The.xii. chapyter

HOw be it as towching the maner of hys handelynge / to tell you the very trouth, it semeth to me some what straunge, for one that wolde go about the purpose that he pretendeth, that is to wytte to pacyfye and appease two partyes, beyng at so sore a dyssensyon and dyuysyon, as he sayth that y• temporalty is in grudge agaynst the spyrytualty, not here and there but euery where noted, as he sayth in a maner vnyuersally thorow thys whole realme. How be it I trust in god very farre fro so. And yet not fully so farre, but that it maye by mysfortune for aboundaunce of synne and lake of grace, in tyme grow and come to it.

For trouth it is that murmur & dyssensyon (god knoweth how it begonne) agaynste the clergye is a greate waye gone onward in his vnhappy iourney / and maye by suche maner and meane of pacyfyenge, within short processe be conuayed rounde aboute the realme, and leue no place in peace. Not y• I wolde thynke the man that made that boke to be of suche malycyouse mynde, as wyllyngly to sowe dyssensyon / but that as me semeth he taketh at the lest wise vnware a wronge waye towarde the contrary / and that the maner of his handelynge is farre frō such indyfferēcye as he sholde vse, that wolde make a loue day and appease any murmur and grudge of the laye people agaynste the prestes.

For he sheweth in the progresse of all hys processe, that the grudge is borne by the tē poraltye / and the causes and occasions therof growen and gyuen in effecte all by the spyrytualtye▪ whyche handelyng is not as me thynketh very myche indyfferent.

I lette passe that he which veryly wolde entende to pacyfye, swage, and appease a grudge, wolde (as myche as he conuenyentely myght) extenuate the causes and occasions of the grudge. But & yf he wold nedes walke playnly forthe and take no such bye wayes / he wold not yet at the leste wyse not accumulate & exaggerate the greuys, and by all the meanes he myghte, make y• greues appere many, great, and mooste odyouse. Or fynally, yf for hatered of theyr fawtes, no fauour of theyr persons coulde cause hym to forbere that / yet wold he forbere at the leste wyse to seke vppe and reherse causes of grudge before vnknowen vnto the partye, whose dyspleasure he wolde asswage & pacyfye. But now thys appeasoure contrary wyse, not onely dothe in all these thynges the cōtrary / but bryngeth forthe also bysyde all thys, some suche fautes mo, as yf they were trewe were of the greatest weyghte / and telleth theym as though they were tr[…]we, where they be very playne false in dede.

But now the good bretherne that boste it, laye forthe for a greate token of temperaunce and good mynde towarde the spyrytualty, that he forbereth to speke any thyng of y• great open fawtes that many prestes be openly taken in / as thefte, robbery, sacrilege, and murder / whereof in soundry shyres of the realme there are at euery sessyons openly foū den some.

And yet the moste parte of such fawtes as he speketh of, he saith thē not as of him self, nor affermeth theym not for trew▪ nor as thynges neyther spokē by the mouthes of very many / but to mytygate the mater wyth, he sayth no more but that thus by the clergye some say, and some finde this fawte wyth theym, and some fynde that / and though that many smale sommes make a great, what can he do therto? can he lette men to speke? or is he bounde to stoppe hys earys and here theym not? or maye he not tell what he heareth some other saye?

And yet saye they ferther, that he telleth indyfferentely the fawtes as well of the temporalty as of the spyritualty / and wolde there shold not be bytwene the temporaltye and the spyrytualtye, so myche as any one angry worde. And therfore they saye that it can not be possyble that he wrote of any euyll entente, syth no man can vse hym self neyther more myldely nor wyth more indyfference, nor fynally with more tender cheryte.

But now to these excuses, some other men answere agayne, that the leuyng out of felonye, sacrylege, & murder, is rather a token of wylynes thē any forbering or fauour. For syth he saw well y• euery wyse man wolde answere in hym selfe, that those greate horryble open euyls of suche desperate noughty wreches, were not to be layed agaynst the clergy / as the lyke in temporall wreches are not to be layed agaynste the tēporalty: he wolde therfore rather seke oute and hepe vppe a sorte of those thynges that myght by hys maner of handelynge, sowne in the readers eares to be suche as the temporaltye myghte ascrybe and impute vnto (& therfore bere a gruge vnto) the mayne multitude of the whole clergy, and extende in substaūce vnto euery part.

And as touchy[…]ge that▪ he sayth not the thynges as of hym selfe, but bryngeth them in wyth a fygure of Some say: to that poynt some other say, that for that curtesy no man hath any cause to can hym any thanke. For vnder hys fayre fygure of some say / he maye ye wote well, & some saye that he so doth, deuyse to brynge in all the myschyefe that any man can saye. And yet ouer thys wythout hys masker of Some say / he saith open faced some of the wurste hym selfe, and that in some thynges y• are as some trewe men saye not trewe.

Then as touchyng his indyfferency, in tellynge the fautes of y• tēporalty to / of trouth among a grete hepe of shrewd fautes rehersed agaynste the clergy, for whyche the temporalty myghte yf the thynges were all trewe, seme to haue great cause of grudge / he reherseth also some fautes of y• temporalty to, as that they be to blame bycause they vse the prestes ouer familyarely, and geue them ouer gay gownes or lyght coloured lyuereys, & one or two such thynges […] as though they might […] mended, yet were of no such kynd as the prestes that so be […]elte wyth all, haue ben wonte to fynd any cause […].

How be yt yet in one place to shewe his farther indyffe […]ency / he layeth against them both that the prestes agaynst laye people, and laye people agaynste prestes, haue vsed to haue euyll language / and eyther agaynst other to speke vnsyttynge wordes. And ther uppon she sheweth his tender charyte, and sayth: If all these wordes were prohybyted on bothe sydes […]ppon great payne[…], I thynke y[…] wolde do great good in this behalfe.