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1211 [1210]

K. Henry. 8. Persecution in Windsore. Testwood, Filmer, Person, Marbecke, Bennet,

of many matters, that they would not that euery mā should heare, and yet farre from any such thyng: therfore it is good to iudge the best. Well quoth the Gentleman, thou must be playner with my Lorde then this, or els it wyll be wrong with thee, and that sooner then thou weenest. How playne wyll hys Lordship haue me to be Sir, quoth he? There is nothing that I can do and say with a safe conscience, but I am redy to do it at his lordships pleasure. What tellest thou me quoth the gentleman of thy conscience?MarginaliaConscience little passed of among these Papistes. Thou mayest with a safe conscience vtter those that be heretikes, and so doyng thou canst do God and the kyng no greater seruice. If I knew sir, quoth he, who were an hereticke in deede, it were a thyng: but if I should accuse hym to be an heretike that is none, what a worme would that be in my conscience so long as I lyued: yea it were a great deale better for me, to be out of this lyfe, then to lyue in such torment. In faith quoth the Gentleman, thou knowest as well who be heretikes of thy fellowes at home, and who be none, as I doe know this paper in my hand: but it maketh no matter for they shall all be sent for and examined: and thinkest thou that they wyll not vtter and tell of thee all that they can? yes I warrant thee. And what a foolish dolt art thou, that wylt not vtter aforehand what they bee, seyng it standeth vpon thy deliueraunce to tell the truth? Whatsoeuer quoth he, they shall say of me, let them do it in the name of God, for I wyl saye no more of thē, nor of no man els, then I know.MarginaliaMarke here the wiles of Winchester. Mary quoth the Gentleman if thou wilt do so, my lord requireth no more. And for as much as now peraduenture, thy wits are troubled, so that thou canst not call thinges euen by and by to remembraunce, I haue brought thee ynke and paper, that thou mayest excogitate with thy selfe, and write such thynges as shall come to thy mynde. O Lord, quoth Marbecke, what wyll my Lord do? Wyll his lordship compell me to accuse men, and wot not whereof?MarginaliaMarbecke vrged to accuse his brethren. No, quoth the gentleman, my Lorde compelleth thee not, but gently entreateth thee to say the trouth. Therfore make no more ado but write, for my Lord wyll haue it so, and so layd downe the ynke and paper and went his way.

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MarginaliaMarbecke brought to great distres. Now was Marbecke so full of heauines and woe, that he wyst not what to do, nor how to set the penne to the booke, to satisfie the Byshops mynd, vnlesse he did accuse men, to the woundyng of hys owne soule. And thus beyng compassed about with nothyng but sorrowe and care, he cried out to God in hys harte, fallyng downe with weepyng teares and sayd:

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MarginaliaMarbeckes prayer vnto God. O most mercifull father of heauen, thou that knowest the secret doyngs of all men, haue mercy vpon thy poore prisoner which is destitute of all helpe and comfort. Assiste me (O Lord) with thy speciall grace, that to saue this fraile and vile body, which shall turne to corruption at his tyme, I haue no power to say or to write any thing, that may be to the casting away of my Christen brother: but rather (O Lorde) let this vyle fleshe suffer at thy will and pleasure. Graunt this O most mercyfull father, for thy deare sonne Iesus Christes sake.

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Then he rose vp and began to searche his conscience what he might write, and at last framed out these wordes:MarginaliaMarbeckes wordes written in Winchesters paper. Where as your Lordshyppe will haue me to write such thynges as I knowe of my fellowes at home: pleaseth it your Lordshyp to vnderstand, that I can not cal to remembraunce any maner of thyng, whereby I might iustly accuse any one of them, vnlesse it be that the readyng of the new Testament (which is cōmon to all men) be an offence: more then this I know not.

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Now the Gentleman, about his houre appoynted, came agayne, and founde Marbecke walking vp andMarginaliaWinchesters gentleman returneth the third tyme to Marbecke. downe the chamber. How now, quoth he, hast thou written nothyng? yes Syr, quoth he, as much as I know. Well sayd, quoth the Gentleman, & tooke vp þe paper. Which whē he had read, he cast it from him in a great fume, swearyng by our Lords bodyMarginaliaWell sworne and lyke a right Papist. that he would not for. xx. l. cary it to his Lord and maister. Therfore, quoth he, go to it agayne, and aduise thy selfe better, or els thou wilt set my Lord agaynst thee, and then art thou vtterly vndone. By my trouth Syr, quoth Marbecke, if his Lordshyp shall keepe me here these vij. yeares, I can say no more then I haue sayd. Then wilt thou repent it, quoth the Gentleman, and so puttyng vp his penner and ynke horne, departed with the paper in his hand.

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¶ The thyrd examination of Marbecke, before the Byshop of Wynchester hym selfe in his owne house.

MarginaliaThe third examination of Marbecke THe next day, which was Wednesday, by viij. of the clocke in the mornyng, the Byshop sent for Marbecke to his house at S. Marie Ouers  

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I.e., the bishop of Winchester's London residence, next to the church of St. Mary Ovaries in Southwark.

, and as he was entryng into the Byshops Hall, he saw the Byshop himselfe commyng out at a doore in the vpper end therof, with a rolle in his hand, and goyng toward the great window, he called the poore man vnto hym and sayd: Marbecke, wylt thou cast away thy selfe? No my Lord, quoth he, I trust. Yes, quoth þe byshop, thou goest about it,for thou wylt vtter nothing.MarginaliaChrist sayth [illegible text] And Winchester sayth, the deuill maketh men to medle with the Scriptures. What a deuill made thee to medle wyth the scriptures( Thy vocation was an other way, wherin thou hast a goodly gyfte, if thou diddest esteeme it? yes my Lord, quoth he I do esteeme it and haue done my part therin, accordyng to that litle knowledge that God hath geuen me. And why the deuill quoth the byshop, diddest thou not holde thee there? and wyth that he flange away from the wyndow out of the Hall, the poore man folowyng him from place to place, tyll he had brought him into a long gallery, and beyng there, the byshop began on this wyse: A sirha, quoth he, the neast of you is broken I trow. And vnfolding his rolle (which was about an elne long) he sayd: Behold, here be your captaines, both Hobby and Haynes, wyth all the whole pacte of thy secte about Wyndsore, & yet wilt thou vtter none of them. Alas my lord quoth he, how should I accuse thē by whom I know nothyng? Well, quoth þe bishop if thou wylt nedes cast away thy selfe, who can let thee?MarginaliaMarbecke charged for setting forth the Concordaūce. What helpers hadest thou in settyng forth thy booke? Forsoth my lord quoth he, none. None quoth the byshop? how can that be? It is not possible that thou shouldest do it without helpe. Truely my L. quoth he, I can not tell in what part your lordship doth take it, but howsoeuer it be, I wyll not denye but I did it without the helpe of any man saue God alone. Nay quoth the B. I do not discōmend thy diligēce, but what shouldest thou medle wyth that thyng which perteyned not to thee?

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And in speakyng these wordes, one of his Chaplaynes (called M. Medow) came vp and stayd himselfe at a wyndow, to whom the byshop sayd: here is a merueilous thing. This felow hath taken vpon hym to set out the Concordance in Englishe, whiche booke when it was set out in latine, was not done wythout the helpe and diligence of a dosen learned men at the least, and yet wyll he beare me in hand that he hath done it alone. But say what thou wilt, quoth the Byshop, except God himselfe would come downe from heauen and tell me so, I will not beleue it: and so goyng forth to a wyndow, where two great Bibles lay vpon a cusshyon, the one in Latine and the other in Englishe, he called Marbecke vnto him, and poynting hys finger to a place in the Latine Bible, said: Canst thou Englishe thys sentence? Nay my L. quoth he, I trow I be not so cūning to geue it a perfite Englishe, but I can fet out the englishe therof in the Englishe Byble. Let see, quoth the Byshop. Then Marbecke turning the Englishe Bible, found out the place by and by, and read it to the Byshop. So he tryed hym a three or foure tymes, till one of his men came vp and told him the Priest was ready to go to Masse.

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MarginaliaM. Clawbacke commeth agayne to Marbecke. And as the Byshop was going, sayde the gentleman which had examined Marbecke in the Marshalsey the day before: Shall this felow write nothyng while your Lordship is at Masse? for he paseth not on it. It maketh no matter quoth the Byshop, for he wil tell nothyng, and so went downe to heare Masse, leauing Marbecke alone in þe gallery. The Bishop was no sooner downe, but the gentleman came vp agayne with inke and paper. Come Syrha quod he, my Lord wil haue you occupied till masse be done,MarginaliaMarbecke pressed agayne to vtter his fellowes. perswadyng hym wyth fayre wordes, that he shoulde be soone dispatched out of trouble, if he would vse truth and playnenes. Alas Syr quoth he, what wyll my Lorde haue me to do? for more thē I wrote to his lordship yesterday, I can not? Well, well goe to, quoth the gentleman, & make speede, and so went hys way. There was no remedy but Marbecke must nowe write some thyng: wherefore hee callyng to GOD agayne in his mynde, wrote a fewe wordes as nye as he could frame them, to those he had written the day before. When the Bishop was come frō Masse, and had looked on the writyng, he pusht it from him, saying: what shall this doe? It hath neither head not foote. There is a meruelous sect of them (quoth the Byshop to his men) for the deuill can not make one of them to bewray an other. Then was there nothyng among the Byshoppes Gētlemē, as they were makyng him ready to go þe court, but Crucifige vpon the poore man. And when the Bishops white rachet was on him and all: well Marbecke, quoth he, I am now going to the Court, and was purposed, if I had founde thee tractable, to haue spoken to the kynges Maiestie for thee, and to haue geuen thee thy meate, drinke, & lodging here in myne owne house: but seyng thou art so wilfull and so stubburne, thou shalt go to the deuill for me.

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MarginaliaMarbecke brought agayne from Winchesters house to the Marshalsey. Then was he caried downe by the Byshops men with many railyng wordes. And commyng through the great chamber, there stode D. London, with two moe of his felowes wayting the Byshops commyng: and passing by thē into the Hall, he was there receiued of his keper and caried to prisō again. It was not halfe an houre after, ere that the

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