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to publish, to prevent the many false reports about the same, and to defeat the expectation of the malicious, who cry up their numbers to be many thousands, when they do not make up an hundred.

A

LETTER WRITTEN TO DR. BURNET,

GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF

*

CARDINAL POOL'S SECRET POWERS;

From which it appears, that it was never intended to confirm the Alienation that was made of the Abbey-lands. To which are added two Breves that Cardinal Pool brought over, and some other of his Letters, that were never before printed. London, printed for Richard Baldwin, in the Old-Bailey Corner, on Ludgate Hill, 1685. Quarto, containing forty pages.

SIR,

I Have fallen on a register of Cardinal Pool's letters, which

carries in it all the characters of sincerity possible. The hand and the abbreviatures shew that it was written at that time. It contains not only the two breves that I send along with this, but two other breves, besides several letters that passed between Cardinal Pool and the Bishop of Arras, that was afterwards the famous Cardinal Gran. vel; and others, that passed between Pool and the Cardinal de Monte, and Cardinal Morone, and Soto, the emperor's confessor. There are also in it some of Pool's letters to the pope, and to Philip, then king of England; and of these I have sent you two, the one is to the pope, and the other is to Philip: But with these I shall give you a large account of some reflexions that I have made on these papers, since I hear that you desire I would suggest to you all that occurs to me upon this occasion.

You have given the world a very particular account, in your his tory of the reformation, of the difficulties that were made concerning the church-lands, in the beginning of Queen Mary's reign; and of the act of parliament that passed in her reign, confirming the aliena. tion of them, that was made by King Henry the eighth; and of the ratification of it made by Cardinal Pool, who was the pope's legate, and was believed to have full powers for all he did.

You have observed there were two clauses in that very act of par. liament, that shew there was then a design formed to recover all the abbey-lands. The one is a charge given by Pool, to all people that had the goods of the church in their hands, to consider the judg

⚫ Vide the 306th Article, in the Catalogue of Pamphlets, in the Harleian Library.

ments of God that fell on Belshazzár, for profaning the holy vessels, even though they had not been taken away by himself, but by his father: Which set the matter heavy upon the consciences of those that enjoyed these lands. The other was the repeal of the statute of Mortmain, for twenty years; for, since that statute was a restraint upon the profuse endowments of churches, the suspending it for so long a time gave the monks scope and elbow-room; and it is not unlikely, that, within the time limited of twenty years, the greatest part of the work would have been done: for superstition works vio lently, especially upon dying men, when they can hold their lands no longer themselves; and so it is most likely, that, if a priest came to tell them frightful stories of purgatory, and did aggravate the heinousness of sacrilege, they would easily be wrought upon to take care of themselves in the next world, and leave their children to their shifts in this.

But I go now to give you some account of the papers that accom pany this letter.

The first is the breve that contains the powers that were given to Cardinal Pool, besides those general powers or bulls that were given him as legate. This bears date, the eighth of March, 1554, and so probably it was an enlargement of the powers that were, as it is likely, granted him at his first dispatch from Rome; and therefore these carry in them, very probably, more grace and favour than was intended or allowed at first: for Pool had left Rome, the November before this, and no doubt he carried some powers with him; but, upon the remonstrances that were made by the emperor, as well as from England, it seems those were procured that I now send you.

The most uneasy part of this whole matter was that which related to the church-lands; for it is delivered in the canon law, that the pope cannot alienate lands belonging to the church, in any manner, or for any necessity whatsoever. And by the same canon, which was de creed by Pope Symmachus, and a Roman synod, about the year 500, the giver and seller of church-lands, as well as the possessor, is to be degraded and anathematised; and any church.man whatsoever may oppose such alienations, and, these notwithstanding, may recover the land so alienated.

The pope, acording to this decree, could not confirm the aliena. tions that had been made by King Henry; and, if he did confirm them, the act must be null in law, and could be no prejudice to the present incumbent, or his successor, to claim his right. Therefore, pursuant to this, the powers given to Pool authorise him only to in demnify and discharge the possessors of the church-lands, for the goods that they had embezzled, and for the rents that they had re ceived; for it runs in these words (which I have marked in the breve itself, that you may readily turn to it) And to agree and transact with the possessors of the goods of the church, for the rents ❝ which they have unlawfully received, and for the moveable goods which they have consumed; and for freeing and discharging them for them, they restoring first (if that shall seem expedient to you) the lands themselves, that are unduly detained by them.'

By these powers it is plain, that the pope only forgave what was past, but stood to the right of the church, as to the restitution of the lands themselves: and that clause (if that shall seem to you ex pedient) belongs only to the order and point of time, so that the discharging what was past might have been done by Cardinal Pool, before or after restitution, as he pleased: but restitution was still to be made; and he had, by these powers, no authority to confirm the alienations that had been made by King Henry the Eighth, for the time to come.

But these limitations were so distasteful, both in England and the emperor's court, that Pool found it necessary to send his secre tary Ormanet to Rome, for new instructions, and fuller powers: he addressed him to Cardinal de Monte for procuring them. Ormanet was dispatched from Rome, in the end of June, 1554, and came to Pool in the end of July, as appears by the date of Pool's letters to the Cardinal de Monte, which is the twenty-ninth of July, upon the receipt of the two breves that Ormanet brought him, bearing date the twenty-sixth and twenty-eighth of June.

The first of these is only matter of form, impowering him to act as a legate, either about the emperor or the King of France, in as ample manner as former legates had done. The second relates al

most wholly to the business of abbey-lands; in it the pope sets forth, that whereas he had formerly impowered him to transact with the possessors of church-lands, and to discharge them for the rents unjustly received, or the moveable goods that were consumed by them; yet, since the perfecting of the reduction of England would become so much the easier, as the pope gave the greater hopes of gentleness and favour in that matter, he therefore, not being willing to let any worldly respects lie in the way of so great à work, as was the recovery of so many souls, and in imitation of the tender-hearted father, that went out to meet the prodigal child, impowers the cardi nal, according to the trust and confidence he had in him, to transact and agree with such of the possessors of them, by the pope's autho. rity, for whom the queen should intercede, and to dispense with them for enjoying them in all time coming. But the salvo, that comes in the end, seems to take all this off; for he reserves all to the pope's confirmation and good pleasure, in all those things that were of such importance, that the holy see ought first to be consulted by Pool.

By these powers, all that Pool could do was only provisional, and could not bind the pope; so that he might disclaim and disown him, when he pleased: and the agreements, that he made afterwards with the parliament, were of no force, till they were confirmed by the pope. And as the pope that succeeded Julius the Third, who granted these breves (but died before the execution of them was brought to him for his confirmation) would never confirm them; so this whole transac tion was a publick cheat put on the nation, or at least on the posses. sors of the abbey-lands; nor did it grant them either a good title in ́ law (I mean the canon law) or give any security to their consciences, in enjoying that which, according to the doctrine of the church of Rome, is plain sacrilege.

"And therefore I cannot imagine how those of that church can quiet their consciences in the possession of those lands. It is plain, by the progress of this matter, that the court of Rome never intended to confirm the abbey-lands; for all that was done by Pool was only an arti fice to still men's fears, and to lay the clamour, which the apprehen. sion of the return of popery was raising, that so it might once enter with the less opposition; and then it could be easy to carry all lesser matters, when the great point was once gained, as the saddle goes into the bargain for the horse. And indeed though a poor heretick may hope for mercy, notwithstanding his abbey-lands, because it may be supposed to be a sin of ignorance in him, so that he possesses them with a good conscience, and is that which the law calls bonæ fidei possessor; yet I see no remedy for such as go over to the church of Rome; for, if there is a sin in the world that is condemned by that church, it is sacrilege; so that they must be mala fidei possessores, that continue in it, after the enlightening which that church offers them.

A man may as well be a papist, and not believe transubstantiation, nor worship the host, as be one, and still enjoy his church-lands. Nor can any confessor, that understands the principles of his own religion, give absolution to such as are involved in that guilt, without restitution: so that it is a vain thing to talk of securing men in the possession of those lands, if popery should ever prevail: for, though the court of Rome would, to facilitate our reconciliation, offer some deceitful confirmation, as was done by Cardinal Pool, yet no man, after he went over to that church, could suffer himself to enjoy them: every fit of sickness, or cross accident, would, by the priest's rheto rick, look like the beginning of the curse that fell on Ananias and Sapphira. The terrible imprecations, that are in the endowments of monasteries, would be always tingling in his ears; and, if absolution were denied, especially in the hour of death, what haste would the poor man make to get rid of that weight which must sink him into hell? For, as he must not hope for such good quarters as purgatory, so, if he happened to go thither, he would be so scurvily used by the poor souls, which have been kept frying there, for want of the masses which would have been said for them in the abbey-church, if he had not with-held the rents, that he would find so little difference between that and hell, that even there he might be tempted to turn Protestant again, and believe that purgatory was no better than hell. If any will object, that, at least, Cardinal Pool's settlement secures them till it is annulled at Rome: To this, as these papers will of fer an answer, since his settlement was to have no force, till it was confirmed by the apostolick see, which was never yet done: so if our English Papists go into the opinion that is now generally received and asserted in France, that the pope's power is limited by the canons, and subject to the church; then the confirmation given by cardinal Pool is null of itself, though it had been granted exactly according to the letter of his instructions: since there has been, in several ages of the church, so vast a number of canons made against the alienations of church lands, that, if they were all laid together, they L

VOL. IX.

would make a big book; for, in the ages of superstition, as the church-men were mightily set on inriching the church, so they made sure work, and took special care that nothing should be torn from it, that was once consecrated.

But I return from this digression, to give you some account of the other letters, that are in my register. There is a letter of Cardinal Morone's to Pool, of the thirteenth of July, sent also by Ormanet, in which he tells him: that though the emperor had writ very extravagantly of him to the pope; yet the pope said, he was sure there was no just occasion given for it. And whereas the emperor pressed that Pool might be recalled; the pope continued firm in his resolution, not to consent to so dishonourable a thing. He adds, that the pope was not yet determined in the business of the church-lands, but had spoken very often very variously concerning that matter. After this, there follows another breve of the tenth of July, by which the pope, upon the consideration of the prince of Spain's being married to the queen of England, enlarges Pool's powers, and authorises him, as his legate, to treat with him: But this is merely a point of form.

Pool sent Ormanet, with an account of this dispatch, that he had received from Rome, to the bishop of Arras, to be presented by him to the emperor. All the answer that he could procure, as appears by Ormanet's letter, was, that the emperor had no news from England since his son's marriage; but that he would send an express thither, to know the state of affairs there; which he thought must be done first, before the legate could go over. And of this the Bishop of Arras writ to Pool, three days after Ormanet came to him; his letter bears date from Bouchain, the third of August, 1554.

By Ormanet's letter it appears, that these last powers gave the em. peror full satisfaction, and were not at all excepted against; only Granvel made some difficulty in one point, Whether the settlement of the church-lands should be granted as a grace of the pope's, by the cardinal's hands, immediately to the possessors; or should be grant ed to Philip and Mary, and by their means to the possessors? For it seems, it was thought a surer way to engage the crown, to maintain what was done, if the pope were engaged for it to the crown, with which he would not venture so easily to break, as he might perhaps do with the possessors themselves. But Ormanet gave him full sa. tisfaction in that matter; for the manner of settling, it being referred wholly to the cardinal by his powers, he promised, that he would order it in the way, that should give the nation most content.

The emperor's delays became very uneasy to Cardinal Pool, upon which he wrote to Soto, that was the emperor's confessor, the twelfth of August, and desired to speak with him. By the place, from whence the cardinal dates most of these letters, it appears he was then in a monastery, called Diligam, near Brussels. I will not determine whether it may not be a mistake, that passes so generally, that no wonder you have gone into it, that he was stopped at Dilling, a town upon the Danube, by the emperor's orders, which might have been founded on his being lodged in this monastery; for as he dates some of his letters, from Diligam, and others from Brussels; so he

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