delivered them up to him for the uses they were properly first granted.

deavouring throughout his whole life to extirpate herely, had, in the end, reaped nothing but difappointment and confufon) the toleration was entirely rejected. However, the morals of the clergy, and the management and regulation of ecclefait.cal affairs, the queen committed to the care of Pole; and, for that purpofe, had granted him a licence to hold a fynod. In this convention, which was opened when the debates for and against toleration first began, the legate propofed a book he had prepared, containing regulations for the extirpation of he;efy, to the fame purport as the arguments he ufed in council. There were pafed in the form of twelve decrees, and enjoined the clergy not to pe: fecute heretics, but reform them felves; and, as the fureft method to bring back the ftragglers into the fold, feek to reclaim others by their own good example. Whether in this he acted beyond the power granted him by the queen or not, certain it is, thefe orders were of no effect, as the very oppofite courfe was purfued by the government itself; for it was determined to let loose the laws in their full rigour against the reformed religion; and England was foon filled with fcenes of horror, which have ever fince rendered the Romish fuperftition the obj.& of general deteftation, and which prove that no human depravity can equal revenge and cruelty, covered with the mantle of religion. Ferrars, bishop of St. David's, who was condemned to be burnt with many others, appealed to cardinal Pole; but he had not the power to relieve him. In the midst of these favage actions, Mary took it in her head to be very uneafy, and troubled in her confcience about fome church lands the had in her poffeffion; and as Pope Julius had formerly publihed a bull, excom.nunicating all thofe who had feized fuch lands, he began to think herself in a state of excommunication, and therefore refolved to refign all the poffeffed. She caufed a lift to be made and given to cardinal Pole, and immediately

We now come to speak of an affair, which has been by many reprefented as the great ftain in the life of cardinal Pole. Some have faid that the death of Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, was chiefly owing to him; for it is very remarkable, that though Pole had his conge d'elire, as well as two bulls, dispatched from Rome for the archbishopric fome months before Cranmer's execution, yet he made no ufe of them while the latter lived, but the very next day after the archbishop's death, he took poffefsion of the fee of Canterbury. Others entirely acquit the cardinal of any share in this bufinefs, and attribute the execution of Cranmer to the cruelty of Philip and the queen: and so do all the historians, ex. cept Burnet, who takes notice of this report, and neither abfolutely receives it, nor entirely rejects it. Without producing any arguments on either fide, which, as is ufually the cafe in most controverfies, would be of very little fervice, we think it only neceffary to obferve, that this report cannot be reconciled with the whole tenor of cardinal Pole's life, nor with his juft and equitable principles. In short, it is a downright paradox. There was no neceflity for Cranmer's death in order for Pole's fucceeding to the archbishopric, fince the latter already enjoyed the prefits of his fee; and though Cranmer had not been formally degraded, Pole might have entered upon the office without interrup. tion, by virtue of the pope's bulls. Even this form of degradation might have been used, if the queen had thought proper : there were intances enough of fuch pro. ceedings at that very time. The cardinal undoubtedly delayed his confecration to the archbishopric of Canterbury out of decency to Cranmer, whom he muft know, the queen had determined to put to death, in revenge for his having been the great champion of protestantism; and therefore Pole would not affront him

with doing that in his life-time, which might as well be performed after his death, when he could no longer be sensible of it. If it be asked why the cardinal did not procure him his life, which he might have been fuffered to pass away in confinement, in a state of deprivation; it is easily anfwered, he had it not in his power. He had to deal with a princefs, naturally of uncommon bigotted principles, and thefe reinforced by the perfuafions of a Spanish husband, and many hafty counsellors, who had her confidence equally as much as the cardinal; in a word, with a daughter of Henry VIII, who in every respect inherited her father's imperious and uncontroulable temper. In fine, from the comparison of fo foul a deed with all the other actions of cardinal Pole, and his humane difpofition; and when we confider that the death of Cranmer was no ways neceffary to pro⚫ure his fucceffion to the fee of Canterbury, and that the cardinal could not feek it through any motive of revenge, as no enmity or hatred prevailed between them, but on the contrary, Pole always profeffed himself his friend; we hope, and are in duced to believe that this is a groundless calumny. Perhaps it was raifed against him by his enemies, who, enraged to fee him admired for fuch humane fentiments, as they acted fo oppofite to themfelves, in revenge fixed upon this method of blackening his memory, which bishop Burnet too credulously efpoufed. But this laft is only a conjecture, not founded upon evidence, and may be either received or rejected.

However, it is certain that cardinal Pole was guilty of fome actions against the proteftants, which nothing can excufe, We don't know that he was the means of depriving any one of life; but other punishments he certainly inflicted on them, Nevertheless, all thefe proceedings ought to be imputed to the Pope, by whofe commands they were done; and it is a great pity that cardinal Pole had not courage enough to contend with so haughty a pontiff as Paul IV. who thought of no other way to bear down proteftantifm, than by fetting up the inquifition every where,

The cardinal was confecrated to the fee of Canterbury by the bishops of London, Ely, Lincoln, Rochester, and St. Afaph, in the church of the Grey-Friars at Greenwich, A few days after, he went in state

to Bow-church in Cheaphide, where the bishops of Worcester and Ely, (after the former had said mafs) put the pall upon him: a device firft fet up by Pope Pafchal II. in the beginning of the 12th century, and, in truth, contrived only to engage all archbishops to a more immediate dependence on the papal fee, they baing, after taking the pall, to act as legati nati, the Pope's legates born. Thus invefted, he went into the pulpit, and preached on the origin, matter, and use of that vestment. In a day or two after, he was inftalled by his commillary; and, in the courfe of this fame year, was elected, first, chancellor of the univerfity of Oxford, and foon after of Cambridge.

1557

Thefe learned feminaries he visited by his commiffaries, to reform them in the fenfe of thofe times, when fome very extraordinary profecutions were carried on. The purport of their commiffion was to restore the Pope's authority, and to enquire if there were any who neglected the Popifa ceremonies, and upon the leaft fufpicion to eject them 'The commiffioners fent to Oxford were Dr. Brookes, bishop of Gloucester; Dr. Colet, dean of St. Paul's; and the cardinal's trusty fervant Ormaneto. Under this commiffion they raged against a great many in the university, and burnt all the beretical books they found in the public marketplace, and amongst the rest every English Bible, Amazing effrontery! to deem the book of life itfelf, the very foundation of that religion they pretended to be fo zealous for, heretical, becaufe printed in any other language than Latin. Is not this a plain proof of the imposture of the fuperftitious rites of the Remish religion, fince the priests of it are fo careful to conceal the fcriptures from the eye of the people, and thus deprive them of the opportunity of detecting their impofitions? It is really amazing, that thefe pious zealots would fuffer the Bible to be exposed in any other language than the original Hebrew, which would have been intelligible to a very few perfons only, and must then have better ferved their turn. To proceed, the commiffioners made a procefs against the wife of Peter Martyr. Her body lay buried in one of the churches there; and the having been a foreigner that understood no English, witneffes were not to be found that had heard her otter

any

any heretical points. Notice of this being transmitted to the cardinal, he wrote back, and ordered that her bones fhould be taken up, because they lay near thofe of St. Fridefwide. This was done accordingly, and her body was re-buried in a dunghill. If poor Catherine could have been fentible of the removal of her bones, the would, to be fure, have thought herself, highly honoured, in their being thought of fuch confequence; fince they underwent in the reign of Elizabeth another change, being once more dug up, and not only laid near, but mixed with thofe of St. Fridefwide, that they might in future times run their fortunes together; fince in this united ftate no one could diftinguith the one from the other. This laft alteration was made, however, not out of any religious motive, but purely in revenge for, or rather ridicule of, the first abfurd removal. Melchior Adam gives her the character of an excellent matron, and fays, the cardinal had been a particular friend to her hufband before his laft departure from Italy. She had been formerly a nun, and had broken her vow of celibacy, and this was the cause of fuch inveterate rage against her.

The commiffioners fent to Cambridge were, Dr. Scott, bishop of Chefter, Dr. Watfon, and Dr. Chriftopherson, the two bishops elect of Lincoln and Chichester, and likewife Ormaneto, who practised the like feverities as thofe at Oxford. Particularly, on their arrival, they put the churches of St. Mary's and St. Michael's under an interdict, because the bodies of Bucer and Fagius, two heretics, were buried in them; after which, they proceeded against them in a formal course of law. The bodies were cited to appear; or if any would come in their names, they were required to defend them. After three citations, the dead bodies not rifing to speak for themselves, in obedience to their call, and none coming to plead for them, (for fear of being fent after them) the visitors thought fit to proceed with their farce. The bishop of Chefter rose up and made a fpeech, fhewing the earnestness of the univerfity to have justice done ; to which the rest of the commiffioners condefcended. Therefore, having examined many witneffes of the Ferefy that Bucer and Fagius had taught, they adjudged them cbitinate heretics, and appointed their

bodies to be taken up out of the holy ground, and to be delivered to the fecular power. The writ being brought from London, their bones were taken up, and carried in coffins to the stake prepared for the purpose; and there, with many of their books and heretical writings, were all burnt together. When the scene was changed in the fuccesding reign, public honours were done at this univerfity to the merits of these learned men.

In the midft of such inhuman and ridiculous feverities, though better thus exercifed on the dead than on the living, the cardinal-chancellor took care to have the ftatutes (at least at Oxford) revised, and fome new ones added, for the better regulation of the university, which flourished more in his time, than either before, under king Edward, or after, under Elizabeth.

It has been already observed that Paul IV. who now fat in the papal chair, hated cardinal Pole. He it was, when only cardinal Peter Caraffa, who fo furiously and indecently oppofed Pole's election to the popedom, on the death of Paul III. and that hatred he ftill entertained. Philip of Spain being at war with France, had drawn Mary into the quarrel, and received from her a reinforcement of eight thousand men. Paul efpoufed the cause of France, who was his auxiliary, the Pope himself being a principal in the war; and this junction of the English with the Spaniards furnished him with a pre-· tence of gratifying his ill will against Pole. Inflamed to fee England fiding. against his friend, he refolved to wreak his vengeance fomewhere, and gladly feized the opportunity of fixing upon the cardinal as the victim of his wrath, who had lately been guilty of a fresh offence in writing to his Holiness, perfuading him to peace, the favourite study and defire of Pole. This, the haughty pontiff resented, as a kind of monition to do his duty: the infolence of it was great, and added to his other offences, and unwillingness to execute the Pope's commands (from their extreme harshness), too great to be borne with longer. In this spirit he openly declared, it might now be feen how little the cardinal regarded the apoftolic fee, when he suffered the queen to affist its enemies in fo particular a manner. He first made a decree for a general revocation

of all legates and nuncios, in the king of Spain's dominions, cardinal Pole being mentioned therein among the reft; and though he was diverted from the immediate execution of this project, by the representations of Sir Edward Carne, then the English ambaffador at the court of Rome; yet, upon the fatal blow given the French, at the battle of St. Quintin, chiefly through the affiftance of the English auxiJiaries, and the ill fuccefs of his own forces in Italy, where the duke of Alva laid all wafte before him, his wrath broke out with redoubled fury; he became utterly implacable; accused Pole as a fufpected heretic (the old fubterfuge of the cardinal's enemies, grounded on his averfion to perfecutions) summoned him to Rome to answer the charge; and depriving him of the legatine powers, conferred them upon Peyto, a Francifcan friar, the queen's confeffor, and who had ferved her mother queen Katherine in the same capacity. The Pope made him a cardinal for this very purpose, fent for him to court, and defigned the bishopric of Salisbury for him. The new legate fet out on the road for England, and in the mean time the queen received the bulls: but having been informed of their contents by the ambaffador, the prudently made ufe of a little cunning, and laid them up unopened, pretending ignorance of what they contained, and took care not to acquaint cardinal Pole with them. In his behalf the wrote to the Pope, though the imagined this would be of little effect; but affuming some of the spirit of Henry VIII. her father, fhe wrote alfo to Peyto, refolutely forbid him proceeding on his journey, and charged him at his peril, not to fet foot upon English ground, on pain of being punished with all the rigour of a premunire. This letter stopped the new cardinal in his journey, and enraged the Pope to a violent degree. But notwithstanding all the caution of Mary, to conceal the af. fair from the cardinal, it was impoffible to

keep it long a fecret; and he no fooner became acquainted with his Holiness's will, than, from that implicit veneration which he conftantly and unalterably obferved for the apoftolic fee, he voluntarily laid down the enfigns of his legatine power, and forebore the exercife of it; difpatching his minifter Ormaneto to Rome, with letters, wherein he cleared himself in fuch fub miffive terms, as, it is faid, even foftened and melted the obdurate heart of Paul. But the pontiff was now brought into a better temper by fome late events, which had turned his regard from the French to the Spaniards *; and a peace being concluded this year, the form against Pole blew over entirely. In one of the fecret articles of the treaty, it was stipulated, that the cardinal-archbishop should be restored to his legatine powers.

The restoration of thefe he lived not to enjoy a full twelve-month, being feized with a double quartan-ague, which carried him off the ftage of life, early in the morning of the 18th of November 1558. His death is faid to have been haftened by that of his royal miftrefs and kinfwoman, queen Mary, which happened but fixteen hours before. During his illness, he was continually enquiring after her majefty, and her death afflicted and fhocked him exceedingly. He had attained the 58th year of his age.

During this his laft illness he made his will, wherein he appointed his best beloved friend Aloifius Priuli, his fole executor and teftamentary heir. But that Italian, who furvived him only twenty months, was of a more noble temper than to enrich himself with his friend's wealth. He collected together the cardinal's effects, which lay difperfed in feveral counties & and having discharged all the legacies, gave away the remainder in fuch a manner, as he knew moft agreeable to the cardinal's difpofition and mind when alive, referving to himself only the breviary and diary, particularly endeared to him by his

! OFlober, 1761.

Uuu

friend's

friend's frequent use of them. The friendfhip between these two noble persons commenced fix and twenty years before the death of the cardinal, and contained ever uninterrupted: a cardinal's hat was of fered Priuli, but he refused it, because it would have feparated him from his friend. A noble mark of affection and friendship! The cardinal was not a man to raise a fortune: the greatness of his birth, and his excellent virtues, elevated him above fuch selfish designs; fo that the archbishopric was little benefited by him, except in a grant he obtained from queen Mary of the patronage of ninteen parfon ages for it; all that he did befides for it was the endowment of fome houfes built by him, and a ground rent on the east-fide of Lambeth. It is faid, he had conceived a defign, if he had lived, to have built a ftately archbishop's palace at Canterbury. He gave to that church two very weighty filver candlesticks, gilt, a filver incenfe pot, in the form of a fhip, partly gilt, a filver mitre adorned with jewels, a filver paftoral staff and crofs, partly gilt, two pontifical rings fet with jewels of great value, and a very large filver ciftern for the holy water.

His body, being put into a leaden coffin, lay in great state forty days at Lambeth; after which, it was conveyed with as great funeral pomp to Canterbury, and ininterred with much folemnity, on the north fide of Thomas à Becket's chapel, in that cathedral. Over his grave a tomb was erected, on which were inferted only these three words, as fufficient to his fame, DEPOSITUM CARDINALIS POL1, that is, The remains of cardinal Pole.

.

In person, he was of a middling ftature and flender make; his complexion fair, and agreeably tinctured with red; his beard yellow in his youth. His countenance was open, enlivened with a chearful and pleafant eye, a true index of the temper, fweet and placid, of the inhabitant within. Though his conftitution was not ftrong, yet in general he enjoyed a good state of health, which was fometimes difordered by a catarrh, that fell upon one of his arms, and brought an inflammation into both eyes. He always kept a table suitable to his ftation and quality, which he even extended to a kingly magnificence on proper occafions. He fed a fpare diet himself, eating only of plain dishes. He was a good œconomift, and

his expences were constantly proportioned to his revenues. In his dress he called for little affiftance, and often rose out of bed, and dreffed himself without any attendants. With respect to the qualities of his mind, he was learned, eloquent, modeft, humble, and good-natured; examplarily pious and charitable, generous as became his birth, and a kind mafter to his domeftics; tho he never would fuffer them to take prefents after the English fashion. In his fecond legation, he diftributed four thoufand ducats, paid to him at Trent to support his expences, among his fervants, according to the merit and ftation of each. A lady having left him, by her will, nine thousand ducats, he would not touch the money, but bestowed it on her niece in marriage. In a town the royalty of which devolved to him as cardinal, he fet up a woollen manufactory to employ the poor. These are some few proofs, drawn out of many, of a noble temper. He likewife poffeffed a true fpirit of magnanimity. When his life was attempted at Viterbo, by three Italian ruffians, who were secured and fent to prifon, he forgave them, and ordered them to be discharged. In the fame fpirit, when two Englishmen, who had been fent by Henry VIII. to murder him, were feized at Capranica, where he had retired to avoid the fcorching heat of the fummer, he would not consent to their being put to death, and fuffered them only to be fent for a few days to the gallies. It is alfo mentioned to his honour, that he never asked for any thing, not even though it was his right; nor could he be prevailed with by his friends to apply for the earldom of Warwick, which Mary would doubtless have granted him, fince, had not that earl been attainted by king Henry, it would have fallen to the cardinal by inheri

tance.

Though more inclined by nature to study and contemplation than an active life, yet he was prudent and dexterous in bufinefs, and ever remarkable for the greatest fincerity. It is more than probable, that he hindered the Jefuits from coming into England in the reign of queen Mary. This mungrel order had been inftituted about twelve years before, in the view of adding a firm fupport to the fee of Rome; to which, befides the ufual oaths of other regulars, they fwore an implicit univerfal obedience. Therefore, knowing how fuperftitiously devoted

cardinal