time. It is translated by Foxe, and a copy of it appears to have been sent by Noailles to the King of France. It is without a date, but must have been executed previously to the 12th of March, on which Noailles's dispatch is dated.*

The sixth follows, also in Latin, dated, if the tract is correctly printed,+ on the 18th of March, and said to be signed by Cranmer, but without any attesting witnesses.

Lastly comes the Prayer and Saying of Thomas Cranmer before his Death, agreeing in the main with the report in Foxe, except the last paragraph, on which the whole question turned.

It is scarcely possible for any one to suppose but that this was printed before Cranmer's execution. If then the Roman agents prepared one document for the press before it had actually been spoken by Cranmer, there seems no difficulty in supposing that they prepared another before it had been actually signed by him. Whether he actually did sign it or not must be in some degree doubtful. But the supposition that he did will be here admitted, under the impossibility of proving a negative; when or with what purpose will be presently considered.

The next point is to trace as far as possible the agency by which these papers were presented to Cranmer, and what was the inducement to make this trial of his constancy.

The process might indeed have been the same if there had been no particular circumstances in Cranmer's case to give it a probability of success, as we are told that the martyr Bradford was visited in prison by some of the English bishops and doctors, as well as by Carranza and Alphonso de Castro ;§ but that devout and resolute man was proof against their solicitations. Ridley and Latimer had also been thus attended, but to no purpose. But it has been commonly supposed that Cranmer himself had given some indications of a want of firmness before the last proceedings with him. The four English declarations are indeed exhibited by the editor of the tract as if they were gained from him with difficulty-the first gained, and afterwards revokedthe rest apparently drawn up at different intervals. They are given as so many proofs of unstableness. But, as already observed, the language of none of these goes further than to promise submission to the pope in obedience to the will of the prince; it is no recognition of the papacy as a point of religion, or due in conscience, any otherwise than as commanded by the civil power. At least, if there is an expression which might seem doubtful in the second, it is corrected by the third. They are all so far from approaching to a recantation, that they could hardly have led to the hope being entertained. It seems

Noailles, as before, vol. v. p. 319.

The tract contains a few misprints. In this sixth document the mass is described by the words “jugi et celeberrimo sacrificio." Probably we should read "saluberrimo."

ment.

Mr. Jenkyns speaks of it as "published afterwards." Cranmer's Remains, iv. p. 139. If so, the paper suppressed must have been a copy of the fifth docuBut for this there could be no reason, as it was certainly signed by Cranmer, and Noailles had received a copy of it. § Burnet, vol. iii. p. 566.

that they were produced by conferences with Boner, or at least offered to him for his consideration; and the two first were by him forwarded to the council. There can be no doubt that Cranmer, by putting his hand to them, wished to try how far they might avail in his favour; and perhaps, with some knowledge of the fears of the court, he might have expected they would not immediately reject a plea which might thus be made for his deliverance. It seems not improbable, as the time would agree, that the Earls of Oxford and Westmoreland may have interposed on this plea in his behalf, and have drawn upon themselves the censure just now mentioned, which took place before the signature of Cranmer to the fifth paper.

However, there seems to have been another agency at work. It has been asked why these recantations are in Latin, while the submissions are in English. One reason is obvious. The probability is that Villagarcia could not speak English, or not fluently enough to converse, and that the conferences with Cranmer were held in Latin.* But it is strange that he should have succeeded, as it appears, in overcoming the archbishop's resolution, when so many of his own countrymen, some of them his personal friends, had been heard with indifference. It has indeed been supposed that Cranmer's fortitude had first given way on the execution of Latimer and Ridley; but the passage from Pole's correspondence, which is alleged to prove this, does not assert so much, and the tenour of Pole's letters to Cranmer, written afterwards, proves that he was then unshaken. There is no evidence of another kind till after his degradation on the 14th of February. It seems probable, however, that Pole at this period engaged in the correspondence with a sincere intention to preserve his life, as he expresses himself very strongly in a second letter, that "if he could by any means rescue him from that dreadful sentence of death, not only of body, but of his soul, which was hanging over him, he would gladly prefer it, God knows, to all the riches and honours which this life could afford." Yet it is more than once asserted by Archbishop Parker, or the compiler of the "Antiquitates Britan

* Mr. Le Bas makes use of the fact of its being in Latin to support a suspicion against its genuineness, vol. ii. p. 364. There seems to be no ground whatever for doubting that Cranmer signed the fifth paper; and if he had not, there could have been no reason for the strong self-condemnation he pronounced in the last affecting

scene.

Lingard refers to the letter of Pole quoted before, in which, after speaking of the death of Ridley and Latimer, he says, "Qui olim Cantuarensi Ecclesiæ præfuit, cujus damnationis sententia Roma nunc expectatur, is non ita se pertinacem ostendit, aitque se cupere mecum loqui." Here Lingard's quotation ends; but the following words are important, as they shew that Cranmer had expressed nothing more than a desire for a conference. "Si ad pœnitentiam revocari possit, non parvum lucrum ex unius animæ salute Ecclesia fecerit ; quid autem sperari possit, ex proximis literis Patris Soti expectamus." Pole Epist. tom v. p. 47. The letter of Pole to Cranmer, written upon this message, is said by Phillips, Life of Pole, ii. 203, to be preserved in its original Latin in the King of France's library; and by Mr. Soames a copy is said to be among the Harleian MSS. Quirini gives a French translation by Le Grand. It is full of the most bitter reproof, "Vous avez imité le Serpent," &c., and very unlike an address to a penitent.

See Phillips, ubi supr.

nicæ," published under his sanction, that Pole eventually hastened his death. And the passage in Pole's Latin Biographer, his friend Dudith, though it has been quoted to prove that the cardinal had once obtained a promise from the queen that his life should be spared, seems also to imply that at a later period he advised the extreme penalty to be inflicted :

"Non minorem antea curam et studium Polus adhibuerat, ut saluti Thomæ Crammeri, qui ante se Archiepiscopus Cantuarensis fuerat, quique tunc Oxonii, quod oppidum bidui iter Londino distat, in custodia asservabatur, consuleret, ad eumque bis scripserat, si posset, pravis ejus opinionibus contra Sacramentum Altaris et Primatum Pontificis Romani confutatis, ad sanitatem illum perducere. Cujus rei magnam quidem spem initio dederat, eique veniam Polus ab ipsa Regina impetraverat. Verum postea, cognita ejus simulatione, ad quam natus et factus esse videbatur, et qua omnibus in rebus tota vita usus semper fuerat, ea tandem pœna est affectus, quæ ejus regni legibus in hæresim constituta erat, vivusque crematus est.” Vit. Reg. Poli a Dudith, in Præf. Epist. Poli, vol. i. p. 43.

The reproachful terms here applied to the character of Cranmer seem evidently intended to excuse the consent of Pole to his execution. And here again the truth may lie between the extreme statements. It is not necessary to suppose that Pole was insincere in the solemn declaration made in his second letter; but finding that his harsh reproofs had by no means terrified the prisoner into repentance, he had satisfied his own conscience as easily as when he spoke of the execution of Ridley, and considered Cranmer's obduracy a sign that God had forsaken him; "neminem servari posse, quem Deus projecerit !" It is only one of many marks of the cold fanaticism of a character not otherwise devoid of moral elevation.

This view is corroborated by a passage in the earlier biography of Beccatello, who speaks of Pole as if he had been somewhat weary of the butcheries, civil and religious, enacted by the government. He says his wish was to have retired from the court, and to have resided at Canterbury, but he was prevented by the persuasions of " many able divines," who assured him that they could not do without his assistance in crushing the heretics and aiding the catholic cause.+ It seems not improbable that Carranza had a share in this advice, as he appears to have been in constant attendance on the queen, and was in frequent correspondence with Pole. The sum of these authorities would prove that the cardinal, after the degradation of Cranmer, was fully consentient to his death.

As to Carranza, he appears at this time to have been almost the only Spaniard left in attendance upon the queen ;§ but there is every reason to suppose that he was confidentially employed by Philip; and,

Eo Legato et accelerante crematus est." Antiq. Brit. p. 533.

"Tanto bisogno si trovava, per opprimere li eretici ed aiutare i catolici." Beccatello. See Pye's Transl. p. 109.

Poli Epist. vol. v. Epist. xxvi. p. 59, &c. It appears, however, from a passage in a letter to Carranza at a later date, that he had advised Pole to visit his diocese; but this letter is dated in 1558, after Carranza had left England.

Philip, says Noailles, a arraché piece à piece tout ce qui restoit du sieng de delà, tant hommes que meubles, de sorte qu'il n'est demouré pres ladicte Royne sa femme que son Confesseur." Vol. v. p. 266. Letter dated Dec. 30, 1555. ranza remained till July, 1557.

Car

wishing to please his master, stimulated her to continue the persecutions. The unhappy woman herself, who had begun them in compliance with the ambitious views of Philip, now continued the same course in the hope of retaining his affections, and of persuading him to revisit England.* And her confessor is described as speaking to his confidential attendants in his last illness, protesting his strong devotion to his sovereign, and assevering that he had taken the part he did in these matters by order of the king, who could bear witness to the truth of what he said.†

Villagarcia in the meantime had succeeded in obtaining the imprisoned primate's signature to the well-known recantation. By what means it came to pass that Cranmer's mind was then so effectually broken we cannot ascertain, but it seems most probable that he was melted by a change of treatment and demonstrations of kindness which were made towards him after his degradation. That after so long an imprisonment and suspense between death and life he should have fallen into this temporary deviation from rectitude, is a circumstance requiring our thoughtful pity, rather than provoking our surprise. But what object the papal party could have in seeking to multiply his recantations, when there was no intention to save his life, is still more inexplicable. The pretext which Lingard and others have tried to deduce from the words of Dudith, that it was only the detection of Cranmer's dissimulation which prevented their purpose of sparing him, is contradicted by the whole report of the proceedings at his execution, even if we had not seen the declaration in the Spanish memoir, that the only object sought was to put him to death without scandal.

It appears then from Noailles that, two or three days before the 12th of March, a message was sent from Cranmer to Cardinal Pole to obtain a respite of his sentence, and that this message was soon after followed by what Noailles calls his public confession. He attributes the change in Cranmer simply to the immediate prospect of death. There was a delay of a few days after the receipt of this document;

* "Elle se cognoist si negligée et trouve si peu de certaineté aux promesses de son mary, que, pour luy asseurer sa demeure en ce lieu, il faille que par le feu et le glaive, et en toute extresmité de rigueur de justice elle fasse mourir tant de personnes. Noailles, ibid. p. 370.

"Puedo decir con verdad, que hé sido siempre uno de los primeros que trabajaron en este santo negocio, y entendé en muchas cosas de estas por orden del Rey nuestro Senor; el qual es buen testigo de parte de esto que digo." Mendoza. Vid. de Carranza, p. 108.

"Celluy qui fust archevesque de Cantorbery, de longtemps prisonnier à Oxfort pour la Religion, estant despuis deulx ou trois jours prest d'aller au supplice du feu, desjà allumé audict lieu pour le brusler, sur l'heure envoy a prier M. le Cardinal Polus de faire differer pour quelques jours son execution, esperant que Dieu l'inspireroit cependant; de quoy ceste Royne et susdict cardinal furent fort ayses, estimans que par exemple de sa repentance publicque, la religion en sera plus fortifiée en ce royaulme; ayant despuis faict une confession publicque et amande honnorable et voluntaire, telle que l'on trouvera cy-dedans enclose." Noailles. vol. v. p. 319. Upon this Dr. Lingard founds a statement in his text that the council "waited for a more perfect recantation, which Cranmer said God would inspire him to make," a mode of translation which may be recommended to learners of the art of controversy.

during which interval the tract of Boner's was prematurely issued by Cawood, the queen's printer, and immediately suppressed by an order of council; during which, also, the sixth paper is said to have been executed by Cranmer, and he wrote out a copy of what Dr. Lingard calls the seventh instrument of abjuration," the prayer and speech which was to be delivered at his death. On the 21st he was executed. We are told that on the morning of that day, after Cole had visited him and given him a message, by which he understood that he was to prepare for the stake, he was also visited by Villagarcia, who brought him a paper, which he was persuaded to transcribe, containing a retractation of his errors. Dr. Lingard supposes this to have been the seventh instrument, just mentioned. There is every reason to suppose that the two Latin recantations were prepared for him by Villagarcia; but the Spanish friar was as incapable of composing a paper in such vernacular English as Cranmer's dying speech and prayer, as Lingard would be of writing a sermon of Luis de Granada. Foxe describes friars John and Richard as addressing the sufferer on the way to the stake repeatedly in Latin; and the offence seems to move his bile almost as much as it angered Jack Cade to hear Lord Say quote Cæsar's Commentaries. It seems very improbable then that Villagarcia should have been the bearer of a document he did not understand. It is far more likely that he brought the sixth paper, which was intended, if the tract is printed correctly, to have been brought to him on the 18th, a day which might have been originally fixed for his execution. He was persuaded to copy this paper, which will appear to those who examine it to be a draught of a dying speech, a confession of all the delinquencies, civil and religious, urged against him, to be repeated at the stake. The "seventh instrument of abjuration," as Lingard calls it, except the last paragraph, which he exchanged for another at the close of his address in St. Mary's, could have been no man's composition but his own. As he was for a month before in continual expectation of his death, it is not surprising that he should have had it ready long before the 21st, and thus a copy almost in the same words should have been printed in Boner's Tract about ten days previously. The conclusion of all this is, that the signing of all these papers, or taking copies of them, supposing that all was done as the tract declares, adds little or nothing to the case against Cranmer. The four first, if we except one expression in the second, virtually revoked by the following, imply no dereliction of principle, simply engaging him to quietness and submission. The fifth is confessedly a paper which he signed under the fear of death overcoming his moral fortitude. The sixth it can be only proved that he took a copy of. It is not said that it was exhibited to any one

Le Bas, Life of Cranmer, ii. 234. + Lingard, vol. v. p. 96, 4to edit. Strype supposes it to be the composition of Cardinal Pole. It is full of strange figurative expressions, such as Pole sometimes used, whose native English was somewhat Italianized by his long ultramontane sojourn. But the mention of Cranmer's great offence in promoting the divorce of Queen Catharine is perhaps a presumption of its Spanish original. The Spaniards naturally viewed this transaction somewhat in the light of a national insult.