VI. 1547. lous 5 heart. might bring to his grace; what breach of amity on the emperor's Edward part; what troubles, what unkindness, and what occasions sundry ways it would enforce, &c. Unto whom the king answered, willing A.D. them to content themselves; for he would (he said) spend his life, and all he had, rather than agree and grant to what he knew certainly to His zeabe against the truth: which when the bishops heard, notwithstanding, they urged him still to grant, and would by no means have his nay. Then the good king, seeing their importunate suit, that needs they would have his majesty to consent thereto, in the end, his tender heart bursting out into bitter weeping and sobbing, he desired them to be content; whereat the bishops themselves, seeing the king's zeal and constancy, wept as fast as he, and took their leave of his grace. And coming from him, the archbishop took Master Cheek, his schoolmaster, by the hand, and said, "Ah! Master Check, you may be glad all the days of your life, that you have such a scholar, for he hath more divinity in his little finger, than all we have in all the tears our bodies." Thus the lady Mary's mass, for that time, was Edward. stayed. The lady mass a stayed by of king Edward change. Över and besides these heavenly graces and virtues, most chiefly to be required in all faithful and christian magistrates who have governance of Christ's flock, neither was he also unprovided with such outward gifts and knowledge, as appertain to the governance of his realm politic; insomuch that he was neither inexpert nor igno- King rant of the exchange, and all the circumstances of the same touching skilful in doings beyond the sea: but was as skilful in the practices, and could the exsay as much thereof, as the chiefest doers in his affairs. Likewise, in the entertaining of ambassadors; to whom he would give answer, and that to every part of their oration, to the great wonder of them that heard, doing that in his tender years by himself, which many princes, at their mature age, seldom are wont to do but by others. And as he was a great noter of things that pertained to princely This affairs, so had he a chest severally to himself, for every year, for the keeping keeping of such records and matters as passed, and were concluded of acts of by the council; of whom also he would require a reason and cause of council every thing that should pass their judgments: and of this chest he would evermore keep the key about him. His notes also he ciphered in Greek letters, to the end that those that waited upon him, should not read or know what he had written.' of He had, moreover, great respect to justice, and to the dispatch poor men's suits, and would appoint hours and times with Master Cox, then master of his requests, how, and by what order, they might be sped in their causes without long delays and attendance; and so also debate with him, that their matters might be heard and judged with equity accordingly. What Jerome Cardan saith of him, concerning his knowledge in liberal sciences, I thought here to express in his own words, both in Latin2 and English, so much the rather, because he speaketh of his (1) King Edward's diary written by himself, is given in Burnet. Vol. ii. part 2. pp. 3–96.—ED. (2) The words of Cardan, in Latin, be these : Hieronymus Cardanus de Genituris. 'Aderant enim illi gratiæ. Linguas enim multas adhuc puer callebat, Latinam, Anglicam (patriam) Gallicam, non expers (ut audio) Græcæ, Italicæ, et Hispanicæ, et forsan aliarum. [Propriam, Gallicam et Latinam exacte tenebat, et ad omnia docilis erat.] Non illi dialectica deerat, chest for the Edward own experiment, and upon the present talk which he had with the king himself. VI. A. D. 1547. The cause of comets. The Words of Cardanus in commendation of King Edward. There was in him a towardly disposition and pregnancy, apt to all human literature; as who, being yet a child, had the knowledge of divers tongues, first of the English, his own natural tongue, of the Latin also, and of the French; neither was he ignorant (as I hear) of the Greek, Italian, and Spanish tongues, and of other languages, peradventure, more in his own, in the French, and in the Latin tongue, singularly perfect, and with the like facility apt to receive all others. Neither was he ignorant in logic, in the principles of natural philosophy, or in music. There was in him lacking neither humanity (the image of our mortality), a princely gravity and majesty, nor any kind of towardness beseeming a noble king. Briefly, it might seem a miracle of nature, to behold the excellent wit and forwardness that appeared in him, being yet but a child. This I speak not rhetorically, to amplify things, or to make them more than truth is; yea, the truth is more than I do utter. Being yet but fifteen years of age, he asked of me, in Latin (in which tongue he uttered his mind no less readily and eloquently than I could do myself), what my books which I had dedicated unto him, 'De Varietate Rerum,' did contain. I said, that in the first chapter was showed the cause of comets, or blazing stars, which hath been long sought for, and yet hitherto scarce fully found. 'What cause,' said he, 'is that?' The concourse or meeting,' said Í, ' of the light of the wandering planets and stars.' To this the king thus replied again: Forasmuch,' said he, as the motion of the stars keepeth not one course, but is divers and variable, by continued alteration, how is it, then, that the cause of these comets either doth not quickly evade and vanish, or that the comet doth not keep one certain and uniform course and motion with the said stars and planets? Whereunto I answered, that the comet hath his course and moving, but much more swift than they, because of the diversity of aspect; as we see in crystal, and in the sun, when the form of the rainbow reboundeth on the wall: for a little mutation maketh a great difference of place. Then said the king, 'And how can that be, having no subject: for of the rainbow the wall is the subject?' 'Like,' said I, 'as in lactea via,1 or in reflection of lights; as, where many candles be lighted and set near together, in the middle they cause a certain bright and white lightsomeness to appear,' &c. And so, by this little trial, a great guess may be given, what was in this king; in whom, no doubt, was a great hope and expectation amongst all good and learned men, both for the ingenious forwardness, and amiable sweetness, which in his conditions appeared. First, he began to love and favour liberal arts and non naturalis philosophiæ principia, non musica. Humanitas mortalitatis nostræ imago, gra vitas regiæ majestatis, indoles tanto principe digna. In universum, magno miraculo humanarum rerum, tanti ingenii, et tantæ expectationis puer educabatur! Non hæc rhetoricè exornata veritatem excedunt, sed sunt minora.' De Qualitatibus Animi. *Cum illo congressus. decimum quintum adhuc agebat annum, interrogavit (Latinè non minus quam ego polite et prompte loquebatur) quid continent libri tui De rerum varietate rarâ?' hos enim nomini majestatis suæ dedicaveram. Tum ego: Cometarum primum causam diu frustra quæsitam in primo capite ostendo. Quænam? inquit ille. Concursus, ego aio, luminis erraticorum siderum. At Rex: Quomodo, cum diversis motibus astra moveantur, non statim dissipatur aut movetur eorum motu? At ego: Movetur equidem, sed longe celerius illis ob diversitatem aspectus, velut in chrystallo et sole cum iris in pariete relucet. Parva enim mutatio magnam facit loci differentiam. At Rex: Et quonam pacto absque subjecto illud fieri potest, iridi enim paries subjectum est? Tum ego: Velut in lactea via, et luminum reflectione, cum plures candelæ propè accensæ medium quoddam lucidum et candidum efficiunt. Itaque ex ungue leonem, ut dici solet. Fuit hic in maxima omnium aut bonorum aut eruditorum expectatione, ob ingenuitatem atque suavitatem morum. Prius cœperat favere artibus quam nosceret, et noscere antequam uti posset. Conatus quidam humanæ conditionis, quem non solum Anglia, sed orbis ereptum immaturè deflere debet. Plurimum educationi debueramus, plus ereptum est hominum dolo fraudéve. O quam bene dixerat ille, 'Immodicis brevis est ætas, et rara senectus.' Specimen virtutis exhibere potuit, non exemplum. Ubi gravitas regia requirebatur, senem vidisses; ut blandus erat, et comis, ætatem referebat. Cheli pulsabat, publicis negotiis admovebatur, liberalis animo, atque in his patrem æmulabatur, &c. - See Hieronymi Cardani Opera Omnia. (Lugduni. 1663.) tom. v. p. 503. Genitura. 1. The passages distinguished by asterisks are inserted from the original work: and that in a square parenthesis is an interpolation. Cardan was born at Pavia in 1501, and died about 1576.- ED. (1) 'Lactea via,' is a white and bright part of the firmament, like a long white causeway, or way, appearing in the night among the thick stars. sciences, before he knew them, and to know them before he could use them; Edward whose mortal condition, and sudden decease and decay, in those tender and unripe years, not only England, but all the world hath cause to lament. O how truly is it said of the poet, 'Things that be exceeding excellent, Be not commonly long permanent.' A show or sight only of excellency he could give us: example he could not give. Where a kingly majesty required gravity, there you should have seen him a sage and an old man; and yet gentle and pleasant also, according as the condition of his age then required. He played well upon the lute; he had, also, to do in handling of weighty affairs of the realm. He was liberal and bountiful in heart; and therein he imitated his father, &c. Carmen Epitaphium Cardani, in obitum Regis Edwardi. 'Flere nefas magnum; sed toto flebitis orbe, Nam regum decus, et juvenum flos, spesque; bonorum, Dignus Apollineis lachrymis, doctæque Minervæ VI. A. D. 1547. Edward lord pro Thus, after the godly disposition and properties of this king briefly in this wise declared, now, God willing, we will intermeddle something to describe the order and proceedings which he followed in his administration and government of both the states, as well politic, as especially ecclesiastic; who, after the decease of his father coming unto the crown, because he was of young and tender age, he was committed to sixteen governors. Amongst them, especially the Lord lord Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, his uncle, was assigned seymour and joined to him, as protector and overseer of him and of the com- made monwealth; a man not so highly advanced for his consanguinity, as tector. also for his noble virtues; and, especially for his favour to God's word, worthy of his vocation and calling. Through the endeavour Commenand industry of this man, first that monstrous hydra with six heads dation of (the Six Articles, I mean), which devoured up so many men before, was abolished and taken away by reason whereof the counsels and proceedings of Winchester began to decay, who, storming at the same matter, wrote to the lord protector in the cause thereof, as by his letters is to be seen. : him. mation The holy Scriptures, he restored to the mother tongue. Masses Reforhe extinguished and abolished. Furthermore, after softer beginnings, by king by little and little, greater things followed in the reformation of the Edward. churches. Then such as before were in banishment for the danger of the truth, were again received to their country. To be short, a new face of things began now to appear, as it were in a stage, new players coming in, the old being thrust out; for the most part the bishops of churches and dioceses were changed: such as had been dumb prelates before, were then compelled to give place to others then, that would preach and take pains. (1) See his Works as above, page 506.-ED. Edward 1547. Peter Besides others also, out of foreign countries, men of learning and notable knowledge were sent for and received, among whom was Peter A. D. Martyr, Martin Bucer, and Paulus Phagius ;3 of whom the first taught at Oxford, the other two professed at Cambridge, and that with no small commendation of the whole university. Of the old bishops some were committed to one ward, some to another. Bonner, bishop of London, was committed to the Marshalsea, and eftsoons, for his contempt and misdemeanour, deposed from his Bonner bishopric, as in further process followeth to be seen. Gardiner, ted to the bishop of Winchester, with Tonstal, bishop of Durham, was cast into Marshal- the Tower for his disobedience, where he kept his Christmas five diner and years together; more worthy of some other place without the Tower, if it had not otherwise pleased God to have meant a further plague to this realm, by that man. Phagius. commit sea; Gar Tonstal, to the Tower. Dobbe dies in prison. But these meek and gentle times of king Edward, under the government of this noble protector, have this one commendation proper unto them, that amongst the whole number of the popish sort, of whom some privily did steal out of the realm, many were crafty dissemblers, some were open and manifest adversaries; yet, of all that multitude, there was not one man that lost his life. In sum, during the whole time of the six years of this king, much tranquillity, and, as it were, a breathing-time, was granted to the whole church of England: so that the rage of persecution ceasing, and the sword taken out of the adversaries' hand, there was now no danger to the godly, unless it were only by wealth and prosperity, which many times bringeth more damage in corrupting men's minds, than any time of persecution or affliction. Briefly, during all this time, neither in Smithfield nor any other quarter of this realm, were any heard to suffer for any matter of religion, either papist or protestant, either for one opinion or another, except only two, one an Englishwoman, called Joan of Kent, and the other a Dutchman, named George, who died for certain articles not much necessary here to be rehearsed. Besides these two, there was none else in all king Edward's reign, that died in any manner or cause of religion, but one Thomas Dobbe, who, in the beginning of this king's reign was apprehended and imprisoned for speaking against the idolatry of the mass, and in the same prison died; as in the story here ensueth to be seen. This Thomas Dobbe, being a student and a master of arts in Cambridge, was brought up in the college called St. John's college, and fellow of the same; where he increased in the study of good letters, among his equals very forward, of nature and disposition simple and modest, of zeal toward God fervent, patient in injuries, injurious to (1) Peter Martyr was born at Florence in 1500. He studied at Padua and Bononia, and was a monk of the Augustine order in the monastery of Fascoli. He preached the doctrines of Zuinglius and Bucer, privately, at Rome; being impeached there, he fled to Naples, and thence to Lucca. Having been sent for by king Edward, he was made professor of divinity at Oxford, in 1549, but retired to Strasburgh on the accession of queen Mary, and died in 1562.—ED. (2) Martin Bucer was one of the first reformers at Strasburgh; he was born at Alcaci in 1491. At seven years old he took the habit of St. Dominic. He read Luther's works, and conferred with him in person at Heidelburg, in 1521: but though he agreed with him in many of his opinions, yet in the following year he gave the preference to those of Zuinglius. He was at the interim at Augsburg in 1548, from whence the news of his piety, and sentiments upon matters of faith reached England; and, at Cranmer's solicitation, he came to England in 1549, and taught divinity at Cambridge, where he died in 1551.-ED. (3) Paulus Phagius died at Cambridge, and his bones were burnt, with those of Martin Bucer, in 1557, an account of which will be found under that date.-ED. VI. philoso turally gall. no man; of much like sort and condition as in doves, which, without Edward all bitterness of gall, are more apt to receive injury than to work.. wrong to any. At length this godly man, intending with himself A. D. and addicting his mind to the christian state of matrimony, resorted 1547. to a certain maiden not far off where he dwelt: for the which cause Doves, as he was greatly molested, and wickedly abused, by three of that col- phers do lege, whose names were Hutchinson, Pindare, and Tayler, who with write, natheir malicious handling, scornful dealing, opprobries, rebukes, and have no contumelies, so much vexed the virtuous simplicity of the man, that they never left him, till at length they wearied him out of the college: who there having no rest or quietness, by reason of the unreasonable and virulent handling of his adversaries, was compelled to seek some other place, wherein to settle himself. Upon the occasion whereof coming up unto London, it chanced him to pass through Paul's church, where it happened that at the south side of the church, at the same time, there was a priest at mass (more busy than well occupied), being at the elevation as he passed by. The young man replete with godly zeal, pitying the ignorance and idolatry of the people, in honouring that so devoutly which the priest lifted up, was not able to forbear, but, opening his mouth, and turning to the people, he exhorted them not to honour the visible bread as God, which neither was God, nor yet ordained of God to be honoured, &c.; with such other words more of christian information. For this cause, straightway, he was apprehended by the mayor, and afterwards accused to the archbishop of Canterbury, and committed to the Compter, then in Bread-street, where he not long continued, but, falling into a sickness, how or whereupon I cannot tell, shortly upon the same changed this mortal life: whose pardon, notwithstanding, was obtained of the lord protector, and should have been brought him, if he had continued. And thus much concerning Thomas Dobbe and others. Over and besides, I find that in the first year of the reign of king Edward, which was A.D. 1547, there was one John Hume, servant to Master Lewnax, of Wressel, apprehended, accused, and sent up to the archbishop of Canterbury, by the said Master Lewnax, his master, and Margaret Lewnax, his mistress, for these articles. I. First, for denying the sacrament (as it was then called) of the altar, to be the real flesh and blood of Christ. II. For saying that he would never veil his bonnet unto it, to be burned there-for. III. For saying that if he should hear mass, he should be damned. For this was he sent up by his master and mistress aforesaid, with special letters unto the archbishop, requiring him severely to be punished by the law for the same. But, because I find no execution following thereupon, I therefore pass over this story of him. These things premised, when this virtuous and godly young prince (indued as you have heard with special graces from God) was now peaceably established in his kingdom, and had a council about him, grave, wise, and zealous in God's cause, especially his uncle the duke of Somerset, he then most earnestly likewise desired, as well the |