Appendix

By the kindness of Mrs. Creighton we are enabled to publish the following extracts from Acton’s Letters to Creighton on the subject of the article on vols. iii. and iv. of the History of the Papacy contributed by Acton to the English Historical Review, reprinted here pp. 426-41. Acton’s curiously naïve view of the situation is disclosed in the original covering letter to Creighton as Editor in which he describes the article as “the work of an enemy.” We do not quote the letters in full but only such portions as serve to bring out more clearly perhaps than anything else which he wrote, the uncompromising rigidity of Acton’s canons of judgment. They mark the gulf which divided him alike from the sympathetic writer, who excuses everything by a facile reference to the moral atmosphere of the age he is representing, and on the other hand from the “scientific” historian, whose ideal is to state facts and observe causes, but never to pronounce sentence.

After arguing, first, that the high absolutist theory of the Papacy was the real cause of the breach with Luther, and, secondly, that the Popes were individually and collectively responsible for the policy of persecution in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Acton goes on as follows:—

The same thing is the case with Sixtus IV. and the Spanish Inquisition, what you say has been said by Hefele Gauss and others. They, at least, were, in a sort, avowed defenders of the Spanish Inquisition. Hefele speaks of Ximenes as one might speak of Andrewes or Taylor or Leighton. But in what sense is the Pope not responsible for the Constitution by which he established the new tribunal? If we passed a law giving Dufferin powers of that sort, when asked for, we should surely be responsible. No doubt the responsibility in such a case is shared by those who ask for a thing. But if the thing is criminal, if, for instance, it is a licence to commit adultery, the person who authorises the act shares the guilt of the person who commits it. Now the Liberals think Persecution a crime of a worse order than adultery, and the acts done by Ximenes considerably worse than the entertainment of Roman courtesans by Alexander VI. The responsibility exists whether the thing permitted be good or bad. If the thing be criminal then the authority permitting it bears the guilt. Whether Sixtus is infamous or not depends on our view of persecution and absolution, whether he is responsible or not depends simply on the ordinary evidence of history.

Here again what I have said is not in any way mysterious or esoteric. It appeals to no hidden code. It aims at no secret moral. It supposes nothing, and implies nothing but what is universally current and familiar. It is the common, even the vulgar, code I appeal to.

Upon these two points we differ widely, still more widely with regard to the principle by which you undertake to judge men. You say that people in authority are not to be snubbed or sneezed at from our pinnacle of conscious rectitude.

I really don’t know whether you exempt them because of their rank, or of their success and power, or of their date. The chronological plea may have some little value in a limited sphere of instances. It does not allow of our saying that such a man did not know right from wrong, unless we are able to say that he lived before Columbus, before Copernicus, and could not know right from wrong. It can scarcely apply to the centre of Christendom 1500 after the birth of our Lord. That would imply that Christianity is a mere system of metaphysics which borrowed some ethics from elsewhere. It is rather a system of ethics which borrowed its metaphysics elsewhere. Progress in ethics means a constant turning of white into black, and burning what one has adored. There is little of that between St. John and the Victorian era. But if we might discuss this point until we found that we nearly agreed, and if we do agree thoroughly about the impropriety of Carlylese denunciations and Pharisaism in history, I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. That is the point at which the negation of Catholicism and the negation of Liberalism meet and keep high festival, and the end learns to justify the means. You would hang a man of no position like Ravaillac; but if what one hears is true, then Elizabeth asked the gaoler to murder Mary, and William III. ordered his Scots minister to extirpate a clan. Here are the greatest names coupled with the greatest crimes; you would spare those criminals, for some mysterious reason. I would hang them higher than Haman, for reasons of quite obvious justice, still more, still higher for the sake of historical science.

The standard having been lowered in consideration of date is to be still further lowered out of deference to station, whilst the heroes of history become examples of morality, the historians who praise them, Froude, Macaulay, Carlyle, become teachers of morality and honest men. Quite frankly, I think there is no greater error. The inflexible integrity of the moral code is, to me, the secret of the authority, the dignity, the utility of History.

If we may debase the currency for the sake of genius, or success, or rank, or reputation, we may debase it for the sake of a man’s influence, of his religion, of his party, of the good cause which prospers by his credit and suffers by his disgrace. Then History ceases to be a science, an arbiter of controversy, a guide of the Wanderer, the upholder of that moral standard which the powers of earth and religion itself tend constantly to depress. It serves where it ought to reign; and it serves the worst cause better than the purest. . . . My dogma is not the special wickedness of my own spiritual superiors, but the general wickedness of men in authority—of Luther and Zwingli, and Calvin, and Cranmer, and Knox, of Mary Stuart and Henry VIII., of Philip II. and Elizabeth, of Cromwell and Louis XIV., James and Charles and William, Bossuet and Ken.

The following series of canons formed a postscript to the letter:—

ADVICE TO PERSONS ABOUT TO WRITE HISTORY—DON’T

In the Moral Sciences Prejudice is Dishonesty.

A Historian has to fight against temptations special to his mode of life, temptations from Country, Class, Church, College, Party, Authority of talents, solicitation of friends.

The most respectable of these influences are the most dangerous.

The historian who neglects to root them out is exactly like a juror who votes according to his personal likes or dislikes.

In judging men and things Ethics go before Dogma, Politics or Nationality. The Ethics of History cannot be denominational.

Judge not according to the orthodox standard of a system religious, philosophical, political, but according as things promote, or fail to promote the delicacy, integrity, and authority of Conscience.

Put conscience above both system and success.

History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.

The moral code, in its main lines, is not new, it has long been known, it is not universally accepted in Europe even now, the difference in moral insight between past and present is not very large.

But the notion and analysis of conscience is scarcely older than 1700; and the notion and analysis of veracity is scarcely older than our time, barring sacred writings of East and West.

In Christendom time and place do not excuse—if the Apostles’ Code sufficed for salvation. Strong minds think things out, complete the circle of their thinking, and must not be interpreted by types. Good men and great men are exvitermini, aloof from the action of surroundings. But goodness generally appeared in unison with authority, sustained by environment, and rarely manifested the force and sufficiency of the isolated will and conscience.

The Reign of Sin is more universal, the influence of unconscious error is less, than historians tell us.

Good and evil lie close together. Seek no artistic unity in character.

History teaches a Psychology which is not that of private experience and domestic biography.

The principles of public morality are as definite as those of the morality of private life; but they are not identical.

A good cause proves less in a man’s favour than a bad cause against him. The final judgment depends on the worst action.

Character is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word. History is better written from letters than from histories; let a man criminate himself.

No public character has ever stood the revelation of private utterances and correspondence.

Be prepared to find that the best gives way under closer scrutiny.

In public life, the domain of History, vice is less than crime. Active, transitive sins count for more than others.

The greatest crime is Homicide. The accomplice is no better than the assassin; the theorist is worse.

Of killing from private motives or from public, from political or from religious, eadem est ratio; morally the worst is the last. The source of crime is pars inelior nostri, what ought to save, destroys; the sinner is hardened and proof against Repentance.

Faith must be sincere, when defended by sin it is not sincere; theologically it is not Faith.

God’s grace does not operate by sin. Transpose the nominative and the accusative, and see how things look then.

History deals with Life, Religion with Death, much of its works and spirit escapes our ken.

The systems of Barrow, Baxter, Bossuet higher spiritually, constructively, scientifically, than Perrin.

In our scales his high morality outweighs them. Crimes by constituted authorities worse than crimes by Madame Tussaud’s private malefactors.

Murder may be done by legal means, by plausible and profitable war, by calumny, as well as by dose or dagger.

The Quarterly Review, January 1877.

They were probably split votes, involving little more than a compliment or a warning; for a voting paper sometimes contained six or eight names. On the 3rd of January 1522 thirty-nine Cardinals gave more than sixty votes. Volterra had twelve, De Monte seven, Ancona seven, Medici, Santa Croce, Della Valle, Aegidius of Viterbo, Wolsey, six each; Adrian of Utrecht, eight.

That is the date given by Henry himself to Grynaeus. His secretary, 4th December 1527, calls the divorce a thing he “hath long tyme desyred.” Wolsey writes, 5th December, “longo jam tempore.” Campeggio writes, 17th October 1529, “piu di dui anni.” But on the 28th, after hearing the Queen’s confession, he says, on her authority, “gia molti anni.” There is no reason to doubt the report of Grynaeus.

Rawdon Brown, 1st September 1514.

Gayangos, Spanish Calendar, 20th April 1525.

Brewer, iv. 1263. A misprint makes it uncertain whether Warham wrote on the 12th or 19th of April. Easter fell on the 16th.

“In iis secretioribus ac majoris momenti tantum sibi polliceri potest D. V. R. de S. D. N. voluntate quantum progredi potest auctoritas S. S.” (Brewer, iv. 2579).

“Wherin such good and substancial ordre and processe hathe hitherto been made and used, as the like, I suppose, hath not been seen in any time hertofore” (State Papers, i. 189).

“He promises, however, to use all efforts in the King’s behalf. He says the only cause of his leaving the Pope’s palace was that the Pope did not attend to good advice, and was not grateful to those that deserved well of him; but Wolsey must take care not to tell this to Campeggio” (Vannes to Wolsey, Brewer, iv. 5344). “Praecepit etiam Dominus Veronensis Vicario suo non modo favere Maj. tuae causae, sed etiam in absentia sua convocare et hortari Theologos ut pro Maj. tua scribant; sed et se quoque subscripturum pollicitus est” (Croke to Henry, Pocock’s Records, i. 531).

Margaret was betrothed to Navarre at Christmas, 1526. The proposed match between Renée and the son of the Duke of Ferrara was known 4th April 1527 (Desjardins, Négoc. avec la Toscane, ii. 935).

Speaking on the 15th of July 1529, he said, “about two years since” (Herbert’s Life, 114).

“Esta muy sospechosa que en ninguna cosa se hablen verdad” (Mendoza to Charles, 10th March 1527).

“Gaudeoque nostra in S. D. N. ecclesiasticaeque authoritatis gratiam suscepta consilia, ex his indiciis ab ejus Sanctitate probari, quae exhibuit per nuncium illum clandestinum quem ad Dom Lautrec ab ea nuper missum V. R. D. scribit” (Wolsey to Duprat, 5th October 1527).

“Regia etiam Majestas aegre fert quod de titulo defensoris sanctae Fidei nihil adhuc acceperit, quasi ejus sanctitas ea re timuerit Gallos offendere” (Wolsey, Desp., 22nd May 1517. Martene, Amplissima Collectio, iii. 1274).

“Cardinalis de Flisio tunc primus in ordine Card. in Consistorio existentium, dixit sibi videri quod posset scribi et denominari pius, seu pientissimus. Papa dicebat quod forsitan posset denominari Rex Apostolicus. Nonnulli ex Cardinalibus dicebant velle scire causam propter quam dicto regi hujusmodi titulus concederetur, ut melius discuti posset qui titulus ei concedendus foret. Alius dicebat denominandum regem Fidelem, alius Angelicum, tanquam ab Anglia, alius Orthodoxum, alius Ecclesiasticum, alius Protectorem” (Acta Consistorialia, 10th June 1521). A slightly different report of this curious debate may be found in Lämmer’s Meletematum Mantissa, 199.

Chapuys calls him: “Principal Promoteur et brasseur de ce Divorce” (Legrand, Letters à Burnet, 141).

“Cui etiam si germana sit Origenis, et non ab aemulis addita, veteres omnes refragantur. Quare optassem magis delituisse non versam” (Tunstall to Erasmus, 24th October 1529. Burscher, Spicilegium, xviii. 13).

“Caterina . . . sentiva rimorso nell’ animo, et hebbe a dir che non moriva contenta, se nel sangue della Signora Margarita non ritornava la speranza della successione di quel Regno, significando di volere maritar la figliola con uno delli figlioli di detta Signora, alli quali mostrava grande amore” (Beccadelli, Vita del Polo, 280).

The Belgian canonists employed for Catharine said: “Concedantur omnia Regi, quod auctoritas praedicta sit juris divini, et quod factum de quo est quaestio, sit in terminis affinitatis, nullatenus tamen illi concedendum est, quod Pont. non licuerit etiam hoc casu dispensare. . . . Cum maximo consensu et canonum consulta et prudentum responsa pontifici juris divini declarandi, interpretandi, limitandi, et contra illud dispensandi potestatem concedant.” Fisher, De Causa Matrimonii, p. 42, writes: “Nullis argumentationibus diffiniri potest, sed solius Pont, interpretatione.”

The Pope said to Casale on Christmas Day, 1529, that all the divines are against the power of the Pope to dispense in such a case (Brewer, iv. 6103). Gardiner wrote on the 21st of April: “The Pope will hear no disputation as to his power of dispensing. He seems not to care himself whether the cause be decided by that article or no, so he did it not” (5476).

“Quod Papa possit, ex gestis Rom. Pont. patet. . . . Moderna quoque Regina Angliae consummaverat prius matrimonium cum olim fratre istius Regis Angliae sui mariti” (Cajetan, in Summam, Sec. Secundae, 154, 9).

Lopez to Emanuel, Gairdner, Letters of Henry VII., ii. 147.

“Ahunque en el dicho capitulo dize quel matrimonio de la dicha princesa nuestra hija con el principe de Gales Arthur ya deffunto, que gloria haya, fue consumado, pero la verdad es que no fue consumado. . . . y esto es muy cierto y muy sabido donde ella sta” (Ferdinand to Rojas, 23rd August 1503).

Clement said to Charles V. at Bologna: “The Pope’s function is to judge whether such a cause has arisen; but no such inquiry was made, or judgment given, when the dispensation by Julius was granted” (Brewer, iv. 6103).

Brewer, iv. 5529.

Gardiner thought the first words of this document, “justiciam eius cause perpendentes,” the most decisive of all the concessions made by Clement (Brewer, iv. 5476).

Gayangos, 537: “I am certain, because the Pope writes me so, that nothing will be done to your detriment, and that the whole case will be referred to him at Rome, the Cardinal’s secret mission being to advise the King, your husband, to do his duty.” This was written on the margin in the Emperor’s own hand.

Varchi, who had means of informing himself about Campana’s journey, says that he brought the Decretal back with him to Rome. But Mr. Stevenson has discovered, and Mr. Gairdner has deciphered, two very curious letters of Campeggio, in one of which he says: “Per questo fu mandato il Campano, il quale, ultra alia, quanto a questo proposito mi disse due cose; l’ una fu de la decretale, di che è seguito quanto vostra Signoria da lui hara inteso” (Brewer, Introduction, dclxxi).

To the excellent summary of the evidence in Maurenbrecher’s Lectures on the English Reformation, and to the ingenious inquiries of Lorentz, must be added the significant fact that Henry did not persistently deny that he had formerly admitted the truth of the Queen’s affirmation. In the Articuli in Causa Matrimonii Regii this point is virtually given up: “Quarto nititur probare virginitatem ex confessione Henrici Octavi; circa eandem confessionem possint eadem dici quae dicta sunt circa confessionem Catharinae, videlicet quod testes sunt singulares, et quod confessio omnino est extrajudicialis et parte absente.”

In a Despatch to Lannoy, Bucholtz, iii. 95.

“In brevi vero quod circiter tempus nuptiarum ut conficeretur ab Ferdinando Rege Catholico procuratum est” (Philalethae Hyperborei Parasceue, 1533, p. 30).

Bergenroth, i. 471.

“He said also that his mind was not quiet until he knew whether the Brief was found in the Registry at Rome” (Ghinucci and Lee to Wolsey, 5th April 1529. Brewer, 5423).

“Has done all he could to discover in the register books a copy of the Brief, but in vain. Has found instead two other briefs alluding to the affair” (Mai to Charles, 23rd March 1529. Gayangos, 659).

6th December 1527.

“Here, as in other Catholic countries at the present day, or at least until recently, the marriage of the parochial clergy had to be tolerated more generally than is supposed. . . . In many instances such offences involved no greater transgression of the moral law than . . . such marriages, for instance, as are now contracted by the English prelates and clergy” (pp. 639, 640).

The North British Review, January 1871.

In Wahrheit zeigt es sich, wie gewhnlich und klein dieser Mensch gewesen ist. . . . Sein ganzer Pontifikat zeigt keine einzige grosse Idee weder in Kirche noch Staat. . . . Nichts von jenem rastlosen Thatendrange und Herrschersinn eines Sixtus IV. oder Julius II. erscheint in der wollustigen und passiven Natur dieses kleinen Genussmenschen (pp. 500-502).

Scimus in hac sancta sede aliquot jam annis multa abommanda fuisse, abusus in spiritualibus, excessus in mandatis, et omnia demque in pervorsum mutata (Indicat hic optimus Pontifex ea, quae nos in Alexandro VI. deploravinius); nec nurum si aegritudo a capite in membra, a summis Pontificibus in alios inferiores praelatos descenderit (Raynaldus, Annales Ecclesiastici. 1522, p. 70).

Contra dictum sic electum vel assumptum de simoniaca labe a quocumque Cardinali, qui eidem electioni interfuerit, opponi et excipi possit, sicut de vera et indubitata haeresi (Raynaldus, 1906, p. 1).

Politian, speaking in the name of Siena, said: “Praestans animi magnitudo, qua mortales crederes omnes antecellere—Magna quaedam de te nobis rara, ardua, singularia, incredibilia, inaudita pollicentur.” The Orator of Lucca: “Quid est tuus divinus et majestate plenus aspectus?” The Genoese: “Adeo virtutum gloria et disciplinarum laude, et vitae sanctimonia decoraris, et adeo singularum, ac omnium rerum ornamento dotaris, quae talem summam ac venerandam dignitatem praebeant, ut valde ab omnibus ambigendum sit, tu ne magis pontificatui, an illa tibi sacratissima et gloriosissima Papatus dignitas offerenda fuerit” (Ciaconius, Vitae Pont., iii. 152, 159). The Venetian Senate rejoiced: “Propter divinas virtutes et dotes quibus ipsum insignitum et ornatum conspiciebamus, videbatur a divina providentia talem pastorem gregi, dominio et sacrosanctae romanae ecclesiae vicarium suum fuisse delectum et praeordinatum” (Romanin, Storia di Venesia, v. 10). The Archbishop of Colocza wrote: “Omnes id satis exploratum habent, mitiorem Pontificem nec optari, nec creari potuisse, cui tantum sapientiae, probitatis, experientiae, ac integritatis est, quantum in quovis alio unquani audiverimus” (Petrus de Warda, Epistolae, 33). A priest of Parma wrote: “Hominem non dicam, sed divinum hominem, magnanimum pietate gravem ac meritis sapientissimum, ingenio praestantem, consiliis et sententiis probatissimum, omnibus denique virtutibus ornatissimum.”

Dicesi che sarà glorioso pontefice (Manfredi to the Duchess of Ferrara, Aug. 17, 1492; Atti e Memorie, iv. 323).

Quid enim felicis recordationis Alexandro VI. Romano Pontifici praedecessori nostro magis nos odiosos fecit, nisi studium et cura generalis concilii celebrandi? Quid nos terra marique jactavit, cum nobis idem Alexander praedecessor esset infensus? quid toties Alps transcendere transalpinas, Gallias peragrare per aestus, nives et glacies compulit, nisi quod nitebamur, ut a Romano Pontifice concilium indiceretur, convocaretur et celebraretur? (Raynaldus, 1511, 10).

Sdegnati di questa collazione contro del Papa, il Re tenne il di medesimo gran consiglio, dove furono proposte e trattate più cose contro del Papa, in riformazione della chiesa (Desp. of Aug. 31, 1493; Canestrini, Négociations avec la Toscane, i. 249).

Venetian despatches of the same month of August, in Romanin, v. 33.

Soggiungeva che rifiutando le cose che ricercava, considerasse bene essere a Carlo cosa libera, poichè adjutato dall’ imperatore de’ Romani il quale da pochi giorni s’ era seco lui confederato, era per privarlo dalla dignità apostolica, non solo colle armi colle quali superava tutti gli altri, ma per diritto, radunando un concilio de prelati, i quali potevano giustamente pronunziare avere egli comperato la pontificia dignità, di maniera che non si poteva chiamare vero pastore di Santa Chiesa (Corio, Storia de Milano, iii. 525).

Dubitava che il rè lo dimitesse del Papato (Marin Sanuto, in Cherrier, Hist. de Charles VIII., ii. 61).

Aiunt etiam multo vulgo inter illos iactari, regem Romam venturum et statum Romanae Ecclesiae reformaturum (Piccolomini to Alexander, Lucca, Nov. 4, 1494).

Le quali cose sono di qualità, secondo che me concluse dicto oratore (the French envoy at Florence), che daranno materia al prefato Rè Christ., de fare praticha con qualche Cardinale, come già se fece, de chiamare Sua Santità a Concilio, dicendomi che el credeva che non passariano molti giorni che ’l se ordinaria dicto Concilio, et di farlo a Ferrara, dove pare che se debba fare per omni rispecto. Et a questo gli è molto inclinata prefata Regia Mtà (Manfredi to Duke of Ferrara, Feb. 16, 1495; Atti e Memorie, iv. 341.

Crediamo che la Santità di nostro Signore, il quale di sua natura è vile e è conscius criminis sui, ancora de facili si potrebbe ridurre alle cose oneste, per dubio delle cose di qua (Florentine Desp., Lyons, June 6, 1494; Canestrini, i. 399). Eulx deux (Borgia and Sforza) estoient a l’envy qui seroit Pape. Toutesfois je croy qu’ilz eussent consenty tous deux d’en faire ung nouveau au plaisir du Roy, et encores d’en faire ung francois (Comines, Memoires, ii. 386).

Nostre Saint Père est plus tenu au roy qu’on ne pense, car si ledit seigneur eust voulu obtemperer à la plupart de Messeigneurs les Cardinaulx, ilz eussent fait ung autre pappa en intention de refformer léglise ainsi qu’ilz disaient (Briçonnet to Queen of France, Rome, Jan. 13, 1495; De la Pilorgerie, Campagne d’Italie, 135).

This was stated by Paul IV.: “Sua Santità entro a deplorar le miserie d’ Italia et narrò l’ historia dal principio che fù chiamato Rè Carlo in Italia da Ludovico Moro et Alfonso d’ Aragona, con li particolari del parentado fra questi due, la causa dell’ inimicitia, il passar Rè Carlo per Roma, la paura di Papa Alessandro di esser deposto, come publicamente dicevano li Cardinali che vennero co ’l Rè tra quali erano S. Pietro in Vincola, che fu poi Giulio Secondo: che furno fatti li capitoli della privatione da un Vicentino Vescovo di (illegible), all’ hora auditor della Camera” (Desp. of B. Navagero, Rome, May 21, 1577; MS. Foscarini, 6255).

Divinendo in ragionamento col Card. de S. Malo (Briçonnet) del facto del Papa, sua Revma Sigria me disse che il Re chnio non ne remaneva cum quella bona satisfactione che ’l sperava, havendose portato non troppo bene in queste pratiche de Spagne, etc., concludendo dicto Carde che ’l dubitava assai, che, finita che fosse questa impresa del Reame de Napoli, la Mtà del Rè non se desponesse a pigliare qualche expediente per reformare la chiesa, parendogli che ’l sia molto necessario, vedendosi come sono gubernate le cose della chiesa et sede apostolica (Manfredi to Duke of Ferrara, Feb. 25, 1495; Atti e Memorie, iv. 342).

Adducendo su questo proposito quello che accadette al Christianissimo Rè Carlo quando andava in lo reame: che avendo pur contra sua santità malo animo, non solo fù consentito per li Sigri francesi che ageret contra eam, ma fù necessitato ad inclinarseli et basarli lo pede, et tenerli la staffa in mezo la fango (Desp. of Saracini to Duke of Ferrara, Rome, Oct. 27, 1501).

Le Gendre, Vie du Cardinal d’Amboise, i. 245.

Constabili to Duke of Ferrara, Rome, Feb. 23, 1502.

Cardinal Perrauld said to the Venetian Ambassador at the Court of Maximilian: “Non se parla de deporre el Pontifice; ma se vol provvedere che el stato della chiesa non sia tirannizzato, ovviar alla simonia, coreger la vita dei prelati et levare le estorsioni che se fano nela cancelaria” (De Leva, Storia di Carlo V., i. 73).

Zurita, Historia tel Rey Don Hernando, i. 117.

Mores esse profligatos, pietatis studium restinctum, flagitiorum licentiam solutam, res sanctissimas pret o indignissimis addiei—remque esse in extremum paene diserimen adductam (Osorius, “De rebus gestis Emanuelis,” Opera, i. 595).

Italia tutta aviebbe dimostrato lui non esser vero Pontence (Marin Sanato, in De Leva, 61). Que eran notorias las formas que se tuvieron en su eleccion, y quan graves cosas se intentaron, y quan escandalosos (Zurita, 159).

Raynaldus, who is his sole authority here, depends upon Zurita, and Zurita gives no particulars. The plan is in Malipiero (Annali Veneti, 494).

Se era deliberato per el Papa et per li sei Cardinali deputati pro reformatione, che ullo pacto non se dasse la absolutione che addimandava questa Signoria per fra Hieronimo nostro, nisi prius pararet mandatis del suo generale et del Papa, non se attendendo alli ragionamenti facti per li antedicte Cardinali de suspendere le censure per duos menses (Manfredi to Duke of Ferrara, Aug. 16, 1497; Atti e Memorie, iv. 585).

The originals are among the manuscripts in St. Mark’s Library (Lat. Cl. x. 176).

E molto necessaria la provvisione de le genti d’ arme contro questi demonii che non fugono per acqua sancta (July 16, 1497).

Intendendo che quando l’ antique sue rasom non li siano sopra de quella da la Sta vostra instaurate, spianarla per modo che dire sepossa, qui fù Lugnano (July 17).

Solo in la mia prima ionta in provintia cessarono un poco per timore dele gente d’ arme, fo dieto me seguitavano, ma hormai reassicurati comensano nel primo modo offenderse et non dare leco ad mei commandamenti (July 27).

Ricevo ad ogni hora da quelli proveri loro castelli querele miserabili che le prede et occisioni se le fanno tutta via maiuri. Per la qual cosa la Sa Va po ben comprendere che tucto lo remedio de questi mali consiste in la venuta de la gente d’ arme, le quali tardando piu forniscese el paese de Tode da desolare, essendo da la partua mia in qua la cita totalmente derelicta et lassata vacua (July 30).

In questa cita hieri si fecero li bannamenti et con maraviglioso consenso sonno da tucti posti in observantia, et procedono le cose qui con tanta obedientia et quiete che meglio non si potriano desiderare (July 30). Dopo li Bandimenti, dui becharini homicidi ho facti pigliar, et son stati senza tumulto et piacer del popolo menati in presione. Cosa da bon tempo in qua insolita in questa cita, et questa matina ne è stato appichato uno (Aug. 2).

Uno in una città disordinata merita laude, se, non potendo riordinarla altrimenti, lo fa con la violenza e con la fraude, e modi estraordinarii (Guicciardini, in Opere Inedite, i. 22).

Tibi supremi rerum omnium opificis potestas in terris concessa est. Pontifex est, qui Lege, Canone, et propria constitutione Papali solutus, ea tamen vivere non dedignatur; qui Canon in terris animatus vocatur: qui denique omnium Principum, Regum et Imperatorum Judex legitimus appellatur. Negabit ergo quispiam, quod gladii potestatem utriusque a vero Deo demandatam non obtineas? (Ciaconius, 155, 158).

Altissimus, sicut in Beato Petro, Apostolorum Principe, aeternae vitae clavigero, omnes atque omnia, nullo prorsus excepto, ligandi atque solvendi plenariam tribuit potestatem, ita Nos, super gentes et regna constitutos . . . in Prophetam mandavit (to Charles VIII., Aug. 5, 1495).

Auctoritate omnipotentis Dei nobis in Beato Petro concessa, ac vicariatus Jesu Christi qua fungimur in terris. Ac quibuscunque personis cujuscumque dignitatis, etiam imperialis et regalis status gradus ordinis vel conditionis sub excomunicationis latae sententiae poena, quam eo ipso, si contra fecerint, incurrant districtius inhibemus ne ad insulas et terras firmas inventas et inveniendas . . . accedere praesumant.—Auctoritate nobis in B. Petro concessa, de ipsa Africa omnibusque regnis, terris et dominiis illius sine alicujus Christiani principis praejudicio, auctoritate apostolica tenore praesentium . . . plene investimus (Raynaldus, 1493, p. 22; 1494, p. 36).

Habet igitur Papa potestatem ubique gentium, non solum ad praedicandum Evangelium, sed etiam ut gentes si facultas adsit, cogat, legem naturae cui omnes homines subjecti sunt, servare. . . . Ut autem infideles Evangelicam praedicationem audire et legem naturae servare cogantur, necesse est ut Christianorum imperio subjiciantur. . . . Hac ratione paucis diebus plures et tutius ad Christi fidem convertuntur, quam fortasse trecentis annis sola predicatione converterentur. . . . Quanquam enim Ecclesiastica potestas, quam Christus tradidit Vicario suo, in iis potissimum rebus versatur, quae religionem attingunt, patet tamen latissime in omni terrarum orbe, pertinetque etiam ad imperia civilia et omne genus, si hoc religionis moderandae vel propagandae ratio postulare videatur. . . . Belli parandi classisque mitendae gravissimus auctor fuit Alexander VI. Pontifex Max. cujus Pontificis auctoritas ea est ut ejus legibus atque decretis publice factis obsistere vel contradicere nefas sit, et sacrorum interdicto haereticorumque poenis sancitum (Sepulveda, Opera, iv. 334, 335, 340; iii. 12, 15).

Perchè giusta vale, ingiusta timenda est. . . . Con veritade il favor d’ un Papa è più grande di quello che cadauno può considerare. . . . Perchè l’ auttoritá sua vale assai, edico grandemente apud Deum et homines (Priuli, May 25, June 10, Aug. 23, 1501).

Alexander to the Magistrates of Bologna, Jan. 28, 1501, in Gozzadini, Memorie di Bentivoglio, Doc. 75.

Se la stessa Santitá Vostra persuade altrui ci si lasci punire e battere dagli infedeli, convien pur dire si voglia e si desideri che prima noi, e poco dopo l’ universa religione cristiana vada in ruina (Council of Ten to the Pope, June 30, 1500; De Leva, i. 69).

Lo ricercammo, qual era in secreto la intenzione sua. Rispose che in ultimo satisfarebbe al Re di Francia, e terrebbe più conto di lui che del Re de’ Romani; non solo perchè la Francia è più potente, ma anco perchè quella casa è stata sempre amica e difensora di Santa Chiesa (Desp. Rome, March 31, 1493; Canestrini, i. 486).

Publicava que la dispensacion que el Rey Carlos tenia, con la qual casò con la duquesa de Bretaña, era de ningun efecto . . . y dezia, que en publico no queria concenderla, por el escandalo (Zurita, 27).

Pollicitus es, quod eciam iuramento forte dictorum oratorum sub nomine tuo confirmatum extitit, nunquam eandem compulsurum ad ritum Romane ecclesie suscipiendum: sed si sponte sua ad eandem Romanam ecclesiam venire vellet, libertati sue in hoc eam dimitteres, que tua Nobilitas, quamvis perniciosa satis et iuri contraria fuerint, per quinquennium observare curavit. . . . Volumus, teque oneramus, ut non obstantibus promissionibus et iuramentis predictis, quibus te nullatenus teneri tenore presentium declaramus, denuo tentes, ac ea omnia agas, que tibi necessaria videbuntur quo eadem uxor tua, relicta pessima Ruthenorum secta, tandem resipiscat (to Alexander of Lithuania, June 8, 1501). Per censuras ecclesiasticas et alia iuris remedia, etiam cum invocacione, si opus fuerit, brachii secularis, cogas et compellas . . ., Concedens licentiam eidem Alexandro ipsam Helenam auctoritate nostra apostolica ex lecto, domo et omni maritali consorcio penitus excludendi, illamque pro merits errorum suorum, etiam dotem et omnia alia bona eiusdem confiscata declarando, punias. . . . Non obstantibus quibus vis promissionibus eciam iuramento firmatis (to Bishop of Wilna; Theiner, Monumenta Poloniae, ii. 288-90).

Duke of Ferrara to Cardinal of Modena, Jan. 1, 1501.

It was officially affirmed by the legate Raymundus at the Jubilee of 1500.

Tibi per presentes committimus et mandamus ut Alfonsum et Joannem, si in eorum obitu manifesta penitentie signa apparuerunt, ab excommunicationis sentencia necnon aliis censuris et penis ecclesiasticis si quas propterea incurrerunt . . . absolvas (to Bishop of Oporto, July 3, 1502; Corpo Diplomatico Portuguez, i. 39).

Quam Ecclesiam (St. Laurentii) si quis visitaverit in omnibus diebus Mercurii per totum annum, habet a Deo et Sanctis Laurentio et Stephano istam gratiam extrahendi unam animam de purgatorio (Raymundus, in Amort, De Origine Indulgentiarum, ii. 283).

Valde iniquum est quod pauper defunctus gravissimis peccatorum penis tamdiu affligatur, qui liberari posset pro modica substantie parte, quam post se reliquit. . . . Neque in hoc casu erit opus contribuentibus esse corde contritos et ore confessos, cum talis gratia charitati, in qua defunctus decesserit, et contributioni viventis duntaxat innitatur (Instructiones Arcimboldi, 1514; Kapp, Urkunden, iii. 190, 191).

Praedicator, animam quae in Purgatorio detinetur, adstruens evolare in eo instanti, in quo plene factum est illud, gratia cujus plena venia datur, puta dejectus est aureus in pelvim, non hominem, sed meram et catholicam veritatem praedicat (Prierias, “Dialogus,” in Luther, Opera Latina, i. 357).

Qui circa indulgentias dicit, ecclesiam Romanam non posse facere id quod de facto facit, haereticus est (Prierias, Ibid.).

Essendo communemente di brieve vita, non hanno molto tempo a fare uomini nuovi; non concorrono le ragioni medesime di potersi fidare de quelli che sono stati appresso allo antecessore . . . in modo che è periculo non sano più infedeli e manco affezionati al servizio del padrone, che quelli che servono uno principe seculare. Dimostro quanto fussi grande la potenza di un pontefice, quando ha uno valente capitano e di chi si possa fidare (Guicciardini, Opere Inedite, i. 87; iii. 304).

Se ne ha contentare costui, e non il Papa, e per questo le cose che si concludessino dal Papa possono bene essere ritrattate da costui, ma quelle che si concludessino da costui non saranno gia ritrittate dal Papa (Desp. Cesena, Dec. 14. 1502; Opere, v. 354).

Una de las mas principales causas que dava, para que el Cardenal de Valencia dexasse el capelo era, porque siendo aquel Cardenal, mientras en la Iglesia estuviesse, era bastante para impedir que no se hiziesse la reformacion (Zurita, 126).

Que bien conocia que era muy terrible: y que el daria la quarta parte del Pontificado, porque no bolviesse a Roma (Ibid. 160).

Saraceni to Duke of Ferrara, Sept. 22, 1501.

The same, Oct. 6.

Dicendomi Sua Santità che epso Ilmo Sigr Duca era uno bello Signore, et che sperava mutaria natura, et se lasaria parlare (the same, April 6, 1502).

Constabili to Duke of Ferrara, Jan. 23, 1503.

The same, March 1, 1503.

Incolpando la giovintu sua, li mali consigli soi, le triste pratiche, la pessima natura del Pontifice, et qualche uno altro che ’l haveva spirito a tale impresa; dilatandosi sopra el Pontefice, et maledicendo l’ anima sua (Letter from Rome in Ugolini, Duchi d’ Urbino, ii. 524).

Constabili to Duke of Ferrara, Feb. 1, 1502.

Quétif et Echard, Script. O. P., i. 883.

Ugolini, ii. 111.

Per dar ad intender a tutti, che ’l Signor over Signori hanno appiacer del tradimento, ma non del traditore (Priuli, July 6, 1502).

Furono i successi sua più volte maggiori che i disegnl (Guicciardini, Opere Inedite, iii. 304).

Fu più assoluto Signore di Roma che mai fussi stato Papa alcuno (Ibid.). Donde viene che la Chiesa nel temporale sia venuta a tanta grandezza, conciossiachè da Alessandro indietro i potentati Italiani, e non solamente quelli che si chiamono potentati, ma ogni Barone e Signore, benchè minimo, quanto al temporale, la stimaba poco; e ora un Rè di Francia ne trema (Machiavelli, “Principe,” Opere, i. 55).

Constabili to Duke of Ferrara, Aug. 3, 1503.

Zurita, 242.

Nobody execrated the Borgias more than the Venetian chronicler Priuli. After the destruction of the Condottieri at Sinigaglia, he writes: “Alcuni lo volevano far Re dell’ Italia, e coronarlo, altri lo volevano far Imperator, perche ’l prosperava talmente, che non era alcuno li bastasse l’ animo d’ impedirlo in cosa alcuna” (Jan. 11, 1503).

Aveva il Duca gittati assai buoni fondamenti alla potenza sua, avendo tutta la Romagna con il ducato di Urbino, e guadagnatosi tutti quei popoli, per avere incominciato a gustare il ben essere loro (Machiavelli, “Principe,” Opere, i. 35).

Chi aveva uno Stato era quasi impossible lo perdessi (Guicciardini, Opere Inedite, i. 109).

Se nella morte di Alessandro fusse stato sano, ogni cosa gli era facile (Machiavelli, “Principe,” Opere, i. 39).

Per la qual infermità si giudicava fosse stato avoelenato, e questo perchè etiam il giorno sequente il prefato Duca Valentino et il Cardl s’ erano buttati ai letto con la febre (Priuli, Aug. 16, 1503).

Guicciardini, Istoria d’ Italia, iii. 162. E che questa sia la verita, ne fa fede che lui mori o la notte medesima o il di seguente (Opere Inedite, iii. 302).

The Home and Foreign Review, July 1862.

Halifax, Character of Charles II., p. 11.

Clarendon, History of the Rebellion, x. 8.

Clarendon Papers, ii. 239.

History, xiii. 131.

Mémoires de Mademoiselle, 57, ed. Michaud.

Clarendon, xvi. 74.

Lister, Life of Clarendon, i. 284. He would not allow the prince to attend the service of the French Calvinists at Charenton (History, xiii. 133).

The testimony of Ormond and Burnet, and the worthless reports to the same effect in Kennet and Echard, are collected in the Biographia Britannica, ii. 177d, 2nd ed.

Carte’s Collection, ii. 264.

Vie de M. Olier, ii. 489, from the French Archives.

Carte, ii. 102.

Memoirs, p. 131.

Charles is reported to have said that though many persons had discoursed with him on religion, none had anected him so much as Olier (Vie de M. Olier. ii. 490).

Mémoires de Guy Joly, p. 140, ed. Michaud.

“Aujourd’hui la reine a reçu une lettre du roy son fils, où il parle positivement, et dit qu’après avoir considéré toutes les raisons de son mariage, il se conformoit à son sentiment pour vostre nièce, en vue du grand dessein à quoi il estoit porté de jour en jour avec plus de faveur” (Lionne to Mazarin, 7th July 1660, in Champollion, Complément des Mémoires de Retz, p. 589, ed. Michaud).

Dod, Church History of England, iii. 239.

Mémoires de Guy Joly, p. 149.

Italian States, Bundle No. 24.

Lingard, ix. 35.

Moréri, Dictionnaire Historique, ix. 597; his epitaph in Douglas, Peerage of Scotland, ii. 101.

Oblatio ex parte Caroli II. Magnae Brittanniae Regis pro optatissima trium suorum Regnorum Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae cum Sede Apostolica Romana reunione.

R. Augier to the Speaker, in Cary, Memorials of the Civil War, i. 7.

Le Quesne, Constitutional History of Jersey, p. 325.

Clarke, Life of James II., i. 441.

We know, from the account of his death, that none of the Portuguese chaplains of the queen could speak either English or French.

Constitutional History, ii. 387.

The papers from which this account is given are in the State Paper Office, “Italian States,” Bundle 32; Letters of Kent, March 30, 1669, June 16, August 31, and September 7; News Letters, or Gazzette di Roma, of March 23, April 6, April 13, April 20, June 11, September 7. The will is in the Domestic Papers, Bundle for August 1669.

Harris, Life of Charles II., ii. 391.

Historiettes de Tallemant des Reaux, vii. 293.

Mignet, Négociations relatives à la Succession d’Espagne, iii. 232.

Welwood’s Memoirs, p. 146.

Salvandy, Histoire de Jeon Sobieski, ii. 97.

I subjoin a list of the documents for which I am indebted to Father Boero. They are manifestly too long to be published in extenso in a Review.

1. Lettre de la Reine Mère (Henrietta) au Card, Orsini. De Londres, October 30, 1662.

2. Lettre de la Reine Catherine au même. De Londres, October 25, 1662.

3. Voto in favore della promozione al Cardinalato del Signor d’Aubigny.

4. Favori e benefizi fatti ai cattolici d’ Inghilterra dal Re presente (in sixteen articles).

5. Bellings to Father Thomas Courtenay, October 22, 1662.

6. Lettera dal Card. Orsini al Card. Sforza Pallavicino. 24 gennaio 1663.

7. Oblatio ex parte Caroli II. Magnae Britanniae Regis pro optatissima trium suorum regnorum Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae cum Sede Apostolica Romana reunione.

8. Certificate of Charles II. in favour of Sieur James Stuart, his natural son.

9. Another certificate of the king to the same.

10. Certificate of Christine Queen of Sweden concerning the same, on his conversion at Hamburg.

11. Letter of Charles II. to the General of the Jesuits, Oliva, at Rome. Whitehall, August 3, 1668.

12. Letter of Charles II. to his son James Stuart at Rome. Whitehall, August 4, 1668.

13. Letter of Charles II. to Oliva, General of the Jesuits, at Rome. Whitehall, August 29, 1668.

14. Letter of the same to the same, without date.

15. Reply of Oliva to the king’s three letters. Livorno, October 14, 1668.

16. Certificate of Charles that he will pay the expenses of his son’s voyage. November 18, 1668.

17. Letter of Charles to Oliva. Whitehall, November 18, 1668.

18 and 19. Two Memoirs written by Charles II. on the Catholic religion.

See the Despatches of the French ambassadors Colbert and Ruvigny, in Mignet, iii. 10 sq., and iv. 42 sq.

Clarke, i. 442.

“Il m’a paru que l’affaire de religion étant ce qui tient le premier lieu dans l’esprit de M. le Comte d’Arondel, il n’y a que le retardement de la déclaration qui le touche; et comme il croit que la guerre contre les Hollandais produiroit cet effet-là, c’est la seule raison pour laquelle il s’y oppose” (Turenne to Ruvigny: Mémoires de Turenne, i. 669).

Morrice, Life of Orrery, p. 86.

Mémoires de Gourville, p. 566, ed. Michaud.

Mémoires de Cosnac, i. 383.

Ibid. ii. 81. “Retardabant eum voluptates blandissimae dominae, et quacdam iners et pene somniculosa natura, quam tamen plura animi ingeniique bona comitabantur. Huic quidem stimulos admovisse suspicor Clementem per occultos homines” (Fabroni, Vitae Ilalorum, ii. 107).

State Paper Office, “Italian States,” Letters of Kent, June 29, July 6, August 10, 1669.

Courtenay, Memoirs of Sir W. Temple, i. 425.

A lecture delivered at the Literary and Scientific Institution, Bridgnorth, on 18th January 1866.

A lecture delivered at the Bridgnorth Literary and Scientific Institution on 10th March 1868.

The Rambler, July 1861.

A paper read at the “Eranus,” the Trinity College Historical Society, and the S. Catharine’s College Historical Society.

A lecture delivered at the Bridgnorth Literary and Scientific Institution on the 25th of April 1871.

“George Eliot’s Life as related in her Letters and Journals, arranged and edited by her husband, J. W. Cross. In three volumes, London and Edinburgh, William Blackwood & Sons, 1885.” The Nineteenth Century, March, 1885.

Some secrets of style reveal themselves to anybody who compares the articles in the Review with the text which she afterwards prepared, and there are many touches and omissions significant of the vast change her mind had undergone. The last essay, which supposes that Young came into the world without a wig, and calls George the First “that royal hog,” was composed at the same time as the first novel; and the contrast shows with what effort and constraint the scenes were written. The perfection of language was not reached at once. A single paragraph of the Mill on the Floss contains the terms “phiz,” “masculinity,” “that same Nature.” There is a slight mannerism in the formula “which has been observed”; and the perilous word “mutual” is sometimes misapplied. One of her favourite expressions is usual with Comte, and we used to hear another at school in “that central plain, watered at one extremity by the Avon, at the other by the Trent.”

“History of Civilisation in England, by H. T. Buckle. London, J. W. Parker.” The Rambler, 1858.

P. 8.

Roscher, System der Volkswirthschaft, i. 29.

The Rambler, 1858.

Handworterbuch der philosophischen Wissenschaften, ii. 217.

Salat, Schelling in Munchen, i. 60.

De Augmentis, iii. 3: “From experiment to axioms, from axioms to new discoveries.”

Bacon, “In Praise of Knowledge,” Works, ed. Bohn, i. 216.

Schwarz, Lessing als Theologe, p. 79.

Haym, Hegel und seine Zeit, p. 45.

“Gewissermassen, die Probe des ganzen Systems” (Michelet, Entwickelungsgeschichte der neuesten deutschen Philos., p. 304). “Die Wahrhafte Theodicee, die Probe von der Wahrheit des ganzen Systems” (Huber, Deutsche Vierteljahrs Schrift, 1853, ii. 50). “Die unwidersprichlichste Bewährung des Systems” (Haym, Allgem. Encyclop., art. “Philosophie,” sect. iii. vol. xxiv. 176).

Haym, Hegel, etc. 466.

Schaarschmidt, Entwickelungsgang der neuesten Speculation, p. 194; and Schelling, Werke, i. 480, 481.

According to his disciples, “der harmonische Haupttheil,” “die Blüthenknospe,” of the system (Erdmann, Entwickelung der Speculation seit Kant, ii. 676).

Ernst von Lasaulx, Neaer Versuch einer alten auf die Wahrheit der Thatsachen gegründeten Philosophie der Geschichte.

Botanische Streifzuge auf dem Gebiete der Culturgeschichte.

Beitrage zur Culturgeschichte.

“Ueber das historische Element in der geographischen Wissenschaft,” 1833, in his Abhandlungen, p. 165.

See the fable of Purusha, Rig Veda, lib. viii. cap. iv., hymns 17, 18, 19; and Yadjur Veda, cap. xxxi.

Champollion, Grammaire, p. 285.

Dabistan, p. 42.

“Gaul pursues two things with immense industry,—military matters and neat speaking.” “Through instability and levity of mind they were meditating the overthrow of the government.” “Almost all men of Gaul are revolutionists, and are easily and quickly excited to war.” “In council they are unstable, and generally revolutionary.” “The French, to whom levity is natural. A most restless kind of men, always wanting to set up a king or an empire.”

No one would discover, for no one would discuss, unless roused by the blows of misrepresentation. For while heretics misrepresent, the little ones are scandalised. . . . Truth would not be sought so industriously, if it had no enemies to tell lies of it.

We understand a war where victory is no triumph.

English Historical Review, 1886, vol. i.

Geschichte der deutschen Historiographie. Von Dr. Franz X. von Wegele. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1885.

Dr. Lightfoot.

Dr. Stubbs.

The Nineteenth Century, April 1891.

“The Life, Letters, and Friendships of Richard Monckton Milnes, First Lord Houghton. By T. Wemyss Reid, London, Cassell & Co., 1890.” The Nineteenth Century, December 1890.

I was once dining at a party with him and Tennyson, when, turning to me and pointing to the poet, he said, “Ah! a great deal of him will live for ever, and so will some of me” (Ed., Nineteenth Century).

By M. Creighton, M.A. Vols. III. and IV.—The Italian Princes, 1464-1518. English Historical Review, 1887.

English Historical Review, vol. ii. 1887.

English Historical Review, vol. iii. 1888.

English Historical Review, vol. iii. 1888.

English Historical Review, vol. vii. 1892.

English Historical Review, vol. v. 1890.