We believe Martin when he says, "I am alone. No man under heaven is privy, or hath been privy, unto my writings against you."1 We also believe him when he says, "Whosoever Martin is, neither thou nor any man or woman in England shall know while you live, suspect and trouble as many as you will."2 We believe him, because the experiment in which he was engaged involved too great a risk to admit of partnership or confidant, for we think that, had he been discovered, he would have suffered, not the death of a felon, but the awful penalty of a traitor. We believe him, because, notwithstanding the vigorous efforts for his detection, his identity has never been proved, never even indicated. This it is hard to account for, unless, indeed, he wrought alone, and made nor man nor woman his confidant. have cited plausible evidence that he was not a minister, and that he was not a Puritan, we mean in distinction from a Brownist. Further we cannot go. With himself died his secret. Martin Mar-prelate remains a mystery. "STAT NOMINIS UMBRA." 1 "Hay any Work for Cooper,"” 41, 42. 2 Ibid., 12. We CHAPTER VIII. THE PARLIAMENT OF 1588-9. THE NATION RESTORED TO QUIET. THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT. AN EXTRAORDINARY SUPPLY GRANTED BY THE COMMONS. ABUSES OF PURVEYANCE AND IN THE COURT OF EXCHEQUER. BILLS AGAINST THEM. A COMMITTEE TO JUSTIFY THE BILLS TO HER MAJESTY AND TO URGE HER ALLOWANCE OF THEM. HER REPLY. CONFERENCES UPON THESE ABUSES BETWEEN THE LORDS AND THE COMMONS. MOTION AGAINST GRIEVANCES IN THE CHURCH. RETAINED AND RETURNED BY THE SPEAKER. BILL AGAINST PLURALITIES. — DEBATE UPON IT IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. — PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED. REMARKS UPON THEIR PROCEEDINGS. THE camp at Tilbury had been broken up. The troops under command of Lord Hunsdon had been disbanded. The armed ships had been moored and dismantled. "The Heart of the Court"-"that terrestrial Lucifer"—had been sent foully to his account. The queen, shedding a few hasty tears, had ordered the public sale of his goods to meet the claims of her exchequer;1 and his Countess was already preparing for her nuptials with her reputed paramour.2 The pulse of the nation, so lately throbbing with martial fervor, had subsided to its natural tone; and the voice of the nation had rendered its joyous anthem of praise. In the month of August, the queen had reassembled her Court at St. James's, whence, after a grand military review 1 Rapin, II. 137. Carte, III. 629. 2 Birch, I. 56, 74. Campbell's "Lives of the Lord Chancellors," (First Series,) II. 146. by way of welcome, she had retired to her manor at Richmond.1 From the peasant to the prince, all had exchanged the harness of war for their ordinary garb; and each rill of life throughout the land had resumed its wonted and peaceful flow. Her Majesty remained at her favorite retreat until the thirtieth day of January, 1588-9, when she returned to Westminster to be in readiness for the assembling of a new Parliament. She came in the evening, that she might give opportunity for one of those gay welcomes often mentioned in the annals of her reign, when the mayor, aldermen, and commoners of her city of London would come out on horseback, wearing velvet coats and golden chains, to escort her by torchlight to her palace.2 On the fourth day of February, with all that public pomp which we have before described, she proceeded to the chamber of the House of Lords to open her Parliament. Sir Thomas Bromley, the late Lord Chancellor, had deceased on the twentyninth day of April, 1587, and the Great Seal had been immediately transferred to the custody of Sir Christopher Hatton. At the opening of the Parliament he stated that there was every reason to look for another hostile expedition from the king of Spain; and that therefore to the assembly of the wisest of the kingdom the question was now submitted, what ways and means should be provided for the com 1 Stow, 750, 751. 2 Ibid., 751. 3 Ante, Vol. I. pp. 371 – 373. mon defence.1 When the election of the Speaker of the Commons was ratified, the Lord Chancellor replied to his petitions, that her Majesty was pleased to grant them all. But he added an admonition against any unreverent and misbecoming speech in the discussions of the House; 2 and laid upon them her Majesty's special inhibition against any dealing with causes ecclesiastical.3 4 During the session, the Commons responded to the wants of the Crown for purposes of defence, by "granting to her Majesty a supply of four fif teenths and tenths and two entire subsidies," in four annual instalments; "the first instance that subsidies were doubled in one supply."5 The bill, however, was accompanied by this resolution: "That, as the grant of this contribution is greater than hath heretofore for the most part ordinarily used to be granted (the present necessity requiring it), it should not hereafter be an occasion of a precedent to posterity for the like without like cause. Grave objections were made by many extraordinary. But the House 8 7 "6 to a supply so their joy for the late deliverance of the nation, and their loyalty in prospect of renewed hostilities, raised to a high pitch of enthusiasm — were in no mood to weigh even 1 D'Ewes, 420, 428. Hansard, I. inquiring reader to Hume, III. 377– 854. 2 D'Ewes, 421. Hansard, I. 854. 8 D'Ewes, 438. 31 Eliz., Cap. XV. Secs. I. & VI. Statutes of the Realm. 5 Hume, III. 177. For the nature and amount of subsidies and fifteenths, I refer the 380, and to Hallam, 213, note. 'Strype's Annals, VI. 49. 8 There was an elaborate speech against it, and one of much perti nence and force. Strype gives us a copy of it, Annals. VI., Appendix, Book II. No. LVIII. They passed the and the next day 4 the best objectional arguments. bill on the tenth day of March; it was sent up to the Lords.1 "The right of purveyance which we have before brought to notice only incidentally 2. " was an ancient prerogative by which the officers of the Crown could at pleasure take provisions for the household from all the neighboring counties, and could make use of the carts and carriages of the farmers. In former times, these supplies had been taken without remuneration, and the purveyors had ordinarily conducted themselves with so much rudeness, and even licentiousness, that upon their approach the farmers, with their families, had been accustomed to hide for protection in the forests. For such abuses, this right of purveyance had been denounced by Parliament in the time of Edward III. as "an intolerable and outrageous grievance, and the source of infinite damage to the people."5 In the time of Elizabeth, the mode of this arbitrary levy was so far modified, that a price was paid for the commodities seized, and for their compulsory transportation. But this price, instead of keeping pace with the rise of the market, was fixed and stated; so that the farmer in 1589 was forced to part with his produce for far less than its current value. In addition to this wrong, "the payment was often distant and uncertain"; the levy itself, both in kind and ouantity, was often beyond the 6 Ibid., I. 218. 5 Ibid., 608. Ibid., III. 178. |