xx. thousand do appeare what they were eyther in Chronicle or in recorde, but remaine altogether vnknowen, I leaue it (gentle reader) to thy iudgemēt, to thinke therupon, as thy wisedome shall lead thee.

Marginalia(D)
An other false report of Syr Ioh. Oldcastle that he entēded to kill all maner of estates in the realme.(D) It foloweth more in the foresayd preface: And to destroy all other maner of estates, of the same realme of England, as well spirituall as tēporall. &c. By the course of this preāble it appeareth, that the said Syr Iohn Oldcastle was a wonderfull cruell tyraunt and murderour, who beyng not yet satisfied with the bloud of the kyng, mor of the ij. Dukes his brethrē, would also make hauoke & swepestake, of all maner of estates in þ^e realme of Englād. What, & leaue no maner of estate aliue? No, neither Lord spirituall nor temporall, but altogether should be destroyed. And what had all these estates done, thus so miserably to be destroyed? Although percase the moode of this man might haue been incensed & kyndled against the kyng, and the Lordes spirituall, by whom he had ben condemned, as is aforesaid: yet why should all other maner of other estates both spirituall and temporall be killed? If none of all the estates in England, neither Duke, Earle, Baron, Lord, Knight or other gentlemā had ben his frend, but all his enemies, how then is it like, that he hauyng all the estates, peares, nobles, and gentlemen of the realme agaynst hym, and none to stand with him, either could or durst attempt any commotion agaynst the whole power of the lande, he beyng but one gentleman onely with Syr Roger Acton, and maister Browne left alone? At least, good reason yet would, that those hundreth knights should haue ben spared out of this bloudy slaughter, whom he offered to produce vnto the kyng before, for his purgatiō. pag. 666. And finally, if this was his purpose that all these estates both spirituall and temporall should haue been cut downe, what neded thē that he should haue made him selfe a Regent, when he might as wel haue made him selfe a king, or what els he would beyng left then prince alone?

Marginalia(E)(E) The preamble as it began with vntruth, & continued in the same figure, heapyng one vntruth vpon an other: so now endeth with an other misreport as vntrue as the rest, shewyng and declaryng, the intent of Syr Iohn Oldcastle was also to destroy all maner of policie, and finally the lawes of the land. &c. MarginaliaAn hard matter to destroy all policie and lawes of a lād.We read of Williā Conquerer, otherwise named William Bastard: Who being a puisant Duke in his countrey, when that the crowne of England was a lotted to him, & he comming ouer with all his peares, nobles and barons of his whole land, into this realme, and had with great difficultie obteined victorie agaynst kyng Harold: yet to alter and destroye the policie and the lawes of the land, it passed hys power. In somuch þ^t it had not been permitted vnto him to haue proceded so farre as he did, vnles hee had first sworne to the nobles of this lād, to retaine still the lawes of kyng Edward, as he found them. And albeit he afterward forsware him selfe, breakyng hys othe in alteryng and chaungyng many of the foresayde lawes, yet wild he, nyld he, could not so destroy them all (for the whiche much warre and great commotions endured long after in the realme) but that he was constrayned and also contented to allow & admitte a great part of the sayd lawes of kyng Edward. pag. 222. And if he beyng kyng and Conquerour with all hys strength of Normandes and Englishemen about him, was to weake and insufficient to destroye all maner of policie, and lawes of this land, whiche he had conquered: how muche lesse then is it to be supposed, that Syr Iohn Oldcastle beyng but a priuate subiect, and a poore knight, and a condemned prisoner, destitute and forsakē of all Lordes, Earles, and Barons, who to saue his owne life had more to doo, then he could well compasse, would either take in hande, or conceaue in his head any such exployet, after the subuersion of Christen fayth, and law of God, after the slaughter of the kyng, and of all maner of estates, as well spirituallas temporall, in the realme of England, after the desolation of holy churche, to destroy also all maner of policie, and finally the lawes of the land? Whiche monstruous and incredible figment how true it may seme to maister Cope, or to some other late Chroniclers of the lyke credulitie, I cannot tell: Certeine to me, and as I thinke to all indifferent readers it appereth as true, as is the verse of the Satyre, wherewith it may well be compared.

Nil intra est oleam, nihil extra est in nuce duri

MarginaliaObiection.But here wyll be sayd agayne perhaps, that the matter of such preambles and prefaces being but pursuātes of statutes, and contayning but wordes of course, to aggreuate, and to geue a shew of a thing, which they wold to seeme more odible to the people, is not so precisely to be skande or so exquisitelye to be stande vpon, as for the ground of a necessary case of trouth.

MarginaliaAnswer.Thys is it (maister Cope) that I sayd before, & now do wel graunt and admit the same, that such preambles or forefaces lyned w^t a non sequitur, cōtayning in thē matter but of surmise, & words of course (& rather monsters out of course) and manye tymes rising vpon false information, are not alwayes in them selues materiall, or necessary probations in all poyntes to be followed: as appeareth both by this statute, MarginaliaEx originali statut an. 2. Hēr. 4. cap. 15.and also by the statute of this kinges father, an. 2. Henr. 4. cap. 15. beginning Excellentissimo. &c And yet notwithstandyng out of these same preambles, and forefrontes of statutes, and other inditementes, which commonlye rising vpon matter of informatiō, run only vpon wordes of course of office, & not vpō simple truth, MarginaliaThe reason and cause, how chroniclers ofttimes be deceiued.a great part of our chroniclers do often take their matter, which they insert into theyr stories, hauing no respect or examination of circumstances to be compared, but onely following bare rumours, or els such wordes as they see in such fablyng prefaces, or inditementes expressed. Whereby it commeth so to passe, that the yonger Chronicler folowing the elder, as the blynde leading the blynde, both together fal into the pyt of errour. MarginaliaAlanus Copus deceyued by hys chroniclersAnd you also (maister Cope) folowing the steppes of the same, do seeme lykewyse to erre together with them, for good fellowship. And thus concernyng the face of this statute hetherto sufficiently.

Now let vs consider and discusse in lyke maner, first the coherence, then the particular contentes of the sayde statute. As touching the which coherence, if it be well examined, a man shall finde almost a Chimera of it. In which neyther the head acordeth with the body, nor yet the branches of the statute wel agree with them selues. Wherein he that was the drawer, or first informer therof, semeth to haue forgot his verse and arte poeticall.MarginaliaHorat. de Art. Poet.

Atque ita mentitur, sic veris falsa remiscet
Primum ne medio, medium ne discrepet imo.  

Latin/Greek Translations     Close

Citation from Horace, Ars Poetica 1.151

Foxe text Latin

Atque ita mentitur ... discrepet imo.

Translation

John Wade, University of Sheffield

And he so makes things up, and so mixes falsehoods with truths, that the beginning is not at variance with the middle, nor the middle with the end.

For wher as the preface of the statute standeth only vpon matter of treasō, conceaued by false sugestiō & wrong information. The body of the sayd statute which should follow vpon the same, runneth onely vpon matter of heresie, pertayning to the Ordinaries, as by euery branch thereof may appeare.

Marginalia(F)
The bodye of the statute an. 2. reg. Henr. 5. cap. 7. examined.(F) For first where he sayth, at the instaunce and request of the ordinaries or their commissaries. &c. Hereby it appeareth, this to bee no cause of treason, nor felonye. For that euery man of duetie is boūd, and by the lawes of the realme may arrest and apprehend a traytour, or a felon, if he can: where otherwise by this statute an officer is not bound to arest hym which offendeth in case of this statute, without request made by the ordinaries or their commissaries, and therfore this offence semeth neither to be treason, nor felonie.

Marginalia(G)(G) Secondly, where it foloweth that the same ordinaries and commissaries do pay for their costes &c. This allowaunce of the officers chargies in this sorte, proueth this offence neither treason nor felonie.

Marginalia(H)(H) Thirdly, where the statute willeth the king to be