Marginalia1555. August.which he made no aunswer, but went forward to the end, and immediately cryed away wyth me. Then I turned mee to the Maior and sayd: Is it not enough for you my Lord Maior, and ye that are the Sheriffes, that ye haue left the strayght way of the Lord, but that must condemne Christ causeles?

MarginaliaWhere finde the catholickes in the scripture to put any to death for theyr conscience sake.Boner. Well Master Countroller, now ye cannot say, but I haue offered you fayre, to haue instruction. And now I pray thee call me bloudy Bishop, and say I seeke thy bloud.

Smith. Well my Lord, although neither I, nor any of this congregation do report the truth of your fact, yet shalll these stones cry it out, rather then it shall be hydden.

Boner. Away wyth hym, away wyth hym.

Woodrofe. Away wyth hym, take hym away.

Smith. Well good frendes, ye haue seene and heard the great wrong that we haue receiued this day, MarginaliaRobert Smith wrongfully condemned by the Byshop.and ye are all recordes that we haue desired the probation of our cause by Gods booke, & it hath not bene graunted: but we are condemned, and our cause not heard. Neuertheles my Lorde Maior, MarginaliaThe wordes of Robert Smyth agayne to the Lord Mayor.for as much as here ye haue exercised Gods sword causeles, and wil not heare the right of the poore, I commit my cause to almighty God, that shall iudge all men according vnto ryght, before whom we shal both stād without authority: and there wyll I stand in the right, and haue the true iudgemēt to your great cōfusion, except ye repent, which the lord graunt you to do, if it be his will. And then was I with the rest of my brethren caryed away to Newgate.

Thus gentle Reader,  

Commentary     Close

This final paragraph of Smith's confession is not in the Rerum; it was firstprinted in the 1563 edition.

God that it may not be layd to þ^e charge of thee O England, requyring your harty prayers vnto God for hys grace and spirite of boldnes: which hope euen shortly to set to my seale at Vxbridge, the eyght of August, by Gods grace: pray that it may be to his honour, my saluation, and your consolation, I pray you.

Da gloriam Deo.
Robert Smith.

Thus hast thou (good Reader) not onely to note, but also to followe in this man, a singular example of Christian fortitude, which so manfully and valiantly dyd stand in the defence of hys maisters cause. And as thou seest hym here boldly stand in examination before the bishop and Doctours: so was hee no lesse comfortable also in the prison among his fellowes. MarginaliaThe godly behauiour of Rob. Smith and his fellowes in prison.Which also is to be obserued no lesse in his other prisō felowes, who being there together, cast in an outward house within Newgate, had godly conference within them selues, with dayly praying, & publicke reading, which they to their great comfort vsed in that house together: amongest whom this foresaid Smith was a chief doer. Whose industry was alwayes sollicitous, not only for them of hys own company, but also hys diligence was carefull for other prisoners, whom hee ceased not to dehort and disswade from their old accustomed iniquitie: and many he conuerted vnto his religion. Diuers letters he wrote there in þ^e pryson to sundry his frends in metre, which because we would not ouercharge this volume with matter more then is necessarily requisite, we haue referred to the booke of our former edition to be red, pag. 1261. Onely such as he wrote in prose, we haue here expressed, as in the next page shall follow.

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This group of Bonner's prisoners, thanks to the leadership of the fervent Robert Smith, who had proved himself through several fully reported examinations by the bishop, was able to derive comfort from conferring and praying together under his direction. They are shown behind bars in 'an outward house' of Newgate prison, furnished with bench, cups, stools and, more importantly, with the benefit of books. This facilitated 'public reading' led by Smith who is clearly holding this session with direct reference to the text in front of him. Four of the prisoners are identified with names ('R Smith', 'Tankerf.', 'Simpson.' and 'I. Newman') incorrectly cut on the block, which remained in this mirror form through the first four editions, unlike the following linked example of prisoners in the Lollards' Tower (1563, p. 1272; 1583, p. 1703) which was corrected in 1583.

MarginaliaThe Martyrdome and cōfortable death of R. Smith, at Vxbridge. An. 1555 Aug. 8.This foresayd Robert Smith  

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This account of Smith's execution must have come from an eyewitness. Foxe obtained it while the 1563 edition was being printed, and it was placed in an appendix at the end of the volume.

ple there standing about hym, wylling them to thinke well of hys cause, and not to doubt but that his body dying in that quarell, should ryse agayne to lyfe. And sayd he, I doubt not, but that God wyll shew you some token therof. MarginaliaA token of cōfort and resurrection geuen by R. Smith at hys Martyrdome.At length he being wel nigh halfe burnt, & all blacke with fyre, clustered together as in a lumpe lyke a blacke cole, all men thinking him for dead, sodenly rose vp right before þ^e people, lifting vp the stumpes