Constitutional History of England Volume I Part 30

81. In one of Elizabeth's, A.D. 1572, as in the statute of Edward, the political motives of the prohibition seem in some measure a.s.sociated with the superst.i.tion it disclaims; for eating in the season of Lent is called "licentious and carnal disorder, in contempt of G.o.d and man, and only to the satisfaction of devilish and carnal appet.i.te;" and butchers, etc., "ministering to such foul l.u.s.t of the flesh," were severely mulcted. Strype's _Annals_, ii. 208. But in 1576 another proclamation to the same effect uses no such hard words, and protests strongly against any superst.i.tious interpretation of its motive. _Life of Grindal_, p.

226. So also in 1579 (Strype's _Annals_, ii. 608), and, as far as I have observed, in all of a later date, the encouragement of the navy and fishery is set forth as their sole ground. In 1596, Whitgift, by the queen's command, issued letters to the bishops of his province, to take order that the fasting-days, Wednesday and Friday, should be kept, and no suppers eaten, especially on Friday evens. This was on account of the great dearth of that and the preceding year. Strype's _Whitgift_, p.

490. These proclamations for the observance of Lent continued under James and Charles, as late, I presume, as the commencement of the civil war. They were diametrically opposed to the puritan tenets; for, notwithstanding the pretext about the fishery, there is no doubt that the dominant ecclesiastics maintained the observance of Lent as an ordinance of the church. But I suspect that little regard was paid to Friday and Sat.u.r.day as days of weekly fast. Rymer, xvii. 131, 134, 349; xviii. 268, 282, 961.

This abstemious system, however, was only compulsory on the poor.

Licences were easily obtained by others from the privy-council in Edward's days, and afterwards from the bishop. They were empowered, with their guests, to eat flesh on all fasting-days for life. Sometimes the number of guests was limited. Thus the Marquis of Winchester had permission for twelve friends; and John Sanford, draper of Gloucester, for two. Strype's _Memorials_, ii. 82. The act above mentioned for encouragement of the fishery, 5th Eliz. c. 5, provides that 1 6_s._ 8_d._ shall be paid for granting every licence, and 6_s._ 8_d._ annually afterwards, to the poor of the parish. But no licence was to be granted for eating beef at any time of the year, or veal from Michaelmas to the first of May. A melancholy privation to our countrymen! but, I have no doubt, little regarded. Strype makes known to us the interesting fact, that Ambrose Potter, of Gravesend, and his wife, had permission from Archbishop Whitgift "to eat flesh and white meats in Lent, during their lives; so that it was done soberly and frugally, cautiously, and avoiding public scandal as much as might be, and giving 6_s._ 8_d._ annually to the poor of the parish." _Life of Whitgift_, 246.

The civil wars did not so put an end to the compulsory observance of Lent and fish days but that similar proclamations are found after the Restoration, I know not how long. Kennet's Register, p. 367 and 558. And some orthodox Anglicans continued to make a show of fasting. The following extracts from Pepys' diary are, perhaps, characteristic of the cla.s.s. "I called for a dish of fish which we had for dinner, this being the first day of Lent; and I do intend to try whether I can keep it or no." Feb. 27, 1661. "Notwithstanding my resolution, yet for want of other victuals, I did eat flesh this Lent, but am resolved to eat as little as I can."

[665] Wilson, 709.

[666] Debates in parliament, 1621, vol. i. pp. 45, 52. The king requested them not to pa.s.s this bill, being so directly against his proclamation. _Id._ 60. Shepherd's expulsion is mentioned in Mede's Letters, Harl. MSS. 389.

[667] Vol. ii. 97. Two acts were pa.s.sed (1 Car. I. c. 1 and 3 Car I. c.

2) for the better observance of Sunday; the former of which gave great annoyance, it seems, to the orthodox party. "Had any such bill," says Heylin, "been offered in King James's time, it would have found a sorry welcome; but this king being under a necessity of compliance with them, resolved to grant them their desires in that particular, to the end that they might grant his also in the aid required, when that obstruction was removed. The Sabbatarians took the benefit of this opportunity for the obtaining of this grant, the first that ever they obtained by all their strugglings, which of what consequence it was we shall see hereafter."

_Life of Laud_, p. 129. Yet this statute permits the people lawful sports and pastimes on Sundays within their own parishes.

[668] Without loading the page with too many references on a subject so little connected with this work, I mention Strype's _Annals_, vol. i. p.

118, and a letter from Jewel to P. Martyr in Burnet, vol. iii. Appendix 275.

[669] Collier, 568.

[670] Strype's _Annals_, i. 207, 294.

[671] Strype's _Whitgift_, 434-472.

[672] It is admitted on all hands that the Greek fathers did not inculcate the predestinarian system. Elizabeth having begun to read some of the fathers, Bishop c.o.x writes of it with some disapprobation, adverting especially to the Pelagianism of Chrysostom and the other Greeks. Strype's _Annals_, i. 324.

[673] Winwood, iii. 293. The intemperate and even impertinent behaviour of James in pressing the states of Holland to inflict some censure or punishment on Vorstius, is well known. But though Vorstius was an Arminian, it was not precisely on account of those opinions that he incurred the king's peculiar displeasure, but for certain propositions as to the nature of the Deity, which James called atheistical, but which were in fact Arian. The letters on this subject in Winwood are curious.

Even at this time, the king is said to have spoken moderately of predestination as a dubious point (p. 452), though he had treated Arminius as a mischievous innovator for raising a question about it; and this is confirmed by his letter to the States in 1613. Brandt, iii. 129; and see p. 138; See Collier, p. 711, for the king's sentiments in 1616; also Brandt, iii. 313.

[674] Sir Dudley Carleton's _Letters and Negotiations, pa.s.sim_; Brandt's _History of Reformation in Low Countries_, vol. iii. The English divines sent to this synod were decidedly inclined to Calvinism, but they spoke of themselves as deputed by the king, not by the church of England which they did not represent.

[675] There is some obscurity about the rapid transition of the court from Calvinism to the opposite side. It has been supposed that the part taken by James at the synod of Dort was chiefly political, with a view to support the house of Orange against the party headed by Barnevelt.

But he was so much more of a theologian than a statesman, that I much doubt whether this will account satisfactorily for his zeal in behalf of the Gomarists. He wrote on the subject with much polemical bitterness, but without reference, so far as I have observed, to any political faction; though Sir Dudley Carleton's letters show that _he_ contemplated the matter as a minister ought to do. Heylin intimates that the king grew "more moderate afterwards, and into a better liking of those opinions which he had laboured to condemn at the synod of Dort."

_Life of Laud_, 120. The court language, indeed, s.h.i.+fted so very soon after this, that Antonio de Dominis, the famous half-converted Archbishop of Spalato, is said to have invented the name of doctrinal puritans for those who distinguished themselves by holding the Calvinistic tenets. Yet the synod of Dort was in 1618; while De Dominis left England not later than 1622. Buckingham seems to have gone very warmly into Laud's scheme of excluding the Calvinists. The latter gave him a list of divines on Charles's accession, distinguis.h.i.+ng their names by O. and P. for orthodox and puritan; including several tenets in the latter denomination, besides those of the quinquarticular controversy; such as the indispensable observance of the Lord's day, the indiscrimination of bishops and presbyters, etc. _Life of Laud_, 119.

The influence of Laud became so great that to preach in favour of Calvinism, though commonly reputed to be the doctrine of the church, incurred punishment in any rank. Davenant, Bishop of Salisbury, one of the divines sent to Dort, and reckoned among the princ.i.p.al theologians of that age, was reprimanded on his knees before the privy-council for this offence. Collier, p. 750. But in James's reign the University of Oxford was decidedly Calvinistic. A preacher, about 1623, having used some suspicious expressions, was compelled to recant them, and to maintain the following theses in the divinity school: Decretum praedestinationis non est conditionale--Gratia sufficiens ad salutem non conceditur omnibus. Wood, ii. 348. And I suppose it continued so in the next reign, so far as the university's opinions could be manifested. But Laud took care that no one should be promoted, as far as he could help it, who held these tenets.

[676] Winwood, vol. i. pp. 1, 52, 388; _Lettres d'Ossat_, i. 221; Birch's _Negotiations of Edmondes_, p. 36. These references do not relate to the letter said to have been forged in the king's name, and addressed to Clement VIII. by Lord Balmerino. But Laing, _Hist. of Scotland_, iii. 59, and Birch's _Negotiations_, etc. 177, render it almost certain that this letter was genuine, which indeed has been generally believed by men of sense. James was a man of so little consistency or sincerity that it is difficult to solve the problem of this clandestine intercourse. But it might very likely proceed from his dread of being excommunicated, and, in consequence, a.s.sa.s.sinated. In a proclamation, commanding all jesuits and priests to quit the realm, dated in 1603, he declares himself personally "so much beholden to the new bishop of Rome for his kind office and private temporal carriage towards us in many things, as we shall ever be ready to requite the same towards him as Bishop of Rome in state and condition of a secular prince." Rymer, xvi. 573. This is explained by a pa.s.sage in the memoirs of Sully (l. 15). Clement VIII., though before Elizabeth's death he had abetted the project of placing Arabella on the throne, thought it expedient, after this design had failed, to pay some court to James, and had refused to accept the dedication of a work written against him, besides, probably, some other courtesies. There is a letter from the king addressed to the pope, and probably written in 1603, among the Cottonian MSS. Nero B. vi. 9, which shows his disposition to coax and coquet with the Babylonian, against whom he so much inveighs in his printed works. It seems that Clement had so far presumed as to suggest that the Prince of Wales should be educated a catholic; which the king refuses, but not in so strong a manner as he should have done. I cannot recollect whether this letter has been printed, though I can scarcely suppose the contrary. Persons himself began to praise the works of James, and show much hope of what he would do. Cotton, Jul. B. vi. 77.

The severities against catholics seem at first to have been practically mitigated. Winwood, ii. 78. Archbishop Hutton wrote to Cecil, complaining of the toleration granted to papists, while the puritans were severely treated. _Id._ p. 40; Lodge, iii. 251. "The former," he says, "partly by this round dealing with the puritans, and partly by some extraordinary favour, have grown mightily in number, courage, and influence."--"If the gospel shall quail, and popery prevail, it will be imputed princ.i.p.ally unto your great counsellors, who either procure or yield to grant toleration to some." James told some gentlemen who pet.i.tioned for toleration, that the utmost they could expect was connivance. Carte, iii. 711. This seems to have been what he intended through his reign, till importuned by Spain and France to promise more.

[677] 1 Jac. I. c. 4. The penalties of recusancy were particularly hard upon women, who, as I have observed in another place, adhered longer to the old religion than the other s.e.x; and still more so upon those who had to pay for their scruples. It was proposed in parliament, but with the usual fate of humane suggestions, that husbands going to church, should not be liable for their wives' recusancy. Carte, 754. But they had the alternative afterwards, by 7 Jac. I. c. 6, of letting their wives lie in prison or paying 10 a month.

[678] Lingard, ix. 41, 55.

[679] From comparing some pa.s.sages in Sir Charles Cornwallis's despatches, (Winwood, vol. ii. pp. 143, 144, 153, with others in Birch's account of Sir Thomas Edmondes's negotiations, p. 233, _et seq._) it appears that the English catholics were looking forward at this time to some crisis in their favour, and that even the court of Spain was influenced by their hopes. A letter from Sir Thomas Parry to Edmondes, dated at Paris, 10 Oct. 1605, is remarkable: "Our priests are very busy about pet.i.tions to be exhibited to the king's majesty at this parliament, and some further designs upon refusal. These matters are secretly managed by intelligence with their colleagues in those parts where you reside, and with the two nuncios. I think it were necessary for his majesty's service that you found means to have privy spies amongst them, to discover their negotiations. Something is at present in hand amongst these desperate hypocrites, which I trust G.o.d shall divert by the vigilant care of his majesty's faithful servants and friends abroad, and prudence of his council at home." Birch, p. 233. There seems indeed some ground for suspicion that the nuncio at Brussels was privy to the conspiracy; though this ought not to be a.s.serted as an historical fact. Whether the offence of Garnet went beyond misprision of treason has been much controverted. The catholic writers maintain that he had no knowledge of the conspiracy, except by having heard it in confession.

But this rests altogether on his word; and the prevarication of which he has been proved to be guilty (not to mention the d.a.m.ning circ.u.mstance that he was taken at Hendlip in concealment along with the other conspirators), makes it difficult for a candid man to acquit him of a thorough partic.i.p.ation in their guilt. Compare Townsend's _Accusations of History against the Church of Rome_ (1825), p. 247, containing extracts from some important doc.u.ments in the State Paper-Office, not as yet published, with _State Trials_, vol. ii.; and see Lingard, ix. 160, etc. Yet it should be kept in mind that it was easy for a few artful persons to keep on the alert by indistinct communications a credulous mult.i.tude whose daily food was rumour; and the general hopes of the English Romanists at the moment are not evidence of their privity to the gunpowder-treason, which was probably contrived late, and imparted to very few. But to deny that there was such a plot, or, which is the same thing, to throw the whole on the contrivance and management of Cecil, as has sometimes been done, argues great effrontery in those who lead, and great stupidity in those who follow. The letter to Lord Monteagle, the discovery of the powder, the simultaneous rising in arms in Warwicks.h.i.+re, are as indisputable as any facts in history. What then had Cecil to do with the plot, except that he hit upon the clue to the dark allusions in the letter to Monteagle, of which he was courtier enough to let the king take the credit? James's admirers have always reckoned this, as he did himself, a vast proof of sagacity; yet there seems no great acuteness in the discovery, even if it had been his own. He might have recollected the circ.u.mstances of his father's catastrophe, which would naturally put him on the scent of gunpowder. In point of fact, however, the happy conjecture appears to be Cecil's. Winwood, ii. 170.

But had he no previous hint? See Lodge, iii. 301.

The Earl of Northumberland was not only committed to the Tower on suspicion of privity in the plot, but lay fourteen years there, and paid a fine of 11,000 (by composition for 30,000), before he was released.

Lingard, ix. 89. It appears almost incredible that a man of his ability, though certainly of a dangerous and discontented spirit, and rather dest.i.tute of religion than a zealot for popery, which he did not, I believe, openly profess, should have mingled in so flagitious a design.

There is indeed a remarkable letter in Winwood, vol. iii. p. 287, which tends to corroborate the suspicions entertained of him. But this letter is from Salisbury, his inveterate enemy. Every one must agree, that the fine imposed on this n.o.bleman was preposterous. Were we even to admit that suspicion might justify his long imprisonment, a partic.i.p.ation in one of the most atrocious conspiracies recorded in history was, if proved, to be more severely punished; if unproved, not at all.

[680] 3 Jac. I. c. 4, 5.

[681] Carte, iii. 782; Collier, 690; Butler's _Memoirs of Catholics_; Lingard, vol. ix. 97; Aikin, i. 319. It is observed by Collier, ii. 695, and indeed by the king himself, in his _Apology for the Oath of Allegiance_ (edit. 1619), p. 46, that Bellarmine plainly confounds the oath of allegiance with that of supremacy. But this cannot be the whole of the case; it is notorious that Bellarmine protested against any denial of the pope's deposing power.

[682] Lingard, ix. 215. Drury, executed in 1607, was one of the twelve priests who, in 1602, had signed a declaration of the queen's right to the crown, notwithstanding her excommunication. But, though he evidently wavered, he could not be induced to say as much now in order to save his life. _State Trials_, ii. 358.

[683] Lord Bacon, wise in all things, always recommended mildness towards recusants. In a letter to Villiers, in 1616, he advises that the oath of supremacy should by no means be tendered to recusant magistrates in Ireland; "the new plantation of protestants," he says, "must mate the other party in time." Vol. ii. p. 530. This has not indeed proved true; yet as much, perhaps, for want of following Bacon's advice, as for any other cause. He wished for a like toleration in England. But the king, as Buckingham lets him know, was of a quite contrary opinion; for, "though he would not by any means have a more severe course held than his laws appoint in that case, yet there are many reasons why there should be no mitigation above that which his laws have exerted, and his own conscience telleth him to be fit." He afterwards professes "to account it a baseness in a prince to show such a desire of the match [this was in 1617] as to slack anything in his course of government, much more in propagation of the religion he professeth, for fear of giving hinderance to the match thereby."--Page 562. What a contrast to the behaviour of this same king six years afterwards! The Commons were always dissatisfied with lenity, and complained that the lands of recusants were undervalued; as they must have been, if the king got only 6000 per annum by the compositions. Debates in 1621, vol. i. pp. 24, 91. But he valued those in England and Ireland at 36,000. Lingard, 215, from _Hardwicke Papers_.

[684] The absurd and highly blamable conduct of Buckingham has created a prejudice in favour of the court of Madrid. That they desired the marriage is easy to be believed; but that they would have ever sincerely co-operated for the restoration of the Palatinate, or even withdrawn the Spanish troops from it, is neither rendered probable by the general policy of that government, nor by the conduct it pursued in the negotiation. Compare _Hardwicke State Papers_, vol. i.; Cabala, 1, _et post_; Howell's _Letters_; _Clarendon State Papers_, vol. i. _ad initium_, especially p. 13.

A very curious paper in the latter collection (p. 14) may be thought, perhaps, to throw light on Buckingham's projects, and account in some measure for his sudden enmity to Spain. During his residence at Madrid in 1623, a secretary who had been dissatisfied with the court revealed to him a pretended secret discovery of gold mines in a part of America, and suggested that they might be easily possessed by any a.s.sociation that could command seven or eight hundred men; and that after having made such a settlement, it would be easy to take the Spanish flotilla, and attempt the conquest of Jamaica and St. Domingo. This made so great an impression on the mind of Buckingham, that, long afterwards in 1628, he entered into a contract with Gustavus Adolphus, who bound himself to defend him against all opposers in the possession of these mines, as an absolute prince and sovereign, on condition of receiving one-tenth of the profits; promising especially his aid against any puritans who might attack him from Barbadoes or elsewhere, and to furnish him with four thousand men and six s.h.i.+ps of war, to be paid out of the revenue of the mines.

This is a very strange doc.u.ment, if genuine. It seems to show that Buckingham, aware of his unpopularity in England, and that sooner or later he must fall, and led away, as so many were, by the expectation of immense wealth in America, had contrived this arrangement, which was probably intended to take place only in the event of his banishment from England. The share that Gustavus appears to have taken in so wild a plan is rather extraordinary, and may expose the whole to some suspicion. It is not clear how this came among the Clarendon papers; but the indors.e.m.e.nt runs: "Presented, and the design attempted and in some measure attained by Cromwell, anno 1652." I should conjecture therefore that some spy of the king's procured the copy from Cromwell's papers.

I have since found that Harte had seen a sketch of this treaty, but he does not tell us by what means. _Hist. Gust. Adolph._ i. 130. But that prince, in 1627, laid before the diet of Sweden a plan for establis.h.i.+ng a commerce with the West Indies; for which sums of money were subscribed. _Id._ 143.

[685] _Hardwicke Papers_, pp. 402, 411, 417. The very curious letters in this collection relative to the Spanish match are the vouchers for my text. It appears by one of Secretary Conway's, since published (Ellis, iii. 154), that the king was in great distress at the engagement for a complete immunity from penal laws for the catholics, entered into by the prince and Buckingham; but, on full deliberation in the council, it was agreed that he must adhere to his promise. This rash promise was the cause of his subsequent prevarications.

[686] _Hardwicke Papers_; Rushworth.

[687] _Hardwicke Papers_, p. 452, where the letter is printed in Latin.

The translation in Wilson, Rushworth, and Cabala, p. 214, is not by any means exact, going in several places much beyond the original. If Hume knew nothing but the translation, as is most probable, we may well be astonished at his way of dismissing this business; that "the prince having received a very civil letter from the pope, he was induced to return a very civil answer." Clarendon saw it in a different light.

_Clar. State Papers_, ii. 337.

Urban VIII. had succeeded Gregory XV. before the arrival of Charles's letter. He answered it, of course, in a style of approbation, and so as to give the utmost meaning to the prince's compliments, expressing his satisfaction, "c.u.m pontificem Romanum ex officii genere colere princeps Britannus inciperet," etc. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 98.

It is said by Howell, who was then on the spot, that the prince never used the service of the church of England while he was at Madrid, though two chaplains, church-plate, etc., had been sent over. Howell's _Letters_, p. 140. Bristol and Buckingham charged each other with advising Charles to embrace the Romish religion; and he himself, in a letter to Bristol, Jan. 21, 1625-6, imputes this to him in the most positive terms. Cabal p. 17, 4to edit. As to Buckingham's willingness to see this step taken, there can, I presume, be little doubt.

[688] Rushworth; Cabala, p. 19.

[689] _Parl. Hist._ 1375. Both houses, however, joined in an address that the laws against recusants might be put in execution (_Id._ 1408); and the Commons returned again to the charge afterwards. _Idem_, 1484.

[690] Rushworth.

[691] See a series of letters from Lord Kensington (better known afterwards as Earl of Holland), the king's amba.s.sador at Paris for this marriage-treaty; in the appendix to _Clarendon State Papers_, vol. ii.

pp. v. viii. ix.

[692] _Hardwicke Papers_, i. 536. Birch, in one of those volumes given by him to the British Museum (and which ought to be published according to his own intention), has made several extracts from the MS. despatches of Tillieres, the French amba.s.sador, which ill.u.s.trate this negotiation.

The pope, it seems, stood off from granting the dispensation, requiring that the English catholic clergy should represent to him their approbation of the marriage. He was informed that the cardinal had obtained terms much more favourable for the catholics than in the Spanish treaty. In short, they evidently fancied themselves to have gained a full a.s.surance of toleration; nor could the match have been effected on any other terms. The French minister writes to Louis XIII.

from London, October 6, 1624, that he had obtained a supersedeas of all prosecutions, more than themselves expected, or could have believed possible; "en somme, un acte tres publique, et qui fut resolu en plein conseil, le dit roi l'ayant a.s.semble expres pour cela le jour d'hier."

The pope agreed to appoint a bishop for England, nominated by the King of France. Oct. 22. The oath of allegiance, however, was a stumbling-block; the king could not change it by his own authority, and establish another in parliament, "ou la faction des puritains predomine, de sorte qu'ils peuvent ce qu'ils veulent." Buckingham, however, promised "de nous faire obtenir l'a.s.surance que votre majeste desire tant, que les catholiques de ce pais ne seront jamais inquietes pour le raison du serment de fidelite, du quel votre majeste a si souvent ou parler." Dec. 22. He speaks the same day of an audience he had of King James, who promised never to persecute his catholic subjects, nor desire of them any oath which spoke of the pope's spiritual authority, "mais seulement un acte de la reconnoissance de la domination temporelle qui Dieu lui a donnee, et qu'ils auroient en consideration de votre majeste, et de la confiance que vous prenez en sa parole, beaucoup plus de liberte qu'ils n'auroient eu en vertu des articles du traite d'Espagne."

The French advised that no parliament should be called till Henrietta should come over, "de qui la presence serviroit de bride aux puritains."

It is not wonderful, with all this good-will on the part of their court, that the English catholics should now send a letter to request the granting of the dispensation. A few days after, Dec. 26, the amba.s.sador announces the king's letter to the archbishops, directing them to stop the prosecution of catholics, the enlargement of prisoners on the score of religion, and the written promises of the king and prince to let the catholics enjoy more liberty than they would have had by virtue of the treaty with Spain. On the credit of this, Louis wrote on the 23rd of January to request six or eight s.h.i.+ps of war to employ against Soubise, the chief of the Hugonots; with which, as is well known, Charles complied in the ensuing summer.

The king's letter above mentioned does not, I believe, appear. But his amba.s.sadors, Carlisle and Holland, had promised in his name that he would give a written promise, on the word and honour of a king, which the prince and a secretary of state should also sign, that all his Roman catholic subjects should enjoy more freedom as to their religion than they could have had by any articles agreed on with Spain; not being molested in their persons or property for their profession and exercise of their religion, provided they used their liberty with moderation, and rendered due submission to the king, who would not force them to any oath contrary to their religion. This was signed 18th Nov. _Hardw. Pap._ 546.