[225] Bucer, in Milton's Prose Works, III, 302, 303, 292, 293, 306-8. By some of his brethren he was regarded as a fanatic on this subject as the following letter from John Burcher to Henry Bullinger shows: "Strasburgh, June 8, 1550: Bucer is more than licentious on the subject of marriage. I heard him once disputing at table upon this question, when he asserted that a divorce should be allowed for any reason, however trifling; so that he is considered, not without cause, by our bishop of Winchester as the author of the book published in defence of the Landgrave. I am ignorant as to what the hireling Bucer, who fled from this church before the wolf came in sight, is plotting in England."—Original Letters rel. to the Eng. Ref., 655, 656.
"Philip, landgrave of Hesse, in addition to Christina, the daughter of the late duke George, to whom he had been united many years, and by whom he had a large family, married on March 3, 1540, a lady named Margaret de Sala, and this with the consent of the landgravine under her own hand and seal. Previous to this he sought to obtain the sanction of Luther, Melanchthon, and Bucer, whose want of firmness in this painful case has called forth the most violent invectives from Vorillas and Bossuet, bishop of Meaux."—Ibid., 666, note.
[226] Mal. 2:15, 16, which in the James version is given: "Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment," etc. It may be noted that Milton, "Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce," Prose Works, III, 196, following "Calvin and the best translations," renders the passage from Malachi, "he who hates, let him divorce," thus agreeing essentially with Bucer.
[227] Bucer, in Milton, Prose Works, III, 297. Cf. Jeaffreson, Brides and Bridals, II, 329-32, who believes that these sentiments of Bucer, however shocking to us, were accepted by the most "virtuous and devout" in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
[228] By 32 H. VIII, c. 38. Cf. Reeves, Hist. of Eng. Law, IV, 333-36; Glasson, Hist. du droit, V, 89.
On Henry VIII.'s divorce see Pocock, Records of the Reformation: The Divorce, 1527-1553, containing the original documents; Burnet, Hist. of the Reformation, I, 26-123; Geary, Marriage and Family Relations, 596-602; Thwing, The Family, 87; Woolsey, Divorce, 168, 169; Jeaffreson, Brides and Bridals, I, 114, 124; II, 312 ff., who defends the king on the ground that the pope did not grant him the indulgence which private citizens constantly enjoyed, especially when they were able to pay for it. There is a valuable bibliography of Henry's divorce in Huth, Marriage of Near Kin, 404-11.
[229] By 2 and 3 Ed. VI, c. 23.
[230] By 3 and 4 Ed. VI, c. 11. Cf. the account by Jeaffreson, op. cit., II, 317, 318.
[231] The report was published in 1571 under supervision of Archbishop Parker; and then in an Oxford reprint of 1850: Woolsey, Divorce, 170, note. I have followed the excellent summary by Jeaffreson, partly containing the Latin text: op. cit., II, 318-23; and Reeves, Hist. of Eng. Law, V, 74-80, gives a good analysis. Cf. also Hallam, Const. Hist., I, 101, 102, note; Lingard, Hist. of England, IV, 284; Hammick, Marriage Law, 6; Geary, Marriage and Family Relations, 8 n. 6, 578; Report of the Divorce Commission, Parl. Papers, 1852-53, 4; Report of the Ecc. Courts Comm., 1883, xxxi-xxxiii, xxxvi; Bishop, Marriage, Divorce, and Separation, I, § 1496; Macqueen, Practical Treatise (London, 1842), 467; Law Review (English), I, 356-58; Burn, Ecc. Law, II, 503 ff.; Lecky, Democracy and Liberty, II, 175; Luckock, Hist. of Marriage, 175, 176; Morgan, Marriage, Adultery, and Divorce, II, 227-29.
[232] See chap. x, sec. i, pp. 421-23 above.