repeal of the bill of attainder against Cardinal Pole.* Two days after, the cardinal arrived in London; and on the 27th of November a message was sent to both houses, to come to Whitehall and hear the legate's message to the rebellious, but now repenting kingdom. He made the members a long speech, setting forth his legatine authority from the pope, and inviting them to return and be reconciled to his holiness, the sovereign pontiff. Two days after, the parliament, in a humble petition to the king and queen, to intercede with the pope for the reconciliation of the kingdom to the see of Rome, confessed their sin for what had been done against his holiness, and humbly begged on their knees, forgiveness, and the restoration of his favor. The legate was only too happy to receive this confession, and to grant this prayer; and so England, after twenty years of alienation from mother church, was absolved and restored to her loving arms forthwith, to the unutterable joy of the pope and his conclave at Rome.

This great work accomplished, the ministry now

So the Parliamentary History says: "The first bill that appeared in the lords was to repeal the act of attainder against Cardinal Pole." It was introduced on the 17th of November, passed both houses on the 21st, and had the royal assent on the 22d, the king and queen being both present on this occasion. - Vol. III. p. 313, or vol. 1. p. 617, of Hansard's edition. The printed Statutes of the Realm do not contain this act; though it is in the list of acts of that parliament, and numbered 18. The printed collection contains only 17. See Public Records, Statutes of the Realm, pt. 1. vol. IV. p. 237, comp. p. 264.

drove on the work arranged for this parliament. First came the repeal of "all statutes, articles, and provisions, made against the see apostolique of Rome, since the twentieth year of King Henry VIII." The title of "Supreme Head of the Church" was erased from the royal titles; it was declared that bulls from Rome might be executed, and the statutes of mortmain were repealed; in short, that the whole fabric of law by which the Reformation had been established and sustained in England should be at once and forever overthrown. There was only one topic on which the voice of parliament was not in accordance with the queen's and the pope's wishes, and that was the church. lands which had been alienated to the laity. It was found necessary to make a proviso in the statute of general repeal, "for the establishment of all spiritual and ecclesiastical possessions and hereditaments conveyed to the laity." Without this, it was thought the pope's supremacy could not have been restored.*

By another bill, the persecuting statutes of Richard II., Henry IV., and Henry V., against the Lollards, were restored to their full force again.† A bill was passed making it treason, punishable with death, to pray "that God would turn the queen's

Statutes, 1 and 2 Philip and Mary, ch. 8. This act is very minute in its provisions, containing twenty-six sections, and filling eight and a half folio pages. Parl. Hist., pp. 324-28; Burnet, vol. 11. pt. II. bk. 11. pp. 589-98.

† Statutes, ut sup. ch. 6.

heart from idolatry to the true faith, or else shorten her days and take her quietly out of the way." And still another instrument of persecution was framed, in an act entitled, "An Act for the punishment of seditious words and rumors." Justices of the peace were authorized to take cognizance of all such seditious words, and to punish the offenders by the pillory, a heavy fine, by cutting off the ears, and by imprisonment; and if the offence was committed by books, rhyme, ballad, or letter, the offender was to have his right hand cut off.*

The appointed work of this third parliament of Mary's reign being now finished, on the 15th of January, 1554-5, a grand procession was made through the city by the members of both houses, accompanied by the lord mayor of London, with the aldermen, and the several companies in livery. This procession was made as imposing as possible. "Ninety crosses, one hundred and sixteen priests and clerks, each attired in his cope, and after them eight bishops in their pontificalibus, followed by Bonner, bishop of London, carrying the pyx under a canopy," were among its adornments. The procession was a thank-offering for the conversion of the kingdom to popery; and was terminated by mass in St. Paul's. The next day parliament was dissolved.†

† Parl. Hist., 111. 332, 333; Burnet, vol. 11. pt. 11. bk. 11. p. 602; Fox, 111. 96.

CHAPTER IX.

MARTYRDOM OF THE PROTESTANTS. MARY'S DEATH

AND CHARACTER.

For nearly eighteen months the queen and her councillors and obedient parliaments had been carefully preparing the tragedy which is now to be put upon the stage. During nearly all these months, numbers of learned and excellent men, including the highest dignitaries of the church, the most devoted bishops and faithful clergy, had been pining in the common prisons, among felons and murderers, not only deprived of their livings, but stripped even of their little personal property, and made dependent in a great measure on the charity of friends, who ministered to them at the hazard of their own liberty and lives. And all this time the martyrs were refused a judicial trial; their prayers for a hearing were disregarded, and they were treated like the worst of malefactors; and all because they had embraced and preached the doctrines which the Scriptures had taught them, and practised the rites and ceremonies which the laws of the land had established.

But their time of deliverance was at hand. Immediately after the adjournment of parliament, the

work of death began. On the 22d of January, 1554-5, the council began by calling before them John Rogers, a prebend of St. Paul's, and esteemed one of the most learned of the Reformers. Why he was selected first does not clearly appear. It is not improbable that the fact that he had a wife and ten children dependent on him may have been the principal reason. To have had this in mind would have been like Gardiner, the craftiest of men. His theory was, that the Reformers would not burn for their religion; and that the true policy of the government was to adopt, not the mild course advocated by Pole, but a sharp and vigorous prosecution. This he fancied would bring the leaders at once to terms; and then the commonalty, he argued, would readily follow them back to the church of Rome. Rogers was a leading spirit in London; and though a man of known firmness and decision, Gardiner may have shrewdly anticipated that a wife and ten helpless children would be just so many irresistible arguments against his laying down his life in defence of his faith. But in this, as in many other things, the cunning chancellor found himself mistaken. He urged Rogers to acknowledge the pope's supremacy, and threatened him if he refused. But his arguments and his threats were alike insufficient, and the good man was remanded to prison. Ten other protestants were then brought before the council, and all but one refused to acknowledge the pope's supremacy; and that one, by the favor of a friend at court,