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were: which words surely grieved my heart very sore. And so I granted him to subscribe his will and to follow the same. Which when I had set my hand unto, I did it unfeignedly and without dissimulation. For the which I submit myself most humbly unto your Majesty, acknowledging mine offence with most grievous and sorrowful heart, and beseeching your mercy and pardon. Which my heart giveth me shall not be denied unto me, being granted before to so many, which travailed not so much to dissuade both the King and his council, as I did.'

And whereas it is contained in two acts of Parliament, as I understand, that I, with the Duke of Northumberland, should devise and compass the deprivation of your Majesty from your royal crown, surely it is untrue. For the Duke never opened his mouth to me to move me any such matter, nor his heart was not such toward me, seeking long time my destruction, that he would ever trust me in such a matter, or think that I would be persuaded by him. It was other of the council that moved me, and the King himself, the Duke of Northumberland not being present. Neither before, neither after had I any privy communication with the Duke of that matter, saving that openly at the council-table, the Duke said unto me, that it became not me to say to the King as I did, when I went about to dissuade him from his said will.

Now as concerning the state of religion, as it is used in this realm of England at this present, if it please your Highness to license me, I would gladly write my mind unto your Majesty. I will never, God be willing, be author of sedition, to move subjects from the obedience of their heads and rulers; which is an offence most detestable. If I have uttered my mind to your Majesty, being a Christian Queen and governor of this realm, (of whom I am most assuredly persuaded, that your gracious intent is, above all other regards, to prefer God's true Word, his honour and glory,) if I have uttered, I say, my mind unto your Majesty, then I shall think myself discharged. For it lies not in me, but in your Grace only, to see the reformation of things that be amiss. To private subjects it appertaineth not to reform things, but quietly to suffer that they cannot amend. Yet nevertheless to shew your Majesty my mind in things appertaining unto God, methink it my duty, knowing that I do, and considering the place which in time past I have occupied. Yet will I not presume thereunto without your Grace's pleasure first known, and your licence obtained. Whereof I, most humbly prostrate to the ground, do beseech your Majesty; and I shall not cease daily to pray to Almighty God for the good preservation of your Majesty from all enemies bodily and ghostly, and for the increase of all goodness, heavenly and earthly, during my life, as I do, and will do, whatsoever become of me."-Note, pp. 93–95.

It is needless to add that his application was unsuccessful. The funeral pyre awaited only the kindling torch; but his hour was not yet come. In the mean time another, and a more illustrious victim, the deposed Jane, prepared for her hard fate.

Wereluctantly pass over an interesting debate upon transubstantiation, -that doctrine so "hard to be understood,"-the "true, real, and substantial presence of the Lord's body under the appearances of bread and wine," which was decided, it may be well supposed, in favour of the Romanist. A sudden insurrection on the part of a few persons of distinction was made the pretext for the more speedy removal of the deposed Queen. She intrepidly met her fate; having previously beheld her husband, the Lord Guildford, on the scaffold from the window of her prison. Suffolk followed next; and to him succeeded Lord Thomas Grey, and Sir Thomas Wyatt. Mr. Soames here arrests the course of his history to notice the popular story of "The Spirit in the Wall;" acquiring an importance only from the triumphant manner assumed in relating it by

certain Romish writers. Though somewhat foreign to our graver purpose, we insert it for the amusement of the curious reader:

About the 14th of March, some extraordinary sounds were heard from a wall in Aldersgate-street, and considerable crowds were soon collected, in consequence, around the spot. An address to the bystanders was evidently meant by the invisible agent, but unfortunately, the sounds uttered were somewhat inarticulate. There were, however, persons in the street who professed themselves able to distinguish the words which thus mysteriously fell upon the ear. These interpreters informed such as listened to them, that the voice denounced innumerable woes to the nation, if the Spanish match, the mass, auricular confessions, and other Romish usages were not immediately abandoned. In this world all impositions are certain of a temporary success, for none are ever set on foot which some people do not feel an interest in forwarding, and many men appear to find the moments in which the ingenuity of another is exerted in deceiving them, among the happiest in their lives. The wonder of Aldersgate-street, accordingly, known as the spirit in the wall, and pronounced of an origin undoubtedly angelic, speedily became the talk of London. At length the Lord Mayor found himself called upon to interfere, and the whole affair immediately assumed a very intelligible character. Elizabeth Crofts, a girl of eighteen, had undertaken, it appeared, to deliver these oracular denunciations through a tube applied to a fissure in the wall. Among those who favoured the crowd with information as to the precise import of her half-articulate effusions, were, of course, individuals concerned in arranging the plot. The principal, with seven accomplices, were committed to prison, and the girl did public penance for her imposture at St. Paul's Cross.— Pp. 130, 131.

The second parliament had met and separated without having sanctioned any act of importance, when the persecution of the nonconformists, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer was renewed. The historian has recorded at some length the defence of these unhappy men; and we earnestly point the reader's attention to the pages in which these particulars are detailed ;—we know not how to select a part without injury to the whole. Ch. ii. pp. 143–216. Mr. Soames upholds the arguments advanced by this illustrious band of sufferers in their several disputations with sound reasoning, and displays great biblical knowledge. The sufferings of the most learned and virtuous, nay, the most loyal among her subjects, did not so much occupy the Queen, but that she could indulge the pleasing prospect of a speedy union with her cousin. On the 25th July, 1554, Mary gave her hand to the Spanish Prince; and the complete restoration of England to Popery was now at hand. Bishop Boner especially visited his diocese, with the view of preparing it for this event, and the whole prelacy moved in concert. Some of Boner's articles of inquiry (thirty-seven) will be found entertaining, though not very instructive; others, worthy of observation, as shewing the opinions of such as then presided over the English Church, respecting a point upon which doubts have been agitated among divines-'Whether any priests, having been ordained schismatically, have officiated in the Church, although not yet reconciled or admitted by the Ordinary.' The reader will do well to consult Mr. Soames and his notes for a solution to this query. P. 227.

Mary, now openly identified with the Romish party, summoned a new parliament, herself and husband gracing its opening by their presence, and by a display of great magnificence. Its first act was the repeal of Cardinal Pole's attainder. All well-informed men deprecated his return: he was oppressively intolerant, and had great influence over the Queen. Mr. S. records an extraordinary composition of the Cardinal, addressed to Philip and Mary, which led to a confidential communication on the part of the Queen, (through the imperial ambassador at the English Court), (p. 250) then to the offer of the See of Canterbury, and eventually to his landing at Dover, arrangements having been made for his reception in England. Pole's reception in the great chamber at Whitehall, (the national assembly for family reasons being there held,) and his oration to the two houses, is extremely well worthy of observation, but too long for insertion. Mr. Soames passes a severe but well merited comment upon the offensive hardihood of expression in this speech of the Romish Legate. But it had its effect. A humble supplication (in Latin) besought the royal pair to intercede with Pole for absolution in behalf of the nation! Philip and Mary graciously condescended to use their influence with the Cardinal! And the Cardinal as graciously made himself responsible for their redemption to papal favour. But of this satis superque.

Parliament proceeded to gratify the wishes of the Court, and a bill to repeal all Henry's acts in prejudice to the Papacy passed the Lords in December. Another, to revive the iniquitous statutes against the Lollards, passed also in the same month; and a third, for the punishment of all preachers who "should pray that God would turn the Queen's heart from idolatry to true religion." It is some consolation to find that in this degenerate assembly, thirty-nine gentlemen were found to absent themselves wholly from the House, from their supposed attachment to the Reformation. But we must, however reluctantly, curtail our analysis.

The two following years, beginning with the martyrdoms of Rogers and Hooper, and ending with that of Cranmer, are replete with interest to all who honour the memoirs of those illustrious defenders of the Faith (pp. 338-528). Their wisdom in upholding the Creed for which they so intrepidly died-the interest their sufferings excited in the populace, and the dawning disgust for Romanism consequent upon these authorized murders, are feelingly and eloquently told by Mr. Soames. Even at this remote period of time, purged as it is from the horrors that disgraced that age of bigotry and persecution, we enter most deeply into the arduous trials those holy Fathers underwent. Blessed as we are with the pure light, that faintly, at the first, issuing from these days of darkness, now shines upon us with its meridian splendour, we cannot divest ourselves of lively and indignant

feeling, that zeal, under the mask of religion, thus growing into intolerant cruelty, should have marked her progress by the blood of her opponents. Happily the Marian persecution was destined soon to close a brief, but barbarous, career. Mary quickly followed to the grave the last of her victims, and within four and twenty hours of her death her favourite Cardinal was no more. We subjoin the summary which Mr. Soames has given of Mary's character, which is politically and personally just.

In

Queen Mary was thin, and low of stature. Her mouth was large, and although she was short-sighted, her eyes were animated. Her warmest admirers forbore to claim for her the praise of beauty, but they attributed this deficiency to ill usage undergone in her youth. Before her troubles, they said, she had been handsome. Her understanding being good, and having been well cultivated, she was pretty thoroughly mistress of Latin, and able to converse in both French and Spanish. Nor was she ignorant of Italian. Her father's love for music was a security against any neglect of her education in that point. She was, accordingly, a very respectable performer both upon the harpsichord and guitar. disposition, she was bold and firm, even to obstinacy. In religious observances she was most exact, never failing to hear mass once in every morning. Often, indeed, she heard it twice; and in the after part of the day, it was her invariable habit to attend vespers and the compline. On the principal festivals, she regularly received the Eucharist, dressing herself upon such occasion in her jewels, and in her most splendid attire. She seems, indeed, to have imbibed the most complete veneration for the consecrated wafers of Romanism; being upon her knees before such of them as were reserved in her own oratory, for a considerable portion of every day. The last act of her life was the hearing of mass. She probably found herself going fast, and therefore desired, that, early as the hour was, a priest should come and receive the sacrament in her presence. She continued to gaze upon him until he had accomplished his task, and then closed her eyes to open them no more on this side of the grave. Mary's religious profession was not unproductive of its proper fruits. Her life was strictly moral, and she shewed a very commendable degree of feeling for the poor around her country residences; often visiting their abodes, dressed as a private gentlewoman, and inquiring their wants, in order to relieve them. In the despatch of public affairs, she was, as in every thing else, perfectly methodical, regularly devoting to it her afternoons. Any time that she found upon her hands, after having attended to the calls of devotion and business, she spent ordinarily in needle-work; furniture for the altar, or other things connected with religious worship, being the general objects of her manual industry. Mary's habits, in short, were those of a professed and sincere devotee. Hence, as an Abbess she would have been admirable. But she was far too narrow-minded for the government of a kingdom, especially at the time, and under the circumstances in which she mounted the throne.-Pp. 592595.

If in our review of the martyrdoms of this ill-fated reign, we have passed over the circumstance of Cranmer's dissimulation towards the close of his life, it is not that we wish to be considered the apologists for this questionable act of the venerable Archbishop:-nor have we any reason for charging Mr. Soames with any want of fidelity in recording this act of momentary aberration from principle. It is evident from what he has recorded, that the language of his lips was not the language of his heart. The offending hand was first committed

to the flames, and his latest words conveyed an unqualified denial of the "Pope, and his false doctrine." In a note accompanying the detail of Cranmer's martyrdom, some questions put by Mr. Butler, in his Book of the Roman Catholic Church, are ably and satisfactorily answered.

During the greater part of Mary's reign, Elizabeth had conformed to the established religion. What Creed the new Queen would espouse, became thus an object of anxious speculation. It is said that the dying Queen had made it her urgent request that Elizabeth would not disturb the reigning opinions. (See a copious note on this question, p. 599.) But her refusal of Philip's offer of marriage soon evidenced to what party her inclinations did not lean. After an interval of feverish excitement on the part of Romanists and Reformers, the Act of Uniformity was passed, and King Edward's second Service Book was directed to be used in all places of public worship. In vain the Convocation endeavoured to make a stand for the Papal faith in the earlier stages of its existence. The corporal presence, transubstantiation, and the propitiatory character of the mass, were stoutly maintained. No notice however was taken of them. The following spirited reply was given by Elizabeth to the declaration of Archbishop Heath, that neither Mary nor her successors could depart from their engagements to suppress heresy without incurring disgrace and humiliation.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Being resolved to imitate Josiah, who assembled the elders of Judea and Jerusalem, in order to make, under their advice, a covenant with God, I lately called together my clergy and my parliament. My object was to bind myself and my people unto the Lord, and not unto the Roman see. My sister's power extended not to contract the obligations which have just been mentioned. Our records shew that the papal jurisdiction over this realm is an usurpation, and they fully justify the statutes which have lately been enacted. It is by diving into and following the precedents which have come down to me from a long line of predecessors that I mean to rule. And I hope that in this my successors will follow my example. My crown is no way subject to any power whatever, save to that of Christ, the King of kings. I shall, therefore, esteem as enemies, both to God and myself, all such of my subjects as shall hereafter own any foreign or usurped authority within my realm.-Pp. 662, 663.

Boner was the first who refused to swear to the Oath of Supremacy. He was accordingly deprived of the bishopric: very soon after the whole body of prelates (one accommodating bishop only excepted) followed the example of Boner. But the great body of the clergy complied, and the new acts occasioned less inconvenience than might have been expected from a change so total as that of Romanism to Protestantism. And indeed it is refreshing to pause awhile on the contemplation of these peaceful days after the scenes of blood that marked those of the bigoted Mary. No pyres flamed to punish those who refused to wear the religion of their queen. For the fires of per secution were now substituted, the voice of persuasion and the argument

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