bishops had made such a sensation in 1588, a few years after—having himself become Bishop of London in the interval—writing to Sir J. Stanhope in 1599 as follows, in evident tribulation at having fallen into disgrace with the Queen: 'Those things that I do well in are either kept from her or depraved, and every omission or want of foresight has been aggravated ever since I was bishop; so that I rather marvel at her clemency, that she has not either cast me into prison, or thrust me from my bishoprick, than to hear of her great displeasure towards me.' This seems to show that he felt no great confidence that the 'Divine right,' which he had so mildly suggested in his sermoii, would avail much against the papal power which he had so boldly claimed for the Queen in the same sermon.
There is a very curious paper which is anonymous,[1] in which it is argued that the Queen in her recent general pardon could not have intended to include offences, such as adultery, &c., punishable by ecclesiastical law, because though she has the power of the Pope (and, the writer seems to imply, even more, inasmuch as she has it de jure as well as de facto, which the Pope had not), yet as the Pope 'non potest dispensare contra jus divinum ant naturale,' neither can the Queen. This was the very question which was argued in regard to Katherine of Arragon's divorce.
Lord Huntingdon, when first made President of the North, began his instructions to the Justices of the Peace thus: ' You are first to inquire and certify to us the names and addresses of all known and suspected Papists within your rule, the enemies of God and of good order.'[2]
Another anonymous paper[3] says: 'The realm is divided into three parties, the Papist, the Atheist, and the Protestant. All these are alike favoured: the first and second being many, we dai'e not displease them; the third because, having religion, we fear to displease God in them. All three are blamed: the Papist as a traitor, the Atheist as godless, the Protestant as a precisian. The last should not be feared, as he obeys in God's fear; the other two know no obedience, and Government must either tread down the bad, or let them devour the godly,' &c. This appears to be a Puritan production, but it shows something of the contemporary view of the Church of Rome.
In another paper[4] we have a letter from one Copley,
