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112

XVII.

was again abolished, and the ecclesiastical jurisdic- CHAP. tion was vested in the crown; and the statutes that revived the persecuting laws were repealed. These were equitable enactments; but to force Catholics to attend their parish churches in a Protestant service, was an unjust imitation of their invasions of the sacred right of individual freedom of worship.113

113

112 These were effected by the Stat. 1 El. c. 1. The book of Common Prayer, as it stood at Edward's death, was ordered to be used in all cathedrals and parish churches. By c. 2, all laws for other service were annulled. All ecclesiastical persons, judges, justices, mayors and temporal officers were to take the oath of supremacy and allegiance, ib.; and to compass to deprive the queen of her style or kingly name of the crown, or to destroy her, or to levy war against her, or to depose her, or to say that she ought not to be queen, or that any other person ought to be queen, were subjected to a forfeiture of property; and if done by writing or overt act, were made high treason. 1 El. c. 5. The first fruits were restored to the crown by c. 4.

113 This was ordered by the 1 El. c. 2, on pain of paying twelvepence if absent. It is surprising that the queen, who had been compelled by Mary to attend her mass, did not feel, from her own recollections, how wrong and useless it was to force papists to be present at the reformed service.

BOOK

II.

CHAP. XVIII.

PERSECUTIONS OF THE REFORMERS IN FRANCE-MARY OF
SCOTLAND'S CLAIM TO THE ENGLISH CROWN-ELIZABETH'S
INTERCOURSE WITH THE FRENCH HUGUENOTS-DEATH OF
FRANCIS II.

THE
reign of Elizabeth, for the first eleven years, a
space of time equal to that of both her brother's
and her sister's, was distinguished for its internal
quietude, and for the prosperity and happiness of her
people; affording in these respects a contrast so
striking to the crimes, commotions, and miseries,
which from the time of her mother's death to her own
accession, had successively afflicted England, that we
are led to ascribe the difference to the superior judg-
ment, benignity, and rectitude of this intelligent
queen. This period embraced the prime of her ma-
turity, from the twenty-fifth to the six and thirtieth
year of her life; and exhibited her, as it evolved, in
general intellect, conduct and temper, a model which
was interesting to the contemplation of her subjects,
and was really worthy of their study and imitation.
Every eye was upon her, and the hearts of most
admired and applauded her. That nations tend to
resemble the sovereigns whom they esteem, we per-
ceive both from history and experience. The leading
classes, who best know their prince, are the first who
are affected by his example; but the assimilating
propensity spreads gradually and imperceptibly from
them to all the other connected orders of the social

XVIII.

community and it was thus that the prevailing cha- CHAP. racters of Elizabeth's mind and actions became the standard and guides of her gratified people. A spirit vigorous, yet moderate; firmness, without obstinacy; prudence, without pusillanimity; a calm vigilance and a consistent integrity; foresight, without alarm; activity in all the business and duties of her station, yet ever mingling its industry with a constant love of literature, and never superseding the proper intervals for intellectual cultivation: these mental qualities, tempered with habitual amenity, and animated by the sincere and grateful feelings of an intelligent piety, distinguished their queen in the perception. and belief of her people. What they liked, they imitated; till the general character of the nation was in harmony with her own; while the resulting social comfort, content, and widely spreading individual prosperity, which were so visible all around, became the praise of England in the hearts and speech of her continental neighbours, and the foundation of a new strength and stability to its government. It was this public condition, which kept her throne safe and unshaken, amid the many future storms and secret dangers by which it was pertinaciously assailed, after the period which we have marked as the first æra and duration of its halcyon state.

Nor would the succeeding thirty-four years of her reign have been any limitation of its national serenity, if external agencies had not operated to produce the interruption. But we live in a world of moving circumstances, and of other beings as active or as restless as ourselves; and we cannot avoid being frequently affected by the events and effects of

II.

BOOK co-existing things. Elizabeth soon felt this common condition of all humanity; and found for some time the exterior perturbations to arise to her principally out of France, and from the crimes and agitations which the determined hostility of its government to the diffusing spirit of reformation was persistingly acting to occasion.

By the Spring of the year 1533, Francis I. had settled his mind into the dreadful purpose of extirpating the Lutheran opinions in France,' and not only so, but also of preventing them from flourishing in any other part of Europe; a resolution which put the French government into the attitude of a latent mortal hostility against every other nation which chose to secede from the papal yoke and its connected tenets. Two months after the declaration of this determination by Francis, the pope signed his

In his edict of 18th May 1533, this applauded king declared, 'We have very much at heart, and we desire, that all heresies SHOULD BE EXTIRPATED from our kingdom, and the heretics; and those who instruct them, grievously punished.' See it in Le Grand, v. 3, p. 626.

2 That one of the most accomplished minds in Europe could debase itself deliberately to such brutal cruelty, we could hardly believe on less evidence than its own avowal. We have this in the letter of Francis I. to Clement VII. dated 23d June 1533. In this, after acknowleging the receipt of the pope's letter, and alluding to their intended meeting, he proceeds to say, Assuring your holiness anew, that the cause for which we have always desired and still desire the said interview is to produce a good, universal peace-to arrange for defence and offence against the Turks-and equally to see what can be devised to be done TO EXTIRPATE AND ROOT OUT the iniquities and damnable sects and heresies of Luther and of others, so that they may not be able to spring up any more IN ANY PART OF CHRISTENDOM-per vedere que che si ricerchera de fare, per estirpare e diradicare le malvagie e dannate sette e heresie di Lutero e di altri; accio che non possano piu pullulare in alcuna parte d'esse Christianita.' Lett. de Principi, v. 3, p. 23. The king also expresses his hope, that from their interview such good and laudable operations will issue to the glory and exaltation of your holiness and of the apostolic see, and, as a consequence, of all Christianity, that every one will have a just occasion to be contented with it.' ib.

4

XVIII.

exterminating bull, corresponding with the king's CHAP. wishes and object;3 and in the November following, Francis and Clement, with congenial spirits on this melancholy subject, met at Marseilles. The king there completed the nuptials between his own son and the pontiff's niece, and made that secret compact with him, which, being pursued and adopted by other princes in his own country and elsewhere, and against other states and kingdoms which cherished the Protestant improvements, filled the most enlightened parts of Europe with terror, blood, flames, commotions and misery, for above a century, till all the reformers who could be subdued were extinguished; and until those, who proved too strong to be overwhelmed, had dearly purchased their safety by persevering exertion, by the greatest sacrifices, and amid continually renewing difficulties and ever impending danger. The pope, while with.

5

.

3 The bull of Clement VII. is dated at Rome, Kal. September 1533. It is directed to all archbishops, bishops, and inquisitors of heretical pravity, in France. It recites, that the dire and execrable blasphemies of the impious Luther and others were spreading, and that this pestiferous poison would become more diffused, to the greatest detriment of the universal church, without our vigilance.' It then declares, that those who will not acquiesce in the sound doctrine, but persevere in their malice, excommunicaverimus et anathematizaverimus, and as putrid members, that the rest of the body be not affected ABSCINDI

DECREVERIMUS.

It then recites that Lucius III. had ordained, that every clericus taken in heresy should be degraded, and left to be punished by the due animadversion of the secular power; and that every layman should be relinquished to receive the debitam ultionem, unless he abjured. That the licentiousness of error had since increased-and it orders that all clerks, friars, and laymen, of every class, who should teach the impious propositions of Luther, should be required to abjure; and if they would not, it calls upon them to exert themselves to enforce the due punishment, that they may defend the church against the heretics; For, lo! we hope at length to EXTIRPATE this heresy, if you make yourselves its severiores ultores.' Le Grand, ib. p. 606-614.

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Hist. Hen. VIII. v. 2, p. 341-5.

That there was a treaty made between Clement and Francis at

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