Another of Sir John's works is "A Commentary on the Politic Laws of England."
He also wrote many other works, some of which are still in manuscript. It is in these papers that he describes the customs and practices of the Inns of Court.
STEPHEN GARDINER.
Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England in the sixteenth century, was an able lawyer, a learned divine, and a shrewd statesman.
Few men have risen higher by mere force of ability, few men have suffered greater changes of fortune, few have been more magnified and commended, and few more insidiously disparaged and outrageously treated than this famous Prelate, not only during his lifetime, but also after his decease.
The accounts given of him by contemporary historians are so confused and contradictory, that it is difficult to arrive at any just conclusion with regard either to Gardiner's character and disposition, or to fathom his motives as a churchman, or his measures as a statesman.
Some writers, amongst others, Hall and Fox, describe him as a very "devil incarnate," of a most fierce and sanguinary disposition, delighting in bloodshed. They declare also that he was the principal inciter to all the cruelties practised during the reign of Queen Mary.