thority to dissolve the marriage between Henry and his queen Catharine. As a reward for his services he was successively appointed secretary of state soon after his arrival in England in 1529, archdeacon of Leicester in 1531, and advanced to the see of Winchester in the November following: and, by virtue of this last appointment had a seat in the court, when Cranmer, in 1533, pronounced queen Catherine's marriage null and void.* Thus exalted to a high station both in church and state, he continued for a while to enjoy the royal confidence and favor, and was several times sent ambassador to foreign courts: but, falling under a strong suspicion of being concerned in a conspiracy against the life of Cranmer, and failing likewise in the prosecution of the queen (Catherine Parr) for heresy, which was undertaken at the king's express command, that bright prospect he seemed to have before him was on a sudden overshadowed with the cloud of his sovereign's displeasure, who ever afterwards treated him with great coldness and reserve, and seldom permitted him to appear in his presence. Gardiner's name was now struck off the list of those whom the king had appointed his executors and counsellors to prince Edward; and though Sir Anthony Brown requested his majesty to permit his name to be again inserted in that list, the king replied, that " if he (Gardiner) was one, he would trouble them all, and they would never be able to rule him.". Soon after the accession of Edward VI. the reformation, which was the grand object of his reign, was prosecuted with great diligence and care; and a plan to effect this purpose was designed by Cranmer, which Gardiner strenuously opposed, on the ground of its being calculated to operate too hastily, and therefore the event might not probably answer their sanguine expectations; he likewise conceived it to be a dangerous measure to be undertaken during a minority, when the nation should be kept as quiet as possible; whereas such a work must hazard its peace and tranquillity, and probably throw it into tumult and disorder. For these reasons which he publickly avowed, or perhaps from his secret jealousy of Cranmer's power, *Vid. Biog. Dict. printed 1784. ( 100 ) he withheld his assent from every measure that was taken to effect that great design; he also refused to receive the homilies, and called in question the legality of the royal visitation, which he censured as an infringement on the episcopal authority and power, and declared, that within his diocese he would not acknowledge the authority of any visitor whatsoever.-Continuing firm in these resolutions, and remaining obstinate in his disobedience, he was in consequence sent a prisoner to the Fleet in 1547, and removed from thence to the Tower the following year, where he continued with little intermission during the remaining part of this reign; and in 1551 was deprived of his bishoprick and the mastership of his college. But on the death of Edward, fortune, which had for some time neglected him, began to smile upon him again: he was, by the command of Mary who next succeeded to the throne, released from his confinement in 1553, declared chancellor August 23d the same year, crowned Mary queen October 1st following, and on the 5th opened the first Parliament. By these hasty steps he rose to the prime ministry, was reinstated in his bishoprick and the mastership of his college, and was possessed at that time of more power both civil and ecclesiastical, than any English subject except Wolsey had ever enjoyed. The active part he took in this reign is well known; and in nothing did his profound policy appear more conspicuous, than in his accomplishing the treaty of marriage between Philip and Mary, which was an effectual bar to the ambitious views of the former. He continued to hold those high offices with which he was invested at the commencement of this reign to the time of his death, which happened Nov. 12th, 1555, in 72d year of h s age; and his funeral obsequies were conducted with all that solemn pomp, with which persons in his situation were usually interred at that time. He was buried in his cathedral church, where a monument was erected to his memory, which suffered greatly during the time of the rebellion.* If he was not the promoter, he was certainly the abettor of many cruel and sanguinary acts, which must ever be considered as the reproach and * Vid. Gale's Hist. of Winton, p. 31. blemish of Mary's reign: whether he was actuated by motives of policy, a love of persecution, or an abject servile spirit, we cannot determine; very probably from a mixture of them all.—As to his religious opinions, it may be a question not easily to be resolved, whether he was more inclined to Protestantism, or Popery : but this is very evident from the general tenor of his conduct, that he considered religion only of secondary importance, and as a mean of promoting political expedience. As a statesman, he had among other qualifications, a sound judgment, an insinuating address, and a thorough knowledge of mankind; as a scholar, he had brightness of talents, which were improved and matured by exercise and study, and the publications which he wrote entitle him to a respectable place among the learned of his day :* as a man, his virtues were, liberality and munificence; his vices, pride, dissimulation, and a boundless lust of power. The portrait which we now present to the public is unquestionably that of Stephen Gardiner, its authenticity being confirmed by the exact similitude of the original with the picture of that prelate at Trinity Hall in Cambridge, of which college he had been master ;+ and proves beyond a doubt that the head inscribed Stephen Gardiner in Burnet's History of the Reformation was that of some other prelate, and from the arms in that print (the see of Winchester impaling three bugle horns) was certainly Bishop Horne, who wore a long beard to hide the deformity of his person, whence it is somewhat unfortunate that Mr. Granger should have selected that erroneous print as an illustration of the episcopal dress of the time of queen Mary, whereas Horne was not made a bishop till the subsequent reign. Gardiner had a house in Southwark, in right of his bishoprick, called Winchester House, which "was (as described by Stow, b. 4th. edit. Strype) a very fair house well repaired, and had a large wharf, and a landing place, called the Bishop of Winchester's Stairs."-He had also the manor and lordship of Southwark; which came to Edw. VI, on his deprivation. * Vid. Tanner's Bib. Brit. Hib. under the title " Gardiner." Bing. Hist. Svo. 1. 173. + ex inform. Edm. Turpor, Esq. |