that, which was offered. What Catholicke in all Louen hauying his house ouer his head on fire, will not be glad to haue if he might, the doore set open to flee the perill? or els why did Alanus Copus, flee hys countrey hauyng so litle nede, if this man, bleadyng almost vnder þ^e butchers axe, mighte not enioye so greate an offer of so luckey deliueraunce?

Thus hetherto I trust, the cause of the Lord Cobhā, standeth firme and stronge agaynst all daunger of iust reprehension. MarginaliaThe Lord Cobham worthy the name of a martyr.Who beyng (as ye haue hard) so faythfull and obedient to God: so submisse to his kyng: so sound in his doctrine: so cōstāt in his cause: so afflicted for þ^e truth: so ready & prepared to death: as we haue sufficiētly declared, not out of vncerteine & doubtfull chronicles, but out of the true originals & instrumēts remayning in aūcient recordes: What lacketh now, or what should let to þ^e cōtrary, but that he declaring him self such a martyr, that is a witnes to the veritie (for the which also at last he suffered the fire) may therfore worthly be exorned with the title of a martyr, MarginaliaThe name of a martyr what it signifieth.whiche is in Greeke as much as a witnesse bearer.

But here nowe steppeth in Dame xxx, with her cosen scolde Alecto, &c. who neither learning to hold her toūg, nor yet to speake well, must nedes find here a knot in a rush, and begynning now to quarell, inferreth thus: MarginaliaCalumnia.But after (sayth he) that the Lord Cobham was escaped out of the tower, his felowes and confederates, conuented them selues together, seditiously agaynst þ^e king & agaynst their countrey: A great crime no doubt maister Cope, if it be true. So if it be not true, the greater blame returneth vnto your selfe, so to enter this action of such slaunder, vnles the ground wherupon ye stand, be sure. First what felowes of þ^e Lord Cobham, were these you meane of? MarginaliaSyr Roger Acron knight. M. Iohn Browne Esquier. Iohn Beuerlay preacher.Syr Roger Acton, ye say, maister Brown, and Ihon Beuerley, with 36. other hāged and burned in the sayd fielde of S. Giles. A meruelous matter, that such a great multitude of xx. thousād specified in story, should rise against the kyng, & yet but iij. persons onely knowen & named. Then to procede farther, I would aske of maister Cope, what was the ende of this conspiracie, to rebell agaynst the kyng, to destroye their countrey, and to subuert the Christian fayth, for so purporteth the story. As like true þ^e one as the other. For euē as it is like, that they beyng Turkes went about to destroy the fayth of Christ, wherin they dyed, and to subuerte their countrey wherin they were bread: euen so like it is, that they went about to destroy the kyng, whom God & their conscience taught to obey.

Yet farther procedeth this fumishe promotor in hys accusation, and sayth moreouer: that these foresayd felowes and adherentes of the Lord Cobham, were in the fielde assembled, and there incamped in a great number agaynst the kyng: and how is this proued? by Robert Fabian. MarginaliaRo. Fabian proued with an vntruth.Whiche appeareth to be as true, as that whiche in the said Robert Fabian foloweth, in the same place where he affirmeth, that Ihon Claydon, & Richard Turmyn, were brent in þ^e same yere, being. 1413. When in dede by þ^e true registers, they were not brent before þ^e yere of our Lord. 1415. MarginaliaAn vntruth in Alanus Copus.But what will maister Cope say, if the originall copie of þ^e inditement of these pretensed cōspirators doo testifie, that they were not there assembled or present in the field as your accusation pretendeth? But they purposed (will you say) and intended to come. The purpose and intent of a mans mynde is hard for you and me to iudge, where as no facte appeareth. But geue their intēt was so to come: Yet might they not come vnto those thickets nere to the field of S. Gyles, hauyng Beuerly their preacher with them (as ye say your selfe) as well to pray and preache in that woody place, as well as to fight? MarginaliaPraying & preaching in backe corners a common thyng in tyme of persecutiō.Is this such a straūge thing in the church of Christ, in time of persecution, for Christians to resorte into desolate woodes, and secrete thickes, from the sight of enemyes, when they would assemble in praying & hearyng þ^e wordof God? MarginaliaIll will taketh all thynges to the worste meaning.In quene Maries time was not the same colour of treasō obiected agaynst George Egile and other mo, for frequentyng and vsyng into backsides and fieldes, & suffered for that, wherof he was innocent & giltles? Did not Adam Damlipe dye in lyke case of treason, for hauyng a French crowne geuen him, at his departure out of Rome, by Cardinall Poole? What can not cankered calumnia inuent, when she is disposed to cauill? Yt was not the Cardinals crowne that made hym a traitor, but it was the hatred of his preaching, that stirred vp the accuser. In Fraūce what assembles haue there been in late yeares of good and innocent Christians, congregatyng together in backfieldes, and couertes in great routes to heare the preachyng of Gods holy woorde, and to praye: yea and not without their weapon also, for their owne safegard, and yet neuer intended nor mynded any rebellion agaynst their king. Wherfore, in cases of religion it may and doth happen many tymes, that such congregatiōs may meete without intent of any treason ment. MarginaliaAn other vntruth in Alanus copus.But how soeuer the intent and purpose was of these foresaid confederates of the Lord Cobham, whether to come, or what to do (seyng this is playne by recordes, as is aforesaid, that they were not yet come vnto the place) how wil maister Cope now iustifie his wordes, so confidently affirmyng, that they were there assembled seditiously together in the field of S. Giles against the king? And marke here I beseche thee (gentle reader) how vnlykely and vntydely the pointes of this tale are tyde and hange together (I will not say without all substaunce of truth, but without all fashion of a cleanly lye) wherein these accusers in this matter seme to me, to lacke some part of Sinons arte, in conueyng their narratiō so vnartificially. MarginaliaAn vnlykely tale.First (say they) the king was come first with his garisō, vnto the field of S. Gyles. And then after the kyng was there incamped, consequently the felowes of the Lord Cobham (the captaine beyng away) came and were assēbled in the sayd fielde where the kyng was, agaynst the kyng: and yet not knowyng of the kyng, to þ^e number of xx. thousand: & yet neuer a stroke in that field geuen. And furthermore of all this xx. thousand aforesayd, neuer a mans name knowen, but only three, to witte, Syr Roger Acton, Syr Ihon Browne, and Ihon Beuerley, a preacher. How this geare is clamperd together let the reader iudge, and beleue as he seeth cause.

But geue all this to be true, although by no demonstration it can bee proued, yet by the popes dispensation (whiche in this earth is almost omnipotent) be it graunted: that after the kyng had take S. Gyles fielde before, the companions of the Lord Cobham afterwarde commyng and assemblyng in the thicketes neare to the sayd field, to fight seditiously agaynst the kyng, agaynst their countrey, and against the fayth of Christ, to the number of xx. thousand, where no stroke beyng geuen, so many were taken, that all the prisons in London were ful, and yet neuer a mans name knowen of all this multitude, but onely iij: MarginaliaThe Lord Cobham no traytour.All this I say, beyng imagined to be true, then foloweth to be demaunded of maister Cope, whether the L. Cobham was here presēt with this company in the field, or not? Not, in person (sayth Cope) MarginaliaAlanus Copus pag. 833. lin. 11.but with his mynde and with his counsaile he was present, & addeth this reason, saying: And therfore he beyng brought agayne, after his escape, was conuicte both of treason & heresie, and therefore susteinyng a double punishement was both hanged and brent for the same, &c. And how is all this proued? By Robert Fabian, he sayth. Whereunto briefly I aunswere, that Robert Fabian in that place maketh no such mention of the Lorde Cobham assistyng or consentyng to them either in mynde or in counsaile. His wordes be these: That certaine adherentes of Syr Ihon Oldcastle assembled in the fielde neare to S. Gyles, in greate noumber: of whom was Syr Roger Acton, Syr Ihon Brown, and Ihon Beuerley. The whiche with 36