Volume I Part 34 (1/2)
1539. He was at Bristol, preaching against the wors.h.i.+p and mediation of the Virgin Mary; but he was led to make a public recantation, and burnt his f.a.ggot in the Church of St. Nicholas in that city, in token of his abjuration. It was probably immediately after this humiliating act that he went abroad.
1542. He appears to have remained in Germany and Switzerland till after the death of James the Fifth. He mentions in his Examination, (see supra, page 159,) a conversation he had with a Jew, while sailing on the Rhine. About the same time he translated ”The Confession of Faith of the Churches of Switzerland,” which was printed a year or two after his death, and which has been reprinted in the Wodrow Miscellany, vol. i.
pp. 1-23.
1543. This year he was residing us a member of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, according to the interesting account of his habits and acquirements by his pupil Emery Tylney, which is preserved in Foxe's Martyrology.
1544, or in the following year, he returned to Scotland; and he continued to preach in different parts of the country; at Montrose, Dundee, and in Ayrs.h.i.+re, and subsequently at Leith, and in East-Lothian.
1546. On the 16th of January he was apprehended at Ormiston, carried prisoner first to Edinburgh, and then to St. Andrews. His trial was on the 28th of February, and his execution on the 1st of March: (see supra, page 144.) Three months later Cardinal Beaton was a.s.sa.s.sinated.
In a work like the present, it is desirable to avoid all controversial remarks; but I hope to be excused in offering a few words in regard to what has been considered a serious charge against George Wishart.
The precise date of Wishart's return to Scotland is very doubtful. Knox, (supra, page 125,) places it in 1544, but joins this with an explanation which might carry it back to July 1543, and with the defeat of the Governor, which belongs to a later period. Mr. Tytler, (Hist. vol. v. p.
343,) says, ”From the time of his arrival in the summer of 1543, _for more than two years_ Wishart appears to have remained in Scotland, protected by the barons who were then in the interest of Henry, and who favoured the doctrines of the Reformation.” Yet nevertheless, according to Mr. Tytler, and later authorities, he was employed as a messenger in May 1544, conveying letters from Crichton of Brunstone to the Earl of Hertford at Newcastle, and from thence, with other letters, to Henry the Eighth, in relation to a projected scheme devised by the Laird of Brunstone for the a.s.sa.s.sination of Cardinal Beaton; and after having had an interview with the King at Greenwich, returning first to Newcastle, and then to Scotland. This employment--which has been held up as a notable discovery--proceeds upon the fact of ”a Scotishman, _called Wyshart_,” being mentioned as the bearer of the letters referred to; and the Laird of Brunstone having been Wishart's ”great friend and protector,” in 1546, hence it is concluded that the person employed was George Wishart the Martyr. Among the Wisharts of that time the name of _George_ was not peculiar to him. _George Wischart_ was one of the bailies of Dundee, 3d May 1560, and for several years previously; and in the Protocol book of Thomas Ireland, notary public in Dundee, belonging to that borough, I observed the copy of a deed, in which ”_Georgius Wischart_, frater-germa.n.u.s Joannis Wischart de Pettarrow,” was one of the procurators in a matter concerning ”_Georgius Wischart_, armiger Crucis regis Galliae,” 14th June 1565.
Now, in reply to the above argument, I beg to remark, that there is no certain evidence of George Wishart having returned to Scotland earlier than 1544 or 1545; that if the name of _George Wishart_ had been specified in the letters, there were other persons of that name who might equally have been employed in such services; and that if it had been ascertained beyond all doubt that he possessed a full knowledge of the plots against Beaton devised by Crichton of Brunstone, even then, according to the terms of the Earl of Hertford's letter, and confirmed by the letter in reply from the English Council, the attempt was to be confined to the _arrestment of the Cardinal_, while pa.s.sing through Fife--the proposal of _sleeing him_, having been suggested only as an alternative, in case of necessity.
But to say nothing of the uncongenial nature of the employment, to a man such as described by his devoted pupil Emery Tylney, who had been under his tuition at Cambridge, for twelve months, in 1543, it may further be urged,--
1. That Wishart had no occasion to entertain a personal animosity to the Cardinal; and that being denounced, or put to the horn, and liable to summary arrestment and execution, he could not have undertaken the task at such a time, of carrying letters and messages between the conspirators.
2. That the plots against Beaton being well known, even to the Cardinal himself, if Wishart had in any way been concerned in them, it would unquestionably have formed a leading accusation against him in his trial,--but no allusion to such a charge was ever whispered.
And lastly,--That the actual enterprise, by which the Castle of St.
Andrews was taken, and the Cardinal murdered, on the 29th of May, was in a great measure a scheme hastily arranged and executed, mainly in revenge of the Martyr's own fate, and ALTOGETHER UNCONNECTED AND UNINFLUENCED by any former plots devised by Crichton of Brunstone, but which have been employed to implicate the irreproachable character of GEORGE WISHART.
No. X.
JOHN ROUGH.
A brief notice of this very zealous preacher is given at page 187. I regret that only a portion can be added in this place of the interesting account of his examination and death in December 1558, as preserved in Foxe's ”Actes and Monuments.” Calderwood's account of Rough's martyrdom, (Hist. vol. i. p. 251,) is abridged from the same authority.
”THE DEATH AND MARTYRDOME OF JOHN ROWGH, MINISTER, AND MARGARET MEARYNG, BURNED AT LONDON THE XXII. OF DECEMBER.
In this furious time of persecution, were also burned these twoo constaunt and faithfull Martyrs of Christe, John Rough a Minister, and Margarette Mearyng.
This Rough was borne in Scotland, who (as him selfe confesseth in his aunsweres to b.o.n.e.rs Articles) because some of his kinsfolke woulde haue kept him from his right of inheritaunce which he had to certaine landes, did at the age of xvij. yeares, in despite (and the rather to displease his frendes) professe hym selfe into the order of the blacke Friers at Sterlyng in Scotland: where he remained the s.p.a.ce of xvi. yeares, vntill suche tyme as the Lorde Hamulton, Earle of Arren, and Gouernour of the Realme of Scotlande aforesaid (castyng a fauour vnto hym) did sue vnto the Archbishop of S. Andrewes, to haue him out of his professed order, that as a secular Priest he might serue hym for his Chaplaine. At whiche request the Archbishop caused the Prouinciall of that house, hauyng thereto authoritie, to dispence with hym for his habite and order.
This sute beeyng thus by the Earle obtained, the said Rough remained in his seruice one whole yeare: during which time it pleased G.o.d to open his eyes, and to geue hym some knowledge of his truthe, and thereupon was by the said Gouernour sent to preache in the freedome of Ayre, where he continued four yeares, and then after the death of the Cardinall of Scotland, hee was appointed to abide at S. Andrewes, & there had a.s.signed vnto hym a yearely pension of XX. pound from kyng Henry the eight, kyng of England. Howbeit, at last waiyng with him selfe his owne daunger, and also abhorryng the Idolatrie and superst.i.tion of his countrey, and hearyng of the freedome of the Gospell within this Realme of England, hee determined with hym selfe not to tary any longer there: And therefore soone after the battaile of Musclebourough, he came first vnto Carliell, and from thence vnto the Duke of Somerset, then Lord Protectour of England, and by his a.s.signement had appointed vnto him out of the kinges treasury XX. poundes of yearely stipend, and was sent (as a preacher) to serue at Carliell, Barwicke, and Newcastell. From whence (after he had there, according to the lawes of G.o.d, and also of this Realme, taken a countrey woman of his to wife) he was called by the Archbishop of Yorke that then was, vnto a benefice nigh in the towne of Hull: where hee continued vntill the death of that blessed and good king, Edward VI.
But in the beginnyng of the reigne of Queene Mary (perceauyng the alteration of Religion, and the persecution that would thereupon arise, and feelyng hys owne weakenes) he fled with his wife into Friseland, and dwelt there at a place culled Morden, labouryng truely for his liuyng, in knittyng of Cappes, hose, and suche like thinges, till about the ende of the moneth of October last before his death. At whiche tyme, lackyng yearne and other such necessary prouision for the mainteinaunce of his occupation, he came ouer againe into England, here to prouide for the same, and the x. day of Nouember arriued at London. Where hearyng of the secrete societie, and holy congregation of G.o.ds children there a.s.sembled, he ioyned himselfe vnto them, and afterwardes beyng elected their Minister and Preacher, did continue moste vertuously exercised in that G.o.dly fellows.h.i.+p, teaching and confirmyng them in the truth and Gospell of Christe. But in the ende such was the prouidence of G.o.d, who disposeth all thinges to the best, the xij. daye of December, he with Cutbert Simson and others, through the crafty and traiterous suggestion of a false hipocrite and dissembling brother called Roger Sargeaunt, a taylor, were apprehended by the Vicechamberlaine of the Queenes house, at the Saracens heade in Islington: where the Congregation had then purposed to a.s.semble themselues to their G.o.dly and accustomable exercises of prayer, and hearyng the word of G.o.d: which pretence, for the safegard of all the rest, they yet at their examinations, couered and excused by hearing of a play that was then appointed to be at that place. The Vice Chamberlaine after he had apprehended them, caried Rough and Simson vnto the Counsell, who charged them to haue a.s.sembled together to celebrate the communion or supper of the Lord, and therefore after sundry examinations and aunsweres, they sent the saide Rough vnto Newgate: but his examinations they sent vnto the Bishop of London, with a Letter signed with their handes, the copy whereof followeth.
-- A LETTER SENT FROM THE QUEENES COUNCELL VNTO b.o.n.e.r BISHOP OF LONDON, TOUCHING THE EXAMINATION OF IOHN ROUGH MINISTER.
After our hartye commendations to your good Lords.h.i.+p, we sende you here inclosed the examination of a Scotish man, named Iohn Rough, who by the Queenes Maiesties commaundement is presently sent to Newgate, beeyng of the chief of them that vpon Sondaie laste, vnder the colour of commyng to see a Play at the Saracen's head in Islington, had prepared a Communion to be celebrated and received there among certaine other seditious and hereticall persons. And forasmuche as by the sayd Roughes examination, contayning the storie and progresse of his former life, it well appeareth of what sort he is: the Queenes highnes hath willed vs to remit him vnto your Lords.h.i.+p, to the end that beyng called before you out of prison, as oft as your Lords.h.i.+p shall thinke good, ye maie proceede, both to his further examination, and otherwise orderyng of him, accordyng to the lawes, as the case shall require.