serueth, which eyther the law graunteth of course, or the Kynge of pitie maye.

Then looke me nowe how few saintuarye menne there bee, whome any fauourable necessitie compelled to gooe thyther. And then see on the tother syde what a sorte 5 there be commonlye therein, of them whome wylfull vnthriftynesse hathe broughte to nought.

What a rabble of theues, murtherers, and malicious heyghnous traitours, and that in twoo places specyallye. The tone at the elbowe of the citie, the tother in the verye 10 bowelles. I dare well auowe it, waye the good that they dooe with the hurte that commeth of them, and ye shall fynde it muche better to lacke bothe, then haue bothe. And this I saye, although they were not abused as they nowe bee, and so longe haue bee, that I feare mee euer 15 they wyll bee whyle menne bee afearde to sette theyr handes to the mendement; as thoughe Godde and Saincte Peter were the patrons of vngracious lyuinge.

saintuaries.

Nowe vnthriftes ryote and runne in dette, vppon the boldenesse of these places; yea and ryche menne The abuse of 20 runne thither with poore mennes goodes, there they builde, there thei spende and bidde their creditours gooe whistle them. Mens wyues runne thither with theyr housebandes plate, and saye thei dare not abyde with theyr housbandes for beatinge. Theues bryng thyther theyr stollen 25 goodes, and there lyue thereon. There deuise thei newe roberies, nightlye they steale out, they robbe and reue and kyll, and come in again as though those places gaue them. not onely a safe garde for the harme they haue done, but a licence also to dooe more. Howe bee it muche of this 30 mischiefe, if wyse menne woulde sette their handes to it, myghte bee amended, with greate thank of God and no breache of the priueledge. The residew sith so long agoe

I wote neere what Pope and what Prince, more pyteous then politique, hathe graunted it, and other menne since of a certayne relygious feare haue not broken it, lette vs take a payne therewith, and lette it a Goddes name stande 5 in force, as farrefoorth as reason wyll. Whiche is not fullye so farrefoorth as may serue to lette vs of the fetchynge foorthe of this noble manne to hys honoure and wealthe, oute of that place in whiche he neither is, nor canne bee a Saynctuary manne.

ΤΟ

A Sainctuarye serueth alway to defende the bodie of that manne that standeth in daunger abrode, not of greate hurte onelye, but also of lawful hurte. For agaynste vnlawfull harmes neuer Pope nor Kynge entended to priueledge anye one place. For that priueledge hath euery place. 15 Knoweth anye manne anye place wherein it ́is lawefull one manne to dooe another wrong? That no manne vnlawfully take hurt, that libertie, the Kynge, the lawe, and verye nature forbiddeth in euery place, and maketh to that regarde for euerye manne euerye place a Saintuarye. But where 20 a man is by lawful meanes in perill, there needeth he the tuicion of some special priuilege, which is the only ground and cause of al saintuaryes. From whiche necessitie this noble prince is far. Whose loue to his king nature and kinred proueth, whose innocence to al the world his tender 25 youth proueth. And so saintuary as for him, neither none he nedeth, nor also none can haue. Men come not to saintuary as they come to baptisme, to require it by their godfathers. He must ask it himself that muste haue it. And reason, sithe no man hath cause to haue it, but whose 30 conscience of his own faut maketh hym faine neede to require it, what wil then hath yonder babe? which and if he had discrecion to require it, yf nede were, I dare saye would nowe bee right angry with them that kepe him ther

And I woulde thynke withoute anye scruple of conscience, without any breache of priueledge, to bee sommewhat more homely with them that be there saintuary men in dede. For if one go to saintuary with another mannes goodes, why should not the kyng leauinge his bodye at libertie, 5 satisfy the part[y] of his goodes euen within the saintuary? For neither king nor pope can geue any place such a priueledge, that it shall discharge a man of his dettes being able to paye.

And with that diuers of the clergy that wer present, 10 whither thei said it for his pleasure, or as thei thought, agreed plainly, that by the law of God and of the church the goodes of a saintuarye man shoulde be deliuered in paiment of his dets, and stollen goodes to the owner, and onelye libertie reserued him to geat his lyuing with 15 the labour of his handes. Verely (quod the duke) I thinke you say very trueth. And what if a mannes wyfe will take saintuary, because she lyste to runne from her husbande; I woulde wene if she can allege none other cause, he may lawfullye, without any displeasure to sainct Peter, take her 20 out of S. Peters churche by the arme. And yf no body maye bee taken out of saintuarye that sayth he wyll bide there; then yf a childe will take saintuarie, because hee feareth to goe to schole, hys mayster must lette hym alone. And as simple as that saumple is, yet is there lesse reason 25 in our case, then in that. For therein though it be a childishe feare, yet is ther at the leastwise some feare. And herein is there none at all. And verelye I haue often heard of saintuarye menne. But I neuer heard erste of saintuarye chyldren. And therefore as for the conclusion 30 of my minde, whoso maie haue deserued to neede it, yf thei thinke it for theyr suretye, lette them kepe it. But he canne bee no saintuarye manne, that neither hath

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wisedom to desire it, nor malice to deserue it, whose lyfe or libertye can by no lawfull processe stande in jeopardie. And he that taketh one oute of saintuary to dooe hym good, I saye plainely that he breaketh no saintuary.

When the Duke hadde done, the temporall menne whole, and good part of the spirituall also, thinking none hurt erthly ment towarde the younge babe, condescended in effecte, that if he were not deliuered, he should be fetched. Howbeit they thoughte it all beste, in the auoydyng of all maner 10 of rumour, that the Lorde Cardinall shoulde fyrst assaye to geat him with her good will. And thervppon all the counsaile came vnto the sterrechaumber at Westminster. And the Lorde Cardinall, leauinge the protectour with the counsell in the sterrechaumber, departed into the saintuary to the Quene, 15 with diuers other lordes with him, were it for the respecte of hys honoure, or that she shoulde by presence of so many perceyue that this erande was not one mannes minde, or were it for that the protectour entended not in this matter to trust any one manne alone, or els that if she finally wer 20 determined to kepe him, somme of that company had happely secret instruccion incontinent, magry her minde, to take him and to leaue her no respite to conuaye hym, whiche she was likely to mind after this matter broken to her, yf her time would in any wyse serue her.

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When the Quene and these Lordes were comme together in presence, the Lorde Cardinall shewed vnto her that it was thought vnto the protectour and vnto the whole counsayle, that her kepyng of the kinges brother in that place was the thing whiche highlye souned, not onelye to the 30 greate rumoure of the people and theyr obloquye, but also to the importable griefe and displeasure of the kinges royall majestie. To whose grace it were as singuler coumforte to haue his naturall brother in company, as it was their

bothe dishonour, and all theirs and hers also, to suffer hym in saintuarye. As though the tone brother stode in danger and perill of the tother. And he shewed her that the counsel therfore had sent him vnto her, to require her the deliuerye of him, that hee might bee brought vnto the 5 kinges presence at his libertie, oute of that place whiche

And ther should he be

they reckoned as a prisone. demeaned accordyng to his estate. And she in this doing should bothe dooe great good to the realme, pleasure to the counsell and profyt to her selfe, succour to her frendes 10 that were in distres, and ouer that (which he wiste well she speciallye tenderid) not onely great comfort and honour to the king, but also to the yong duke himself, whose both great welthe it were to bee together, as well for many greater causes, as also for their both disporte and recrea- 15 cion; which thing the lord[es] estemed no slight, thoughe it seme lyghte, well pondering that their youthe without recreacion and play cannot endure, nor any estraunger, for the conuenience of their both ages and estates, so metely in that pointe for any of them as either of them for 20 other.

aunswere.

My lord (quod the quene) I saye not nay, but that it were very conuenient that this gentilman whom The Quenes ye require were in the company of the kinge hys brother. And in good faith me thinketh it were as great 25 commoditie to them both, as for yet a while, to ben in the custody of their mother, the tender age consydred of the elder of them both, but speciall the yonger, which besides his infancie that also nedeth good loking to, hath a while ben so sore diseased, vexed with sicknes, and is so newly 30 rather a lyttle amended then well recouered, that I dare put no parson erthly in trust with his keping but my selfe onely, considering that there is, as phisicians saye, and as we also

RICH.

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