and other that are confedered with thee, seeke out of holy scripture, & of the sence of dctors, al sharpe authorities against lords, knights, and squiers, & against other secular men, as thou doest against priests.

☞ And I said: Marginalia Thorpe, preach agaynst whom thou wilt, so thou touch not this scabbe. Sir, whatsoeuer men or women, lords of ladies, or any other that are present in our preaching specially, or in our cōmoning after our cūning, we tell out to thē their office & their charges: But sir, since Chrisostome sayth, that priests are the stomack of þ^e people, it is nedeful in preaching, & also in commoning, to be most busy about this priesthode: Marginalia The viciousnes and pride of priestes infecteth all the world. Since by the viciousnes of priestes both Lordes & cōmons are most sinfully infected & led into the worst. And because þ^t the couetousnes of priests & pride, & the boast that they haue & make of their dignity and power: destroyeth not onely the vertues of priesthod in priests thēselues, but also ouer this, it stirreth God to take great vengeance both vpon the Lords, & vpon cōmons, whych suffer these priests charitably.

¶ And the Archb. said to me. Thou iudgest euery priest proud þ^t will not go arayed as thou doest. Marginalia A spitefull meeknes that is in skarlet gownes. By god I deme him to be more meke þ^t goeth euery day in a scarlet gown, thā thou in thy threed bare blew gown. Wherby knowest thou a proud man?

☞ And I said. Sir a proud priest may be known, Marginalia The signes and markes of proud priestes. when he denieth to follow Christ & his Apostles, in wylfull pouerty and other vertues: & coueteth worldly worship, and taketh it gladly, & gathereth together with pleding, manasing, or with flattering, or w^t simony any worldly goodes: And most, if a priest busy him not chiefly in himselfe, & after in all other men and women after his cunning & power, to withstand sinne.

¶ And the Archb. sayd to mee. Though thou knewest a priest to haue al these vices, & though thou sawest a pryest louely lye now by a womā, knowing her fleshly: wouldst thou therfore deme this priest dānable?Marginalia Paule saith, god shall iudge all fornicators, what say you my Lord? I say to thee þ^t in the turning about of thy hand, such a sinner may be verily repented.

☞ And I sayd. Sir I wil not damne any man for any sinne that I know done or may be done, so that the sinner leaueth his sinne. But by authoritie of holy Scripture, he that sinneth thus openly as ye shew here, is damnable for doing of such a sinne: Marginalia Priestes ought to be examples of good liuing. and most specially, a priest þ^t shoulde be example to al other for to hate & flye sinne. And in how short time that euer ye say þ^t suche a sinner may be repēted: he ought not of him ^t knoweth his sinning, to bee iudged verily repentant, without open euidence of great shame & harty sorow for his sinne. For whosoeuer (and specially a priest) that vseth pride, enuy, couetousnes, lechery, simony or any other vices: sheweth not as open euidēce of repentance as he hath geuen euil exāple & occasion of sinning, if he cōtinue in any such sinne as long as he may: it is likely that sinne leaueth him, & he not sinne. And as I vnderstād such a one sinneth vnto death, for whō no bodye oweth to pray, as S. Iohn sayth.

¶ And a Clerke saide then to the Archb. Marginalia Clarkly spoken and like a Parasite. Sir, the lenger that ye appose him, the worse he is: and the more ye busye you to amend him, the waywarder he is. For he is of so shrewd a kinde, that he shameth not onely to be himselfe a foule nest, but without shame he busyeth him to make his nest fouler.

☞ And the Archbishop saide to hys Clerke. Suffer a while, for I am at an ende with him, for there is another poynt certyfyed agaynst hym, Marginalia Forget nothing I pray yon my Lord. and I will heare what hee sayth thereto.

¶ And so thā he said to me. Lo it is here certified against thee, þ^t thou preachedst opēly at Shrewsbury, that it is not lawful to sweare in any case.

☞ And I said, Sir I preached neuer so openlye, nor I haue taught in this wise in any place. But sir, as I preached in Shrewsbury, w^t my protestation I say to you now here: that by the authoritie of theGospell of S. Iames, & by witnes of diuers Saints & doctours: I haue preached opēly in one place or other, that it is not leful in any cause to sweare by any creature. Marginalia Not lawfvll to sweare by any creature. And ouer this Sir, I haue also preached and taught by the foresaid authorities: Marginalia Men ought not to sweare when without an othe he may excuse himselfe that is compelled to sweare. þ^t no body should sweare in any case, if that without othe in any wise he that is charged to sweare might excuse him to them that haue power to compel him to sware, in leful thing & lawful. But if a man may not ercuse him without oth, to them that haue power to cōpel him to sweare, than he ought to sweare onely by God, taking him onely that is southfastnesse, for to witnes the southfastnes.

Marginalia Well said Sir Iohn of you, your holy mother stroke your head. And then a Clarke asked me if it were not leful to a subiect at the bidding of his Prelate, for to kneele downe and touch the holy Gospel booke, and kisse it, saying: So helpe me God and this holydome, for he should after hys cunninge and power, doe all thynges that hys Prelate com-maundeth hym.

☞ And I said to them: Sirs, ye speake here full generally or largely. What if a prelate commaūded hys subiect to do an vnlawful thing, should be obey therto?

¶ And the Archb. said to me: A subiect ought not to suppose, that his prelate wil bid him do an vnlawfull thinge. For a subiect ought to thinke that his prelate wil bid him do nothing but that he wil aunswer for before God, that it is leful: And then, though þ^e bidding of the prelate bee vnleful, the subiect hath no peril to fulfil it, since that he thinketh & iudgeth, that whatsoeuer thing his prelate byddeth him do, that it is leful to him for to do it. Marginalia These prelates would be thought to be good, be they neuer so bad.

☞ And I sayd, sir I trust not thereto. But to our purpose: Sir I tel you, þ^t I was once in a gentlemās house, and there were then two Clarkes there, a maister of diuinity, and a man of law, which man of law was also communing in diuinitie. Marginalia A communication betwixt a lawier and a diuine. And among other things, these men spake of othes, & the man of law sayd: at the bidding of his soueraigne, which had power to charge him to sweare, he would lay his hand vpon a booke, and heare hys charge: anb if his charge to his vnderstanding were vnlefull, he would hastely withdraw his hand vpō the booke, taking there onely God to witnes, that he would fulfil that lefull charge, after his power. And the maister of diuinitie sayde then to him thus. Certaine, he that layeth his hand vpō a booke in this wise, and maketh there a promise to do that thing that he is commaunded: Is obliged therby by boke othe, then to fulfil his charge. For no doubt, hee that chargeth him to lay his hand thus vpon a booke (touching the booke, & swearing by it, and kissing it, promisinge in this forme to do this thing or that) wil say and witnes, that he that toucheth thus a booke, and kisseth it, hath sworne vpon that booke. And al other mē that see that man thus do, and also all those that heare hereof, in the same wise wyll say and witnes, that this man hath sworne vpon a booke. Wherefore, the maister of diuinitie sayde, it was not lefull neyther to geue nor to take any such charge vpon a booke: for euery booke is nothing els, but diuers creatures, of which it is made of. Marginalia To sweare by a booke is to sweare by creatures. Therefore to sweare vpon a booke, is to sweare by creatures, and this swearinge is euer vnlefull. This sentence witnesseth Marginalia Chrisostom blameth booke oath. Chrisostome playnely, blaming them greatly that bring forth a booke for to sweare vpon, charging Clarkes, that in no wise they constrayne any body to sweare, whether they thinke a man to sweare true or false.

¶ And the Archbishop and his Clarkes, scorned mee, and blamed me greatly for this saying. Marginalia Here now lacked Boner, to scratch hym by the face. And the Archb. manassed me with great punishment & sharpe, except I left thys opinion of swearing.

☞ And I said: Sir, this is not myne opinion, but it is the opinion of Christ our sauionr, & of S. Iames, & of Chrysostome, & other diuers saints and doctours.

¶ Than the Archb. bad a clarke read this homely of Chrisostom: which homely, this clerke held in his hand writtē in a roule: which roule the Archb. caused to be taken from my fellow at Caūterbury. And so then this clark read this role, til he came to a clause where Chrisostome sayth, that it is sinne to sweare well.

And then a clark MaluerenMarginalia Either Malueren, or els Syr Bryan Blowcole. (as I gesse) said to þ^e Archb. Sir, I pray you wete of him, how he vnderstādeth Chrysostome here, saying it to be sin to sweare well.

And so the Archbish. asked me, how I vnderstode here Chrisostome.

And certaine, I was somwhat afraid to aunswer hereto: For I had not busied me to study about the sense therof, but lifting vp my minde to God, I praied him of grace, And as fast as I thought how Christ said to his apostles: Marginalia Christ promiseth & geueth mouth & vtterance. When for my name ye shall be brought before Iudges, I shall geue into your mouth, wisedome þ^t your aduersaries shal not against say. And trusting faithfully in the word of God, I said: Sir, I know wel that many men & women, haue nowe swearing so in custome, that they knowe not, nor wil not know, þ^t they do euil for to sweare as they do: But they thinke and say, Marginalia The place of Chrisostome expounded, how it is sin to sweare well. that they do wel for to sweare as they do, though they know wel that they sweare vntruely. For they say, they may by their swearing (though it be false) voide blame or temporal harme, which they shoulde haue, if they sweare not thus. And sir, many men and women maintaine strongly that they sweare well, when that thing is sooth that they sweare for.Marginalia What it is to sweare well. Also, full many men & women say nowe, that it is well done to sweare by creatures, when they may not (as the say) otherwise be beleeued. And also, ful many men and women now say, that it is wel done to sweare by God, and by our Ladye, and by other saints, for to haue them in minde. But since al these sayings are but excusations, and sinne: mee thinketh sir, that this sense of Chrisostom may be alleaged wel against