. The crowner's queste came to fynde the cawse of his dethe. The jury wold not abyde the stynche, but hadd rather lese theyre fynes and amercyments then theyre lives. So the crowner was enforced to brynge a wrytt called a decem tales de circumstantibus, and by virtew of that wrytt toke among other one mr. W. Warren to be of the Jewry, whose syster ys yet alyve, maryed to mr. Burton chawndeler in Estchepe. She and other awncyent men of the pa- ryshe can declare his name and all other particuler circumstaunces, and avarre it trewe to theyre faces that shall denye it. I wyll sturre no longer in theyr downge that ar of the pope's wyveles clergye, lest they cry owt " Lyes ! lyes !" agaynst me, as they lately dyd against mr. Foxe for telly ng the truthe. Only this I crave on them, that thei wold skanne with this history the saying of Willielmus Westmonasteriensis, and specially Polydore Virgil De Invent. Re- rum, lib. 5, c. 4, concernyng the chastitie of theis cleane-fyngred gentlemen of the pope's clergy. Thys mr. W. Warren one of thys jury sayd that he [the curate] customably wente in Kente apon sonday at nyght, et node prqfitebatur artem obstetricandi inter homines non sui sexus. a a That a man should practise the art of midwifery appears to have been, in the eyes of John Louthe, a crime of heinous magnitude, perhaps scarcely increased by the circumstance of his being a priest. The late Dr. Samuel Merriman, who was as conversant with the literature as with the practice of his profession , in a letter signed Obstetricus in the Gen- tleman's Magazine for Jan. 1830, has traced the history of the terms Midwife, Man-Mid- wife, Accoucheur, &c. showing the several objections that have been made to the second, and various substitutes that have been proposed. He says that " the earliest date at which I have found the word Man-midwife is 1637, when it was employed in the preface of ' The Expert Midwife.' " Midwife he regards as a contraction of modir-wife^ the old English word modir having been used both for the mother and the womb. It may be presumed that midwifery was little if at all practised by men in England before the year 1637. The first book published in English on the subject was " The Byrth of Mankynde, newlye REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 25 Thes histores ar to be preserved in memory of man, to the con- versione of many yet lyvynge and lykyng Egipte and Babilone ; as the arses of the Philystines wer made of sylver by Godes commande,* and reserved to the perpetuall shame of that idolatrous natyone. Ex testimonio W. Warren unius juratorum dictorum. Of an aunciente protestante called mr. John Petite. This John Petite was one of the fyrste that with mr. Fryth, Byl- ney, and Tyndall cowght a swheetnes in Godes worde. He was xxtl yeares burgesse for the cyty of London, and free of the Grocers, elo- quente and welspoken, exactly sene in hystores, songe, and the Laten tongue. b King Henry 8. wolde axe in the parlamente tyme, in hys waighty affayres, yf Petite wer of his syde; for ons, when the kyng required to have all those somes of mony to be gyven hym by acte of parlamente whych afore he hadd borowed of certeyn persons, John Petite stode agaynste the byll, sayinge " I can not in my con- science agree and consent that this bylle should passe, for I know not my neighbores estate. They perhaps borowed it to lend the translated oute of Laten into Englysshe, 1540," 4to. This was originally written by a German, Roslin, or, as he classically styled himself, Eucharius Rhodion. The first edition, which contains some of the earliest copper-plate engravings published in England, is dedi- cated to quene Katheryne by her physician dr. Richard Jonas : the subsequent editions, of which there are many, bear the name of the translator, dr. Thomas Raynold. See an account of this work, by T. J. Pettigrew, esq. F.R.S. and F.S.A. in the Medical Portrait Gallery, vol. i. (memcir of Sir C. M. Clarke, Bart.) The original MS. copy presented to queen Katharine is in the possession of Mr. Pettigrew, and was exhibited by him to the Society of Antiquaries. a This alludes to chapter vi. of the first book of Samuel, where the offerings in question are in our translation termed " golden emerods." Such offerings representing all kinds of diseases and deformities are still customary in India, and are usually made of silver. See an interesting note on the subject in Knight's Pictorial Bible. b Notwithstanding the high character given by Louthe to John Petit, and his important position for twenty years, as one of the four citizens representing London in Parliament, I have failed to find any other memorial of him. The city historians are silent regarding him, and so is Mr. Heath in his History of the Grocers' Company, and even his name as a member of parliament does not appear on the lists, from their being imperfect in the reign of Henry VIII. CAMD. SOC. E 26 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. kyng. But I know myn owne estate, and therefor I freely and frankly gyve the kyng that I lente hym." This burges was sore suspected of the lord chawncelor and the prelacy of this realme, that he was a fawtore of the relegione that they called newe, and also a bearer with them in pryntyng of theyr bookes. Therfore mr. More a corn- myth apon a certeyne tyme to hys howse at Liones kay,b then called Petites kay, and knokkyng at the doore, mrs. Petite came towerd the dore and seinge that it was the lord chawncelor she whypped in haste to hur husbonde, beinge in his closett at his prayers, saing, " Come, come, husbonde, my lorde chawncelor ys at the dore, and wold speake with yow." At the same worde the lorde chawncelor was in the closett at hur backe. To whom mr. Petite spake with greate cur- tesy, thankyng hym that it wold please his lordship to visitt hym in his owne poore howse ; but, becawse he wold not drynke, he attended apon hym to the dore, and, ready to take hys leave, axed hym yf his lordship wold command hym any service. " No (quod the chawn- celor), ye say ye have none of these newe bookes?" " Your lordship sawe (sayd he) my bookes and my closett." " Yet (quod the chawn- celor), ye muste go with mr. lieutenante. Take hym to yow," quod the chawncelor to the lyeutenante. Then he was layd in a doungeone apon a padd of strawe, in close prison ; his wyffe might not come unto hym nor brynge hym any bedd. After longe sute and dayly teares of his wyff Lucy Petite, she obteyned license to send hym in a bedd, and that he myght be broght to his aunswere, wheare they hadd gotten a lytle old preest, that should say he hadd Tyndale's testamente in Englyshe, and dyd helpe hym and suche other to pub- lyshe theyre heretycall bookes in Englyshe, as thei termed them. But a The illustrious sir Thomas More, who, notwithstanding his great intelligence and love of learning, was not only immoveably attached to the ancient faith, but very zealous as a persecutor of those who entertained the new doctrines. See Mr. Froude's remarks on his illegal practice of detaining untried "hereticks" in prison, History of England, 1856, ii. 75. b "Next to (Billingsgate) is Sommer's key, which likewise tooke that name of one Sommer dwelling there, as did Lion key of one Lion owner thereof, and since of the signe of the Lion." Stowe's Survay. REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 27 now at laste when mr. Petite hadd caght hys dethe by so nawghty harbor of the lord chawncelor, he was called openly, and the preeste that should have accused hym, axed mr. Petite forgyvenes, saying, " Mr. Petite, I never saw yow afore this tyme; how should I then be able to accuse you?" And so he was suffered to go whome, but he dyed immediatly aftere apone the same yll harborowe. He thoght his payne came over his cheste lyke a barre of yron. Here is to be remembred a strange thynge or two. When John Frythe a was in the Tower, he came to Petites kay in the nyght, notwithstanding the straight watche and warde, by commandment, &c. At whose fyrst commyng mr. Petite was in dowght whether it was mr. Frythe or a visione : no lesse dowghting, nor otherwyse, then the Apostles, when Rode the mayde broght tydynges that Peter was gott owt of prison.5 But mr. Frythe shewed hym that y t was God that wroght hym that liberty in the harte of his keper one Philippes, who, apon the cautyone of his owne worde and promysc, lett hym go at liberty in the nyght to consulte with godly men. The same underkeper suffred mr. Petite, being imprisoned under mr. Bylney,c by removyng a borde, to dyne and suppe to gyther, and to cheere one and othere in the Lorde, with suche symple fare as papistes' charitee wold alowe them. The trothe ys, when [the] lorde chawncelor came to serche his closett, ther laye undernethe mr. Petite's deske a new testamente in Englyshe and an other in Laten above, yet the chawncelor saw it not, by what meanes God knoweth, and I leave it to every godly man's judgemente. Thys mr. Petite wold neades be buryed in the churche yarde, and the preested d preestes powred sope ashes upon hys grave, affirmyng a John Frith, having denied the real presence, was burned in Smithfield, July 4, 1533. See Index to the Parker Society's works, p. 335. His " Disputacion of Purgatory " is no- ticed hereafter. b Acts, xii. 31. c Thomas Bilney, who suffered in Smithfield, March 10, 1531. See Froude's History of England, 1856, ii. 84. To him Latimer owed his conversion. d Sic in MS. 28 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. that God wold not suffer grasse to grow upon suclie an heretyckes grave, and many of the Balaamytes came to see and testyfie the same. In fyne, mr. Petite, albe yt he had great ryches by his fyrste wyff (being his mistress and a widow) and specyally by his seconde wyff Lucy Wattes, dawghter and heyre unto the kyng's grocer mr. Wattes, yet he dyed not ryche ; for ij cawses, the one for that the lord chawn- celor made hym pay the debte of one for whose aparance mr. Petite stoode bownd in la we. The party was sycke of a tympany, therfor mr. Petite was enforced to bryng hym in a carte to London an hun- dryth myles by estimacion, wherof he dyed ; but the chawncelor, of a popyshe charyte, wold neades lett the pryncypall go, and take it apon the suertee, J. P. An other cawse was thys: mr. Petite gave muche to the poore, and specyally to poore prechers, suche as then wer on this syde the say and beyonde the say; and in his debte booke these desperatte debteshe entred thus, — " lente unto Chryste ;" and so commanded his exequutors to demande non of those debtes. Hys wyll therfor amounted not above the valew of viijxx for his ij dawghters un- maryed, Audrey and Blanche Petite, over and besydes those despe- ratt debtes and his land in Shoredyche and Waltamestowe. One W. Bolles, the laste husbond of Lucy Petite, hathe the land in Shorle- dych, yetalyve, andreceaved vijxxlib. of sir Jeifray Gates,a a debtor of Petite's, and so muche goodes besyde as he therwith was able to by the receavorshipp of Chester, Derby, Nottingham, and Lincoln. Lytle of it came to mr. Petite's chyldren. Teste ipsius uxore Lucia Petite. a Sir Geoffrey Gates was in 1523 a captain of the army sent into France under the duke of Suffolk. (State Papers, vi. 170.) He died in 1526, leaving as his son and heir sir John Gates, afterwards vice-chamberlain and captain of the guard to king Edward VI., who was beheaded with the duke of Northumberland in 1553. (Morant's Essex, ii. 146.) REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 29 How dangerous a tliyng it ys to communicate with papistes in ther service, may appere by this history following. Mr. Wylliam Forde,a some tyme scholer and after ushere of Wykam colleadge besyde Wynchester, beinge at length with muche adoo broght from the popyshe doctrine (assiduo jurgio et contentione Jo. a Luda) became at laste a greate enemye to papisme in Oxforde, being there felowe and civilian as mr. John Philpott was in Wykam colleadge ; and afterwardes being ushere under mr. John Whight, b scholmaster. Ther was many golden images in Wykam 's colleage by Wynton. The churche dore was directly over agaynste the usher's chamber. Mr. Forde tyed a longe coorde to the images, lynkyng them all in one coorde, and, being in his chamber after midnight, he plucked the cordes ende, and at one pulle all the golden godes came downe with heylw Rombelo* Yt wakened all men with the rushe. They wer amased at the terry ble noyse and also disamayd at the greevous sight- The corde beinge plucked harde and cutt with a twytche, lay at the * " 1534. Willielmus Forde, de Brightwell, xiij ann. in festo Mich, prseteriti. In margine, Hypodidascalus Wynton: Rector de Newberye." Register of Admissions to Winchester College. b John White, head schoolmaster of Winchester college 1534, warden of Winchester 1541, bishop of Lincoln 1554, and of Winchester 1556 ; deprived 1559 ; died 1659-60. See Index to the works of the Parker Society, p. 786 ; also Machyn's Diary, Index ; The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary, p. 174 ; and Collectanea Topog. et Geneal. vii. 213. His first entrance at Winchester is thus recorded : "1521. Johannes Whyte de Farnham, xj an. in festo Nat. D'ni praeterito — Sutherye. In margine, Inform. Wynton. Gustos Wynton." (Register of Admissions.) On his examination in bishop Gardiner's cause, in 1551, betook credit for having instilled into his scholars the doctrine of the royal supremacy, declaring "that about twelve years ago, or thereabouts, as he doth remember, this deponent (then being schoolmaster of the college of Winton) did, by commandment of the bishop of Winchester, make certain verses extolling the King's supre- macy, and against the usurped power of the Bishop of Rome ; which said verses this depo- nent caused his scholars to learn, and to practise them in making of verses to the like ar- gument ; the said bishop encouraging this deponent so to do." (Foxe, first edit. ii. 845.) c The burden of a song. It occurs — ruiiibylowe — so early as 1314, attached to a rhyme made by the Scots on the battle of Bannockburn, which is introduced 4>y Fabyan in his Chronicle. 30 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. church doore. At laste they felle to serchyng, but mr. Forde, moste suspected, was fownde in his bedd ; yet he hadd a dogges lyff among them, mr. Whight the scholemaster, the felows of the howse, and the scholers, crying owt and raylyng at hym by supportacyone of their master. Lewde men lay in waight for mr. Forde many tymes, and one nyght going into the towne he muste neades come whome to the collydge by the towne walles, the gattes of Trinitee colleadg be(ing) shutt. This was espyed, he was watched, and when he came to a blynd darke corner by Kynges gate, they layd one hym with staves; he clapped hys gowne coler, furred with foxe furre, rownd abowte his head and necke; they layd on hym some strookes, but by Godes providence the moste parte, in the great derkenes, dyd lyght apon the grownd ; so they ranne away, and lefte mr. Forde for dede ; but he tumbled and roled hym selfe to the gate, for thei hadd made hym paste goinge; and then he cryed for helpe, and people came to take hym up, and bare hym to his lodgyng. Now to the purpose. Mr. Forde, in quene Maries dismole days, was in mr. Rychard Whalleis howse at Welbecke ; a he was com- manded to go with his master to sir George Perpountes knyght,b a The abbey of Welbeck (now the residence of the duke of Portland) was granted to Richard Whalley in 30 Hen.VIII. Richard Whalley esquire, of Sibthorpe and Screve- ton in the county of Nottingham, was steward to Edward duke of Somerset, and re- ceiver-general of the county of York. See two letters of his, and other notices of him, in Tytler's " Edward VI. and Queen Mary." He was involved in his master's trouble (see The Literary Remains of King Edward VI. pp. 241, 303, 355, 423), and deprived of his office, but retained much of his wealth, and founded a family long resident in Notting- hamshire. "The Grounds of Artes, by Robert Record, doctor of physicke," first edit. 1549, is dedicated "to the Ryghte Worshypfull mayster Rycharde Whalley Esquyre." He died Nov. 23, 1583, aged 84 ; and there is an engraving of his monument, with his effigy, in Thoroton's History of that county, p. 130. One of his grandsons, Walter Whalley, S.T.B. was resident at Cherry Orton in Huntingdonshire in 1613, and entered his pedigree in Nich. Charles's visitation book,— printed for the Camden Society, 1849, p. 35. b Sir George Pierrepont, ancestor of the earls Manvers, and the extinct dukes of Kingston, was the son of sir William Pierrepont by his second wife, danghter of sir Richard Empson, chancellor of the exchequer. He purchased, 32 Hen. VIII. some manors that had belonged to the abbeys of WelLeck and Newstead. He was knighted at the REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 31 dwellyng at Wodhowse a myle of. There he herde chawntynge, syngyng, and torche-berynge in day-light at masse. Apon this he fell in a my sly king of hym self. The dyvyll tempted hym conti- nually, specyally in the nyght, as many knew. At laste G. Petite, the sonne of mr. John Petite, told these news to John Loude, how his old frynd and scholer was tempted of Sathan to kylle hym selfe apon a smale occasyon, as some thoght. Then John Loude, from . Adenborow a in Nottingham shere, wrote a comfortable letter by G. Petite to mr. Forde, at readynge of whych letter he greatly rejoced, and toke spirituall comforte ; ofte tymes kyssyng the letter, et gratias agens Deo et ejus servo J. L. And so at laste being well recomforted, he was made person of Newbery by the meanes of mr. Forteskew b some tyme his scholer in humanitee, rather then folower in religione, and, with continuall paynes in techyng the grammer schole ther and prechyng, he chawnged this lyff for a better in great feablenes of body more then of sowle and mynde. Yet one Rychard Wever of Brystole felle into lyke temptacyone for hearyng masse, and receavyng a great space muche consolatyone by the great and tedious travayle of one precher now neadles to be named, yet at laste, when he should go whom,c he ranne to the infamous mylles of Brystolle, and cowght a chylde of vij yeares age in his armes, and so lepped in to the water and wer bothe drowned. Tower Feb. 22, 1547-8, previously to the coronation of Edward VI., and died March 21, 1564. "The Newes owte of Heaven both pleasaunt and joyfull," written by Thomas Becon at Alsop in the Dale in the Peak of Derbyshire, were dedicated as a new-year's gift " to the right worshipful master George Pierpount," to whom the author acknowledged himself to be greatly bound. (Becon 's Works, printed for the Parker Society, i. 37, 44.) The passage in the text seems to show that he afterwards sympathised with the opponents of Becon. Yet his son Henry was evidently a friend of Louthe, being appointed one of the supervisors of his will. (See p. 12.) * Now Attenborough. Louthe may have had the living : but Thoroton, the historian of Nottinghamshire, gives no lists of incumbents. b Perhaps sir Adrian Fortescue, whose widow Anne, daughter of sir William Read, was remarried to sir Thomas Parry. In 1554 Thomas Parry esquire, and his wife dame Anne Fortescue, resided in the college of Wallingford. In 1585 she was buried at Welford, six miles from Newbury. Lysons, Berkshire, pp. 399, 413. e t. e. home. 32 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. It is not to be conceled that this poore miser, tempted nyghtely, and almoste choked of the fynd, for none other cause then is re- hersed, fownd a longe tyme unspeakable comforte of the saying of saint Paule,a " Chryste came into this world to save synners, of the wych I am the greatest;" pretendyng a great reverence and love to the prechere, and ever recy vyng the sayd sentense ; but being broght to the servyce at the colleag a° 4 Elizab. he was cleane altered, and that love turned in to a servile feare and terror of the prechere, seekynge occasyones to steale from behynde hym, but beinge of hym espyed, he wolde be marvelously abashed, and as it wer tremble for feare, thoghe of the prechere he hadd all the fay rest and plesant wordes that he cowld devyse. By this doble history, wych is well known to many, all men I truste may lerne that the masse was never devised with owt the dyvylle, seing the heeryng of masse hathe so divyllyshe effect in those that yelde unto it. Hcec qui scripsit ecce coram Deo vera esse novit. Of mr. Quynby of Oxforde. After the apprehensyone of John Frythe b many were detected0 in Oxforde, as this mr. Quynby ,d Talbot,6 John Man,f all of the New colleadge; and Bartholomew Traheron,g an olde disciple. » 1 Tim. 2. b In 1533. c This was a customary term, and one which may be frequently found in the pages of Foxe, signifying impeached or informed against. d I have not ascertained the Christian name of this Quinby, but he was probably a rela- tive of Anthony Quinby, bachelor of law, whose memory has been preserved in the fol- lowing epitaph placed "under the proportion of a man on a brass plate," in the east cloister of New College chapel. En nuda Antonii Quinby lapis iste, Briani Wottoni hie positus sumptibus, ossa tegit. Hie duo (viventes sic junxit amor) sua jungi Post mortem optabant corpora corporibus. Ast aliter Dominus decrerat : namque Brianus Londini, Oxonie conditur Antonius. (For Notes e f s see next page.) REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTIIE. 33 John Man recanted, whom mr. Traheron called the stonny ground, on whom the good seedes of God's worde tooke no rowte. Talbote Primum in lege gradum pariter suscepit uterque, Cultor uterque Dei, doctus uterque fuit. Det Deus in cells animus jungatur uterque, Disjunctum quamvis corpus utrumque jacet. Obiit Antonius xxix die Maii MDLIX. Brianus vero xiv calend. Feb. MDLX. Wood's Colleges and Halls of Oxford (edit. Gutch), 1786, vol. iii. p. 212 ; where it is added that Quinby's friend Brian Wotton was buried in the churchyard of St. Alban's, London, his father Edward lying in that church. The following are the entries of the admissions of the two friends at Winchester in the same year : " 1547. Antonius Quinbyede Fernham, Winton. dioc. xiij an. in f° Paschse praet. " Brianus Wotton de parochia S'ci Albani, London, dioc. xiij an. in f° Simonis et Judae prseterito." (Register of Winchester College.) Among the witnesses examined in the proceedings against bishop Gardiner in 1551, was " Robert Quinby of Farnham clothmaker, where he was born, of the age of 27 or thereabouts : M see Foxe, Actes and Monuments, first edit. ii. 841. e This was Robert Talbot, one of our earliest English antiquaries, who wrote a com- mentary on the Itinerary of Antoninus. Wood tells us that he became fellow of New college (after he had served two years of probation), an. 1523, and left it five years after, being expelled for heresy. That he afterwards " sterte back " in his faith, as Loude tells, appears to be confirmed by the provisions of his will. See the memoir of him in Athenae Oxon. (ed. Bliss) i. 263. His name is not to be found in the register of Winchester college. f John Man is said to have been born at Lacock in Wiltshire, but the entry of his admission at Winchester states that he came from Winterbourne Stoke, which is in the same county, but more than twenty miles from Lacock. It is as follows : " A.D. 1523. Johannes Manne de Wynterbourne Stoke xj an. in f° Assump. praet." He was elected from Winchester to New college 1529, proctor of the university 1540. He also was expelled New college for heresy, but in 1547 was made principal of White hall, and in 1562 warden of Merton college. In 1565 he became dean of Gloucester. He died in 1568. See memoir of him in Athena? Oxon. (edit. Bliss) i. 366. He had a contemporary at Winchester of the same name and nearly the same age, admitted "A.D. 1527. Johannes Manne de Wrytyll, xij an. in f° Omn. ScVm praet. In margine, Rector de Horwood." S Bartholomew Traheron was either of Exeter college or Hart hall. He became library-keeper to king Edward the Sixth, and was made dean of Chichester 1551. See the memoir of him in Athense Oxon. (edit. Bliss) i. 323, and various incidents of his biography in the Index to the Parker Society's works, p. 761. CAMD. SOC. F 34 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. also sterte backe lyke Deimcya (He serves the lord Wriothysley, teachyng his chyldren), and were never the lesse expulsed by the warden, doctor John London .b Quynbe was iraprisonncd veary stray ghtely in the steeple of the New colleadg, and dyed halfe sterved with colde and lacke of foode. He desyred his fryndes that came to see hym that he myght receave the Lordes supper in both formes ; but it wold not be graunted. He was axed of his fryndes what he wold eate; he sayd his stomache was gonne from all meate excepte it wer a warden pye.c " Ye shall have it," quod they. " I wolde have but two wardens (quod he) baked : I meane, to be playne (sayde he), owr warden of Oxforde and owr warden of Wyn- chester, London and More;d for suche a warden pie might do me and Christes churche good ; wheare as other wardens from the tree a This name is very obscure in the MS. The next passage is written in the margin. It apparently relates to Talbot. b John London, D.C.L. is a person whose name frequently appears in connection with the visitation and suppression of the monasteries, for which purpose he was a visitor ap- pointed by Henry VIII. (See Letters on that subject edited for the Camden Society by Mr. T. Wright.) His entry at Winchester is thus recorded : " A.D. 1497. Johannes London de Hammolden, filius tenentis Oxon. xj an. in festo Nat. D'ni pra?t. — Berks. In maryine, Gustos. Oxon." (Register of Admissions to Winchester College.) He was elected warden of New college in 1526, and remained so until 1542. He was also a canon of Windsor, dean of Osney, and of Wallingford : for his other preferments see Wood, Colleges and Halls (edit. Gutch), iii. 188, and Fasti Oxon. edit. Bliss, i. 47. He died in 1543 in the Fleet prison, to which he had been committed on a charge of perjury. c It is perhaps too well known to require remark that the warden was a species of baking pear, said to have derived its name from the Cistercian abbey of Warden in Bed- fordshire. d "A.D. 1492. Edwardus More, deHavant, filius tenentis Winton. xiij an. in festo Nat. D'ni praet. In margine, Infor. Wynton. Custos Wynton." (Register of Admissions to Win- chester College ) In explanation of the designation " filius tenentis,'' which but rarely occurs in the register, the Rev. W. H. Gunner remarks, that the tenants of the college property had by the statutes a right to consideration in the appointment to scholarships, and in the very early indentures of election they are bracketed as persons residing in locis ubi bona collegii vigent. Among those who supplicated for the degree of B.D. at Oxford in 1518, but no one was admitted, was " Edw. More of New college, who was admitted the eighth warden of Wykeham's college near Winchester 29 Oct. 1526, and dying 1541, was buried in the choir of the chappel there." (Wood's Fasti Oxon. edit. Bliss, i. 47.) REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTIIE. 35 can doo me no good at all." Thus jcstyng at their tyranny, thorow the cherfulnes of a saffe conscience, he turned his face to the walle in the sayd belfry; and so after his prayers sleapte swheetly in the Lorde. But to what open shame doctor London was afterwardes putt, with open penance with two smockes on his shoulders, for mrs. Thykked and mrs. Jennynges, the mother and the daughter, and. how he was taken with one of them by Henry Plankney in his gallery, being his syster's sonne — as it was then knowen to a number in Oxforde and elsewheare, so I thynk that some yet lyvynge hathe it in remembrans, as well as the penner of this history. J. L. Of the shameful murderyng of one mr. Edmund Loude of Sawtrey, by the monkes and preestes of Sawtrey Abbey, abotite a° 13 H. 8, A° D° 1522. A° 5 post Lutheri predicationem. This Edmund Loude, the sonne and heyre of mr. Thomas Loude of Hynnyngam castle,a Cretyngam,b and Sawtry, a myle from Sawtre abbey, descended of noble parentage: for his mother, Anne Loude, was the dawghter and heyre of sir Edmund Molso; hys grand- mother Kateryn Dudley, maryed to Lionell Loude ; his great- grandmother was Mary of Henawd, maryed to Rogere Loude, and cossen to Lyonell erle of Ulstere and duke of Clarense. He was an enymy to the wanton mounkes of the abbey, and to two lewd persons of Sawtrey,0 for they hawnted moste shamfully the wyves of mr. Thomas Loude hys tenantes in the towne. At the wyche mr. Loude the father, and Edmund the sonne, specyally founde fawte with thys rule of the monkes and preestes, and some tyme when the howses by them were watched, and the monkes with theyr a Apparently Castle Hedingham in Essex : see note in p. 3. b Cretingham, in Suffolk : see p. 4. c Sawtrey had two churches, dedicated to All Saints and Saint Andrew respectively, otherwise called Sawtrey Moygne and Sawtrey Beaumys, and consequently two parsons, or rectors. The monks were Cistercians, and their house a cell of that of Warden in Bedfordshire. At the survey in 26 Hen. VIII. William Aungell was abbot, and the clear revenue of the abbey was!4H. 3s. 8d. Valor Eccl. vol. iv. pp. 265, 267. 36 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. tenantes' wyves, the mounkes wolde beate downe the walles, and slypp away to the abbey. So that some tyme ther was hott skyr- myshes emonge tham. Harken, ye Catholykes, to the catholyk lyfF of yowr bretherne ! At one tyme they cawsed the peace to be taken of mr. Edmund Loude, and for breakyng of yt gotte hym in Cambrydge castle; unto hym resortyd one Rychard Wyne, an abbey lubberde of Kamsey and Sawtrey. He was an atturney, who sayd unto mr. Loude, then the kyng's prisoner, ie A ! Loude, hadd it not ben better for yow to have lyved quietly at Sawtrey, and hunt and hawke at yowr pleasure, then here to remeyne a prisoner agaynste yowr wylle?" " No (sayd mr. Loude), I am here but for strykyng a lecherous knave, and I cownte it better to be here for so small a cawse then to be sett in the stockes, as thou werte, for stealyng sylver spones at Ramsey abbey ;" and with that reached Wyne a blow with his fyste, and dashed out all hys for-teeth, by wych blow he lysped as longe as he lyved. Thys blow was declared to the chaste clergymen in the country, and by them to the myghty clergy at the courte, and by them in the moste greevous manner to the kynge : thynkyng tliys hadd ben ynoughe to have rydd hym owt of thyr way at Sawtrey. But see the goodnes of God, and the clemency of the prynce ! The kyng lawghed hertely at the peltyng a lawyer's deformitee, and thoght it a condigne rewarde for suche a sawcy felow, saying, " Do yow thynke yt was wel donne of hym to upbrayde owr prisoner, beyng imprisoned by hys meanes? He was served well ynough. I perceave Loude ys a talleb jentylman: wee do pardon hym of his fawlte and imprisonment." So Edmund Loude cume whom agayne after he hadd ben ther awhyle, makyng mery continually with mr. Benet Molso and divers other gentylmen stu- dentes in the universitee, who being of kynne to hym came dayly to make mery with hym. a " A very common epithet with our old writers to signify paltry or contemptible." Glossary by Archdeacon Nares, who gives examples from Shahspere's Lear and Richard II., Beaumont and Fletcher, Ascham, &c. b This was a term implying not merely tall, but one of good personage and manly bearing. REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 37 In sliorte tyme the mounkes and prcestes of Sawtrey lyke swhyne revolted to theyr dyrty podles, and former stynkyng lyff. And Edmund bearyng hym self bolde of the kynges late saying, and of hys fryndes in the courte by raysone of hys blood, warned and thre- tened them beatyng, yf they wolde not forbeare their resorte to hys father's tenantes and hys. And see the chawnce ! One of these per- sons, the person of St. Andrew's, hadd ben at Walsyngham, who was a notable horemaster, and commyng home he kyssed many wyves, and amongs them Kateryn Loude, dawghter to Edmund Loude, openly in the churche yerde of Allhalows, for then it was thoght an holynes, commyng from thens, to kysse maydes and women; and the leacherous Catholyk hadd opinione that mr. Edmund Loude wolde not be offended at his doynges. But it came no soner to mr. Loude hys eares, but he, after hys wonte, toke hys molgpade a in hys hand, and by chawnce quyckly mette with the preeste. The good persone lykyng not hys lookes, downe upon hys knees, of with hys cappe, prayinge hym not to bett hym, for he was within holy orders. " 0 thou bawdy knave, (sayd mr. Loude,) darest yow kysse my dawgh- ter ? Wylt yow not leave thys weinen's cumpanye?" And seing hys new brode shaven crowne, he toke up a cow cusen or cow turde with his spade, and clapped it upon his crowne; addyng to his ill deede worse wordes: " Yow, (sayde he,) all the sorteof yow, wyll er it be longe be gladd to hyde yowr shaven pates, rather then they shoulde be seene." Besydes thys, the sayde Edmund Loude conceaved suche an hate agaynst that religione and that holy preeste, that he came into the churche and plucked the felowe from the altare as he was abowte to make his God. Shortely after, the cleane-fyngered clergy havyng encouragement ynoughe bothe above in the courte and in the country, they con- trived how he should be made away. This Edmund Loude used to a This word is not in the glossaries : it was either a mould-spade, or one used in dig- ging for moles. 38 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. walke a quarter of a myle to a greate pasture he hadd called Wood- fylde close (vjC acres within an heage) assigned hym for his wyves joynture, Edyth the dawghter of John Stuecly lord of Stuecly ny Huntyngdon ; and he hadd with hym in his annes John Loude a hys yowngeste sonne, of the age of iij yeares and more. Sodenly rushed owt behynd the hedge and bushes Skelton the father, and Skelton the sonne, tenantes to the abbatt, well weapened. Mr. Loude knew thei came to dispatche hym, and they sayd no lesse. " Yet, (sayde he.) do no harme to my lytle boy." With that they fearsely layd at hym, and he at them. At laste corny the the good catholyke preste in hys surplysse, with holy water, and the cunstable herde of thys tragycall murder prepensed, and thoght to shew hym self not to laches in doing his dewty, and came to them, fyndyng mr. Loude no- thyng hurte, but he hadd catholycally basted the catholykes men, so that they preyed peace of hym. And he to take breth was con- tented to hold hys hand. The cunstable commanded the peace in the kinges name to be kepte: they all agreed to obbey; so that mr. Loude wold delyver his forreste bylle to the cunstable, wich he was lothe to do, but for the cunstable's fayre promyses. They gave place to mr. Loude to go afore them, and the cunstable nexte. There when he was apon the style to go over, Skelton the father cawght hym by the armes, and Skelton the sonne strooke hym apon the hedd, and so he felle of the style; the clobbe was gotten in Monkes wodd, half a myle from Sawtrey. So the preeste came to sone with his holy water, for mr. Loude was alyve at hys commynge, yet he was caryed whom,b and was speechlesse, for the fylme called the pia mater was peryshed with the blow. Yet he lyved about vij dayes after, and makyng all thynges straight the world, forgave all hys enymies, and was layd up in a swheete reste, under the alter of God, lookyng for the joy full resurrectyone. Hys wyff sued an appeale of murder, but many delays wer made, and nothyng done, for a The writer of this narrative. b i. e. home. REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 39 hur husband was taken for an hcrotycke, the clargy was mi-jhiv; but see the vengens of God: Skelton with his sonne rune away; the father was hanged, and the sonne drowned: the preestes coul<l<j never gett the pardon of the good kyng. Vindica sanguinem nostrum de Us qui, <Jr.a More of mrs. Anne Askewgh.b Thys good gentlewoman Anne Askewgh,c syster to the ryght worshipfull sir Francys Askewghfl and mrs. Dysney of Norton Dys- a Probably alluding to Revelations, vi. 10. b That is, more than Foxe had already published. The history of the religious per- secutions of Anne Askew was written by herself, and, shortly after her cruel execution, was first printed at Marburg, in the county of Hesse, 12mo. 1547, with a long running commentary by John Bale, afterwards bishop of Ossory. This has been reprinted entire, in Bale's Select Works, for the Parker Society, 1849. Without Bale's " elucydacyon," but with some other additions, the narrative was introduced by Foxe into his Actes and Monuments ; and from that source it lias been retailed in an endless variety of forms. Anne Askew is certainly one of the most interesting personages commemorated in Foxe's pages, and, in addition, her story has the charm of autobiography. It has been related with care in the Rev. Christopher Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, 1845, vol. ii. pp. 190 — 200 : and is still more fully developed in the Rev. James Anderson's Ladies of the Reformation, 1855, pp. 136 — 179. But by none of her biographers, even including the last, is duo prominence given to her connection with the Protestant party at court, and her influence with queen Katharine Parr, which, if we may credit the commentary upon Foxe's narrative written by Robert Parsons the Jesuit (and which will be found in the Appendix), was very considerable. c Anne Askew was a daughter of sir William Askew, or Ayscough, of South Kelsey in Lincolnshire, and was married at an early age to a gentleman named Kyme, resident in the same county, from whom she separated in consequence of ill-usage, and came to London, apparently to prosecute her cause in chancery. Her mind, however, was more occupied with the great business of religion, and her Protestant zeal raised her public as well as private enemies : who, finding her equally unyielding in spiritual as in temporal matters, crushed without mercy a woman whom they could not intimidate. She had dropped her married name, and the identity of her unworthy husband is uncertain : but on this point see the Appendix. d Sir Francis Ayscough was sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1544. Another brother, Edward, was servant to archbishop Cranmer, and became one of the gentlemen pensioners. See the note on the Gentlemen Pensioners in the Appendix. F 4 4- 40 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. ney a in Lincolneshere, was lodged before hur imprisonement at an liowse over-agaynste the Temple. And one great papiste of Wykam colleadge,b then called Wadloe, a coursytore of the Chawncery, hott in his religione, and thynkyng not well of hir lyffe, gott hymselfe lodged harde by hur at the nexte howse, for what purpose I neade not open to the wyse reader ; but the conclusyon was that, wheare he came to speake evyll of hur, he gave her the prayse to mr. Lyonell Trockmorton c for the devouteste and godliest woman that ever he knew, "for (sayd he) at mydnyght she begynneth to pray, and cessyth not in many howers after, when I and others applye owr sleape or do worse." d Hur fyrste examinacion in the Tower.6 My lorde mayre, sir M. Bowes,f syttyng with the cownsell, as a Jane Ayscough was married first to sir George St. Paul of Snarford, co. Lincoln, and secondly to Richard Disney esquire, of Norton Disney in the same county, who died in 1578. See pedigree of Disney in Hutchins's History of Dorsetshire, second edit. iv. 390. b By this name it must be presumed that Louthe meant the college of Winchester, as before in p. 29. c Strype, Eccles. Memorials, vol. i. p. 387, lias incorrectly styled him sir Lionel. He was Lionel Throckmorton, gentleman, of Flixton, in South Elmham, Suffolk, a nephew of the author (see note in the Appendix). d Misprinted by Strype, " appyed our sleep, or to work." ' Eccles. Memorials, i. 387. e This examination was not in the Tower, but when Anne Askew, having first been examined by an inquest at Saddlers' hall, .was denounced to the civil authority in order to be committed to prison : " Then they had me unto my lord maior, and he examined me as they had before, and I answered him directly in all things as I answered the quest before. Besides this, my lord maior layd one thing to my charge, which was never spoken of me, but of them; and that was, Whether a mouse, eating the host, received God or no I This question did I never aske, but in deede they asked it of me, whereunto I made them no answer, but smiled." This is the foundation of the story which Louthe has improved as in the text. Anne Askew was committed by the lord mayor to the Counter, and whilst there was visited by a priest, who followed up the argument on the mouse : " Fourthly he asked, if the host should fall, and a beaste did eate it, whether the beast did receive God or no ? I answered, * Seeing you have taken the paines to ask the question, I desire you also to assoile it yourselfe, for I will not doe it, because I perceive you come to tempt me.' And he said it was against the order of schooles that he which asked the question should answere it. I told him I was but a woman, and knew not the course of schooles." In the text, (For Note f see next page.) REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTIIK. 41 moste meetest for his wysdome, and seeing hur standyng apon lyff and dethe, " I pray yow, (quod he,) my lordes, gyve rue leave to talke with this woman." Leave was granted. Lord Maiore. Thou folyshe woman, sayest thow that the prestes can not make the body of Chryste? A. Askoivghe. I say so, my lorde, for I have redd that God mayd man ; but that man can make God I never yet redd, nor I suppose ever shall red yt. L. Maiore. No? yow folyshe woman: after the wordes of consecratione, ys it not the Lordes body? A. Askowghe. No, it ys bot consecrated bredd, or sacramentall bredd. L. Maior. What, yf a mowsc eate yt after the consecratione, what shalbecome of the mowse ? What sayeste thow, thow folyshe woman ? A. Askowghe. What shall become of hur say yow, my lorde ? L. Maior. I say that that mowse is damned. A. Askew. Alacke, poorc mowse ! By this tyme the lordes had ynowghe of my lorde maiores divinitie, and perceavyng that some cowld not keape in theyr lawgh- yng, proceeded to the butchery and slawter that they entended afore thei came thither. I being alyve must neades confesse of hur now departed to the Lorde, that the day afore her exequutione, and the same day also, she hadd an angel's countenance, and a smylyng face ; for I was with Lassells, sir G. Blagge,a and the other, and with me iij. of the Louthe tells his story in ridicule of the lord mayor's divinity, without adverting to the cir- cumstance that Foxe had already published the particulars more accurately. The question whether the sacrament eaten of a mouse was the very and real body of Christ was, however, gravely entertained by various learned doctors, and variously argued. Bishop Gardiner maintained that " a mouse cannot devour God," though, on the other hand, " Christ's body may as well dwell in a mouse as in Judas." (Detection of the Devil's Sophistry, pp. 16, 21.) See other opinions stated in Bale's Select Works, p. 154. It was this question that brought sir George Blagge into trouble, as related in the next page. f Sir Martin Bowes, goldsmith. See a note respecting him in Machyn's Diary, at p. 335 : to which it may be added that a copy of his portrait is at Gibside, co. Durham, the seat of the earl of Strathmore : it is described by Mr. Surtees, History of Durham, ii. 254, who remarks in a note, " He was not immediately of the house of Streatlam, but a descendant of Bowes of York." The Goldsmiths' Company still possess a handsome cup presented to them by sir Martin Bowes : it is engraved in H. Shaw's " Decorative Art>." a Foxe has preserved " a briefe narration of the trouble of syr George Blage, one of CAMD. SOC. G 42 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. Throkmorton's,a syr Nicholas being one b and mr. Kellum the other,6 by the same token that one unknown to me sayd, "Ye ar all the King's privy chamber, who being falsely accused by syr Hugh Caverley, knighte, and master Littleton, was sent for by Wrisley lord chancellour the sonday before Anne Askew suffered, and the next day was carried to Newgate, and from thence to Guildhall, where he was condemned the same day, and appoynted to be burned the wensday folowing. The words which his accusers had laid unto him were these : What if a mouse should eat the bread ? then, by my consent, they should hang up the mouse. Wheras in dede these words he never spake, as to hys lives encle he protested. But the truth, as he sayd, was this, that they craftely to undermine him, walking with him in Paul's church after a sermon of doctour Crome, asked if he were at the sermon, and he said yea. ' I heard say (saith master Littleton) that he sayd in his sermon that the masse profiteth neither for the quick nor for the dead.' 'No? (saide master Blage) wherefore then ? belike for a gentleman when he rideth a-hunting, to kepe his horse from stumbling.' And so they departing, immediately after he was apprehended (as is shewed) and con- demned to be burned. When this was heard among them of the pryvye chamber, the king hearing them whispering together, whych he could never abide, commaunded them to tell hym the matter. Where upon the matter being opened, and sute made to the king, especially by the good erle of Bedford, then lord privie seal, the king being sore offended with their doings, that they would come so nere him, and even into his privie chamber, without hys knowledge, sent for Wrisley, commaunding him eftsoones to draw out hys pardon himself, and so was he set at libertye ; who, comming after to the king's presence, 'Ah, my pig ! ' sayth the king to him (for so he was wont to call him). ' Yea (sayd he), if your majestie had not bene better to me then your bishops were, your pig had bene rested ere this time.' " Foxe, it appears, was told that he had committed an error in naming " master George Blag to be one of the privie chamber ;" which he excuses by noting " that although he were not admitted as one of the privie chamber, yet hys ordinary resort thether, and to the kynges presence there, was such as, although he were not one of them, yet was he so commonly taken." (Edit. 1576, p. 2007.) Sir George Blagge was examined in the proceedings against bishop Gardiner in 1550, and was then thirty-eight years of age. See his memoir in Athene Cantabrigienses, 1858, i. 104. * So the MS. though only two are named. The third was probably Lionel, (already mentioned in p. 40,) a cousin of the other two. b Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, fourth son of sir George Throckmorton, of Coughton, co. Warwick, by Katharine daughter of Nicholas lord Vaux of Harrowden. He was aged thirty-five in 1550, "and one of the King's privy chamber," when examined in the proceedings against bishop Gardiner. (Foxe, edit. 1563, 807.) He had a memorable escape from a trial for treason in the reign of Mary (see Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary, p. 75.), and afterwards became one of the most distinguished men of his age. See Wotton's Baronetage, 1741, ii. 358. c " The fifth son of sir George (Throckmorton) was Kenelme." Ibid. p. 359. REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 43 marked that come to them ; take heedc to your lyffes." And mr. Lassels,a a gentleman of a ryght worshipfull howse of Gatforde in Nottynghamshere ny Wursoppe, mownted up in to the wyndow of the litle parloure by Newgate, and there satt, and by hym syr Georg. Mr. Lassels was mery and cherefull in the Lorde, commyng from the hearyng of sentense of his condemnatione, and sayd these words:. " My lorde byshoppe wold have me confcsse the Romane churche to be the Catholycke churche, but that I can not, for yt ys not trew." When the hower of derkenes came, and theyr exequutione,b &c. mrs. A. Askow was so racked c that she could not stand, but the • Anne Askew had three fellow -sufferers, who are described by Foxe as " one Nicholas Belenian, priest, of Shropshire, John Adams a taylor, and John Lacels gentleman of the court and household of king Henry." Foxe prints a letter of Lascelles, " written out of prison," being an exposition of his faith : it is signed " John Lacels, servaunt late to the king, and now I trust to serve the Everlasting King with the testimony of my bloud in Smithfield ;" and a letter of Anne Askew (also printed by Foxe) is addressed to him. He was either a younger son of Ralph Lascelles of Sturton, co. Notts, esq. by a daughter of Topcliffe, or else a younger son of Richard (son of Ralph) by Dorothy, daughter of sir Bryan Sandford : both which Johns died s. p. Bryan Lascelles esquire was of Sturton and Gateford in 1575. (Vincent's Notts. 117, Coll. Arm. f. 181.) The martyr was not improbably the same John Lascelles who appears in the proceedings against queen Katharine Howard, and whose sister Mary was one of the principal witnesses against that queen. This was bishop Burnet's opinion, who says : "it is likely he was the same person that had discovered queen Katharine Howard's incontinency, for which all the popish party, to be sure, bore him no good will." (History of the Reformation.) He is described as " a gentylman of Furnyvalles inne," in the Grey Friars' Chronicle ; where the name of " Hemmysley a prest, wyche was an Observand frere of Richemond," is given instead of Belenian ; whilst Stowe and bishop Godwin call the priest Nicholas Otterden, and the tailor Adlam instead of Adams. b This passage has been misunderstood by Southey in his History of the Church, in both editions, for he states that " The execution was delayed till darkness closed, that it might appear the more dreadful." As Mr. Anderson has remarked (Ladies of the Reformation, p. 174), Louthe's allusion is evidently to the words of Christ to his enemies, " This is your hour and the power of darkness." It was a summer's day, Foxe states about the month of June; but Bale, Stowe, and Grey Friars' Chronicle fix it to the 16th of July. c i. e. had been so painfully racked, a few days previously. After her condemnation, Anne Askew was taken one afternoon to the Tower, and subjected to the rack, in the hope that she might be forced to name some ladies or gentlewomen about the court that entertained similar opinions to her own ; " and thereon they kept me a long time, and, 44 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. doungc carte was holden up betwene ij sarjantes, perhaptes syttyng there in a cheare,a and after the sermone ended, they putt fyar to the reedes; the cowncell lookyng one, and leanyng in a wyndow by the spytle,b and emonge them syr Ry chard Southwell,6 the master of the wryghtor herof. And afore God, at the fyrst puttyng-to of the fyar they re felle a lytle dewe, or a few pleasante droppes apon us that stode by, and a pleasant crackyng from heaven. God knoweth whyther I may truly terme it a thounder cracke, as the people dyd in the gospell,d or angell, or rather Godes owne voyce.6 because I lay still, and did not cry, my lord chancellor [Wriothesley] and master Rich tooke pains to rack me in their own hands, till I was nigh dead." In this tragic scene, Louthe's ridiculous story of the lord mayor and the mouse has evidently not its pi'oper place : but it was the only time that Anne Askew was in the Tower. Some writers have cast discredit upon the fact that Anne Askew was racked at all, apparently forgetting that it rests upon her own authority. The reader will find in the Appendix the remarks of Mr. Jardine and Dr. Lingard, with some evidence which they neglected to consider. a Foxe states, " shee was brought into Smithfield in a chaire, because she could not goe on her feet, by meanes of her great torments." It is difficult to ascertain the precise purport of Louthe's account, which is exactly as above printed. b The hospital of St. Bartholomew. One of the most curious cuts in Foxe's work (edit. 1563, p. 678) represents " The description of Smythfielde, with the order and maner of certayne of the Counsell, sytting there at the burnyng of Anne Askewe and Lacels with the others." The populace are kept from the area by a ring-fence, within which stands the pulpit from whence an admonitory sermon was delivered by doctor Nicholas Shaxton. The back-ground exhibits the hospital buildings and church of St. Bartholomew. c See p. 8. d John xii. 29. e " Credibly am I informed by divers Dutch merchants which were then present, that in the time of their sufferings the sky, abhorring so wicked an act, suddenly altered colour, and the clouds from above gave a thunder- clap, not all unlike to that is written Psalm Ixxvi. The elements both declared therein the high displeasure of God for so tyrannous a murder of innocents, and also expressly signified His mighty hand pre- sent to the comfort of them which trusted in him, besides the most wonderful mutation which will, within short space, thereupon follow. And like as the centurion, with those that were with him, for the tokens showed at Christ's death, confessed him to be the Son of God, Matt, xxvii. so did a great number at the burning of these martyrs, upon the sight of this open experiment, affirm them to be His faithful members. Full many a Christian heart has risen, and will rise, from the pope to Christ, through the occasion of their burning in the fire." Bale, who continues his discourse upon the thunderings at much further length. REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTIIE. 45 But thys I well know, that I could not, for feare of damnationc, stand by and say notliyng agaynstc theyre cruelte ; therfor I with a lowde voyce, lookyng to the cownsell, sayd, " I axe advenganse of yow all that thus dothe burne Chrystes member." I hardly escaped a cartar's blow at that same worde, and forthwith departed to mr. Southwel's howse by Charterhowse, wheare was mr. W. Moryshe,* gentylman ushere fyrst to mr. Pace,b and afterwarde to kyng Henry viij., and there kepte in pryson with syr Ry chard South- well knyght, by commandement of the lorde Rych and others, who wold fayne have hadd hym bornte, for his lordshyppe of Chyppyn Onger. And to hym I declared what I herde and saw in Smyth fyld; and nyghtly, thoghe he wer but symply lodged, and I lay nyghtly in my sylke bedd and good lodgyng in a parloure by mr. Ry chard Southwell my pupyll,c yet I used to leave myn owne a '* William Morice of Chipping Ongar, in the county of Essex, esquire, and Ralph Morice, brother unto the said William," are mentioned in the narrative of Latimer's com- munication with James Bainham (afterwards burnt) in the dungeon of Newgate, printed by Strype, Memorials, vol. iii. p. [236]. William Morice was the son of James Morice, a gentleman attached to the household of the lady Margaret countess of Richmond, and employed by her in the building of her colleges in Cambridge. William Morice escaped a fatal termination to his imprisonment by the death of Henry VIII. In the first parlia- ment of queen Mary was passed " an acte for the repeale of a statute made for the uniting of the parishe churches of Ongar and Grenestede, in the countie of Essexe," which statute in the preamble of the act of Mary is stated to have been made " by the sinister labour and procurement of one Willyam Morys esquier, your Grace's late ser- vaunt deceased, some time patrone of the parish churche of Ongar aforesayd, and one of the burgesses of the parliament holden at Westminster," 2 Edw. VI. " inordinately seking his private lucre and profitt." (Statutes of the Realm, iv. 234.) Ralph Morice his brother was secretary to archbishop Cranmer, and a full account of him is given by Strype, Memorials of Cranmer, p. 425. In the Ecclesiastical Memorials, i. 386, Strype inadvertently makes William the father of Ralph. b Richard Pace, some time Latin secretary to Henry VIII., dean of St. Paul's 1519, and also dean of Exeter and Salisbury. He died at his vicarage of Stepney in 1532. See a memoir of him in Wood's Athenae Oxon. edit. Bliss, i! 64, and see the index to State Papers, 1852, vol. xi. p. 615. c Afterwards Richard Southwell esquire, of Horsham St. Faith's in Norfolk, whose marriages and issue will be found in Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, (edit. Archdall,) 1789, vi. 6 : but no other particulars of his history are there stated. According to sir Henry 46 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. lodgyng and go and lye with hym, conferryng with hym of hys answeres wych he hadd to make in religione afore the cownsell. For this thyng I was vehemently suspected, and also for that mr. Allyngton confessed to the benchers of Lincoln Inne that I hadd lessoned with hym abowte the sacrament, and, namely, towchyng the sense of hoc est corpus meum. And when mr. Foster, a mr. Eoper,b and mr. Gryffyn,c benchores, came to lay me up upon sus- picione^ they came fyrste to have mr. Southwel's good wyll, whose sonne I tawght the Latyng tounge, the laws civyll and temporal!. Mr. Southwell sayd that he knew no suche thynge by me, but that I was a quiett man in hys howse and hadd well served hys turne, &c., " but doo yow (quoth he,) as yow thynke good." So I escaped. Ther was one mr. Webbe, an olde preeste, who beyng veary neare d syr Ey chard Southwell, used to speake veary well of me, when hys master wold say, " He wyll make my boye lyke hymselfe, to(o) good a Latinyste and to(o) greate an heretycke." In dede mr. Ry chard Southwell was some tyme of good religione, so long as he was my pupyll in Benett colleage, and in the innes of the courte. Now towching the commendacion of Wadlo and the blessed ende of thys woman, and thys heavenly noyse, I can say no more, butt leave every man to hys owne judgement. Meethoght yt semed rather that the angels in heaven rejoysed to receave theyre sowles unto blysse, whose bodies then popyshe tormentors caste into fyar, as Spelman, who relates the scandals of the Southwell family in his History of Sacrilege, all sir Richard's children but the youngest daughter were really illegitimate, having been born of his second wife Mary (Darcy) whilst his first wife Thomasine (Darcy) was living. • William Foster, reader at Lincoln's inn 35 Hen. VIII. and again 6 Edw. VI. Dug- dale's Origines Juridiciales, p. 253. b Perhaps William Roper, some time clerk of the King's Bench, son of John Roper attorney-general, and son-in-law of the great sir Thomas More. c Edward Gryffyn, reader at Lincoln's inn 29 Hen. VIII. and again 36 Hen. VIII. made " generall atturney of all courtes of recordes within England," 30 Sept. 1553, and who continued attorney-general during the whole of the reign of Mary. d i.e. in his confidence. REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 47 not worthy to lyve any longer cmonge suche helhowndcs. God send me no worse endc (0, ye blood thy rsty papystes !) then yow procured for these holy persons ! 1 thynke ye wyll say Amen, and Amen say I. More of mr. John Philpott. He being the sonne of syr Peetcr Philpott a knyght, ny Wynton, was putt to Wykam colleadge,b wheare he profyted in lernyng so well, that he leyd a wager of xxd with John Harpsfylde c that he would makeijC verses in one nyght, and not make above iij. faultes in them. Mr. Thomas Tuchyner,d our scholmaster nexte afore mr. Whyght, was judge, and adjugged the xxd to mr. Philpott. * Sir Peter Philpot was seated at Compton near Winchester. He was the son and heir of sir John Philpot of that place, sheriff of Hampshire in 16 Hen. VII., and K.B. at the marriage of prince Arthur in 1501, by Alice, daughter of William lord Stourton. Sir Peter is also styled a kn,ight of the Bath, but it does not appear when he was so made. He was esquire when he served sheriff of Hampshire in 16 Hen. VIII., and knight when he again served in 27 Hen. VIII. In 1539 he was summoned to attend the reception of the lady Anna of Cleves : see the Chronicle of Calais, p. 177. He married Agnes, eldest daughter and co-heir of Thomas Troys of Hampshire esquire, by whom he had issue, three sons, — Henry of Barton, ob. s. p. ; " John the martyr ; " and Thomas, ancestor of those of Thruxton and Compton ; and two daughters, married respectively to Egerton and Boydell, both of Cheshire. (MS. of Philipot the Herald in Coll. Arm.) The name of the daughter resident in the neighbourhood of Winchester does not appear. b " A.D. 1526. Johannes Phylpott de Cumpton, x. an. in fest. Nat. D'ni prat. In margine, Archidiaconus Wynton." Register of Admissions to Winchester college. e John Harpsfield, afterwards archdeacon of London (1554), brother to Nicholas, arch- deacon of Canterbury. " 1528. Johannes Harpysfyld de London, xij. an. in festo Pentecost, prset. Inmargine, Archid. London. Theo. Prof." (Register of the Admissions to Winchester college.) He was a fellow of Winchester from 1534 to 1561. See biogra- phical notices of him in Wood's Athense Oxon. (edit. Bliss) i. 439 ; the Index to Machyn's Diary ; and The Examination and Writings of John Philpot, (Parker Society,) p. xxx. d There were two masters of this name, John and Richard, the latter of whom was succeeded by John White in 1534. Louthe is therefore in error as to his Christian name — " 1526. Jo. Tychener informator incipit docere. " 1531. Richardus Twychene informator incipit docere." (College Register.) Both John and Richard came from Oakingham, and they were probably brothers : — 48 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. Wheane Stephen Wynton a bare ever yll wylle agaynste this godly gentylraan, and forbadd hym prechyng often tymes, and lie coulde not in hys consciance hyde his talante under so good a prynce,b and in so popyshe a diocesse, at laste he [the bishop] sent" for certeyn justices who came to his howse, named Wolsey,c and there callyng mr. Philpott " Roge," &c., " My lorde, (saydhe,) doo yow kepe a privy sessyons in yowr owne howse for me? and calle me roge, whose father is a knyght and may dispende a 1000 lib. within one myle of yowr nose ? He that can dispende x lib. by the yeare, as I can, I thank God, ys no vacabond, &c. Wynches- ter. Canste thow dispende xlib. by yeare? Philpott. Axe Henry Frances, yowr syster's sonne. Henry Frances (kneelyng downe). I pray yow, my lorde, be good lorde unto mr. Philpott, for he ys to me a good landlorde. Winchester. What rente doste thow pay hym ? (Frances.) I pay him x lib. by yeare. At thys worde Stephen Wyn- thon was aferde and ashamed, for makyng so lowde a lye apon a gentleman, and a lerned gentylman. So the kyng Edward 6. harde of thys by the helpe of mr. Sternolde.d Gentle reader, yow muste remember that Stephen Wynton pre- ferred thys Henry Frances to the baylywyk of the Clynke,6 that ys, he made hym capteyne of the stews and all the whoores therto " 1515. Johannes Towchener de Okynggame, fil. ten. Oxon. xiij an. in festo Omn. Scrm. preet. In margine, Informator Wynton. post Rector de Colyngbourne." " 1518. Ric'us Twychener de Okyngame; xiij annorum in festo Sc'i Laurencii prseteriti. In margine, Informator Wynton. post duxit uxorem." John was admitted fellow of New college July 18, 1521, and Richard April 12, 1524. a Bishop Stephen Gardiner. b King Edward the Sixth. c Wolvesey palace, near Winchester college. d Thomas Sternhold, groom of the robes to Henry VIII. and Edward VI. ; better known as one of the translators of the Psalms into English metre. See notices of him in the Parker Society's volume of Select Poetry, p. xlvi., and in the memoir of King Edward VI. prefixed to his Literary Remains (printed for the Roxburghe Club), pp. Iv. Ivi. e " The next is the Clinke, a gaol or prison for the trespassers in those partes; namely, in old time, for such as should brawle, frey, or break the peace on the said Bank, or in the brothel -houses, they were by the inhabitants thereabout apprehended and committed to this gaol, where they were straitly imprisoned." (Stowe's Survay.) See several passages REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 49 belongyng.a And in dede he proved an excellent cutter and ruffyne. Lerne, lerne, yow Chrysteanes, by thys unchrysteane prelate, verteusly to provyde for yowr yowthe. Of Cooke the register [of Winchester], a persequutor of mr. Philpott, and Godes venjance apon Cooke. Thys Cooke,b what with polyng and shavyng both laytee and clergy in Wynthon diocesse, came to greate welthe. And as those ofFycers having ons thyr offyce by patente can do, he flattered apon Stephen Gardyner to gett, and fawned as faste apon doctor Poynett6 hys successor to holde it styll. And under them bothe he was ennymye to mr. Philpott, — for religione under Stephen, for a yearly pensyone under mr. Poynett, wyche he sayd the archdeacon was to pay to the byshoppe. Thys matter bredd the good gentylman trebles intolerable, and great slaunder in that diocesse to them bothe; whyle so good a byshopp at the settyng on of so ranke a knave coulde fy nde in hys harte to persequute hys brother, for lernyng and lyffmore meete for the byshoprych then the archdeaconry. Well, to defalcate unnecessary talke, thys Cooke hadd maryed a lady, and so roode with more men then the lerned archdeacon; and, to please the bishopp, he forstalled the way betweane Wynchester and mr. from old writers relative to the Clink in Cunningham's Hand-book of London, 1849. The bishop of Winchester's palace itself frequently went by the name of the Clink. 11 " Thou that giv'st whores indulgences to sin !" The duke of Gloucester to cardinal Beaufort bishop of Winchester, in Shakspere's Henry VI. Part I. act i. sc. 3. The privileges of the stews were finally abolished in March 1546. b John Cooke, registrar of the diocese of Winchester. See his examination relative to bishop Gardiner in Foxe, first edit. p. 860, but it gives no particulars of him. Whether he is to be identified with one who entered Winchester college in 1539 is doubtful : " 1539. Johannes Cooke de Droxford (?) xij. ann. in festo Septem dormientium [27 July] prset. Winton. dioc." (Register of Admissions.) c John Ponet, translated from Rochester to Winchester 1551, deprived 1553 ; well known as an ardent Reformer. See Index to Parker Society's Works, p. 615 ; also Machyn's Diary, p. 320 ; and Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London, p. 70. CAMD. SOC. H 50 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. Phil pott's syster, who dwelt iij. myles from the cyty, and there lying lyke a thecff in waight for hyra, sett hys men apon hym and sore beate hym; for mr. Philpott hadd as lusty a courage to defend hymself as in disputacyone agaynste popyshe prelattes to impugne theyr doctrine. He being thus beatten, hurte, and wounded, thoghe a lytle afore the chawnge, yet remedy he could none have, for the byshopp and his register were agaynst the archdeacon. The lyke at thys day ys practised of our prelates under owr noble quene Elizabethe.a To conclude, marke the ende of the bishoppe, wych I lyste not to reherse, and the open shame that thys ragyng register was putt to. When mr. Robert Home b was now byshoppe of Wynchester, and sett forwarde pure religione, wych hys register abhorred, and wold gyve no heare to hys accustomed flatterers (whych he more myslyked), he sett certeyn yowng boyes of the grammar schoole to rayse an unsavery slawnder of the byshopp, viz. that they, being in a tree, should see the byshoppe committe advoutrey under the same tree, or suche an other unlykely tale they tolde. The register hadd thys ofte in hys mouthe. At laste the byshopp, lyke a wyse man, hearyng of it, broght it to the quenes virteous and moste honorable cownsell. There Cooke in that hyghe court was dressed lyke a schoolyone or one of the blacke garde,0 not muche unlyke suche an one yf any man that knew hym lyste to describe hym. Now he was compelled to shew the authors of this slawnder, Cooke hadd none other then boyes for the authores, besyde that the tyme, place, and persone were so unlykly. To close up the matter in fewe, thys schoolyon of the pope's blacke garde was adjudged by the a Is this a reflection of archdeacon Louthe upon his diocesan archbishop Sandys ? b Robert Home, consecrated Feb. 16, 1561, died June 1, 1580. c The scullions and inferior officers of the royal household, when following queen Eliza- beth's train in her Progresses, were by the common people jocularly termed the black gv&rd ; to which various allusions occur in old writers. See Nares's Glossary, sub voce, the Parker Society's Index, Nichols's Progresses of King James I. vol. ii. p. 402, &c. In all appearance, the term of reproach which has become so common in modern times, dates its origin from this popular jest. REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 51 awarde of those noble cownsellors to stande at Poles crosse, and to declare and preche there hys owne shame; but with owt blushyng, for hys syde panche and Croydon complexyonea wolde not suffer hym to blushe, more then the black dogge of Bungav.b I saw the good man make many and great fryndes, with often and longe watchyng at my lorde of Leycester's chamber dore, with a myghty powche hangyng by hys myghty Bonnar pawnche.0 But my lorde wolde not so muche as looke upon hym, nor heare hym speake. Yt muche rejoysed me, remembryng at that tyme what I hadd herde of mr. Philpott, &c. My sayde lord dyd lyke hym self, and I truste it may provoke all other of lyke nobilitee to shew lyke cowntenanceto suche Cookes. Marke, good reader, that Godwyllnot always leave the wronges unpunyshed that Catholykes doo to his saynctes. a i. e. as black as the faces of the colliers or charcoal-burners at Croydon, the great market from which the metropolis was then supplied with fuel for cooking. b The "black dog of Bungay " dates from the year 1577, only two years before Louthe was writing. " This Black Dog, or the Divel in such a likenesse (God he knoweth who worketh all ! ) running all along down the church with great swiftnesse and incredible haste, among the people, in a visible fourm and shape passed between two persons, as they were kneeling upon their knees, and occupied in prayer as it seems, wrung the necks of them bothe in one instant clene backwards, insomuch that even at a moment where they kneeled they strangely dyed," &c. See a contemporary pamphlet entitled "A Straunge and Terrible Wunder wrought very late in the Parish Church of Bongay, a town of no great distance from the citie of Norwich, namely the fourth of this August in ye yeare of our Lord 1577, in a great tempest of violent raine, lightning and thunder, the like whereof hath been seldome scene. With the appeerance of an horrible shaped thing, sensibly perceived of the people then and there assembled. Drawen into a plain method according to the written copye by Abraham Fleming." The tract has a rude woodcut in the title-page of a black dog with large claws. The greater part of it is reprinted in the Rev. Mr. Suckling's Collections for Suffolk : and the parish register records the names of two men who were " slayne in the tempest in the belfry in the tyme of prayer upon the Lord's day ye iiijth day of August." See also Notes and Queries, Second Series, vol. iv. p. 314. c An allusion to the person of bishop Bonner, so often caricatured in the cuts of the Actes and Monuments of Foxe. 52 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. The fyrste occasyone of the cardynal's overthrows, by good quene Anne. " Ther was a yownge fayre gentlewoman wayghtyng apon the countes of Pembroke, the lady Anne Boleyne. Ther was also in servyce of the same noble countese one mr. George Zouche,b father to syr John Zouche. This yowng jentleman was a sutor in way of maryage to the sayde yowng gentlewoman called mrs. Gensforde ; c and amonge other lovetyckes,d mr. Zowche plucked from hur a booke in Englyshe called Tyndale's Obedience.6 At the same tyme a Queen Anne Boleyne, and cardinal Wolsey. b See hereafter, p. 57. c George Wyatt, who wrote the life of queen Anne Boleyne which Mr. Singer has appended to his edition of Cavendish's Life of Wolsey 1825, was indebted for his informa- tion chiefly to two ladies — " one that first attended on her both before and after she was queen, with whose house and mine there was then kindred and strict alliance." This was mistress Anne Gainsford, who became the wife of George Zouche esquire, of Codnor in Derbyshire, mentioned in the text. She was one of the daughters of sir John Gainsford of Crowhurst in Surrey, who died in 1 543, (and who like his royal master had six wives,) by his second wife Anne, daughter of Richard Haut, widow of Peyton ; and her sisters of the whole blood were, Mary married to sir William Courtenay, Katharine married to sir Wil- liam Finch, and Rose married first to George Puttenham and secondly to William Sack- ville of Blechingley. (Pedigree of Gainsford, in History of Surrey, by Manning and Bray, iii. 174.) Wyatt (besides the anecdote which ensues) tells the following on the authority of Nan Gainsford : " There was conveyed to her (Anne Boleyne) a book pretending old prophecies, wherein was represented the figure of some personages, with the letter H upon one, A upon another, and K upon the third, which an expounder thereupon took upon him to interpret by the king and his wives, and to her pronouncing certain destruction if she married the king. This book coming into her chamber, she opened, and finding the contents, called to her maid of whom we have spoken before, who also bore her name, Come hither Nan, (said she,) see here a book of prophecy ; this he saith is the king, this the queen, and this is myself with my head off. The maid answered, If I thought it true, though he were an emperor, I would not myself marry him with that condition. Yes, Nan, (replied the lady,) I think the book a bauble, yet for the hope I have that the realm may be happy by my issue, I am resolved to have him whatsoever might become of me." d So the MS. qu. Love-tricks ? It is so read by Strype, Memorials, i. 112. e The Obedience of a Christian Man, by William Tyndale, first published in 1528 — " a bold performance, in which the author vindicates the diffusion of the Scriptures in the mother tongue, unfolds the duties of men in their different relations and conditions of life, REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 53 the cardinall hadd gyven command mente to the prelattes, but spe- cially to doctore Samsone deane of the kynges chappell, a that they shoulde vigilantely gyve eye to all men for suche bookes, that they came not abroode, specyally to the kynges knowleadgeb; but it felle exposes the false power claimed by the pope, and condemns the doctrines of penance, con- fession, satisfactions, absolutions, miracles, the worshipping of saints, and other popish dogmas." (Ladies of the Reformation, by the Rev. James Anderson, 1855, p. 75.) In 1528, remarks Mr. Offor the biographer of Tyndale, was published the most valuable of his compositions, The Obedience of a Christian Man. Mr. Offor has a copy of the first edi- tion, in small 4to. published May 1528, once the property of the princess afterwards queen Elizabeth. It has her autograph beautifully written, but with all the pomp worthy of a Tudor, Elizabeth, daughter of England and France. " This book," adds Mr. Offor, " pro- bably assisted to fix her principles in favour of the Reformation." (Memoir of William Tyn- dale by George Offor, prefixed to the reprint of Tyndale's New Testament, 1836.) The Obedience of a Christian Man is reprinted in the first volume of Tyndale's Works, edited for the Parker Society, by the Rev. Henry Walter, B.D., P.R.S. * Richard Sampson, afterwards bishop of Chichester 1536, and of Lichfield and Coventry 1543 ; died 1554. See Athense Cantabrigienses, 1858, i. 119. b George Wyatt, in his life of Anne Boleyne, gives another and somewhat different relation of this anecdote. After remarking that her society was advantageous to the king, inasmuch as " her mind brought him forth the rich treasures of love of piety, love of truth, love of learning," in proof of that assertion he proceeds, — " that of her time (that is, during the three years that she was queen) it is found by good observation that no one suffered for religion, which is the more worthy to be noted for that it could not so be said of any time of the queens after married to the king. And amongst other proofs of her love to religion to be found in others, this here of me is to be added : — That shortly after her marriage, divers learned and christianly disposed persons resorting to her, presented her with sundry books of those controversies that then began to be questioned touching religion, and specially of the authority of the pope and his clergy, and of their doings against kings and states. And amongst others, there happened one of these, which, as her manner was, she having read, she had also noted with her nail as of matter worthy the king's knowledge. The book lying in her window, her maid (of whom hath been spoken) took it up, and as she was reading it, came to speak with her one then suitor to her, that after married her ; and as they talked he took the book of her, and she withal, called to attend on the queen, forgot it in his hand, and she not returning in some long space, he walked forth with it in his hand, thinking it had been hers. There encoun- tered him soon after a gentleman of the cardinal's of his acquaintance, and after saluta- tion, perceiving the book, requested to see it, and finding what it was, partly by the title, partly by some what he read in it, he borrowed it and showed it to the cardinal. There- upon the suitor was sent for to the cardinal, and examined of the book, and how he came 54 NARRATIVES OP THE REFORMATION. apon the wycked man's hede that he moste feared ; for mr. Zowche was so ravyshed with the spryght of God, speakynge now aswell in the harte of the reader as fyrste in harte of the maker of the booke, that he was never well but when he was reedyng of that booke. Mrs. Gaynsforde wepte becawse she could not get the booke of her wower George Zouche, and as he was named so was he a zowche, a swheete by it, and had like to have come into trouble about it, but that it having been found to have pertained to one of the queen's chamber, the cardinal thought better to defer the matter till he had broken it to the king first, in which meantime the suitor delivered the lady what had fallen out, and she also to the queen, who, for her wisdom knowing now what might grow thereupon, without delay went and imparted the matter to the king, and shewed him of the points that she had noted with her finger. And she was but newly come from the king, but the cardinal came in with the book in his hands to make complaint of certain points in it that he knew the king would not like of, and withal to take occasion with him against those that countenanced such books in general, and especially women, and, as might be thought, with mind to go further against the queen more directly if he had perceived the king agreeable to his meaning. But the king, that somewhat afore distasted the cardinal, as we have showed, finding the notes the queen had made, all turned the more to his ruin, which was also furthered on all sides." Upon this version of the story the following remarks have been made : " Wyatt represents the cardinal as bringing the book to the king to point out what he thought Henry would dislike, and to complain of those who countenanced such books. But this is obviously not irreconcile- able with the account given in Foxe's (Louthe's) MS.; nor is the king's continued hos- tility to Tyndale incompatible with his being pleased for a time with a powerfully written book, pressed upon his notice by the lady Anne; nor yet with his clearly perceiving that the author had justly rebuked the inroads made upon the authority of princes by an usurp- ing priesthood." (Doctrinal Treatises by Tyndale, edited for the Parker Society, by the Rev. Henry Walter, B.D., F.R.S., vol. i. p. 130.) The Rev. Christopher Anderson observes: "This incident therefore must in substance have occurred, although Foxe (i. e. Louthe) goes on to build far too much upon it. The words, in Henry's mouth, were probably nothing more than a compliment to the lady ; or, at best, a transient feeling, similar to one of old, in the mind of king Herod towards John the Baptist. But be this as it might, Campeggio was off to Italy, and the sun of royal favour had set upon Wolsey for ever." (Annals of the English Bible, i. 220). Dr. D'Aubigne, in his History of the Reformation in England, book xx. chapter x. has availed himself of both versions of the story, and extended its detail to considerable length, interweaving various extracts from Tyndale's book, and throwing the whole into a dramatic narrative. It is also related in like manner in the Rev. James Anderson's "Ladies of the Reformation," 1855, where, at p. 76, is a well-designed sketch by J. Godwin, of Zouch snatching the book from the hands of mistress Gainsford. REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 55 well-favored gentylman in dede.a And he was as ready to weepe to delyver the booke. In lyke manner was I in Wykam's colleadg, when mr. Thomas Hardy ngb delyvered me John Frythes Purgatory0 to reade for two dayes ; but I begged it and craved it for xxiij. dayes ; by thys I lerned how lothe mr. Zouche was to delyver the cowntes* booke. But see the happe, yea the providence of God : mr. Zowche stand- yng in the chappell afore doctor Sampson, ever reedyng apon thys a In the absence of any other example of the word zowche in the sense apparently given by Louthe, the reader is offered the following extracts from Florio's Italian Dictionary, entitled " Queen Anna's New World of Words," 1611. Zocco, a log, a block, a stocke, a stump. Zucca, any kind of gourd or pompion. Zucchiro, any kind of sugar. Zugo, a gull or ninny ; also a darling, a wanton, a minion. The first was certainly a word adopted into the English language, and by the family of Zouch itself, for the stump of a tree or, branching vert, surmounted by a white falcon, was the principal device on the standard of John Zowche of Codnor, temp. Henry VIII. (Excerpta Historica, p. 315 : see also John son and heir of the lord Zowche, p. 323.) But John Louthe's sense appears to resemble rather one of the other words. b The following record of Harding' s admission to Winchester college shows that he was born at Bickington in Devonshire about four years later than, from Anthony a Wood's account, is generally stated : " 1528. Thomas Hardijngde Bekyngton xij. ann. in festo Annunc. prset. In margine, Canonicus, Thesaurarius Sarum. Theol. Professor." As a member of New college he graduated at Oxford, B.A. 1537, M.A. 1541, B.D. 1552, D.D. 1554, was made professor of Hebrew 1542, treasurer of Salisbury July 17, 1555, and deprived in 1 Elizabeth. After having been chaplain in the household of that great patron of the Protestants the duke of Suffolk, Harding returned to the church of Rome, and is remembered by the letter which the lady Jane addressed to him on his apostasy. He was also celebrated for his controversy with bishop Jewel, occasioned by the latter's "Apology for the Church of England " : see Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual. Harding died at Louvaine in 1572. See the memoir of him in Wood's Athena Oxon. (edit. Bliss,) i. 402, and Walcott's William of Wykeham and his Colleges, 1S52, p. 397. c " A Disputacion of Purgatory made by Jhon Frith," published at first without date, but it is supposed in 1532, the year during part of which Anne Boleyne was countess of Pembroke. The works of Tyndale, Frith, and dr. Robert Barnes, were edited by Foxe in 1573. There is a modern edition of the works of Tyndale and Frith by Thomas Russell, A.M. in 1831, 3 vols. 8vo. 56 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. booke, the deane never havyng hys eye of the booke, called the gen- tylman to hym, and snatched the booke owt of hys handes, axed his name, whose man he was, [and] delyvered it over dm Cardinali. The countes axythe Gaynsforde for the booke. Gaynsforde on hur knees, &c.tolde all the circumstances. Shee was not sory, nor angry with either of them two, perceavyng therby that the yowng gentylman was ooglit with God's spryght (as mr. Harding sayde to me for cawse above rehersed). " Well, (sayd shee,) yt shalbe the deerest booke that ever the deane or cardynall tooke away." The noble woman goeth to the kynge ; apon her knees she desyrythe the kynges helpe for hur booke. Apon the kynges token* the booke was restored. Now, bryngyng the booke to the kyng. she besowght his grace moste ten- derly to reade the booke. The kyng redd and delyghted in the booke, " for, (saythe he,) thys booke ys for me and all kynges to reade." In lytle tyme the good kyng and faythfull servant of God, by the helpe of thys vertuous lady by meanes as yow here, hadd hys eyes opened to see the truthe, to serche the truthe, to avance God's religioneand glory, toabhorre the pope's doctryne, hys lies, hyspompe and pryde, to delyver his subjectes owt of the Egyptione derkenes, the Babilonian bondage that the pope hadd browght hym and his subjectes unto. And so contempnyng the threttes of all the world, the power of prynces, rebellyones of his subjectes at whome, and ragyng of so many and myghty potentates abroode, sett forwarde a * When the king or other person in authority required a verbal command to be obeyed, he sent a "token," usually a signet ring, or one he was well known to wear. Of this custom two examples are supplied in the following passage of the history of John Frith. " The day before the day appointed for his execution, my lord of Canterbury (Warham) sent one of his gentlemen and one of his porters whose name was Perlebeame, a Welchman borne, to fetch John Frith from the Tower unto Croidon. This gentleman had both my lord's letters and the King's ring unto my lord Fitzwilliams, constable of the Tower, then lying in Canon rowe at Westminster in extreme anguish and paine of the strangullion, for the delivery of the prisoner. Master Fitzwilliams, more passionate than patient, under- standing for what purpose my lord's gentleman was come, banned and cursed Frith and all other heretikes, saying, Take this my ring unto the lieutenant of the Tower, and receive your man your heretike with you, and I am glad that I am rid of him." REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 57 reformacione in religione, begynynge with the tryple-cornet * hedde fyrste, and so came downe to the members, bishoppes, abbettes, pryors, and suche lyke. Marke but the lyght occasyone of this reformatione, and the efFectuall sequell, and ye muste neades say : That wych God hathe shaped muste neades be wroght. Abissus multa juditia tua, Domine. [The death of mr. Zouch, of Codnor castle in Derbyshire.] Thys noble jentleman, lynially descended from the lord Gray of Codner castle, b hadd hys dayes cutt of and hys vertuous lyff short- ened by the Maryane persequutione, for offycyall Woodcocke of Derbyshire sent owt proces for mr. Sowche, notwithstandyng hys age, imbeciletee, and worshyppe. So that he was (to save lyffe) compelled to flee to hys lordshyppe of Benefylde,c takyng Sand- fordes howse, wych hadd to strayght roome for hys familye, wherby he colde not have hys accustomed order of dyett that he hadd at Codnere, wych was once a weeke (by my cownsell as he sayde) to swheate standyng by the fyer syde, wyth warme sheetes holden at a The writer probably intended an equivocal expression, triple-crowned or triple- horned. Strype, Memorials, i. 113, has read it " triple- crowned." b Codnor castle, in the parish of Heanor, nine miles from Derby, came to sir John Zouch, a younger son of William lord Zouch of Haringworth, in or about 1526, on the death of his wife's nephew Henry last lord Grey of Codnor. George Zouch esquire, who married Anne Gainsford, and is the subject of Louthe's anecdotes, was the son and heir of sir John. The Codnor estate was sold by sir John Zouch and John Zouch esquire his heir apparent in 1634. (Lysons, Derbyshire, p. 181.) In Wolley's Derbyshire collec- tions is a record of the court of Exchequer, Mich, term 24 Hen. VIII. relating to the tenure of the manors of Hoo, Halstowe, and Aylesford, in Kent; Benningfield, co. North- ampton ; Codnor, co. Derby ; and Weston-hay, co. Bedford, belonging to George Zouch esquire. (MS. Addit. Brit, Mus. 6698, art. 16.) Margaret Zouch, sister to George, was married to sir Robert Sheffield, and was mother of Edmund first lord Sheffield of Butterwick : see Topographer and Genealogist, 1846, i. 264. c Benefield, near Oundle in Northamptonshire, also derived from the family of Gr«y to Zouch, sold by sir John Zouch temp. Eliz. to sir William Hatton. (Bridges's North- amptonshire, ii. 397.) Mr. Sandford was probably the tenant. CAMD. SOC. I 58 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. hys backe. And this was to hym in stede of a stowfFe a called Laco- nicum. Therfor the good gentylman was enforsed to returne whom, for he fell sycke, and iij. of his chyldren, and many of his servantes; yet he hadd but xl. persones there; and in the way he dyed, or immedyatly at his commyng whom (home) , I am uncerteyne. Wee parted at Ketlebee by Melton Moubrey, with suche cheere as those dysmole dayes required. A lytle before hys goinge from Benefylde, I fyndyng there one Cooke, chapleyn in Lincolnes inne (Edwardo regnante), hyred now to say masse, knowing hym a lytle afore a detestore of the masse, I tolde hym my mynde veary hotely, beinge in my spryght coarcted, as Pawle was so to doo before many. Cooke hadd on hys syde a great man, as syr John Zowch knowyth ; yet this good mr. George Zowch toke my parte, castyng no parells nor daunger, yt was to me a great comforte, but sayd that great man b yet lyvyng, Yow, Augus- tyne Bar.,c and suche other wyll make hym lose lyffand lyvynges a i.e. a stove. Laconicum sc. balneum, a sudorific bath, a sweating-room. Cicero Attic. 4, 10, 2. Riddle's Latin-English Lexicon. b May not this great man have been sir William Cecill, afterwards lord Burghley? whose timidity and temporizing in the reign of Mary form such a blemish in his illustrious career. c Over this abbreviated name Strype has in the manuscript written " Barnes", but it is probable that the person intended was Augustine Bernhere, a Swiss who attached himself as a personal attendant on bishop Latimer, and was the editor of some of his works. " This Augustine (says Foxe) being a Dutchman, was Latimer's servant and a faithfull minister in the time of king Edward, and in queen Maries time a diligent attendant upon the Lord's prisoners." Side-note to Bradford's last letter to Bernher, which concludes thus, "The keeper telleth me, that it is death for any to speak with me, but yet I trust that I shall speak with you." See a note upon him in Bradford's Writings, (Parker Society,) vol. ii. p. 186 : and see also the General Index to Strype's Works. Foxe, when describing a secret congregation of Protestants which was maintained in London throughout Mary's reign, says " they had divers ministers, first master Seamier, [afterwards bishop of Peterborough and Norwich,] then Thomas Foule, after him master Rough, then master Augustine Bernher, and last master Bentham," afterwards bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. Bern- here eventually became rector of Southam in Gloucestershire. By several of the letters of John Careles he is shown to have married Elizabeth, the sister of that martyr. " Note, that both these (Bernhere and his wife) departed in quiet peace, the one 1565, the other 1568." Side-note by Foxe. REMINISCENCES OF JOHN LOUTHE. 59 all. In dede hys zcalc andjovc to God's wordc raaydc hyra lose no ICSSG. Teste Jo. Loude. Thus muche I thought expedient to intimate unto yow, mr. Foxe, havyng acquayntans with yow in Oxforde,a in Monjoy howse,b and Stepney .c The matter ys trew; as yow thynke good, ye may buylde ther one. In an hystoriographcr ys required asmuche as the ordinary othe requyryth of the exequutor of a testamente. " Ye shall swhear that as for your owne actes thys ys a trew testamente, and as for others' factes ye beleeve yt ys trew." That ys to say, in few, a cronieler set ty the downe what he hath aut ex propria scientia, hie fides pos- tulatur ; aut ex alieno auditu, ther credulitee excusyth ; wheryn yf some thynges be not trew yet the Lovaniall L. d may not ryghtly terme yt a lye, for it ys but an untrothe tolde, not made, of the penner. And so muche saith the Evangelyste,e Sicut nobis tradide- runt qui ab initio fuerunt ipsi ministri, et videruiit, &c. But John, speakyng ex sua ipsius notitia, wrytithe more confidently, viz. Quod vidimus, audivimus, prospeximus, which may be an answer to them for us bothe. Meum nomen celatum cupio, opto siquidem omnibus ignotus, mihi et Christo notus mori. Perge servire Christo ej usque ecclesiaB. Tuus J. L. 1579. The last sheet is directed on its back, To mr Joh'n Foxe p'chere, At mr Jo. Dayes printere. a Foxe was admitted of Brazenose college in 1532, elected fellow of Magdalen in 1543, and expelled his fellowship for heresy in 1545. b Probably the house of lord Mountjoy in London. c Perhaps in the mansion of the lord privy seal Cromwell. d See before, p. 16. e Luc. i. [2.] II. THE IMPRISONMENT OF JOHN DAVIS, A BOY OF WORCESTER, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF IN AFTER LIFE. (MS. Harl. 425, f. 69.) In tbe preceding paper, archdeacon Louthe has related the sufferings en- dured, for conscience sake, by a blind boy of Gloucester. The present is the history of the persecutions, for alleged heresy, of an offender of the same period of life, in the city of Worcester. John Davis was a lad of good parent- age, a pupil in the grammar school, and likely to be the heir to his uncle Thomas Johnson, an apothecary : but the jealousy of Alice Johnson, his aunt, together with his early predilection for reading the new testament in his mother tongue, and his presumption in composing a ballad on the " shaven crowns," prema- turely raised him a host of enemies. After a long and painful imprisonment? he would have incurred like the boy at Gloucester the last cruel penalty of cremation, under the merciless act of the Six Articles, had not the death of king Henry delivered him from his perilous position, together with so many more of the destined victims of the priesthood. Foxe made use of this narrative, but condensed it into much shorter compass. His abridgment will be found in his edition of 1596, at p. 1879. No subse- quent notice has been hitherto taken of the manuscript. It was written whilst doctor Nicholas Bullingham was bishop of Lincoln, that is, within the period 1560 — 1570 (see p. 65) ; and it appears to have proceeded from the pen of John Davis himself, as Foxe says, when mentioning the trial with a candle, " yet ( as the party himself e to me assureih) felt no burning thereof." At the close Foxe adds of Davis, — " who is yet alive, and a profitable minister this day in the Church of England : blessed be the Lord, qui fucit mirabilia solus" The yere of our Lorde 1546, and in the lastyere of kinge Henrye the eight, in the citie of Worcester, was there a childe caled John Davis, of the age of twelve yeres and under, who dwelled with one mr. Johnson a pothicary, his ownckle, with whome allso dwelled JOHN DAVIS, A BOY OF WORCESTER. 61 one Peter GofFe, prentice, whiche in the tyme of the vi. Articles woulde reade the testament in Inglish, and such godlye bookes as he then coulde gett. His mistris manye tymes hering hym so reade would moste sharplie revile him, for she was then and is still to this daye an obstinate papist. At length she disclosed the same to one of her secte and affinite, a jolye stowte champion, indewed with more riches then wisdome or godlie zeale; and thus consulting together theye invented, with their adherents the canons of the cathederall churchc, with the chauncelour that tyme being, whose name was Johnson,8 chauncelor to doctor Heath then bishopp of Woorcetour, to intrap and snare the sayde Peter, yf theye might by anye meanes heare hym or see hym with having anye testament or other godly booke ; but he, perceyving their purpose, kept him sellf owt of their danger; notwithstanding, to urge hym, this worthie wise man Thomas Parton would reade openlie in the streat, sytting at his dore or ells lening at his shopp window, that all men passing by might hear, a booke b named The hunting of the hare with curres and bandoges, a trym tragedie dowbtles, and more estemed with the pope's champions then the bible or booke of the Lorde. But when he perceived he coulde not apprehend the saide Peter to hurte hym, he woulde sometyme thretin hym that, yf he caught him reding suche bookes as he harde saye he did reade by the confession of his mistres, that he would make him twine or untwine; but his threat- ninges prevailed him not, for he was sircomspecte, and kept him owt of their bloody fingers. a Robert Johnson. b This book or pamphlet has not been traced, but it seems to have been a parody or reply to doctor William Turner's Hunting of the Romish Fox, published in 1543, under the pseudonym of William Wraughton : the popularity of which appears not only from Turner's subsequent publications of The Rescuyng of the Romish Fox, 1545; The huntyng of the Romyshe Wolfe (after 1553); and The hunting of the Fox and Wolfe, because they did make havoc of the sheep of Jesus Christ (see Athense Oxon. edit. Bliss, i. 363, and the memoir of Turner in Hodgson's Northumberland, II. ii. 456); but also from bishop Bale's Yet a course of the Romish Foze, 1543, published under the name of Johan Harrison (see Herbert's Ames, iii. 1554). 62 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. Notwithstanding, their thirst coulde not be quenched withowt blood; by meane whereof they shortly invented a newe interprise", and, bycawes the spite that Alice Johnson bare to John Davis her husband's next kinsman, to whomc shee supposed the saide Thomas Johnson her housband woulde leave some porcion of his goodes, having no child as it was like, for God had made her barren, and he had no other kinsman (as he would often saye) in all the wourld, whiche increased the more the deadly hate of his wyf ; for she never loved him, bicawes her housband so tendered him, and that appered at the death of the sayd Thomas Johnson, for she cawsed her hous- band to revoke that hee did give him by will, either being past me- morye or ells specheles, — a good note of her love. But shortlie after these papestes attempted to bringe their longe- loked purpose to passe, by one Alice wife to Nicholas Organmaker alias Brooke, and Oliver their sonne, that the said Oliver should fawne freendshipp of the saide John Davis, as thowghe hee weare verye desirous and joyfull of his company; manye tymes saieng, " I woulde wee had some good Inglish bookes to reade; for my mother cannot abide this pilde pristes nor their popish service ; but had I good bookes I coulde please her well to reade everye night." Then said John Davis, u I will bringe a booke with me;" and so he did bringe a testament, and reade unto them. Then they requested him to leve the booke behinde hym ; but he said the booke was not his, neyther could he so doe. Then thei requested him to tell them what abuses weare in the Churche, and ho we hee did like the vj. Articles; and he breeflie toulde them what he thowght ; ' ' but I cannot now tarye (saide hee) least I be shent." Then thei sayd, ** Bicawes ye shoulde avoyd blame for comyng hether, wright your mynde." But hee sayd, * ' I have no suche leisour, nor place ; yet would I gladly do yt to doe you good ; but to~morow I shall to Peryewood feeldes to gather eyebright a to still, and yf Oliver and you will gather for me, I will wright all my mynde." And they agreed so to doe. a Eyebright does not appear to be noticed in doctor William Turner's Herball. In that by John Gerarde, chapter 216 treats " OF EYE-BRIGHT. Euphrasia, or Eyebright, is a small JOHN DAVIS, A BOY OF WORCESTER. 63 And on the morow every one of them, according to ther pro- myse made, mett in the fieldes, and the sayd John Davis did wright his hoole mynde uppon the Sixe Articles, and made them allso a ballet caled, Come downe, for all your shaven crowne. But at lengthe this longe-hiddin conspiracie burst owte, for in- continent this woman within one half howre she browght this wrighting to the sayd Parton; and the sayd Thomas Parton dis- clozed the same to the chauncelour and regester and other pristes; which laide their heads together, and towlde them howe they might bringe their pourpose to pass ; and cawsed the sayd Thomas Johnson his ownckle to be their instrument to trye whether y t were his hand or no; and he, under the coulour of friendshipp, came to the sayd childe saieng, " I have kept the at the gramer skoole a great while, and am minded to have you to keepe the shopp, for your aunte is not in quiet with Peter bicawes of his bookes, wherefore I must putt hym awaye ; but before I soe doe let me see how you can wright." So he tooke penn and paper, and wrote these verses folowing — Of all treasur cunning is the flower. Loke uppon Diogenes whiche was both wyse and sad, To obtayne this treasur Cunninge what labour that he had. low herbe not above two handfuls high, full of branches, covered with little blackish leaves, dented or snipt about the edges like a saw : the flowers are small and white, sprinkled and powderd on the inner side, with yellow and purple specks mixed therewith. The root is small and hairie. This plant grows in dry medows, in green and grassie wayes and pas- tures standing against the sunne. Eye-bright beginnith to floure in August and con- tinueth unto September, and must be gathered while it flowreth for physick's use It is very much commended for the eyes. Being taken it selfe alone, or any way else, it preserves the sight, and being feeble and lost it restores the same." Then several pre- scriptions are given, concluding thus : " Three parts of the powder of eye-bright and one part of maces mixed therewith, taketh away all hurts from the eyes, comforteth the me- morie, and cleareth the sight, if halfe a spoonfull be taken every morning fasting with a cup of white wine." (Gerarde's Herball, 1633, p. 663.) Drayton describes the gather- ing of eyebright : " And in some open place, that to the sun doth lye, He fumitorie gets, and eyebright for the eye." — Polyolbion, Song 13. And Milton alludes to it under its more learned name — " Then purg''d with euphrasy and rue The visual nerve, for he had much to see." — Paradise Lost, xi. 415. 64 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. So hee (the uncle) toke this wrighting, and went to these papists. But whether he (John Davis) knewe/ but the first newes that he harde was earlye in the morning his ownkle bid him make cleane the stable in the Leche street, b and hee asked leve to gather herbes, but hee sayd, " Naye, there are inowghe to still this two daies of yester- daies gathering ; wherefore get you to the stable." And he obeyed hym, knowing his facte was browght to light, and that no good was ment to him, but trouble. But he no sooner entered the stable but the boye Oliver cam after hym saieng, " John Davis, I praye you reade this same wrighting once or twice over, that I maye learne to reade it to my mother perfectlie." But he, perceiving his Judas- like trick, sayde, " Get the hence ! I must doe my busynes." But he was so importune in requesting that he could not bee ridd of him. Then stept he into a litle howse, and there he spied Thomas Parton and his ownckle Johnson standing under a wall barkening, thinking to have taken them reding the foresayd wrighting ; but when he perceyved their trechery, " Have thie mother and thou dealt thus Judasly with me? Take this for thie paynes ;" and lent him two or thre blowes with a brome ; and he cryed. Then came theye in running, saying, "What is the matter?" Then sayd Oliver, " Mr. Johnson, I woulde have had your boye to have reade this wrighting whiche he made yesterday, and hee woulde not." Then sayd Parton, " What wrighting is that? let me see." But Parton knew yt right well; but sayd so for a cullor. Then did theye force John Davis to reade the same before them. Then sayde Parton, " Neighbour Johnson, yee have well bestowed your money to bring upp suche an herytique, so yonge as hee is." Then sayd Johnson, " I loked for joy e of him, having no childe of myn owne, nor kinsman that I knowe; but no we he shall have as he hathe de- served." And so Parton laide handes on him; and his ownckle a A syncopised phrase signifying that a person more than suspected what he did not positively know. b " So called from its having for many ages been the only accessible approach to the cemetery of the cathedral, by which the dead were brought thither for interment."— Green's History of Worcester, 1796, 4to. ii. 4. JOHN DAVIS, A BOY OF WORCESTER. 65 bownde his armes behinde hym, and browght hym to the towle- shopp,a in the citie of Worcetour, mr. Dooding and mr. Richard Dedicote being baylifFes b till the next Mighellmas after. Then was he commaunded to the freeman's prison; at whiche tyme one Richard Ho wbrough, brother-in-law to Richard Bullinirl: which Bullinghamc is brother to the reverend father in God Nicholas bishopp of Linkcolnc,d being keper of the prison, cam abowght nyne of the clock as the custum was to see their prisoners saffe, and sayd merely, " Thou hoorson, how wilt thow doe? they will burne the." And he sayd, " They can do no more than God will suffer them." " Tush ! (sayde he) prove by the candle c how thou canst abide the fire." And he did soo, sayeing, " I am not affraide of the fire." And so he helde his finger a good space, the other holding the candle, not willing to hurt him ; till at length with admyracion he sayde, a This was evidently the town-hall or head-quarters of the municipal government, ap- parently deriving its name from being the office for collecting toll. The more ordinary term for such places in olden times was toll-booth, and sometimes, the tolsey. b William Dodington and Richard Dabitote, bailiffs in 1545, according to the list given in Nash's History of Worcestershire, vol. ii. Appx. p. cxii. But the name of the former was doubtless Dodding, as it is given ibid, under 1543, when he was lower bailiff: and there was a Thomas Dodding bailiff in 1558, 1562, and 1564. The other, whose name was probably Dabitote (after the ancient Worcestershire family of d'Abitot), was senior bailiff in 1547. A Humphrey Debitote occurs bailiff in 1513 and 1521. c Richard Bullingham was lower bailiff of Worcester in 1561, and upper bailiff in 1563. A Thomas Bullingham had filled those offices in 1528 and 1530. d Nicholas Bullingham was born in Worcester; educated at Oxford; was consecrated bishop of Lincoln 1559, and translated to the see of his native city in 1570. He died in 1576, and was buried in the cathedral, where his monument remains, with a demi-effigy, as described in Green's History of Worcester, i. 154, an\ engraved in Dr. Thomas's Survey, 1737, 4to. p. 41. See a memoir of bishop Nicholas Bullingham in Wood's Athense Oxon. edit. Bliss, ii. 813. There was also a John Bullingham, bishop of Gloucester 1581 — 1596, and previously prebendary of Worcester, whose memoir is ibid. col. 862. e This test was not unusual. One of Foxe's cuts represents Bilney burning off the forefinger of his right hand, on the day before his submission to the fire at Norwich. Another exhibits bishop Bonner burning with a candle the hand of Thomas Tomkins, whose body soon after was burned in Smithfield. In a third, Edmund Tyrrell, of Col- chester, is burning in like manner the hand of one Rose Allin; and in the same place bishop Bonner is stated to have forcibly closed the hand of a third person upon a live coal. GAMD. SOC. K 66 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. " Felest thow not the heate?" and he sayde, " No;" but he woulde skarse beleve him till he had loked, and sawe he was not so muche as skorched. So he locked the dores, sayeing, " God night." Shortly after there came another prisoner unto the same prisone, for what cawes he knewe not; but it fortuned, the prisone being half timbred or rather better, some of the clay of the wall was falen ; so that this prisoner sayd to the keeper, " This heritique boye hath broken the wall to steall owte ;" by meanes wherof he was put in an inner prison caled the peep-hole, but yet without irons, untill Mighelmas ; till one Eobert Yowle a was chosen lowe-baylef, a joly Catholik, whiche quicklie bestowed his charite uppon him, laieng on a payer of bolts that he coulde not lifte up his small legs, but lening on a staff slipp them forward uppon the grownde, the beneffete whereof is an extreame colde in his anckles to this daye, whiche he shall cary to his grave. Moreover he was fayne to lye on the colde grownd, in those boltes, having not so muche as a lock of strawe nor clothe to cover him withall,but two shippeskins. Furthermore, one Feerefilde, a waker,b coming nightlie throwgh the guilde-hall to go to the prive, as he sayd, woulde come and call this child at the hold, whether of his owne mynde or sett on by some other papest he knewe not, but these weare his woordes, " Whie doste thow not recant? thow wilt be feared one tyme or other, as I have, by robing the devill, which a Richard Gowle in Nash's list (Hist, of Wore. Appx. p. cxii), but no doubt in error, for under the name of Robert Youle he occurs as higher bailiff two years later, for 1548; and again in 1552 and 1559. b It must not be supposed that this was a watchman, or a particularly wakeful gentle- man, who took nightly walks instead of lying in bed; but the writer means the occupation which is commonly written walker, that is, a fuller, or dresser and finisher of cloth. Wor- cester was at this period a great clothing town. Leland says, " The wealth of the towne of Worcester standeth most part by drapering, and no towne in England, at this present tyme, maketh so many clothes yearly as this towne doth." (Itin.) In 1590 queen Eliza- beth, " at the humble petition of our wellbeloved of the misteryes or faculties of weavers, walkers, and clothiers of our cittie of Worcester," granted them a charter of incorpora- tion, of which Rowland Berkeley, citizen and weaver, was nominated the first master, and two weavers and two walkers the first wardens : see it printed in Green's History of the city, vol. ii. Appendix, No. xvi. JOHN DAVIS, A BOY OF WORCESTER. 67 is like a raged colte, whiche hath ledd me abowght this hall all night or now, and at length lawgh me to skorne, and sayd howgh hoo.9'* Others would come and say, " Thow shalt be burned, thow here- tique, this weke," and " that weke," " this daye" and "to-morow." Furthermore nether mother nor none of his kinn that durst come at him. At length, to ease his payne, theye put into the same prison to him, to beare him company bicawes he was alone, one attaynted of treason, caled William Taylour, being a mad-man and owt of his wittes; who in his frontique fittes would many tymes prefer to thrust him in with a knyf whiche the sayd madman had to cutt his meate withall. Moreover, there came two pristes, canons of the cathederall churche, the one called Jolyf,b the other mr. Yewer.c To them was browght his wrighting against the Six Articles, and his ballet called Come downe, which after they harde yt reade, and had resoned with him, they burst owte in a pelting chaf, sayeing, " Hathe dis- closed the in tyme, being such a ranck heritique at this age; but God hath cut the of, else hadest thow bene the notablest hery- tique in all christindome." Thus in a great fury, threatning fier and fagot, and that shortly, they departed. Whether thei ware sent to d the bishopp or no he knewe not, but shortly after mr. Johnson the chauncelor sate in the guildhall uppon the said John, and there were browght in his accusers and were sworne; and 24 men were sworne and went on his quest, and fownd him gilty; but he never cam before the chauncelor. This did he to make all things in a redines against the corny ng of the judges, a " R. C. a writer in Camden's Remaines (sir Robert Cotton) says that we use u>aha- howe in hallooing as an interjection. (Rem. p. 33.) I have been curious to find an example of it, but have not succeeded." Archdeacon Nares, in Glossary, 1842, 4to. The above appears to be the same " interjection," differently written. b Henry Joliffe, B.D., appointed prebendary of the fourth stall by the foundation charter of the cathedral 24 Jan. 1541-2. He was one of the proctors of the university of Cambridge in 1536, rector of Bishampton, co. Wore., and in 1554 dean of Bristol. c Richard Euer, B.D., appointed to the third stall by the same charter. c So the MS., perhaps for by. 68 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. that there might be no delay, but spedye execution; for the whiche cawes sake he was sent to the common jayle,a and there did lye amonge theves and murtherers; but God prevented their poorpos, and toke awaye kinge Henrye the eight owt of the troble- som woorlde. Yet notwithstanding he was araigned, being holden upp in a man's armes at the barr; the judges being Portmanb and Marven,c which when they perceived that they coulde not burne him, woulde have had him presently whipped. Then stept upp John Bourne then esquire,d and sayd, " And please you, my Lordes, he hathe bene sore inowghe whipped allredy ." Thus had he no farther troble ; saving he laye in pryson a weke after. Many woulde have had him awaye from the barr, and especially a priste ; but the sayd John Bourne toke him whome (home), and the gentlewoman his wyf did anoynte his legges her owne selfe with oyntment, which leges were styf and numbde by reson of the irons, for he laye in prison from the 14. of August till within 7 daies of Ester. And the said mr. Bourne travailed to bringe him to beleve in the sacrament, sayeing it was Christes verye flesh and blood in fourme of bread ; for, yf Christ sayd he should have given us his bodye rawe in fleshe and blood, we shoulde have abhorde yt. But at lengthe sayd his wyf, " Let us put awaye this herytique, least he mare my sonne Anthony." Moreover, in the dayes of queene Marye he was accused by six protestantes ; and so constrayned to depart the contry, traveling painfully unknown to any ; and solde his patrimony, which God had sent him by his parentes, to releve him in that tyme of necessite; to the which provident God be all honour and glory for ever ! Muche more myght be spoken of his last troble but for breve- ties sake. a This was in the Foregate, at Worcester : his former prison at the toll-shop or guildhall. b Sir William Portman,a judge of the King's bench 1547, afterwards chief justice. c Sir Edward Mervyn, a judge of the King's bench 1541. d Afterwards sir John Bourne, secretary of state : who will figure more conspicuously in Underbill's Autobiography hereafter. He resided at Battenhall near Worcester. III. MARTYRDOM OF EDWARD IIORNE AT NEWENT IN 1558. [MS. Hart. 425, fol. 121.] THE following paper was written in correction of a statement which thus appears in Foxe's first edition, 1563, fol. •*- 1546 : " Jhon Home. And a woman. Martyrs. September 25. (1556.) " Nowe not long after the death of the said youngman at Bristow, in the same manner wer ii. mo godly martirs consumed by fire at Wutton underhedge in Glocestershier, whose names are above specified, which died very gloriously in a constant fayth, to the terror of the wicked, and comforte of the godly. So graciously dyd the Lorde worke in them, that death unto them was lyfe, and lyfe with a blotted conscience was death." If the corrections now given proceeded from sound information, Foxe was wrong not only in the Christian name of Home, but in the year of his death ; which appears to have been 1558 instead of 1556. The 25th September, 1558, would have been rather less than " eight weeks " before queen Mary's death, on the 17th of November. Who mr. John Deighton, the writer, was we do not know : but Strype (Eccles. Memorials, iii. 463) supposes him to have been " a worthy minister in those parts." WHERAS in the last edition of mr. Fox his famous works caled the booke of Martyrs, as likewise in all the former editions, there is mention made of one John Home and a woman that suffered martyrdome for the testimony of their faith at Wotton- under-Edge in Gloucestershere, let it be knowne that the matter is mistaken through the default of those that made the certificate for mr. Fox out of the registers of Gloucester or Worcester; for it cannot be proved that any such person or woman suffered at Wotton aforesaide. But it is true that one Edward Home suffered 70 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. martyrdome at Newente in the said diocesse, and was burnt there in a place caled the Court Orchard nere the churchyard ; and his wife was condemned with him, but she recanted and refused to surfer with him. I have bine at the place and spake with one or ij of the same parish that did se him there burnt, and do testifie that at his death he sunge the 146. psalme, untill that his lipps were burnt away, and then they sawe his tonge move untill he fell downe in the fier. They of the parish do say they knowe the ij persons that made the fier to burne him, and they weare ij glovers or fell-mongers, whose names I have in my nore-booke. He was executed about viij weekes before queene Mary died. The sonne of this martyr is now livinge in the same parish, and caled Christopher Home, an honest poore man, beinge about 78 or 79 yeres, and borne in queene Maries tyme, about a quarter of a yere before his father suffered. His mother, that promised to suffer with hir husband and recanted after she was condemned, was after married to one Whocke of the parish of Teynton, within a myle or 2 of Newent, where her first husband was borne ; et hoc ex relatione ejusdem Christopheri Home, By me JOHN DEIGHTON. I wish for the reverence I beare to the memory of Mr. Fox, whose person and place of dwelling I knew, and the honor and love I beare to his works, that this smale error, which is none of his, weare amended. IV. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVE OF THOMAS HANCOCK, MINISTER OF POOLE. [MS. Harl. 425, fol. 124.] This narrative is preserved among the papers communicated to Foxe, but he made no use of it. Strype has given some extracts in his Ecclesiastical Me- morials, vol. ii. book i. chapter 9 ; vol. iii. chapters 7 and 66 ; and others in his Memorials of Cranmer, book ii. chapters 7 and 26. Thomas Hancock took the degree of bachelor of arts at Oxford in 1532. (Wood's Fasti Oxon. edit. Bliss, i. 51.) He was afterwards one of the exiles at Geneva. The present narrative is imperfect ; and his history after his return to England in Elizabeth's reign has not been recovered. The laste yeare of the regne of king Henry the 8th, I, Thomas Hancock, master of artes and curate of Amporte,8 dioces, Wiutonie, was suspended a celebratione divinorum by doctor Raynold,b who yet levith, than comissary under doctor Steward, who was than chan- seller to bisshop Gardner, they ley ing too my charge the breache of the Six Articles, by cawse I tawghte owtt of 9 cap. Hebreorum thatt owre Savior Christ entered once into the holy place, by whych he optayned unto siners everlasting redemption ; that he once suffered ; and that his body was once offered to take away the sinnes off many people ; and thatt one only oblation suffised for the sinnes of the hole wordle. a Amport, 4-£ miles from Andover, Hants. 5 Robert Reynolds, LL.D., prebendary of Lincoln 1555, Winchester 1558, died 1595. 72 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. The first yere of the regne of king Edward 6., I, the sayde Thomas, having licence of bisshop Cranmore, preched at Christ- churche Twinham, in comit. /Soivthe., where I was borne, mr. Smythe vicar of Christchurche and bachyller of divinite being present; where I, taking my place owt of the 16. Sfc. John, v. 8, Spiritus sanctus arguet mundum de peccato, de justitia, quia vado ad Patrem, &c. Heyre dothe owr Savior Christ saye that he goeth to the Father, and that we shalle se him no more. The prist being than at mas, I de- clared wnto the people that that the prist dothe holde over his head they dyd see with their bodily eyes, but our Savior Christ dothe heyre say plainly that we shal se him no more ; than yow that doo knele unto hytt, pray unto hyt, and honor hytt as God, doo make an idol of hytt, and yowre selves doo commyte moste horrible idolatry. Wherat the sayde vicar mr. Smythe, syttinginhys chayre in the face of the pulpett, spake thes wordes: "Mr, Hancocke, yow have done well untyll nowe, and nowe have you played an yll kowse parte, whych whan she hathe geven a good messe of mylke over- throweth all wyth her fote; and soo all ys lost;" and wyth thes wordes he gote hym owtt of the churche. The first yere all soo of kyng Edward I all soo preched in St. Thomas churche att Salisbury, doctor Oking a chawnselar too bishop Kapen and doctor Steward b chawnselar too bishop Gardner being present, with divers others of the clergy and laytye. My place c being Omnis plantatio quam non plantavit Pater meus ccelestis eradi- cabitur. By the whych place I inveyed agaynst the superstitius cseremonies, as holy brede, holywater, images, coopes, vestments, &c. a Robert Oking, D.C.L. at Cambridge 1534, chancellor first of Bangor and afterwards of Sarum, archdeacon of Salisbury 1547 : see Athenae Cantabrigienses, i. 197. He was presented to the rectory of Collingbourne Ducis, co. Wilts, by Edward earl of Hertford, in 1545, and held it until 1554. (Hoare's South Wiltshire.) b Edmund Steward, D.C.L. at Cambridge 1541 ; chancellor first of Norwich and after- wards of Winchester; dean of Winchester 1553-4; died 1559: see Athense Cantabrig. i. 265. c Matt. xv. 13. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS HANCOCK. 73 and att the laste agaynst the idoll of the alter, proving hytt to be an idoll, and no God, by the first of St. John's gospel,a Deurn nemo unquam, &c., with other places of the olde testament; " but that the prist holdeth over hys heade yow doo se, you kncle before hytt, yow honor hytt and make a idoll of hytt, and yow yowr selves are moste horrible idolaters:" whereatt the docters and sartayne of the clurgie wentt owtt of the church, I chargynge them thatt they were nott of God, by cawse they refused too hey re the word of God. The sermon being ended, the mayore, mr. Thomas Chaffen,b came unto me, layinge too my charge a proclamacion, in the whyche was commande- ment geven thatt we shulde geve no necname wntoo the sacrament,0 as rownd Robin, or Jack in tlie box ; wertoo I awnswered thatt hytt was noo sacrament, but an idoll, as they doo wse hytt. a John i. 18. b Thomas Chafyn was mayor of Salisbury in 1547 and Christopher Chafyn in 1550. In 1557 mr. Thomas Chafyn the younger is mentioned; and in 1565 Thomas Chafyn was one of the gentry of Salisbury with goods valued at 180J., being the second person in the town in point of wealth. History of Salisbury (Hoare's South Wiltshire), pp. 274, 696, 812. c " Also this same time (Jan. 1547-8) was moche spekyng agayne the sacrament of the auter, that some callyd it Jacke of the Boxe, with divers other shamfulle names; and there was made a proclamacyon agayne shoche (such) sayers, and it (yet) bothethe prechersand others spake agayne it, and so contynewyd." (Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London, p. 55.) An original copy of this proclamation is preserved in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries. It is dated the 27th Dec. 1547, and was made in pursuance of " a good and godly acte and estatute (made in the recent session of parlement) against those who doeth contempne, despise, or with unsemely and ungodly woordes deprave and revyle the holy sacramente of the body and blood of our Lorde, commonly called the sacrament of tfie Anltar." The statute is 1 Edw. VI. cap. 1. Statutes of the Realm, 1819, iv. 2. Bishop Coverdale, in the preface to his translation of Calvin's Treatise on the Last Supper, has this passage : " I will speak no more as concerning their fond inventions about the ministration of this most blessed sacrament, lest I should be thereby an offence or stumbling-block to the weak brothers, whose consciences are not yet fully satisfied as con- cerning the true belief of this holy mystery : I mean, lest I should give them occasion to do as certain fond talkers have of late days done, and at this present day do invent and apply to this most holy sacrament names of despite and reproach, as to call it Jack in the box and Round Robin, and such other not only fond but blasphemous names." (Coverdale's Works, Parker Soc. p. 426.) In the last examination of bishop Ridley, before the queen's commissioners, Sept. 30, 1555, referring to a sermon which he had delivered at Paul's cross, (the precise date of which does not appear,) he said, " You shall understande there CAMD. SOC. L 74 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. Att thatt tyme was one Huntte and Kichard Whyghtt a commytted to the gayle for such cawse by doctor Geffery,b who was chawnsler too byshop Capon,c and soo wolde the maior all soo have committed me too the gayle, had nott sixe honest men ben bownde for me thatt I sholde awnser att the next syses. Whan I came to the sises, syr Michel (Eichard) Lister d being lord chefe justice, wylled me too have sertayne to be bownde for me that I shold nott goo before the king in his procedings. I makyng not haste too gett me sewarties, my lord chefe justice called upon me very earnestly that I shold get sum too be bownde for me. The bisshop sitting att the bench, I requested him thatt, forasmuch as my treble was for the worde of God, that he and hys chaplyn, on(e) were at Paules, and divers other places, fixed railing billes against the sacrament, terming it Jacke of the Boxe, the Sacrament of the Halter, Round Robin, with like unsemely termes; for the whiche causes I, to rebuke the unreverend behaviour of certaine evil-disposed persones, preached as reverently of that matter as I might." (Poxe, edit. 1576, p. 1650.) a Foxe, under the year 1558, gives at considerable length " The story and condemna- tion of John Hunt and Richard White, ready to be burnt, but by the death of Q. Mary escaped the fire." In a side-note Foxe remarks, " Rich. White, now vicar of Malbrough in Wilshire:" — See an additional note in the Appendix. b William Geffrey, or Jeffrey, D.C.L. 1540, sometime principal of St. Edward's hall and afterwards of Bradgate hall, Oxford, archdeacon of Northampton 1549, chancellor of Salisbury 1552-3; died 1558. "Not long before the death of queen Mary dyed doctor Capon, bishop of Salisbury. About the which tyme also followed the unprepared death of doctour Geffrey, chancellour of Salisbury, who in the midst of his buildings, sodainly being taken by the mighty hand of God, yelded his lyfe, which hadde so little pittye of other men's lyves before. Concerning whose crueltye partly mention is made before [in the case of Hunt and White]. As touching moreover this foresayde chancellour, here it is to be noted, that he departing upon a Saterday, the next day before the same he hadde ap- poynted to call before him 90 persons, and not so fewe, to examine them by inquisition, had not the goodnes of the Lord, and his tender providence, thus prevented him with death, providing for his poore servauntes in tyme." — Foxe, " God's punishment upon Persecutors." e John Capon, alias Salcot, who having been successively abbat of St. Benet Hulme, and of Hyde by Winchester, was made bishop of Bangor 1533, and of Salisbury 1539. He died 1557. See his memoirs in Athenae Cantabrigienses, i. 171. d The lord chief justice of the common pleas was sir Richard (not sir Michael) Lyster. See in the Winchester volume of the Archseological Institute, 1846, a memoir by Sir Fre- derick Madden on sir Richard Lyster's monument and effigy in St. Michael's church, Southampton, which had been attributed to lord chancellor Wriothesley. Sir Richard's son and heir was sir Michael Lyster; he died in August 1561, before his father. See AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS HANCOCK. 75 master Ecve,a wolcle be bownde for me. My lorde chefe justice re- buked me by cawse I chose my sewartis b owt of the benche, saying thatt yf he wolde be my sewertye he wold nott take hym. Soo I stode styll, nott sekyng any to be bownde for me; werat my lord was nott very well pleased, and sayde unto me, " Why seke you nott summe too be bownde for yow?" I awnseryd that I knew nott too whome too speake. There was present a wollen-draper, on Hary Dymoke, who asked my lord what the band was, who awnswered on hundred powndes. He sayde agayne, that a hundred of them wold be bownd in an hundred pownde for me ; another sayde that a thowsand of them wold be bownd in 1000 pownde for me; wherat my lorde rebuked me, saying: " Se what an wpproare yow make among the people." I sayd wnto him: " I pray yow, my lord, lay no such thyng to my charge; I stand before yow, and store nott; hytt ys God that moveth ther harttes thus too speak ; I prayse his name for hytt." Than dyd my lorde agayne enter talke wyth th'above named Hary Dymoke; and asked hym whether ten of (them) wold be bownd in an c11., for yf an hundereth shold be bownde in an hundred pounde, the names then wold occupy more inke and papyr than the obligation. Hary Dymoke aunsered that I had no rewle of my selfe in that place,0 and thatt they thowghtt thatt I wold breake the band, whych yf I sholld, hytt wold greve them too forfytt x li. apece, but in thatt qwarell to forfet xx s.d apece hytt wold never greve them. So was the first Machyn's Diary, p. 8, where, by a like confusion as here, the son is called sir Richard. In ad- dition to Sir F. Madden's pedigree it may be remarked that the first wife of the lord chief justice was Jane, daughter of Ralph Sherley of Wiston, in Sussex, and widow of sir John Dawtrey, of Moorhouse in Petworth. (Stemmata Shirleiana, 4to. 1841, p. 145.) Also that the wife of his grandson, the daughter of lord chancellor Wriothesley, was married first to William Shelley of Michelgrove : see Machyn's Diary, p. 273. a i. e. probably, the bailiff of the bishop, (who might also be his chaplain.) who " for a long series of years took precedency of the mayors of the city." History of Salisbury, (Hoare's Wiltshire,) p. 698 : where a list of bailiffs is given, but it does not name the officer at this period. b Sureties. c Strype here inserts " i. e. the pulpit." The meaning seems to be that Hancock held no benefice or other authorised place or appointment in Salisbury. (I Misprinted " xx pound" by Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, ii. 73. 76 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. band discharged, and my lorde bownd x. of them in x li. and my self was bownd in 90 li. Thys done, I ryd from Salesbury unto my lorde off Somersett hys grace, who lay at thatt (tyme) at Syan. I reqwested hys grace tliatt I mowghtt have hys letter for the discharge of them thatt were bownde for me: he cawsed my lord treasurer hys honor that now ys, whoo than was master of the reqwestes,8 to wryt to my lorde chefe justice for the discharge of the band ; wych letter, why 1st I was wyth my lorde att Hampton b too deliver, the bell rong too the sermon. My lorde asked me whether I mynded too preach? I awnsered yea. My lorde sayd unto me that Hampton was a haven towne, and that yf I shold teache such doctrine as I tawght at Sarurn the towne wold be divided, and soo sholde hytt be a way or a gapp for the enemy to enter in, and therfor he commawnded me that I shold nott preache ther. I awnswered thatt I wold not take thatt for a forbiddyng, butt that forsomuch as the people resorted too the church att the ringyng of the bell too heyre the worde of God, they shold nott returne whome (home) agayne voyd of God's word. My lorde sayde agayne unto me thatt I shold not preache, and thatt ther was on in the Tower (meanyng bysshopp Gardnar) that he wold beleve before 400 such as I was. I awnsered hym thatt he spake those words betwyxt him and me, but, yf I had record of them, he wold nott speake them. Soo my lorde sent for the mayor and hys bretherne. Mr. maior asked me whether I wolde be content that an other shold supply the rome for me ? I awnsered yea ; and thatt I was as wylling too heyre the word as to preach my self. Soo dyd mr. maior send too on mr. Gryffeth, who dyd preache ; and my lorde being present, he ehalenged him that he, being chefe justice of the lawc, dyd suffer the images in the churche, the idoll hangyng in a string over the alter, candlestikes and tapers on them wppon the alter, and the people honoring the idoll, contrary too the law ; wyth much other good doctrine. I praysed God for hytt. And thus a William Cecill (afterwards lord Burghley). b i. e. Southampton. c Misprinted " land " in Strype, Eccles. Memorials, iu 73. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS HANCOCK. 77 were my Trends of Sarum thatt were bownde for me discharged there band. Thys treble being overcum, an other foloweth; for, after thys, I was called the same yeare, whych was the first yeare of kyng Edward, to be the minister of God's word at the town of Pole, in comit. Dorset, whych town was at the time welthy, for they en- braced God's word, they were in favors with the rewlars and gov nors of the realme, they were the first thatt in thatt parte of England were called Protestantes ; they dyd love one an other; and every one glad of the company of the others; and soo God powred his blessing plentifully wpon them; but now, I ham sory too sett my pen too wryte hytt, they havebecum pooer, they have no love to God's word, they lacke the favor and frendshop of the godly rewlars and governors to defend them ; they fall from there profession ; they hate one another, one can not abyd the company of the other, but they are divided emongst them sellves; butt, 0 Lord God, heavenly Father! which workest all things for the best unto thine elect and chosen, and arte a God of mercy and long suffering, suffer nott that towne of Poole, yf hytt be thy good wyll, too cum to dessolation; butt, mercifull God, who haste the hartes of all men in thine handes, and dost turne them whom thow wylltt turne, geve them hartes to repent, and powre thy blessings uppon them thatt they may embrace thy word, thatt they may be nott only heyrers butt obedientt folowers and doers of the same, thatt they may love one another, and soo powre uppon them thy blessings, thatt they may cum nott to a worse butt to a better state, for thy dear son Christ Jhesu's sake, our only mediator and advocate ! I being the minister of God's worde in that towne of Poole, preching the word uppon sume Sunday in the monthe of Juli, in- veyed agaynst idolatry and covetousnes, taking my place owtt of the 6th of Timothy, Deus immortalis est, et lucem habitat inaccessibilem, quern nemo hominum vidit sed nee videre potest. The bryghtnes of the Godhed ys such thatt hytt passeth the bryghtnes of the sun, of aungells, and all creatures; soo thatt hytt cannott be seen with owr 78 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. bodyly eyes, for noo man hath seen God at any tyme and leveth. The prist at thatt time being att mas, yf hytt be soo thatt noo man hath sene God, nor can se God with thes bodyly eyes, than thatt whych the prist liffteth over his head ys nott God, for yow doo se hitt with yowr bodyly eyes ; yf hytt be nott God, yow may nott honor hytt as God, nether for God. Whereatt olde Thomas Whyghtt,a a greate rych marchantt, and a ringleader of the papistes, rose owtt off hys seate, and wentt owtt of the church, saying, u Come from hym, good people; he came from the divell, and teacheth wnto yow divlish doctrine." John Notherel,13 alias John Spicer, folowed him, saying, " Hitt shal be God whan thow shalt be but a knave." The same yeare, in the day of All Saynctes, as they call hytt, after thatt I came from expownding sum place of the scriptures, at evening prayer, the above named Thomas Whyghtt, John Notherel, and William Haviland c came too the prist, commawnding him that he shold say dirige for all soils: I commawnding hym the contrary, they sayd they wold make me too saye dirige; I awnswered, nott whyle they leved. Than dyd they all as hytt wer with on mowth call me knav and my wyff strompett, som of them threatning me thatt they wold make me draw my gutts after me. The maior, being an honest good man, Morgan Reade d by name, thrust me into the qwier, and pulled the qwyer dorse fast too, commanding them to kepe the king's peace: but they spared nott to call the maior knave; the maior had much worke too stopp thys horly burly, untyll he had gotten the chef of them owtt of the churche. Soo was I driven agayne too be a seuter too my lord of Somersett hys grace, who wylled me too resorte to mr. Cicel than master of * The name of Thomas Whyte occurs in the list of mayors of Poole in 1504, 1510, 1511, 1517, 1531, 1538, in 1545 Thomas Whyte senior, and in 1551 Thomas Whyte junior. The family were afterwards seated at Fittleford, in the parish of Stourminster Newton : see a pedigree in Hutchins's Dorsetshire (second edit.) iv. 183. b John Northerell was mayor of Poole in 1540, 1547, and 1552. c William Havyland was mayor of Poole in 1523, 1533, and 1544. Others of the family occur from 1494 to 1537. d Morgan Rede was mayor of Poole in 1548. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS HANCOCK. 79 requestes, but now lord trcasurar of England. I had all soo an other letter for my qwyetnes in preaching of God's word in the towne of Poole. From that time I continewed in Poole untyll the death of good king Edward, in whose dayes, before the last apprehension of the dewke of Somersett, ther (was) on Woodcock's wyffe a thatt reported thatt ther was a voyce folowing her, whych sownded always in her years, thatt he whom the king dyd best trust sholld . deceyve him, and worcke trayson agaynst him. Thys she reported long tyme, wntyll sir Wylliam Barkley b sent her too London too the cownsel. She was not long ther, butt came whome agayne with her purse full of mony, and after her corny ng whome she was more bwsy in thatt talke than before; soo that she came too a market towne 4 mylls from Poole, called Wymborne, wher she reported thatt the voyce continewed folowing her as before. Ther were ij marchantes of Poole thatt hard her, and toke a note of her wordes, and came too my howsse and cownselled me too sertyfy my lord of Somersett of hytt. Soo I came too my lord too Syan and sartyfied my lord of the words, declaring untoe my lord thatt "he whom the kyng did best trust wold deceyve him and worke trayson " we dyd nott know, but thatt all the king's loving subjects dyd thinke thatt hys grace was most worthy to be best trusted, and thatt hys grace hath ben in treble, and thatt all the kyng's loving subjects dyd pray for his grace to th' Almighty too preserv his grace, thatt he may never cum in the like troble agayne. My lord dyd aske of me whether I had any note of the wordes or noo. I awnsered I had, butt nott too present unto hys grace, by cawse I had a remembrance for bokes and other thyngs thatt I had too by.c My lord liked wel of hytt; and folding the paper, wett hytt with hys spettyll, and soo tore owtte my rememberance and gave hytt me, speaking thes wordes, "Asyrra, thys ys strange, thatt thos things sholld cum before the cownsell, and I nott heyre of a Misprinted WoococJc by Strype, Memorials of Cranmer, p. 264. b This was sir William Berkeley of Beverstone Castle in Gloucestershire, who married lady Margaret Poulet, daughter of the first marquess of Winchester. c t. e. to buy. 80 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. liytt. I ham of tlie cownsel all soo." He asked me, " Butt before whom of the cownsel thinke yow?" I answered " 1 know nott sartayne, my lord; but as I suppose." He sayde, " Before whom suppose you? " I awnsered, " Before my lord treasurer; by cawse sir William Barkley, who sent her upp with ij of his servantes, maryed my lord treasurer's dawghter." My lorde sayde, " Hytt ys like too be soo." Thys was the last time that I saw or spake with my lord of Somersett, being iij wekes before hys last apprehension. Att his fyrst apprehension the reportt was thatt the duke of Somersett (whatt time he was fett owtt of Wynsor castell), having king Edward the 6th by the hand, shold say: "Hytt ys nott I thatt they shote att; thys ys the marke thatt they shote att:" meaning the king; a whych by the seqwel proved too trew; for thatt good, godly, and verteuus king leved nott long after the deathe of thatt good dewke. After the deathe of kyng Edward the 6th, qwene Jane, who was vertuous and godly, was proclaymed kwene (butt agaynst her wyll, as the reporte was). She rayned nott above 8 or 9 dayse, butt qwene Marye was proclaymed qwene, in whose time the churche of Christ dyd florishe and was tryed by the deathe of many ver- tuous, lerned, and godly martyrs of Christ Jhesu. Qwene Mary was proclaymed qwene by my lord Wylliamsb in Oxford, St. James's a " Item, you declared and published untruly as well to the King's majestic, and other the young lords attendant upon his majesties person, and to the King's subjects at divers and sundry times and places, that the said lords at London minded to destroy the King ; and you required the King never to forget it, but to revenge it, and likewise required the said young lords to put the King in remembrance therof ; to the intent to make sedition and discord betweene the King's majesty and his lords." This is the 26th article charged upon the duke of Somerset, as printed in Stowe's Chronicle. The protector had, in his distress and embarrassment, no doubt indiscreetly made some such appeal, in order to obtain support, as on the King's behalf. b Sir John Williams was master of the jewel-house and treasurer of the court of augmentations in the reign of Edward VI. Having taken an active part in the establish- ment of the authority of queen Mary, he was destined to higher honours. He became chamberlain to king Philip, and was created lord Williams of Thame in 1554. Having been appointed lord president of Wales, he died in that office in 1559. See Machyn's Diary, Index. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS HANCOCK. 81 daye,a whoo, after she was proclaymed, dyd sett forth a proclama. cion,b which came too my handes, whych dyd declare what religion she dyd profes in her yowthe, thatt she dyd continew in the same, and thatt she mynded too end her lyf in the same religion; wyllini/ all her loving subjects too embrace the same. Thys proclamation dyd soo encorage the papistes thatt they, forgetting ther dewty and obedience to God, and too declare there obedience wntoo there qwene, wold have the mas and other superstitius ceremonies in post haste; butt I toke uppon me too reade the proclamation wntoo them, and too declare the meaning of hytt; thatt, whereas in the proclamacioii she wylled all her loving subjectes too enbrace the same religion, they owghtt to enbrace the same in her being there princes, thatt ys nott too rebell agaynst her, being there princes, but too lett her alone with her religion. This satisfied nott the papistes ; but they wolde nedes have ther masking mas, and soo dyd olde Thomas Whyght, John Notherel, and others, bwylde upp an alter in the churche, and had procured a fytt chaplin, a French prest, on syr Brysse,c too say there masse; butt there altar was pulled downe, and syr Brysse was fayne too hydc hys headd, and the papistes too bwlde them an alter in ollde master Whyght's howse, John Craddock hys man being clarcke to ring the bell, and 51 The 25th of July. From the letters printed in the Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary, pp. 9-12, it might be supposed that the proclamation took place at Oxford on an earlier day. b Dated the xviij August, and printed at length by Foxe. c Named "sir Brysse Tayller " in the list of rectors or curates of Poole in Hutchins's Dorsetshire (second edit.) ii. 21. He was settled in the town at least eight years before, as in an inventory of church jewels and ornaments made Nov. 30, 1545, " in presens of Thomas Whyt the eldyr then beyng mayr, Richard Havyland, Wylyam Havyland, and Thomas Gylleford then beyng one of the churche wardens," occurs " i chales parsell gyllt that sir Tailar syrvyth withall." (History of Poole, by John Sydenham, 1839, Svo. p. 310.) Poole was in the parish of Canford. Leland says : " Pole is no town of auncient occupying in marchandise, but rather of old tyme a poore fisshar village, and a hamelet or membre to the paroche church. It is in homimim memoria much encreasid with fair buildings and use of marchaundise." But he afterwards adds, " Thero fair chirche in Pole." CAMD. SOC. M 82 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. too help the prist too mas, untyll he was threatned that yf he dyd use too putt hys hand owtt of the wyndow too ring the bell, that a hand -goon sholde make hym too smartt, thatt he sholld nott pull in his hand agayne with ease. Soo had the papistes there mas in mr. Whytte's howse, and the Christians the gospel preched openly in the churche. The papistes all soo resorted too the churche too heyre the word of God, nott for any love they had too the word, butt too take the preachar in a trypp, for divers articles they tooke owtt of my doctrine, of the which they accused me before the cownsell, att the tyme of the first parliament; emongst the whych one of them was thatt in my doctrine I tawghtt them thatt God had plaged thys realme most justly for owr sinns with thre notable plages, the which withowtt spedy repentance wtter destruction wold folowe. The first plage was a warning too England, which was the posting swet, that posted from towne to towne, throwghe England, and was named stope gallant? for hytt spared none, for ther were dawncyng in the cowrte at 9 a'clocke thatt were deadd or aleven a'clocke. In the same swett also at Cambredge died too worthy impes, the dewke of Swffok hys son Charells, and hys brother.b The second plage was a threatning to England, whan God toke from us our wyse, verteuus, and godly king Edward the sixth. The thyrde was to be robbed and spoyled of the jewel and treasure of God's holy word; the whych utter destruction shold folow wythowtt spedy repentance ; for had nott owr godly, wyse, lerned, and marcyfull qwene Elizabeth stond in the gappe of Goddes wrathe, and bene the instrumentt of God too restore the everlasting a Another instance of this name being given to the sweating-sickness has been mentioned in the notes to Machyn's Diary. It is in the register of Uffculme, co. Devon, " the hote sickness, or stup-gallant."" In the register of Loughborough in Leicestershire it is termed "the swat called New acquaintance, alias Stoup knave and know thy Master." b See note in Machyn's Diary, p. 318 ; and see the Literary Remains of King Edward VI., p. 330. Their deaths were at the bishop of Lincoln's palace at Buckden, whither they had been removed from Cambridge. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS HANCOCK. 83 word of God wntoo us, we had been bandslaves unto the prowde vicius Spanyard. 0 eternall omnipotent! and moste mcrcyfull God, who dyddest by thy mercy full providence preserve our moste gracious qwene Elizabeth in the dangerus dayse of the rayne of her maiesties most unnaturall syster qwene Mary, to this end, thatt thow, a moste mercy full God, woldest by her majesty e sett forthe thy glory, in restoring wntoo us agayne the jewel and treaswre of thy moste sacredd and holy worde, we beseche the, 0 Lorde, make ws thank- full; preserve her majesty, thatt, yf hytt be thy blessed wyll, we may long time enjoye thys gret treaswre and Jewell of thy most holy worde, thatt her grace may, by thy myghty powre, soo protect and defend thys her realme from the rewle and governmentt of strange nacions, thatt we may never be spoyled agayne of the same, and thatt hyt may please the of thy mercyfull goodnes so to rewle and govern ws thatt are her subjects with thy grace, thatt we may be diligentt heyrers of thy word, and obedientt folowers of the same, so thatt for owre wnthankfullnes we provoke nott thy wrathe (as in the dayse of good king Edward) too take from ws soo most godly, pitiful, and peaceable a princes, butt thatt she may a long time rewle and govern both thes her realmes of Ingland and Earland, too the vtter confusion of the papistes her enemise, and too the greate comforte of thy chyldren her loving subjects. Grant thys for thy dear son Christ Jesu's sake ! An other article thatt much offended, for the whych I was ex- empted owtt of the first general pardon thatt qwene Marye grawnted, was thatt I rebuking ther idolatrous desyre too have there super- sticious ceremonyse and ther idolish mas, and too putt downe the gloryowse gospel of Christ Jesus, dyd in my doctrine aske them, how thys mowght be donne, and how they wold bring hytt to passe, having the law of the realme and the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ agaynst them, and God being agaynst them, in whom they had ther trust. I sayde, " Yowr trust ys in fleshe; so yow forsake 84 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. the blessing of God and heape wppon yow hys curse: Jeremi 17. sings: Maledictus homo qui confidit in homine, et ponit carnem brachium suum, fyc. What fleshe ys thatt you trust unto, Stephen Gardnar's the bysshop of Winchester? He hath ben a Sawle; God make him a Pawle ! He hathe ben a persequutor ; God make hymme a faythfull preacher ! " Thes wordes so much offended, thatt I was nott thowghtt worthy to enjoy e the qwcne's pardon; whereuppon I was cownselled by master Wylliam Thomas, the clarcke of the cownsel,a for savegard of my lyfe, too flee; and so came I to Roane in Normandy, wheare I dyd continew the space of ij years, and halfe a yeare I spent at Parys and Orlyance. After thatt, heryng of a Englishe congregation att the citie of Geneva, I resorted thyther wyth my wyfe, and on of my chylldren,b wheare I continewed thre yere and sumwhatt more. In the which citie, I prayse God, I dyd se my lord God moste pewrly and trewly honored, and syn moste stray tly punnisshed : soo hytt may be well called a holy citie, a citie of God ; the Lorde powre hys blessings wppon hytt, and continew hys favore toward hytt, defending hytt agaynst there c enimyes ! After the deathe of qwene Mary, in the happy beginning of the regne of our sofferayne lady qwene Elyzabeth .... (unfinished.) a William Thomas, made clerk of the council April 19, 1550. (King Edward's Journal.) He wrote various historical papers for the instruction of king Edward, some of which are introduced in Strype's works ; and an edition of his writings was published in 1774, 8vo., with notes by Abraham D'Aubant, esq. Of his unhappy end in the reign of Mary, see both Machyn's Diary and the Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary. b In the Livre des Anglois, preserved in the archives of the city of Geneva, among those received into the church in Nov. 1556, or shortly after, occur the names of " Thomas Hancock, his wife, and Gedion his sonne." On the 7th of April in the following year occurs the baptism " Sarah, the daughter of Thomas Hancock, Anthony Gilby being the godfather." — which Anthony Gilby was afterwards vicar of Ashby-de- la-Zouche. Livre des Anglois a Geneve, edited by John Southerden Burn, 1831, 8vo. pp. 9, 14. c i. e. their. Strype has substituted " his." V. THE DEFENCE OF THOMAS THACKHAM, MINISTER, IN HIS CONDUCT TOWARDS JULINS PALMER. JOSCELINE or Julins a Palmer suffered at the stake at Newbury on the 16th July, 1556 ; and the particulars of his case are related by Foxe at considerable length. He was a native of Coventry, where his father " had sometime been maior, and occupied merchandise, albeit he was an upholster by his mysterie." His education had been received at the school of Magdalen college, Oxford, under master Harley, afterwards bishop of Hereford ; and, after attaining to a fellowship at Magdalen, he was in 1550 admitted to the office of reader in logic in that college. So strong at that period were his views in favour of the Romish faith, that he was expelled the college before the death of king Edward, and became a teacher of children in the house of sir Francis Knollys. After Mary's accession he was restored to his fellowship ; but his sentiments then underwent a change which led to further troubles. This is attributed in great measure to his horror in witnessing the merciless treatment of Ridley and Latimer at Oxford, when a sympathy in their sufferings led to an ex- amination of the principles and the faith which sustained them. Thereupon Palmer finally quitted his fellowship, and purchased the appointment, originally granted by letters patent to Leonard Coxe, of the mastership of the grammar- school at Reading ; but there he did not stay long : for on his study being searched, there were found in it " certain godly books and writings, amongst the which was his replication to Morwine's verses touching Winchester's epitaph, and other arguments both in Latin and English, written by him against the Popish proceedings, and specially against their unnaturall and brutish tyrannic executed towards the martyrs of God." At this time Palmer came in contact with Thomas Thackham, the writer of the following paper. Thackham succeeded as master of Reading school, by a Not Julius, as it came to be printed in the later editions of Foxe ; but Julins, which appears to have been the colloquial pronunciation of Josceline. The error has made its way into Wood's Athense Oxonienses, edit. Bliss, ii. 842, and Fasti, i. 125, 232. In an epitaph in Ripon cathedral (1651) we read of " D. Julins Hering Evangelii dispensatoris valde fidelis." 86 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. purchase, as he states : but from other accounts it would seem that Palmer did not consider his own retirement to be final, and during a visit which he in- cautiously made to the town, his arrest was facilitated, as was thought, by Thackham's means.* This charge of treachery, as related in the first edition of Foxe's Actes and Monuments, Thackham denied with great asseveration, but it appears that he was only partially credited. Foxe removed Thackham's name from the story of Julins Palmer in part, but only in part, and inserted the following explanation : — " Here by the way, gentle reader, I have by a little digression to geve thee to understand, concernyng one Thomas Thackham, for that the said Thomas Thackham, in the storie of this Julins Palmer, was noted and named, in our former booke, to be a doer and a worker against the said blessed martyr : he therefore beyng not a little agreved, made his reply agayne in writyng, for purgation and defence of hymselfe against the false information of his slanderer. Albeit for his confutation in writyng I passe not much upon, eyther what he hath written or can write. Onely the thing that mooveth me most is this : for that the sayd Thomas Thackham not long since, commyng to me hymselfe, hath so attested and deposed against the information, with such swearing and deep adjuration, takyng the name of the Lorde God to witnesse, and appealyng to his judgment to the utter perdition of his soule if it were not false which by information was reported of hym, and hee faultlesse in this matter : to which beyng so, I could not otherwyse refuse, but to give credit to his othe, and upon the same to alter and correct so much as pertaineth to the diffamation (as he calleth it,) of his name, referring the truth of the matter to his owne conscience, and the judgements of the Lord God, to whom eyther he standeth if it be true, or falleth if it be false." The fact was that Foxe's informants still insisted that their version of the story was the true one. Together with Thackham's statement now printed, a Thackham's " slanderer " in his reply charged him that Palmer was at last ap- prehended at Reading " by your procurement, because he was earnest upon you for money, or elles to make a re-entrye into the Schoole accordyng to covenauntes : for he had tolde b,is frendes by mouth at his last beyng at Oxford, whiche was the second day of Juyn before he suffered (as apered by his owne handwrityng yet to be shewed) that if he durst he would remove Thackham from the Schole, because he performed not covenauntes with him, and payd him not his money accordyng to promes. And because he was busye with Thackham for the same, he sayd that he and others threatened him yet agayne very sore, to exhibite his owne handwrityng against him, except he would geve over his full interest in the Schoole, and departe quyetly without any further molestyng of Thackham. And then he sayde they helde his nose to the gryndstone ." (f. 37 b.) JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKHAM. 87 itself somewhat diffuse, is preserved a rejoinder which occupies no less than sixty-four folio pages, and is still incomplete. Of this a portion only can be here given, by way of specimen of its style and contents ; but where sub- sequently any counter-statement of importance occurs, it shall be placed at the foot of the page, beneath the statement made by Thackham. It appears most probable that the party from whom Foxe received the narrative of Julins Palmer, — called by Thackham " the slanderer," and in the reply "the gatherers" (in the plural number), were, principally, Thomas Purye, afterwards a preacher at Beverstone in Gloucestershire, and John Moyer, also a minister, formerly of Reading, and a fellow-sufferer there with John Bolton.a The former addressed the following letter to Foxe on the subject : (MS. Harl. 416, f. 100.) Right reverend and beloved in the Lord. I have receved your letters, together with Thackam's answer ; which I perceave you have well perused, and do understand his craftye and ungodly dealing therin, that I may not say fond and foolish. For he doth not denye the substance of the storye, but only seeketh to take advantage by some circumstancys of the tyme and place, wherin yt may be ther was an oversight, for lacke of perfect instructions or good remembrance at the begynning. He confesseth that he delyvered a letter of Palmer's own hand to the maior of Readinge, which was the occasyon of his imprisonment and death : onlye he excuseth him. selffe by transferring the cryme a seipso in martirem. Briefly his whole end and purpose is to geve the world to understand, that the martir was gyltie as well of incontinencye, as also of wylfull casting away of hymselfe. O impudent man ! The wyse and godly reader may easylye smell his stinkinge hart. He careth not though he out face the godlye martir, and the whole volume of martirs, to save (as he thinketh) his owne honestye and good name. Howbeyt I doubt not but God wyll confownd him to his utter shame, and reveal his cloked hypocrysie, to the defence of his blessed martir, and the whole storye. Though many off them be dead that gave instructyons in tyines past, and now could have borne witnesse, yet, thankes be to God, there want not alyve that can and wyli testifye the trueth herein to his confusyon. No dyligence shall be spared in the matter, as shortly I trust you shall understand. In the meane while Thackam nede not be importunate for an answer. He reporteth him selffe to the whole towne of Readinge, therfore he must geve us some space. The God of trueth defend yow, and all other that mayntayne his trueth from the a See hereafter, p. 96. 88 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. venemous poyson of lyers ! Vale in Christo, qui ecclesicB SUCK te diu servct incolumem. From Beverston in Gloc'shere, Maij vjto> Yours in the Lord, THOMAS PURYE, minister/ Directed, To the right reverend in God, Mr. Jhon Foxe, preacher of the ghospell in London, be thes dd. at Mr. Daies the printer, dwellyng over Aldersgate beneth S. Martens. For "help in stopping the malicious and envious mouth of Thomas Thackam," Purye applied to John Moyer, minister at Corsley in Wiltshire, already mentioned. Moyer's answer, dated "from Corsley this 18 of May," and addressed to "master Perry, preacher at Beverstone," was inserted by Foxe in his additamenta (see an extract in p. 96.) In Strype's Memorials, vol. iii. Appendix lix, will be found a paper entitled " Informations gathered at Reading, 1571," from which in great measure was drawn up — probably by Purye, the elaborate reply now in the MS. Harl. 425. The latter commences in the following manner : (MS. Harl. 425, f. 33.) To the Title [of Thackham's statement]. The story was not brought to mr. Foxe, nor written against Thonxas Thackham by the name of minister ; but against one Thomas Thackham. And as it was delyvered to mr. Foxe by one alone, so was it gathered and instructions geven by dyverse of good credite, whiche also earnestly favoured the Ghospell. And so litle breache of charitie was then betwene them and you, that if they all, or any one of them, had knoweii you or understood where you dwelt, and had learned that you are a minister and now repentaunt and sound in religion, they could well have spared your name untouched ; and so voyde of malice they are knowen to be, that they are enemyes to no man lyvyng, and have bene ever desyrous to lyve peaceably with all men, Salva religionis et consdencie integritate ; neither maye it be proved that they are a His name as rector of Beverstone occurs in Atkyns's Gloucestershire, 1712, p. 275, misprinted Bury ; corrected to " Purey " in Bigland's History, p. 177. In Bigland, p. 178, is the epitaph of " Catherine Purye, wife of Thomas Purye, Minister of the Word in this place," who died 1 Dec. 1604, set. 67 (sic) ; and in Rudder's Gloucestershire, p. 284, are six Latin verses inscribed on the chancel wall at Beverstone, headed "A° 1604. TEtat. 69, Epicedium Katherinae Pury." JULTNS PALMER AND THOMAS J H A( KHAM. 89 sclanderous in this poynte. And it is well knowcn that none of thcim ever reyled sclander upon any man lyvyng, nor ever delighted in that vice, but allwayes detested and abhorred it utterly. And of that whiche they have written of you, they were not the devysers but the reporters, and reported it not of malice towardes you, whome they never sawe nor knewe, but of love towardes the truthe, and for conscyence sake, as they had heard and learned, accordyng to the scripture whiche sayth, Proverb 21. A true man luldely speaketh as he hathe heard. And that the worst of theiin is utterly voyde of all soche faultes as you here charge theim withall, as good profes wilbe brought as ever you shall bryng to clere your awneselfe from those vices that here in the entrye of your book you burthen theim with. The first Section. " Gentle reader " you saye, &c. In dede you repete thia woord so oft and manifold tymes in your short aunswere, that it maye be thought (consyderyng the weakenes of your cause) you supposed it very nedefull for you to crave favour, to flatter the reader, and to trye rather his gentlenes then his justice. And here it standeth you in lytle steade to insinuate youre selfe to youre " gentle reader," with the rehersall of your good dedes, as did the proude boastyng pharisey : for many wicked men have bene knowen to have inter- teyned godly men ; and the ungodly have often interteyned the godly by Goddes appoyntment, who hathe compelled his enemys sometyme to deale frendly with his frendes. And God graunt that it be not proved that you wrought your good dedes then with as good devocion as did that pharisey in the Ghospell. It were hard to know who this preacher was, and at what time he signefyed this thing unto you, so darkly, that you had leasour to bethink yourselfe of all these good dedes : Was he not rather playne with you, and did not you make him as unready an answere as you aunswered one at Cicester, that charged you therwith ? at what tyme you so faltered and faynted, and had so litle to saye for youreselfe, that the partie was bothe sory and ashamed on youre behalf to heare it. But now that you have taken heart of grace, and after good conference with certeyn that favour your cause, and beare now ij faces in one whood, as you have heretofore done, have well bethought yourselfe and serched out howe they be affected, you have faced rather then fasshoned out an aunswere, God wote full weake and worthy of your doynges. And to begyn withall, you that with soche aucthoritie and so imperious as if the catt had lycked you cleane, reprehended others. for lyeng, when they tolde you the truthe : coulde not yourselfe absteyne from one lye at the first dashe, even in the narracion of your beneficiall good dedes touchyng John CAMD. SOC. N 90 NARRATIVES OP THE REFORMATION. Bolton, where you tell a long tale how he was delyvered by youre meanes at the maior's handes, and that you were bounde for his appearance, &c. The story of Bolton and dy verse in Readyng do testefye that he was set at libertie and discharged without bondes, and that by sir Fraunces Inglefielde of his owne mocion, and not by the maiour through your meanes and frendship. Moreover I heare saye that mr. Bowyer a was then maior, and not mr. Ed- mondes, and thus one of your good dedes is cut of by the waye. As concernyng that good lady Vane, there is no doubt but if she were now lyvyng she woulde declare many thinges that should sound smally to your prayse, as dy verse at this daye do knowe by the reporte that she gave you many tymes in their heryng. Further, lyke as you would seme to conceave a good opinion of Palmer and of mr. Foxe, even when you insinuate and declare the contrary, so here, although you prayse Bolton, to have bene taken for a rank heretike (as you terme it) and of good religion, yet you would that men should take him to be skant an honest man, in purposyng never to save you harmeles from your bande, leavyng you to paye the forfeyt, whiche I beleve was woorth as many pence as there be shelynges in a grote. Youre benefits were not registred in the booke, as you saye, some smaller were, because belyke they were so small that they passed awaye invisible, and could not be felt, sene, nor understand. After the vauntes of your good dedes, rehersed to purchase the reader's good will, whome so often you crye upon, callyng hym "gentle reader," and after you had (beyng conscius proprice iniquitatisj sought for the story of your awne mocion, fearyng least somewhat that laye hid would come to light : you connyngly saye, that you were put in mynde of others to searche for the story, and founde matters farre otherwise then you loked for, or coulde suspect. Then, least by sayeng nothing you should seme to yelde yourselfe guyltie, you endevour to make somewhat of nothing, chargyng yourselfe with more then you are charged with in the storye. And, least you should seme to saye to litle, you take upon you to saye moche more then enough, and more then standeth with truthe. The story nameth suche popishe enemy s as Palmer had in Readyng, or thereaboute, " the viperous generacion ;" it calleth theiin in generall ypocrites and dissemblers, but whether you were to be counted among theim allwaye, or whether he had none other enemys there but you and those men that con- veighed the writynges out of his study or not, the storye sayth nothyng. But you, that knowe best belyke to whome the sayd termes ought to be applyed, * Robert Bowyer was mayor of Reading in ] 553, the first of queen Mary, and again in 1558 and 1570, and one of the burgesses to parliament in 2 Mary. JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKIIAM. 91 dare to aflirme, that the slaunderer meaneth you and calleth you a breaker up of Palmer's studye, and a thefe. Yet he meaneth you not : neyther maye it be gathered by the wordes of the storye that he meant you : wherfor, here is another lye, for you are called neither studye-breaker, nor thefe. But nowe, seyng you will have all referred unto you, take it to you hardelye, for you knowe best whether you be best worthy of it or no. Also, whereas you will nedes be one of theim that brake up his studye and stole out his wrytynges, be lyke you knowe somewhat, or elles you would not so applye it to yourselfc. But because you hope that now by the meanes of their deathe that would have confessed the truthe, you should skape free, you charge the gatherers of the story with more than you are burthened withall. For where sayth the storye that you stole theim oute, or consented to the stealyng ? It sayth, that soche men as you had suborned to beare wytnes against him, did it, and yet whether they altogether, or the more parte of them, the storye doth not playnly and precisely defyne, but speaketh in the plurell nombre thus, that there were iij false witnesses by you suborned, whiche men or witnesses had robbed his study. And after it foloweth well, that you and they bothe, you by accusyng, and they by witnessyng, burdened him with dy verse crymes there rehersed. This playne meanyng and wordes of the text, beyng a grammarian, you coulde not chose but see and understand ; yet you saye that you are called thefe, which wordes your boylyng conscience (as it may be supposed), knowyng youre selfe gwyltie, or at the least accessory to it, caused you to utter by the meanes of some humane infirmitie, ether to advoyde all suspicion, knowyng that soche as were hable to advouche it to your face be dead, and hopyng to face out soche as yet ly vyng will testefy that they heard it, or hopyng that you are not espyed at all, and that no man dare saye ought against you. Or elles God, which is a just opener of secretes, forced you to wrest the wordes into this sence, that men maye gather that, if no man elles maye be founde to testefye this truthe agaynst you, yet you yourselfe should minister occasion of suspicion agaynst your selfe. Moreover, by these your wordes, you bryng a certeyn man in mynde, and cause him to call to remem- braunce that Palmer himselfe had tolde him, that by one Thackham's procure- ment certeyn writynges that conteyned matter of greate daungier were conveyed out of his study, whiche partie will be foorthcommyng to depose the same afc all calles. The Lorde mende your heart with repentaunce ! that you maye rather chose a litle shame in this worlde, then everlastyng shame in the worlde to come, for God will reveale abscondita tenebrarum. Verely if you had stand in awe of Goddes just judgementes, beyng this stryken as it semeth with the remorse of your awne conscience, you would have left this joly shewe of 92 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. bravery, and secretly to God alone cryed peccavi, besechyng him to cease the rygour of his wrath by this gracious warnyng, least a worse chaunce befall you hereafter. But now in these your procedynges, and by your wordes, you geve men a taste what maner of man you have bene, and what you yet seme to be. And who would not mervell that you, beyng now a minister and a preacher, should thus rashly and without all regard or discrecion of persons, either threaten mr. Foxe with suytes of lawe (for you saye, you were counsayled to trye the lawe with him ; and I here saye also that you threatened mr. Foxe to have out an action of the cace against him), either with soche odyous and sclanderous titles to upbrayd the reporters of this storye, without all regard of offence, causyng the woorde of God to be evell spoken of among the wicked, and the papistes to triumph when they shall heare of soche dissencion among theirn that indifferently professe the Ghospell ; wherby the truthe of the doctryne, that bothe parties maye nowe professe, were lyke to be slaundered by theim whome you call the sclaunderer, and the aucthorite therof elevated and debased by you, and therewith (asmoche as lyeth in you) the whole storye of Marters discredited, whiche thing you forget not, but consyder full well, where you saye that the sclaunderer hathe herein more sclaundered the volume wherin it is written then you of whome it is written. And this you would gladly have knowen and brought to passe, as may be gathered by the gredy desyer that you have to publishe your childyshe aunswere, full of false- hoode and stomack and contrarietie, as playnly apereth in the same. Mr. Foxe is not so childyshe a man, and so lighte of credite, to suffer himselfe to be abused, as you saye, and woulde the worlde should thinke (though you cloke and dissemble it) and to geve eare to soche a mannes reporte as you make the sclaunderer to be. Soche is your charitie, that to justefy your- selfe, you care not what nor whome you deface, God, his worde, the truthe, the indicter, the prynter, the reporters, the story and all. It woulde better have becommed you (if you were in dede the man that you desyer to be coumpted) to have sought laufull and just meanes to make it apere, that Palmer and you contynued lovyng and faithfull frendes to the ende ; and so, after you had informed mr. Foxe of the same, to have desyred him, either to clere youre name in some other edicion, as he clereth certeyn men in this later edicion of a great slander that they were charged withall in the former volume, even in this story of Palmer : or at the least to omytte your name, as he hathe omytted moche in this later edicion, that by oversight eskaped him in the first. But now it semeth that you have bene provoked and egged forward, by some craftie and envyous papistes ; or elles God of purpose woulde have you to utter your awne shame and rebuke in your awne hand writyng : sed mine, ne JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS TIIACKII AM. 93 nimis extra callem, I will touche a worde or two more, and so make an ende of this section." This will suffice to show the spirit and style of the Reply : other portions will be found in the notes, and at the close of this article. [MS. Harl. 425, No. 15, f. 18.] An answere to a slaunder untrucly reported by mr. Foxe, in a certen boke intytuled the seconde volume off trie ecclesias- ticall historye, conteynynge the Actes and Monumentes off Martyres, whiche was broughte unto hym, and, as it maye be supposed, by some unchary table and malycyous slaunderer, agaynste Thomas Thackham mynister, wherby yt maye well appere unto the gentle reader bothe how much the wryter of that historye hathe bcne abused, and howe wrongfullye the sayd Thomas Thackham hathe bene slaundered. Gentle reader, after that I was secretly advertysed by a godlye precher that I was in the Boke of Marters, I began to call myselfe to an accompte wheather yt were for persecutinge any godlye per- sone in the trublesome tyme of quene Marye, other for helpinge and dely veringe any that was in daunger. After longe debatinge with mysellffe for whether off they se twoe causes I was crony cled, at the laste, I take God to wytnes, by the verye testy mony off my con- scyence (which is a faythfull register off thoughts and workes) I fownde myselffe innocent from the blode of all men, and from evyll dealinge towardes any lyvinge creature. Than I began to thynke that some frende off good wyll had en- formed mr. Foxe, howe that in the tyme off persecutyone I kepte secretlye the ladye Vane,a which for her zeale, vertew, relygyone, a Styled by Foxe " the good lady Vane," when he prints a letter of John Bradford, re- solving certain questions which she demanded. " This lady Vane was a speciall nourse and a greate supporter, to her power, of the godlie Saints which were imprisoned in quene Maries time. Unto whom divers letters I have both of maister Philpot, Careles, Traherne, Thomas Rose, and of other rnoe ; wherein they render unto her most gratefull thaukes 94 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. godly lyffe, and bountyfulnes towardes the poare bretharne, deserved as greate comendacyone as any one man or woman lyvinge at that tyme, which sayed ladye Vane was with me xxjli. wekes;a for whose cause, imedyatlye affter her departinge, at the commandment for her exceeding goodnes extended towarde them, with their singulare commendation and testimonie also of her Christian zeale towardes God's afflicted prisoners, and to the veritie of his Gospell. Shee departed of late at Holburne, anno 1568 ; whose ende was more like a sleepe then any death : so quietly and meekly shee deceased and de- parted hence in the Lord." Foxe, edit. 1576, p. 1559. Again, " Unto whom (lady Anne Knevet, of Wimondham, near Norwich,) not unworthiely may he compared the ladie Elizabeth Vane, who likewise being a great harborer and supporter of the afflicted martyrs and confessors of Christ, was in great hassardes and daungers of the enemies, and yet not- withstanding, thorough the mercifull providence of the Lorde, remained still untouched." Ibid. p. 19G5. A large number of the letters mentioned by Foxe were published by him both in " The Letters of the Martyrs, 1554," 4to. (reprinted in 1837), and in the Actes and Monuments. Among them is one letter of lady Elizabeth Vane's own writing, addressed to Philpot: it is signed F. E., probably meaning E(Jizabeth) F(ane). It appears that Philpot had re- quested a scarf to wear at the stake. " Because (writes the lady) you desire to show your- self a worthy soldier, if need so require, I will supply your request of the scarf ye wrote of, that ye may present my handywork before your Captain, that I be not forgotten in the odours of incense which our beloved Christ offereth for his own : to whom I bequeath both our souls and bodies." That this act on the part of Philpot was not singular is shewn by the following passage : " Some for triumph would put on their scarfes, some their wedding garments, going to the fire; others kissed the stake, some embraced the fagots," &c. Foxe, edit. 1610, p. 873. No personal particulars of the lady Vane are to be collected from her correspondence or from the ecclesiastical historians, — except the date of her death, as above stated by Foxe. She has been supposed (Index to the Works of the Parker Society) to have been the widow of sir Ralph Vane, who was hung in 1551-2, as one of the principal adherents of the duke of Somerset : and such may be accepted as the truth, though her name does not appear in the pedigree of the family of Fane or Vane. Sir Ralph died without issue, when, though his principal estate of Penshurst was forfeited, and granted to the Sidneys, his more ancient family property of Hadlow in Kent went to a cousin, Henry Fane, who was compromised in Wyat's conspiracy, and narrowly escaped with his life, but lived to become the lineal ancestor of the dukes of Cleveland. (See Hasted's Kent, i. 411, note k, ii. 315.) The following entry, confirmatory of Foxe's statement respecting the lady's de- cease, is from the register of burials at St. Andrew's Holborn : " 1568. The llth of June. The lady Elizabeth Vane." A book of the lady Elizabeth's Psalms and Proverbs was published by Robert Crowley : see additional note in the Appendix. a " As touching the friendship showed unto the lady Vane, and his zeal therein JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS TIIACKHAM. 95 off syr Francis Inglefylde,a one off the quenes majesties prevye coun- sell, my studye was broken up and my bokes taken awaye by one Clement Burdette, parsone off Ingle fylde,b and I kept fyrste in close prysone at Inglefylde ten dayes and after sent prysoner to Readinge, wear I was kepte at one mr. Aldewurthes howse, then beinge mayore,c whear nethar my wyfe neather any other myghte speake uttered, truth it is that he received her into his house for money for a small space, in the which time they two did not well agree, for that she could not suffer his wickedness of words and gestures unreproved, but that his wife many times, being of more honesty, made the matter well again ; but, to be short, such was his friendship in the end towards that good lady, being out of his house, that she feared no man more for her life than him. And I being her man, she gave me great charge always to beware of him/' Letter of John Moyer to Thomas Purye, printed by Foxe. Among the " Informations gathered at Reading, in 1571," we read— "Item. Jhon Galant sayth, that the ladye Vane, talking with hym, called Thackham ' dissemblynge hypocrite ;' and told hym how he deceaved poore people, with that which she dyd skymme off, and would not geve to her dog." * Sir Francis Inglefield, son of sir Thomas Inglefield a judge of the common pleas, was one of queen Mary's household before her accession to the throne, and suffered imprison- ment with sir Robert Rochester and sir Edward Waldegrave in defence of the religion therein maintained. He was rewarded after her accession with the office of master of the court of wards and liveries, and a seat in the privy council. He was member of parlia- ment for Berkshire throughout that reign. Retaining his devoted attachment to the church of Rome, he afterwards went abroad, was indicted for treason and outlawed in 6 Eliz., and attainted by Parliament in 28 Eliz. He died at Valladolid about the year 1592. The family of baronets, who enjoyed that title from 1612 until the death of the distinguished antiquary sir Henry Charles Englefield in 1822, were descended from his brother. See further of him in Wotton's English Baronetage, 1741, vol. i. p. 258. b Clement Burdett was the second son of Thomas Burdett esquire, of Bramcote, co. War- wick, by Mary daughter of sir Robert Throckmorton, of Coughton in the same county. (Wotton's Baronetage, 1741, vol. i. p. 333.) He was cousin-german to sir Francis Engle- field, whose mother was Elizabeth daughter of sir Robert Throckmorton. (Ibid. p. 258.) Foxe, in his story of John Bolton, speaks of sir Francis Englefield with his bloody brother the parson of Englefield. Burdett was official to the bishop of Salisbury, and at Palmer's examination held a long altercation with him on the doctrine of transubstantiation, which is detailed in Foxe. c Thomas Aldworth, mayor in 1557, as before in 1551, and afterwards in 1571. He was also one of the burgesses for Reading in the last parliament of Philip and Mary, and the first of Elizabeth. During his mayoralty in 1557 he received king Edward the Sixth in the town, as described in Man's History of Reading, 4to. 1816, p. 22. 96 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. with me, as mr. Vatchell a off Colee and many in Readinge at this daye can testyfie. And yff uppon this accasyone I was not named thear, I sup- posed that one John Bolton,b somtyme off Readinge, had informed mr. Foxe how frendlye I delte with hym when all the frendes he had durste not helpe hym; which Bolton (as it was supposed) feyned hymselfe mad, in wych his madnes he ray led upon quene Marye, and therefore was apprehendyd and cruelly tormented in the prysone at the towne off Readinge, wyche Bolton at the lenght becam sober and off a bettar mynde, whose beinge their I with others muche pytyed, and the more because he semed off a good relygyone; a Thomas Vachell, one of the burgesses for Reading in five parliaments, 30, 32, 36 Hen. VIII., 1 Mary, and 2 and 3 Philip and Mary. He occurs as " master Fachel of Reading," one of the commissioners for the trial of Marbeck and others at Windsor in 1543. A remark he made is said by Foxe to have been the cause of Marbeck's being cast; and, as he was the lowest of all the bench, he gave judgment on that occasion. He was made surveyor of the demesne of the dissolved abbey of Reading in 31 Hen. VIII, and his de- scendants were baronets : see Coates's Reading, pp. 78, 125. b John Bolton's story, which was written by himself, is printed by Foxe under the year 1554 ; and a commentary upon it, pointing out several misstatements, is given in Strype's Memorials, vol. Hi. Appendix, No. LVIII. This is signed, " By me, John Moyer," and dated " At "Wotton, this 18th of March, anno D'ni 1564 :" which Moyer (already men- tioned in p. 88) had been the real author of the libel for which Bolton was prosecuted, and a fellow- sufferer with him. The same writer in his letter to master Purye, comments thus upon Thackham 's statement in the text : " As touching his frendship towards John Bolton in prison, I am sure he never found any, as they that used to visit him can somewhat say; except you count this friendship that, he (Bolton) being bereft of his senses, Thackham brought him to yield unto the papists, and as a right member of them became his surety that he should be obedient unto them. And he (Bolton) being burdened in conscience therewith, fled away unto Geneva; in the which flying Thackham had nothing said unto him, which showeth that he was their instrument. And this [was his] friendship to John Bolton." But this is partly contradicted in the " Informations gathered at Reading anno 1571," in which it is stated that, " Bolton, of whom Thackham speaketh, was set at lybertie by sir Fraunces Inglefield, without any suerties, as appeareth in the storye of Bolton. Also Jhon Ryder of Readinge capper and Wyll'm Dyblye weaver do beare wit- ness therunto. And of this Bolton hymselfe, dwelling in Longe lane by Smythfield in London, can tell more. He ys a sylke weaver." JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKHAM. 97 whearfore I traveled with one rar. Edmunds, then mayor there,* and besowghte hym, synste all he had spoken paste hym in the tyme off his madnes, that he wolde stand his good master, and take some chary table waye for his delyverance. After a longe suete hee graunted his delyverance, upon condycyone that he wolde put in two suartyes besydes hymselffe, which wolde be bownde in v li. apece that he shold appeare the nexte sessyons; but when by rea- sone off the tyme his verye frendes durste not become suertyes for suche a treator and ranke an heretyke as Bolton was then thoughte to be, then I desyred mr. mayor to take me alone with Bolton, which he gentlye graunted, and bownde us in vli. a pece for Bolton's appearaunce the nexte sessions, and thus was this myserable captyve set at lybertye and departed; but purposinge, as yt proved after, never to save me harmelesse, for when the sessyons was he lefte me to paye the forfyte; and because I fynde smaller benefytes bestowide upon good men and women at such tymes regestred in that volume, I thoughte that this mighte have bene the cause why mr. Foxe sholde made some mentione off me. But after I had gotten the volume and had reade in the hystorye off one Julins Palmer, wheare my name was, I founde an other matter. One had tolde an other manner off tale to mr. Foxe for me, farre otherwyse than I loked for, eather coulde suspecte; but whearas this pryvie accuser and malycious slaunderer calleth me dyssemlinge hipocryte, false brother, a suborner off false wytnesses, a breaker up off Palmer's studye, a theffe, a blodye acusar, bestow- inge upon me more off his liberalytie then off my desartes, with dyvarsse other names, as in that he causeth mr. Foxe to laye to my charge yt will bettar appeare, my purpose ys not, gentle reader, to matche hym with lyke skolding termes; but by answearinge trulye for mysellfe (as yt shall be well tryed) to prove howe falselye he hathe belyed me, and howe muche he hathe abused mr. Foxe, the a "William Edmunds, mayor of Reading in 1550, and previously in 1540; burgess for the town in the parliament of 14 Hen. VIII. CAMD. SOC. O 98 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. wryter off the hy story e. But now to come to my answer. This he begynethe. (Second Section.) TJie Slaunderer. " After wardes, as Palmer went alone musinge and ponderinge off matters, yt came into his heade to leave his appoynted jorneye, and to returne closelye to Readinge, trustinge by the helpe off frendes to receave his quarter's stypend, and convey his stuffe to the custodye off some trustye bodye." Thackham. Duringe the tyme that Palmer kepte the frescole in Readinge, he was payed his stipende by the auditer every halfe yeare, and dyd never receave yt quartarly, as it is well knowne; thearefore the cause off his returne to Readinge coulde not be in hope to receve his quarter's stypende. Besydes this, Palmer was not put from the scole, but dyd willingly resigne the pattent unto me for suche monye as we dyd agree uppon; which monye he recevyd off me before I had the patent, a as I can prove and have to she we. Thear- fore be no meanes can yt be true that this slaunderer hathe sayed, that Palmer came to Readinge trustinge by some frendshipe to re- ceave his quarter's stipind. He sayethe his intent was also to con- vey his stuffe to the custodye off some trustye bodye. When Palmer yeldid the scole to me, he condycyoned that I shoulde place hym with some honeste gentilman wheare he myghte teche childeren, and lyve to his conscience; wyche I performed, for I placed hym at Horsyngtone with one mr. Raffe Lee,b whose sone and heyre he taughte; wheare he was setled, and all that he had; from the which his master, he came to Readinge off very purpose to see his hosties, a This was denied : " where it apereth that within five dayes before his swete sufferyng for the testimony of Christes truthe, he apoynted a faithfull frende of his, then a felow of Magdalen college, to be his laufull deputye or attorney to receave for him and to his use a certeyne some of money at the handes of Thomas Thackham skoolmaster at Readyng." (Reply, f. 38.) b See a note in a subsequent page. JULINS PALTMKU AND THOMAS TIIACKHAM. 99 with whome he had bourded befor, and to delyver to one mr. Edmundes a letter which he wrote at his master's howyse, as yt is well knowne. Concernynge his stuffe, which he sayethc here that Palmer wold convey to some trustye bodye, yt is to be provyd that when Palmer went to his master he lefte not one penyeworthe bohynd hym. As for beddinge he had nevar non. His apparell was no more then he daylye ware. He had nevar above fyve or syxe bokes, which he toke to hym to Horsyngtone, wheare he dwelte, and was well placed; but by this slaunderer's informatione yt should appeare that Palmer was dryven to forsake his scole, and that he was at his wyttes ende, not knowinge what to doe, that he was unprovyded for, that he fled from Readinge and durste not tarye to take up his wagis, that he reacevyd the same quarterly, that he left when he nedd his stuffe behynde hym in daunger to be loste; wheroff thear is not one worde true, so that when this slaunderer had proposed to present mr. Foxe with this infamatione agaynste me, he knewe that yt shoulde be nedefull for hym to frame suche an entraunce as myghte brynge with yt some shewe off that sholde fbllowe, whear, as a connynge poet, he feynethe that Palmer went alone musynge and pondred off manye matters, had purposed to jorneye one waye and then closly returned an other waye, tellethe whether he came and feynethe too causes off his thyther resorte, wych was to obtayne his quarter's wages, and to convey his stuffe from his hostyce howse unto some trustye bodye ; whearoff thear is nothinge true. But, gentle reader, even as the begynninge ys, suche mydell and ende doythe he make, as yt shall playnly appere. (Third Section.) T/ie Slaunderer. " To Readinge he comythe, and takethe up his lodgynge at the Oardinalles hatte, desyringe his hosties instantlye to assygne hym a close chamber, whear he myghte be alone from all resorte of com- panye." 100 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. Thackham. Durynge the tyme tliat Palmer dwelte witli mr. Lee lie neaver came to anye other hosties "but to the cokes howse wheare he bourded when he was scolemaster theare; to the wyche howse he came from Horsyngtone, and thear dyned the same daye that he was taken and brought before the commyssyoners ; and yff it can be provyd that ever he came to the Cardinall hatte in Readinge,a and called for a closse chamber,b as this slaunderer hathe heare feyned and informed master Foxe, I am content to suffar suche punishment as shalbe due for a moste wycked offender, to the triall whearof I put myselffe to the worshipful! of the towne of Readinge and others wyche knowe the matter, as the good-man Gatley^ mr. Ed- mundes, [and] those that dwell in the Cardinall hatte. (Fourth Section.) The Slaunderer. " He came not so closly but that this viperouse generatione had knowledge thearof; whearfore withowte delaye they layde thear heades togeather, and consulted what waye they myghte moste easely proceade agaynste hym to brynge thear olde cankred malyce to passe; and so yt was consydered, that one mr. Hampton, wych then bore twoe faces in one hoode, and under the pretence and coler of a brother played the parte off a dyssemblynge hypocrite, should e resorte to hym, and under the pretence off frendshipe shoulde feel and fyshe owte the cause off his returne to Readinge." a " That mr. Palmer was fet from the Cardinal hatt in the night tyme, contrary to Thackham's assertion, the goodwyffe of the Cardynall hatt, with her sonne in law Harrye Singleton, and Stephen Netherclief ostler of the howse then and yet, do bcare witnesse. The tyme was, to theyr judgment, betwene x and xj of theclocke at night, or thereabowt." Informations gathered in Reading, 1571. b :* And whether Palmer called for a close chamber or not, yt ys confessed by them of the howse that he was lodged in the closyst chambre in the howse, to wyt, in the chambre beyond the hall, and that there he was fetched owt. Also Stephen Nethercliefe the ostler saith that he called for a close chambre. The goodwyfe of the Cardynall hatt saith she was in a merveilous foare when they did fetch hym, and therfore belyke there were more than one seargeant." (Ibid.) It is probable that at this period the ostler of an inn was one who had the direction of internal arrangements, and not merely of those of the stables. JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS TIIACKHAM. 101 TJiacJcham. This slaundorer callctlie us a " viperouse generatione," and sayctlic that I wyth other, that is. Cope, Downer, and one Gatelye, made one Hampton an instrument, by whose practyse we soner myghte brynge ower myschevous purpose to passe. Let this be examined within the towne of Readinge, and yff it can be provid that evar Palmer came closley to the Cardynall hatte there, that evar I and my confederates knewe off his beyng thear, that we dyd ever consulte to betraye hym, as this slaunderer reportethe, that one Hampton became a instrument to compasse anye villanye agaynste Palmer, that Hamptone dyd ever talke with Palmer there, and dyd seke to fyshe owte the cause off his returne to Readinge, I submitte myselffe to be punished as a murtherer. I saye farther to the gentle reader, let yt be provid that I ever spake with Hampton in Readinge or in any other place, or that ever I was acqueynted with this Hamptone, or was ever in his companye to my knowledge,* I crave to be punished to the example off all wycked offendoures and shamlyse hipocrites. I assuar the gentle reader that it grevethe me more that he hathe so muche abused the wryter of the hystorye to whome he gave this informatione, then that he hathe so slaun- dered me, because he hath herein more slaundered the volume whearin yt is wryten, then me off whome it is wrytten. Thear was neaver information geven as I thynke by any man, were his malyce neaver so greate, but that some sentence and portione off a In the Reply at this point is the following passage, which I quote for the sake of the remarkable notice of a Flanders lock which the simile presents : " Also, though you and youre confederates knewe not of his (Hampton) beyng there, yet either you alone, or you with some other, or youre confederates alone or with some other, knewe it. You allwayes seke to myngle thynges together when they should be severed, or to dissever them when they should be joyned together, to the entent you maye the better blynde the simplicitie of the matter, lyke unto the men that use to make soche Flaundyers lockes as be opened by order of certayne letters, who use to myngle other letters with those that serve to the purpose, to blynde and hynder them that seke to fynde out the true placyng of the letters wherby the lockes are opened." (f. 9.) 102 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. it was true; but from the begynninge off his information to the ende yt shall neaver be provyd that one sentence off this slaunderer's reporte is trew, for the triall whearoff I put myselff to be tried by the inhabitantes off the towne of Keadinge. (Fifth Section.) The Slaunderer. " Palmer, as he was a man symple and withoute all wrynckles off cloked colusyone, opened to hym his whole intent; but Hamptone earnestlye persuadid hym to the contrary e, declaringe what daungear myghte ensue yff this were attempted. Agaynste this counsell Palmer [replied] very muche, and as they waxed hotte in talke Hamptone flongea waye in a furye, and sayed as he had fysshed so should he fowle for hym." ThacJcham. Yff thou remember, gentle reader, what I sayed before, I nede not use many wordes to dysprove that wych the slaunderer hathe here reported; whearfore to this I brefflye answere, I knowe not wheather Hampton wear acqueynted with Palmer at Oxforde or not, but yt shal be neaver provyd that they mette at the Cardinall hatte and talked togeather, as this malyciouse slaunderer hathe informed mr. Foxe; yet, yff his tale be well marked, he handlethe cunninglye, fyrste in declarynge howe symple Palmer was, and withowte all cloked colusyone, and how Palmer and Hampton debated the matter and waxed hotte in thear talke, and howe Hampton departed in a furye, saynge that he shoulde fyshe as hee had fouled. Maye not this beweche, nay, daftly persuade the reader off this hystorye that it is very likelye to be all treue, or at the leastwyse that some parte off yt is treu ? and yet I assuar the gentle reader, let this his inform atione be examyned in the towne of Readinge, and yff ever yt be provyd that Palmer and Hampton ever met at the Cardynall hate thear, or had any suche talke, let me be punished to the example off all others. JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKHAM. 103 (Sixth Section.) The Slaunderer. " Palmer, not suspectinge suche prepensed and dy vised my scheffe, as by this crouked and pestyferouse generatione was nowe in bruinge agaynste hym, called for his supper and went quyetlie to bed ; but quietly e he coulde not rest there, for fur th with the offycers and thear retynue came russhynge in with lanterns and bylls, and required hym in the kynge and quenes name to make ready hymsellfF, and quyetlye to departe wyth them." Thackham. There was never godly man so shamefully used or handled as the wryter of this historye by this wicked slaunderer. He saytli that Palmer called for his supper, and he was apprehended betwene twelve and one of the clocke in the afternone ; he sayeth he went quietly to bedde at the Cardinall hatt, and he laye the night before he was apprehended eightene miles off at Horsyngton in his master's house, from whense he came to his hostys' house by tenne of the clocke in the forenone, and was commytted that day to prison before thre of the clocke in the afternone ; he say th that the offycers with their retynue cam russhing in apon hym with lanternes and bylles, and, as yt ys to be proved, one sergent only, whose name I knowe not, was sent by mr. Edmundes to his hosties howse to fetche Palmer to hym; of whose comynge when Palmer had warnyng, he gott hym prevelye by a backe dore into his hostys' gardeyn, whom the offycer espyed runnynge into the gardeyne, which offycer thruste oppen the wyckett and made after Palmer, and caught hym upon the toppe of a wall leaping into another man's backesyde. And thus hath this slaunderer lyed to rnr. Foxe in saying that Palmer was taken at the Cardynall hatte, and he was taken in his hostyes' garden ; in saying that yt was after supper, and yt was ymmedyatly after dynner; in saying that he was in bedde, and he was upon the toppe of a walle ; in saying that many russhed in apon hym with lanterns and bylles, and one only sargent, which I thynke be yett 104 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. lyvyng,a fctt him with owte any weapon. God graunte that never godly writer mete with many suche informers as b this ys ! Gentle reader, I submitte myself to the whole town of Reading to be tryed wheare this was done. (Seventh Section.) The Slaunderer. " So the selly younge man, perceyving that he was thus Judaslye betrayed, withoute oppenyng his lippes was ledde away as a lambe to the slawghter, and commytted to warde ; whome the keeper, as a ravening wolfe greedy of his prey, brought down into a vyle stynk- kyng and blynde dungeon prepared for theves and murtherers, and there he kept hym hangynge by the legges and fete in a payre of stockes so highe that [well near c] no parte of his bodye towched the groimde. In this prisone he remayned x dayes." Thackham. This slaunderer here sayeth that Palmer was ledde from the Cardinall hatte to the prison; but he lyeth every worde; the sergent, takyng hym as he was lepping over the walle, brought hym to mr. Edmondes, which went with Palmer straighte-waye to the vysyters, which as yt happened satte the same daye at the Bare,d in a parler on the lefte handeas ye enter in, which ys at this daye to be proved; whome after the visiters had examyned, and founde hym nothing conformable to them, they sent ymedyatly for one Welche the keper of the towne gayle, which when he was come they dely vered Palmer a " Yet, when all is done, you buyld all your bravery herein upon the credyte of one poor catchepolle." (Reply, f. 11.) I quote this merely to show that the terms Serjeant and catchpole were synonymous. In modern times our Serjeants of police are officers in command of inferior constables ; in the sixteenth century the Serjeants were the men under the orders of a commanding constable. See in UnderhilTs narrative hereafter, Newman the ironmonger serving as constable of the night watch at Newgate. The chief of the whole force was sometimes styled the headborough. b In MS. and. c These words are supplied from the printed text of Foxe. d "The Golden Bear inn, a very old building, now a dwelling-house." Ooates, History of Reading, 1802, p. 332. JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKHAM. 105 to hym, wylling that he shuldc be kept in close prison, and that no man might speake with hym; at what tyme I was present myself, as I wyll after more at large declare. And concernyng his hanging by the legges so highe that no parte of whittea of his boddy might towche the grounde, this slaunderer doth belye the jayler; for so sone as he haddc broughte Palmer to the jayle, which ys no depe dungeon to speke of, he shutte the nether dore and the upper dore, which being shitte no bodye might come at hym. The same evenyng the keper, whose name was Welchc, came to me, and mochc lamented Palmer's troble, and sayde that he, as he was moche bounde to hym for teaching his sonne when he was scole-master, so would he nowe be gladdc to shewc hym all the favour he mighte ; " but, (sayeth he,) Mr. Thackham, you hardc what charge I hadde to kepe hym so close that no boddye shulde come at hym ; he walketh in the prison, butt I have shutte the upper dore." I sayde unto hym, " Albeit I knowe that ye be nott of his religion, yet syns he haith by your owne confession done you pleasure, I pray you she we hym all the favour that you may;" which he promysed to do. And when he parted from me he sayd that he had no money; then I delyvered the keper iijs. to geve him; not that I owed hym anye,b but trusting he shulde have byn delyvered, and have payde me agayne. And after that I sente hym at thre sundrey tymes iijs. at a tyme, wherof he never payde me any penye, butt at the stake he requested his keper, which of a weaver became a sumner, and after dwelte in Salysbury, to desyer me to forgive hym the xijs. which I lente hym in the prison. And I assuer the, gentle reader, that this keper whome this slaunderer calleth " ravenyng wolfe, gredye of his praye," was to Palmer a very frende, and shewed hym all the frendeshippe that he a Sic MS. qu ? or whit. b In the Reply, this and nearly every other statement of Thackham is discredited, and combated to the uttermost, and from point to point. As already stated, the special plead- ing, whether one side or the other was right, is not worth the space it would occupy. But many phrases and expressions are remarkable. And here the writer says, " but in dede this is another Bunlury (/lose to make your cause probable." (f. 12 b.) CAMD. SOC. 1? 106 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. colde during the tyme of his abode there ; and therefore moche y s this slaunderer to be blamed for so raylyng at hym, and if the kepcr be deade I dought not butt his honest neighbours will repete the same. (Eighth Section.) The Slaunderer. Tliefirste examination and accusation of Palmer. " After this he was brought before the maior, and there, by the procuerment of a false brother, one Thomas Thackham, not mr. Thackham of Durresley in Glocestershere, butt another of the same name yett alyve and no kyn to hym, which had obteyned the pre- fermente of the free scole for hym and his assignes, he had dyversse and enormiouse crymes layde to his charge." Thackham. Gentle reader, this slaunderer ys no chaungeling, for as he lyed in the begynnyng, soe he nowe lyeth in the myddle, and wyll doe unto th' ende. Suerlye, except he had of verye purpose abused the wryter of this historye, and of the [like] shameles spight slaundred me, he colde never have had the mynde to have forged so false a reporte, nether the face to have brought hym suche an untrothe. He sayeth that by my procuerment he was broughte owte of the prison, where he hanged by the heles, before mr. mayer; but I assure the, gentle reader, that after he was fyrste examyned at the Beare in Reading, before the commyssioners, and by them sent to the prison, as ys affore sayde, as farre forth as I knowe, Gode I take to wytnes, he neaver came owte of prison untyll he was sent for to Newberye before the same commyssioners, nether dyd the maior ever see hym after that he had presented Palmer to the commyssioners at the Beare in Reading as ys afforesayde ; and for my parte I take Gode to wytnes after thatdaye I never sawe hym, butt sent to hym as ys afforesayde, and therefore nether dyd I procucr this godlyc younge man to come before the mayer, nether dyd the maior ever after that day talke a Foxe altered this to " the procurement of certain false brethren (the Lord knoweth what they were), who had been conversant with Palmer, and robbed his study." JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKHAM. 107 with Palmer, as I harde, for other commyssioners appoynted for the same purpose had that matter in hande. He calleth me " false brother." Because his tonge yn no sluuiulcr, and that all he hath sayde shall tornc to his owne shame, 1 am nott angrye with hym. Gode make us bothc trewe brothernc ! I waye not his colorycke termee; he speaketh lyke hymself. He sayeth " one Thomas Thackham, not mr. Thackham of Durresleye in Glocestershere." Trulye mr. Thackham ys moche bounde to this slaunderer, whatsoever Thomas Thackham ys. As lyttle as this rayler estemeth me, and woldc have other esteme of me, I was nether cobbler nor taylor before I was made a mynyster ; a but of that degree of scole as mr. Thackham. But I tell the, gentle reader, if one of us twayne muste be the worker of this villaynous acte agaynste Palmer, as this slaunderer serneth to inferre, I assure the yt muste nedes be mr. Thackham of Durresley, for ytt ys nott I, as yt shal be well proved; butt yf nether he nor I dyd ytt, what shulde move this slaunderer to name ether of us ? He sayeth I had obteyned the preferment of the free scoole for me and myne assigns. Yt is well knowen in the towne of Reading that I nether hadde nether ever sued for any other pattent b then that which one Coxe hadde graunted a " In deede, as the gatherers of this story, when they wrote it, had not heard that you were a minister, nor of what religion you were : so they knew full well that mr. Thackham of Dursley was bothe a learned devyne, a phisicion, and a godly preacher, and that he bathe a brother of the same name, not unlyke unto himselfe; and therefore in conscience they thought it their partes (seyng cache of theim is called Thomas) to exempt theim from the name of this quarell that perteyned nothing to theim. And yet is mr. Thackham of Dursley nothing the more beholdyng to theim for doyng this their duetye. Where in disdayne that you are not called 6mr.' you seme to signefy that you are of some degree of Schoole : trulye, although you be so, it forceth not moche. Yet verely some do suppose that you are of greater degree of schole than a cobler or a taylor, of whome you speake so contempteously and disdeynfully, as if no cobler nor taylor in England were worthy of the name of a master. Agayne, I doubt not but some shal be found that have bene taylors and coblers, and are at this present as worthy ministers as you." (Reply, fol. 15.) The writer (f. 26) admits his knowledge that Thackham (his opponent) was also " a phisician." b The letters patent were granted to Leonard Coxe in 1541, with a yearly pension of 10 li.: the same sum having been assigned to the school, out of the crown rents of the town, by king Henry VII. (Coates's History of Reading, pp. 16, 311.) 108 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. unto hym and to his assignee by kynge Henry ,a which Coxsys tyme came to Bylson,b then to me, after to the vicar of Saynt Gyles,c then to Palmer, after to me agayn by Palmer's owne offer, as yt shall afterwards appere; and when Coxe dyed, to whom yt was fyrste graunted, then was that patent of no longer force. After whose death the towne of Reading obteyned all the quenes landes there in fee-farme, and hadde the placing of the scole-master, with alowaunce to paye hym, and have at this day; and if I had sued for a newe patent in my ownc name, as I neaver dyd, what coulde this have hurte Palmer? seeing he had resygned the scole to me longe before, and had receyved his money for the pattent, as I am well able to prove. He sayeth that when I hadde broughte Palmer before the maior I layed dyverse and enormiouse crymes to his charge. Yt shall never be proved that I and Palmer came before the maior; yt shall never be provyd that I ever layed any thinge to Palmer's charge. He was an honest vertuouse younge man, and I never knewe any hurte by hym, neather shall ytt be proved that I dyd at any timelaye oughte to his charge, as this glaunderer sayeth I dyd. (Ninth Section.) The Slaunderer. " For this Thackham, takyng upon hym the offyce of an accuser, hadde suborned iij. false wytnesses, to wytte Coxe, Gately, and Downer, which men under the name of brethern hade bene conver- sant with him and robbed his studye, as ys aiForesayd. These burdeyned hym with treason, sedicion, surmysed murther, and adultery." a Leonard Cockes, or Coxe, author of The art or craft of Rhetoryke, 1532, and other works. (See memoirs of him in Coates's History of Reading, 1802, pp. 322-327; and Athense Cantabrigienses, 1858.) b Leonard Bilson, of Merton college, Oxford, M.A. 1546. He was uncle of dr. Thomas Bilson, bishop of Winchester. (See Coates's Reading, p. 327.) c John More was presented to the vicarage of St. Giles's by sir Francis Englefield, and instituted Nov. 14, 1540. He appears to have held it to 1561. (Coates's History of Reading, p. 350.) JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS Til \< K II AM. 109 Thackham. Coxe ys dcddc,0 which lyving was never acquuynted with Palmer which was of that honestyc and goode nature, and so lyved in the fere of Godc, well knowen to be an honcste professor of his worde, that by my b meancs in any rcspcctc he woldc have byn proved a false witnes for any rcwarde, which yf he were lyving wolde answer this to the shame of the slaunderer. Downer ys also dedde, which lyving was alwaye Palmer's frende and never sough te to hurte liym, as the townc of Eeading woll wytnes. Gately I thynke yett lyvyth, which to the shame of this slaunderer wyll both testefye that I never procured hym to be a false wytnes agaynst Palmer, and also that he a In the " Informations gathered at Reading, 1571," it is remarked that " Thackham speaketh of one Coxe in his answer ; and the story meaneth another called William Coxe, the cooke which was Palmer's hoste." This charge of presumed duplicity is thus enlarged upon in the Reply. " Now, as before you playde the sophister, blyndyng the truth some- tyme with the difference and otherwhile with the confusion of tyme, place, and order of thinges, so here also you enclevour to cast a myst before our eyes ex differentia person- arum, convertyng your talke from that Coxe whiche is meant and touched in the storye, and applying it to another verye honest man of the same name, not meant nor spoken of, and now dead. Belyke you were so moche ashamed of your olde frende William Coxe, that is to(o) well knowen, and also by you confessed, to have bene a great doer against Palmer, that you thought best to bewtefie the deformitie of him with the honestye of a very godly man of the same name, and it is a worlde to se what peynes you take with many wordes to commend a verie good man, knowen to have bene so godly that he litle neded your prayses. But you would not have wrested the scnce of the storye to this Coxe, nor praysed him so moche, savyng that you thought that the worthynes of his name would pur- chase great credite to your lyes and tales, and for every childe that knoweth you and William Coxe the cooke, that was Palmer's hoste, knoweth, that you could not do this^by errour and ignorance, but of a set purpose to helpe up your market. And because you be very lothe to have your frende Coxe yet lyving to be knowen, or youre alone legerdemayn and craftie conveyaunce to be sene, whensoever you speake of William Coxe, or of any thing that concerneth him (as you do often), you never call him by his name, but sometyme he is the cooke, sometyme the woman's housband, sometyme Palmer's hoste, sometyme his hostesse' housband; but his name you dissemble still, lyke a craftie crowder expert in these feates, not by wit and arte, but by often practice and long contynuaunce. You walk naked in a net, and thinke you go invysible, and yet you are afrayd of the light. The Lorde stryke your olde hearte with repentaunce before he pluck you awaye !" (fol. 16 b.) b So in MS, yu ? no. HO NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. never robbed his studye. Gentle reader, whatsoever this slaunderer haith here malyciously reported, yt shall neaver be proved that I, Coxe, Gatelye, or Downer a dyd come before the maior with Palmer, or ever layed any thinge to his charge, or ever came into his studye; yett doth this slaunderer call us theves, and sayeth we robbed his studye. Yt shall also be proved that when Palmer was apprehended he had no studye nor chamber in Reading, for he then dwelled, as I sayde before, with mr. Raff Lee, at Horssyngton, in Buckinghamshire, eighte miles from Reading; from whence he came that daye by tenne of the clocke in the forenoone; at the which Horssington his bokes and rayment was, wheare he taughte scole; so that we colde nott robbe his studdye butt we muste goe to Horssington, for at Reading he hadde nether chamber, studdye, bokes, apparell, scrippe, nor scrowle. Except the dyvell hadde dyrcctcd his penne, he colde not have presented mr. Foxe with so manye lyes in so fewe wordes, but he muste sometymes have hytt apon some truthe. This slaunderer sayeth that I, with false wytnesses as I hadde, charged Palmer before the mayer with treason, sedition, sunny sed murder b and adultry. Yf I, with my [three0] false wytnesses Coxe, Gately, and Downer, dyd ever bringe Palmer before the mayer and burdeyn hyra with suche crymes, yt ys to be thoughte that eyther the mayer's wyff, which I thinke ys yett alyve, or some of his brethern, or some of the offycers, or some of the towne, can wytnes with this slaunderer that this ys trewe; butt nott one lyving in that towne wyll testefie that we ever so behaved ourselves towardes Palmer, or that I ever came before the maior with Palmer, I take Gode to wytnes that I ever was perswaded that Palmer was free from treason, sedition, murder, and adultery; and that I have here sayed ft " For Downer, I have heard no evil of him. For Grately, and Radley, now vicar of St. Lawrence [John Radley, instituted Nov. 29, 1565, resigned 1574,], and Bowyer a tanner, they three left no means unpractised to catch and persecute the members of Christ, as I myself can well prove." (Letter of John Moyer to master Purye.) Grateley was the man who, being the constable (see p. 117), really searched Palmer's study: which was in the school-house. (Informations, &c.) b matter in MS. c Blank in MS. JULIN8 PALMER AND THOMAS TIIACKHAM. Ill I dought nott butt the inhabytauncc of Reading wyll affyrme to be trewe. (Tenth Section.) The Slaunderer. " To whome Palmer answered that yf suche horrable and heynous crymes might be proved agaynst hym, he wolde pacyently submytt hymselfe to all kynde of tormentes that colde be devysed ; ' butt, 0 ye cruell bloodsuckers ! (sayeth he,) ye folowe the olde practyses of your progenytores, the wolvyshe generacion of pharyses and papists; butt be ye well assured that Godes eye allreadye seeth your subtyl devyses and craftye packyng, and woll not suffer this owtragiouse furye of your venemouse townges and fyrye hartes to eschape un- ponysshed ! 9 All this whyle no mencion was made of heresye or heretycall wrytting." TJiackham. Here the slaunderer bringeth in Palmer answering for himself and raylyng at me and my procured false wytnesses ; but lett the nolle towne of Eeading be examyned, and yta shall never be proved that we ever broughte hym before the maior,b and that we thus charged a MS. yet. b " In the begynnyng of this section, you seke to dasyll our eyes in the clere daye, even as the fishe called a cuttell, to shift himselfe in the clere water that he maye not be sene, casteth foorth a certeyn black substance to darken the water, so you here, to hide the truthe from raennes eyes, cast foorth wordes to darken the true sence of the storie, and to leade awaye the reader's mynde to another meanyng ; for where as the storye sayth that by your procurement, when he was brought before the maior, dyverse crymes were layde to his charge, (whiche thing might have bene done without company, betwene the maior and and Palmer alone, or elles in the presence of fewe besydes,) yet you woulde the reader should thinke that the maior sate formally pro trilunali; that Palmer, together with Thackham, Gateley, Coxe, and Downer were solemply brought foorth ; that the playntif and defendant, with the witnesses, accordyng to forme of lawe, were openly called in the face of the courte ; that the accuser pronounced openly against him; that the witnesses were formally charged, and did in open audience depose and testefye against him; that Palmer was openly convicted, the maior pronouncyng sentence against him in publique assembly. But the story importeth no soche thing; and the worlde knowcth that in those 112 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. lijm, and that he thus answered for hymself and ray led on us. There ys of this, gentle reader, not one worde trewe : lett the people there be judge. (Eleventh Section.) The Slaunderer. " The greatest proves agaynst hym were these: First, that Palmer said the quene's sworde was nott putt in her hande to execute tyrrannye, and kyll and murther the trewe subjectes.a 2. That her sworde was to(o) blunte towardes the papistes, but towardes the trewe Christyans yt was to(o) sharpe. 3. That certayn servantes of sir Fraunces Knowles and other [re- sorting to his lectures b] fell owte amonge themselfes, and were lyke to have commytted murther, and therefore he was suer c of sedition and prevyer d of unlawfull assemblies. 4. That his hostys had wrytten a letter unto hym, which they had [intercepted b], wherin she required hym to returne to Eeading, and sent her commendacions by that token that the knyffe laye hydde under the beame ; wherbye theye gaythered that she hadd conspyred with hym to murther hur husband. 5. That they founde hym alone with his hostyes by the fyer-syde [in the hall b], the dore being shutte to them." Thackham. This shamelesse slaunderer bringeth in fyve artycles which I, Coxe, Gately, and Downer dyd laye to Palmer's charge before the mayer, and maketh me the ringe-leadere in promoting the same to the maior; wherefore of necessyte I muste answer them. dayes fewe thinges were done formallye and justly, and that the martirs were hardly suffered at that tyme to plead for theimselves openly, but that most thinges touchyng theim that professed the Gospel were handeled in hucker mucker against all order of lawes, reason, and conscience, &c." (Reply, f. 19.) In an earlier passage the writer had expressed himself in the same way: "Many thinges were handeled in those dayes in hncker mucker, and with moche percialitie." a servantes of God in Foxe. b Foxe* c a sower. d a procurer in Foxe, JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKETAM. 113 1. To the firste I answer that I take Gode to wytnes I never harde Palmer saye any suche wordcs as in the firste artycle this slaunderer sayeth that I with others dyd laye to his charge, neatlier can ytt be proved that we ever broughte hym before the maior to charge hym therewith. 2. To the scconde article I answer in lyke manner. 3. To the thirde artycle I answer that I neather knewe of any suche dissention, neather dyd I laye any suche matter to his charge; and further I saye that I never harde of yt, much lesse colde I laye suche a matter to his charge, except I woldc have done then by Palmer as this slaunderer doth by me, off malyce devyse agaynst Palmer that which I never knewe, muche lesse had byne able to prove, which wolde have fallen owte to my greate shame. 4. To the fowrth I answer that when this letter was intercepted I was at Salysberye, and knewe nothing of yt untyll my returne, which was fyve dayes after; and when I went to bedde my wyff tolde me what had happenyd to Palmer syns my departure; howe the cokes wyff, which was his hostys, had caused a letter to be wrytten, and sent to Palmer, and howe the same letter was taken by the waye upon Cawsome brygge,3 and broughte to the maior; and howe that Palmer came from mr. Lee's the next day folowing, nott know- ing of anye such matter, for whome the mayer sent ymmedyatly, and after examinacion had at the sute of the husbande, Palmer was sent to the cage. All this was done, and Palmer was returned agayn to mr. Lee's, before I came home, as I shal be well able to prove; of which his troble I knewe no more then the childe newe borne, I take Gode to witnes, yet doth this slaunderer make me the chief hearin. Also I doughte nott, gentle reader, nay I am suer that yt ys yett to be proved, who wrotte the letter, whoe carryed the letter, who dyd entercepte the letter, and that I herein shalbe clered, though this slaunderer layeth all to my charge; but trewthe yt ys that Palmer's hostys' husbande shewed me the letter a weke after, a Caversham bridge. CAMD. SOC. Q 114 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. declaryng what his wyff and Palmer ment to doe, to whome I answered that in conscience I dyd verelyc beleve that Palmer neaver ment any suche vyllayny towardes hym ; to the tryall of which I commytt myself to the whole towne of Heading. 5. To the fyfte, I answer that yt might be that they were founde sytting alone by the fyer, and the dore shutte to them ; butt I dyd never see them sytt alone together and the dore shutte, neather dyd I ever present any suche thinge to the mayer; neather dyd I heare that any other man dyd signifie so moche to the mayer at any tyme, I take Gode to recorde. And by that which I have sayde before yt may easely appere, gentle reader, how falsely this slaunderer belyeth me in that which foloweth. (Twelfth Section.) The Slaunderer. "When this evydence was geven uppe, the mayer clysmyssed them, and went to dyner, commanding Palmer to the cage,a to make hym an open spectacle of ignominie to the eyes of the worldc; and Thackham, the better to cover b his owne shame, caused ytt to be bruted that he was soe punished for his evyll lyff and wyckednes allreadye proved agaynst hym." Thackham. Here this slaunderer bringeth me in for the chieff worker agaynst Palmer, and telleth ho we to cover my shame I conveyed the matter after that I with others whome I procured had layed all these artycles to Palmer's charge ; and this too, reader, may seme a lykely tale ; butt lett yt be proved that I was there, or as I sayde before knewe of Palmer's troble, or was there when he was sent to the cage, and I wyll be gyltye of all that this slaunderer haith and shall " The cage then stood over the entrance into the churchyard belonging to St. Law- rence's parish, and now forms part of mr. John Blandy's house : it was rented of the parish by the corporation, at the yearly rent of twelve-pence." (Note in Man's History of Reading, 4to. 1816, p. 198.) b colorr in MS. JULINS PALMEIl AND THOMAS THACKHAM. 115 herattcr laye to my charge; and wheras he sayeth that I, Coxe, Gately, and Downer procured Palmer this troble, he belyeth us all; for Palmer came before the mayor and was from thence sent to the cage at the onelye suetc of the coke, his hostyes husband, which layed to Palmer's charge that he with his wyff had agreed to kylle hym, and thus moche I harde after my returne by the coke hymself when he shewed me the letter. But marke, I beseche you, gentle reader, howe this shameles Iyer haith forgotten hymself. He sayde before that Palmer was fett from the Cardinall hatte owte of his bedde in the night by offycers, and had to the dungeon, and so forth, as ys afforesayde ; and nowe ys Palmer fett owte of prison, broughte before the maior, accused by me and others, and from thence sent to the cage; and true yt ys that when his ostys sent the letter, Palmer was at mr. Lee's, eightene miles of; which Palmer returned from thence to Reading very shortelye after, knowing nothinge of the letter that was intercepted, which shuldehave come to hym; and ymmedyatly upon his returne he was sent for by the mayer at the sute of the coke, and so commytted to the cage, and went nott from the prison to the cage as this slaunderer falselye reportyth. Yt was long after before he was commytted to the prison, and that was done by the commyssioners, and not by the mayer, as yt ys well knowen; for after he came owte of the cage he went to his master agayne ; and yf the well-meanyng wryter of this historye knewe howe moche this malliciouse slaunderer had abused hym he wolde beware of suche a fellowe all the dayes of his lyff. As I sayde before I saye agayne, I take Gode to wytnes I knewe no more of his commyng before the mayer nor of his being in the cage then the childe that was borne the same nighte, and yett this slaunderer ys nott ashamed to make me the cheeffe instruement and doer heriii. (Thirteenth Section.) The Slaunderer. " In the afternonc Palmer came to his answer, and dyd so mightelye and clerlye deface their evydence, and so defende his owne innocencye, provyng also that the sayde letters were by 116 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. themselfes forged, that the mayer hymself was moche ashamed that he had borne with them, so that he soughte meanes he might conveye hym awaye prevelye." ThacJcham. What tyme of the day Palmer was ffett owte of the cage, ho we he clered hymself,a and whether the mayer were ashamed of his doinges or nott, I cannot tell, for as yt shal be proved I was nott at home. I knewe nothing neather of his fornones examynacion, neather of his afternones examynacion. Gatelye, whome he here slaundereth, the mayor's wyff, with others there yet lyving, can declare the trothe; butt I dare affyrme, that yf the mayer were lyving,. he wolde soe answer this slaunderer which sayeth he was ashamed of his doinges, that this slaunderer wolde be ahsamed of his sayinges. (Fourteenth Section.) The Slaunderer. " But now to the bloodye adversaries. When they sawe the matter frame so evill favouredly, and fearinge least if he shold escape privily, ther doinges wold tend no lesse to ther shame and daunger then to the maior's dishonesty also, they devised a new pollicye to bringe to passe ther longe hidden and festred malice against him, which was their b extreme refuge; for wheras before they were partly ashamed to accuse him of heresye, seeinge they had bene counted earnest brethren themselves, and partly afraid bycause they had broken up his studye, and committed theft, yet now, lest ther iniquitie shold have bene reveled to the woiide, they a " Albeit you knowe not (as you saye) how Palmer clered himselfe, and be also certeyn that he clered not himselfe, as the storye reporteth, yet I woulde you should right well understand that the God of truthe hathe made it knowen to the godly : yea, heaven, earth, and hell shall, to his everlastyng comfort, and to the confusion of his enemyes, and all blooddye papistes, perceave and knowe, that, by the assistance of Goddes holye spirite the Comforter, he mightely and clerely confounded his enemyes and defended his owne innocency against them." (Reply, f. 21 b.) b MS, this. JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS TITACKHAM. 117 put both feare and shame aside, and beganne to refricate and rippe up the olde soare, the skarr wherof had bene but superficially cured, as ye have hard, and so, to coloure ther former practises, chardged him with [the] writinges that they had stollen owt of his studyc." Thackham. Now this sclaunderer, well armed with railinge tcarmcs, leapinge from lye to lye, from falshoodc to falshoode, as though he were never to be reproved, goeth on still after his accustomed maner, and saith that Thackham, with the other bloody adversaries and theves, to avoide the shame and daunger that was like to insue, and to kepe the maior from dishonesty, beganne a new practise to bringe an olde grudge to passe, saith we brake up his studye, and fetched owt writinges, wherwith we charged him before the maior. Yt shall never be proved, gentle reader, that we brake up his studye, or ever were in his studye, or toke one paper from thence, or that we ever brought him before the maior, or laid any suche matter against him; and seeinge this sclaunderer calleth us theves, it standeth us upon that be lyvinge to cleare it, or els ther is no time past but that we may resceive a felon's rewarde, which is to be hanged; and if I ever was in his studye, or can tell whether he had a studye or not, I desire to have a shamefull deathe ; and I doubt not but Gately is as well able to cleare him selfe of this robberye.a Let it be proved that I ever complayned of Palmer to the maior, or ever came with Palmer before the maior when he was examyned, and I will be giltye of all that this sclaunderer hath laid to my chardge.b a " Where you doubt not but Gatelye is well hable to clere him selfe of this great robbery, you are the bolder so to saye, because he was at the tyme constable [see note in p. 110] and might do it by good authorite. Notwithstandyng, good men maye be bolde to call him thefe for his laboure, seyng that before God it was playne robbery ; and in the judgment of the Godly learned, that thinge maye well be sayd stollen, whiche is by fraude, sleight, or violence taken from a just man, even by an officer." (Reply, f. 23.) b "The worst that ye could then do was to accuse him wrongfully, and to laye that 118 NAKRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. Trewe it is that one only letter was the cause of all Palmer's troble that he had before the visiters, and so consequently of his deathe, which letter at the earnest request of Palmer I carried to the maior; which letter Palmer wrot in Buckinghamshire, and brought with him to Eeadinge the same day that the visiters sate at the Beare ; to the writinge wherof if I had bene priveye (as I was not) I had benc hanged, as the maior and the comissioners tolde me afterwards; of the which letter, I assure the, gentle reader, that Coxc, Gately, and Downer never knewe, which they never towched nor sawe, nether any creature lyvinge but Palmer, I and the maior, of the which letter I will speake more hereafter. (Fifteenth Section.) The Sclaunderer. u Thus Palmer was once againe called owt of prisone to appeare before the maior and Burdet a the officiall and two other justices, to render an accompt of his faithe before them, to answere to sutche informacions as were laid against him ; and when they had gathered of his owne mouthe sufficient matter to trappe him, they devysed a certificat or bill of instructions against him, to be directed to doctour GefTery,b who had determyned to hold his visitation the next Tuesday at Newbury, which was the xthof July;c and thus were these false witnesses and bloodye accusers wyncked at, and the innocent delyvered to the lyon to be devoured. When it was concluded that Palmer shold be sent over to Newbury, the said letters testimonial! were conveied over togither with him." thing to his charge, whiche if he woulde have renounced and forsaken, he might have lyved in earth more prosperously than ever you could, or have done, by often chaungyng your typpet and turnyng your coate." (Reply, f. 23 b.) a Clement Burdett, rector of Englefield, before noticed. b See before, p. 74. c xvith in Foxe, edit. 1576, p. 1843. JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKFIAM. 119 ThacTcham. Whether Palmer were called jigainc owt of prisone after he was comitted thither by the commissioners which sate at the Beare as aforsaid, I can not tell; but to my knowledge he was never brought owt of Welche his prisone before he was sent for by the comissioners to Newbury, and if he were brought forth of the prison to be examined before the maior and others as he saith here he was, I take God to wytnes it was not by my procurement and my confederates the inno- cent Palmer was delyvered to the lyon to be devoured, and that we bloodye accusers were wyncked at. The sclaunderer shall well knowe that I will not be wincked at ; but loke what may be proved against me I will have the ponishement with all extrernitie, and thus end to answer so shameles a sclaunderer. And albeit, gentle reader, that whosoever shall reade this that my adversary hath caused the godly writer of this history to put in writinge, and by printinge the same to publishe it to the woiide against me, Coxe, Gately and Downer, bloodye accusers and false witnesses against Palmer, as he tearmeth us, consideringe how boldly he reporteth us, with what reasons he perswadeth it, with what order he telleth it, with how haynous offences and felonous actes he chardgeth us, with how spitefull and railinge wordes he useth us, what uncharitable and odious names he giveth us, might easely be perswaded that he hath not lyed every sentence from the begynnyge. But, gentle reader, marke well my offer. If this sclaunderer shall ever be able to prove that of all he hath informed against me, and hath procured mr. Foxe to publishe abroade, one sentence be trewe, I beseche the counsell that I may have suche ponishement that all other wycked hipocrites may beware by me. If I were not cleare, and yet wold be so bolde to take upon me to reprove that which mr. Foxe, a godly preacher, by his informacion hath published, as it were to deface him, and his so famouse a worke, I were worthy to be handled to the example of all others. But to deface mr. Foxe was never my purpose, blessed be God for him ! I reverence him as 120 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. a most excellent Jewell of this our age, and accompt of him as of a principall piller of relligion. But a worshipfull knight of our contry, sir Robert Lane,a and one mr. Yelverton b a counsailor of the la we and recorder of Northampton, wlier I dwell, ofte times tolde me, and divers of my friendes sent me worde, that they mar- vailed that I wold neither confesse my faulte, neither answere it if I were innocent. Some gave me counsell to have an action of the case against mr. Foxe for sclaunderinge me ; some said that mr. Foxe was not in faulte, but that I shold answere the sclaunderer, wher- unto I agreed. I assure the, gentle reader, if I had in quene Maries time per- secuted Palmer, and xxti more besides him, I wold be as ready now to confesse it in open audience, as ever Paule c was to confesse what a tyraunt he had bene, or as ever this sclaunderer was willinge to lay it to my chardge; for it were nothinge to my shame so to do, but to the glory of God, to my singuler comforte, and rejoysinge of all my frindes; but the matter standinge as it do the, and that not one sentence is to be proved trewe that this sclaunderer hath informed, whether it were better for me to be evill thought of, and hold my peace, or els by some meanes to defend myne innocencye, be thou judge, gentle reader. Here hast thou, gentle reader, myne answere to this sclaunderer, which he shall never be able to disprove. Nowe will I telle the howe Palmer behavyd himself in Readynge, howe he lefte his schole, whither he departyd thence, and by what meanes he came to his trouble. Palmer had the schole when he came to Eeadynge of one sir John a Of Horton, co. Northampton : see a note in Machyn's Diary, p. 394. b Afterwards sir Christopher Yelverton, serjeant at law 1599, judge of the queen's bench 1602, died 1607 : ancestor of the earls of Sussex. See an account of him in Col- Hns's Peerage, 1779, iv. 338. c " In deede S. Paul (whose example for a shewe to mocke an ape withall you bryng in) was never a tyrant, but a persecutor we reade he had bene : yet when he persecuted, he never bare ij. faces in one whoode, as you did in quene Maries tyme, and God graunt you be voyde of it now ! " (Reply, f. 26.) JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKHAM. 121 More, vycar of Sayncte Giles,a in quene Maries tyme, which he taught diligently, behavyd himself honestly, came to the churche many sondaies and holidayes with his schollars, and satte in Sayncte Johnes chappell, [and] lyved so quyetly among them, that I dare swere he had not one enemy in the towne. This Palmer taught a sonne of one John Rydgies, the quenes servaunte and one of the stable ;b which boye, ether for his negligence in learnyng, ether for some shrewd turne, he bette in the schole. Rydgies, thincking that he had gy ven his sonne more correction then he deservid, in a great rage came into the schole, and boxed Palmer about the eares, and so departed. Palmer taking this grevously, that he had so muche misused him, toke a pitche-forke of his hostyes, and laye iij. or iiij. daies in wayte for Rydgies in the Vasterne,c beneath one John Ryder's garden,d to have done him some displeasure, as he wente to a close that Rydgies had toward Causam bridge, but could at no tyme mete with him. After that he had thus watched Ridges, a See p. 108. b At the dissolution of monastic houses king Henry determined to maintain the abbey of Reading as a royal palace; and, though it was not often occupied in that capacity, yet we find king Edward VI. lodged there, as " the Kinges Place," on his visit to the town in 1552, and king Philip and queen Mary in 1554. Camden says, " The monastery, wherein king Henry the First was interred, has been converted into a royal seat; adjoining to which stands a fair stable stored with noble horses of the king's." It was on account of this royal stable that mr. Ridges, the officer mentioned in the text, had his residence at Reading. The abbey was still regarded as royal property in 1650, when it was surveyed as parcel of the late possessions of king Charles : see Coates's Reading, p. 267. c To the north of the town, at the back of Friars' street, in the map given in Coates's History of Reading, will be found fields called, The home Vastern, The little Vastern, and The farther Vasterns. There is now a short street called Vasterne street. Fasterne great park near Wotton Basset was subject to right of common for the inhabitants of that town, (see the Topographer and Genealogist, vol. iii. 1858, p. 22,) and perhaps the derivation of the name is from waste or common land, in the Latin vastum. Otherwise, they might be old inclosures in which cattle were kept fast. d " Master Rider of Reding, a faithfull favourer of Goddes gospell," as Foxe terms him, who sent his servant to Palmer the night before his departure to Newbury, " with a bowed groat in token of his good harte towarde hym," offering to provide him with any neces- saries that he lacked. He has been mentioned before in p. 96, note b, as " John Ryder of Reading capper." CAMD. SOC. R 122 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. he told me howe he had done, and what he had purposed. I told him that Kidgies was to(o) good for him, willing him not to seke to be revengyd of him, but to tell the maior and the masters of the towne. " No, (sayd Palmer,) for by that meanes I shall never pre- vaile, for he can make moe frendes then I." One fortnight after, Palmer came to me and said, that he would geve up his schole, yf he might have reasonably for the patent, which hunge but apon the liffe of one olde man called Coxe.a I told Palmer that synce quene Marie came to the crowne, I was put from my vicaridge there, and was constrayned to labour sore for my lyvynge. For, as it is well knowne, I went every weke foure-score myles save foure, on foote, to bye yearne, and sell it agayne at Eeading, of which tedyouse journeys and paynefull travayle I waxed werye. Wherfore I sayd that yf in time to come he were disposed to leave the schole, so that I could gette the good wyll of the towne to kepe it agayne, I would geve him with reason for the patent. Palmer said that he was content that I should have it before an other, yf he did yelde it up ; and so we partyd for that tyme. A moneth after, he came to me againe, and said that he was come to be as good as his promysse, which was to graunte me his good wyll to have the schole before any man. I thanckyd him, and demaundyd of him what he would requyre for the patent. He sayd I should do iij thinges for him : the one was that I should geve him fourty shillinges in his purse; the other was, that I should geve him foure poundes to bye him apparell, or els be suerty for as rnuche apparell as came to foure poundes; the third was, that I should provyde him some place, where he might teach a gentleman's children, and lyve to his conscyence. I aunsweryd him agayne, that I must requyre lykwyse iij thinges at his handes ; first that I might procure the good willes of the worshipfull of the towne, to become the schole-master agayne ; secondarily, that I might have a tyme to procure such a place for him, where he might lyve safely, quyetly, and to his conscyence; thirdly, that he would take xls in hande, and a Leonard Coxe : see before, p. 108. The patent granted to Coxe will be found in the Appendix. JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKHAM. 123 the residue at ij convenyent tymes, and therwith bye that he lackyd himself; which Palmer grauntyd with good wyll. Then rode I first to Horsynton in Buckinghamshire to one master Raffe Lee,a which had one sonne, whom I had taught before ; and tolde him that, yf he would have a scholmaster with him, to teache his sonne Edward Dunne Lee,b I could provyde him of an honest, quyet, sober, and learnyd young man ; wherof master Lee was glad, and requestyd me so to doe, and he would compound with him for such a stypend as he should reasonably requyre. I returned to Reading and told Palmer what I had done, and howe I had sped ; wherwith Palmer was content. Then we appoynted a day to repayre to the gentleman, and to bargayne for his stypende, and so we did ; whome master Lee and his wyffe lyked very well. Then after we were returnyd unto Readinge agayne, I wente to master Edmundes,c mr. Edward Butler ,d master Thomas Turner,6 [and] master Aldworth,f my very frendes, declaryng to them that a Horsington is Horsenden in Buckinghamshire. The manor, with that of Saunderto^ belonged to the family of Donne, but appears to have been temporarily held by Ralph Lee esquire. He presented to the rectory of Horsenden in 1554, and to that of Saunderton in 1572. In the latter year he received a grant of arms, being then styled of Saunderton. In that year also his wife Frances, daughter of Thomas Joanes, was buried in the Savoy church, London, Somerset herald attending. Ralph was the son of Thomas Lee, elder brother of Francis the grandfather of sir Thomas Lee who married the heiress of Hampden of Hartwell. His name, with that of his son and heir Edward, the pupil of Julins Palmer, occurs in the Lee pedigree. (Compare Lipscombe's Buckinghamshire, vol. i. p. 163, vol. ii. p. 334, vol. iii. pp. 626, 628.) b This occurrence of two prcenomina, so unusual at the period, is very remarkable. It seems to imply a relationship between Ralph Lee and the Donnes. Was his wife a widow of one of the Donne family ? c See before, p. 97. d Edward Butler was mayor of Reading in 1554, 1559, 1575, and 1581; and a fifth time (perhaps at the close of the mayoralty of a mayor dying when in office) , according to his epitaph formerly in St. Lawrence's church : which will be found in Ashmole's Berkshire, and in Coates's Reading, p. 174. In Ashmole's time there existed brass-plates, now lost, representing master Butler in his gown, his wife, his three daughters and his grandchildren. He died July 7, 1584. e Thomas Turner was mayor in 1556, 1560, and 1567. f See before, p. 95. 124 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. Palmer would leave the schole, and dwell with a gentleman; and desyred them that I might have their good willes to teache yt agayne, for I was wery of playing the packe-man, and of my tedyous journeys to Salesbury wekely; which aunsweryd that they thought no lesse, and that I should have their good willes to kepe the schole agayne. This done, Palmer and I came bothe to master Edmundes, steward of Eeadinge,a to have our wrytinges made, where it was agreid that I should paye Palmer xls in hande, and enter into bondes, to paye him the other iiij u at ij other tymes by evyn porcions, and yf the said sommes were not aunsweryd according to covenantes, that then it should be lawful for Palmer to resume his patent, and enjoye the same as in his former estate. It was also agreed apon, that master Edmundes should kepe the patent and resignation, and all other wrytinges, untill the laste xls were payd. And thus I entrid to kepe the schole, and Palmer went to master Lee's to dwell, and there con- tynewed. And after Palmer had receyved his last payment, master Edmundes delyve.red me the paten tes. resignation, and all other wri tinges, But albeit Palmer was well, and where he might have lyved quyetlye, yet (as it is well knowne) he could not tarye x dayes from his hostyes, but often resortyd unto her, so that he grewe to be evill thought of, and her husband began to mystruste him, albeit I thincke he gave never any suche cause. But so often resortyd Palmer from Horsyngton to his hostyes, that her husband began to suspecte him. Then was a letter interceptyd, which she wrote to him ; which being sene, her husband kepte. And at Palmer's next returne to Readinge, (as was tolde me,) by the cookes meanes his hostyes' husband, Palmer was brought before the maior, and com- a Steward of the estates formerly belonging to Reading abbey, and now to the crown, (see before, p. 121.) In July 1552 the office of steward of the borough and lordship of Reading, and of the possessions of the late monastery, was granted to the marquess of Northampton. (MS. Reg. 18 C. XXIV. f. 244 b.) The same office was afterwards held by the family of Knollys, who resided in the mansion formerly the abbey, and there enter- tained queen Elizabeth for some days in the year 1572. JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKHAM. 125 mytted to the cage; at which tyme, whatsoever the slaunderer hath sayd of me, I was not at home, nether knowe I any thinge therof, untyll fyve dales after yt was done, God I take to recorde. Then was Palmer brought fourth of the cage, and warned by the maior to come no more at his hostyce, and was let returne againe to Horsyngton, where he dwelled with master Lee. Whether his master knewe of his trouble or not, I cannot tell. Notwithstanding this punishment and warnyng geven him by the mayre to com no more to his hostis, Palmer came to his hostis agayne on Tuesdaye as I thinke about x. of the clocke in the fore- none ; and as I sat at dinner he sent his hostis' sister, a litle wentche, for me to come and speake with him. Be twelve of the clocke I came to him, and when I was come he sayde unto me, " Mr. Thack- ham, I thinke ye have harde ho we I have bene used here of late by the meanes of my hoste, who as I thinke is perswaded that I resorte to his house for some yvell purpose. I have a letter here which I have written to mr. Edmundes, wherin I have declared how I have bene abused and wherin; and have therin so clered myselfe that, when he hath red yt, I dowbt not but he will thinke better of me then at this present he doth; which letter I beseche you to deliver for me unto him." I answered, " Mr. Palmer, I thinke yt better that ye deliver it yourselfe." u Nay, (sayd Palmer,) he so reviled me when I was here laste, that I knowe he cannot abycle me ; but by your meanes, and at your requeste, he will receave my letter, and read yt. Herein you shall doe me a great pleasure." u Mr. Palmer, (sayd 1,) yf the deliverye of your letter may stand you in stede, I will carrye yt unto the mayre, and further doe you what pleasure I can." So I toke the letter, beinge faste sealed, with the superscription to mr. Edmundes ; and when I cam to master Edmundes he sate in his study e writinge an obligation ; to whom I sayd that master Palmer had requested me to bringe a letter, besechynge him to read the same; wherein he should perceive howe innocent he was of all that his hoste or any other had layd to his charge. " Well," (sayd mr. Edmundes,) laye yt downe, and I will loke apon yt anone." 126 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. And so I departed. Within one lialfe hower master Edrnundes sent for me agayne. When I came he sayde, " Mr. Thackham, Palmer hath written here no suche matter as ye tolde me of, but doth rayle at the quene and her lawes. I am her majesties officer, and maye not conseale yt, nether will.'5 " Sir, (sayd I,) yf he have overshote himselfe in any thinge, I beseche you take him not at the worste." " Well ! (sayd mr. Edmundes,) goe your waye, I maye not conseale yt, neather will I." And as I was departinge out of his wickette, he whisteled (as his maner was) for one of his sargentes. I went home to my schole, wher I walked, marvelinge what wolde come of yt. So sone as I was gone, the mayre, mr. Edmundes, commaunded the sergent to goe to the cookes howse, and call Palmer to him. When the sergent knocked at the cookes dore, his hostis' sister spied him, and told Palmer who was at the dore. Palmer, heringe that an officer was come for him, conveyed himselfe out of the kitchen dore into the bac-side, and so into his hostis' garden. The sergent at the dore sawe him goe that waye, and thruste open the dore and folowed him, and tooke him at the ende of [his] hostis' garden about to leape over a wale ; and broughte him to the mayre. Yt happened that the very same daye ther sat at the Beare in Reading doctor Jefferye,a the parsone of Inglefelde,b with diverse other commissioners. When the sergent was come with Palmer, the mayer commanded him to goe with him ; whom Palmer folowed, not knowing (as I thinke) whether he would bringe him. The mayer went streyght-waye to the Bere, wher the commissioners were, in a parler apon the righte hande as ye come into the inne. When the mayer was come to the commissioners, he declared unto them how the man whom he brought had sent him a letter, wherin was contayned matter which he would not conseale, and so he delivered the letter to them; and then the commissioners willed him to sit downe at the table's ende which is nexte to the strete; and when the mayer was sett downe, they asked who broughte him a See pp. 74, 118. b Clement Burdett : see p. 95* JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKHAM. 127 the letter. The mayre answered one mr. Thackham, ther schol- master. " I praye you, mr. mayer, (sayth docter Jefforye,) let him be sent for." So the mayer commanded his sargent to goe for me. When the sargent came to me, I was walkinge in the schole. The sergent sayd that the commissioners commanded me to come to them. I went with him. When I came before them, doctor Jefferye (as I thinke), or some other of them, asked me whether I delivered the letter to the mayre or not.a I sayd that I did deliver the letter to him. They asked me whether Palmer and I did devise yt ; and which of us wroughte it. I answered that yt ys to be thought that I would answere that I did neather write yt nor knowe of the wri tinge therof; " but, sir, (sayd I,) I will not answere the question, let this man (meaninge Palmer, which stode by me,) answere how it was." Palmer then immediatlye answered, " Sir, I wroughte yt, and I will stand to yt; and as for this man, he nether wroughte yt, nether knewe what was in yt, but delivered yt to mr. mayre at my requeste." Then sayd the parsone of a "At the last, to make your tale credible, you saye that one, you knowe not who (yet no man knewe the commissioners better then you), asked you, whether you were prevy to the letter that you delyvered, whereunto you saye that Palmer as a man yet once agayne willyng to dye, though he ranne awaye first from the sergeant, or rather as an impudent man, not content to write raylyng matter against his prince and the lawes, but redely to advouche it, made quyck and spedy aunswere immediatly without any deliberacion or craving of pardon (as a desperate Dick desyrous to dye without cause) , and boldly sayd, ' Sir, I wrote it, and will stand to it. As for mr. Thackham he knewe not what it was. Quare si me qtieritis, sinite hunc abire."1 O trym tale ! now mr. Thackham (teste se ipso) is clered, and Palmer become giltie of his awne deathe ! But if Palmer did confesse it to be his letter and hand-writyng, why were you sent for and examyned aboute the writyng therof ? shall we think that they did not first demaund of Palmer, whether he wrote the letter or no ? no doubte they did ; wherunto when he had aunswered that he wrote it not, then were you immediatly sent for ; and to be playne with you, it shalbe proved by the witnes of honest and godly men, that Palmer himselfe, beyng in prison, did greatlye complayne to his frendes, that he was betrayed, that his hand was counterfeated, and that Thackham had forged a letter in his name, and brought it to light, to cause him to be examyned of his conscience. And therewithall you presented also, accordyng to your awne tale, other thinges of his awne hand writyng, howbeit greatlye against his will, and not at his request, as you write." (Reply, f. 32.) 128 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. Yenglefelde to me : " Master Thackham, I wishe that ye teache gramer and let divinitye alone." By this tyme was Wellche, the keper of the prisone, com into the parlar, and I was bed depart; wher I lefte Palmer talking with them stoutly; but when I was agaynst one master Borne's dorea I loked backe, and sawe Palmer cominge with the keper of the prison ; and after that daye I never sawe Palmer,b nether came he out of prison so farre as I knowe any more, before he was sent for to Newberye, wher he was areyned, condemned, and burned. He that had Palmer to Newberye was a wever with a blacke beard, which became a sumner, and went after to dwell at Salsberye: whiche tolde my wife that Palmer, beinge at the stake, requested this sumner to have him commendid to master Thackham, and to pray him to forgeve hym the twelve shillinges that he owed him, which xijs I lent him when he lay in prison; for in consideration that I had a benefite at his hand I thoughte yt my duetye the rather to helpe him in that extremyte. Thus haste thou hard, gentle reader, howe I delte with Palmer; ho we his troble begane, how he was used, and by what occationes: which yff you compare with that the rayler hath caused mr. Fox to wryte, you shalt not find one sentense trewe. Finis. From Northampton, the xxxth of January, the yeare offower Salvation 1571. By me, THOMAS THACKHAM. a John Bourn, mayor of Reading in 1546, 1547 and 1552 ; burgess in parliament for the town 6 Edw. VI. and 1 and 2 Philip and Mary. b " Where you saye that after that daye you never sawe him, I saye agayn, the lesse grace was in you, and the greater token it is that you had dealt Judasly with him; for elles, seyng (as you saye) that you were Palmer's great frende, and that the keper was his speciall good frende and yours also, it maye be thought you were either wicked, or very colde and without godly zeale and charitie, that in all the space that he laye in that dongeon, you would neither visite him, nor finde meanes once to beholde him along, as Peter folowed Christ. But, alas ! Judas also never sawe Christes face after he had betrayed him." (Reply, f. 32.) JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS TIIACKHAM. 129 In addition to the passages of the Reply which have already been given in the introduction and the notes, the following may be appended, as containing a summary of the several points in dispute. The severity and acrimony of the writer has been already manifested : and perhaps we may in charity conclude that to a great extent he wrote rather from zeal than knowledge, particularly as he admits that he had never had any personal acquaintance with Thackham : — "Whether your aunswere be reproved or no, first reade this Replye, and understand of further profes that are to be brought foorth, and then at length God graunt that you maye speake and professe as your conscience dothe and shall leade you to do ! And, if you compare your awne wordes indifferently with the story, you shall the better and the soner see your awne follye. " The storye sayth that Palmer clered himselfe from all soche crymes as were objected against him. But you, to clere your awne selfe, doubt whether he clered himselfe or noe, at the least you saye that he did not so clere himselfe as the story reporteth. Belyke, because you are a phisician, you have some other purgacion for him in store, if you might have your awne foorth. The storye sayth that you and others presented certeyn letters against him, full sore against his will, that were written with his awne hand, whiche letters had bene by certeyn enemyes of his stollen out of his study, conteynyng soche matter against him, as wherby he was detected and first knowen to the magestrates to be a protestant : you denye it, and to make up your awne mouthe, you saye that he wrote the letters of purpose to have theim shewed, and that in dede you delyvered theim : but though they were daungerous, yet he besought you with earnest sute and request to be the instrument wherby he might procure his awne deathe. The storye sheweth honest causes of his last repayr to Readyng: you hardly (AZ'C) to confute the same, affirmyng that he came purposely to see a woman for whome he had bene vehemently suspected, accused, ponysshed, and from whose company although he had bene by speciall commaundment forbydden by the maior, yet he coulde not kepe himself ten dayes together fromcomyng xviij myles to see her. The storye sayth, he was taken in an honest inne : you saye he was taken in a suspected house, from the whiche he could not absteyne or withholde himselfe. The storye sayth that the maior was ashamed that he had executed ponyshment unjustly upon him by the intimacion and sute of certeyn uncharitable men : you saye those men were godly, and that the maior was not ashamed, nor neded not to be ashamed, of his doynges. The story excuseth him of the adulterye that was blowen up upon him by the envyous papistes: but you seme to augment that wicked suspicion, and, as farre as you dare, you signefy that he was giltie. The story commendeth his simplicitie, patience, and long- animitie: you saye that he was a fighter, and coulde not suffer injury e, but CAMD. SOC. S 130 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. refusyng the ayde of publique autlioritie, he caught a pickforke in his hand, and ranne foorth lyke a madman, and wayted upon the high-wayes, sekyng private advengement of his enemy. The storye 'sayth, that righteousnes' sake was the cause of his deathe : you saye that a letter whiche you dely vered was the cause of his deathe. The story say th he was betrayed by soche men as had bene his frendes : you saye it is not so, but he betrayed himself without any just cause, even when he might have lyved quyetly to his awne conscience. The story sayth he dyed a martir unto the Lorde ; you saye in effect that he ended his life as a cast-awaye and wilfull destroyer of himselfe. To be short, the storie justefieth the martir : you, to justefie yourselfe, deface the martir. The storye seketh to clere him whorne God hathe clensed, yea, whome God hathe justefied and glorefied: you seeke to defile the Lordes anoynted, shewyng yourselfe therein subject to the cursse of God, accordyng as it is written, Plague theim, O Lorde, that defyle thy priesthood. " Thus let all the chosen faithfull of the Lorde both in Readyng and out of Ready ng, to whose judgement herein I appeale, and by whome the storie maye stand or fall, let theim I saye now testefy and pronounce who deserveth the name and hathe playd the parte of a slaunderer, who is the Iyer, who hathe rayled, &c." (f. 26-27.) Again, " You hide yourselfe properly among the bushes, thinkyng that thing to be matter sufficient to discredits the whole, and to clere the dymnes of your owne cause. But if shall please God to geve you the grace once to heare his voyce, from among these thorney thickettes, you shall tremble and quake, and beyng stroken with contricion, and remorse of conscience, you will crye peccavi. And thus I make an end, warnyng you yet once agayne, that if every thing in the story be not rehersed in soche order as it was done, or that the due course of tyme and place be not thoroughly observed, it is not greatly materiall, nor moche to be merveyled at, seyng that the gatherers of the storye were not present at the doynges, and the informers neither did nor coulde so exactly instruct theim of the tymes, orders, and places as they wisshed. For the dayes were soche that the godly whiche were liable more diligently to have observed circumstances, durst not be present (very few excepted). And the gatherers thought it not expedient to counsayll with the dull, doubtfull and dissemblyng papistes. As well as they were hable to do, they have done, and have not erred in the substaunce of the matter ; if any defect be founde in certeyn circumstances the want therof shalbe supplyed (I hope) in the next Edicion." (f. 27 b.) In the "Informations gathered at Reading, 1571," occur these paragraphs respecting Thackham's conduct in the reign of Mary : — " Thackham protested in the pulpytt in the begynnynge of queen Marie JULINS PALMER AND THOMAS THACKHAM. 131 reigne that he would seale his doctrine with his blud, and stand to it even unto deathe. Yet afterwards he shranke backe, and sayd that he would never be minister agayne." But soon after he is stated to have contributed to the performance of the popish service : — " Wylliam Dyblye wytnesseth that Thackam brought into the church leaves of olde popishe service, and that he with others dyd helpe to patche together the bookes, and to sing the fyrst Latin even-songe in the churche of St. Lawrence." These charges receive some support from the records of the parish of St. Lawrence. In the churchwardens' book in 1553 is a memorandum of a desk left "in the hands of mr. Thackham, being vicar," and in 1554, "Recd of Thomas Thackham for his wifes seate vjd." In 1559 (this is after Elizabeth's accession) the following entries occur in the parish accounts : — " Item, paid to Thackham for iiii. salter bookes, vjs. " To Thackham, for one month's service, vj8 viijd. " To mr. Thackham, for ij weeks service, v8." (Ibid. pp. 224, 225.) From these entries it appears probable that Thackham continued to officiate at St. Lawrence's throughout the reign of Mary. There was a Thomas Thackham presented to the rectory of St. Mary at Wilton, by Henry earl of Pembroke in 1572, and to that of Hilpington, by Joan Longe, widow, in 1573. (Wiltshire Institutions, printed by Sir R. C. Hoare.) There was a second Thomas Thackham master of Reading school in 1662 : he was born in 1619, being the son of Thomas Thackham and Susanna Wood- cock, who were married in 1617. See further of him in Coates's History of Reading, pp. 342, 343. There was a Thomas Thackham married at St. Mary's Reading in 1697, and a Francis Thackham of Oakingham in 1722. (Ibid. p. 127.) Note. — Among the errors in Strype's copy of Thackham's defence, is that of misreading the date at its close, (p. 128,) as 1572 instead of 1571. This error occurs in the Ecclesi- astical Memorials, vol. iii. p. 356 and p. 362. VI. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ANECDOTES OF EDWARD UNDERBILL, ONE OP THE BAND OF GENTLEMEN PENSIONERS. THE partial publication of the following anecdotes has made Edward Under- hill well known as an actor and relater of the events of his time. From the pages of Strype his name has passed into those of Miss Strickland and others of our popular historians, whilst in Mr. Ainsworth's romance of " The Tower of London" we see " the hot Gospeller" — as by his own testimony he was called, again presented to our acquaintance, and resuming his busy and zealous part. The writer's grandfather, John Underbill, originally of Wolverhampton, acquired, in the year 1509, a lease for eighty years from sir Ralph Shirley, of the manor of Eatington, in Warwickshire, having married Agnes, daughter and heir of Thomas Porter, a former lessee of that manor in the reign of Henry VI. John left issue, 1. Edward, who in 1541 had a fresh lease of the manor of Eatington from the Shirleys, for the term of one hundred years, and whose posterity continued at that place a; 2. Thomas, of Honingham, in the same county. Thomas Underbill, of Honingham, married Anne, daughter of Robert Winter, of Hudington, co. Worcester, and died before the 36th Hen. VIII., when the estate of Honingham was sold by his son Edward, the author of the ensuing autobiography. Edward Underbill exchanged the life of a country gentleman for that of a soldier and courtier. In 1543 he served as a man-at-arms under sir Richard Crumwell, captain of the horsemen in the contingent sent to assist the emperor in the siege of Landreci, in Hainault ; and in the following year, when king Henry went to Boulogne, sir Richard procured for Underbill a nomination among the men-at-arms who were embodied to attend upon his majesty's person, being a band of two hundred, attired in a uniform of red and yellow damask, with the bards of their horses and their plumes of feathers of the same colours. At the revival of the band of Gentlemen Pensioners, in 1539, Edward Under- bill was appointed one of its first members, and he continued to serve in it at the period of the ensuing anecdotes. ^ The pedigree is printed in the Collectanea Topogr. et Genealogica, vol. vi. p. 382. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF EDWARD UNDERBILL. 133 In the year 1549 he a second time went to France on military service, ac- companying the army of six thousand men sent under the command of the earl of Huntingdon, to check the French, who were then aiming at the recapture of Boulogne. On this expedition Underhill served as comptroller of the ordnance. His subsequent history, except as connected with the religious persecution which forms the subject of the ensuing narrative, is merely that of domestic life. He had taken in marriage, in the year 1545, the daughter of a citizen of London, of an obscure and unknown family. It is difficult to ascertain the orthography of her maiden name ; but according to the most credible account she appears to have been Joan, daughter of Thomas Perrynes.a She presented master Underhill with five sons and seven daughters1*, of whose births the following full particulars have been preserved :c 1. Anne, borne on St. John's day in Chrystmas 1548. 2. Chrystyan, borne the 16 of September 1548. 3. Elenor, borne the xth of November in A° 1549. 4. Rachaell, borne the 4 of February 1551. 5. Unyca, borne on Palmes Sonday (April 10) 1552. 6. Gylford, borne the xiij of July in A° 1553, and dyed yong. (This was the godson of Queen Jane, as related in the ensuing pages, and named after her husband the lord Guildford Dudley.) 7. Anne, borne the 4 of January 1554. 8. Edward, 2. son and now heyre, was borne the 10 of February 1555. 9. John, 3. son, died yong in A° 1556. 10. Prudence, borne in A° 1559, and dyed yonge. 11. Henry, 4. son, borne the 6th of September in A° 1561. On " The xiiij of April (1562) was buried at St. Botulph without Aldgate, mistress Underhill, with a dozen of scucheons of arms; and there did preach for her — " one whose name is not recorded.*1 In two pedigrees (Vincent 126, f. 25, and MS. Harl. 1167) Edward Underhill 8 It is Perrynes in G.ll Coll. Arm., Perynes in H.12 Coll. Arm., Peromes in MS. Harl. 810 ; Perrins in MS. Harl. 1167 ; and Price in MSS. Harl. 1100 and 1563. In Dugdale's Warwickshire, edit. Thomas, p. 607, it is printed Percones. Underhill himself has written the name Speryne, hereafter, p. 153. b Thomas's Dugdale's Warw. ut supra, on the authority of a pedigree shown to Cooke, Chester herald, at Warwick, July 16, 1564. c MS. Harl. 810, f. 9. d Machyn's Diary, p. 280. The arms of Underhill were, Argent, on a chevron between three trefoils slipped vert three bezants ; quartering Porter, Sable, three bells argent, a canton ermine. "Thus by Clarencyeulx Harvy." (MS. Harl. 810, p. 9.) An old seal of the Underhill family now in the possession of Evelyn Philip Shirley, esq. M.P. of Eatington Park, displays the coat of Underhill without bezants, and for crest a buck trippant. 134 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. is styled "of Bath Kington." This was not improbably Baggington near Coventry, to which neighbourhood he mentions his removal, in p. 171. The date of his death has not been ascertained. The following anecdotes were written after the storm which fired the spire of St. Paul's cathedral in June 1561. Portions of them were introduced by Strype in his Memorials of Cranmer, book ii. chapter vii. and book iii. chapter xvii., and a further portion in his Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. ii. book i. chapter vi. Foxe had not made any use of them; but he had published a pre- vious communication from the writer, being an anecdote of king Edward's inquiries respecting " good Saint George," made at on the feast of the Garter in 1551, when Underbill and his fellow pensioners were waiting in the presence- chamber at Greenwich (see the Appendix). (MS. Harl. 425, f. 85.) Receaved of M. Vnderyll, hys examinations. A NOTE off the examynacy on and impresonmentt off Edwarde Undere- hylle, sone and heyre off Thomas Underhylle, off Honyngham,in the countie off War wy eke, (gentleman, altered to) esquire, beynge off the bande off the pencyoners, for a ballett that he made agaynst the papistes, immediately after the proclamacyone of quene Mary att London, she beynge in Norfoulke. The next daye after the quene was come unto the Tower,a the foresayde ballett b came unto the handes off secretary Borne,c who strayte wayes made inquiry for me the sayde Edwarde, who dwelled att the Lymehurst ;d wiche he having intelligence off, sentt the shreffe a The queen came to the Tower on the 3rd of August, 1553 : see Machyn's Diary, p. 38. b This ballad is perhaps not to be identified, even if a copy should chance to be in existence. It appears, however, from what passed before the council, that it was printed and published, and that the authority of Tyndale was asserted in it (see p. 140). Underbill afterwards mentions that be had written a ballad against dicers. One of his poetical pro- ductions will be found at the close of his anecdotes. c Sir John Bourne, of whom Underbill gives some remarkable anecdotes hereafter. d Limehouse was at this period a hamlet in the parish of Stepney. It was constituted a distinct parish by act of parliament in 1730. Its earlier name was Limehurst, as Under- bill writes it, and as' we are told by Stowe, in whose time " Radcliffe itself hath also been increased in building eastward (in place whereof I have known a large highway with fair elm trees on both sides,) that the same hath now taken hold of Lime-hurst, or Lime-host, corruptly called Limehouse, sometime distant a mile from Ratcliife." Survay of London. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF EDWARD UNDERIIILL. 135 of Mydellsex,a with a company off bylles and gleves, who came unto my housse, 1 beynge in my bedde, and my wyffe newly leayde in chylde-bedde. The hygh constable, whose name is Thomas Ive, dwelled att the next house unto me the sayde Edwarde, whoine the shrefFe brought also with hym ; he beynge my very ffrende, desyred the shreffe and his company to staye withowte ffor fryghtynge off my wyffe, beyng newly leyde; and he wolde goo feche me unto hym, who knokede att the doore saynge he must speke with me. I lyinge so nere that I myght here hym, called unto hym, wyllynge hym to come unto me, for thatthe was alwayes my veryefrende and earnest in the Gospelle ; who declared unto me that the shreffe, with a greate company with hym, weare sentt for me. Whereuppon I rose, made me redy, and came unto hym demaundynge what he wolde with me. " Sir, (sayde he,) I have commaundementt fromme the coun- celle to aprehende yow, and forthewith to brynge yow unto them." " Why, (sayde I,) it is now x off cloke in the nyght, ye cannott now cary me unto them." "No, syr, (sayde he,) you shall go with rne to my house, to London, wh