to him: "but all these qualities," says Mr. Phillips, in the sketch, which he has given of his character in the Life of Cardinal Pole, "were vitiated by "a fierce and obstinate temper, a haughty and "aspiring disposition, and a mind incapable of

yielding to opposition, and greedy, above mea"sure, of command." He received the queen's overtures with great loftiness: he told sir Edward Carne, that "the kingdom of England was held "in fee of the apostolic see; that Elizabeth, being

illegitimate, could not succeed; that he could "not contradict the declarations of Clement the "seventh and Paul the third; that it was a great "boldness in her to assume the name and govern"ment without him; yet, that being desirous to "show a fatherly affection, if she would renounce "her pretensions, and refer herself wholly to his "free disposition, he would do whatever might be "done with honour to the holy see." This speech was equally unjustifiable and imprudent:-it is evident, that, in the deliberations, which at this time took place, on the important question, whether the catholic or the protestant was to become the religion of England, it was calculated to turn the scale against the former.

XXII. 9.

Conciliatory Proceedings of Pius the fourth.

It may not be improper to mention in this place, that, not long after this wayward event, another

and a better spirit was shown by Pius the fourth, the immediate successor of Paul. In May 1560, he sent Vincentio Parpalia, an ecclesiastic of great merit and conciliating manners, to the queen, with a letter, most earnestly, but respectfully, entreating her to return to the bosom of the church. On this occasion, Parpalia, if we are to credit Camden, was instructed by the pope to offer to the queen, that the pope would annul the sentence of Clement, his predecessor, against her mother's marriage, settle the liturgy by his authority, and grant to the English the use of the sacrament under both kinds. Parpalia reached Bruxelles: from that place, he acquainted the English ministry with the object of his mission, and proceeded to Calais. The propriety of admitting him was debated in the royal council, and determined in the negative.

The conciliating pope was not disheartened: at a subsequent time, he deputed the abbé Martenengo to the queen, to notify to her the sitting of the council of Trent*; and to request she would, send an ambassador to it, and permit the prelates of England to attend it. Some objected to the pope, that this was showing too great a condescension towards persons, who had formerly sepa-. rated from the church. 66 Nothing," said the worthy pontiff, "is humiliating, to gain souls to "Christ." Both the king of Spain and the duke of Alva, seconded, with great earnestness, the pope's request: but the queen was inflexible:

* See Appendix, Note III.

"she could not," she said, "treat with any power, "whose authority the parliament had declared to "be unlawful:" she therefore refused to permit the abbé to enter any part of her dominions.

CHAP. XXIII.

LEGISLATIVE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCH IN ENGLAND.

THE meeting of parliament was fixed for the 23d day of January 1558; but it was prorogued till the 27th. By a proclamation of the 27th of the preceding December, the queen prohibited all public preaching and teaching, but enjoined that, the gospel and epistle of the day, the litany, and the ten commandments, should be read aloud in English, at the public service: this, in other respects, was to remain in its actual state.

Soon after the accession of queen Elizabeth *, a meeting took place, by her order, in Westminster church, between some dignitaries of the church of Rome, and some protestant divines of distinction. Sir Nicholas Bacon, the lord keeper, presided as moderator. Three questions were appointed for discussion: "The first,—whether it were against God's "word, and the custom of the primitive church, to "use a tongue, unknown to the people, in common

Fox's Acts and Monuments, 1919. Persons's Review,

C. 1, 8. 4.

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prayer, or the administration of the sacraments: "The second,-whether every church had authority to appoint, take away and change ceremonies "and ecclesiastical rites, so that the same were to "edification: Thirdly,-whether it could be proved, "by the word of God, that there is offered up, in "the mass, a sacrifice propitiating for the living "and the dead. These were directed to be dis"cussed in the presence of the queen's counsel, the "nobility and others of the parliament house, for "the better satisfaction and enabling of their judg"ment to treat and conclude of such laws, as might "depend thereupon." An altercation immediately took place between the catholic and protestant divines, and the assembly broke up, without any regular argument. An account of it was published on each side; the protestants claimed the victory; the catholics complained that they had not been permitted, either to propose any one argument, or to reason in due place or time.

The first bill hostile to the catholic religion, which was passed in this parliament, originated in the lords, on the 30th of January:—it restored firstfruits, and several other ecclesiastical emoluments, to the crown; it passed, with the unanimous assent of the lords temporal, and the unanimous dissent of the lords spiritual: an inconsiderable opposition was made to it in the commons.

A bill then passed, by which her majesty's title to the imperial crown of this realm was fully and unequivocally recognized: it passed through both houses, without a single dissentient voice. By a

bill, which passed a few days after, with the same unanimity, the queen was restored in blood, and declared to be inheritable to her mother Anne.

The next bill put the great question on the national religion, at issue: it was finally intituled, "An act to restore to the crown the ancient juris"diction over the estate ecclesiastical and spiritual, and abolishing all foreign powers repugnant to "the same.

This bill was a subject of great discussion in each house of parliament: the speeches of Heath, archbishop of York, and of Scott, bishop of Chester, against it, have been preserved. Viscount Mountague, the same nobleman, who had been sent in the preceding reign to negotiate the reconciliation of England with Rome, "incited," says Camden, "by "a sentiment of zeal and honour," represented to the peers, that "it would be disgraceful to England, "so lately reconciled to the apostolic see, to make

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so sudden a revolt from her;" and conjured them, with great importunity, "not to withdraw "themselves from her, to whom the nation was "beholden for the christian faith, and the constant "defence of it ever since."-His exertions were seconded by the earl of Shrewsbury:-the other temporal lords voted for the bill, all the spiritual lords voted against it. The bill was finally carried by a majority of three voices: the catholics had

* Strype, vol. i. App. vi. vii. Parl. Hist. vol. iii. p. 379. On the other side of the question, the reader will find an able pamphlet published about this time, in Strype, Annals, vol. i. App. viii.