Search York

that he would have had the government of the King's per-

son. But the course and carriage of his life, I am sure,

OF KING EDWARD VI. 189

could not clear him, having durino; all this reign lived so CHAP.
... XXVIII
known a turbulent and vicious life a. '_

Then follows another most vile insinuation against the

Protector, and the said reverend father and martyr, Hugh

Latymer ; viz. that he was set up by the said Protector, an

instrument to preach false stories to the people, to take off

the odium of the Lord Admiral's death, in these words :

P. 83. Dr. Latymer, pretending all the gravity and sin- Latymer

cerity of a professed divine, yet content to be serviceable to *'^"'*^'"'^ *

great men"'s ends, declared, in a sermon before the King,

that while the Lord Sudley was a prisoner in the Tower,

he wrote to the Lady Mary and the Lady Ehzabeth, that

they should revenge his death. He adds, that Latymer cast

forth many other imputations, most doubted, many known

to be untrue. And then from this story the author takes

occasion to express his cankered mind against men in holy

orders, in these words : " Some theologians have been em-

" ployed to defile places erected only for religion and truth,

" by defending oppressions and faction ; distaining their

" profession, and the good arts which they have learned, by

" publishing odious vmtruths, upon report and credit of

" others."] As though they were a mercenary, base sort of

men, that, however sacred their office is, would be hired to

be the trumpets of other men's lying inventions, for the

better deceiving of the people. This author going thus out

of his road, that he might give a lash to the theologians^ as

he calls them, shews his good-will to that order of men. But ^77

to return to Latymer.
Thus doth our author what lay in his power to render Vindicated,

that grave and good man, and constant martyr for religion

and truth, to be a public liar in the pulpit, to do a piece of

service to the Duke. And he, that chose to die rather than

to subscribe or acknowledge that to be true, which he

* Thus Latymti- coiiceinitig him, in one of his sermons before the King:

" That when the good Queen, his wife, had daily prayers before and after

" noon in her Louse, the Admiral would get him out of the way. And that lie

" was a covetous, an ambitious, and seditious man, and a contemner of com-

" mon prayer."

190 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

BOOK thought to be false, is made such a profligate wretch, wil-

fully ^wd openly to promulgate, before so solemn an assem-

bly, uncertainties and downright lies.

Hayward Hayward seems indeed to go hand in hand with Sanders,
Sanders. ' ^^ defame this reverend man ; who, speaking of Latymer,

gives him this broad compliment. His apostlcsliip consisted

in lying; and then tells this story of him: That after the

Duchess had invented the mischief against the Admiral,

the Protector went and dealt with Latymer, that he should

in his sermon traduce him before the people for a trai-

tor. And that accordingly Latymer readily undertook it,

and soon after in the pulpit told a tale of, I know not

what, snares preparing against the King's Majesty by the

Admiral ; and therefore that he deserved death. So that

by this account the Duke and the divine are represented

as a couple of bloody wretches, combining together to make

an innocent man seem guilty of treason, and then cry out

for execution against him.

P. 85. The author here begins the relation of the Duke's

first troubles ; wherein he follows, almost word for word,

Holinshed's history ; only framing two fine speeches ; one
p. 86. to be spoken by the Lord Rich, lord chancellor, to the

mayor and citizens of London, whereof we have not any

footsteps in history, as I can find ; the other to be delivered

by George Stadlow, a grave citizen, to his fellow citizens :

whose speech indeed we have in Holinshed ; but our

author is pleased to dress up and adorn it with much florid

language, and several additions of his own : which seems

more proper for a romance than an history.

Secretary P. 94. Of Secretary Petre he gives this character, " who

" under pretence of gravity, covered much untrustiness of

*' heart" An unfair character of a very wise and honest

man, and long experienced in the public affairs, without

any spot that ever I could find ; except that he did comply

with the changes of religion under the princes in whose

reigns he served : which Avas a practice of a great number

more besides himself.

P. 101. Speaking of the Duke, after his subscription to

Petre.

OF KING EDWARD VI. 191
the articles laid against him, and acknowledgment of his CHAP,

fault, and desire of pardon, our author thus gives his judg- ^^^^^'t.

ment : " assuredly he was a man of a feeble stomach, unable Whcthertiie

" to concoct a great fortune, prosperous or adverse: and (,f ^ fg^i^[g

" that he should have lost his life to preserve his honour : *?'"*•

" and that he cast away life and honour together : and that,

" as he thirsted after his brother's blood, so others thirsted

" after his."] Would a man of a cooler temper than our

author have presently judged the Duke so impotent and

feeble, and unable to govern himself.'^ Would he not ra-

ther have considered the circumstances wherein he stood,

and what powerful enemies combined together against him,

and thirsted for his ruin ? The Duke might perhaps have

been somewhat too hasty, if Sir John Hayward had been

his counsellor, to have presently taken up arms, and ven-478

tured life and honour too;ether : and so might have lost

both together, as in all probability he would, being so infe-

rior in strength to his adversaries, who were, in effect, all

the Council, except one or two. The Duke undoubtedly con-

sidered this, and also the danger the King was and would

have been in, if this broil had proceeded further ; and the

danger of religion too, to which many of the other side had

no great favour ; and who, upon the condition of their as-

sistance, would have made their terms : and it was not his

feebleness therefore, but rather his caution and wisdom, that

made him submit as he did, and ask pardon. As for his

thirsting after his brother's blood, it was a calumny, as I

have mentioned before.
P. 105. Sir John Mason, secretary of state.] He was not Sir John

secretary of state, but secretary for the French tongue.

P. 128. Having occasion to speak of the Marquis of Dor- The Duke

set, who was now raised to be Duke of Suffolk, according "^ ^"^'''^"

to his wont, he gives this disparaging character of him ; " a

" man for his harmless simplicity neither misliked nor

" much regarded."] This nobleman was a great friend to

the Reformation, and a patron of learned men. I have seen

letters of Bucer and Bullinger to him. And, which is in-

stead of all that can be said of him, he was the father of a

192 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

BOOK very admirable, though unfortunate woman, the Lady Jane

' Grey. He was no such domineerer or boutefeu as Nor-

thumberland ; but surely was never the worse for that.

Sir Robert Ibid. But of all the ill characters our author gives of

" ^^' men, none exceeds that he bestows upon Sir Robert Dud-

ley, the great Duke of Northumberland's son : whom he

calls, " the true heir of his J'ather'' s hate against persons of

" nobility., and of his cunning to dissemble the same. He was

" afterwards,''*' [he means under Queen Elizabeth, when he

was Earl of Leicester,] " for lust and cruelty, a monster of

" the Court, as apt to hate, so a most sure executioner of

" his hate, yet rather by practice than by open deahng, as

" wanting rather courage than wit." And finally, he attri-

butes the King's death to him.] It is true, this man was

none of the best, but is represented commonly worse than

lie was, especially by Parsons, in his book entitled, Lei-

cester''s Commonwealth. Out of which Hayward hath taken

a character for Dudley : when other more wary men would

hardly set down for truth what they read in that malicious

book, and wrote by so envenomed an author. This cha-

racter must not be denied him ; that he was a good soldier,

a gallant courtier, and a favourer of learning.

Marquis of P. 136. Of the Marquis of Northampton he had but a

Northaniii- j^g^n Opinion too, and set an ill mark upon him, as well as

he did upon the rest of the nobles of this King's Court. Of

this Marquis he saith, that when he was crossed, or conten-

tious with any, he never replied to any answer : which, he

said, was a manifest sign of no strong spirit.] It was a ma-

nifest sign indeed of no contentious spirit, and that de-

lighted not in fending and proving, as we say. But he

means a meanness and lowness of spirit and courage. I

think it not so manifest a sign ; because sometimes this spar-

ingness of words, and slowness of replies, proceeds from

wisdom and discretion. But where he met with this account

of the Marquis's temper, I know not; he was certainly able

enough to make replies, if he had pleased, being of a very

gay and florid fancy and wit.

479 P- 137. He writes not like an historian, when he gives us

OF KING EDWARD VI. 193

so lame an account of the imprisonment of the Bishop of CHAP.

Durham. He saith, " He was sent to the Tower for con- '^^^^""

*' ceahnent of I know not what treason, written to him, I Bishop of

" know not by whom, and not discovered until what shall I why com-

" call the party, did reveal it.""] In the Journal, our author """'^'^•

met with the commitment of this Bishop for concealment of

treason. And because he had read no more particulars of

it, he would hint as though his imprisonment were unjust,

and would cast the imputation of it upon the state, as a

piece of forgery and oppression. Whereas by the minutes

in the Council-Book, and the Book of Warrants to the

seal, the particulars of this matter appear.

Ibid. Concerning the reason of the Lord Rich's relin- Lord Rich,

quishing the chancellorship, and the ill character given by ^L °'' °

our author to the Bishop of Ely, that succeeded in that of-

fice, I have spoken in the foregoing book.

P. 144. The commission to thirty-two persons for f ram- The com-

ing a body of ecclesiastical laws, to be used in this king- franihi'' ec-

dom, he saith, took no effect.] It took effect so far, that a desiasticai

book of laws was drawn up, and completely finished, and

wanted nothing but the King''s confirmation ; which his

death, and some other causes, unhappily prevented.

And the reason he gives why this took no effect was, be-

cause of the number of the commissioners, and divers of

them far remote, and others had great offices, that they

could not afford meetings for so great a business. Also

their differences of professions and ends necessarily raised

difference in judgment.] But for remedying of all this, he

might have known, that the King therefore issued out an-

other commission in October 1551, to eight persons only,

leaving the work in their hands to finish. And the Arch-

bishop of Canterbury being one of these eight, knowing

the great usefulness of the thing, hastened it, and in effect,

himself completed it, as is shewn in the Memorials of Arch-

bishop Cranmer. But indeed the true reason why this ex-

cellent book, with so much study, and care, and consulta-

tion, well framed, had not authority given to it, was, be-

cause the nation, especially the great men, could not endure

VOL. II. PART II. o

194 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

BOOK ecclesiastical discipline. And so Cox, one of the eight com-
" niissioncrs, wrote about this time to Bullinger, in the course
of his correspondence, " We hate those bitter institutions of

" Christian discipline.""

The King's p. 155. The King's debts, he saith, were given forth to

be at least 251,000Z.] The King's debts, anno 1551, owing

at home and abroad, were in all 241,179^. lis. lOd. as they

ciiap. ix. are particularly set down in a paper of Secretary Cecyl's,

which may be seen before.
And in the page before, he is setting down from the

Journal an account of what the King had paid of the money

he took up at interest from abroad, namely, 63,000/. Fle-

mish, paid in February, and 24,000/. in April] Whereas

in the Journal, the last sum is 14,000/. Which two sums

came to 77,000/. together. And so it is set down in the

Joiu-nal. From whicli he varies again ; and instead of

77,000/. writes 87,000/. wilfully, the better to cover his

former mistake.

480 P. 156. He errs ao;ain from the Kino's Journal. From

Beaumont, ^y]^j(.|^ j^Q^y ^11 alouff he does but copy, with some little de-

master of "^ _ r./ '

the rolls, scants of his own. He writes, that Beaumont, master of the

rolls, lent above 700/. of the King's money.] Whereas in

the King's Journal it is 9000/.
P. 173. He saith', the Duke of Northumberland, in the

contrivance of the settlement of the crown upon the Lady

Jane, used the advice of two persons especially, viz. the

Lord Chief Justice Mountague, who drew the letters pa-

tents, and Secretary Cecyl : both which furnished the pa-

tents with divers reasons, some of law, and some of policy

in state.] Herein Sir John Hayward grossly wrongs the

memory of both these gentlemen ; out of what design, I

know not.

cvcyi as- First, As for Cccyl, he was so far from assisting and

in the new drawing Up tliis instrument of settlement, that he opposed

settlement jj- gg n^^ch as he could, (and so Camden expressly saith ;)

crown ; though he signed with the rest. Moreover, I have seen an

apology of his own drawing up about this matter. Wherein

he writ, liow he refused to sub.scribe the book, when none

OF KING EDWARD VI. 195

of the Council did refuse, whereby he incuri'ed the indigna- CHAP,

tion of the Duke of Northumberland. That he refused to ^^^^"'

make a proclamation, (which was for the proclaiming Queen

Jane,) and turned the labour to Throgmorton. That he re-

fused the writing of a letter to send abroad in the realm, for

the shewing Queen Jane's title. This he refused, because he

would not write Queen Mary, bastard: and the Duke

wrote it himself. That he avoided being present at the

drawing up of the proclamation for the publishing of Jane's

title, though he were especially appointed thereunto. That

he avoided answering of the Queen's letters, which she

wrote from Kenninghal to the Council, requiring their obe-

dience. That he avoided likewise writing all public letters

to the realm upon Jane's access to the crown. Moreover,

that he practised with the Lord Treasurer to win the Lord

Privy Seal, that he might by the Lord Russel's means

cause Windsor castle to serve the Queen : and they two to

levy the west parts for the Queen's service. That he opened

himself to the Lord Admiral, whom he found thereto dis-

posed. That he did the like to the Lord Darcy. That he

purposed to have stolen down to the Queen's Highness, and

Gosnold offered to lead him thither, because he knew not the

way : and he had his horses ready at Lambeth for that pur-

pose. That when he heard of this purpose first secretly, he

disliked it, and fearing the event, conveyed away his lands,

his goods, and his leases. All these things considered, who

can think it true, that he furnished the settlement with ar-

ticles taken from policy ? The most he did was to sign with

the rest. Which also he did as a witness to King Edward's

hand, and not as an abettor or counsellor.

This for Cecyl. Then for Sir Edward Mountague, the And Moun.

lord chief justice, how he stood affected, and what he did in a-ains't his

this affair, may be seen by an original paper, drawn up by ^^^'•

that judge's own hand, which his great grandchild, Edward

Lord Mountague, of Broughton. communicated unto Dr. cimrcii

Fuller. The sum of which was, that he, and the rest of the 'j/

judges, told the King, that the bill of articles shewed to

them, according to which they should frame a book for the

o 2

196 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

BOOK settlement of the crown in the Lady Jane, was directly

' against the act of succession : which was an act of Par-

liament, and would be taken away by no such device. But

481 when it was the King's absolute will, that a book should

be made according to those articles, he took them. And

the next day, he and the rest concluded to do nothing ; but

to report to the Lords, that not only the executing of this

device was treason after the King''s death, but the making

of this device was presently treason : and so they did re-

port to the Council. And that the Duke of Northumber-

land upon it was in a great fury, and called Sir Edward,

traitor : and so he departed home, without doing any thing

more. Afterwards Mountague received another letter from

the Council, to come to the Court, he, and some other of the

judges and lawyers. And being come, they were brought

to the King ; who demanding, why they had not made the

book, Mountague told the King the reason. And moreover,

that if they had, it were of no effect nor force, but utterly

void, when the King should decease : and that the statute

of succession could not be taken away, but by the same au-

thority that made it, and that was a Parliament ; and ad-

vised the King, that all might be deferred to a Parliament.

The King said, thev should make it, and afterwards it

should be ratified by Parliament. That divers of the Lords

then said, that if he and the rest refused now, they were

traitors. So that, what with the Duke's anger the day be-

fore, and the King's and other Lord's now, he was in the

gi-eatest fear that ever he was in all his life. And so at last,

being an old man, and for safety of liis life, he told the

King, that he had served his father and his Highness dur-

ing his life, and loath he would be to disobey his command-

ment, and would for his own part obey it, so that he had

his Highness's licence and commission, under the great seal,

for the doing of it, and when done, to have a general pardon.

Both which were granted him. And he and the rest made

the device, as he writ, wiUi sorrowful hearts and weeping

eyes. And lastly, after he had done this, to shew how little

he approved of putting by the true succession, he sent his

OF KING EDWARD VI. 197

son to serve and assist Queen Mary witli twenty men, with CHAP,

other gentlemen of Buckinghamshire. By what is written '_

sufficiently appears, our author hath wronged the memory

of these two worthy men, and wronged posterity also in im-

posing upon their belief matters of falsehood.

Sir John Hay ward in his lifetime was esteemed for his ^'^y"'^'''?
...•'.. _ _ sense or his
writmgs of English history: of which, what his own own writ-

thoughts were may appear in his preface to a devout trea- '"^*"

tise of his, named David's Tears, written when he was not His book

far from the conclusion of his life, and printed anno 1626. yid's Tears.

" Of mine own productions never any did fully content

" me ; and the approbation of others is no warrant to my

" own judgment, tender and severe in what I do. They"

[his productions] " may happily be sprinkled over, but

" thoroughly died, I conceive, they are not. In case any

" thing is excusable in them, it is not in regard of them-

" selves, but in comparison with some other formless, un-

" sinewy writings. Whereto, notwithstanding, I find good

" allowance to be given. Assuredly knowing mine own

" ignorance and defects, I wonder much at the constant as-

" surance of many others. But modesty forbids us to speak

" good or evil of ourselves." This is his own sense of his

writings, which he calls his j^roclnctions. Wherein, first,

he declared that he was not satisfied with them : whether

he were conscious of some wilful mistakes, or interpola-

tions, or other deficiences in them, I know not. And

perhaps he thought the best quality in them was his style 482^

and language : which he seems to mean by their being

sjjrinMed over, and his partiality and neglect of truth,

meant by his phrase of their not being thoroughly died.

But how imperfect soever they were, secondly, he valued

them before other men's; which, however well thought on

by other readers, and by the authors themselves, yet, to his

most accurate eye, they were^rmless and xinsinewy. And

though in a seemingly modest fit he reckoned but meanly

of his productions, and knew his own ignorance and defects,

y€t his judgment he valued sufficiently, styling it, tender

and severe in what he did.

o3

198

MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

BOOK

II.
Some cha-

racter of

this writer.

Preface to

David's
Tears.

In truth, his temper seemed not well qualified for an his-

torian, being touchy and morose, censorious, conceited, and

too much aspiring: which was the cause, in probability,

that as he had enemies, so he wanted interest enough to

overpower them that opposed him and his advancement,

and that intercepted liim in it : so that he fell short of his ex-

pectation of some things he aimed at, and thought his me-

rit deserved. And so in his old age he gave himself to re-

tirement in some discontent, and there wrote his David's

Tears. Which those words of his do express : " This is

" the reason wherefore many well esteemed for sufficiency,"

[meaning himself for one,] " whose virtue forbids them to

" be base, hang under the wheel, and cannot advance. Yea,