THE
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
About five years since I had the pleasure of recommending this delightful piece of genuine biography to the attention of those who are gratified by authentic pictures of ancient manners and ancient virtues. The very limited impression then published was received in the most flattering manner, and copies have now for some time ranked among the number of scarce books. More than one literary journal of eminence gave its approving voice, and recommended the reproduction of this biographical gem in a form which would give it more extensive circulation. I have at length listened to the suggestion, and my good fortune has enabled me very much to amend the text by the collation of two manuscript copies. One of these, in the handwriting of Roper's age, has come into my possession since the former edition was printed; for the collation of the other I am indebted to the polite attention of Sir William Strickland, Baronet, of Boynton, in Yorkshire; who was kind enough to furnish me with it: a favour conveyed in the most agreeable manner, as it came unsolicited, and which I have much pleasure in gratefully acknowledging[1].
The first edition of this little book is of great rarity: it bears the date of Paris, 1626, but was probably printed in England. It was then not uncommon for books which favoured Catholic doctrines to have a foreign imprint, even when not printed abroad. It is remarkable that the Life of Sir Thomas More, by his great-grandson, Thomas More, was first printed in the succeeding year.
In 1716, Thomas Hearne, the celebrated antiquary, gave to the world another impression, and boasts of having had the choice of several manuscript copies; he does not however seem to have been fortunate in the one he selected, but he has followed it most scrupulously in every particular, errors and redundancies not excepted. His various readings at the end of the volume offer many emendations, of which he, perhaps with too punctilious accuracy, omitted to avail himself in the construction of his text.
In 1729, the Rev. John Lewis, well known by his Life of Caxton and other autiquarian publications, again committed it to the press; upon the whole his edition may be pronounced superior to either of the former, yet it is not without its defects. The manuscript from which Lewis printed was lent him by Mr. Thomas Beake of Stourmouth, in Kent, and appears in many instances to have deserved the preference over those collated by Hearne; but this is not always the case, and it frequently happens that where the sense in the latter is simple and obvious, Mr. Beake's MS, has it involved and obscure.
Mr. Lewis's edition was again printed in London in 1731, and in Dublin in 1765. It was from a collation of the printed copies with Lewis's manuscript collections for his edition, I prepared that which I published in 1817.
Upon the present occasion I have carefully revised the text by a comparison of the two manuscripts mentioned above with my former edition, and the result has been the correction of many errors, some of which materially affected the sense. I have in this instance been induced to reform the unsettled and wretched orthography and punctuation, so as to render this edition acceptable to the general reader, for whom it is more particularly designed; at the same time I beg to assure the literary antiquary that it has been done with proper caution, and that the colour of the style will not be found changed by this innovation.
In the present, as in the former impression, I have given that part of Hearne's Latin preface to his edition of this work which has relation to it; also Mr. Lewis's preface, and the Dedication to the first edition by its anonymous editor T. P.
It should appear that Mr. Roper compiled this life about the close of Queen Mary's reign (A.D. 1557), when Sir Thomas More's English Works were first collected and printed, at the queen's instance, by his nephew, Mr. Justice Rastall. Perhaps it was not ready for the press before the death of Mary, and it is obvious why it was not printed during the reign of her successor. Like other books of a Catholic tendency it was handed about in manuscript, and in the course of frequent transcripts the text became very much corrupted. It is hoped that the two excellent manuscripts which have been collated for this edition may have restored the text to nearly its original integrity.
The Appendix has received some further augmentation which I think will be found acceptable; and here I have continued the old spelling and pointing, because the letters are taken from the printed copy of Sir Thomas More's works, which Dr. Johnson thought might "be better trusted than any English book of that or the preceding age." Some additions have also been made to the notes in the present edition.
A beautiful reduced copy of the exquisite drawing by Holbein, in the collection of his late Majesty, has been added, as giving the most authentic idea of Sir Thomas More's person[2], and therefore the most appropriate accompaniment to this interesting delineation of his life and virtues.
The following minute description of his person and habits, said to be "according to the relation of those who best knew him," may be no unacceptable addition to the article in the Appendix.
"Sir Thomas More was no tall man; all the parts of his body were in good proportion, and congruous as man could wish. His skin was something white; the colour of his face drew rather to whiteness than to paleness, far from redness, saving that some little red sparkes every where appeared. His hair was blackish yellow, or rather yellow blackish, his beard thin; his eyes grey and speckled, which kind of eyes do commonly betoken a good and sharp wit, and as physicians say are least cumber'd with diseases and faults; his were not great, nor yet glittering, yet much pleasing. His countenance was conformable to his nature and disposition, pleasant and amiable, somewhat resembling to the fashion of one that would seem to smile. His voice was neither boisterous nor big, nor yet too small and shrill; he spake his words very distinctly and treatably, without any manner of hastiness or stuttering; and albeit he delighted in all kind of melody, yet he seemed not of his own nature to be apt to sing himself. He enjoyed the health of his body very well: and although he was never a strong man, yet he was able to go through with any labour and pains meet and convenient for him to dispatch his business. A little before he gave over his office of Lord Chancellor, he began to be troubled with a little sickness, and after he was shut up in the Tower it much increased. When he was a young man, he used and delighted in drinking of water; his common drink was very small ale; and as for wine he did but sip of it, and that only for company's sake, or for pledging his friends. He delighted more to feed on beef, and salt meats, coarse bread, and that very well leavened, than upon fine meats and bread. He loved well milk and fruit, and especially eggs. He had great pleasure to behold the form and fashion of beasts and fowls. There was not lightly any kind of birds that he had not in his house. He kept an ape, a fox, a weasel, a ferret, and other beasts more rare. If there had been any strange thing brought out of other countries, and worthy to be looked on, he was desirous to buy it, and ail this was to the contentation and pleasure of such as came to him; and himself now and then would take recreation in beholding them[3]."
Some additional particulars relating to Mr. Roper from the same source will not be misplaced here. It appears that "When he was married he was a zealous Protestant; and withal liked so well of himself and his divine learning, * * * that he thirsted very sore to divulge his doctrine to the world, and thought himself able to defend it against any; so he much longed to be pulpited. His zeal was so great in Luther's new religion, he could have been contented, so that he might have satisfied his mad affection, to have foregone a good portion of his lands, which by inheritance were fair and ample; for his father was the King's Attorney General, and had procured for him the Prothonotary's office in the King's Bench, which hitherto hath continued in his name. * * His fall into heresy, as he afterward would often say, did first grow of a scruple of his own conscience, for lack of grace and better understanding. For he daily did use immoderate fasting and many prayers; which if discretion and counsel had prescribed, it had been well; but using them of his own head, without order and good consideration, thinking God never to be pleased therewith, he did weary himself usque ad tedium, even unto loathsomeness thereof. Then did he understand of certaine books of Friar Luther's * * and he was so infected with the poison of them that he believed every thing that Luther said to be most true * * and was fully of opinion that only faith doth justify, and that good works do nothing profit; and that if a man would once believe that Christ died for him it was enough; then all the ceremonies, rites, and sacraments used in the church of God were vain and superstitious. And so far he waded in these heresies that he wished he might be suffered publicly to preach; thinking, as we have said, that he should be better able to edify the people than the best Doctor that comes to Paul's Cross. And thus for his open talk, and companying with divers merchants of the Stilyard, and others suspected of heresy, he was convened before Cardinal Wolsey. The merchants abjured at Paul's Cross; yet Master Roper, for some respect the Cardinal bore to Sir Thomas, his father-in-law, was, after a friendly warning, discharged for that time.
"Albeit Master Roper married Sir Thomas his eldest daughter, yet of all men in the world, at that time he least loved him, yea, in his heart abhorred him. And no marvel, for Luther's easy, short, and licentious doctrine had cast him to so sweet a sleep that he gave over his fasting, his prayers, and loathed both good books and good folks, and got himself forsooth a Lutheran Bible, wherein upon the holidays, instead of his prayers he spent his whole time, thinking it sufficient to get a little knowledge, and to be able amongst the ignorant persons to babble and talk, as though he had been a great Doctor. Thus he continued some years, and could not be recovered by any means. Upon a time Sir Thomas talking with his daughter Margaret, said unto her in this sort, 'Meg, I have borne a long time with thy husband; I have reasoned and argued a long time with him, and still given him my poor fatherly counsel; but I perceive none of all this can call him home again. And therefore, Meg, I will no longer dispute with him; nor yet will I give him over, but I will go another way to work, and get me to God, and pray for him.' And presently upon this through the great mercy of God, and the devout prayer of his father-in-law, he perceived his own ignorance, malice, and folly, and returned again to the Catholic faith. And so firmly was rooted and fixed in it that he continued very resolute and constant unto his life's end, and left it as an inheritance unto his house and children; and was afterwards a singular helper and patron to all afflicted Catholics, and especially to such as were in prison, or otherwise troubled for the defence of the Catholic faith. His ordinary alms, as yet to be seen in his book of accounts, amounted yearly to one thousand[4] pounds: his extraordinaries were as much, and sometimes more; sometimes two, three, and four thousand pounds a year. He was for relieving by his alms a learned man, Master Beckenshawe, sent to the Tower, in the reign of King Henry the Eighth. His charity and alms were so great to poor and needy persons that it was a hard matter to find another of his degree, who might in that respect be compared with him: for he was oculus cccco, pes claudo, et pater pauperum; an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame, and a father to the poor[5]." Of Margaret Roper, his admirable wife, the same writer says, that " she was nearest her father as well in wit, learning, and virtue, as also in merry and pleasant talk, and in feature of body. She was to her servants meek and gentle; to her brothers and sisters most loving and amiable; to her friends steadfast and comfortable; and would give very sound counsel, which is a rare thing in a woman. Some men of good calling and experience, in their perplexities and difficult cases would consult with her, and found, as they afterward reported, as grave and profitable counsel at her hands as they doubted to find the like elsewhere. * * To her children she was a double mother, as not only to bring them forth to the world, but also brought them to Heaven-ward, by instructing them in learning and virtue. It happened her husband, upon a displeasure taken against him by the King, was sent to the Tower; whereupon certain commissioners were sent to search his house. So upon a sudden coming to her, they found her not puling and whining (as commonly they do in such cases), but cheerfully teaching her little children. They delivered to her their message; wherewith she was nothing appalled, but in her talk to them she showed such constancy, gravity, and wisdom, that they were in great admiration at her demeanour, and afterwards they would say that they could never speak so much good of her as she deserved. To her husband she was such a wife, as I suppose it were hard to match her; for she was so debonair and gentle, that Master Roper thought himself a happy man that ever he happened upon such a treasure; and he had her in such estimation that he would often say that she was more worthy, for her excellent qualities, to have been a Prince's wife. And he again was of his part so sober to her, so sweet, so modest, and so loving a husband, that if he had not been her husband, it might have seemed to have been her own germane brother, as Erasmus was wont to say of a happy couple. But above all, she was to her father a most natural loving child. And albeit her behaviour and reverence towards him all her lifetime was much to be commended, yet never so notably as after her father's trouble and imprisonment: and then not so much for her pains and travail, which she took to procure him some ease and relief, as for her wise and godly talk, and for her comfortable letters she often sent him, and for some other reasons; so that it well appeared she was the chiefest, and only comfort almost he had in the world. Erasmus wrote many Epistles to her, and dedicated his commentaries on certain hymns of Prudentius to this gentlewoman, and calleth her the flower of all the learned matrons of England. Nor was she meanly learned. She composed in Greek and Latin, both verse and prose, and that most eloquently. Her wit was sharp and quick."
A few additional particulars of no very great importance relating to the life of Sir Thomas More may be gleaned from this anonymous writer, who seems to have constructed his narrative fromRoper, Harpsfield, and Stapleton, together with copious extracts from the letters which are to be found in our Appendix. Dr. Wordsworth justly observes, "that by means of the successive lives of Sir Thomas More, we possess a curious specimen of the aversion which Popery has against reforming itself; or rather of its propensity to accumulate falsities and forgeries, even amidst surrounding reformation and refinement In Roper and Harpsfield there is scarcely any thing fanatical; Stapleton, who wrote (in 1588) about thirty years afterwards, and at a distance from the scene of action, being in exile at Douay, has detailed several miraculous stories[6]: but Mr. More, Sir Thomas's great grandson, whose life of his ancestor came out in the year 1627, goes much farther; (one very short specimen may be found in the note[7]). May we not easily believe that, but for the iniquity of the times, in another generation Sir Thomas More would have been canonized[8]?"
The character of Sir Thomas More has been variously estimated by writers of various parties, but all allow him to have been endowed with many virtues; and the only serious and unrefuted charge which can be brought against his memory, is the severity of misguided zeal with which he sought out and punished the early reformers, whom he unrelentingly persecuted with the pen and the scourge, as pernicious heretics. That he entertained more liberal opinions at his outset in life is apparent from his letters to Erasmus, and from some parts of his Utopia, in which he expressly declares that no man ought to be persecuted for his religious opinions. Yet at last he himself suffered death for a religious scruple of conscience! That he was a great and a good, though mistaken man, there can be no doubt; and, as Addison has elegantly remarked, "His death was of a piece with his life. There was nothing in it new, forced, or affected. He did not look upon the severing his head from his body as a circumstance that ought to produce any change in the disposition of his mind, and as he died under a fixed and settled hope of immortality, he thought any unusual degree of sorrow and concern improper on such an occasion, as had nothing in it which could deject or terrify him."
Box Hill,
August, 1822.
- ↑ Opposite the first page of Sir William Strickland's manuscript, are emblazoned the arms of Leigh and Egerton; beneath them are seven lines referring to the arms, and complimenting the bearer of them: these are signed Fra: Wynne. The manuscript is in the handwriting of the period at which Roper lived.
- ↑ The picture of the More family, described in Hearne's preface, and in No. XVII of the Appendix, has been about the last fourteen years at Nostall, in Yorkshire, the seat of Mr. Winn. Sir Win. Strickland informs me that he believes it is now in the same state as when it came from Well Hall, in Essex, except that it has lately been judiciously repaired in some few immaterial places, which has neither altered or injured it in the least. The picture is as perfect as any picture of that age can be, though some of the faces of the female figures do appear a little faded. It appears that Hearne must have been in error when he asserted that part of it had been painted over again by some inferior artist, for a person well skilled in pictures asserts that there is no appearance of that having been the case. The picture which is mentioned as being in the possession of the Lenthal family, and which is still probably at Burford, seems to have been in part copied from the former, but apparently not by the hand of Holbein, and there are additions which bring it down a generation or two lower.
- ↑ Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography, Vol. 2, p. 229. It appears to be taken from the MS. Life of More by Harpsfield.
- ↑ So in Dr. Wordsworth's edition, and four thousand in the subsequent passage, but it should surely be hundreds.
- ↑ Job, c. xxix.
- ↑ Some of these are copied by the writer of the Life published by Dr. Wordsworth, and called forth his animadversions; the following is a specimen: "One time as his nurse (and this much to be noted) rid over a water, having this young babe in her arms, she was, by reason of the stumbling of her horse, in danger of drowning. And that she might the better save herself and the child, on a sudden she did cast the child from her over the hedge. She after coming to the place with great feare found the child without bruise or hurt smiling and laughing on her. This, no question, was no obscure presage of his future holiness."
- ↑ It was credibly reported, that two of John Haywood's sons, Jasper and Ellis, having one of the teeth of Sir Thomas More between them, and either of them being desirous to have it to himself, it suddenly to the admiration of both parted in two!" More's Life of Sir Thomas More, p. 304.
- ↑ Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography, Vol. 2. p. 60.