Part 9

Violent and obstinate, her Ministers, even had they wished to oppose her, could not, without peril to themselves, have resisted her stubborn resolution to have her way.

Unhappily then for England, her Ministers were both yielding and unscrupulous.

Not only was the Queen relentless in her resolve to exterminate heresy, but if the Bishop of Winchester relaxed in zeal, Bishop Bonner, and William, Marquis of Winchester (who for a time held the Great Seal), were eager to show their love for their Church by the torture they inflicted on her enemies.

Gardiner, whatever may have been his personal wishes, also yielded to the pressure put upon him; and by his dexterity and brilliant talents made himself of inestimable value to the Queen, and by so doing secured for himself supremacy in the Council, and also kept away other pretendants, especially Cardinal Pole, who was a formidable rival.

But if, as the writers who view him favourably assert, the Bishop of Winchester was thus impelled by the temper of his Royal mistress, and by a series of circumstances beyond his control, to acquiesce in actions of which he disapproved, what must be thought of the conscience of a man, who as statesman and Churchman permitted tortures to be inflicted, and executions to take place, that have made the reign of Mary a by-word of bloodshed and cruelty, and have covered the memories of this monarch and her Ministers with indelible disgrace?

The land was deluged in blood. The smoke of burning human beings darkened the air, as it rose in hideous sacrifice to the Almighty Father, and the shrieks of tortured victims, the prayers of martyrs at the stake, ascended daily to heaven in one great agonised cry for mercy--and for vengeance.

For a time England seemed as one stunned by the frequency of such unusual and horrible spectacles, but by degrees the mighty spirit of the nation was roused.

Laymen and Churchmen alike shook off their lethargy. The degrading cruelties of the reign of Catholic Mary placed Protestant Elizabeth more firmly on the throne; and when James II. struggled vainly to restore his Church to England, it was doubtless the remembrance of such scenes that induced many staunch Englishmen to welcome with enthusiasm the advent of the foreign Prince of Orange, and his English wife.

Fox, who describes Gardiner as a monster delighting in torture and blood, declares that the Bishop was stricken down by dreadful and deadly disease, the very day on which he had consigned Bishops Latimer and Ridley to the flames at Oxford.

This historian relates that the Duke of Norfolk came to sup at Winchester House, but that Gardiner would not sit down at table until the messenger from Oxford had arrived to say the sacrifice of the martyrs had been consummated.

As he joyed over the narrative of their sufferings, the hand of Heaven fell heavily upon him, and he died soon afterwards in inexpressible anguish of body and mind.

Other biographers say but little of the malady to which he succumbed, but Fox's account is clearly incorrect in many particulars. The Duke of Norfolk Fox alludes to, had been dead some thirteen months, and Gardiner made a speech in Parliament more than a week after the execution of these Bishops.

It is also a disputed point whether Gardiner really exhibited vindictive eagerness in bringing about the deaths of Latimer and Ridley, or whether, as some say, he endeavoured to save them, straining indeed his authority by offering Latimer a pardon without the knowledge of the Queen or the Council.

Bell, as well as Fox, declares that his death was a judgment brought on him for his cruelty to these martyrs, but Dr. Godwin, Bishop of Hereford, Dr. Fuller, and Archbishop Parker, all ascribe his death to natural causes.

For some years Gardiner had suffered from rheumatic gout, and ultimately consumption of the lungs was joined to his other diseases.

Whatever may have been his bodily ailments, it is agreed by every writer that his latter days were embittered by remorse and mental distress. The consciousness of his many sins of omission and commission pressed heavily on his mind. He constantly averred that having been endowed with much power, he felt that he had turned that power to evil rather than to good.

Some historians suggest that he repented having returned to the Church of Rome. Be this as it may, his opinions respecting the two Churches were such as to-day would be denominated broad.

His sermons were very remarkable, for eloquence, for talent, and also for a peculiar sophistry of argument, by which he could twist every quotation or opinion so as to suit the views he at the moment entertained.

His manner was earnest and noble, his voice impressive, and few could listen unmoved to the fervid accents, and to the brilliant and crafty reasoning by which he advocated the various points of his discourse.

It is evident, by the attachment that was felt for him for upwards of forty years, by some of the greatest statesmen in Europe, that he had the talent of conciliating men's minds and commanding their respect; and in his own diocese he was not only a wise and considerate Bishop, but he was infinitely loved and admired.

He died in Winchester House, London, but he was buried in Winchester Cathedral, close by the high altar.

The funeral was solemnised by an amount of pomp and magnificence rare even in those days, when much outward show was usual in every ceremony.

To conduct the unconscious dead to their last resting-place with every circumstance of lugubrious state and grandeur, was then deemed but fitting expressions of affection and respect on the part of the relatives and mourners.

Amongst the many cruel actions of which the odium has been cast upon Gardiner is the mournful tragedy of Lady Jane Grey. This poor girl was a victim to the political intrigues of an unscrupulous and ambitious party, and she paid by the sacrifice of her life, and that of her husband, Lord Guilford Dudley, for her brief and unwilling reign.

Sir Thomas Wyatt and Sir Peter Carew were the originators of a deep-laid and formidable plot, by which Mary and her sister were to be deprived of their rights of inheritance. They flattered the ambition of the Duke of Suffolk by suggesting that his daughter-in-law should ascend the throne, and thereby succeeded in implicating him and his children so completely in their projects that the heads of all ultimately fell upon the scaffold.

The alarm occasioned to the Queen and her adherents by the discovery of this plot was, no doubt, considerable; but against Gardiner is brought the grave charge of having fomented this panic, rather than having endeavoured to allay it.

But for his influence, the deaths of the principal conspirators, Wyatt and Carew, would have sufficed, and have been deemed a sufficient sacrifice. Many others amongst those who suffered in connection with the attempt might have been spared; but the Bishop is reported to have said:

"We may shake off the leaves and lop the branches, but if we do not utterly destroy the root, the hope of hereticks, we do nothing."

THE CHAPEL.

Amongst the many nooks and corners of this ancient Inn of Gray's, the little chapel must not be forgotten. Within its tranquil precincts all things speak of the past, for little has been changed therein for many generations.

Small and unpretentious as it is, few can enter this tiny place of worship without experiencing some emotion, without giving some thought to the many great and illustrious men--lawyers, Churchmen, and statesmen, now long numbered with the dead--who have knelt here for prayer and praise.

Centuries have elapsed since they have passed away, but their noble deeds and writings are still remembered and cherished.

Happily for England, this great race is not extinct. Some of those who now assemble within these walls have already made for themselves illustrious names--names that will be honoured and revered when they, in the fulness of time, depart; but others come here in sorrow, and perchance remorse, for many a promising but wasted life.

Poor, feeble mortals that we are! How many of us live but to exist; and often, indeed, that existence is but the puerile flutter of a day!

Truly, we are but as the sand upon the sea-shore. The tiny atoms shine, perhaps brilliantly, while the sun looks down upon them; but when clouds darken the sky, their brightness fades and soon is gone. Then a little later comes the rising tide--that overwhelming tide of Time, that sweeps them rapidly away. They are gone, and the place where they dwelt, and perchance glittered, knows them no more. No one asks for them; no one misses them. The sand is again as smooth as when they were there. The atoms around still quiver and shimmer in the sunshine as those now departed did of yore.

Not only from association with the past is the quiet little chapel attractive, but there is something soothing in its very aspect.

The fact that so little change has been made in the building or its arrangements for some hundred years is interesting, and it is touching to see the number of gray-headed men who usually attend the services. The memorials around also speak of those who are gone--the painted glass windows, the decorations, the richly-carved book of the Communion Service, are all gifts from those who dearly loved the old place.

In these days of greatly increased form, it is rare also to find a preacher who appears in the pulpit arrayed in the old black Geneva gown.

This quaintly-fashioned gown is precisely that to which our Puritan forefathers attached so much importance, deeming that it savoured less of Popery than any other raiment, inasmuch as its severe simplicity was as far removed as possible from the more imposing and, in their opinion, gaudy vestments of Rome.

From the pulpit in Gray's Inn Chapel may be heard sermons that stir men's hearts, that enlighten men's minds.

No man can hope to obtain the post of preacher to Gray's Inn, unless he possesses talents that entitle him to be listened to with respect and interest. Therefore, though quiet, though old-fashioned, though unemotional in ceremonies, many who think deeply, and who wish to listen to the words of those who also think deeply, may be found amongst the congregation gathered together in Gray's Inn Chapel.

The present little building stands upon the site of the ancient chapel that received its Royal license from Edward II. in 1314, when John, the son of Reginald de Grey, was authorised to convey thirty acres of land, two acres of meadow, and ten shillings rent, with the appurtenances, in Kentish Town, and in the parish of St. Andrew's, Holborn, to the Prior and Convent of St. Bartholomew's, in Smithfield, and to their successors, to provide a chaplain to perform divine service daily for the repose of the soul of the said John, and for the repose of the souls of his ancestors for ever.

The Prior of St. Bartholomew's, however, instead of providing a chaplain for the service of the chapel, appears, according to the accounts of the rents and payments of that monastery, to have paid the Society of Gray's Inn an annual sum of £7 13s. 4d.

When the monasteries were dissolved, Henry VIII. decreed that the Treasurer and Fellows of this same Society should receive yearly from the King's Highness, during the King's pleasure, the sum of £6 13s. 4d., to be paid in even portions, namely, at the "Feasts of The Natyvytie of Our Lord God, of the Annunciation of Our Blessed Ladye, the Vyrgyne, of the Natyvytie of Seynt John Baptist, and of Seynt Michaell, the Archaungell."

But in 1651, during the time of the Commonwealth, this payment ceased, and has never been revived, though during the reign of Elizabeth the officiating minister received a salary of £4 a year.

By an order of Pension, 15th November, 1598, it was ordered that the "Reader in Divinity" to be chosen, shall be a man unmarried, having no ecclesiastical living other than a Prebend, that he be without the care of souls, and that he shall keep the same place while he continues unmarried.

This order corresponds with an usage formerly existing with regard to the vergers of St. Paul's Cathedral, who, by one of the Cathedral statutes, were to be in a state of celibacy. They had either to relinquish their wives or their office.

According to Dean Milman, this statute declares: "That because having a wife is a troublesome and disturbing affair, and because husbands are apt to study the washes of their wives, or their mistresses, and no man can serve two masters, the vergers are to be either bachelors, or to give up their wives."

Since these times either wives have improved and become less troublesome, or else the vergers have become less subservient to them, for at St. Paul's this rule has been abolished. As regards the Reader of Gray's Inn, it still remains in force.

Unfortunately the chapel is, architecturally speaking, of no importance. It is low and insignificant, and quite unworthy externally of the venerable Inn to which it belongs.

Strype, in his edition of "Stowe," much praises the Hall of Gray's Inn, but laments that the chapel is so small, and wishes the Society would build a new one raised on arches, so that there would be a good dry walk underneath them in rainy weather.

The same writer mentions also a new entrance made into Holborn, where had been erected, he says:

"A fayre Gate and Gatehouse that were great improvements, making a more convenient and honourable passage, whereof this house stood in much neede, as the other entrances were rather posterns than gates."

To the shop beneath this gateway a certain interest is attached from its having been the place of business of Jacob Tonson, the celebrated bookseller, who removed here from Chancery Lane in 1697.

Several of the most ancient buildings were destroyed by fire in 1604, and unhappily also nearly all the earliest records of the Society perished in the same flames.

Subsequently the increasing number of students has necessitated the demolition of many more of the ancient houses, for some details respecting them that still exist, describe these old buildings as being not only dark and ill-convenient, but so deficient in space that the students had frequently to lodge double.

In 1688 the Inn appears to have been divided into three courts, but two of these have been thrown into one large area, called Gray's Inn Square.

This same lamentable fire of 1604 destroyed the greater part of the once valuable library. The present library contains about 13,000 volumes, a large proportion being, of course, works on law. There is also a small but valuable collection of manuscripts in twenty-four volumes, some of which are finely illuminated. They mostly relate to theological subjects, and date from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. One amongst them, Bracton's "De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ," in folio, written about the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century, was presented to the Society of Gray's Inn in 1635 by John Godbolt, then Reader of the Inn.

ARCHBISHOP LAUD.

Five Archbishops of Canterbury have been connected with Gray's Inn, one of whom was the celebrated Laud, Primate of England in 1633, temp. Charles I.; a man as much loved in domestic and private life for his kindness, charity, and tenderness, as he was feared, and indeed hated, as a Churchman and as a statesman, both on account of the rigid intolerance of his religious opinions, and from the uncompromising tenacity with which he strove to enforce every right to which he considered the Church entitled.

Unhappily, this unbending austerity, far from assisting, did but injure the cause he endeavoured to serve, and his zeal was so ill directed, that it eventually brought his head to the block, and was one great cause of the civil and religious war that for so many years desolated this land.

Animated as he was by the religious fervour of the times, Laud was inflexible in his resolution of forcing upon all men the adoption of principles he believed to be right. Even the fatal examples of previous reigns had not taught him that one of the noblest attributes of Christianity is forbearance. Great as was his pride, stern and severe as were his judgments, yet in many respects the Archbishop was a man to be much respected, even much loved. He considered that his pride as a Churchman was but a fitting attribute of the great position he held as Primate of England. He believed that his duty to the Church demanded of him sternness and severity in dealing with her enemies, and he evinced the heartfelt sincerity of his opinions by giving up his life in support of them.

When the end drew near, Laud nobly testified, by the fortitude and calmness with which he faced death, by the tender thoughtfulness he showed for all around him, that his pride and severity were but for his office, that he himself was, as he had ever been, a humble and sincere Christian.

He has been accused by his enemies of endeavouring to overthrow the Protestant religion; but one of the best pamphlets ever published against Roman Catholic tenets was written by Laud in his answer to Dr. Fisher. His foes also were especially rancorous against him for the attempts he made to introduce wholesome and lawful games on Sundays and holy-days; a proceeding viewed with much disfavour by the strict Puritans of the day, who held that all exercises on the Sabbath, save those of religion, tended to Popery.

Laud also endeavoured to restrain the publication of irreligious and other evil books, by subjecting all publications to the revision of the Star Chamber. This endeavour on the part of the Archbishop caused a storm of indignation, for it was held to be an attempt to subvert the existing laws, and to restrain the liberty of the people. The indiscreet zeal, also, that he displayed in his efforts to introduce into Scotland the Liturgy of the Church of England, made him many enemies in that country.

At length, after many years of energetic but fruitless struggles, his foes prevailed against him; he was committed to the Tower, tried before a committee of the House of Lords, and condemned to death.

He was beheaded on Tower Hill on the 10th of January, 1641, in the seventy-second year of his age.

Charles, it is said, though lamenting the death of his old servant, made no attempt to save the life of one who, though opinionated and mistaken, had served his King with affectionate fidelity.

Archbishop Laud's only sister married Sir John Robinson, afterwards Governor of the Tower in the reign of Charles II., and, if we may believe Pepys, an intimate friend and boon companion of that merry monarch. The descendants of Lady Robinson, namely, Sir George Robinson of Cranford, Northamptonshire, Lord Lyveden, of Farming Woods, Northamptonshire, and John Harvey, of Ickwell-Bury, Bedfordshire, still possess many interesting relics of this famous prelate.

BISHOP JUXON

AND

ARCHBISHOPS SHELDON & WHITGIFT.

Archbishop Dr. William Juxon was Bishop of London when King Charles I. was brought to trial, condemned, and executed.

Throughout the civil wars, Juxon had resided at Fulham, and although his steady adherence and loyalty to the King were well known, the prelate's meek and inoffensive behaviour and his many charitable works had gained him the respect of even the most violent of the Puritan and Republican parties.

When the trial of the Royal martyr commenced, Charles, who early foresaw its result, especially requested the attendance of Bishop Juxon; and the ministrations of this good man and truly Christian divine soothed the unhappy monarch during the terrible hours of his last days on earth.

Juxon was unwearied in his devotion to his Royal master. He attended the unhappy monarch on the scaffold; he received the last commissions, he alone heard the sufferer's last words.

When all was over, the Bishop, at considerable personal risk, took charge of the mortal remains and conveyed them to Windsor. When there, however, in spite of urgent remonstrances and earnest entreaties, he was refused permission by the then Governor, Colonel Whichcote, to perform the final sad offices over the Royal corpse.

On his return to London, Juxon was thrown into prison for refusing to divulge the particulars of his conversations with the King; but his imprisonment was not of long duration, and, when released, he returned to Fulham Palace, where he was allowed to pass several months in peace.

The following year, however, he was deprived of his bishopric. He then retired to his own property in Gloucestershire, where he resided in much privacy until the Restoration. He was then made Archbishop of Canterbury, and had the satisfaction of placing the crown upon the head of Charles II.

The Archbishop died in 1663. Few men have left this world more universally beloved than this excellent prelate; but few men have equalled him in having consistently led a life as blameless as it was self-denying--a life made beautiful by exceeding humility, gentleness, and charity.

He was succeeded in the archbishopric by Gilbert Sheldon, in 1677. This prelate had formerly been Clerk of the Closet to Charles I., and had ever adhered faithfully to the King during the troubles of the Rebellion and the trials of the Royalists during the Commonwealth. At the Restoration he was made Bishop of London, and subsequently became Archbishop of Canterbury.

Dr. Sheldon was a man of great learning and of an excellent life. His charities were numerous and magnificent, and he has also immortalised his memory by building the famous theatre at Oxford that bears his name.

Another Archbishop of Canterbury connected with Gray's Inn was Dr. John Whitgift, Primate of England in 1583. A man of very exceptional talent, eminent alike for the ability of his writings, and for his stirring eloquence in the pulpit.

By some historians he has been much praised, by others equally blamed; but it must be remembered that Whitgift lived at a period when men's minds were agitated and much troubled by religious and civil contentions, and the great prelate was a violent man amongst violent partisans.

He was especially noted for his bitter hostility both to the Roman Catholic party and to that of the Puritans. By each of these religious bodies he was therefore equally hated and dreaded, and in many instances his judgments and his actions were harsh and severe; still, it must also be remembered that at a time when the Church of England had to contend with many enemies, foreign as well as domestic, and was menaced with dangers unknown to us in these days, Whitgift held the reins of government with an able and a vigorous grasp, and to his credit it can be said that though severe he was never cruel.

This Archbishop was much favoured by Queen Elizabeth, and did many excellent works of charity, both establishing and assisting large hospitals for the poor.

In the east window of the chapel at Gray's Inn may be seen the arms of these prelates, as well as those of William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1716. Here, also, are the escutcheons of George Morley, Bishop of Winchester, Nathaniel Crewe, Bishop of Durham, and of Walker King, Bishop of Rochester.

Thus we see that this venerable Society exhibits, emblazoned on her ancient walls, the names and arms of those who, during their lives, shed such lustre on the sheltering house in which their earliest struggles were fought.

The children she had so much reason to be proud of honoured her in their lives. They have gone, but in death she cherishes their memory, and ever fondly and jealously guards their names from oblivion.

But now, farewell, pleasant old Inn, with all your glorious Past, your glorious Present, and your glorious Future.