imprison a man for talking of the manner in which he meant to act upon an occasion not yet arrived; it of course remaining to be seen whether in the mean time he might not discover reason to alter his mind. All his pleas, however, were disregarded, and he found that unless he would consent at once to receive the injunctions without any qualification he must leave the council-chamber in custody. To this disagreeable alternative he made up his mind, and under every appearance of magnanimity, he was conducted prisoner to the Fleet. While in confinement there all practicable attention was paid to his personal comfort, but it was deemed advisable to restrain from access to him certain persons, considered probably as likely to carry on a communication between him, and his party without".

Those who ordered Bishop Gardiner's committal undoubtedly possessed a knowledge of their age in which a distant posterity shares but imperfectly, and they probably were acquainted with many important circumstances of which every trace has long since been lost. Hence, it

Bp. Gardiner's letter. Strype. Mem. Cranm. 217.

In the copy of a writ, or evidence respecting the Bishop of Winchester's misdemeanour, it is said of his confinement in the Fleet, that he was there" as much at his ease, as if he had been at his own house." (Foxe, 1219.) On the other hand, Gardiner himself alleged in one of his letters to the Protector, that "he was allowed no friend or servant, no chaplain, barber, tailor, nor physician." (Strype, Mem. Cranm. 213.) These statements appear incapable of being satisfactorily reconciled with each other except upon the principle adopted in the text.

might have been determined, upon grounds appearing sufficient to men of moderation and experience, that all who would not submit unreservedly to the projected visitation should be treated as enemies to the public peace. Such had already been the line of conduct pursued in the Bishop of London's case, and therefore, the council was bound in equity to treat in a similar manner the refractory spirit displayed by Bishop Gardiner. In this instance, however, the results of the course adopted were upon the whole unfortunate; for although the government overpowered for a time its most dangerous opponent, it placed him in a light far more advantageous than any that he had ever occupied before. Hitherto the Bishop of Winchester had been known only as a fortunate adventurer early conducted by his talents for secular affairs to a splendid ecclesiastical appointment, and though ever on the watch to maintain the religious principles in which he was bred, yet always willing rather to decline the open support of them than to make any personal sacrifice. Now, however, his artifices availed him no longer, and he found himself treated as an avowed partizan of the Romish cause, whose hostility to its designs the government had determined to crush. He was thus obliged either to stand forth as the champion of a party which, though rapidly sinking in political influence, was yet dear to a majority of the people, or to adopt the tergiversation displayed by his brother of London, to the great disgust of his friends, and to the serious injury of

that interest in whose exertions were centred all his hopes of regaining his own ascendancy in the state. Bishop Gardiner chose the former alternative, and his first appearance in the new character which he assumed reflects considerable honour upon his memory.

He had not lain many days in prison before Cranmer endeavoured once more to work upon him by argument and persuasion. The Archbishop paying a visit to Dr. William May, the dean of St. Paul's', in company with the Bishops of Lincoln and Rochester, Dr. Cox, and some others, desired to see Gardiner, at the deanery, and laboured to convince him, that the doctrines now recommended by authority were perfectly sound. This, however, the imprisoned prelate would by no means admit. In vain did Cranmer urge, that when justification was declared to flow through faith alone, nothing more was intended than to teach men the danger of confiding in their own merits as the ground of expecting God's favour. Gardiner challenged the whole party opposed to him to produce any ancient father affirm

"Elected Feb. 8, 1545, and in the first of Queen Mary he was deprived." Le Neve, 185.

"Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, died the 7th of May preceding. The congé d'elire was not given till the 1st of August. Holbeach, Bishop of Rochester, was chosen to Lincoln on the 9th, and confirmed on the 20th of the same month." Life of Bishop Ridley, 211.

Dr. Nicholas Ridley, who was recently consecrated to the see of Rochester; most probably on the 25th of September.

ing, that faith excludes charity in the office of justification'. A few words of his own comprise all the account of this conference known to be extant, and the answer of his opponents does not appear. It is only certain, that nothing which passed, not even a hint from Cranmer that he could wish to see him reinstated at the councilboard, induced him to swerve from his determination, and accordingly he again found himself consigned for an indefinite time to his quarters in the Fleet.

In the hope of shaking his resolution, Sir John Godsalve, one of the visitors for the London district', wrote to him to represent the ruinous consequences likely to flow to himself from a perseverance in his present conduct. Gardiner's answer, though rather verbose, contained passages worthy of any man, and of any cause. "Sixteen years," he wrote to the Knight, "have I held my bishopric, without infringing, in my official capacity, the laws of God, or those of the King. Equally blameless was I in these respects, on taking possession of my see; I have, therefore, the satisfaction of knowing, that the two portions of my life already spent have only been marked by such miscarriages as human frailty must be expected to pro

Collier, II. 232.

* "As Gardiner writ to the Protector." Burnet, Hist. Ref. II. 59.

As the diocese of Winchester was not included in this district it seems not unlikely, that Godsalve was a personal friend of the Bishop's.

duce in any man. Now, if I play the third part well, and depart from my bishopric without of fence to God's law, or the King's, I shall think the tragedy of my life well passed over. Thus to demean myself is at this time my only desire and study; nor if this third act be finished well, do I care whether my bishopric be taken from me, or myself from my bishopric. I am by nature already condemned to die; a sentence which no man can reverse, or even assure me of delay in the execution of it. Of necessity, therefore, within a short time, my preferment must come again into the King's disposal, my household must be broken up, and all the habits of my life must find an end. The thought of these things, however, troubles me nothing. In my house in London I lately fitted up a pleasant study, which for a time afforded to me great delight; but I grew weary of it, and was glad to leave it for the country. From this I feel justified in concluding, that provided I retain honesty, and truth, I could easily make up my mind to relinquish any worldly pleasure. But these good qualities have attended me through life, they will befriend a man when every thing else forsakes him, no one can take them from me but myself, and I will not surrender them: they are dearer to me than all the possessions in the realm. Were I to take leave of truth and honesty, then, indeed, I should deserve to lose my bishopric, and the gaping expectants of it would have reason to exult over my fall. I shall, however, give them no such pleasure." The Bishop then