1395, that the audacity of the Lollards awakened him to a decisive manifestation of his own displeasure at their proceedings.

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Among the nobility and gentry of England, both Wiclif and his followers found many zealous and steady friends. It will be remembered that, when he first appeared before the prelates at St. Paul's, he was attended, not only by the Duke of Various nobleLancaster, but by Henry Percy, Earl men and knights. of Derby, and Earl Marshal of England. In one of his homilies, he declares that he had great comfort of certain knights, that they favored the Gospel, and were disposed to read it in English'. Of these, several have been mentioned by the chroniclers 2, together with dukes and earls, who, “ having a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, surrounded the false preachers with a military band, that they might not suffer reproaches or losses by the orthodox, on account of their profane doctrine." But of all the noble persons who rendered the principles of Wiclif honorable, by their own faith and virtue, Lord Cobham, is beyond comparison, the most illustrious. It is probable that he was a hearer of Wiclif himself, in his youth. Most certainly he was a strenuous and consistent supporter of his opinions, which he intrepidly maintained, not only as a private individual, but in his

1 Lewis, c. x. p. 244.

Lord Cobham.

2 The names mentioned by Knighton, are Sir Thomas Latimer, Sir Lewis Clifford, (the same who brought the queen dowager's message to the prelates at Lambeth) Sir John Pecche, Sir Richard Story, or Sturry, Sir Reginald Hilton, and Sir John Trussel.

place as a peer of parliament. When he was finally brought to answer before the archbishop and clergy, at the house of the Dominican Friars in London, he bore the following testimony to the excellence of his master's doctrine : "As for that virtuous man, Wiclif, whose judgments ye so highly disdain, I shall say here, of my part, both before God and man, that before I knew that despised doctrine of his, I never abstained from sin. But since I learned therein to fear my Lord God, it hath otherwise, I trust, been with me. So much grace could I never find in all your glorious instructions ;"-all which provoked the following reply from Dr. Walden, prior of the Carmelites. "It were not well with me, if I had no grace to amend till I heard the devil preach! St. Hierome saith, that he which seeketh such suspected masters, shall not find the mid-day light, but the mid-day devil." The final result of all these proceedings is well known, and needs not to be recited here. This magnanimous and inflexible confessor, abandoned by his sovereign, and hunted down by the fury of his persecutors, was, at last, consigned to martyrdom, and perished in the flames, with the praises of God in his mouth, and the spirit of his Saviour in his heart 1.

1 A full and most interesting account of the fate of this nobleman may be found in Wordsw. Eccl. Biogr. vol. i. p. 217–277 ; and a spirited abridgment of it, in Southey's Book of the Church, vol. i. p. 358–381. I cannot forbear to call the attention of the reader to Dr. Lingard's narrative of this transaction. It appears that he is sufficiently alive to the horrors of the ancient mode of execution for high treason; for, in one of his notes, he relates distinctly the hanging, embowelling, and heading, of Sir

It appears, therefore, quite incontestably, that the spirit which Wiclif sent abroad had brought into captivity, not only the poor, the weak, and the ignorant, but numbers of high-born and enlightened men. The excellent of the earth were touched by the flame of the altar; and with that sacred fire shut up in their bones, they went forth and did valiantly, in the cause of truth, of meekness, and of righteousness. That dangerous and turbulent elements mixed themselves up in the commotions produced by better principles, it would be preposterous to deny. But such, unhappily, are the conditions under which our fallen humanity is often doomed to receive the most inesti

Thomas Blount, in order that the reader may form a vivid notion of the frightful barbarity of that punishment. Vol. iv. p. 381, note. But when heretics are roasted to death, his sympathies wonderfully subside. In speaking of Sir John Oldcastle, he merely says, "that leader escaped; and, though the king offered the most tempting rewards for his apprehension, eluded, for several years, the pursuit and search of his enemies." And here the account of this nobleman breaks off! Not a syllable do we hear of his being dragged to London, with both his legs broken in the conflict which preceded his seizure, or of his being hanged in chains from a gibbet, and consumed to death by a fire kindled below. The sufferings of a traitor call for generous compassion. Those of a heretic are not even worth mentioning! I say nothing of the historian's representation of Oldcastle's 66 arrogant and insulting" conduct to his judges, and of the "mild and dignified" demeanour of Archbishop Arundel. This is nothing more than was to be expected, as a matter of course. Those who may be curious for a specimen of Arundel's "mild and dignified demeanour," will do well to consult his examination of William Thorpe; who records many of the "wondrous and blameful" words spoken to him by the primate, menacing him, and all others of the same sect, to be punished and destroyed to the uttermost."

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mable blessings which it may please a gracious Providence to bestow. It becomes us, therefore, to be deeply thankful for the good which has been wonderfully elicited from the conflict, and to labour, with all our faculties, for its preservation.

CHAPTER XI.

Proceedings against the Wiclifites-Petition to Parliament on the part of the Lollards-Turbulence of the Lollards-King Richard II. requested to return from Ireland to the Succour of the Church -He returns accordingly, and menaces the patrons of Lollardism -Letter of Pope Boniface IX.-Certain positions of Wiclif condemned at Oxford-Statute de Heretico Comburendo-William Sautrè, the first victim of this law-Proceedings of Archbishop Arundel Continued violence of the Lollards-Law, compelling all persons in civil office to take an oath against LollardismInquisitorial Constitution of Archbishop Chicheley—Effect of these severities-Bishop Pecock writes against the Lollards— He defends the Bishops-His "Repressor"-His "Treatise of Faith"-He censures the preaching of the Mendicants--He maintains the sufficiency of the Scriptures, and questions the prudence of relying on the infallibility of the Church—For these opinions he is forbidden the King's presence, and expelled from the House of Lords-He is convened before the Archbishop for heresy— Abjures-Is imprisoned for life in Thorney Abbey-Persecution of the Lollards renewed under Henry VII.-Martyrdom of Joanna Baughton-Martyrdom of Tylsworth-Bishop NixInhumanity towards those who abjured―These cruelties eventually fatal to the Papacy in England.

AFTER the death of Wiclif, the mighty waters which he had sent forth to cleanse the land, continued to flow onward, with a stream continually more impetuous and more turbid. Their strength was, unhappily, increased by many a tributary torrent, which fell into their channel, and mingled its impurities with their