II. BOOK and care of honesty, and in a neglect of that honour and obedience that was due to her. So that now the clouds gaAnno 1563. thered thick over the nation. Which Sir John Mason, an old and wise counsellor, Treasurer of the Queen's Chamber, well perceiving, exhorted much to the striking up a peace with France, upon this necessity; that so the Queen might the better look after her concerns within the realm. In March, being retired for his health into the country to Gonelsbury, he signified these his apprehensions, and suggested this counsel to the Secretary. The Secretary had in a former letter spoke of the present infirmities of the kingdom. The said Sir John in his answer told the Secretary, "That the cure of his own sickness was much lessened by "his great care of the many sicknesses that he saw in the commonwealth; which was to him more dear than was "either health or life. He wished to God they were but infirmities, as the Secretary had termed them, ac non "potius xaxonbeç, seu quod genus morbi iis sit magis immo"rigerum, et ad sanandum rebellius. And, (that worse "was,) cum universæ partes corporis nobis doleant, a ver"tice capitis usque ad plantam pedis. Dolorem tamen (for Sir John Mason's sense thereof. MSS. penes me. 66 66 any care was seen to be had thereof) sentire non vide"mur: quod mentis ægrotantis est indicium. A great argu"ment whereof was, that in tot reip. difficultatibus, editur, “bibitur, luditur, altum dormitur, privata curantur, pub"lica negliguntur, ceu riderent omnia, et pax rebus esset "altissima. The fear of God, whereby all things were "wont to be kept in indifferent order, was in effect gone, "and God seemed to weigh them, and to conduct their do"ings thereafter. The fear of the Prince went apace after, "whereof they saw daily proof both by sea and by land. It "was high time therefore for her Highness to take some good 66 way with her enemy, and to grow with him to some rea"sonable end, yielding to necessity; cui ne dii quidem resist"unt, et non ponere rumores ante salutem: and to answer "their friends in reason. So as rebus foris constitutis, she “might wholly attend to set things in better order at home. "The looseness whereof was so great, as being not remedied "in time, the tempest, he said, was not a little to be feared, CHAP. cum tot coactæ nubes nobis minantur. Which God of his 66 XVII. mercy by the prayer of decem justi a nobis longissimè Anno 1563. "avertat." 66 London. London also, the metropolis of the kingdom, was in ill The state of case, by reason of the late plague, poverty, and other judgments: "There being, as the said Sir John Mason wrote, "in the said city and about it, numbers of men in much "necessity; some for lack of work, and some for lack of "will to work. So that if they, with others that possessed "the highest ways round about, were not by some good " means kept in awe, he feared there would be ill dwelling "near unto London." And therefore, whereas the Queen was intending to take a progress northward that summer, he advised to the contrary; and "he thought no good man "would counsel her thereunto. That the Prince's face, "turned towards these loose citizens, must needs be a great "bridle to them. Whereunto he trusted her Highness "would have good respect. Besides the great discomfort "that needs must be to many of her good subjects there, to "see her Majesty to turn her countenance from them.” of the Bi ferred to Our Archbishop had an occasion offered him now in A business March, whereby to shew his wisdom and his care, both of shop of St. the Church, and of the credit of those that were preferred Asaph reto the government of it. The Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. the ArchThomas Davies, consecrated in the year 1561, enjoyed some bishop. benefices, together with the bishopric, without any legal warrant, or royal indulgence, as it seems, so to do.. Whereupon, it being discovered, endeavours were made by certain persons to get themselves presented, and invested into those livings. This put the Archbishop upon suing to the Queen and her Council, that he might not be deprived of his small benefices, considering the smallness and incompetency of his bishopric. This being the cause of a Bishop within our Archbishop's province, and the Council valuing his judg ment in matters of this nature, referred the thing unto him, to consider how meet and convenient it were to yield to his suit, and by what means his benefices might be legally March 18. BOOK continued to him. Concerning this he wrote his judgment II. unto the Secretary to this purpose: "That to the mainteAnno 1563.❝nance of his hospitality it were needful for him to obtain 148 66 so much favour, for the commendam of his benefices, at "the Queen's Majesty's hands, as to have her warrant to "the faculties. Which grace, he said, was such as was "commonly heretofore granted, when livings were better, "and victuals cheaper. And though these commendams “seemed, as he said, to be a kind of appropriation, yet that "inconvenience might be thought less, than that the order "of godly Ministers in that function should be brought "to contempt for lack of reasonable necessaries. Which "though before God it made no great matter, nor needed "honest Ministers to be abashed within themselves, to expend no more than they may; yet the world looked for "port agreeable. And wise grave men thought, there was "done already enough toward that state for bringing super"fluity to moderation." His judgment of commen dams and pluralities. Takes care about the daff. 66 It was his judgment, that the port of a Bishop ought to be preserved, for his better countenance in the world; which is apt to despise the function when those that are of it are poor and live nearly. And though he did not like of commendams nor pluralities; yet in small bishoprics and preferments he thought them a less inconvenience, than that hospitality and the credit and esteem of the Clergy should be lost. Whereby religion itself might be subject to the contempt of the people and lest any might object, that the Clergy were to be kept poor upon political accounts, he thought the Church had been sufficiently stripped, to prevent any evil that might arise to the commonwealth at any time from their pride or faction. And as it was a piece of his paternal care that the Church see of Lan- should be full, and that the revenues thereof might not be more diminished, so the bishopric of Landaff, being now to be provided for, and the house called Mathern, belonging thereunto, being alienated, whether by Dunstan, the late Bishop, a monstrous dilapidator of that see, or by some other means; our Archbishop earnestly reminded the Secretary XVII. Mathern. to procure some to be preferred to it, and to get the house CHAP. restored back to the bishopric; that so it might be a means to oblige to residence such as should be admitted Bishops Anno 1563. there. And signifying how highly convenient it were that Bishops should reside in their dioceses, he used these words; "That how little soever they did severally in their dioceses, "it was a good stay in divers respects to the insolent affec❝tion of the people." Meaning that they would be awed by the presence of a spiritual father among them. This letter makes it evident, that Godwin's Catalogue is misprinted, where this Bishop is made to decease anno 1566, which should be 1563. CHAP. XVIII. Coverdale made Minister of the parish of St. Magnus, collated to AND these are the matters that passed through the hands Coverdale of our Archbishop while he was in his diocese in Kent. St. Magnus, Now let us take notice of some other things. Miles Cover- London. dale, that assisted at the consecration of our Archbishop, sometime Bishop of Exon, being now old and poor, the Bishop of London committed to his charge the church and parish of St. Magnus, at the bridge foot, London. But the height of the first-fruits being 607. 16s. 10d. ob. beyond his ability to satisfy, made him in the month of January write to the Archbishop, (as he did also to others of the Court,) that the setting his age and his poverty before the Queen, would 149 prevail with her to forgive him that debt. The contents of this letter to the Archbishop, which will set forth his present condition, were, "That it would please him to join with the His letter "Bishop of London in suit for him to the Queen, that in to the Archbishop for II. 66 BOOK "favourable consideration, how destitute he had been of a competent living in the realm ever sith his bishopric was Anno 1563. " violently taken away from him; I being," said he, "com his first fruits; C. C. Vol. Epist. 66 pelled to resign, and how I never had pension, annuity, MSS. C. C." or stipend of it these ten years and upwards; how unable "also I am to pay the first-fruits, or long to enjoy the said "benefice, going upon my grave, as they say, and not like "to live a year; her Majesty, at the contemplation of such "reverend, honourable, and worthy suitors, will most gra"ciously grant me her warrant and discharge for the first"fruits of the said benefice. And as I am bold most humbly "to crave your Grace's help herein, so am I fully persuaded, "God willing, to shew myself again as thankful, and in my vocation, during my short time, as fruitful and as quiet as I can. 29 Jan. new year. And to the MSS. Cecilian. His first fruits forgiven. 66 66 66 66 Myl. Cov. quond. Exon." He wrote also in the beginning of February to Cecil, the Secretary, to the same import, to be a means for him to the Queen, to grant him the first-fruits of the said St. Magnus, " which the Bishop of London had gently granted him the pastoral office and benefice of. That heretofore (he praised "God for it) his Honour had ever been his special help and succour in all his rightful suits. And that if now (that poor old Miles might be provided for) it would please "him to obtain this for him; he should think this enough "to be as good as a feast. And so beseeching him to take "this his boldness in good part, he committed him and all "his to the gracious protection of the Almighty. From "London, 6 Feb. Subscribing, 66 Coverdale wrote a month or six weeks after to the Archbishop again, signifying, that the Lord Robert Duddely sent him a message, that the Queen had granted him his firstfruits. He lived little more than two years after, and died aged eighty-one, living, as he promised the Archbishop, quiet, though not coming up to the uniformity required, which |