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Mark Smeaton doth confess

Queen.

Officer.

Confess!

That twice

My lords,

In guilty commerce with the queen—

Queen.
Who is it hath suborn'd this wretched boy?
I do arraign that man, in the dread court
Whose sentence is eternity! my soul

Shall rise in judgment, when the heavens are fire
Around Christ's burning throne, against that man;
And say, "on earth he murder'd my poor body,
And that false swearing boy's lost soul in hell.”

Officer. This full confession-sign'd, and in the signt
Of witnesses delivered, in due form

Of law, in every part clear and authentic.

Norfolk. Anne, queen of England, ere this high commission Pass to their final sentence, hast thou aught

To urge upon their lordships in defence

Or palliation of these fearful charges ?

Queen. My lords! th' unwonted rigour of the king

And mine imprisonment have something shaken
My constant state of mind: I do beseech you,

If I speak not so reverently or wisely

Of the king's justice as I ought, bear with me.
I will not say, that some of you, my lords,
For my religion and less weighty motives,
Are my sworn enemies-'twere to disparage
The unattainted whiteness of my cause,
That had defied the malice of the basest,
Nor deigns mistrust the high-soul'd enmity
Of English nobles. When that I have forced
To be the vouchers for my honesty,

you

My fame's pure gold shall only blaze the brighter,
Tried in the furnace of your deadly hate!
My lords, the king, whose bounties, numberless
And priceless, neither time nor harsher usage
Shall ever raze from my heart's faithful tablets.
The king, I say, took me au humble maid,
With not a jewel but my maiden fame;
That I'm his wife, seeing the infinite distance
Between my father's daughter and a throne,
Argues no base or lowly estimate.

Think ye a crown so galling to the brows,
And a queen's name so valueless, that false
And recreant to the virtue which advanced me,
I should fall off thus basely? I am a mother,
My lords, and hoped that my right royal issue
Should rule this realm: had I been worse than worst,
Looser than loosest-think ye I'd have peril'd
The pride of giving birth to a line of kings,

And robb'd my children of their sceptred heritage ?
Your proofs, my lords! some idle words, that spoken

By less than me, had been forgotten air:

The force of words dwells not in their mere letters,
But in the air, time, place, and circumstance

In which they're utter'd—the poor laughing child
Will call himself a king, will ye indict him
Of treason? If less solemnly I've spoken,
Or gravely than beseem'd my queenly state,
'Twas partly that his grace would take delight
In hearing my light laughing words glance off,
As is the wont in gay and courtly France :-
Partly, that rais'd from such a lowly state
Haply to fall again, I watch'd my spirit,
Lest with an upstart pride I might offend
The noble knights whose service honour'd me.

If thus I've err'd, through humbleness familiar,

Heaven will forgive the fault, though man be merciless !
To the rest, my lords! knowing nought living dared
Attaint my fame, my enemies have ransacked
The grave; the lady Wingfield hath been summon'd
To speak against me from her tomb -and what?
Vague rumours! that I will not say base envy
(I'll have more charity to the dead than they
To me), but pardonable error, zeal

For the king's honour, may have swollen to charges,
Which if ye trust, not the shrined Vestal's pure.

My lords, my lords, ye better know than I

What subtle arts, what gilded promises

Have been employed to make the noble knights

My fellow criminals, my accusers! which

Might not have purchased life by this base service,

And crept into a late and natural grave î

But let me ask, my lords, who, base enough,

And so disloyal, as t' abuse thus grossly
The bounties of so good a king, had risen
To this wild prodigality of honour,
For a loose woman to lay down his head
And taint his name, his blood, with infamy?
For this besotted boy !-my lords, I know not
If to rebut this charge with serious speech.
Such as it is, my lords, this modest beauty
Made me a queen, and other kings disdain'd not
To lay their flattering incense at its shrine.
My lord, there's none amongst your noblest sons,
Rich in ancestral titles, none so moulded
By nature's cunning symmetry, so high
In station, but my favour had endangered
His truth t' his king :—and I, I that disdain'd
Less than a crown, with wayward wantonness
Demean me to a half-form'd, base born slave!
I do demand-if that ye will not damn
Your names to everlasting infamy.—

Here, in this court, this instant, ye bring forth

This boy; if with one word I force you not
To do me justice on this monstrous slander,-
Do with me as ye will. I've done, and now
Renew an old petition:-if the king,

Abused and cheated of his wonted mercies,
Hath sworn my death ;-so order it, I pray you,
That on my head alone fall all his wrath;
Let these untainted gentlemen go free,

And mine all honour'd brother. Spare the king
The anguish of unnecessary crime,

And with less blood defile your own fair names.

Norfolk. Anne, queen of England, first this court commands You lay aside the state and ornaments

Of England's queen.

Queen.

As cheerfully, my lords,

As a young bride her crown of virgin flowers.

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Norfolk. Prisoner, give ear I, Thomas, duke of Norfolk,

In name of all th' assembled peers, declare

The verdict of this court :-all circumstance,

All proof, all depositions duly weigh'd,

We do pronounce thee guilty of high treason.-
And, further, at the pleasure of the king,
Adjudge thy body to be burnt with fire,

Or thine head sever'd from thy guilty shoulders.

Queen. Lord God of Hosts !—the way! the truth! the life! Thou know'st me guiltless; yet, oh! visit not

On these misjudging men their wrongful sentence;
Shew them that mercy they deny to me.

My lords, my lords, your sentence I impeach not
Ye have, no doubt, most wise and cogent reasons,
Best heard perhaps in th' open court, to shame
The wretched evidence adduced. My lords,
I ask no pardon of my God, for this

:

Of which you've found me guilty to the king
In person and in heart I ve been most true.
Haply I've been unwise, irreverent,
And with unseemly jealousies arraign'd
His unexampled goodness. This I say not

To lengthen out my too protracted life,

For God hath given, will give me strength to die.
I'm not so proudly honest, but the grief

Of my suspected chastity is gall

And wormwood to me; were 't not my sole treasure,

It less had pain'd me thus to see it blacken'd.

My lords, I take my leave :-upon your heads,
Upon your families, on all this kingdom,
On him who is its head and chiefest grace,
The palm of Europe's sovereignty, may heaven
Rain blessings to the end of time-that most,
And most abundant, his redeeming grace!

159. THE TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE INTO ENGLISH.

BISHOP BURNET.

In the Convocation a motion was made of great consequence, that there should be a translation of the Bible in English, to be set up in all the churches of England. The clergy, when they procured Tyndall's translation to be condemned, and suppressed it, gave out that they intended to make a translation into the vulgar tongue; yet it was afterwards, upon a long consultation, resolved, that it was free for the church to give the Bible in a vulgar tongue, or not, as they pleased; and that the king was not obliged to it, and that at that time it was not at all expedient to do it. Upon which, those that promoted the Reformation made great complaints, and said it was visible the clergy knew there was an opposition between the Scriptures and their doctrine. That they had first condemned Wickliff's translation, and then Tyndall's; and though they ought to teach men the word of God, yet they did all they could to suppress it.

In the times of the Old Testament the Scriptures were writ in the vulgar tongue, and all were charged to read and remember the law. The apostles wrote in Greek, which was then the most common language in the world. Christ also did appeal

to the Scriptures, and sent the people to them. And by what St. Paul says of Timothy, it appears that children were then early trained up in that study. In the primitive church, as nations were converted to the faith, the Bible was translated into their tongue. The Latin translation was very ancient; the Bible was afterwards put into the Scythian, Dalmatian, and Gothic tongues. It continued thus for several ages till the state of Monkery rose; and then, when they engrossed the riches, and the Popes assumed the dominion, of the world, it was not consistent with these designs, nor with the arts used to promote them, to let the Scriptures be much known therefore legends and strange stories of visions, with other devices, were thought more proper for keeping up their credit and carrying on their ends.

It was now generally desired that, if there were just exceptions against what Tyndall had done, these might be amended in a new translation. This was a plausible thing, and wrought much on all that heard it, who plainly concluded that those who denied the people the use of the Scriptures in their vulgar tongues, must needs know their own doctrine and practices to be inconsistent with it. Upon these grounds Cranmer, who was projecting the most effectual means for promoting a reformation of doctrine, moved in Convocation that they should petition the king for leave to make a translation of the Bible. But Gardiner and all his party opposed it, both in Convocation and in secret with the king. It was said, that all the heresies and extravagant opinions which were then in Germany, and from thence coming over to England, sprang from the free use of the Scriptures. And whereas in May the last year (1535) nineteen Hollanders were accused of some heretical opinions, "denying Christ to be both God and man, or that he took flesh and blood from the Virgin Mary, or that the sacraments had any effect on those that received them," in which opinions fourteen of them remained obstinate, and were burnt by pairs in several places; it was complained that all those drew their damnable error from the indiscreet use of the Scriptures. And to offer the Bible in the English tongue to the whole nation, during these distractions, would prove, as they pretended, the greatest snare that could be. Therefore they proposed that there should be a short exposition of the most useful and necessary doctrines of the Christian faith given to the people in the English

tongue, for the instruction of the nation, which would keep them in a certain subjection to the king and the church in matters of faith.

The other party, though they liked well the publishing such a treatise in the vulgar tongue, yet by no means thought that sufficient; but said, the people must be allowed to search the Scripture, by which they might be convinced that such treatises were according to it. These arguments prevailed with the two houses of Convocation. So they petitioned the king that he would give order to some to set about it. To this great opposition was made at court. Some, on the one hand, told the king that a diversity of opinions would arise out of it, and that he could no more govern his subjects if he gave way to that. But, on the other hand, it was represented that nothing would make his supremacy so acceptable to the nation, and make the pope more hateful, than to let them see, that whereas the popes had governed them by a blind obedience, and kept them in darkness, the king brought them into the light, and gave them the free use of the word of God. And nothing would more effectually extirpate the pope's authority, and discover the impostures of the monks, than the Bible in English; in which all people would clearly discern there was no foundation for those things. These arguments, joined with the power that the queen had in his affections, were so much considered by the king, that he gave order for setting about it immediately. To whom that work was committed, or how it proceeded, I know not; for the account of these things has not been preserved, nor conveyed to us with that care that the importance of the thing required. Yet it appears that the work was carried on at a good rate; for three years after this it was printed at Paris; which shows they made all convenient haste in a thing that required so much deliberation.

160.-DEATH OF SIR THOMAS MORE.

From the 'Pictorial History of England.'

In the month of November, 1534, parliament under the guidance of Cromwell, passed a variety of acts which all had for their object the creating of Henry into a sort of lay-pope, with full power to define and punish heresies, and to support whatever he might deem the true belief, or the proper system of church government. The first fruits and tenths were now annexed to the crown for ever, and a new oath of supremacy was devised and taken by the bishops.

Some of the monks-the poorest orders were the boldest-refused either to take the oath or to proclaim in their churches and chapels that the pope was antiChrist. The system pursued in regard to them was very simple and expeditious; they were condemned of high treason and hanged, their fate in the latter respect being sometimes, but not always, milder than that allotted to the Lutherans and other Protestants, who were burned. Cromwell had no bowels for the poor monks; and the gentler and more virtuous Cranmer seems to have done little or nothing to stop these atrocious butcheries. A jury now and then hesitated to return a verdict, but they were always bullied into compliance by Cromwell and his agents, who sometimes threatened to hang them instead of the prisoners. On the 5th of May John Houghton, prior of the Charter-House in London, Augustine Webster, prior of the Charter-House of Belval, Thomas Lawrence, prior of the Charter-House of Exham, Richard Reynolds, a doctor of divinity and a monk of Sion, and John Hailes, vicar of Thistleworth, were drawn, hanged, and quartered at Tyburn, their heads being afterwards set over the city gates. On the 18th of June, Exmen, Middlemore, and Nudigate, three other Carthusian monks, suffered for the same

cause.

On all these conscientious men, who preferred death to what they considered

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