[1267] By 1 James I., c. 25, sec. 8: Prothero, Statutes and Documents, 255; Statutes at Large, II, 640. Cf. Makower, op. cit., 224.
[1268] "But when thou livest godly and honestly in single life, it is well and allowable afore God; yea, and better than marriage."—Latimer, Sermons, 393, 394. Cf. Fulke, Answers, 228, 383; idem, Defence, 492; Hutchinson, Works, 148; see also Cartwright, in Whitgift's Works, III, 293. But see the curious passage in Tyndale's Doctrinal Treatises, 21, which should be compared with his argument against the doctrine that "widowhood and virginity exceed matrimony," ibid., 313-15.
[1269] Bradford, Writings, I, 167.
[1270] Bullinger quotes in favor of marriage the views of Antipater, In sermone de nuptiis, and Hierocles, De nuptiis.
[1271] Bullinger, Decades, I, 394-410. The three reasons are also given by Sandys, Sermons, 316 ff.; and James I., "Basilikon Doron," Workes (London, 1616), 171. On marriage as a "remedy" cf. also Cranmer, Misc. Writings, 115, 116; Tyndale, Expositions, 125; Hooper, Early Writings, 381; Becon, Catechism, 103.
[1272] Friedberg, Eheschliessung, 192.
[1273] For the trothplights and clandestine contracts see Furnivall, Child-Marriages, xliii-liii, lxii, lxiii, 56-71, 140, 141, 184-202. Chamberlain, The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought, 224-33, has made good use of Furnivall's collection.
[1274] Furnivall, op. cit., xliii.
[1275] Ibid., 140, 141. Further light is thrown on the secret marriages by the cases of adultery and affiliation: ibid., 72-102, 202-204.
[1276] Ibid., xv-xliii, 1-55, 183, 184. In addition to these Chester cases Furnivall (xxi-xliii) presents very interesting material regarding child-marriages, some of which were before or after the age of Elizabeth. Two cases under Henry VII. and Henry VIII., respectively, are mentioned in Reports of the Hist. Manuscripts Commission, III, 247. Sometimes such marriages were secured by abduction or conspiracy: see ibid., III, 55, 59, 61 (three cases in the reign of James I.).