afterwards Bishop of London ;* Mr. Edmund Grindal, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury; and Mr. Thomas Norton, afterwards a celebrated lawyer, member of parliament, and a noted puritan, who married the only daughter of Archbishop Cranmer. From the last of these, our author is said to have derived the greatest assistance. It also appears that Grindal, besides his constant counsel and advice in the course of the work, supplied our author with numerous materials, which, when he had digested and methodized them, were of great use to him. During Grindal's exile, he established a correspondence in England for this purpose, by which means, accounts of most of the acts and sufferings of those who were persecuted in Queen Mary's reign, came to his hands; and it is said to have been owing to Grindal's strict and tender regard to truth, that the work was so long in hand; for he rejected all common reports and relations that were carried over, till more satisfactory evidence could be procured. It was by his advice, that Mr. Fox at first printed separately the acts of some particular persons, of whom any sure and authentic memoirs came to hand, till materials for a more complete history of the martyrs, with their persecutions and sufferings, could be obtained. In pursuance of this advice, Mr. Fox published at Basil, various histories of the English bishops and divines, in single pieces, soon after their respective persecutions and martyrdoms. Mr. Fox at first undertook to publish his laborious work in Latin; but by the advice of Grindal, it was printed in Latin and English, for more general usefulness. It was published in London in 1563, in one thick volume folio, with this title, "Actes and Monuments of these latter perillous days touching matters of the Churche, wherein are comprehended and described the great persecutions and horrible troubles that have been wrought and practised by the Romish prelates speciallye in this realme of England and Scotland, from the yeare of our Lorde a thousand unto the time now present," &c. A fourth edition was printed in London in 1583, in two volumes folio, and it was reprinted in 1632, in three volumes folio. The ninth edition was printed in London in 1684, in three volumes folio, with copper cuts, the former editions having only wooden ones.‡ Strype's Aylmer, p. 11. + MS. Chronology, vol. i. p. 243 (2), 243 (3.) Biog. Britan. vol. iii. p. 2022, 2023. Edit. 1747.-Wood's Athenæ Oxon. vol. i. p. 187. To this edition there is frequent reference in the present volume. Several writers have laboured to depreciate the memory of Mr. Fox, by insinuating that his History of the Martyrs contained many misrepresentations and falsehoods. Dr. Collier, who embraces all opportunities to lessen his reputation and undervalue his work, accuses him of disingenuity and ill nature, and says, he ought to be read with great caution. He tells us, that a vein of satire and coarse language runs through his martyrology, and instances the case of the cruel Bishop Gardiner, whom he styles "an insensible ass, who had no feeling of God's spirit in the matter of justification." He charges Mr. Fox with other improprieties and inconsistencies, and adds, "I cannot perceive the martyrologist had any right to Elijah's sarcasm. His zeal without doubt was too much imbittered. He was plainly ridden by his passion, and pushed by disaffection, towards profaneness." It is readily acknowledged, that Mr. Fox sometimes discovers too warm a temper; and it was almost impossible it should be otherwise, considering the circumstances under which he wrote, and those cruel proceedings which he has handed down to posterity. This was too common among our zealous reformers, who, it must be confessed, were sometimes hurried forwards to lengths by no means jutifiable. Wood observes, "that as Mr. Fox hath taken a great deal of pains in his work, and shewed sometimes much judgment in it; so hath he committed many errors therein, by trusting to the relations of poor simple people, and in making such martyrs as were living after the first edition of his book came forth, though afterwards by him excused and omitted." Admitting all this, what does it prove? It is very justly observed, that as to private stories, Mr. Fox and his friends used the utmost diligence and care, that no falsehood might be obtruded on the reader, and were ever ready to correct any mistakes that might happen.s Though he might be misinformed in several parts of his intelligence; yet these he corrected, as they came to his knowledge. Indeed, these were inconveniences which must attend the compiling of so large a body of modern history, as Mr. Fox's chiefly was. No man is likely to receive, from *Collier's Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 45, 233. + Ibid. p. 43, 375, 586. various hands, so large a mass of information, and all be found perfect truth, and when digested to be found without the least trait of error. What is the weight of all the objections offered in contempt of the Foxian martyrs, to overthrow so solid and immoveable a fabric? It is compiled of so many undeniable evidences of popish barbarity, that its reputation will remain unsullied to the latest period of time. The Acts and Monuments of the Martyrs have long been, they still remain, and will always continue, substantial pillars of the protestant church; of more force than many more volumes of bare arguments, to withstand the tide of popery; and, like a Pharos, should be lighted up in every age, as a warning to all posterity.* The indefatigable Strype passes the following encomium on the work :-" Mr. Fox," says he, "hath done such exquisite service to the protestant cause, in shewing from abundance of ancient books, records, registers, and choice manuscripts, the encroachments of popes and papelins, and the stout oppositions that were made by learned and good men in all ages, and in all countries, against them; especially under King Henry and Queen Mary in England. He hath preserved the memoirs of those holy men and women, those bishops and divines, together with their histories, acts, sufferings and deaths, willingly undergone for the sake of Christ and his gospel, and for refusing to comply with the popish doctrines and superstitions. And Mr. Fox must not pass without the commendation of a most painful searcher into records, archives, and repositories of original acts, and letters of state, and a great collector of manuscripts. The world is infinitely indebted to him for abundance of extracts thence, and communicated in these volumes. And as he hath been found most diligent, so most strictly true and faithful in his transcriptions."+ No book ever gave so deep a wound to the errors, superstitions, and persecutions of popery; on which account the talents, virtues, and labours of Mr. Fox rendered him a fit object of papal malice and enmity. No man could be more hated and calumniated than he was by his enemies. His name, together with some others, was inserted at Rome in a "bede-roll," or list of persons who were appointed to be dispatched; and the particular mode of his death, as by Biog. Britan. vol. ii. p. 556. Edit. 1778. + Strype's Annals, vol. i. p. 239, 241. burning or hanging, pointed out, when the design of invading and over-running England should be accomplished. By order of Queen Elizabeth, Mr. Fox's History of the Martyrs was placed in the common halls of archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, and heads of colleges, and in all churches and chapels throughout the kingdom.+ On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, our learned divine returned from exile, and was cordially received and courteously entertained by his noble pupil, the Duke of Norfolk; who maintained him at his house, and settled a pension upon him at his death. Afterwards, in 1572, when this unhappy duke was beheaded on Tower-hill, for his treasonable connections with the Queen of Scots, Mr. Fox and Dr. Nowell, dean of St. Paul's, attended him upon the scaffold.ş Mr. Fox lived many years highly esteemed and favoured by persons of quality. Bishops Grindal, Parkhurst, Pilkington, and Aylmer; also Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Thomas Gresham, and many others, were his powerful friends. By their influence, they would have raised him to the highest preferment; but, as he could not subscribe, and disapproved of some of the ceremonies, he modestly declined their offers. Indeed, he was offered almost any preferment he pleased, but was more happy in declining them, excepting a prebend in the church of Salisbury. For the space of three years after his return from exile, Mr. Fox had no preferment whatever: and in a letter to his friend Dr. Lawrence Humphrey, he says, "I still "wear the same clothes, and remain in the same sordid con"dition that England received me in, when I first came "from Germany: nor do I change my degree or order, "which is that of the mendicants, or, if you will, of the * Churton's Life of Nowell, p. 271, 272, + Mr. Fox's Acts and Monuments of the Martyrs, and Bishop Jewel's Reply to Harding, continued to be thus honoured till the time of Archbishop Laud. This domineering prelate no sooner understood that the learned authors maintained, "That the communion table ought to stand among the people in the body of the church, and not altar-wise, at one end of it," than he was displeased, and ordered their books to be taken out of the churches.-Wood's Athenæ, vol. i. p. 187.—Prynne's Cant. Doome, p. 88. Strype's Annals, vol. i. p. 132. Churton's Life of Nowell, p. 208. Wood's Athenæ Oxon. vol. i. p. 186. "friars preachers." Thus did this grave and learned divine pleasantly reproach the ingratitude of the times. He continued without the least preferment till the year 1563, when Secretary Cecil procured him the above prebend; which, with some difficulty, he kept to his death. This was all the preferment he ever obtained. In the year 1564, the Bishop of London having preached the Emperor Ferdinand's funeral sermon, in the cathedral of St. Paul's, it was ordered to be printed, and to be translated into Latin, "by the ready and elegant pen of John Fox."+ During the same year, Archbishop Parker attempted to force the clergy into a conformity to the established church; for which purpose he summoned all the London ministers to appear at Lambeth, when they were examined upon the following question: "Will you promise conformity to the apparel by law established, and testify the same by the subscription of your hands ?" Those who refused were immediately suspended, and after three months, deprived of their livings. To prepare the way, Mr. Fox was summoned first, that the reputation of his great piety, might give the greater countenance to their proceedings. When they called him to subscribe, he took his Greek Testament out of his pocket, and said, To this I will subscribe. And when the commissioners required him to subscribe the canons, he refused, saying, "I have nothing in the church but a prebend in Salisbury, and much good may it do you, if take it from me." His ecclesiastical judges, however, had not sufficient courage to deprive so celebrated a divine, who held up the ashes of Smithfield before their eyes. It ought here to be observed, that Mr. Strype is guilty of a twofold mistake, when he says, that, in 1566, Mr. Fox had no ecclesiastical living; and that though he was no approver of the habits, he was not summoned before the ecclesiastical commissioners. you Though Mr. Fox refused subscription and conformity to certain ecclesiastical ceremonies, he behaved with great moderation, and disapproved of the warmth of the more * The remains of popish superstition were so prevalent in the church of England, especially among the ruling prelates in the time of Queen Elizabeth, that for many years, the eating of flesh was prohibited, during the weeks of Lent; yet, in certain cases, dispensations were granted. Accordingly, Mr. Fox being a man of a weak and sickly constitution, this favour was conferred upon him by Archbishop Parker!!-Strype's Parker, p.112, 178. + Churton's Life of Nowell, p. 106. Strype's Grindal, p. 98. § Fuller's Church Hist. b. ix. p. 76.-Heylin's Hist. of Refor, p. 337, Strype's Parker, p. 223. |