thys matter, to brynge hytt unto an unytye, as God ys my jugge, I wyll doe my dylygens, and yff he (quod absit) shollde hereaffter sey onny thynge that sholde sowne other wyse then the catholycall determynacion off the chyrche, ther wylbe inowhe that wylbe redy to note hyt wythe more dylygens then hytherto. The forth was my coscyens, thowhe hytt ware for the tym erronyows, and decevyd for lacke off takynge hede dylygently, to marke and knowe the abuse off a thynge frome the thynge. Thy fythe cause I shall reserve secretly to my selfe, lest that I sholde seme to put other men yn gylty off my factes, that I doe nott yntent, Gode wyllynge, whoe have you yn hys proteccion. Wretyn yn Brystoll, 2a Maii,

By me, Frere JOHN HYLSEY, doctor and pryor off the Freers Prechurs ther.

The letters which follow relate to an affair that had much influence in bringing the monks into disfavour, and hastened the great revolution which it is the object of the present volume to illustrate. Elizabeth Barton, so celebrated under the title of the Maid of Kent, was originally a servant, and being subject to strange epileptic fits, she was chosen by a violent party as an instrument of deception. She was taught to pretend to have visions and revelations, and was first brought forward by Richard Masters, parson of Aldrington. Archbishop Warham, and even Sir Thomas More and bishop Fisher, were either deceived, or gave encouragement to this pious fraud; and the former caused her to be placed as a nun in the priory of St. Sepulchre at Canterbury. She was there under the immediate surveillance of Dr. Edward Bocking, a canon of Christ's Church, who was one of the most zealous partizans of the plot; and another monk, named Richard Dering, or Deering, took down her pretended visions, and formed them into a book. This plot was allowed to go on for some time, and the fathers and nuns of Syon, the Charter House, and Sheen, with some of the friars observants of Richmond and Greenwich, participated largely in it. But at length the public violence with which the King's proceedings, in seeking a divorce from Catharine of Arragon, and his quarrel with the pope, were attacked, called down the vengeance of the Court; and the " holy mud" was seized and examined in the Star chamber, when she confessed the conspiracy and her accomplices. Elizabeth Barton, Bocking, Dering, and others concerned in this affair, were afterwards condemned of high treason, and execute i at Tyburn on the 20th of April, 1534. One of these was Hugh Rich, a friar observant. The following letter appears to have been written by one also

concerned in the conspiracy, but who had undertaken to examine the last-mentioned person, and gives us a brief catalogue of the principal visions of the nun.

VI.

LETTER TO SECRETARY CROMWELL.

[From MS. Cotton. Cleopat. E. IV. fol. 75.]

Sir, may it please you to be advertysed that accordyng to your comaundement I have put the artykylles of the communycacion betwene me and Mr. Ryche in wrytyng, and, as he sayth yow have them in wrytyng before, ever as I hard thynges wurthy to be notyd uppon the margent of my bok in the Doche and Frenshe tong, to thentent he shuld not understond my purpose, I dyd writ them. Yet dyd I not beleve sutche taylys (which he cawlyth revelacions), for I have lernyd the gospell, Attendite a falsis prophetis. Yf I had remembred another comaundement as well as I dyd that, Non concupisces rem proximi tui, with the saying of Catho cum bonis ambula, I shuld not have fallyn into this mysery. I have in remembraunce xxx. or xxxj. of these taylles which ar not possible to be set forth in wrytynges, that there intent shuld be known, and I suppose that xx. sheytes of papor wyll not wryte them at lengh in order. Wherefore I have written the name of the story whereuppon it dothe treate, so that then (yf it be as he sayth) the hole story wulbe in your remembraunce.

Fyrst, of an angell that appered and bad the nun go unto the kyng, that infydell prynce of Inglond, and say that I comaund hym to amend his lyve, and that he leve iij. thynges which he lovyth and purposyth uppon, that is that he tak none of the popis right nor patrymony from hym, the second that he distroye all these new ffolkes of opynyon and the workes of there new lernyng, the thyrde that yf he maryed and tok An* to wyffe the

The King was married to Anne Boleyn in the January of 1533.

vengaunce of God shuld plage hym, and (as she sayth) she shewyd this unto the kyng, etc.

2. Item, after this ii. or iij. monethis the angell apperyd and bad hur go ayen unto the kyng, and say that synce hur last beyng with his grace, that he hath more hyghlyer stodyed to bryng his purpose to passe, and that she saw in spyryt the kyng, the quene, and the yerle of Wylshere standyng in a gardeyn together, and that the dyd devyze how to bryng the matter to passe, and by no meanys it wuld not be, but at the last a lyttell devyll stode besydes the quene, and put in hur mynd to say thus, "Yow shall send my father unto themprowre, and let hym shew the emprowre your mynd and conscience, and gyve hym these manny thowsand docates to have his good wyll, and thus it wulbe browght to passe." Go and fere not to shew the kyng this taylle and prevy tokyn, and byd hym take his owyld wyff ayen, or elles, etc. It is so nowghty a mattur that my hand shakyth to write it, and some thynges better unwritten then written.

3. Item, that whan the kynges hyghtnesse was over at Callys, she saw the oyste takyn from the preyst with the blyssid blud, and that angelles browght it hur for to receave, saying, etc. ij. sheytes wull scant write this story.

4. Item, that she was charged to go unto the cardenall† whan he was most in his prosperyte, and shew hym of iij. swordes that he had in his hand, one of the spirytuallty, another of the temperallty, and the other of the kynges maryage; a long mattur. The bysshop of Cant, and Bokyng to be remembred.

5. Item, another season after the angell comaundyd hur to go unto the sayd cardynall, and shew hym of his fall, and that he had not done as she had comaundyd hym by the wyll of God, etc.

• Thomas Boleyn, Viscount Rocheford, created Earl of Wiltshire in 1329, the father of Anne Boleyn. In the year following, (1530) the Earl of Wiltshire, with Dr. Stokesley (the elect Bishop of London) and Dr. Edward Lee (the King's Almoner), was sent on an embassy to Bologna, where the Pope and Emperor were to meet, to declare to them the decision of the universities in favour of the king's new marriage. + Wolsey.

Scotland, and in 1535 was made bishop of St. Asaph. He was in a few weeks removed to the bishopric of St. David's, and afterwards to that of Bath and Wells. He fled from England on the accession of Mary; but on Elizabeth's return he was promoted to the bishopric of Chichester. Tanner has given the titles of such of his books as were printed. In his Dialogue he had reflected bitterly on Wolsey for the dissolution of the small monasteries with which he intended to endow his new college.

III.

WILLIAM BARLOW TO THE KING, A.D. 1533.

[From MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. fol. 121.]

Prayse be to God, who of hys infinyte goodnes and mercye inestimable hath brought me owt of darcknes into lyght, and from deadly ignoraunce unto the quicke knowlege of trothe, from the which through the fendes instygacyon and fals perswasyones I have greatly swerved, wrappynge my selfe in manyfolde erroures and detestable heresyes agaynst the doctryne of Chryst and determynacyon of holy churche, in so moche that I have made certayne bookes, and have suffred theym to be emprynted, as the Treatyse of the Buryall of the Masse, a Dyaloge betwene the Gentyllman and Husbandman, the Clymbynge up of Fryers and Religious Persones, portred with fygures, a descripcion of Godes worde compared to the lyght; also a convicyous dyaloge withowt any tytle, inveynge specyally agaynst Saynt Thomas of Canterberye, which as yet was never prynted nor publysshed openly. In thes treatyses I perceyve and aknowlege my selfe grevously to have erred, namely, agaynst the blyssed sacrament of the altare, dysalowynge the masse and denyenge purgatorye, with slawnderous infamye of the pope and my lorde cardynall, and owtragious raylyng agaynst the clergye, which I have forsaken and utterly renownced. Wherfore I beynge lately informed of your hyghnes endued with so excellent learnynge and syngler jugement of the trothe, which endevored not onely to chace awaye and extyrpe all heresyes, but also to se a reformacyone of slawnderous lyvynge, for the restraynte of vyce in all estates, to the furtheraunce of

vertue and avauncement of Godes worde; also considerynge the pyteous favour voyde of rygour, and mercye abhorrynge cruelte, which your hyghnes hath used towarde other of your subgettes fallen into soche lyke heresyes, as have submytted theym selves humbly unto your grace; I have made sute by all meanes possyble freely withowt mocyon of any man to come and present my selfe afore your highnes fet, to submytt my selfe unto your mercyfull pleasure, besechynge your gracyous pardone. Also as ferre forthe as I have knowlege in all thinges to acertayne your grace unfaynedly whatsoever your hyghnes shall vouchesave to demaunde of me, your unworthye subgett and oratour,

WILLIAM BARLO.

The next letter relates to one of the fathers of the reformation, Hugh Latimer, and his sturdy opponent Hubberdin. Stowe gives an account of Latimer's preaching at Bristol in 1534, the date of the present letter. He was active in detecting the practices of the Maid of Kent, and was, in the year following that in which this letter was written, made Bishop of Worcester. At the time of his preaching at Bristol he was looked upon with some disfavour; on the 2nd October, 1533, he had been forbidden to preach at London. Foxe describes Hubberdin as "an old divine of Oxford, a right painted Pharisey, and a great straier abroad in al quarters of the realme to deface and impeache the springyng of Gods holy gospell." It appears that at this time the zealous papistry of Hubberdin was as distasteful to the government as the bold doctrines of Latimer. It would seem that Hubberdin had touched too nearly upon the question of the King's supremacy.

The abbey of St. Augustine in Bristol appears to have been founded early in the twelfth century; its church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is now the cathedral. William Burton is stated, in the Monasticon, to have been made abbot on the 9th of September, 1534. He, with eighteen of his monks, subscribed to the King's supremacy, and we may therefore suppose that he was one of the moderate party.

IV.

COMMISSIONERS AT BRISTOL TO SECRETARY CROMWELL.

[MS. Cotton. Cleopat. E. iv. fol. 56.]

In my moste humble wyse, with dew recommendacyons as appertaynethe, advertysynge your masterschype that I recevyd your letter the Saterday yth day of Julii, at vj. of the cloke at ny3te,