shepherd, laidst down thy life in defence of thy flock, pray for England!" Another petition is as follows: "That it may please thee (O Lord) to hasten the conversion of this our miserable country, and reunite it to the ancient faith and communion of thy Church. We beseech thee to hear us." The Collect used on the festival of this Romish saint, has already been given.

We might also refer to The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin,* quoted by Fox, and to the Litany of Loretto, now used, in which many appellations from Scripture, which can belong only to God, are applied to the Virgin; but it is a painful subject, and the reader will probably be satisfied. We will merely add, that this litany contains the following anthem : "We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions, in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O ever-glorious and blessed Virgin. Pray for us, O holy mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ."

Do not these things forcibly remind us of the words of the prophet Hosea: "Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind." We refer to them " more in sorrow than in anger." Fervently would we entreat our Romanist countrymen to consider the advice given by the same prophet: "O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn unto the Lord; say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips. Ashur shall not save us, neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our Gods;' for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy." (Hos. xiv. 1—3.)

The following is an extract from our Lady's Psalter:

66 Why do our enemies fret and imagine vain things against us? Let thy right hand defend us, O Mother of God, terribly confounding and destroying them as a sword. Come unto her, all ye that labour, and are troubled, and she will give rest unto your souls. Come unto her in your temptations, and her loving countenance shall stablish and comfort you," -This indeed is Hyperdulia!

THE DAYS OF QUEEN MARY. 169

CHAPTER VIII.

Continuance and increase of the Persecutions.- Glover, Tankerfield, Smith, and others.

We now proceed to notice the persecutions in the diocese of Canterbury. Cranmer had been pronounced an obstinate heretic, but his See was not declared vacant; and although his death had been resolved upon, he was not brought to the stake. This was the effect of Gardiner's policy; he had long desired to be made Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Pope's Legate in England. The present Pope being a declared enemy of Cardinal Pole, Gardiner hoped his designs would now be accomplished; with this view he delayed the execution of Cranmer, till he could gain the Queen's favour sufficiently, to feel assured that the Archbishopric would be given to himself, and not to Pole.

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Meanwhile, the charge of the diocese was chiefly committed to Thornton, Suffragan of Dover, and Harpsfield, the Archdeacon of Canterbury. Thornton had formerly been spared by the lenity of Cranmer, when he had justly deserved punishment; but he now urged forward the prosecution of the Reformers with all his power.

On the 12th of July, 1555, BLAND, FRANKISH, SHETERDEN, and MIDDLETON, were burned in one fire, at Canterbury. Bland was Vicar of Adesham. Immediately after the accession of Queen Mary, some zealous Papists in his parish began to trouble him; and on the 28th of December, 1553, Mass being restored by law, they procured a neighbouring Priest to perform the Romish service. Bland, on entering the church, found him so engaged; but being reminded that these proceedings were now authorized, he declared that he would not offend against the law. He waited till the Priest had finished the Gospel, and then requested him to pause a little, while he addressed the people. He spoke to them" of the great goodness of God always shewed to his people until the time of Christ's coming, and in him, and in his coming, and among other benefits, he particularly reminded them of the great and comfortable Sacrament of his body and blood." He then proceeded to explain that the elements, after consecration, remained bread and wine, with other truths; upon which the Romanists seized him, and thrust him from the church with great violence. They afterwards took him and his clerk to Canterbury, where he was compelled to give bail for his appearance.

Having thus secured him in their toils, he was summoned from session to session, and at last, being committed to prison, was brought up, with others, and remanded continually, till the laws against heretics were fully revived. Bland's examinations are given at length by Fox. They turn almost entirely upon the usual topic of the real presence of Christ's body in the Sacrament: after long argument, he brought them to maintain the often repeated absurdity, that if a believer eat the consecrated host, he does not eat bread, but the real body of Christ; while, if a mouse ate the same host, it would only have eaten bread! At last, on the 25th of June, 1555, he was condemned.

NICHOLAS SHETERDEN was a layman; his examinations also are recorded at length, and relate to the same subject.

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burned at Canterbury.

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In the course of them, Harpsfield stated, that it was the intention of the Priest, and not the words of consecration, that turned the bread into flesh and blood. This is a refinement of Romanism, of which the reader probably is not aware; and in which, by endeavouring to avoid one absurdity, the Church of Rome falls into a greater. The meaning is, that if the Priest is not in earnest while he is engaged in performing any of the Seven Sacraments of the Romish Church, they are not really or effectually performed, so as to avail for the salvation of souls! Sheterden's answer points out the consequence; it was to this effect: "then if the Priest do mind his harlot, or any other vain thing, it is not Christ's body and blood. How then can the people tell when it is, or when it is not, seeing it entirely rests with the mind of the Priest? And if it is not changed, the people commit idolatry in worshipping a mere wafer." Harpsfield was silenced; but his assistants tried to help him. Sheterden was in their power; and refusing to recant, was condemned.

In a letter to his brother, he wrote thus, "Though I be not learned, (as the vain men of the world call learning) yet I thank my Lord God, I have learned out of God's book to know God from his creatures, and to know Christ from his sacraments, and to put a difference between the merits of Christ's sufferings and his supper, and a difference between the water of Baptism and the Holy Ghost, and not to mix and mingle all things confusedly together; so that if one ask me a question or a reason of my faith, I must say, 'I believe as the holy Church believeth.""

FRANKISH was Vicar of Rolvenden; and MIDDLETON was a layman of Ashford; they were condemned on similar grounds, and were burned together in one fire.

NICHOLAS HALL, a bricklayer, of Dartford, was burned at Rochester, about the 19th of July, having been condemned for denying the Romish doctrine of the Mass.

MARGARET POLLEY and CHRISTOPHER WAID were the next sufferers. The former was the FIRST female burned alive in this reign, and she was a widow! As usual, her accusation and condemnation turned upon the absurdity of the Mass.

CHRISTOPHER WAID was a linen weaver at Dartford, and was burned on the Brent, near that town, about the

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Waid and Margaret Polley burned.

middle of July. The circumstances are thus described by two Ministers who were present. A great number of persons assembled, so that several horse loads of cherries, which were brought from the neighbouring orchards, were sold among the crowd. About ten o'clock, the Sheriff and a great company appeared, bringing Waid and Margaret Polley from Rochester, pinioned in a cart, but singing a psalm, with cheerful voices. When they saw the crowd,

Rejoice, Waid," said she, " to see such a company gathered to celebrate your marriage this day." They were carried to an inn. Waid was then dressed in a long shirt, prepared for him by his wife, and led to the stake. As soon as all was settled, he repeated, with a loud and cheerful voice, and uplifted hands, the last verse of the 86th Psalm, "Shew some good token upon me, O Lord, that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed, because thou, Lord, hast helped me, and comforted me."

A pulpit was set up, and a Friar entered it, ready to preach; but as soon as Waid saw him, he exhorted the people to beware of the Harlot of Babylon, and continued to do so, till the Friar shrunk away abashed, and gave up his design. The executioners heaped up the reeds and faggots; and although Waid endeavoured to keep an opening before his face, they blocked it up. The fire being kindled, he was heard to exclaim, "Lord Jesus, receive my soul!" and continued to do so, without impatience; standing still, and holding up his hands clasped together, above his head, as if engaged in prayer; and remained in this attitude, even when he was dead, and altogether roasted, as though they had been stayed up with a prop under them." Thus, as it were, having a token shewn upon him, to the confusion of his enemies.* Margaret Polley was carried on to Tunbridge, and suffered there.

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On the 22d of July, DIRICK CARVER, a brewer, of Brighton, was burned at Lewes; and on the following day, JOHN LAUNDER, of Godstone, suffered at Steyning. They

* Fox gives these partieulars from the narrative of two Kentish clergymen, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, named Fletcher. We may here notice once for all, that when Fox details any minute particulars, he almost invariably states the authority upon which he gives them; in general, these particulars were related by persons who were alive at the time when his work was published.