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<DATE>2014-04-09</DATE>
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<NAME>Brian Matzge</NAME>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>REFLECTIONS UPON Mr. <HI>VARILLAS</HI> HIS Hi&s;tory <HI>of</HI> HERESY. BOOK I. TOME I.</P>
<P>As far as Relates to <HI>ENGLISH MATTERS;</HI> More e&s;pecially tho&s;e of WICLIFF.</P>
<Q><L>&mdash;Cum primum animum ad Scribendum appulit,</L>
<L>Id &s;ibi negoti credidit &s;olum dari,</L>
<L>Populo ut placerent, quas feci&s;&s;et Fabulas.</L>
<BIBL><HI>Terent.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<P>Printed in the Year 1688.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>ADVERTISEMENT.</HEAD>
<P>IT having been publickly de&s;ired, that tho&s;e, in who&s;e way it &s;hould lye to expo&s;e Mr. <HI>Varillas,</HI> would put them&s;elves to the trouble, The Au|thor of the&s;e Papers was willing to con|tribute his &s;hare, in the part concern|ing <HI>Wicliff,</HI> having formerly laid to|gether &s;ome ob&s;ervations conducing to &s;uch a de&s;ign. <HI>Mr. L'arroque</HI> indeed has gone before him in the attempt; but that ingenious Gentleman was not well advis'd to meddle in a &s;trange Countrey, till time had in&s;tructed him more fully in the Con&s;titutions and Language of it. Our pre&s;ent Reflecter has made u&s;e of the <HI>Am&s;terdam</HI> Edition, not being able to procure that of <HI>Paris.</HI> He has given Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> all the Law ima|ginable; he has made no advantage of mi&s;takes, which with any rea&s;on could be charged upon the <HI>Printer;</HI> He has
<PB REF="3">contradicted nothing without expre&s;s proof on his &s;ide; and in things highly improbable, which &s;eem to have no Foundation in Hi&s;tory, unle&s;s he can confront them with Po&s;itive and Au|thentick Te&s;timonies, he lets the Au|thor alone, and &s;uffers the boldne&s;s of the A&s;&s;ertion to be its own &s;ecurity. La&s;t of all, he intreats the Readers pardon, if the Language and Expre&s;&s;ion are without Choice and Ornament; his profe&s;t bu&s;ine&s;s and nece&s;&s;ary occa&s;ions not allowing him any &s;uch lei&s;ure.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="tract">
<PB N="1" REF="3">
<HEAD>REFLECTIONS UPON Mon&s;ieur <HI>VARILLAS.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THE Enemies of the Reforma|tion, as they &s;eem re&s;olv'd never to leave off writing Controver&s;ie, and being con|futed by our Divines; &s;o they are not wanting upon occa&s;ion to turn their &s;tyle, and furni&s;h out matter of Triumph to our Hi&s;torians. <HI>San|ders</HI> and <HI>Cau&s;&s;in</HI> heretofore, and of late Mon&s;ieur <HI>Maimbourg</HI> and Mon|&s;ieur <HI>Varillas</HI> have thought them|&s;elves qualified for this kind of em|ployment. Above the re&s;t, Mr. <HI>Va|rillas</HI> has us'd his Pen with &s;uch a partial Extravagance, and with &s;o little regard to Mode&s;ty and Truth, that he has not only provok'd the
<PB N="2" REF="4">Learned of the Reformed Profe&s;&s;ion to cha&s;ti&s;e his impudence in their publick Writings, but has al&s;o drawn upon him the &s;corn and indignation of &s;everal Gentlemen of his own Communion; who in a &s;en&s;e of Ho|nour and common Ingenuity, have taken &s;ome pains to lay open the &s;mooth Impo&s;tor. Mr. <HI>Hozier,</HI> Ge|nealogi&s;t to the King of <HI>France,</HI> in his Epi&s;tle, declares him&s;elf to have di&s;cover'd in him above 4000 er|rours. <HI>Pere Bouhour</HI> in a di&s;cour&s;e of his, makes it his bu&s;ine&s;s to expo&s;e him: Even his old Friend Mr. <HI>Dr.</HI> &s;eems to have for&s;aken him, and gone over to his Adver&s;ary <HI>Bouhour;</HI> from who&s;e original he is now tran|&s;lating the Life of St. <HI>Xavier.</HI> To be free, there is almo&s;t as many &s;aults in every &s;ingle page of Mr. <HI>Varillas,</HI> as in a Printers Table of <HI>Errata:</HI> and if the Arch-bi&s;hop of <HI>Paris</HI> would do his Duty, he would find him&s;elf bound to put a holy cen&s;ure upon his Pen&s;ioner;
<PB N="3" REF="4">and as he was lately very forward to compel tho&s;e of the Religion to a Recantation of their Faith, &s;o he ought here to oblige Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> to an Abjuration of his Hi&s;tory: which we now come to con&s;ider.</P>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>I.</HEAD>
<P> <HI>It was then in the year</HI> 1374 <HI>that Here&s;ie began in</HI> England, <HI>by occa&s;ion of the Bi&s;hoprick of</HI> Winche&s;ter. John Wicliff, <HI>Par&s;on of</HI> Enthlerod, <HI>in the Dioce&s;s of</HI> Lincoln, <HI>pretended to the &s;aid Bi&s;hoprick, and thought he had &s;o well taken his mea&s;ures, that it could not otherwi&s;e e&s;cape him, than by &s;uch an extraordinary accident as humane prudence could not fore&s;ee,</HI> pag. 11.] It might be rational to expect that a <HI>French</HI> Hi&s;torian would have taken a particular care to inform him&s;elf about the Chronology of <HI>Edward</HI> the Thirds Reign; a Prince, who&s;e acti|ons <HI>France</HI> above all Countrys has rea&s;on to remember: But Mon&s;ieur <HI>Varillas</HI> takes leave to be altogether ignorant of it, not doubting perhaps but he &s;hould meet with Gentlemen,
<PB N="4" REF="5">and Readers that would not be &s;o un|civil as to contradict the fir&s;t word of an Author. But a plain Engli&s;hman, that has been taught to ask for Truth in Hi&s;tory, and not to believe a thing, only becau&s;e another has affirmed it, whatever may be the con&s;equence, and though he is &s;ure to be called <HI>the Ra&s;he&s;t of all men,</HI> will however dare to tell him, that it was not <HI>in the year</HI> 1374. <HI>that Here&s;ie began in</HI> England, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> For fir&s;t, <HI>John Wicliff</HI> had publi&s;hed his Opi|nions, and gained a fame by the year 1360.
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>James,</HI> in <HI>Wicliffs</HI> life, af|ter the Apology.</NOTE> Secondly, he was never <HI>Par&s;on of Enthlerod;</HI> nor is there any &s;uch Pari&s;h in <HI>the Dioce&s;s of Lincoln,</HI> or in the King of <HI>Eng|lands</HI> Dominions. If he means <HI>Lut|terworth,</HI> he has &s;o disfigured it, that even a <HI>Leice&s;ter&s;hire</HI>-man could not know it again. Thirdly, what de|&s;igns could the Par&s;on of <HI>Lutter|worth</HI> have upon a Bi&s;hoprick that was full, and had been &s;o for &s;everal
<PB N="5" REF="5">years before? For if <HI>William of Wickam</HI> was in di&s;grace, mu&s;t his Bi&s;hoprick be therefore void? Or would <HI>Wicliff</HI> grow di&s;contented for a preferment not vacant, and rai&s;e a Here&s;y becau&s;e the Bi&s;hop would not dye for him? After this, unle&s;s it appear, that <HI>Wicliff,</HI> among&s;t his other mea&s;ures, had intended to di&s;|patch my Lord of <HI>Winche&s;ter,</HI> it is plain, he had not laid his de&s;igns &s;o deep, as Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> would per|&s;wade us. Fourthly, an Author of equal credit with Mr. <HI>Varillas, Po|lydore Virgil,</HI> has imputed <HI>Wicliffs</HI> ill humours to the lo&s;s of the Bi&s;ho|prick of <HI>Worce&s;ter.</HI> From who&s;e Latin, <HI>Florimond de Raymond</HI> has fal&s;ly tran&s;lated it; the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Wiorn</HI> and <HI>Varillas</HI> more fal&s;ly, <HI>Winton.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>II.</HEAD>
<P> He goes on (in page the 12th.) to give a Character of the Heretick, <HI>That he under&s;tood the Theology of the Schools, which he taught publickly in the &V;niver&s;ity of</HI> Oxford, <HI>in quality
<PB N="6" REF="6">of Regius Profe&s;&s;our; That that place had commonly been a &s;tep to a Bi&s;hoprick, That at pre&s;ent</HI> Wicliff <HI>found his Am|bition oppos'd by the Popes Officers, either becau&s;e they had entertain'd a Su&s;picion of him, or Favour for another.</HI>] 1. It mu&s;t be confe&s;t, that <HI>Wicliff</HI> might de&s;erve the Title Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> has be&s;tow'd upon him; but 'tis &s;omething &s;trange, that he &s;hould &s;tand po&s;&s;e&s;s'd of a Dignity which was not founded till about 150 years after, by the Magnificence of <HI>Henry</HI> the Eighth; before who&s;e time there was no Regius Profe&s;&s;our ever heard of in <HI>Oxford.</HI> In the Paragraph be|fore, Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> made <HI>Wicliff</HI> &s;o vain as to de&s;ire an impo&s;&s;ibility, and in this he has put him in real po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of one. 2. The <HI>Popes Officers,</HI> and what follows, Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> will lay no great &s;tre&s;s upon, as being only a flouri&s;h in&s;erted by a Figure of the modern Rhetorick, which the Wits have call'd Banter.</P>
<PB N="7" REF="6">
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>III.</HEAD>
<P> We are told, that <HI>Wicliff thus di&s;appointed, re&s;olves to revenge him|&s;elf upon the Holy See: In expectation of a fit opportunity he &s;ets him&s;elf to read the Schi&s;matical Books of &s;uch as had defended the Emperours and Anti|popes, again&s;t the Popes. His fir&s;t advance was, the maintaining, That the</HI> Engli&s;h <HI>were not bound in Con&s;ci|ence to the payment of Peter-pence, gi|ven by King</HI> John <HI>to Pope</HI> Innocent <HI>the Third,</HI> p. 13.] 1. It may be ob&s;erved, that <HI>Wicliff</HI> was a man of a very ill temper, to ground all his di&s;like and aver&s;ion to the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> upon an affront, which we have prov'd it impo&s;|&s;ible for him ever to have receiv'd. 2. It &s;hall be own'd, that he was ever a profe&s;t admirer of <HI>Gro&s;thead</HI> the famous Bi&s;hop of <HI>Lincoln,</HI> of <HI>Oc|cam</HI> and <HI>Bradwardin;</HI> that had lately flouri&s;h't in <HI>Merton</HI> College, where he him&s;elf had part of his Education: To accu&s;e him of having read the&s;e and &s;uch-like writers, had indeed
<PB N="8" REF="7">been a proper objection in the mouth of an <HI>Italian;</HI> But, I admire that an Author who had a pen&s;ion from the &s;ame Ma&s;ter with the Marqui&s;s <HI>de Lavardin,</HI> &s;hould &s;o far forget him&s;elf, as to call tho&s;e Doctors Schi&s;matical, who &s;tood up for the Civil Rights of Princes, again&s;t the encroachments of his Holine&s;s. The whole Collection of <HI>Golda&s;tus</HI> may be read in <HI>France,</HI> and an <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Hi&s;torian, whom <HI>Varillas</HI> has rea&s;on to know, is &s;aid to have been re|warded for writing in the behalf of that cau&s;e, the defenders of which <HI>Wicliff</HI> mu&s;t not be allow'd to peru&s;e without a crime. 3. I find Mr. <HI>Va|rillas</HI> is much enamoured on the Hi&s;tory of the Peter-pence: This is the great Epoche, from whence he has decreed the Hi&s;torians of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Reformation ought to have &s;tarted. At pre&s;ent he is much in|cens'd again&s;t <HI>Wicliff</HI> for advi&s;ing the people not to pay them, and a&s;&s;er|ting that they might with a &s;afe
<PB N="9" REF="7">Con&s;cience obey their Prince, who in the year 1364. had prohibited their payment, and left <HI>Wicliff</HI> nothing to do in 1374. but to magnify the action. 4. We intreat, with Dr. <HI>B.</HI> that if ever Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> &s;hall have any farther u&s;e of the Peter-pence, he would a&s;cribe their Original to King <HI>Ina,</HI> &s;ince they were not fir&s;t given away by King <HI>John,</HI> nor received fir&s;t by the Pope, who&s;e name, as Mr. <HI>Pulton</HI> thinks, is &s;o hard to be remembred.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>IV.</HEAD>
<P> <HI>He &s;ays that in</HI> 1374. <HI>the Duke of</HI> Lanca&s;ter, <HI>upon having heard</HI> Wic|liff <HI>Preach, became his Convert, hoping by his Doctrine to &s;upport his own inte|re&s;t; He was then the elde&s;t of King</HI> Edward <HI>the Third's Sons; but had not been &s;o always: The Prince of</HI> Wales <HI>was born afore him; but he was dead; having left but one Son, &s;o young, that the Duke &s;uppos'd it not impo&s;&s;ible to exclude him from the Crown. He found|ed his Ambition upon this, that the right of Repre&s;entation was not clearly enough
<PB N="10" REF="8">made out in the Laws which</HI> William <HI>the Conquerour had given to</HI> England: <HI>&s;o he hop'd to get over the Hou&s;e of Com|mons, by encouraging a party again&s;t the Clergy, whom they had always hated,</HI> p. 14, 15, 16.] Fir&s;t of all, the Duke of <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> was not elde&s;t Son to <HI>Edward</HI> III. in the year 1374. for the Prince of <HI>Wales</HI> died not till <HI>July</HI> 1376. I could have ea&s;ily excus'd Mr. <HI>Varillas,</HI> if the fal&s;ene&s;s of his date had lain only in days or months: But it &s;eems he was re&s;olv'd to kill the Black Prince two years before his time, and it had been for the in|tere&s;t of <HI>France</HI> if he could have di&s;|patch'd him &s;ooner. 2. Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> has given us a truth, that the Duke of <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> had not always been the Elde&s;t Son: which is well ob&s;erv'd of him, for he had Three elder, Two of which Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> has omitted; one of whom left a Daughter, that the Duke ought to have excluded, as well as his Nephew <HI>Richard;</HI> and 'tis not to be doubted, but there had
<PB N="11" REF="8">al&s;o been a Plot again&s;t <HI>Philippa,</HI> Heire&s;s to the Duke of <HI>Clarence,</HI> had Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> ever heard there had been &s;uch a per&s;on. 3. The Gentle|men of the Long Robe would de&s;ire to know what tho&s;e Laws are, made by King <HI>William,</HI> in relation to the Succe&s;&s;ion; and if Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> has any Manu&s;cript of them among his Anecdotes, he is intreated to &s;end it over, and in requital he &s;hall receive from hence two very nece&s;&s;ary im|plements for a Trader in Hi&s;tory, a Play and a Chronicle. 4. In <HI>Eng|land,</HI> where we pretend no Salique, the Crown de&s;cends by the Law of Nature; by which, the whole Right Line takes place of the Collateral, and Nephews are preferr'd to their Uncles. If any of our Kings, con|trary to this Maxim, have po&s;&s;es'd them&s;elves of the Throne, 'tis the re&s;pect <HI>Engli&s;hmen</HI> bear to a per&s;on that has wore the Crown, that keeps them from being &s;evere upon his Memory; but no friend to our Mo|narchy
<PB N="12" REF="9">will pretend to ju&s;tifie the practice. The Tumults rais'd again&s;t King <HI>John</HI> only, which have made him e&s;teem'd the mo&s;t unfortunate of our Princes &s;ince the Conque&s;t, are &s;ufficient to te&s;tifie, that the peo|ple ever look'd upon him as an U|&s;urper, and pitied the di&s;tre&s;s'd <HI>Ar|thur</HI> when they could not &s;erve him. 5. If the Duke of <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> had any de&s;ign upon the Crown, he mu&s;t have been the mo&s;t impolitick man in the World, to hope for any furtherance of his project, by declaring him&s;elf for <HI>Wicliff:</HI> The whole cour&s;e of our Hi&s;tory &s;hews us, that in &s;uch ca&s;es the contrary Methods have been always taken, and the Clergy have been ever mo&s;t powerful in altering the Succe&s;&s;ion. <HI>William Rufus</HI> had the friend&s;hip of <HI>Lanfranc; Stephen</HI> was a&s;&s;i&s;ted by his Brother <HI>Henry,</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Winche&s;ter,</HI> and Legate to the Pope. King <HI>John</HI> found a <HI>Hubert</HI> to &s;et the Crown upon his Head. Even the event De|mon&s;trates,
<PB N="13" REF="9">that the Clergy were the per&s;ons, by whom the unfortu|nate <HI>Richard</HI> mu&s;t be dethron'd, and the Archbi&s;hop of <HI>Canterbury</HI> mu&s;t carry a &s;trong influence in his Ruine.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4 (b)" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>IV.</HEAD>
<P> After the doubt concerning <HI>the Right of Repre&s;entation,</HI> Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> makes a &s;hort digre&s;&s;ion cro&s;s the Sea into <HI>Bretagn,</HI> whence he brings us a parallel ca&s;e, where the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> took part with the Uncle in pre|judice of the Neice; <HI>The Elde&s;t Son of the Duke of</HI> Bretagn <HI>died before his Father, leaving but one Daughter, who was afterwards married to</HI> Charles de Blois. <HI>The Younge&s;t Son the Earl of</HI> Montfort <HI>pretended to be heir to the Dutchy,</HI> p. 15.] 1. In this pa&s;&s;age Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> has put the <HI>Elde&s;t Son</HI> in|&s;tead of the Second Son, and has made the <HI>Daughter</HI> &s;ucceed her Grand|father, when he ought to have &s;aid her Uncle: For there is no Herald will deny, but this is the ca&s;e in re|lation to Genealogy, <HI>Arthur,</HI> Duke of <HI>Bretagn,</HI> by a fir&s;t venter had two
<PB N="14" REF="10">Sons, <HI>John</HI> and <HI>Guy,</HI> and by a &s;econd Marriage, one more, <HI>John</HI> of <HI>Mont|fort:</HI> Thus he dyed; The elder <HI>John</HI> &s;ucceeding; after a time, his Brother <HI>Guy</HI> decea&s;ing, and him&s;elf childle&s;s, &s;ettles the Succe&s;&s;ion upon <HI>Jane, Guy</HI>'s Daughter: Again&s;t this <HI>Jane</HI> it was, after <HI>John</HI>'s death, that <HI>John</HI> Earl of <HI>Montfort</HI> put in his preten|&s;ions. 2. It is very unrea&s;onable, we &s;ee, to expect a good account of Foreign matters from Mr. <HI>Varillas,</HI> when we find him &s;o unpardonably mi&s;taken in his own; and it would be but a vain thing to imagine that writing of the Reformation in <HI>Eng|land,</HI> he &s;hould have read Dr. <HI>Burnet;</HI> when quoting a Remark out of the <HI>French</HI> Hi&s;tory, he could not afford to con&s;ult <HI>Mezeray.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>V.</HEAD>
<P> One acquainted with the con|duct of Mr. <HI>Varillas,</HI> would be apt to wonder, that in five Pages toge|ther there has no Lady appear'd, nor any thing of an Amour: But he can forbear no longer; for p. 16. <HI>The
<PB N="15" REF="10">Kings Mi&s;tre&s;s</HI> is brought into the Party: <HI>She was a</HI> Spaniard; <HI>by Name</HI> Alex Perez; <HI>who joyn'd her &s;elf to the intere&s;t of</HI> John <HI>of</HI> Gaunt, <HI>in hopes to be &s;ecur'd by him from a Parliament, after the decea&s;e of the old King; who by the di&s;cour&s;es of her, and the Duke, had begun to think well of</HI> Wicliff, <HI>and would have declar'd him&s;elf in favour of Him, but for fear of the Popes.</HI> p. 16, 17.]</P>
<P N="1">1. Having read that <HI>Wicliff</HI> was a per&s;on of great Accompli&s;hments, improv'd by Travel and a large con|ver&s;ation, I began to be afraid that Mr. <HI>Varillas,</HI> who has an Ambition to improve all things into a Love-Intrigue, would have made the King's Mi&s;tre&s;s have a de&s;ign of kindne&s;s upon him. But finding he had fail'd me there, I began to be|think me who that <HI>Alex Perez</HI> might be, and whether 'twas true, that King <HI>Edward</HI> had fetch'd a Mi&s;tre&s;s out of the &s;ame Country, that Duke <HI>John</HI> had brought his
<PB N="16" REF="11">Wife from. But who would &s;u&s;pect that this Court-Beauty, whom <HI>Va|rillas</HI> has dre&s;s'd up <HI>a l' E&s;pagnole,</HI> &s;hould prove to be no body el&s;e but our own <HI>Al&s;e Pierce, Engli&s;h</HI> born and <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> bred.</P>
<P N="2">2. Our be&s;t Hi&s;torians have left us no remembrance of any concern &s;he ever had with <HI>Church-Affairs;</HI> only 'tis &s;aid, indeed, that her fir&s;t &s;tep to the Royal Favour was ow|ing to a Dominican; and that thus preferr'd, &s;he did once employ her Intere&s;t with the King in behalf of the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Winche&s;ter;</HI> who had no rea&s;on to be thought one of <HI>Wi|cliff's</HI> Friends, if it were true that He, as Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> has before rela|ted, had entertain'd a contrivance to thur&s;t him out of his See. 3. This is certain, King <HI>Edward</HI> the Third had a great e&s;teem for <HI>Wicliff,</HI> &s;o as &s;ome have affirm'd he made him his own Chaplain: And to &s;ee how the man is mi&s;taken, in &s;aying, the King di&s;&s;embled the favour he had for him,
<PB N="17" REF="11">le&s;t the Pope &s;hould be di&s;pleas'd by it, it will be fit to tell him that the fir&s;t occa&s;ion of <HI>Wicliff</HI>'s ri&s;ing in the Kings good opinion, was, be|cau&s;e he manfully oppos'd the Papal pretences; and that if ever any of our Princes till King <HI>Henry</HI> the VIII. have A&s;&s;erted them&s;elves from a dread of the Popes, it mu&s;t be rea|dily allow'd that this King was not much overaw'd by them, in the beginning of who&s;e Reign the
<NOTE PLACE="marg">(a) 5 <HI>Ed.</HI> 3:</NOTE> Religious were forbid to &s;end Money to their Supe|riours beyond Sea; in the middle of who&s;e Reign were Enacted the fa|mous Statutes of
<NOTE PLACE="marg">(b) 25 <HI>Ed.</HI> 3.</NOTE> <HI>Provi&s;ors</HI> and
<NOTE PLACE="marg">(c) 27 <HI>Ed.</HI> 3.</NOTE> <HI>Praemunire;</HI> and both confirm'd again by a Par|liament of his about ten years after.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>VI.</HEAD>
<P> <HI>We are next amus'd with the rea&s;ons King</HI> Edward <HI>had to be di&s;|pleas'd with the Papacy: It was by the Popes ill Offices (caus'd by a jealou&s;ie they had of the King) that He &s;aw his
<PB N="18" REF="12">preten&s;ions to the Empire Defeated; and among other things,</HI> Guienne <HI>was lo&s;t to the</HI> French, <HI>by his not being able to obtain leave from</HI> Rome <HI>for the taking the new Tenths of His Clergy.</HI> pag. 17, 18, 19.] This whole Para|graph wants but a Tran&s;lation for its confutation; and Mr. <HI>D.</HI> might have been as effectual as Dr. <HI>B.</HI> We &s;hall di&s;mi&s;s it at pre&s;ent with only one <HI>Remark,</HI> That as never any of our Kings de&s;erv'd better of the Native Clergy of <HI>England</HI> than King <HI>Edward,</HI> &s;o he had no need to ask the Popes leave for Them to be grate|ful to Him: That very year that he apprehended the de&s;igns of <HI>Charles</HI> upon <HI>Guienne,</HI> he borrow'd of them great Sums; and the next, He had given Him by them no le&s;s than 50000 <HI>l.</HI> to be paid in the &s;ame year. And here again he betrays his igno|rance of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Policy and Con|&s;titutions: For the Clergy met in Convocation, have always had the priviledge of taxing them&s;elves, with|out
<PB N="19" REF="12">&s;ending for a Foreign con&s;ent; which our Author would make us believe was &s;ollicited by King <HI>Ed|ward</HI> in a <HI>Formal Emba&s;&s;y to the Pope;</HI> but what was that Amba&s;&s;adours Name we mu&s;t not know; for perhaps Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> has wi&s;ely put him&s;elf under his old obligation of Secrecy. The credentials of that Emba&s;&s;y will be no where found, unle&s;s it be in the company of Cardinal <HI>Bellay</HI>'s invi&s;ible Letters, or the Original <HI>Salique</HI> Law. Which Simile I take occa&s;ion to mention here the &s;econd time, becau&s;e I'd have Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> to under&s;tand, that I am as fond of my notion of the <HI>Salique,</HI> as he is of his <HI>Peter-Pence.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>VII.</HEAD>
<P> <HI>We are at length arriv'd to what he calls the depth of the Intrigue, and is really beyond my Fathom: He begins, That before</HI> William the Con|querer <HI>there were no written Laws in</HI> England; William <HI>made a Collection &s;till remaining, of &s;uch of the unwritten Laws as he de&s;ign'd &s;hould be aboli&s;ht:
<PB N="20" REF="13">The Laws he left in force, if &s;trictly ob&s;erv'd, would have &s;ubjected</HI> England <HI>to the conditions of a Conquer'd Coun|trey; and the goods of the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticks (which by his Laws he had made his own,</HI> p. 2.) <HI>would have pre&s;erv'd his Mi|ni&s;ters in a dependance upon him,</HI> p. 19, 20.]</P>
<P N="1">1. Our Author, who has div'd &s;o deeply into the Cabinets of Princes, and di&s;cover'd &s;o many Manu&s;cript Memoires, inacce&s;&s;able to other Mor|tals, is a little unhappy here, in not having heard of our <HI>Saxonlege,</HI> or <HI>Mercenlege,</HI> or <HI>Danelege</HI> of the Laws of King <HI>Ina,</HI> he that gave the never-to-be-forgotten <HI>Peter-pence,</HI> or King <HI>Elfred,</HI> or King <HI>Edward the Con|fe&s;&s;or,</HI> and other our Princes before the Conque&s;t, with which Mr. <HI>Lam|bard</HI> has made a &s;hift to fill a Folio.</P>
<P N="2">2. That Collection he talks of made by <HI>William</HI> the Conquerour, and &s;till remaining, would bear a great price in <HI>England,</HI> if he is willing to part with it, for we could
<PB N="21" REF="13">never yet get the &s;ight of &s;uch a Re|cord: We have indeed a work of that Reign, a noble piece of <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Antiquity, the Doom&s;day-book, but the &s;ubject of that does not an&s;wer our Authors Character. 3. That <HI>William</HI> the Fir&s;t affected the name and advantage of a Conquerour, and de&s;ign'd to u&s;e the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> not as Sub|jects but Slaves, will never be grant|ed by the mo&s;t impartial of our Hi|&s;torians. 4. Lea&s;t of all will it be allow'd, that that Prince did ever pretend by the right of Conque&s;t to the Revenues of Holy Church; The confirming of which in all its privi|ledges was the fir&s;t &s;olemn act of his entrance; and the encrea&s;ing of it with the Foundation of a goodly Ab|bey, was what he cho&s;e to be the pi|ous and la&s;ting memorial of his Victory.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="8" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>VIII.</HEAD>
<P> What follows is &s;o gro&s;s and unpardonable, that I &s;hall refer him to be corrected by the Almanack, or the Man that &s;hews the Kings at
<PB N="22" REF="14"><HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter.</HI> If the Compo&s;itor does not &s;tep in to relieve the credit of the Author, and bring him out of this in|convenience, as he calls it, by taking &s;hame to him&s;elf, no man hereafter will endure his Books, but in &s;uch a Library as <HI>Don Quixot</HI>'s, or in &s;uch a Catalogue as Mr. <HI>Langbanie</HI>'s. He gravely tells us, <HI>That the Two</HI> Stephens <HI>of the Hou&s;e of</HI> Blois, <HI>who &s;ucceeded the Sons of</HI> William, <HI>took no care of the unwritten Laws,</HI> &amp;c. Sure he penn'd this pa&s;&s;age at a certain &s;ea&s;on when they &s;ay men are us'd to &s;ee double: Otherwi&s;e, how is it po&s;&s;ible for him to make us Two Kings of one U&s;urp|er? Who ever heard of King <HI>Stephen</HI> the Second of <HI>England?</HI> Who was his Wife? What Children had he? What did he do? Which King of <HI>France</HI> did he beat? Where was he Buried? 'Tis a Miracle that all this &s;hould e&s;cape the World; and whil&s;t we, the ignorant, thought there ne|ver had been any more than one <HI>Ste|phen,</HI> Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> &s;hould produce
<PB N="23" REF="14">another. However, it will be hard for him to prevail with the wary Citizens of <HI>London,</HI> among&s;t the Sta|tues Royal erected in the <HI>Exchange,</HI> to rai&s;e an E&s;&s;igies to the memory of the Second King <HI>Stephen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="9" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>IX.</HEAD>
<P> <HI>To the</HI> Stephens, he &s;ays, <HI>&s;uc|ceeded the Hou&s;e of</HI> Anjou; <HI>who were reduc'd to implore the authority of the Holy See, to put them in their po&s;&s;e&s;&s;i|on of</HI> England: <HI>In them the Preroga|tive was weakned, by &s;ome rea&s;ons no man but</HI> Varillas <HI>would give, and fir&s;t the Clergy and Nobility, and after that the Populacy getting the a&s;cendant of the Crown, the Parliament took its birth. The power of which, during its Se&s;&s;ion was &s;o great, as to leave almo&s;t no hing but the Title to the King:</HI> Henry <HI>II. was the fir&s;t that would have &s;hook off the Yoke,</HI> p. 20, 21.] 1. The Hou&s;e of <HI>Anjou</HI> was &s;o formidable in <HI>Maud</HI> and her Son <HI>Henry,</HI> and the People &s;o well di&s;pos'd to receive them, that he had no need of any &s;uch a&s;&s;i&s;tance from abroad. 2. How
<PB N="24" REF="15">could the Hou&s;e of <HI>Anjou</HI> bring a Par|liamentary <HI>Yoke</HI> upon them&s;elves, which <HI>Henry</HI> II. &s;hould be the fir&s;t that endeavour'd to &s;hake off, when before <HI>Henry</HI> II. the Hou&s;e of <HI>Anjou</HI> never reign'd in <HI>England.</HI> 3. 'Tis a &s;hame Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> &s;hould know &s;o little of that augu&s;t A&s;&s;embly, the Parliament, as to date the ri&s;e of it from <HI>Henry</HI> II. whereas at lea&s;t it ought to have been carried as high as his Grandfather. 4. He may think perhaps to make it amends by ano|ther mi&s;take, having fal&s;ly rais'd them in their Se&s;&s;ion &s;o far above the King, as in a manner to annihilate his power for the time. One that reads this in a <HI>French-man,</HI> would think he was di&s;cour&s;ing of the Doge of <HI>Genoa;</HI> and not of a Monarch, who, as his pre&s;ent Maje&s;ty has been pleas'd publickly to ob&s;erve, has e|nough power by Law to make him as great as he can wi&s;h; though he &s;uffers his Parliament to maintain their ju&s;t priviledges at another rate,
<PB N="25" REF="15">than the long-di&s;us'd E&s;tates of a neighbouring Kingdom. And here 'tis probable our Author may think him&s;elf &s;afe behind a Quotation fetch'd from <HI>Bologna;</HI> and 'tis likely he will be &s;o: For a Subject of <HI>Eng|land</HI> will not pre&s;ume to interpo&s;e, becau&s;e the matter is of &s;o high a na|ture, nor a Prince conde&s;cend &s;o low as to take notice of an affront, when the Author is <HI>Varillas.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="10" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>X.</HEAD>
<P> He goes on to tell us, <HI>That</HI> Henry <HI>II. his de&s;igns were prevented by</HI> Becket<HI>'s murder; which happen'd by two indi&s;creet Souldiers, explaining in too great a latitude &s;ome words let fall by the King in relation to the Arch|bi&s;hop. So this project was &s;et on foot no more till</HI> Edward <HI>the Third's time, who taking up the &s;ame de&s;ign of de|pre&s;&s;ing the States of Parliament, began with that of the Clergy, which by</HI> Wie|liff<HI>'s proceedings he was in hopes to mortifie,</HI> p. 22.] 1. Tho&s;e <HI>Two Souldiers</HI> of his were Four Knights, Sir <HI>Hugh Merville,</HI> Sir <HI>William Tra|cy,</HI>
<PB N="26" REF="16">Sir <HI>Richard Brittain,</HI> and Sir <HI>Ray|nold Fitz-&V;rs.</HI> An Hi&s;torian ought to under&s;tand &s;o much Blazon, as to know a Knight from a Souldier; and not to &s;uffer him&s;elf to be &s;o much in ha&s;te, as to leave half his number behind him: But Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> may think he has done the Gentlemen no wrong, in giving them a name &s;o much admir'd in modern <HI>France;</HI> and I am the more willing to excu&s;e him for being too &s;hort in this ac|count, becau&s;e he allows for it in the Two <HI>Stephens.</HI> 2. He told us in p. 18, 19. <HI>That the rea&s;on of King</HI> Ed|ward<HI>'s de&s;igns upon the Clergy, was a de&s;ire he had of revenging him&s;elf upon the Popes, who had done him, as he thought, &s;o many injuries, there recount|ed:</HI> But here that re&s;olution is made to proceed from an intent of his, to bring down the power of Parliaments. Now I begin to have &s;ome hopes of our Author: For I &s;ee he knows him|&s;elf &s;o well, as not to rely upon his own relation laid down before; and
<PB N="27" REF="16">Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> will not believe Mr. <HI>Va|rillas:</HI> He gue&s;&s;es again; and thinks 'tis here, as in <HI>Arithmetick,</HI> where two fal&s;e Suppo&s;itions may produce a Truth.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="11" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>XI.</HEAD>
<P> After this long deduction, in which, it &s;eems as though he had been re&s;olv'd to &s;pend at once all the little &s;tock of knowledge he has in the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Chronicles, he returns to <HI>Wicliff; who finding him&s;elf thus &s;ecure, taught openly, that the</HI> Engli&s;h <HI>Lords might re&s;ume the goods given by their Ance&s;tors to the Church, that neither Pope nor Bi&s;hops might Excom|municate; that Sacraments admini&s;tred by wicked Prie&s;ts were ineffectual.</HI> p. 23.] Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> having fram'd to him&s;elf a notion, that <HI>Wicliff</HI> was only us'd as a State-In&s;trument a|gain&s;t the Clergy, he has accordingly pickt only the&s;e out of his many Doctrines, as appearing mo&s;t proper to &s;erve his <HI>Hypothe&s;is;</HI> as if the&s;e three mi&s;repre&s;ented Articles, were the only, or the chief Tenets by
<PB N="28" REF="17">which Dr. <HI>Wicliff</HI> grew to be &s;o con|&s;iderable: It was his great e&s;teem for the Holy Scriptures, of which his Tran&s;lation &s;till remains a memo|rable in&s;tance; his right notion of the ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Euchari&s;t,</HI> the oppo&s;ition he made to the encroaching Mendi|cants in behalf of the Secular Clergy; not to mention his confe&s;s'd Excel|lencies in Polemick Divinity and Philo&s;ophy, with a &s;trictne&s;s of life, which his Acquaintance rever'd; which his Adver&s;aries, among&s;t all their Accu&s;ations, have never pre|tended to call in que&s;tion; and which engag'd in his favour the major part of the Univer&s;ity where he liv'd, and particularly the Chan|cellour and both the Proctors of the year 1382. It would be too large a work, and not becoming &s;uch a Pamphlet as this, to enter into a De&s;ence of that great Man, and all his particular Opinions, and to &s;hew how indu&s;trious the Friers have been to blacken him &s;ince his Death;
<PB N="29" REF="17">when even in his Life time, he was charg'd with the &s;ancies and errours of other Men; which, when in open Court, he declar'd never to have been his; this his Remon&s;trance, has by &s;ome &s;ince, been plea&s;antly term'd a Recantation: For the pre|&s;ent, the diligent Dr. <HI>James</HI> may be con&s;ulted by the curious, for their farther &s;atisfaction, till &s;ome gene|rous Pen &s;hall appear more fully in the Cau&s;e of <HI>Wicliff,</HI> and do ju&s;tice to &s;o eminent a Confe&s;&s;or.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="12" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>XII.</HEAD>
<P> <HI>He keeps us &s;till in the year</HI> 1374. <HI>and in that it was, as he tells us, that Pope</HI> Gregory XI. <HI>hearing of the Novelty, wrote to the Archbi&s;hop of</HI> Canterbury, <HI>and Bi&s;hop of</HI> London, <HI>by any means to &s;uppre&s;s it. They Cite</HI> Wicliff, <HI>who appears, but in the po&s;ture of one that expected a Reward, and not a Puni&s;hment. He pleaded, that he had never de&s;ign'd to alter the Chri&s;tian Truth; that if any thing offen&s;ive had e&s;cap'd him, he revok'd it &s;incerely, and &s;ubmitted to Pennance
<PB N="30" REF="18">and publick Correction: &V;pon. this they put into his hands a Billet of the three Errours he had taught; which having explain'd, to their content, there was nothing left for the two Bi&s;hops, but to Ab&s;olve him, upon pro|mi&s;e made never more to maintain in publick any equivocal Propo&s;itions.</HI> p. 23, 24.]</P>
<P>At the fir&s;t reading this Narration, drawn up with &s;o much &s;eriou&s;ne&s;s and formality, it would look like confidence to &s;u&s;pect it; and yet upon &s;earch, it will be manife&s;t, that 'tis fal&s;e and &s;ophi&s;ticate in almo&s;t all its parts. Having made this ge|neral ob&s;ervation, how cautious our Author has been, in avoiding tho&s;e unlucky things call'd Dates, as not having hitherto &s;pecified &s;o much as the Month in which any Adventure fell out; we mu&s;t not expect he &s;hould tell us what was the date of the Popes Bull, of the Epi&s;copal Citation, or the time of <HI>Wicliff</HI>'s appearance; all which would have been look'd for
<PB N="31" REF="18">in an exact Hi&s;tory; and if they had here been &s;et down by Mr. <HI>Va|rillas</HI> would have &s;upplied us with matter for a Con&s;utation. 1. All our Annals and Regi&s;ters place this Hear|ing two years later, about the 19th. of <HI>February,</HI> 1377. 2. That <HI>Wicliff</HI>'s behaviour there, was contrary to what Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> has repre&s;ented it: I will at pre&s;ent take no other care to demon&s;trate, than by &s;etting down the words of <HI>Knighton:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>l.</HI> 5.</NOTE> <HI>Cumque die Statuto ad objecta re&s;pondere deberet, omnem prejactita|tem cordis audaciam &s;ine mora dimi|&s;it,</HI> &amp;c. 3. I &s;hall ask of Mr. <HI>Varillas,</HI> whether it be the way of the <HI>French</HI> Law, or any other he has &s;tudied, for a Man to plead before his Indict|ment be known, and to an&s;wer an Accu&s;ation, when 'tis not yet pre|ferr'd again&s;t him. If <HI>Wicliff</HI> did &s;o, yet this we know, that he made no &s;uch &s;et harangue; that after that, he had no &s;uch Billet of 3 Articles pre&s;ented him; that the Expo&s;ition
<PB N="32" REF="19">our Author a&s;cribes to him is ficti|tious; and in &s;hort, all that follows. For a Tumult happening, the Court was oblig'd to break up abruptly before Nine of the Clock in the Morning; and never came to give &s;uch an Ab&s;olution, or to receive &s;uch a promi&s;e. 4. If he had ever read any writer upon the pre&s;ent particular, he could never have made &s;o defective a di&s;cour&s;e of it, in which he has not told us &s;o much as that this Trial was at <HI>London;</HI> that the great Duke of <HI>Lanca&s;ter,</HI> and <HI>Henry,</HI> Mar&s;hal of <HI>England,</HI> appear'd in favour of the Criminal; and finally, the occa&s;ion the Bi&s;hops found to leave the Court &s;ooner than was intended.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="13" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>XIII.</HEAD>
<P> <HI>We are acquainted, That after this</HI> Wicliff <HI>Relaps'd: The &s;ame Pope hearing of it, complain'd of the</HI> Engli&s;h <HI>Prelates, and to &s;hew what they ought to have done, condemn'd the Propo&s;itions of</HI> Wicliff <HI>him&s;elf: The Prelates being a&s;ham'd to be out-done,
<PB N="33" REF="19">A&s;&s;embled them&s;elves at</HI> Canterbury <HI>in the form of a Council, and ponounc'd by the mouth of the Archbi&s;hop of the place, who was their Primate an Anathema a|gain&s;t his Doctrine: And all this in King Edward's Reign, and the year</HI> 1374. p. 25.]</P>
<P N="1">1. To &s;et him right in his Chro|nology, this &s;econd Convocation is on all hands affirm'd to have fall'n out in the Reign of <HI>Richard</HI> II. which began <HI>June</HI> 21, 1377. 2. Whereas he makes our Bi&s;hops &s;o complai&s;ant, as immediately to fall about what the Pope had hinted to them by his example; 'tis evident by the Original Acts &s;till remaining, and to be &s;een in their proper Ar|chieves, that he was forc'd to oblige them to it by formal Letters; bear|ing Date from <HI>Rome,</HI> 11 <HI>Cal. Jun. Anno</HI> 7. <HI>Pontificatus;</HI> though not put in Execution till after the Death of King <HI>Edward.</HI> Why does Mr. <HI>Va|rillas</HI> mention nothing of this Bull? or is not the Popes Letter of as great
<PB N="34" REF="20">moment, and as well de&s;erving to be taken notice of, as a Love-Letter or a Lampoon. 3. He is very un|happy in de&s;cending to particulars, and not keeping aloof in generals, and at a due di&s;tance: For as in the fir&s;t Convocation he a&s;&s;igns us no place for their Se&s;&s;ion, &s;o here he has given us a wrong one, and <HI>Lam|beth</HI> is many Miles from <HI>Canterbury.</HI> 4. The Bi&s;hops met at <HI>Lambeth</HI> were &s;o far from <HI>pronouncing an Ana|thema again&s;t</HI> Wicliff<HI>'s Doctrine,</HI> that they found rea&s;ons not to give any definitive Sentence; which had they done, it would have appear'd on Regi&s;ter, among&s;t other Acts we have remaining of the &s;ame Council.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="14" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>XIV.</HEAD>
<P> This 1374. has been a very long year, and at la&s;t <HI>King</HI> Edward <HI>dies in it;</HI> who, however, I am well &s;atisfied, was in the Throne above two years after. <HI>In his life time he had tenderly lov'd the Duke of</HI> Lanca|&s;ter, <HI>and had given him outward demon|&s;trations, that he would leave him the
<PB N="35" REF="20">Crown; neverthele&s;s when he was dead, a Will was found written and &s;ign'd with his Hand, which rendred Ju&s;tice to the Prince of</HI> Wales, <HI>in the Per&s;on of his Son</HI> Richard, <HI>then but</HI> 12 <HI>years old, and declared him Succe&s;&s;our, in Exclu&s;ion to the Duke of</HI> Lanca&s;ter, <HI>and the Dukes of</HI> Glouce&s;ter <HI>and</HI> Cam|bridge, <HI>his Brothers. The Parliament of</HI> England <HI>approved this VVill,</HI> p. 25, 26.] 1. Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> is the fir&s;t di&s;|coverer of any <HI>Demon&s;trations</HI> given by <HI>Edward</HI> the III. to the Duke of <HI>Lanca&s;ter,</HI> that &s;hould put him in hopes of the Crown: On the con|trary, <HI>Wal&s;ingham</HI> tells us in expre&s;s words, <HI>Eo tempore, nondum finito Parliamento,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hyp. Neu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Dominus Edwardus, Princeps Walliae,</HI> 8. <HI>die Julii in die S. Trinitatis defun|gitur. Dominus Richardus de Burde|galia, filius Dom. Edw. Principis in hoc Parliamento factus e&s;t Comes Ce|&s;triae &amp; non multo po&s;t Dux Cornubioe, &amp; Princeps Wallioe e&s;t creatus. Ed|wardus in fe&s;to S. Georgii apud Winde|le&s;hores
<PB N="36" REF="21">contulit Richardo de Burdegel, Haeredi &s;uo, ordinem militarem.</HI> From hence any man of inference, will &s;ee what rea&s;on the Duke of <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> had to enlarge his hopes, and pro|mi&s;e him&s;elf that Prince <HI>Richard</HI> was not de&s;ign'd for the Crown by his Royal Grand-father. 2. Here is a Will produc'd, never known in the World, till Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> printed his Hi&s;tory: Nothing of this in any of our Authors, but counterfeited by him, who is one of the fir&s;t men that ever forg'd a Te&s;tament, without hopes of getting by it &s;o much as a Legacy. 'Tis &s;omething ob&s;ervable, that he &s;hould deal &s;o by a Prince, who is the fir&s;t in <HI>England,</HI> that has made a Statute about Pillories. 3. A man that goes about a cheat, &s;hould not be in ha&s;te, but let his In|vention tarry for his Judgment: This Will is &s;o awkardly contriv'd, that it betrays it &s;elf at fir&s;t &s;ight. The Duke of <HI>Cambridge</HI> (as he calls him) is put after his younger Bro|ther;
<PB N="37" REF="21">neither was he ever Duke of <HI>Cam|bridge,</HI> but Earl only, in which cha|racter he continued till 1386. when his Nephew created him Duke of <HI>York. Thomas</HI> of <HI>Wood&s;tock,</HI> is yet more beholding to Mr. <HI>Varillas,</HI> for having excluded him by the name of the Duke of <HI>Glouce&s;ter;</HI> whereas he had no title when his Father dy'd, nor did he arrive to this Dukedom till the abovenamed year 1386. Now 'tis a pretty hard conceit to &s;uppo&s;e, that the King did not know which of his Sons was the El|der, or that he &s;hould put by from the Crown two Dukes he had never heard of; or la&s;tly, that prophe&s;ying of the future honours of his Chil|dren, he &s;hould gue&s;s right about one, and be mi&s;taken about the other. 4. Not to harra&s;s him any more; as for what concerns the Par|liament after the Kings Death, I de|&s;ire to know who &s;hould call it, if the new King was not yet approv'd, as he is pleas'd to term it. And
<PB N="38" REF="22">about the Act of Approbation, I reque&s;t of him to tell us where it is to be found, that &s;o it may be put into the next Edition of <HI>Keeble.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="15" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>XV.</HEAD>
<P> He informs us, p. 26, 27. <HI>That the unfortunate</HI> Alix Perez <HI>avoid|ed the puni&s;hment prepar'd for her, by embarking with what &s;he had mo&s;t pre|cious upon a</HI> Flemmi&s;h <HI>Ve&s;&s;el, which carryed her to the Coa&s;ts of</HI> Galicia. <HI>And the Tutors of the young King for|bore to &s;eek after her, either becau&s;e they thought her below their anger, or that they were per&s;waded the King of</HI> Ca&s;tile <HI>would not abandon her to their di&s;cretion, becau&s;e of the Riches which &s;he brought from</HI> England <HI>into</HI> Spain, <HI>or of the preten&s;ions which the Duke of</HI> Lanca&s;ter <HI>had upon his Crown.</HI> Thus far our Romancer: His friend <HI>Tacitus</HI> has begun his Annals with a Ver&s;e, and Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> improving the hu|mour, and advancing upon tho&s;e grounds, has made his whole Hi&s;to|ry into a Poem. Had he liv'd in the days of Knight-errantry, he would
<PB N="39" REF="22">certainly have been invited over to the Honourable Employment of Imperial Hi&s;toriographer in the Court of <HI>Trebizond,</HI> and de&s;erved a Pen&s;ion extraordinary from his Highne&s;s Don <HI>Alphebo.</HI> Having here to do with a Female, he has acquit|ted him&s;elf extreme civilly, and much like a Gentleman, to re-con|duct the &s;trange Lady to her own Countrey, with all her Jewels and other her &s;toln accoutrements. But our rough Hi&s;torians deal more un|kindly by her, and tell us, that by a Parliament at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter, Alice Pierce</HI> had all her goods confi&s;cate, and her&s;elf bani&s;ht, &s;o as really to be left the <HI>&V;nfortunate Alix Perez.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="16" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>XVI.</HEAD>
<P> We are now coming on to <HI>Tyler</HI>'s Rebellion; and here our Au|thor has given a ma&s;ter-&s;troke of his fancy, and has found a contri|vance to draw in <HI>Wicliff</HI> for the Au|thor of the whole commotion. <HI>Viclof taking advantage of the Kings minority, pa&s;t on from the Clergy to
<PB N="40" REF="23">vent his doctrine again&s;t the Lay-No|bility and Magi&s;tracy; and at length came to a conclu&s;ion, that there ought to be no inequality in goods, but a com|munity of all things. Having thus di&s;|pos'd the Peoples minds, he receiv'd into his party one</HI> John Balee, <HI>a man the mo&s;t turbulent and &s;editious of all</HI> England: <HI>He was a Prie&s;t by profe&s;&s;ion, and had e&s;cap'd out of Pri&s;on, where his Ordi|nary had &s;ecur'd him. He fearing to be re-taken, and not having means of &s;ub&s;i&s;tance beyond the Seas, found there could be no &s;afety for him without kin|dling a Civil War. So having often conferr'd with</HI> Wicliff, <HI>he preach'd and improv'd his opinions, &s;o as to draw after him to the number of</HI> 200000 <HI>per&s;ons, pretending to e&s;ta|bli&s;h an Equality, but indeed to put him&s;elf into the dignities of</HI> Simon de Saberia, <HI>Arch-bi&s;hop of</HI> Canterbury, <HI>and Lord Chancellour of</HI> England, p. 27, 28, 29.] 1. I love an Hi&s;to|rian of a great Soul and free thoughts, that &s;corns to be beholding to for|mer
<PB N="41" REF="23">accounts, and will go no far|ther than him&s;elf for his relations: 'Tis an argument of a <HI>Vulgar Spirit</HI> to be content to take up with what is written already, and pre&s;ent the World with nothing that's new. <HI>Wicliff</HI>'s Preaching had no more re|lation to this Rebellion, than the Edition of <HI>Confucius</HI> in <HI>France</HI> had to the Sufferings of the <HI>Hugonots,</HI> or than Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI>'s Conclu&s;ions are us'd to have to his Premi&s;es. 'Tis well known by all men of Judgment and Reading, that <HI>Wicliff</HI> always de|fended Order and Di&s;tinction; that he him&s;elf took his <HI>Degree of Doctor,</HI> and that his Friends and Patrons were of <HI>the Nobility;</HI> and that all his troubles took their ri&s;e from his zeal in maintaining the <HI>Supremacy</HI> of his Prince: So far was he from being Author of this Tumult again&s;t him. To pa&s;s by our Authors for|getfulne&s;s, who having (<HI>p.</HI> 12.) brought in <HI>Wicliff,</HI> as de&s;igning no|thing but to revenge him&s;elf upon
<PB N="24" REF="24">the Popes Officers and the Clergy, for a &s;uppos'd affront receiv'd from them, does here unde&s;ervedly, and without rea&s;ons a&s;&s;ign'd, &s;et him as hotly again&s;t the Laicks and Nobi|lity. All agree, that the Rebellion proceeded from the &s;eeming Opre&s;|&s;ions, and from the Taxes, the great|e&s;t that had ever been in <HI>England,</HI> thought to be unrea&s;onably impos'd, and in&s;olently exacted in <HI>Kent,</HI> and the neighbouring parts. 2. Now for <HI>John Ball,</HI> the Seditious Eccle&s;i|a&s;tick, he was clapt up for tenets of his own; and was &s;o far from ha|ving e&s;cap'd Pri&s;on, to go and enter into frequent con&s;ults with <HI>Wicliff;</HI> and from thinking it nece&s;&s;ary after that, to rai&s;e the People of <HI>England</HI> for the &s;ecuriry of him&s;elf, an incon|&s;iderable Curate; that the Pea&s;antry was fir&s;t up in arms; and among&s;t their other extravagancies, having broke open the Pri&s;ons, they &s;et free with the re&s;t this <HI>John Ball,</HI> who then indeed joyn'd with his Deliverers.</P>
<PB N="43" REF="24">
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="17" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>XVII.</HEAD>
<P> <HI>The Multitude</HI> (he &s;ays) <HI>march'd on to the Palace of the Arch|bi&s;hop; where forcing entrance, they find the Prelate upon his knees, and with all the circum&s;tances of horrour, cut off his Head. The Troubles were renew'd &s;oon after in the Provinces of</HI> E&s;&s;ex <HI>and</HI> Kent, <HI>and quickly pa&s;t into tho&s;e of</HI> Norfole, Suffolc, Erfolc, <HI>and</HI> Cambridge. <HI>Thence the</HI> Wicliffi&s;ts <HI>advanc'd towards</HI> London <HI>in a body innumerable: They were a charge to no man; they paid for what they had, and puni&s;ht with death any that were convicted of having &s;toln. When they were arriv'd at</HI> Bloquet, <HI>King</HI> Ri|chard <HI>&s;ent to demand the rea&s;on of their taking Arms, but receiv'd an an|&s;wer full of in&s;olence: And when the Mayor would have &s;hut the City-Gates again&s;t them, he was hindered by tho&s;e of the ordinary &s;ort. The Seditious enter</HI> London, <HI>burn the Count of</HI> Lan|ca&s;ters <HI>Palace, and throw the goods of the Count into the River: Then they inve&s;t the</HI> Tower, <HI>whither the King
<PB N="44" REF="25">and Court had fled for refuge, gain entrance, and murder the Chancellour, the Trea&s;urer, and other Officers, hid in the</HI> Tower, <HI>and &s;everal other Churches of</HI> London, p. 29, 30, 31.] 1. I would have been glad if Mr. <HI>Varil|las</HI> would have told us where this <HI>Palace of the Arch-bi&s;hop</HI> &s;tood, and whither it was not that at <HI>Lambeth,</HI> near <HI>Candamart?</HI> It is &s;ure, that the Arch-bi&s;hop was not ma&s;&s;acred in any Palace he had, and before I end this Paragraph, I will undertake that Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> him&s;elf &s;hall tell me &s;o. 2. Among&s;t the <HI>Provinces</HI> concern'd in the Tumults, we meet with <HI>Er|folc</HI> for one: Mr. <HI>Camden</HI> and Mr. <HI>A|dams</HI> knew nothing of &s;uch a place; and if Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> will come over hither, and di&s;cover where this County lyes, I engage my Honour that at lea&s;t the Freeholders of it &s;hall chu&s;e him Knight of the Shire. 3. That the Rebels were &s;o exact in paying for what they had, I mu&s;t beg his pardon if I believe a mi&s;take,
<PB N="45" REF="25">not only by their Actings, but al&s;o by their Principles, which Mr. <HI>Va|rillas</HI> told us before, were to make <HI>all things common.</HI> But let us follow them to <HI>Bloquet;</HI> which however we cannot do without a guide; for 'tis impo&s;&s;ible to find any &s;uch place, unle&s;s by that name he means to under&s;tand <HI>Black-heath,</HI> or <HI>Barnet,</HI> or rather <HI>Mile end</HI> 4. The Mayor not being &s;uffered [<HI>to change the City Locks,</HI> or &s;o much as] <HI>to &s;hut the Gates,</HI> the Pea&s;antry came on, and Plundered the <HI>Earl of Lanca&s;ters</HI> hou&s;e in the <HI>Savoy.</HI> Sure one would think they had depriv'd him of his Dukedome too: for otherwi&s;e how comes it to pa&s;s that he who has hi|therto been all along <HI>Le Duc de Lan|ca&s;tre,</HI> &s;hould be now on a &s;udden dimini&s;h'd into <HI>Le Conte de Lanca&s;tre?</HI> By this figure of <HI>Varilli&s;m</HI> it was, that the Lord <HI>Darley</HI> was brought down into a private Gentleman, and the Knights of King <HI>Henry</HI> into Souldiers. If there were nothing
<PB N="46" REF="26">el&s;e to be &s;aid about the pre&s;ent Rebellion, this &s;ingle pa&s;&s;age were enough to evince the Rebels not to have been the Di&s;ciples of <HI>Wicliff;</HI> for if &s;o, this Illu&s;trious Patron of his mu&s;t needs have met with ano|ther &s;ort of u&s;age at their hands: Tho farther yet it may be noted, that <HI>Jack Straw</HI> in his la&s;t confe&s;&s;ion declared, Their de&s;ign was to &s;ave the <HI>Mendicant</HI> Friers, an Order of men, who had always &s;hew'd them|&s;elves the mo&s;t violent Enemies to <HI>Wicliff.</HI> 4. We are now come to the bu&s;ine&s;s of <HI>Simon de Suberia.</HI> Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> mention'd above, that the <HI>Archbi&s;hop</HI> was beheaded in his Palace; and now a&s;&s;ures us, That the <HI>Chancellour</HI> is murdered in the Tower, either forgetting what he had told us before (p. 28.) that both tho&s;e dignities were in one Per&s;on, <HI>Sudbury;</HI> or de&s;igning to deter peo|ple from Ambition and a de&s;ire of Plurality in high Offices, by &s;hew|ing that a man mu&s;t under go as ma|ny
<PB N="47" REF="26">&s;everal deaths as he holds prefer|ments; and in this example, that the &s;ame per&s;on was fir&s;t put to death in his Spiritual capacity of <HI>Archbi&s;hop,</HI> and again Ma&s;&s;acred &s;ome time after for his temporal qualification of <HI>State-Mini&s;ter:</HI> For that a man may be <HI>two-fold,</HI> was formerly &s;een, in the Ca&s;e of <HI>Charles</HI> V. The truth is this, <HI>Sudbury</HI> from the fir&s;t beginning of the&s;e di&s;tur|bances had follow'd the fortune and per&s;on of the King, and was at pre|&s;ent retir'd with him into the Tow|er, where the multitude &s;eiz'd and beheaded him. So dyed a Prelate, of whom our Authors have given us a very honourable mention; and yet Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> has been pleas'd to a&s;&s;ign him &s;o ill-natur'd and unju&s;t a character, (p. 23. &amp; p. 28, 29.) that one who reads it, would think he had mi&s;taken his Man, and was de&s;cribing the Heretick <HI>Wicliff,</HI> in|&s;tead of <HI>Sudbury</HI> the Legate of the Holy See. 5. Be&s;ides the Chancel|lour,
<PB N="48" REF="27">he tells us more of the Kings Mini&s;ters were kill'd in <HI>the Tower and other Churches.</HI> Really Sir, if the <HI>Tower</HI> be a <HI>Church,</HI> it is one of the large&s;t and be&s;t fortified Churches in <HI>Europe.</HI> I have &s;o good an opinion of his Friend Mr. <HI>Sorbeir,</HI> as to think that out of the little knowledge of <HI>England</HI> he pickt up here, he could have inform'd our Author, that the Tower is never lookt upon by us as a Cathedral, but as an Ar&s;enal: Whither by this Paper I invite Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> to come over, and &s;ee the famous Canons, with which <HI>Henry</HI> the VIII. of Glorious Memory took <HI>Boleign.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="18" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>XVIII.</HEAD>
<P> <HI>&V;pon a Pardon proclaim'd, great numbers de&s;erted; but a con&s;i|derable party &s;till kept together in a Body, under the conduct of</HI> Gauthier Igler, <HI>the mo&s;t adroit and mo&s;t re&s;o|lute per&s;on amongst them. After the &s;tory of who&s;e death, and &s;ome other pa&s;&s;ages, we find, that</HI> Ball <HI>preach'd at</HI> Seblaker, <HI>to</HI> 20000 <HI>people, upon
<PB N="49" REF="27">who&s;e being &s;eiz'd and executed, the Troubles had an end: At la&s;t he &s;ays, That</HI> Wicliff <HI>was never pre&s;ent either at the A&s;&s;emblies of the Seditious, or at the A&s;&s;a&s;&s;ination of the Archbi&s;hop of</HI> Canterbury, p. 32, 33, 34.] 1. Our Author would have de&s;erv'd much commendation, and &s;av'd the Reader a great deal of thinking, had he plac'd a Key at the end of his Book, as we &s;ee done in another work of the like natare, call'd <HI>Bar|clays Argenis;</HI> it would have been ea&s;ie then to have known a proper name under all its di&s;gui&s;es, we &s;hould then have perceiv'd, that <HI>Haviet</HI> was put for <HI>Wiat; Gauthier Igler</HI> for <HI>Wat Tyler;</HI> and what had been the meaning of the not yet deciphered <HI>Seblaker;</HI> which we can only gue&s;s to be <HI>Black-heath.</HI> 2. By this la&s;t &s;entence, which Truth has extorted from Mr. <HI>Varillas,</HI> it ap|pears, that <HI>Wicliff</HI> was altogether innocent, and that our Author would never have brought him into
<PB N="50" REF="28">this Rebellion, but to gain the To|pick of de&s;cribing it; which <HI>Image</HI> with all its graceful circum&s;tances mu&s;t otherwi&s;e have been lo&s;t, for want of an opportunity to introduce it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="19" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>XIX.</HEAD>
<P> <HI>A Schi&s;m happening between the Popes,</HI> Wicliff <HI>in the year</HI> 1382. <HI>makes his advantage of it; but his offers being rejected by the Parliament, he found him&s;elf obliged to retire into the Province of</HI> Wales, <HI>newly &s;ubjected to the</HI> Engli&s;h. <HI>There he attack'd the</HI> Benedictines <HI>by a Writing: &V;pon this, Archbi&s;hop</HI> Courtney <HI>a&s;&s;embles a Council at</HI> London, <HI>&s;oon after</HI> Ea&s;ter, <HI>where were condemn'd the&s;e Propo&s;itions of</HI> Wicliff, <HI>That the Sub&s;tance of the Bread and Wine,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>The&s;e Articles thus condemn'd,</HI> Wicliff <HI>him&s;elf being cited, made his appearance, where he abjured all he had taught without ex|ception. This Recan<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ation they obliged him to put in writing, and recite over again. And this piece had been &s;een in its place among&s;t the other Acts of
<PB N="51" REF="28">this Council, if the</HI> Engli&s;h <HI>Compiler, too pa&s;&s;ionate for the Glory of his Nation,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Spelman.</NOTE> <HI>or unwilling to give Arms to the</HI> Catholicks <HI>again&s;t the Here&s;ie of</HI> Calvin, <HI>of which he made profe&s;&s;ion, had not &s;uppre&s;s'd this retractation, and plac'd in&s;tead of it a profe&s;&s;ion of Faith, which properly &s;peak|ing, is nothing but plainly a captious Qualification of the Errours of this Heretick. The la&s;t act of the Council was an Eccle&s;ia&s;tick procedure again&s;t his three famous Di&s;ciples,</HI> Rippendon, Hereford, <HI>and</HI> A&s;ton. p. 36. <HI>ad</HI> p. 42.</P>
<P N="1">1. What is &s;aid in the beginning of this Paragraph, we find no where warranted; nor that <HI>Wicliff</HI> ever was in <HI>Wales:</HI> which our Author makes <HI>newly Conquered</HI> by the <HI>Eng|li&s;h;</HI> an Expre&s;&s;ion &s;omething im|proper for a Countrey, that we had acquir'd no le&s;s than a Hundred years before. 2. What he &s;ays was Penn'd again&s;t the <HI>Benedictines,</HI> I have rea&s;ons to believe to have been
<PB N="52" REF="29">no other than the Two Treati&s;es written by <HI>Wicliff,</HI> and in the la&s;t Century, printed again&s;t the <HI>Mendi|cants.</HI> 3. 'Tis acknowledged that <HI>Court|ney</HI> in a Council, call'd upon <HI>May</HI> 17. did condemn &s;everal Conclu&s;ions, and that the &s;ame Archbi&s;hop upon <HI>June</HI> 20. &s;at upon <HI>Hereford, Reppingdon</HI> and <HI>Ay&s;hton,</HI> accus'd of holding tho&s;e Conclu&s;ions: <HI>Ay&s;hton</HI> pleaded apart; The Two other put into the Court a Paper, which the learned Sir <HI>Henry Spelman</HI> has publi&s;h'd in his Councils from the MSS. Copy, in the princi|pal Regi&s;try of the Archbi&s;hop of <HI>Canterbary, Nuncupat. Courtney. Fol.</HI> 25. At neither of the&s;e conventions, nor at any other time throughout this whole year did <HI>Wicliff</HI> appear at all at <HI>London</HI> before the Arch|bi&s;hop: What a&s;&s;urance then mu&s;t that Man be Ma&s;ter of, who dares affirm that he made, wrote, recited in this Council a formal Recantation of <HI>all his opinions whatever, without re&s;erve;</HI> whereas there is not &s;o
<PB N="53" REF="29">much as any pretended retraction of his of any kind, that can po&s;&s;ibly be brought to concern any more than the &s;ingle Article about the ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Euchari&s;tt?</HI> As for that Accurate and Honoured Collector Sir <HI>H. Spel|man,</HI> as this is the fir&s;t time he has ever been accus'd of <HI>Fal&s;ifying,</HI> &s;o his confident Accu&s;er could not do it, without giving matter to any exa|mining Reader of returning the Charge, and Convicting him of his own Calumny. For had this Hi&s;to|riographer of <HI>France</HI> but once vouch|&s;afed to look into the Book he has pa&s;s'd &s;o blind a cen&s;ure upon, he would ea&s;ily have found that his <HI>Latin</HI> Friends, who told him of &s;uch a palliation in behalf of <HI>Wicliff,</HI> had a little mi&s;inform'd him. For &s;uch a palliation is &s;o far from being there, that there is nothing that can po&s;&s;ibly be thought like it, or mi|&s;taken for it, unle&s;s it be the above|named Paper of <HI>Hereford</HI> and <HI>Rep|pingdon:</HI> Which if he &s;hall plea&s;e to
<PB N="54" REF="30">doubt of, whether it be Authentick or no, upon his acceptance of my former Invitation of him into <HI>Eng|land,</HI> I &s;hall be willing, after we have &s;een his Cathedral the Tower, to wait upon him up the Water to <HI>Lambeth;</HI> where his worthy Coun|tryman, the learned Mr. <HI>Colomiez,</HI> on my account, will conde&s;cend to let him into the <HI>Archives;</HI> upon pro|mi&s;e, that he makes better u&s;e of the <HI>MSS.</HI> he &s;ees there, than of tho&s;e he calls <HI>Cardinal Bellay's;</HI> which are of &s;o nice and &s;o retir'd a hu|mour, that they will endure no vi&s;it from any other per&s;on be&s;ides Mr. <HI>Varillas:</HI> Of whom I &s;hall for|bear to ob&s;erve at pre&s;ent, how little he under&s;tands of the Con&s;ti|tutions of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> whatever pretences he makes to be a Critick in the Hi&s;tory of <HI>Here|&s;ies,</HI> who takes Sir <HI>H. Spelman</HI> for a <HI>Calvini&s;t,</HI> and thinks there is no diffe|rence between <HI>Geneva</HI> and <HI>Great Britain.</HI></P>
<PB N="55" REF="30">
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="20" TYPE="reflection">
<HEAD>XX.</HEAD>
<P> But to proceed, <HI>Mr. Varillas tells us, that the afore&s;aid Council, held at</HI> London, <HI>forbid all Per&s;ons what&s;oever to preach without permi&s;&s;ion from the Bi&s;hops.</HI> Farther he adds, <HI>That the Deci&s;ions of this Convocation at</HI> London, <HI>were in&s;erted in a Decree of the &V;niver&s;ity of</HI> Oxford, <HI>approv'd by</HI> Wicliff; <HI>which</HI> Spelman <HI>has al&s;o &s;uppre&s;s'd, to put in its place a Piece, which can be manife&s;tly convicted of Forgery, by the Te&s;timony of</HI> Vington, <HI>an irreproachable Author in this matter.</HI> p. 43.]</P>
<P N="1">1. I have &s;o great a re&s;pect for the pious and worthy Sir <HI>H. Spelman,</HI> &s;o ba&s;ely handled by this Tran&s;criber of <HI>Florimond,</HI> this Succe&s;&s;our of <HI>Sorbier;</HI> not at all acquainted with the Character. of Books or Credit of Authors, that I cannot prevail with my &s;elf to di&s;cover how fal&s;e the former part of this Paragraph is, till I have clear'd the latter. There has never been, perhaps, any Lay-man, that has &s;o devoutly
<PB N="56" REF="31">&s;erv'd the Cau&s;e of his Mother the Church, as this incomparable Gen|tleman. He has not only di&s;play'd with Truth the former &s;tate of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Church, but better'd the pre&s;ent, and has left a work, which if well con&s;idered, will do her ju&s;tice, as to the rights of her Patri|mony in after Ages. What can be &s;aid great of any man, that might not be &s;aid of him, who was &s;o admi|rably learn'd, &s;o judicious, &s;o &s;incere, &s;o pious, and in &s;hort, was every thing that Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> is not? Yet for all this, the <HI>Frenchman</HI> has been pleas'd to reflect upon him, as <HI>Sup|pre&s;&s;ing a certain decree of</HI> Oxford; which Animadver&s;ion betrays the Author not only not to have read the Book, as we ob&s;erv'd before, but farther yet, not to have &s;een &s;o much as the Title of it. For how ab&s;urd is it, to ask for a <HI>Cen&s;ure</HI> of the <HI>&V;niver&s;ity,</HI> in a work that pro|fe&s;&s;es no more than a Collection of <HI>Church Con&s;titutions;</HI> when by a
<PB N="57" REF="31">parity of rea&s;on, he might as well fall upon the Author of the <HI>Oxford Antiquities,</HI> for omitting the relation of what has been acted in the <HI>Synods</HI> at <HI>London.</HI> And now to compare <HI>Vington</HI> (I &s;uppo&s;e he means <HI>Knyghton</HI>) to Sir <HI>H. Spelman,</HI> &s;hews who does it. What u&s;e he can pretend to make of <HI>Knyghton,</HI> is to me a My&s;tery; for in him nothing is &s;een of <HI>the De|ci&s;ions of a Council of</HI> London, <HI>in&s;erted in a Decree of the &V;niver&s;ity of</HI> Ox|ford, <HI>approv'd by</HI> Wicliff. All that can be gathered from him, is, that <HI>Wicliff</HI> made a Recantation, there in full &s;et down; which as yet only concerns the point of the Euchari&s;t; &s;o it is &s;o far from being indeed a Recantation, that it is a free and re|&s;olute Confe&s;&s;ion of that Faith which is now maintain'd in the Church of <HI>England;</HI> declaring, that our Sa|viours body is <HI>verily and really pre|&s;ent in the Sacrament,</HI> the Bread how|ever retaining its proper Species. And I leave it even to Mr. <HI>Cockquelin</HI>
<PB N="58" REF="32">to determine between us, whether that Man may be concluded to re|nounce his opinion, the Oppo&s;ers of which he brands with Here&s;ie; and affirms, that at what time it was condemn'd by Authority, a Prodigy interven'd to deter the Judges from their unju&s;t Proceedings. Neither would <HI>Ty&s;&s;ington</HI> and <HI>Winterton,</HI> and <HI>Wellys,</HI> and many more of his zea|lous Adver&s;aries have written pur|po&s;ely again&s;t this Retractation, had it been &s;o, and not rather a Remon|&s;trance; which, becau&s;e we &s;ubmit the whole matter to the Readers judgment, we have affix'd at the end of the&s;e Papers from the Copy in <HI>Knyghton.</HI> Of whom, &s;eeing Mr. <HI>Va|rillas</HI> has made mention, as an Au|thor to be relied on in this matter, though in truth he was always an open enemy to <HI>Wicliffi&s;m;</HI> I de&s;ire leave to digre&s;s into a Quotation or two out of him, to &s;hew the &s;tate of the <HI>Wicliffi&s;ts</HI> in tho&s;e days: In his Fifth Book he &s;ays, <HI>In tho&s;e days
<PB N="59" REF="32">this Sect was in great e&s;teem, and &s;o much increa&s;t in number that a man could not &s;ee Two people walking toge|ther, but One of them was a</HI> Wicliffi&s;t. And in another place, <HI>That that Party had gain'd half, or above half the Nation to their &s;ide.</HI> And the&s;e not Mechanicks, or the lowe&s;t &s;ort of people, but, among&s;t them, <HI>many Knights,</HI> of whom he in&s;tances in &s;ome, <HI>and Dukes, and Earls. That &s;ince</HI> Wicliff <HI>had Tran&s;lated the Bible, even the Women of that Profe&s;&s;ion un|der&s;tood more than their Clergy did:</HI> For which he makes a long melan|choly Lamentation, and would fain per&s;wade us, out of <HI>Gui de Sancto Amore,</HI> that <HI>Wicliff</HI> is indeed <HI>Anti-Chri&s;t.</HI> To whom, however, he has done &s;o much ju&s;tice in his cha|racter, as to acknowledge him <HI>a mo&s;t eminent Philo&s;opher and Divine;</HI> and that <HI>as his Scholars always Foil'd their Adver&s;aries in their Rea&s;onings, &s;o that he him&s;elf went beyond all Men of that Age in Di&s;puting.</HI></P>
<PB N="60" REF="33">
<P>Upon the whole matter, if my opinion were to be ask'd, whether this Annali&s;t <HI>Mon&s;ieur Vington</HI> be &s;o altogether <HI>irreproachable,</HI> not to take any notice how &s;mall a mans credit ought to be in his own Cau&s;e; I am affraid I &s;hould declare that to me he &s;eem'd a Per&s;on of but a mild under&s;tanding, and a very narrow information. Otherwi&s;e, in the&s;e few leaves Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> pretends to have con&s;ulted, How could he have been &s;o impos'd upon as to think that <HI>Wat Tyler</HI> and <HI>Jack Straw</HI> were one and the &s;ame man? How could he &s;o forget him&s;elf as to call that in words at length <HI>The &s;econd year of King Richard,</HI> which by his own account, a little way of is the <HI>Fourth?</HI> Or la&s;tly, why &s;hould he exclaim again&s;t a Preacher for this harmle&s;s remark, <HI>That among&s;t all the Pro&s;e|lytes our Saviour made, he is never read to have gain'd a Prie&s;t?</HI> And all the&s;e things printed in his Works, out of a Manu&s;cript thought to be
<PB N="61" REF="33">of his own writing, by a per&s;on of un&s;u&s;pected Integrity, Sir <HI>Roger Twi&s;den,</HI> who has given us at the beginning of the Book the Authors own judgement of Him&s;elf;
<Q><L><HI>"Me metuo dubium pro veris &s;aepe locutum,</HI></L>
<L><HI>"Plus audita loquor, quam mihi vi&s;a &s;equor.</HI></L></Q> Which ingenuous confe&s;&s;ion may &s;erve indeed to attone for the mi|&s;takes of the well-meaning Canon; but will take away all pretences of excu&s;e from Mr. <HI>Varillas,</HI> who with|out di&s;cretion embraces him as <HI>irre|proachable.</HI> 2. It remains that we &s;peak &s;omething to the former part of this Paragraph; where we deny that in the <HI>London</HI>-Convocation held by <HI>Courtney</HI> 1382. Preaching with|out the Epi&s;copal Licen&s;e was forbid: For in that Synod, it was only re|&s;olv'd that <HI>Hereford</HI> and <HI>Reppingdon,</HI> and <HI>Ay&s;hton,</HI> &s;hould be &s;ilenc'd and
<PB N="62" REF="34">hindred from the Pulpit: But for any general Con&s;titution to prohi|bit all men whatever from Preach|ing without permi&s;&s;ion from the Ordinary, it was the Act of <HI>Th. Arundel,</HI> Succe&s;&s;our to <HI>Courtney,</HI> in the See of <HI>Canterbury,</HI> who fir&s;t procur'd it to be De|creed. This may be &s;een in <HI>Lynwood</HI> and <HI>Athon,</HI> and
<NOTE PLACE="marg">(a) Dict. Theol. <HI>M. S.</HI> in Coll. Linc. Ox.</NOTE> <HI>Ga&s;coign,</HI> famous Authors of the Century in which he liv'd. Nor are we bound to enquire if any of the little Writers have &s;aid the contrary, &s;ince 'tis the duty of an Hi&s;torian not to take the advantage of any Authority, but to be re&s;tle&s;s till he has the be&s;t. In the late con&s;us'd account of the Convocation, I had almo&s;t let pa&s;s without remark, an intrigue of the Duke of <HI>Lanca&s;ters,</HI> where he makes all the right of that Prince to the Kingdom of <HI>Ca&s;tile,</HI> to proceed from <HI>an Excommunication of the King in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, and a Donation of it to Duke</HI>
<PB N="63" REF="34">John <HI>by the Pope, (p.</HI> 27. &amp; <HI>p.</HI> 40.) not knowing any thing of a propri|ety and ju&s;t title he had acquired him&s;elf by his marriage with <HI>Con&s;tance,</HI> elde&s;t Daughter to the Decea&s;ed King <HI>Piedro.</HI></P>
<P>XXI. To make our la&s;t ob&s;ervati|on upon what we have undertaken to con&s;ider: He relates <HI>the Death of</HI> Wicliff, <HI>which he repre&s;ents as an ex|traordinary act of God in &s;triking him with a mortal Pal&s;y, upon the Fea&s;t of St.</HI> Th. Becket, <HI>again&s;t whom he had prepared a Sermon for the Day.</HI> After that, <HI>he acquaints us, that his Scholars acknowledg'd him for a Saint, and attributed fal&s;e miracles to him, till in the year</HI> 1486. <HI>Archbi&s;hop</HI> Arundel, <HI>in a Council at</HI> London, <HI>not content to condemn his Doctrines as before, did al&s;o burn his Books by the hand of the Hangman,</HI> p. 45, &amp;c.] 1. <HI>Thomas Becket</HI> is &s;o well known, that no Loyal <HI>Engli&s;hman</HI> can believe Providence would interpo&s;e in &s;avour of him, which is &s;till the le&s;s proba|ble
<PB N="64" REF="35">at pre&s;ent, becau&s;e our better Writers report this fit to have come upon <HI>Wicliff</HI> on the <HI>Fe&s;tival of Holy Innocents,</HI> which is the day preceding. Dr. <HI>Ga&s;coign,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">(b) In pag. ante Hi&s;t. Ivonis Car|noten&s;. M S. in Bibl. Cotton.</NOTE> who&s;e te&s;timony about <HI>Wic|liff</HI> mu&s;t be unque&s;tionable, has in|form'd us, <HI>that having been troubled with a Pal&s;y for two years before, it then became fatal to him;</HI> which in the decayed &s;tate of Old Age, after a life &s;pent in action, and the Ori|ginal heat now of cour&s;e abated, can be no wonder. If the Monks were re&s;olv'd not to let him dye without a Prodigy, it would have &s;eem'd much more plau&s;ible and taking, had they inflicted upon him the Rickets, or the Small-pox. 2. If the Scholars of <HI>Wicliff</HI> thought him a Saint, and that he was a&s;&s;umed into Glory, they did but as became Men of Rea&s;on, and tho&s;e who had been witne&s;&s;es of the Sanctity of his Life, and Purity of his Doctrines.
<PB N="65" REF="35">But for what follows about <HI>the fal&s;e Miracles,</HI> it is &s;heer invention; nei|ther was Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI> very wary to mention any thing of that nature in the &s;ame page with <HI>Thomas of Canter|bury:</HI> For <HI>Wicliff</HI>'s Followers made no <HI>Pilgrimages</HI> to <HI>Lutterworth,</HI> nor did they ever turn up the Cloaks of their Adver&s;aries to look for their <HI>Tails.</HI> 3. As to the bu&s;ine&s;s of <HI>Arundel,</HI> and the <HI>burning of the books,</HI> which in words, at length, he makes to be done in the year 1486. it is impo&s;&s;ible to be reconcil'd to truth: That action in reality fell out about the year 1410, &s;o we are willing to think Mr. <HI>Varillas</HI>'s Pen has &s;lipt, and by chance mi&s;taken a hundred years, and that he meant to a&s;cribe it to <HI>Ann. Dom.</HI> 1386. becau&s;e, (in <HI>p.</HI> 42.) he tells us, <HI>that in the preced|ing year</HI> 1385 Courtney <HI>died, and</HI> Arundel <HI>&s;ucceeded in the Archbi&s;ho|prick of</HI> Canterbury: Which how|ever is notoriou&s;ly fal&s;e; For <HI>Courtney</HI> died not till <HI>July</HI> 31. 1396. (unle&s;s
<PB N="66" REF="36">he died twice, in imitation of his Predece&s;&s;our <HI>Sudbury</HI>) and the &s;ame Year, about <HI>Chri&s;tmas,</HI> was <HI>Arun|del</HI> tran&s;lated to <HI>Canterbury.</HI></P>
<P>I have at la&s;t, not without great violence us'd upon my inclination, pa&s;s't through what relates to <HI>Eng|land</HI> in the Fir&s;t Book of Mr. <HI>Varillas;</HI> and I think I may have de&s;erv'd as many Livres for my Patience, as He has had for his Invention. If nothing will per&s;wade him to re|nounce his Pen and Ink, but he has &s;worn &s;till to go on writing Legends, to the utter de&s;truction of Mon&s;ieur <HI>Barbin</HI> and his Family, and to the everla&s;ting di&s;grace of Mr. <HI>Cocquelin;</HI> and in the mean time is willing to continue his Scene in <HI>England,</HI> I &s;hall take the boldne&s;s to recommend to his Fancy the renowned Story of the Ten thou&s;and <HI>&V;r&s;ulins,</HI> which at pre&s;ent labours under a few incon|veniences, and is not &s;o well receiv'd as it de&s;erves, by &s;ome Scrupulous Hereticks. For the Truth of what
<PB N="67" REF="36">He &s;hall &s;ay, I confe&s;s I am not able to help him to any &s;uch Manu&s;cripts as he commonly makes u&s;e of; but in lieu, I can tell him where at a very cheap rate he may furni&s;h him&s;elf with Witne&s;&s;es. But to let him know in truth what the World thinks of him: He has writ away all his Credit; his la&s;t defence of him&s;elf has prov'd him Inexcu&s;able, and made men apt to think that as in <HI>England</HI> at pre&s;ent, &s;o in <HI>France</HI> too, the &s;ame per&s;on that is Hi&s;to|riographer, is al&s;o Laureat: Hence it might be, that <HI>Mon&s;ieur Varillas</HI> in his Revolutions, takes all the liber|ties of a Poet, and Mr. <HI>Dr</HI>&mdash; in his Conference between the <HI>Hind and Panther,</HI> tho in Ver&s;e, has aim'd at all the plainne&s;s and gravity of an Hi&s;torian.</P>
<P>For Hi&s;tory is indeed a &s;erious mat|ter, not to be written carele&s;sly like a Letter to a Friend, nor with <HI>Pa&s;&s;ion,</HI> like a Billet to a Mi&s;tre&s;s; nor with <HI>Bia&s;s,</HI> like a Declamation for a par|ty
<PB N="68" REF="37">at the Bar, or the Remon&s;trance of a Mini&s;ter for his Prince; nor in fine, by a man unacquainted with the World, like Soliloquies and Medita|tions. It requires a long Experience, a &s;ound Judgement, a clo&s;e Attention, an unque&s;tionable Integrity, and a &s;tyle without Affectation: All which glorious accompli&s;hments, as they are wanting in the Author of <HI>The Revolu|tions in Matters of Religion,</HI> &s;o there is no Hi&s;torian that I know of, in whom they have &s;hew'd them&s;elves to &s;o high and admirable a degree, as in a Phy&s;ician of our Age, who has ob|lig'd the World with a <HI>Hi&s;tory of Di&s;|ea&s;es;</HI> and who&s;e Name is too great to mention in a Pamphlet of this Character.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 LANG="mne" TYPE="appendix">
<PB N="69" REF="37">
<HEAD>The Belief of Dr. <HI>John Wicliff,</HI> in the point of the <HI>Euchari&s;t,</HI> which by heedle&s;s Men has been call'd his Recantation.</HEAD>
<P>WE beleve as Cri&s;t and his Apo&s;tolus han tau&yogh;t us, that the Sacrament of the Auter white and ronde and like tyl oure brede or o&s;t un&s;acrede is verray Goddus body in fourme of brede, and if it be broken in thre parties os the Kirke u&s;es, or elles in a thou&s;and, everlky one of the&s;e parties is the &s;ame Godus body, and right &s;o as the per&s;one of Cri&s;t is verray God and verray man, verray Godhede and verray manhede ryth &s;o as holy Kyrk many hundrrith wynter has trowyde, the &s;ame Sacrament is verray Godus body and verray brede: os it is forme of Goddus body and form of brede as techith Cri&s;t and his Apo&s;tolus. And therefore &s;eynt Poule nemyth it never but whan he callus it bred,
<PB N="70" REF="38"> and he be oure beleve tok his wit of God in this: and the argument of heretykus agayne this &s;entens, lyth to a chri&s;tene man for to a&s;&s;olve. And right as it is here&s;ie for to trowe that this Sacrament is Goddus body and no brede, for it is bothe togedur. But the mo&s;t here&s;ie that God &s;ufferide come tyl his Kyrke, is to trowe that this Sacrament is an accident with a &s;ub&s;tance and may on no wi&s;e be Goddus body: for Cri&s;t &s;ayde be witne&s;&s;e of Iohn, that this brede is my body, and if the &s;ay that be this skylle that holy Kyrke hat bene in here&s;ie many hundred wynter, &s;othe it is, &s;pe|cially &s;ythen the fende was lou&s;ede that was be wittne&s;&s;e of Angele to Iohn Evaungeli&s;te aftur a thou&s;ande wynter that Cri&s;t was &s;tenenyde to heven. But it is to &s;uppo&s;e that many &s;eyntes that dyede in the mene time before her detz were <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters"> of this erroure. Owe howe
<UNCLEAR>grete</UNCLEAR> diver&s;ite is betwene us that
<UNCLEAR>trowes</UNCLEAR> that this Sacrament is verray brede in his kynde, and <UNCLEAR>be|tuene</UNCLEAR> heretykus that tell us that
<PB N="71" REF="38"> this an accident with outen a &s;ub|jecte. For before that the fende fader of Ie&s;yngus was low&s;ide, was never this gabbing contryvede. And howe grete diver&s;ite is be|twene us that trowes that this Sa|crament that in his kynde is verray brede and &s;acramentally Goddus body, and betwe heretykes that trowes and telles that this Sacra|ment may on none wy&s;e be God|dus body. For I dar &s;ewrly &s;ay that &yogh;if this were &s;oth, Cri&s;t and his &s;eynts dyede heretykus, and the more partye of holy Kyrke bele|vyth nowe here&s;ie, and before de|voute men &s;uppo&s; ene that this con&s;ayle of Freres and London was with the hery dene. For they put an here&s;ie up on Cri&s;t and &s;eynts in hevyne: wherefore the erthe tremblide fayland maynnus voys an&s;ueryde for God als it dide in tyme of his pa&s;&s;ion whan he was dambnyde to bodely deth. Cri&s;t and his modur that in gronde had de|&s;troyde alle here&s;yes kepe his Kyrke in right beleve of this Sacra|ment, and wene the king and his rewme to ask &s;harply of his clerkus
<PB N="72" REF="39"> this offis that alle his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ioners on paine of le&s;yng of alle her tem|poraltes telle the king and his rewme with &s;ufficient grownding, what is this Sacrament, and alle the orders of Freres on paine of ley&s;ing of her legians telle the king and his rewme with gode grounding what is the Sacrament. For I am cer|taine of the thridde partie of clergie that defendus thi&s;e doutes that is here &s;aide, that they will defende it on paine of her lyf.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<HEAD>ERRATA.</HEAD>
<P><HI>In p.</HI> 5. <HI>for</HI> Polydore Virgil <HI>read</HI> Harpsfield.</P>
<PB REF="39">
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
