The comprehensive history of England, from the earliest period to the suppression of the Sepoy revolt, by C. MacFarlane and T. Thomson. Continued to signing of the treaty of San Stefano

brought in (eventually formed into the Act 1 Edw. VI. c. 12) repealed the late atrocious acts which gave to the royal proclamation the force of law, erased all the additions to the law of treason that had been made since the 25th of Edw. III., and also swept away at once both the old laws against the Lollards and all the new felonies created during the last reign, including the statute of the Six Articles, and every other act concerning doctrine and matter of religion. Another act (the 1 Edw. VI. c. 1) made an important innovation in the ritual of religious worship, by ordering that in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper the cup should be delivered to the laity as well as to the clergy. A third (the 1 Edw. VI. c. 2) put an end to the old form (afterwards, however, restored in the reign of Elizabeth, and still subsisting) of the election of bishops by congé d'élire, on the ground that "the said elections be in very deed no elections, but only have colours, shadows, or pretences of elections, serving nevertheless to no purpose, and seeming also derogatory and prejudicial to the king's prerogative royal;" and appointed that all collations to bishoprics should in future be made by direct nomination of the crown. Last in order of these measures of ecclesiastical reform, was brought in one in which many of the members of the government had a personal and pecuniary interest-the bill for making over to the crown all the chantries, colleges, and free chapels throughout the kingdom that yet remained unconfiscated. This bill, which was first brought forward in the House of Lords, was strongly opposed there, not only by the bishops attached to the old religion, but by Cranmer himself. It was vigorously pushed, however, by Henry's executors, who, as Burnet intimates, "saw they could not pay his debts, nor satisfy themselves in their own pretensions, formerly mentioned, out of the king's revenue, and so intended to have these to be divided among them;" and they had the eager assistance of every other noble lord who cherished any expectation of sharing in the plunder. The minority against the bill on the first division consisted, in fact, only of Cranmer, and six other bishops; and on the third reading the archbishop and one of the bishops were absent, while another of them abandoned his bootless and profitless opposition, and went over to the court. In short, "those that were to gain by it were so many that the act passed." It also met with much resistance in the commons from some of the burgh members, who particularly objected to the clause giving the lands held by guilds to the king; but they were pacified by an assurance that the lands in question should be afterwards restored; and the act was then quietly allowed to become law. The objects of the confiscation, as professed in the

preamble of the act, were, first, the discouragement of superstition; secondly, the converting of the funds obtained by the suppression of the chantries "to good and godly uses, as in erecting of grammar schools for the education of youth in virtue and godliness, the further augmenting of the universities, and better provision for the poor and needy;"1 but whatever may have been gained in the former of these ways, in respect to the latter the measure proved a mere delusion. "For though the public good was pretended thereby, and intended, too, I hope,” says a writer well disposed to take the most favourable view of all these proceedings, "yet private men in truth had most of the benefit; and the king and commonwealth, the state of learning, and the condition of the poor, left as they were before or worse."

Another remarkable act, designated by the king in his journal "an extreme law," was also passed for the suppression of the still extending nuisance of mendicity, or, as it was entitled, "for the punishment of vagabonds, and the relief of poor and impotent persons." All the provision that was made for the latter object was merely by a clause directing that impotent, maimed, and aged persons, who could not be taken as vagabonds, should have houses provided for them, and be otherwise relieved in the places where they were born or had chiefly resided for the last three years, by the willing and charitable dispositions of the parishioners; but in the part of it directed against mendicity, the statute has all the ferocity of a law passed in desperation, and fearfully attests, by the barbarous severity of its enactments, the height to which the evil had arrived. It was ordered that any person found living "idly or loiteringly" for the space of three days, should, on being brought before a justice, be marked as a vagabond with a hot iron on the breast, and adjudged to be the slave for two years of the person informing against him, who, it was added, "shall take the same slave, and give him bread, water, or small drink, and refuse meat, and cause him to work, by beating, chaining, or otherwise, in such work and labour as he shall put him to, be it never so vile." If in the course of this term the slave absented himself for fourteen days, he was to be marked with a hot iron on the forehead or the ball of the cheek, and adjudged to be a slave to his said master for ever: if he ran away a second time, he was to suffer death as a felon. Masters were empowered “to sell, bequeath, let out for hire, or give the service of their slaves to any person whomsoever, upon such conditions, and for such term of years, as the said persons be adjudged to them for slaves, after the like sort and manner as they may do of

any other their moveable goods or chattels." A master was likewise authorized to put a ring of iron about the neck, arm, or leg of his slave, "for a more knowledge and surety of the keeping of him. By another clause, it was ordered, that, although there should be no man to demand the services of such idle persons, the justices of the peace should still inquire after them, and, after branding them, convey them to the places of their birth, there to be nourished and kept in chains or otherwise, either at the common works in amending highways, or in servitude to private persons. Finally, all persons that chose were authorized to seize the children of beggars, and to retain them as apprentices-the boys till they were twenty-four, the girls till they were twenty years of age; and if they ran away before the end of their term, the master was permitted, upon recovering them, to punish them in chains or otherwise, and to use them as slaves till the time of their apprenticeship should have expired. This law can be characterized as nothing else than the formal re-establishment of slavery in England; but it would prove no mere matter of form: from the extent to which, owing to a concurrence of causes, beggary and vagrancy had now spread, its despotic and oppressive character would be actually and severely felt by no inconsiderable portion of the people. Indeed, it helped, along with other elements of popular exasperation, to produce the result that ensued not long after this in many parts of the kingdom, where mendicancy was converted into open and general rebellion.

the bishop of the diocese in which he so preached; "to the intent," as it was expressed, “that rash and seditious preachers should not abuse his highness' people." Remarks were made, Burnet tells us, upon the conduct of the council in thus going on creating new offences with arbitrary punishments, although the act was now repealed that had formerly given them such extraordinary powers. It was argued, in their vindication, that they might still issue such proclamations in the king's name, in virtue of the royal supremacy in matters ecclesiastical; "yet this," adds the historian, "was much questioned, though universally submitted to." The next order that appeared, directed the removal of all images from all churches and chapels. At the same time it was commanded that all rich shrines, with all the plate belonging to them, should be seized for the use of the king: the council, it seems, were not ashamed to add, that the clothes that covered them should be converted to the use of the poor.1 Soon after this was issued a royal proclamation, setting forth a new office for the public administration of the Lord's Supper, which had been drawn up by a committee of bishops and divines: it directed that the sacrament should be given to the people in both kinds; that there should be no elevation of the host; and that the whole service should be in the English language. These regulations were soon after followed by the publication of a short English catechism by Cranmer, "for the profit and instruction of children and young people." Finally, the committee of bishops and divines proceeded to the composition of an entire new Liturgy, or book of the public services of religion, in English; but the publication of this important work was deferred till it should have received the sanction of parliament.

Parliament rose on the 24th of December, its last measure having been an act confirming the king's general pardon of state offenders, from which, however, was excluded, along with a few others, the Duke of Norfolk, who still remained a prisoner in the Tower. Cranmer, nevertheless, continued to urge on his ecclesiastical alterations Meanwhile, some further trouble had been with unrelaxing activity. On the representation given by the dexterous opposition, or at least of the archbishop, that such things were contrary passive resistance, of Gardiner to these proceedto the gravity and simplicity of the Christian re-ings of Cranmer and the government. The act ligion, an order was issued by the council, prohibiting the carrying of candles on Candlemas Day, of ashes on Ash Wednesday, or of palms on Palm Sunday. This innovation was far from being relished by the bulk of the nation; for "the country people," as Burnet observes, "generally loved all these shows, processions, and assemblies, as things of diversion, and judged it a dull business only to come to church for Divine worship and the hearing of sermons; therefore they were much delighted with the gaiety and cheerfulness of those rites." Another proclamation soon followed, denouncing imprisonment against whosoever should take upon him to preach, except in his own house, without a license from the king, the visitors, the.Archbishop of Canterbury, or

of general pardon had restored him to liberty at the end of the session; and, accordingly, on the 8th of January, 1548, he was brought before the council and discharged, with a grave admonition to carry himself henceforth reverently and obediently. He retired to his diocese, but there still appeared in his whole behaviour what Burnet calls "great malignity to Cranmer and to all motions for reformation." "Yet," it is added, "he gave such outward compliance that it was not easy to find any advantage against him, especially now since the council's great power was so much abridged." After a few months, however, he was again summoned before the council, on

Burnet, however, although he mentions this order in his History, has not inserted it in his Collection of Records.

preamble of the act, were, first, the discouragement of superstition; secondly, the converting of the funds obtained by the suppression of the chantries "to good and godly uses, as in erecting of grammar schools for the education of youth in virtue and godliness, the further augmenting of the universities, and better provision for the poor and needy;"' but whatever may have been gained in the former of these ways, in respect to the latter the measure proved a mere delusion. "For though the public good was pretended thereby, and intended, too, I hope," says a writer well disposed to take the most favourable view of all these proceedings, "yet private men in truth had most of the benefit; and the king and commonwealth, the state of learning, and the condition of the poor, left as they were before or worse."

Another remarkable act, designated by the king in his journal "an extreme law," was also passed for the suppression of the still extending nuisance of mendicity, or, as it was entitled, "for the punishment of vagabonds, and the relief of poor and impotent persons." All the provision that was made for the latter object was merely by a clause directing that impotent, maimed, and aged persons, who could not be taken as vagabonds, should have houses provided for them, and be otherwise relieved in the places where they were born or had chiefly resided for the last three years, by the willing and charitable disposttions of the parishioners; but in the part of it directed against mendicity, the statute has all the ferocity of a law passed in desperation, and fearfully attests, by the barbarous severity of its enactments, the height to which the evil had arrived. It was ordered that any person found living "idly or loiteringly" for the space of three days, should, on being brought before a justice, be marked as a vagabond with a hot iron on the breast, and adjudged to be the slave for two years of the person informing against him, who, it was added, "shall take the same slave, and give him bread, water, or small drink, and refuse meat, and cause him to work, by beating, chaining, or otherwise, in such work and labour as he shail put him to, be it never so vile." If in the course of this term the slave absented himself for fourteen days, he was to be marked with a hot iron on the forehead or the ball of the cheek, and adjudged to be a slave to his said master for ever: if he ran away a second time, he was to suffer death as a felon. Masters were empowered “to sell, bequeath, let out for hire, or give the service of their slaves to any person whomsoever, upon such conditions, and for such term of years, as the said persons be adjudged to them for slaves, after the like sort and manner as they may do of

the bishop of the diocese in which he so preached; "to the intent," as it was expressed, "that rash and seditious preachers should not abuse his highness' people." Remarks were made, Burnet tells us, upon the conduct of the council in thus going on creating new offences with arbitrary punishments, although the act was now repealed that had formerly given them such extraordin ary powers. It was argued, in their vindication, that they might still issue such proclamations in the king's name, in virtue of the royal supremacy in matters ecclesiastical; "yet this," adds the historian, "was much questioned, though universally submitted to." The next order that appeared, directed the removal of all images from all churches and chapels. At the same time it was commanded that all rich shrines, with all the plate belonging to them, should be seized for the use of the king: the council, it seems, were not ashamed to add, that the clothes that covered them should be converted to the use of the poor.' Soon after this was issued a royal proclamation, setting forth a new office for the public administration of the Lord's Supper, which had been drawn up by a committee of bishops and divines: it directed that the sacrament should be given to the people in both kinds; that there should be no elevation of the host; and that the whole service should be in the English language. These regulations were soon after followed by the publication of a short English catechism by Cranmer, "for the profit and instruction of children and young people." Finally, the committee of bishops and divines proceeded to the composition of an entire new Liturgy, or book of the public services of religion, in English; but the publication of this important work was deferred till it should have received the sanction of parliament.

Burnet, however, although he mentions this order in his History, has not inserted it in his Collection of Records.

occasion of some new complaints; and this time | abled to take by means of the ample aid promised the affair ended by his being sent to the Tower. The council here seem to have proceeded with as little regularity as legal right; for it appears that the order for the bishop's imprisonment was not signed when it was made, but only some years after; as entered on the council-book, it has attached to it the names of Somerset, Cranmer, St. John, Russell, and Cheyney; but Lord Russell had, in the first instance, subscribed himself "Bedford," till, recollecting that he had not that title at the time of making the order, he drew his pen through the word, and substituted "J. Russell!" Gardiner, however, was thus once more placed where he could give no active annoyance; and he remained in close confinement throughout the reign, steadily refusing all proposals of submission or compromise, till at last he was deprived of his bishopric.

them by the French king. About the middle of June, the squadron conveying the expected foreign auxiliaries arrived at Leith. The force consisted of about six thousand veterans —partly French, partly German-under the command of D'Esse D'Espanviliers, a general of great gallantry and experience. No time was lost in proceeding to active operations. It was resolved that the first enterprise of the allied forces should be the recovery of Haddington; and accordingly an army composed of the whole of D'Esse's men, and of about eight thousand Scots, under the command of Arran, marched upon that town. It was in the camp before Haddington that the parliament or convention of estates was assembled which ratified, amid the hurry and tumult of arms, and against not a little opposition, the treaty with the French king. The fleet which had brought over the French soldiers still remained in the Firth of Forth; it now put to sea, and proceeded at first in the direction of the French coast, but as soon as it was fairly out of sight of land it changed its course, and having sailed round by the north of Scotland, entered the Clyde, and touched at Dumbarton, where it received on board the young queen with her attendants. Mary reached the harbour of Brest in safety on the 13th of August, and was immediately conducted to St. Germain-en-Laye, where she was contracted in the usual form to the Dauphin of France, then a child of five years of age, she herself being only a few months older. Meanwhile, Haddington remained unreduced, though still invested. At first the place had been sharply cannonaded, and various breaches had been made in the walls; but D'Esse still did not think it prudent to venture upon an assault, and resolved to trust to the hope of starving the gar

All this time the war in Scotland had not ceased to give both anxiety and occupation to the government, though the military operations that took place were not attended with any very important results. In an assembly of the Scottish nobility held at Stirling soon after the battle of Pinkie, a resolution had been adopted on the suggestion of the queen-dowager to apply for the assistance of France, and with that object to offer their infant queen in marriage to the dauphin, and even to propose to send her immediately to be educated at the French court. This was, in other words, an offer to the French king of the Scottish crown. It was at once accepted by Henry, nor did he lose a moment in making preparations for the vigorous defence of a kingdom which he might now consider as his own. On learning what had been done, Somerset published an earnest address in English and Latin, to the people of Scotland, pointing out to them all the advantages they were throwing away by the re-rison into a surrender. The strength and spirit jection of the matrimonial alliance with England, as well as the loss of their independence and the other evils that were sure to follow from the French marriage, and calling upon them to draw back from the ruinous course on which their government was leading them. This appeal was followed up by the arrival, towards the end of April, of a powerful English army under the conduct of the Lord Gray of Wilton, which advanced straightway upon the neighbourhood of the capital. The town of Haddington was taken and fortified, a garrison of two thousand men being left to hold it; some isolated castles were battered down, or compelled to surrender; Dalkeith and Musselburgh were burned; but all these terrors had no effect in damping the spirit of the Scots-buoyed up as they were by the highest hopes of the revenge they were soon to be en

Burnet.

of the latter, however, were soon after recruited by the arrival of a body of two hundred of their countrymen, who "found means one night to pass through all the watches on that side where the Scots lay, and entering the town, and bringing with them great plenty of powder and other necessaries, greatly relieved them within, and so encouraged them that they seemed to make small account of their enemy's forces." A similar attempt that was afterwards made by a troop of 1300 horse from Berwick, under the command of Sir Thomas Palmer, had a different issue. The English horse were met by the French and Scots under D'Esse and Lord Hume, and were completely environed and put to the rout. The

2 Curiously translated by Sir James Balfour, into "olde beaten shouldiours," in his patriotic aversion to admit that these foreign auxiliaries were of any use to his countrymen.

Balfour, Annals.

« Previous Continue »

Books

The comprehensive history of England, from the earliest period to ..., Volume 2