II.

BOOK Henry became rapidly worse, and in a few days expired.109 He had not long survived a league, which he had secretly made with Philip and the pope, to suppress the reformed religion, both in France and Europe; 110 and but a month after his sanguinary edict, to put all who professed it to death." In England, the supremacy of the pope

Lorraine, the duke of Guise, and others of that house, have persuaded as much as they could, that the way to amend the garboils there, is to cause the earl of Argyle, the prior of St. Andrews, [Murray] and the lord Dun, to be arrested; their goods confiscated, and to lose their lives; and the like to a number of other, inferiors-whereupon they have determined to use this extreme manner of reformation.' Throck. Lett. 4 July, p. 152.

109 On 11 July, the connetable wrote from Paris: The king died yesterday, an hour after noon.' Lett. 2 Ribier, 809. Mr. de Lorges, the young lord of Montgomery, whose tilting skill and strength had been so fatal, was dismissed from his captainship of the guard, and banished the court. Forbes, p. 158. As it was one of the accidents of this dangerous sport, without the least appearance of malicious intention, no further measures were adopted against him. The queen, on 10 July, kindly commissioned a gentleman to express her concern, We have now sent Charles Howard in post, to visit our said good brother.' ib. 156.

110 It is from Kyllegrew's dispatch to the queen, of 6 Jan. 1560, that we learn this important fact. Upon the making of the late peace, there was an appointment made between the late pope, the French king, and the king of Spain, for the joining of their forces together for the suppression of religion. The end of this league was to constrain the rest of Christendom, being Protestants, to receive the pope's authority and religion. Forbes' State Papers, p. 296. The following passage in Castelnau, who was also one of the diplomatists of this period, exhibits a sequel to the above: The interview of the queen of Spain, sister to the French king, at Bayonne, accompanied by the duke of Alva, and many great lords of Spain, (with Charles IX. and Catherine de Medicis,) and the affairs which were there treated of the next summer, put the Huguenots into a very great jealousy and mistrust, that the feast was making at their expense, from the opinion they had of an etroite ligue du princes Catholiques contre eux.' 1 Castel. Mem. p. 189.

Castelnau mentions that in June 1559 the king made an edict at Escouan, compelling the judges to condemn all the Lutherans to death, and that this was registered in all the parliaments without any limitation, and the judges were forbidden to mitigate the punishment as they had done for some years before. vol. 1. p. 5. It was expected that this edict would occasion large confiscations, and enable the king to discharge the 42,000,000 of livres which he owed.' ib.

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

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 recolfections, 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
HE 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

1

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

2

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.