so good by the State) willinglie take this oth, as I haue heretofore offered; to witte, That I am not Martin, I knewe not Martin, And concerning that I stande enlightened of, I am as cleare as the child unborne.1 The remark of Matthew Sutcliffe is that he is safe to offer to take such an oath when an Act of Parliament is passed requiring it. But our own interpretation is that Throkmorton is referring to his forthcoming trial at the Warwick Assizes. But the question cannot, with the information at present at our disposal, be pushed any further. The alternative is a 'dark horse'; a clever lawyer about Court, like Knollys, or Morrice, or Beale; who was the writer of the Marprelate quartos, of the 'preamble' to the THESES, and of the PROTESTATYON; who mysteriously, if not magically, conveyed his 'copy' to Throkmorton and Penry, and induced these men, at great risk, to get them printed; yet without ever disclosing his identity. Martin Junior' would then be Penry, and Martin Senior' be Throkmorton. But this theory also, any who have followed our narrative will readily admit, is not without its great difficulties. All that we are compelled to say in a spirit of unprejudiced fairness is, that the identification of Job Throkmorton as Marprelate is not complete; and nothing that we have been able to adduce positively shuts out the existence of a Great Unknown, or makes it quite incredible that the assumptions of Martin Junior' and 'Martin Senior' and the solemn denial of Throkmorton, are in agreement with historic fact. We await the lucky discovery of the next student of these interesting documents to set our perplexities at rest. 1 The Defence of Job Throkmorton against . Maister Sutcliffe, 1594, sig. E ii. (B. M. 4378, c. 46). APPENDICES A. A CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS, 1588-1590. B. A SELECT MARPRELATE BIBLIOGRAPHY. C. THE EVIDENCE OF THE PRINTERS, HODGKINS, SIMMS, AND I. THE EXAMINATION OF JOHN HODGKINS (Yelverton II. THE EXAMINATION OF VALENTINE SIMMS AND ARTHUR THOMLYN (Manchester Papers, No. 123). APPENDIX A A CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS [1588-1590] CHIEFLY RELATING TO THE MARPRELATE TRACTS [1584. A Briefe and Plaine Declaration published. Running headline, 'A Learned Discourse of Ecclesiastical Government.' [W. Fulke, D.D.] This is the groundwork of the Marprelate controversy.] [1584. Dr. John Bridges, Dean of Sarum, preaches at Paul's Cross against A Briefe and Plaine Declaration.] [1587. A Defence of the Government Established, by Dean Bridges, published. An expansion of the sermon, 1584. Feb. Two brief replies quickly appeared. In the same year: A Defence of the godlie Ministers (Dudley Fenner), and early in 1588, A Defence of the Ecclesiastical Discipline, anon.] 1588 John Field, minister of Aldermanbury, joint author with Thomas Wilcox, of An Admonition to Parlia ment, 1572, dies. March 13. A Petition addressed to Elizabeth by the Puritans in London prisons.-Harl. MS. 5848. 13. 18. Henry Barrowe, the Separatist, examined before the Council at Whitehall.-Ibid. April - A Dialogue, commonly called 'Diotrephes,' by John Udall, minister of Kingston, printed in London by Robert Waldegrave. (See Introd. to Prof. E. Arber's reprint.) V April 16. R. Waldegrave's house at the sign of The Crane in St. Paul's Churchyard searched and his press, etc., seized, along with a number of copies of Diotrephes. -(See A Dialogue wherein is plainly laide open [Lamb. Pal. Lib. 29. 9. 4], sig. B iii. vers. ; also Introd. to Diotrephes, Prof. Arber's reprint, xii.) 16. John Wolf sent by the Wardens of the Stationers' Company to Croydon, to consult Archbishop Whitgift about Waldegrave.-Arber's Transcripts of the Stationers' Registers, i. 528. May 17. Waldegrave and his wife bring a box of type, which he secreted under his cloak when his house was raided, to Mrs. Crane's house in Aldermary.— Harl. MS. 7042. 32. An Exhortation vnto the gouernours and people of Wales, by John Penry, printed by Waldegrave towards the close of the month. 6. A Godly Treatise concerning the Ministry, by Dr. R. Some, published. 2nd and 3rd editions of Penry's Exhortation issued, with brief references to the Godly Treatise, during the second week in May. 13. Robert Waldegrave enters a book, title to be supplied later, at the Stationers' Company.-Arber's Transcripts, ii. 228. The Court of the Stationers' Company order Waldegrave's press and type, seized on April 16th, to be destroyed and made unserviceable.-Typog. Antiq. by Ames, ed. by Herbert, ii. 1145. 29. The Spanish Armada sails from the Tagus. June 10. The pursuivants of the Stationers' Company go to Kingston in search of Waldegrave's press.-Arber's Transcripts, i. 248, 249. - John Udall of Kingston silenced. 25. (cir.) Mrs. Waldegrave calls at Mrs. Crane's house at Aldermary for the type left there on April 17th. -Harl. MS. 7042. 32, § 4. - R. Waldegrave and John Penry engaged in printing at Mrs. Crane's house at East Molesey 'about 3 weeks... after Midsommer.'-Harl. MS. 7042. 13, § 5. 30. Archbishop Whitgift delegates the censorship to Dr Cosin and seven others, or any one of them.'— Arber's Introd. Sketch, 51. |