popish prince. The king of Spain and his family presented the only source from whence such a bigoted and persecuting monarch as they desired could be sought. Parsons, their leader, prepared a book to this effect; it was published under the name of Doleman, another Jesuit, and asserted that the profession of the Protestant faith was a sufficient cause for setting aside any lineal claim.

The hard measure dealt out to the Puritans also requires notice. In 1593, a severe law was enacted, which applied to them as well as to the papists. All persons absenting themselves from the public services of the Established Church for a month were to be imprisoned; if they did not subsequently conform, they were to be exiled; if they refused to leave England, or returned, they were liable to suffer death. In unison with this proceeding, when a bill had been brought into the House of Commons for the reformation of abuses in the High Commission, and other ecclesiastical courts, the queen stopped its progress, and caused the mover of the bill to be imprisoned. Such proceedings deserve censure; they show the spirit of the age, preventing the advance of constitutional liberty, which, as yet, was unknown in England. This parliament further offended the queen, by desiring some settlement of the succession to the crown. The leaders in this matter were also imprisoned. So annoying were liberty of speech and free discussions to the arbitrary notions of Elizabeth, that she intimated her wish that the rising spirit of debate could be stopped, and the members only allowed to say ay, or no, to the matters brought before them! But the many advantages her subjects enjoyed under her government, began so to develope the energies of the nation, as effectually to prevent her stopping the march of improvement.

Archbishop Grindal had been succeeded by Whitgift, in 1583. He was charged by the queen, as she declared, to "restore the discipline of the church, and the uniformity established by law, which, through the

connivance of some prelates, the obstinacy of the Puri. tans, and the power of some noblemen, is run out of square." Agreeably to this charge, Whitgift's first proceeding was to direct "that all preaching, catechising, and praying, in any private family, where any are present beside the family, be utterly extinguished." No books or pamphlets were to be printed without a bishop's licence. The whole of these documents are recorded by Strype, and we need not enlarge upon them. Even at that day they were considered illegal, and disputed by the civilians. Whitgift, following up his proceedings, had the hardihood to declare, that the books called Apocrypha were holy writings, void of error. These measures reduced the number of efficient minis. ters in the church, and entangled many in difficulties.

The council, on more than one occasion, interfered with the persecuting measures of Whitgift, and of Aylmer, bishop of London. The latter, in his visita tion, in 1584, suspended thirty-eight of the parochial clergy in Essex: one of them was sent by him before the High Commission Court, for stating that, in the compass of sixteen miles in that county, there were twenty-two non-resident clergy, thirty insufficient, and nineteen silenced who were able to preach. Lord Burghley interfered in behalf of two clergymen from Cambridgeshire, whom he advised to go to Whitgift, and answer candidly to any questions that might be put. His letter, recorded by Fuller, shows the course pursued by that prelate : They say, they are com manded to be examined by the register at London; and I asked them whereof? and they said, Of a great number of articles; but they could have no copies them. I answered, that they might answer to the truth; they said, The articles were so many in number, and so divers, as they were afraid to answer them, for fear of captious interpretations. Upon this, I sent for the register, who brought me the articles, which I have read, and find so curiously penned, so full of branches and circumstances, that I think the inquisitions of

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Spain use not so many questions to comprehend and to entrap their prey. I know your canonists can defend this with all their particles; but surely, under your grace's correction, this juridical and canonical siftner of poor ministers is not to edify and reform. And in charity, I think they ought not to answer to all these nice points, except they were very notorious offenders in papistry or heresy. Now, good my lord, bear with my scribbling; I write with testimony of a good conscience; I desire the peace of the church; I desire concord and unity in the exercise of our religion. I fear no sensual and wilful recusant; but I conclude that, according to my simple judgment, this kind of proceeding is too much savouring the Romish inquisition, and is rather a device to seek for offenders, than to reform any.' Such a statement from Burghley, who always inclined to enforce strict uniformity, strongly shows the persecuting spirit then abroad, and the course in which these matters were then proceeding.

Whitgift obtained a new ecclesiastical commission, by whose authority numbers were sent to prison, many of whom died in these noisome receptacles. These measures caused an attempt to take up the matter in parliament; when that was silenced, various efforts were made to obtain relief, but in vain. Whitgift even objected to allowing marriage at all times of the year, as contrary to the old canons, though the church of Rome had abused them, by exacting money for licences to marry at the forbidden periods. He said, that to grant such a permission tended to the slander of the church, as having hitherto maintained an error! The angry spirit on both sides increased. A private press was set to work, to print violent pamphlets against the bishops and their proceedings, under the name of " Martin Mar-prelate.' They contained, as Neale states, many sad truths, but delivered in rude and unbecoming language, and with a bitter, abusive, angry spirit, breaking forth into sedition. After much anxious search for the press, which was moved from

place to place, it was discovered at Manchester. Several divines and others were prosecuted for being concerned in these libellous publications; some were fined, and others hanged for their part therein. Udall died in prison, in 1592; he had been found guilty of what was called " a wicked, scandalous, and seditious libel," in declaring that it was more free in those days to be a papist or a wicked man, than a sound Christian. The moderate Puritans publicly disowned these books, and condemned the spirit in which they were written; but they were often brought into trouble, while many were driven to still more angry proceedings.

Burrow, a lawyer, Green and Penry, two ministers, were singled out and prosecuted on the statute against recusants, in 1592, being charged with sedition. They in vain declared their loyalty towards the queen, as they refused to retract their views on religious discipline. They were executed early in 1593. The first two had been nearly three years in prison; and when Dr. Reynolds, who attended their execution, reported their behaviour to the queen, she expressed regret that she had consented to their death. Penry was a zealous opponent of the prelates: he was considered to have had a large share in the libels of Mar-prelate; but he was not apprehended till 1592, when he returned from Scotland to present a petition to the queen. The draft of this was found on him, and was made the ground for his condemnation; Whitgift was the first to sign the warrant for his execution. Penry was hanged on May 29, 1593, in the afternoon, having only had notice to prepare for death while at his dinner. These executions raised such an odium against the persecu tors, that it was resolved to proceed in future on a different statute, by which they were subjected to banishment. Thereby many excellent men were forced to take refuge in Holland, in the same manner as the Flemish refugees had found shelter in England.

These particulars have been narrated, since it is as necessary for a faithful historian to record them as the

sufferings of the martyrs in Mary's days. Both reflect discredit on the persecuting bigots of the respective periods, though certainly in a different degree. It is painful to find, that when the original exiles were gradually called from their labours to their reward, men of a fiercer and more bitter spirit came in their places, commencing proceedings, which, before many years elapsed, were carried to an extent which the originators never intended, and which at last led to fatal reaction. How humbling the consideration, that human nature is always inclined to persecution; and that Elizabeth, who in her youth had tasted of this bitter cup, in her latter days showed herself disposed to follow her father's example! And how painful to think, that she was urged forward in this course by Whitgift, who, beyond any prelate, urged the extreme doctrines of the Reformation, framing in 1595 what were called the Lambeth Articles! These were nine propositions, chiefly framed with respect to the Divine decrees; they were arranged, and sought to be imposed, as explanations of the Thirtynine Articles, but Burghley objected to their introduction. Surely these proceedings reflect more discredit on Elizabeth than those against Mary Stuart, which the conspiracy of foreign potentates and domestic traitors caused her councillors to urge her to adopt.

Henry IV. conformed to the church of Rome in July, 1593. This was done as a matter of political expediency; and, for the time, it enabled him to possess the throne of France in quiet. Elizabeth wrote a strong remonstrance to her ally, in which she asks him whether he could reasonably expect that Providence would grant a happy issue, adding, "Could you entertain a jealousy that the Divine Being, who had so long supported and preserved you, would fail and abandon you at last?" Only seventeen years passed, and not without various disquietudes, when Henry perished by the hand of an assassin, prompted to the deed by the popish bishops, whose favour the king thought to conciliate by this act of apostasy!