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subscribe." When told he must subscribe to the canons, he refused, saying, “I have nothing but a prebend at Salisbury, and if you like to take it away, much good may it do you." As the greater part of the bishops had been his fellow-exiles, and had been taught moderation by suffering, they no longer molested him. He, on the other hand, conducted himself with much prudence and circumspection, openly condemning the violence of some of the more zealous puritans. In 1575, he addressed to the queen his memorable memorial on behalf of the Ger man anabaptists, who had refused to join either the Dutch or English church, and the cruel persecution of whom is one of the darkest blots on the history of protestantism. Fox's petition was rejected—but it did him infinite honour.

Though Mr Fox held nothing in the church but the prebend, of which we have already made mention, he took every opportunity of preaching and doing good. His vast learning, sincere piety and humility, commended him to universal esteem. He died in 1587, in the seventieth year of his age.

Of the numerous works which Mr Fox published, by far the greater part were on controversial theology or ecclesiastical history. The work, however, on which his fame rests, is his History of the Acts and Monuments of the Church,' commonly called, the Book of Martyrs,' and on the composition of this work he spent many years of unwearied labour. Whitgift says, that Mr Fox "laboured very diligently and faithfully in this matter, and searched out the truth of it as learnedly as any man has done." In the compilation of this work, Mr Fox was furnished with every facility by Grindal and many other influential friends. It was first published in one volume folio, 1563, and so eagerly was it read, that in 1583 a fourth edition was required.

The protestants, of course, valued this work highly; while the papists did all they could to depreciate its merits and to check its circulation. They called it the Golden Legend,' and represented it as a tissue of lies and slander. This was natural in catholics; but there have also been professed protestants, who have endeavoured to discredit it. Collier, in his ecclesiastical history, has accused our martyrologist of bigotry, disingenuousness, and using violent language. That his language is here and there coarse and bitter, is only saying that Fox was not entirely free from the faults which characterized all the controver sialists of the age; and to say that there are mistakes in the work, is saying no more than that its author was fallible. In a work of such extent, it is impossible to avoid some errors; at the same time, there is not the slightest proof that Fox designedly misrepresented facts, while there is every proof that he consulted with prodigious labour every accessible authority and used his materials in the greatest fairness. The praise of such competent judges as Burnett and Strype, is enough to establish his character for accuracy and impartiality; and that has been most abundantly bestowed. "Mr Fox," says Strype, "must not go without the commendation of a most painful searcher into records, archives, and repositories of original acts and letters of state, and a great collector of MSS. And the world is infinitely beholden to him for abundance of extracts thence, communicated to us in his volumes. And as he hath been found most diligent, so most strictly true and faithful in his transcriptions."

Cardinal Allen.

BORN A. D. 1532.—died A. D. 1594.

WILLIAM ALLEN, cardinal priest of the Roman church, was born at Rossal in Lancashire, in the year 1532. His father, John Allen, was a gentleman of good family and some fortune, by whom his education was carried on till he reached his fifteenth year, when he sent him to Oxford, where, in 1547, he was entered of Oriel college, and had Morgan Philip, or Philip Morgan, for his tutor. Under him he studied with great success, especially addicting himself to logic and philosophy, in which he became so great a proficient, that he was unanimously chosen fellow of his college, and took the degree of bachelor of arts in 1550, being esteemed an honour to the university on account of his great parts, learning, and eloquence. In 1556, he became principal of St Mary's hall, and in that and the following year, one of the proctors of the university, being then only twenty-four years of age. In 1558, he was made one of the canons of York, but, on Queen Elizabeth's accession, he, as a zealous catholic, lost all hopes of preferment, and, therefore, in 1560, withdrew to Louvain in the Spanish Netherlands, where an English college was erected, of which he became the principal support. At this time, several persons of great learning, and some of the boldest champions of the popish cause, resided in this place, with whom he quickly grew into great esteem, by the strength of his genius and the politeness of his manners. The gracefulness of his person, it is said, contributed much to obtain the attention of his associates, for with a majestic presence, he had an easy, affable deportment, and with the greatest severity of manners, a mildness of speech and behaviour which won the affection of all who conversed with him. Here he began to write in support of the catholic cause, and his first piece was against a work written by the learned Bishop Jewel, on the subject of Purgatory, and Prayers for the Dead.' The chiefs of the party abroad conceived the greatest hopes of this new disputant; and as a mark of their confidence, put under his care a young man of an honourable family, who was come to study at Louvain.

The care he took of this young pupil, and his application to his other studies, so far undermined his health, that his physicians were of opinion that nothing could restore him but his native air. On this account, he ventured into England in 1565, and went at first, as advised by his doctors, into Lancashire, where he was born. There, without any regard to his personal safety, he laboured, to the utmost of his power, in making converts, and in dissuading such as were already catholics from going to heretical conventicles, that is, to the established churches. He wrote and distributed several little pieces, which were afterwards printed, and by so doing, rendered himself obnoxious to the government. Strict search was made after him by the magistrates, and he was obliged to conceal himself sometime in the neighbourhood of the city of Oxford. In this retreat, he wrote an apology for his party, under the title of Brief Reasons concerning the Catholic Faith.' Some this was written at the house of the duke of Norfolk, where, in Norfolk,

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it is certain, our author was some time concealed, though he returned afterwards to the neighbourhood of Oxford again, where he distributed his work, to fix the minds of such as wavered between the two religions, and to draw over such as already doubted their safety while remaining in the established church. Such success attended his endeavours, that he chose to remain in this dangerous situation, promoting, by every means in his power, the doctrine of popery, and the spiritual jurisdiction of his holiness, and such as derived their authority from him. He even ventured to open a correspondence with some of his old friends in the university, and amongst the rest, with one who had formerly been a catholic, but had since conformed to the established church, and whose friends entertained great hopes of his preferment. This person he drew back to his former opinions, which so exasperated his relations, that they persecuted Allen with so much diligence, that he was forced to fly towards London, and with much difficulty made his escape to Flanders in 1568, after remaining in England three years. In all probability he had some powerful friends here, amongst whom may be reckoned Sir Christopher Hatton, afterwards chancellor, who received part of his education at St Mary's hall, Oxford, while Allen was principal. On this account, Sir Christopher had a great tenderness for Allen's person. After his return to the continent, he went to Mechlin, in the duchy of Brabant, where he read a divinity lecture in a certain monastery there, with great applause. Thence he went to Douay, where he become doctor of divinity, and laboured very assiduously in establishing a seminary for English scholars. While thus employed, he became canon of Cambray,- -a very considerable and honourable preferment, conferred on him purely to reward his zeal in the service of the catholic church. In this seminary of Douay, many books were composed to justify the popish religion, and to answer works written in defence of the church of England, which occasioned Queen Elizabeth to issue a proclamation, forbidding such books to be sold or read. In 1569, our author appointed one Bristow, moderator of studies at Douay. It is probable that this was the person he drew over to his opinions when in England. Not long after, Dr Allen was appointed canon of Rheims, through the interest of the Guises, and to that city he removed the seminary which had been settled at Douay. The reason of this was, that the then governor of the Netherlands, Don Lewis de Requesens, had obliged the English fugitives to withdraw out of his government. Henceforward, Dr Allen was considered the chief or the party, and in England was justly reputed a capital enemy to the state; all correspondence with him was looked upon as the highest kind of treason, and Thomas Alfield, a Jesuit, was actually executed for bringing some of his books into England. The celebrated Robert Parsons, the Jesuit, was Dr Allen's great friend and counsellor, and probably put him on that great project, which, had it succeeded, would have overwhelmed the English, and which, as it miscarried, greatly weakened the Spanish monarchy. Dr Allen and the fugitive noblemen from England, persuaded King Philip to undertake the conquest of their native country. To facilitate this project, the pope, Sextus V., was prevailed on to renew the excommunication thundered against Queen Elizabeth by his predecessor, Pius V.

Dr Allen wrote in defence of this base proceeding, and to give

greater weight to his writings, was created cardinal, by the title of St Martin in Montibus, and soon after, the king of Spain gave him an abbey of great value in the kingdom of Naples, with strong assurances of greater preferment. In 1588, he composed that work, which rendered him most famous abroad, and infamous at home. It consisted of two parts; the first explaining the pope's bull, for the excommunication and deprivation of Queen Elizabeth,-the second exhorting the nobility and people of England to desert her, and take up arms in favour of the Spaniards. Many thousand copies were printed at Antwerp, in order to have been put on board the Armada, that they might be dispersed by the papists all over England, upon the first landing of the Spaniards. On the failure of this expedition, these books were so carefully destroyed, that very few remained. A copy of this work, as soon as it was printed, was transmitted by some of the lord-treasurer's spies to the English council, and the queen in consequence sent Dr Dale into the Low Countries to complain of such proceedings to the prince of Parma, who disclaimed all knowledge of such books. In the same year the king of Spain promoted our author to the archbishopric of Mechlin in Flanders, where he would have had him constantly resident; but the pope having a high opinion of the cardinal's merit, and finding him of great use in consistories, would not suffer him to leave Rome. The remainder of his life he spent at Rome in great honour and reputation, living in much splendour, and using all his influence for the comfort and maintenance of such catholics as fled from England. In the last year of his life he is said to have changed his sentiments as to government, and to have been heartily sorry for the pains he had taken to promote the invasion of England by the Spaniards. He is generally said to have died of a retention of urine, but it was strongly suspected that he was poisoned by the Jesuits. His death took place on the 6th of October, 1594, in the sixty-third year of his age. He was buried with great pomp in the chapel of the English college at Rome, where a monument was erected to his memory. In drawing the character of such a man, his admirers of the catholic profession are unbounded in their applauses of his zeal, his courage, his learning, his sacrifices, his consistency; on the other hand, with those who regard him as a vindictive and rebellious subject, and as a bigoted and cruel papist, who was deeply engaged in planning the invincible Armada, by which the rightful sovereign was to be dethroned, and the people of England subjected to the papal yoke, and by every instrument of torture, to be forced into an allegiance to King Philip or his holiness, no terms seem too strong to express their abhorrence of his treason, and their detestation of his bigotry. How far he was influenced by his conscience, however deluded that conscience might have been, the day which shall reveal all secrets will determine. His zeal and activity in what as protestants we are bound to consider a bad cause, may however chide the lukewarmness and indolence of too many who despise the cardinal's religion, but appear to have far less estimation for their own, than he manifested for his.

Bishop Aylmer.

BORN A. D. 1521.—died a. D. 1594.

JOHN AYLMER, or, as he wrote it, Elmer, was descended from a very ancient family, seated at Aylmer Hall, in the county of Norfolk. He was born some time in the year 1521, and, by his great aptitude for learning, recommended himself early to Henry Grey, marquess of Dorset, afterwards duke of Suffolk, who called him his scholar, and gave him an exhibition at the university of Cambridge. After he had there attained a competent provision of university learning, the marquess took him into his own house, where he became tutor to his children. Lady Jane, who, for a few days, was styled queen, was one of his pupils. From her tutor she received right principles of religion. Mr Aylmer went early into the opinions of the reformers, and having the duke of Suffolk and the earl of Huntingdon for his patrons, he was, for some time, the only preacher in Leicestershire, in the reign of Edward VI. There he effectually fixed the protestant religion. His first preferment was the archdeaconry of Stow, in the diocese of Lincoln. This gave him a seat in the convocation held in the first year of Queen Mary, when he boldly opposed that return to popery to which the body of the clergy seemed inclined. He was one of the six who offered to dispute all the controverted points in religion against the most famous champions of the papists. When the supreme power began to use force instead of argument, the archdeacon made his escape beyond the sea. At first he resided at Strasburg, and afterwards at Zurich in Switzerland. His escape was almost miraculous, as the ship in which he was embarked was searched by the officers of the queen. During his exile, he diligently pursued his studies, and employed all his time in acquiring or communicating knowledge. About this time he wrote an answer to Knox's book against the government of women. After the accession of Elizabeth, he returned home, and was one of the eight divines appointed to dispute with as many popish bishops at Westminster. A. D. 1562, he obtained the archdeaconry of Lincoln, by the favour of Mr Secretary Cecil. This dignity gave him the right to sit in the famous synod held the same year, wherein the doctrine and discipline of the church, and its reformation from the abuses of popery, were carefully examined and settled. He was also appointed a justice of the peace, and an ecclesiastical commissioner. He obtained the degrees of bachelor and doctor in divinity in the university of Oxford, in October, 1573. In 1576, on the promotion of Dr Sandys to the archbishopric of York, Dr Aylmer was made bishop of London. His accession to this dignity was greatly furthered by his predecessor, who was his intimate friend, and had been his companion in exile. The conduct of Bishop Aylmer to this archbishop, after his promotion, was not very creditable to himself, for, although his Grace assisted at his consecration on the 24th March, 1576, immediately after his promotion, Bishop Aylmer sued him for dilapidations, which, after some years' prosecu⚫ tion, he recovered. On the 15th of December, our bishop began his first visitation, and the high church writers are very liberal in their

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