MarginaliaThe L. Cobham, syr Rog. Acton, ct. proued no traytours.matter had ben truly and duely handled, as touchyng þ^e treason, then had it not been nedefull to haue brought sir Iohn Oldcastle into the Parliament house, before the Lordes to haue had his Iudgement. For by þ^e outlawry (if it had been true) hee was atteinted, and without any more adoo should haue had Iudgement in the kynges Bench as a traitour. But the chiefe Iustice knowyng þ^e handlyng of þ^e matter, durst not belike enterprise so far. Wherfore it was deuised, that he should certifie the recorde into the Parliament, whiche he did together, with the Bishops sentence filed to the recorde, whiche was very straūge. And therupon the Lordes gaue such a iudgement, as was not due for a traitour. For that they gaue no Iudgemēt, that he should be drawen, hanged, and let down alyue, and then boweled, and quartered, which is the iudgement of a traitor. And albeit the Parliament might haue atteinted him w^tout any more adoo: And by the same Acte of atteinder haue ordeined a speciall iudgement, as they should thinke good: yet whē he was before atteynted by the outlawry, they could not lawfully vary from the common Iudgemēt of treason. At least how could or should the iudgement of Syr Roger Acton, maister Browne, and Iohn Beuerlay, who were Iudged in the Yealdhall before and without the Parliament, vary from the sayd common Iudgement of traitours, if they had truly cōmitted, & been cōuicted of such high treason?

MarginaliaThe xiii. note or argument.Adde this moreouer to þ^e foresayd Notes: that if Syr Iohn Oldcastle after his escape out of prison, had been culpable and so atteinted of that hygh treason, whereby his landes had ben immediatly forfait vnto the kyng by the proces of this outlawry: What neded the kyng then in the second yeare of his reigne, in the Parliament after holden at Leycester, haue made that prouiso to haue his landes forfait to hym by vertue of Parliament, vpō his escape on the day of hys arrest: when as the landes & cattaile of his had bene forfaite before, by the proces of the outlawry, as is before specified?

Thus you see (maister Cope) how litle auauntage you can wrast out of this Commission & Inditement against the Lord Cobham and his felowes to proue them traytours. And admitte the sayd L. Cobham was attaynted of treason by the acte, and that the kyng, the Lordes, & the commons assented to the acte: yet it byndeth not in such sorte (as if in deede he were no traytour) that any man may not by search of the truth vtter & set forth sincerely and iustlye the very true cause wherby his death hapt and followed.

MarginaliaAunswere to the allegations of Fabian, Polydore, and Halle, &c.Thus then hauyng sufficiently clered the Lord Cobham and his parteners, from all that you cā obiecte vnto them out of recordes and statutes: let vs now come to your English Chroniclers, wherwith you seme to presse me, & to oppresse thē, whom ye name to be Robert Fabiā Edwarde Halle, Polydo. Vergilius, Thomas Cooper, Rich. Grafton, with other brief Epitomes and Sūmaryes. &c. Concernyng whiche autors, as I haue not to say, but to their commendation in this place: so if þ^t you had auouched the same, to the commendation rather thē to the reprofe of other, I woulde better haue commended your nature, and beleued you cause. But now lyke a spyder catcher suckyng out of euery one, what is the worst, to make vp your leystall, you heape vp a dong hyll of dyrtie dialogues contaynyng nothing in them but malicious rayling, virulent slaunders, manifest vntruthes, opprobrious contumelies, and stinckyng blasphemies, able almost to corrupt and infect the ayre. Suche is the maladie and cacoethes of your pen, that it beginneth to barke, before it hath learned well to wryte. Which pen of yours notwithstanding I do not here reproch nor cōtemne, as neyther do I greatly feare the same. God of hys mercy keepe the sword out of the Papistes hand, it is not the penne of the Papistes I greatlye passe vpon, though twenty Copes and so many surplesses, were setagayust the booke of Monumentes, were I so disposed (maister Cope) to dally, or as the Grekes do say xxx,, and to repay agayne, as I am prouoked. But in despitefull raylyng, and in this Satyricall sort of barking I geue you ouer, and suffer you therein to passe not onely your selfe, but also Cerberus hymselfe if ye wyll, the great band dog of Pluto. MarginaliaModestie cōmended in writers.Mildenes and humanitye rather beseemeth and is the grace of the latyne phrase. If ye could hyt vpon the vane thereof, it would win you much more honesty, with all honest men. But the Lorde hereafter may call you, which I beseche him to doo, and to forgeue you that you haue done. In the meane tyme seing this your pratling pen must nedes be walking, yet this you might haue learned of these your own autours whom you alledge, more ciuilly to haue tempered your fame, in exclaming agaynst them, whose cause is to you not perfectly knowē. And now briefly to answer to these your foresayd wryters, as wytnesses produced agaynst these men: MarginaliaTwo thinges to be obserued in storye writers.there be two thinges (as I take it) in these chronicle wryters to be considered: First the groundes which they follow: secondly in what place they serue.

MarginaliaThe groūd of histories to be considered.As touching the order and ground of writing amōg these chroniclers, ye must consider, and can not be ignoraunt, that as none of all these by you forenamed, was present at the deede, nor wytnes of the fact, so haue they nothing of them selues herein certainly to affirme, but eyther must follow publike rumour and hearesaye for theyr autor, or els one of them must borrow of an other. Whereof neyther seemeth to me sufficient. For as publike rumor is neuer certaine: so one autor may soone deceiue an other. By reason whereof it commeth oft to passe, that as these storye writers hyt manye tymes the truth, so againe all is not the Gospel that they do write. MarginaliaAll thinges not true, that be found in storyes.Wherefore great respect is here to be had, eyther not to credite rashly euery one that writeth stories, or els to see what groundes they haue whom we do follow. Now to demaund (maister Cope) of you, what autoritie or foundacion hath your Robert Fabian, hath Polydor Vergile, Edw. Halle, & other of your authors to proue these mē to be traytours? What autoritie do they auouche? what actes, what regesters, what recordes, or out of what court, do they shewe? Or what demonstration do they make? And do you thinke it sufficient, because these mē do only affirme it, w^tout any further probation, w^t your xxx, therfore we are bound to beleue it? Take me not so (M. Cope) þ^t I do here diminishe any thyng or derogate frō þ^e credite of those writers you alledge, whose labours haue deserued well, & serue to great vtilitie: but cōming now to triall of a matter, lieng in controuersie betwene vs, we are now forced to seke out the fountain and bottom of the truth, where it is not enough to say, so it is, but the cause is to bee shewed, why it is so affirmed. And what though Robert Fabian, Polydore Vergill, and Edwarde Halle, should all together (as they do not) agree in the treason of sir Iohn Oldcastle and of the rest, yet neyther is this any sufficient suretie to proue them traytours. MarginaliaWordes without probation are not sufficient, in storie matters.Consideryng that writers of stories for most parte folowyng either blind reporte: or els one taking of an other, vse commonly all to sounde together after one tune, tanquam Dodonæi lebetes, so that as one sayth, all say, and if one erre, all do erre. Wherfore you see master Cope, how it is not sufficient nor sure to sticke onely to the names and autorities of Chronographers, vnles the grounde be founde substauntiall wherupon they stande them selues. Which yet in none of these whom you haue produced, doth appeare.

MarginaliaChroniclers how farre and to what effect they serue.Secondly in alledging and writyng of Chronicles is to be considered to what place and effect they serue. If ye would shewe out of them the order and course of times, what yeares were of dearth and plentie, where kings kept there Christēmas, what condites were made, what Maiors and Sherifes were in London, what battailes