CLAIM TO ANTIQUITY MADE BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.

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tinental language, and is said, with good reason, to have contributed more than any other work to the promotion of the cause of the Reformation. It is distinguished by extreme gracefulness of Latinity, moderation of tone, acuteness of reasoning, and extent of learning. Though styled an Apology for the Church of England," it is in reality a defence of Protestantism against the Roman Catholics, and has no reference to the peculiar opinions of any particular section of Protestants. It is in many respects superior to the famous work of Chillingworth on the same subject; and is perhaps the best and most learned of all the treatises in defence of Protestantism. The following is from a translation by Lady Bacon, mother of the famous Bacon:

CLAIM TO ANTIQUITY MADE BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.—(“ APOLOGY," PART V., CHAPTER V., DIVISION IV., ETC.)

What great pomp and crack' is this they (the Roman Catholics) make of antiquity? Why brag they so of the ancient fathers, and of the new and old councils? Why will they seem to trust to their authority, whom when they list they despise at their own pleasure?

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But I have a special fancy to common2 a word or two rather with the pope's good holiness, and to say these things to his own face. Tell us, I pray you, good holy father, seeing ye do crack so much of all antiquity, and boast yourself that all men are joined to you alone, which of all the fathers have at any time called you by the name of the highest prelate, the universal bishop, or the head of the church? Which of the ancient fathers or doctors ever said that both the swords were committed to you? Which of them ever said that you have authority and a right to call councils? Which of them ever said that the whole world is but your diocese? Which of them, that all bishops have received of your fulness? Which of them, that all power is given to you as well in heaven as in earth? Which of them, that neither kings, nor the whole clergy, not yet all people together, are able to be judges over you? Which of them, that kings and emperors by Christ's commandment and will do receive authority at your hand? Which of them, with so precise and mathematical limitation, hath surveyed and determined you to be seventy and seven times greater than the mightiest kings? Which of them, that more ample authority is given to you than to the residue of the patriarchs? Which of them, that you are the Lord God, or that you are not a mere natural man, but a certain substance made and grown together of God and man? Which of them, that you are the only head-spring of all law? Which of them, that you have power over purgatories? Which of them, that you are able to command the angels of God as you list yourself? Which of them that ever said that you are the Lord of lords, and the King of kings?

i. e., talk or boast.

2 i. c., commune, exchange.

All the assertions which follow had been made by modern Roman Catholic authors. i. e., the Archbishops of Constantinople, Antioch, and Alexandria.

We can also go further with you in like sort. What one amongst the whole number of the old bishops and fathers ever taught you, either to say private mass whiles the people stared on, or to lift up the sacraments over your head (in which point consisteth now all your religion); or else to mangle Christ's sacraments, and to bereave the people of the one part, contrary to Christ's institution and plain expressed words? But, that we may once come to an end, what one is there of all the fathers which hath taught you to distribute Christ's blood and the holy martyrs' merits, and to sell openly as merchandizes your pardons and all the rooms and lodgings of purgatory? These men are wont to speak much of a certain secret doctrine of theirs, and manifold and sundry readings. Then let them bring forth somewhat now, if they can, that it may appear they have at least read, or do know somewhat. They have often stoutly noised in all corners where they went, how all the parts of their religion be very old, and have been approved not only by the multitude, but also by the consent and continual observation of all nations and times. Let them, therefore, once in their life show this their antiquity; let them make appear at eye, that the things whereof they make such ado have taken so long and large increase: let them declare that all Christian nations have agreed by consent to this their religion.

X. RAPHAEL HOLINSHED AND WILLIAM HARRISON.

Of these, the most important of our old chroniclers, scarce anything is known. Holinshed is said to have been of a respectable family in Cheshire; to have been employed as steward by a gentleman in Warwickshire; and to have died in 1582. His "Chronicles" were first published in 1577, and consist of a very voluminous history of England, Scotland, and Ireland, from the earliest periods to the reign of Elizabeth. To this is prefixed a description of the physical features of Great Britain, with an account of the productions, animal, vegetable, and mineral, of the country; and of the appearance, manners, dress, and food of the inhabitants. This part was written by Harrison, and is so extremely minute, and in general so accurate, that its value as a historical document cannot be overrated. The historical part of the Chronicles" was compiled by Holinshed, with the assistance of John Hooker (said to be uncle to the famous Richard Hooker, author of the Ecclesiastical Polity"), John Stow, Richard Stainhurst, and others. Much of it is fabulous, and has been superseded by modern discoveries; yet it has been drawn with great care from the heterogeneous compositions of nearly two hundred preceding writers, and has furnished the chief part of the materials of all succeeding historians. To the student of literature, it is further interesting as having supplied many of our old poets and dramatists with the outlines of their plots, and the ground-work of their poems. In fact, without the information which Holinshed affords, much of our older history and literature

OF THE APPAREL AND ATTIRE OF THE ENGLISH.

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would be to the modern student almost unintelligible. A revised edition of the "Chronicles" appeared in 1587, enlarged and improved by Abraham Fleming, one of the minor poets of the period, and an admirable reprint was issued at London in 1807. Its size may be estimated by the fact that this edition extends to six bulky quarto volumes, each containing nearly eight hundred pages of close type. The style of the "Chronicle" is in general dry and lumbering; it is not, however, without occasional vigour, as the following extracts will show.

1. OF THE APPAREL AND ATTIRE OF THE ENGLISH.— -("DESCRIPTION OF ENGLAND" BY HARRISON, BOOK II., CHAP. VII.)

An Englishman, endeavouring sometime to write of our attire, made sundry platforms for his purpose, supposing by some of them to find out one steadfast ground whereon to build the sum of his discourse. But in the end, when he saw what a difficult piece of work he had taken in hand, he gave over his travel, and only drew the picture of a naked man, unto whom he gave a pair of shears in the one hand, and a piece of cloth in the other, to the end he should shape his apparel after such fashion as himself liked, sith' he could find no kind of garment that could please him anywhile together, and this he called an Englishman. Certes this writer2 (otherwise a lewd popish hypocrite and ungracious priest) showed himself herein not to be altogether void of judgment, sith the phantastical folly of our nation, even from the courtier to the carter, is such, that no form of apparel liketh us longer than the first garment is in the wearing, if it continue so long and be not laid aside, to receive some other trinket newly devised by the fickle-headed tailors, who covet to have several tricks in cutting, thereby to draw fond customers to more expense of money.

For my part I can tell better how to inveigh against this enormity than describe any certainty of our attire; sithence such is our mutability, that to day there is none3 to the Spanish guise, tomorrow the French toys are most fine and delectable, ere long no such apparel as that which is after the high Alman fashion, by-andby the Turkish manner is generally best liked of, otherwise the Morisco gowns, the Barbarian sleeves, and the short French breeches make such a comely vesture, that except it were a dog in a doublet, you shall not see any so disguised as are my countrymen of England. And as these fashions are diverse, so likewise it is a world to see the costliness and the curiosity; the excess and the vanity; the pomp and the bravery; the change and the variety;

1 i.e., since; the form sithence is also used for since; the old spelling has been in general retained in these extracts.

2 Harrison refers to one Andrew Boord, and being somewhat of a Puritan, he indulges in a little vindictive spleen at the writer's religion.

3 i. e., there is no dress thought comparable to the Spanish guise.

4 i. e., German.

5 Moorish.

i.e., in the fashion of Barbary.

and finally, the fickleness and folly that is in all degrees, insomuch that nothing is so constant in England as inconstancy of attire.

Oh how much cost is bestowed now-a-days upon our bodies, and how little upon our souls! How many suits of apparel hath the one, and how little furniture hath the other! How long time is asked in decking up of the first, and how little space left wherein to feed the latter! How curious, how nice also, are a number of men and women, and how hardly can the tailor please them in making it fit for their bodies! How many times must it be sent back again to him that made it! What chafing! What fretting! What reproachful language doth the poor workman bear away! And many times when he doeth nothing to it at all, yet when it is brought home again, it is very fit and handsome: then must we put it on, then must the long seams of our hose be set by a plumb-line, then we puff, then we blow, and finally sweat till we drop, that our clothes may stand well upon us. I will say nothing of our heads, which sometimes are polled, sometimes curled, or suffered to grow at length like woman's locks, many times cut above or under the ears round as by a wooden dish.1 Neither will I meddle with our variety of beards, of which some are shaven from the chin like those of Turks, not a few cut short like to the beard of Marquess Otto, some made round like a rubbing-brush, others with a pique de vent (O fine fashion!) or now and then suffered to grow long, the barbers being grown to be so cunning in this behalf as the tailors. And therefore if a man have

a lean and straight face, a Marquess Otto's cut will make it broad and large; if it be platter-like, a long slender beard will make it seem the narrower; if he be weasel-beaked, then much hair left on the cheeks will make the owner look big like a bowdled' hen, and so grim as a goose; many old men do wear no beards at all. Some lusty courtiers also and gentlemen of courage do wear either rings of gold, stones, or pearl in their ears, whereby they imagine the workmanship of God to be not a little amended. But herein they rather disgrace than adorn their persons, as by their niceness in apparel, for which I say most nations do not unjustly deride us, as also for that we do seem to imitate all nations round about us, wherein we be like to the chameleon. In women also it is most to be lamented, that they do now far exceed the lightness of our men (who nevertheless are transformed from the cap even to the very shoe), and such staring attire, as in time past was supposed meet for none but light housewives only, is now become a habit for chaste and sober matrons. What should I say of their doublets, with pendant pieces on the breast full of jags and cuts, and sleeves of sundry colours? their galligascons to make their attire sit plum round (as they term it) about them? their fardingals, and diverselycoloured nether stocks of silk, jersey, and such like, whereby their

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1 Alluding to a primitive method of haircutting, not yet obsolete in rural districts, by placing a wooden or earthenware bowl on the head, and then cropping the hair close round by the edge. 2 i. e., swollen, puffed out, ruffled with rage.

3 i. e., large hose.

4 i. e., hoops.

GENERAL CONSTITUTION OF THE BODIES OF THE BRITONS.

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bodies are rather deformed than commended? I have met with some of them in London so disguised, that it hath past my skill to discern whether they were men or women. Certes1 the commonwealth cannot be said to flourish where these abuses reign, but is rather oppressed by unreasonable exactions made upon rich farmers, and of poor tenants, wherewith to maintain the same. Neither was it ever merrier with England than when an Englishman was known abroad by his own cloth, and contented himself at home with his fine kersey hosen2 and a mean slop; his coat, gown, and cloak, of brown, blue, or puce, with some pretty furniture of velvet or fur, and a doublet of sad, tawny, or black velvet, or other comely silk, without such cuts and garish colours as are worn in these days, and never brought in but by the consent of the French, who think themselves the gayest men when they have most diversities of jags and change of colours about them.

2. OF THE GENERAL CONSTITUTION OF THE BODIES OF THE BRITONS.("DESCRIPTION OF BRITAIN," BOOK I., CAP. XX.)

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Such as are bred in this island are men for the most part of a good complexion, tall of stature, strong in body, white of colour, and thereto of great boldness and courage in the wars. As for their general comeliness of person, the testimony of Gregory the Great, at such time as he saw English captives sold at Rome, shall easily confirm what it is, which yet doth differ in sundry shires and soils. As concerning the stomachs also of our nation in the field, they have always been in sovereign admiration among foreign princes; for such hath been the estimation of our soldiers from time to time, since our ile hath been known to the Romans, that wheresoever they have served in foreign countries, the chief brunts of service have been reserved unto them. Of their conquest and bloody battles won in France, Germany, and Scotland, our histories are full; and where they have been overcome, the victors themselves confessed their victories to have been so dearly bought, that they would not gladly covet to overcome often, after such difficult manner. In martial prowess, there is little or no difference between Englishmen and Scots; for albeit that the Scots have been often and very grievously overcome by the force of our nation, it hath not been for want of manhood on their parts, but through the mercy of God showed on us, and His justice upon them, sith they always have be

1 i. e., certainly. 2 The old form of the plural for hose; similar instances occur in oxen, &c. 3 i. e., trousers. 4 a. e., dark-coloured. 5 Brown, the colour of tanned leather, hence the name.

6 According to a well-known story, Pope Gregory, struck with admiration of the beauty of some captives set up for sale in the slave-market at Rome, asked them who they were; they replied that they were Angli (English); "you are well named Angeli (angels)," said the Pope, "for your beauty is more than mortal."

1 i. e., courage.

8 Isle is always in Holinshed spelled ile; as the spelling prevailed generally at the time, it will explain our omission in pronunciation of the s, which for etymological reasons we retain in the spelling.