Let no one reproach the memory of Bishop Pecock, because martyrdom was not his choice! It was well said by the worthy Fuller, "Oh, there is more required to make a man valiant, than only to call another coward." His principles were not those which demanded that he should bear witness against the Roman Church in their behalf. He was the able and dutiful defender of that Church, not its enemy; his life had been spent in supporting it, and in endeavouring to refute or conciliate its opponents: consistently, therefore, with the tenour of that life, he chose rather to sacrifice his judgement, and perhaps truth also, in submitting, than to suffer death for opposing it, and thus strengthen, as undoubtedly such an execution would have strengthened, the cause of the Lollards. And considering the extreme humiliation to which he submitted, it can hardly be doubted but that death would have been the preferable alternative, had he not acted under a sense of duty. He was brought in his episcopal habit to St. Paul's Cross, in the presence of twenty thousand people, and placed at the Archbishop's feet, while fourteen of his books were presented to the Bishops of London, Rochester, and Dunholm, as judges. These books he was ordered to deliver with his own hands to the person by whom they were to be thrown into the fire, there ready for that purpose. Then standing up at the Cross, he read his abjuration in English, confessing that, presuming upon his own natural wit, and preferring the natural judgement of reason before the Scriptures and the determination of the Church, he had published many perilous and pernicious books, containing heresies and errors, which he then specified as they had been charged against him. "Wherefore, regarding himself as a miserable sinner, who theretofore had walked in darkness, but now by the mercy of God was reduced into the right way, and that he had wickedly infected the people, he openly revoked and renounced these heresies, committed himself as a penitent sinner to the correction of the Church and his Lord of Canterbury; and required all persons, as they tendered their souls and his, to deliver in all writings of his which they might have in their keeping; that the same might be openly burnt for an example and terror to others." As many copies as could be collected were then brought forward, and consumed in the fire. It remains now to state, what were the tender mercies of the Romish Church to this eminent man, (the most learned of his age and country,) who had thus humbly and thoroughly submitted to its authority. That his enemies in that Church insulted him with a malice which was at once venomous and grovelling, is only what may always be expected from mean and malignant minds; but the treatment which he received can only be imputed to the immitigable spirit of the papal tyranny and its agents. He was sent to Thorney Abbey, there to be confined in a secret closed chamber, out of which he was not to be allowed to go. The person who made his bed and his fire, was the only one who might enter and speak to him, without the Abbot's leave, and in his presence. He was to have neither pen, ink, nor paper, and to be allowed no books, except a mass-book, a psalter, a legendary, and a Bible. For the first quarter, he was to have no better fare than the common rations of the convent; afterwards, the pittance of a sick or aged brother, with such further indulgence as his health might require; for which, and for fitting up his close apartment, the Prior was allowed eleven pounds. In this dismal imprisonment Pecock died. But carefully as his writings were sought for, and destroyed, some of them remained to preserve his memory, and bear witness to his learning, his moderation, and his worth.' 2 If such was the severity which the Romish Church exercised toward the ablest of its defenders, what were those persons to expect who detested its doctrines, when they fell into the hands of its inhuman ministers? The civil wars, which in all other respects were so frightful to humanity, had the good effect of affording them a respite. In Fuller's beautiful words, "the very storm was their shelter." But when the struggle ceased, the business of persecution was resumed; and Henry VII., while he asserted his authority over the Clergy, found it consistent with his policy to employ them, rather than his nobles, in state affairs, and suffered them to proceed against the Lollards with the utmost rigour. Among the victims whom they brought to the stake, was a woman of some quality, Joan Boughton by name, 1 Lewis's Life of Bishop Pecock. Only 200 copies of this work were printed. The Clarendon press has lately republished it among the other services which it is rendering to our Ecclesiastical History, and to English Literature. 2 B. iv. p. 190. the first female martyr in England: she was more than eighty years of age,' and was held in such reverence for her virtue, that, during the night after her martyrdom, her ashes were collected, to be preserved as relics for pious and affectionate remembrance. Her daughter, the Lady Young, suffered afterwards the same cruel death, with equal constancy. At Amersworth, when William Tylsworh was burnt, his only daughter, as being suspected of heresy, was compelled not only to witness his death, but with her own hands to set fire to him! And in like manner when John Scrivener was put to death for the same cause at Lincoln, his children were constrained to kindle the faggots. By such barbarities did the Romish Church provoke the indignation of God and man. That it should have made one real convert, by such means, is impossible; though it compelled many to abjuration. In that case, the miserable wretches whom it admitted to its mercy were made to bear a faggot in public, while they witnessed the martyrdom of those who had more constancy than themselves. They were fastened to a stake by the neck with towels, and their hands held fast, while they were marked on the cheek with a hot iron; after which, they were for life to wear a faggot, worked or painted on the left sleeve; and if they ventured to lay aside this badge, which, if they were in humble life, consigned them to want as well as infamy, they were sent to the flames without remission: ... so that it became a saying, Put it off and be burnt; keep it on and be starved. Bishop Nix, of Norwich, one of the most infamous for his activity in this persecution, used to call the persons whom he suspected of heretical opinions, "men savouring of the frying pan ;"7 pan;”7. . with such levity did these monsters regard the sufferings which they inflicted! Erasmus writes from Cambridge to a friend in London, that the price of wood was increased that winter because of the heretics; and his friend replied that he was not surprised at it, when so many were burnt, and yet they were found to increase. French had an equivalent phrase, sentir le fagot. 5 Ibid. i. p. 878. 9th edition. 8, 9. p. 410, 412. I am sorry to observe that Erasmus expresses nothing like pity in this place for the sufferers. He says, Istis hæreticis, vel hoc nomine sum iniquor, quod instante brumâ nobis auxerint lignorum precium. 222 CHAPTER XII. OVERTHROW OF THE PAPAL POWER IN ENGLAND. WHILE the Clergy, by these cruelties, excited in the people a just hatred of a system which was supported by such means, other causes were preparing the way for a religious revolution. The Government, though it permitted and even encouraged persecution, never deviated from that course of policy which Edward I. had begun, for limiting the Papal authority in England, and checking its extortions. Full efficacy to what he intended was given by the statute of Præmunire, in Richard the Second's reign; which, though mainly designed to prevent the Pope from granting English benefices in reversion, struck at the root of his power, by making it highly penal to procure from him any instrument in diminution of the authority of the Crown. The Popes could never obtain a repeal of this, which they called an execrable statute against the Church, and the head of the Church. Even the Lancasterian Kings, while they endeavoured to root out Lollardy with fire, adhered to the example of their predecessors, in maintaining the rights of the Crown; and when Cardinal Beaufort, by consent of Parliament, was made one of the King's Council, a protestation was required from him, that he would absent himself when any matters between the King and the Pope were to be treated. As early as Henry the Fourth's reign, the Clergy were alarmed by notices, that the convent lands were in danger of being claimed by the State; and though Henry, at the commencement of his usurpation, assured them that he desired only their prayers, and not their money, they made him from time to time large grants, for the purpose of averting this danger. The measure was renewed upon the accession of Henry V., and a Bill was exhibited, praying that temporal lands devoutly given, but disordinately spent by spiritual persons, should be seized into the King's hands; and stating that these lands might suffice to maintain, for the King's honour and defence of the realm, fifteen earls, 1500 knights, 6200 esquires, 100 alms-houses for the poor and impotent, with a surplus of 20,000l. for the King's coffers. How many poor and impotent were to be deprived of support by the proposed transfer, how many artificers and labourers thrown out of employment, what schools of useful education broken up, how many persons of studious and retired habits cast adrift on the world, and how many houses of hospitality closed, were matters of which the promoters of such a scheme thought as little as they cared. But it was for the purpose of diverting the King's attention to other objects, that the Primate advised him to claim the crown and engage in the conquest of France. The enemies, whom the wealth of the Church tempted to assail it, were more dangerous than those who opposed its corrupt doctrines and superstitious practices. Against the latter it could defend itself by, aid of the secular arm; something too was effected by the learning and ability of those Prelates whom Henry VII., the most sagacious prince of his age, had promoted; and more might have been done by the timely correction of abuses so gross, that the Romanists of the present age are reduced, in the face of notorious facts, to deny what they find it impossible to defend. But when its wealth had once become an object of cupidity to the Government, the enemies, whom its corruptions had provoked and its cruelties incensed, were ready to league with any allies against it, and reform and spoliation went hand in hand. Few princes have succeeded to a throne under such propitious circumstances as Henry VIII., or with so many personal advantages. He found the kingdom at peace, the treasury rich beyond all former example, the country prosperous, the royal authority firmly established. Trade was flourishing, the liberal arts in a state of rapid advancement, and learning rising as it were from the dead. A new world had just been opened to the spirit of adventure, and the discovery of printing was already beginning to change the character of the old. To a great part of the nation he was endeared as the representative of the House of York; and the severe temper of his father, and the fiscal tyranny which his father's ministers had exercised, secured for him that popularity, of which the people are always prodigal when |