he reproved the impudence of his fellow; by that he detested his former life, and obtained the pardon of his sins, and as it were by a kind of key opened the gates of paradise. By the example of this man I do conceive no small hopes of Christ's mercy; that he will pardon my sins. I want hands and feet, by which I might build up again that which I have destroyed; for the lips of my mouth are only left me. But he will receive the calves of our lips, who is merciful beyond all belief. By this hope conceived, therefore I choose to offer this calf, to sacrifice this very small part of my body and life.

"I confess, in the first place, my unthankfulness against the great God. I acknowledge myself unworthy of all favour and pity, but most worthy not only of human and temporal, but divine and eternal punishment; that I exceedingly offended against king Henry VIII. and especially against queen Catharine his wife, when I was the cause and author of the divorce. Which fault indeed was the seminary of all the evils and calamities of this realm. Hence so many slaughters of good men ; hence the schism of the whole kingdom; hence heresies; hence the destruction of so many souls and bodies sprang, that I can scarce comprehend with reason. But when these are so great beginnings of grief, I acknowledge I opened a great window to all heresies, whereof myself acted the chief doctor and leader; but first of all,

which most vehemently torments my mind, that I affected the holy sacrament of the Eucharist with so many blasphemies and reproaches, denying Christ's body and blood to be truly and really contained under the species of bread and wine. By setting forth also books, I did impugn the truth with all my might. In this respect indeed not only worse than Saul and the thief, but the most wicked of all which the earth ever bore. Lord, I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee. Against heaven, as I am the cause it hath been deprived of so many saints, denying most impudently that heavenly benefit exhibited to us. And I have sinned against the earth, which so long hath miserably wanted this sacrament. Against men, whom I have called from this supersubstantial morsel; the slayer of so many men as have perished for want of food. I have defrauded the souls of the dead of this daily and most celebrious sacrifice.

"And from all these things it is manifest, how greatly after Christ I have been injurious to his vicar, whom I have deprived of his power by books set forth. Wherefore I do most earnestly and ardently beseech the pope, that he, for the mercy of Christ, forgive me the things I have committed against him and the apostolical see. And I humbly beseech the most serene sovereigns of England, Spain, &c. Philip and Mary, that by their royal mercy they would pardon me. I ask

and beseech the whole realm, yea, the Universal Church, that they take pity of this wretched being, to whom, besides a tongue, nothing is left, whereby to make amends for the injuries and damages I have brought in. But especially, because against Thee only I have sinned, I beseech Thee, most merciful Father, who desirest and commandest all to come to Thee, however wicked, vouchsafe to look upon me nearly, and under Thy hand, as Thou lookedst upon Magdalen and Peter; or certainly as Thou, looking upon the thief on the cross, didst vouchsafe by the promise of Thy grace and glory to comfort a fearful and trembling mind; so, by Thy wonted and natural pity, turn the eyes of Thy mercy to me, and vouchsafe me worthy to have that Word of Thine spoken to me, I am thy salvation; and in the day of death, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

"Per me TнOMAM CRANMER."

"Written this year of

our Lord, 1555-6, the 18th day of March."

For what purpose, it may be asked, were this and the preceding instrument formed in a language known only to the learned? Were they to be detailed only so far, in our own, to the common people, as not to lead them to a belief that other words than Cranmer's were recited? But whatever was the intention, and admitting the contents

of both the instruments, though paltering in a double tongue, to be universally known, numbers still disbelieved that Cranmer was entirely lost, that yet he would not redeem himself. When he ascended the platform at St. Mary's on the morning of his martyrdom, numbers wept, says the Roman Catholic who witnessed the scene, having indeed "conceived an assured hope of his conversion and repentance," which, ere a few minutes had elapsed, was disappointed. But again, when the fallen prelate began to pray, this honest spectator divides the listening audience into "those that hated him before, [the Romanists] who now loved him for his [fancied] conversion and hope of continuance," and "those that loved him before, [the Protestants] who could not suddenly hate him, having hope of his confession again of his fall." Why, also, was the fifth recantation, published by prelates and divines immediately after it was made, suppressed by an order of the Privy Council? Was it because a suspicion was believed to exist, that Cranmer's assent to it was incapable of proof? No, says the apologist for this questionable proceeding: "Perhaps it was incorrectly printed; perhaps they waited for that which he said God would inspire him to make." What the Privy

1

Strype. The whole evidence of this spectator will presently be given.

Council are thus conjectured as expecting from the archbishop, is nothing more than what is flippantly' pretended as his expression by the French ambassador; not a shadow of authority for which is any where to be found. That it was incorrectly printed, is probable enough. But Pole and Bonner intended not merely to correct it, but to reprint it with the four preceding papers, and with the production of a sixth. Indeed this is the only recantation, to which historians formerly drew the attention of their readers. Hence Collier, after Foxe, relates, that on the day of Cranmer's execution, the Spanish friar, "who was a witness to his recantation, proposed the reading his recanta

1

2

"Il (Cranmer) envoya prier M. le cardinal Polus de differer pour quelques jours son exécution, espérant que Dieu l'inspireroit cependant." Noailles. Lingard, ut supr.

1 Foxe calls it " a paper with articles, which Cranmer should openly profess in his recantation before the people, earnestly desiring him that he would write the said instrument with his own hand, and sign it with his name; which when he had done, the said friar desired that he would write another copy thereof, which should remain with him, and that he did also." Hence the interpretation of Burnet: "He was (now) dealt with to renew his subscription, and to write the whole over again." But the most curious, and I believe hitherto unnoticed, mention in regard to this fifth recantation, and what was selected from it for Cranmer to avow before the people at his execution, occurs in the continuation of The Chronicles of Fabian, Lond. 1559. vol. 2. p. 564. "In this year (1556) in Lent, Thomas Cranmer, archbishoppe of Canterbury, after that he had recanted his supposed recantation, was brent at Oxford."