LETTER XX.

_Thomas Alward to Thomas Cromwell._ A. D. 1529.

[MS. COTTON. VITELLIUS B. XII. fol. 173. _Orig._]

"The following Letter (says Mr. Ellis), though mutilated, presents a genuine picture of one of the last interviews with which Wolsey was favoured by his Sovereign. It is dated on the 23^d. of September; sixteen days after which the King's attorney presented the indictment against him in the Court of King's Bench upon the Statute of Provisors.

"Thomas Alward, the writer of this Letter, appears to have been the Keeper of Wolsey's Wardrobe. He has been already incidentally named in the Letter which relates to the foundation of Ipswich College."

MAISTER CROMWEL,

In my mooste hartiest wise I [_commende me_] unto you; advertisyng the same that I have dely[_vered your lres_] unto my lordis grace who did immediatly rede over [_the same_] after the redyng wherof his grace did put theym in ... and so kepte theym always close to hym self. Th[_is I note_] unto you, bicause I never sawe hym do the like bifo[_re time_] the which your lettres his grace commaunded me.... And first, the same hertely thankyth you for your ... advertysement made unto hym from tyme to tyme [_of soche_] things as ye have written unto his grace wherin I know [_ye have_] don unto his grace singular pleasur and good service; and as [_for_] the vain bruts which goth against my lords [_grace_] I assur you as fer as may apper unto my said [_lord and_] other that be his servaunts, they be mervailous false, ... and gretely I do mervaile wherof the same shul[_de arise_] for I assur you that in this vacacion tyme [_dyvers_] lettres wer written by the kyngs commaundment from [_Mr. Ste_]vyns unto my said lord, by the which his adv[_ise_] and opinion was at sundry tymes desired ... in the kyngs causis and affaires, unto the which lettres [_aunswer_] was made from tyme to tyme, as well by my lords [_wry_]tyng as also by the sendyng of his servaunts to the[_courte with_] instructions by mouth to the kyng's highnes as the [_mater_] and case did requir. Over this the noblemen and gentry [_as well_] in my lords goyng to the courte as also in his retourne from [_the_] same dyd mete and incounter hym at many places gently [_and_] humaynly as they wer wonte to do. On Sonday last my lords grace, with the Legat Campegius cam unto the courte at Grene[_wiche_] wher they wer honorably receyved and accompanyed with sundry of the kings counsaile and servaunts, and so brought bifor masse onto the king's presence, who graciously and beni[~g]ly after the accustumed goodnes of his highnes, with very familiar and loving acountenance did welcome theym. And after communication and talkyng awhiles with my Lorde Campegius, his grace talked a grete while with my lorde a parte, which don, they departed all to geder in to chapel. And immediatly after dyner my lords grace went again unto the kyngs highnes beyng then in his pryvie chamber wher they wer commonyng and talkyng to geder at the leeste for the space of ij. houres, no person beyng present, and a friende of myne beyng of the prive chamber told me at my lords departur that tyme from thens ther was as good and as familiar accountynaunce shewed and used betwene theym as ever he sawe in his life heretofor. This don my lords grace with the legat retourned unto theyr logyng at Maister Empson's place. On Monday in the mornyng my lord leving the legat at his logyng went again unto the kyngs grace, and after long talkyng in his privie chamber to geder, the kyng, my lord, and all the hole counsaile sate to geder all that for'none aboute the kyngs matiers and affaires. In the after none, my lords grace having then with hym the Legat Campegius, went to the kyng's grace, and after talkyng and communication had a long whilis with the legat a parte they both toke ther leve of the kyngs highnes in as good fascion and maner, and with asmoche gentilnes, as ever I saw bifor. This don, the kyngs grace went huntyng. The legate retourned to Maister Empson, and my lords grace taried ther in counsaile til it was darke nyght. Further mor my Lord of Suffolke, my Lord of Rochford, Maister Tuke, and Master Stevyns did as gently [_be_]have theymselfs, with as moche observaunce and humy[_lyte to_] my lords grace as ever I sawe theym do at any [_tyme_] tofor. What they bere in ther harts I knowe n[_ot_.] Of the premissis I have seen with myne ies; wherfor I boldely presume and thinke that they be ferre [_furth_] overseen that sowth[243] the said false and untrewe reports: ascerteynyng you if ye coulde marke som[_e of the_] chief stirrers therof ye shulde do unto his grace [_moche_] pleasur. Assone as ye can spede your bysynes th[_ere my_] lord wolde be very glad of your retourne. My lord wilbe on Monday next at London. And the Legat [_Cam_]pegius shal departe shortely oute of Englonde. A[_nd thus_] makyng an ende I commit you to the tuicion and g[_widance of_] Almyghty God. From Saint Albons the xxiij^{th} S[_ep_]tember.

All the gentilmen of my lords chamber with the... ...[244] of commendith them hartely unto you.

Yowrs to my lytle [_power_] THOMAS ALVARD.

FOOTNOTES:

[202] Mrs. Anne Gainsford.

[203] See the Earl of Surrey's character of him, in an Elegy on his Death, among his poems.

[204] It is presumed that the allusion is here to Sir Thomas Wyatt's verses entitled "A description of such a one as he would love:"

A face that should content me wonderous well, Should not be faire, but lovely to behold: Of lively loke, all griefe for to repel With right good grace, so would I that it should Speak, without words, such words as none can tell; Her tresse also should be of cresped gold. With wit and these perchance I might be tide And knit againe the knot that should not slide.

_Songes and Sonettes_, 8_vo._ 1557, _p._ 35. 2.

[205] The King of France's sister.

[206] _Sanders De Origine ac Progressu Schismatis Anglicani. Libri_ 3. This book was first printed at Cologne, in 1585, and passed through several editions, the last in 1628. It was subsequently translated into French, and printed in 1673-4; which induced Burnet to write his History of the Reformation. In the appendix to his first volume he gives a particular account of Sanders' book, and refutes the calumnies and falsehoods contained in it. This called forth a reply from the catholic party, under the title of _Histoire du Divorce de Henry_ VIII. _par Joachim Le Grand_. _Paris_, 1688, 3 vols. 12mo. A work not without interest on account of the documents printed in the third volume, some of which I have found useful as illustrations of the present work.

[207] Sir Francis Brian was one of the most accomplished courtiers of his times: a man of great probity and a poet. Wyatt addresses his third satire to him, and pays a high compliment in it to his virtue and integrity. He was, like Wyatt, firmly attached to the Protestant cause: on this account he seems to have drawn on himself the hatred of the Roman Catholic party. Sanders, in his malevolent account of the Reformation in England, relates the following absurd and wicked story of him.--Cum autem Henrici Regis domus ex perditissimo hominum constaret, cujusmodi erant aleatores, adulteri, lenones, assentatores, perjuri, blasphemi, rapaces, atque adeò hæretici, inter hos insignis quidem nepos extitit, Franciscus Brianus, Eques Auratus, ex gente et stirpe Bolenorum. Ab illo rex quodam tempore quæsivit, quale peccatum videretur matrem primum, deinde filium cognoscere.--Cui Brianus, "Omnino," inquit, "tale O rex quale gallinam primùm, deinde pullum ejus gallinaceum comedere." Quod verbum cum rex magno risu accepisset, ad Brianum dixisse fertur. "Næ! tu merito meus est Inferni Vicarius." Brianus enim jam prius ob impietatem notissimam vocabatur, "Inferni Vacarius." Post autem et "Regius Inferni Vicarius." Rex igitur cum et matrem prius, et postea filiam Mariam Bolenam pro concubina tenuisset, demum at alteram quoque filiam, Annam Bolenam, animum adjicere cœpit. _De Schismate Anglicano_, p. 24.

This disgusting calumny is repeated by the followers of Sanders, and among others by Davanzati, in his _Schisma d'Inghilterra_, p. 22, Ed. 1727. And yet that history is presented by the Curators of the _Studio_ at Padua, to the youth educated there as "una stimabilissima Storia; descritta con quei vivi e forti colori che soli vagliano a far comprendere l'atrocita del successo dello Schisma d'Inghilterra." How (says Dr. Nott, from whom this note is taken) can the bonds of charity be ever brought to unite the members of the Roman Catholic communion with those of the reformed church, so long as their youth shall be thus early taught to consider our Reformation as the portentous offspring of whatever was most odious in human profligacy, and most fearful in blasphemy and irreligion?" _Memoirs of Sir Thomas Wyatt_, p. 84.

[208] 32 Henry VIII. A. D. 1540.

[209] A. D. 1532-3.

[210] Tyndal's Obedience of a Christian Man.

[211] This curious and interesting occurrence, which probably had considerable effect in furthering the progress of the Reformation, is told with more circumstance by Strype, from the manuscripts of Fox. It is so entirely corroborated by what is here said, that I think it incumbent upon me to place it in juxtaposition with Wyatt's narrative.

"Upon the Lady Anne waited a young fair gentlewoman, named Mrs. Gainsford; and in her service was also retained Mr. George Zouch. This gentleman, of a comely sweet person, a Zouch indeed, was a suitor in the way of marriage to the said young lady: and among other love tricks, once he plucked from her a book in Englishe, called Tyndall's Obedience, which the Lady Anne had lent her to read. About which time the Cardinal had given commandment to the prelates, and especially to Dr. Sampson, dean of the king's chapel, that they should have a vigilant eye over all people for such books, that they came not abroad; that so as much as might be, they might not come to the king's reading. But this which he most feared fell out upon this occasion. For Mr. Zouch (I use the words of the MS.) was so ravished with the spirit of God speaking now as well in the heart of the reader, as first it did in the heart of the maker of the book, that he was never well but when he was reading of that book. Mrs. Gainsford wept because she could not get the book from her wooer, and he was as ready to weep to deliver it. But see the providence of God:--Mr. Zouch standing in the chapel before Dr. Sampson, ever reading upon this book; and the dean never having his eye off the book, in the gentleman's hand, called him to him, and then snatched the book out of his hand, asked his name, and whose man he was. And the book he delivered to the cardinal. In the meantime, the Lady Anne asketh her woman for the book. She on her knees told all the circumstances. The Lady Anne showed herself not sorry nor angry with either of the two. But, said she, 'Well, it shall be the dearest book that ever the dean or cardinal took away.' The noblewoman goes to the king, and upon her knees she desireth the king's help for her book. Upon the king's token the book was restored. And now bringing the book to him, she besought his grace most tenderly to read it. The king did so, and delighted in the book. "For (saith he) this book is for me and all kings to read." And in a little time, by the help of this virtuous lady, by the means aforesaid, had his eyes opened to the truth, to advance God's religion and glory, to abhor the pope's doctrine, his lies, his pomp, and pride, to deliver his subjects out of the Egyptian darkness, the Babylonian bonds that the pope had brought his subjects under. And so contemning the threats of all the world, the power of princes, rebellions of his subjects at home, and the raging of so many and mighty potentates abroad; set forward a reformation in religion, beginning with the triple crowned head at first, and so came down to the members, bishops, abbots, priors, and such like."--_Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials_, vol. i. p. 112.

[212] Mr. George Zouch.

[213] So it is in the Calendars prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer in Queen Elizabeth's reign. Lord Herbert says it was the sixth, Sanders the eighth, and Archbishop Cranmer the thirteenth or fourteenth.

[214] A. D. 1534.

[215] Shaxton and Latimer.

[216] To every one of these she gave a little book of devotions, neatly written on vellum, and bound in covers of solid gold enamelled, with a ring to each cover to hang it at their girdles for their constant use and meditation.

One of these little volumes, traditionally said to have been given by the queen when on the scaffold to her attendant, one of the Wyatt family, and preserved by them through several generations, was described by Vertue as being seen by him in the possession of Mr. George Wyatt of Charterhouse Square, in 1721. Vide _Walpole's Miscellaneous Antiquities_, printed at Strawberry Hill, 1772, No. II. p. 13. It was a diminutive volume, consisting of one hundred and four leaves of vellum, one and seven-eighths of an inch long by one and five-eighths of an inch broad; containing a metrical version of parts of thirteen Psalms: and bound in pure gold richly chased, with a ring to append it to the neck-chain or girdle. It was in Mr. Triphook's possession in the year 1817.

[217] Cosȳ: this woman's name was Cousyns.

[218] Probably the name of one of her attendants.

[219] unless.

[220] that.

[221] Sir Francis Weston.

[222] they.

[223] note.

[224] accepts.

[225] that.

[226] _i. e._ what.

[227] us.

[228] Anvers, Antwerp.

[229] number.

[230] an hour.

[231] number.

[232] That is his long continuance with the cardinal.

[233] He had probably disobliged the king by his attachment to Anne Boleyn.

[234] fear.

[235] Carlisle.

[236] William Worm, whom he mentions in a former letter, as the person who betrayed him.

[237] brought.

[238] out.

[239] Antiphonars, Gralls, Orderlys, Manuals, and Professionaries, are books containing different portions of the Roman Catholic Ritual. See Percy's Northumberland Household Book, p. 446, and Burn's Ecclesiastical Law.

[240] _licence._ There is a tradition at Alnwick that an auditor was formerly confined in the dungeon under one of the towers till he could make up his accounts to his lord's satisfaction.

[241] Dr. Augustine, or Agostino, a native of Venice, was physician to the cardinal, and was arrested at Cawood at the same time with his master, being treated with the utmost indignity: v. _Life_, pp. 348, 351. In the Cottonian MS. Titus b. i. fol. 365, there is a letter of his to Thomas Cromwell, in Italian, requiring speedy medical assistance, apparently for Cardinal Wolsey. It is dated Asher, Jan. 19th, 1529-30. Cavendish describes him as being dressed in a "boistous gown of black velvet;" with which he overthrew one of the silver crosses, which broke Bonner's head in its fall.

[242] Premunire.

[243] soweth.

[244] _f._ rest thereof.

A TRUE DESCRIPTION,

OR RATHER

A PARALLEL

BETWEENE

CARDINALL WOLSEY,

ARCH-BISHOP OF YORK,

AND

WILLIAM LAUD,

ARCH-BISHOP OF CANTERBVRIE, &c.

PRINTED IN THE YERE 1641.

_The following parallel between Laud and Wolsey is referred to in a note at p. 342 of the Life of Wolsey. It was printed at the same time and for the same purpose as the first garbled edition of that life; namely--to prejudice Archbishop Laud in the minds of the people. The press then teemed with pamphlets levelled at him, and in the same