[357] Lord Deputy and Council to the Privy Council, Aug. 1; Waterhouse to Sidney, July 4, in the Sidney Papers, where also are the Instructions for Snagg and Briskett; Sidney’s Summary Relation, 1583.
[358] Letter of advice to Lord Grey, Sept. 17, 1580, in the Sidney Papers. Sidney to the Queen, Sept. 15, 1577, in same; to the Queen (after reaching England), Sept. 18, 1578.
[359] Lady Mary Sidney to Edward Molineux, Oct. 11, 1578, and a second letter (undated) soon after, in the Sidney Papers. It is the Book of Howth which accuses Sidney of being a ‘lusty feeder and surfeiter.’ The Irish nickname might very well come from some dispute with a contractor, and not from Sidney’s fondness for malt liquor. Sidney died in 1586, prematurely old, at fifty-seven years of age. In the British Museum a black letter pamphlet contains a funeral sermon by Thomas White, D.D., the founder of Sion College. The whole is interesting, more especially the following passage: ‘He consumed himself in yielding light to other men; besides his special gift of affability to poor and simple men, the very grace of all his greatness. It is no hard matter for a man to be humble in low estate, but to be lowly in greatness is not a common gift; and if pride herself be often forced to dissemble humility, because lowliness maketh a simple man to be highly commended, how much more doth it excel, when it shall indeed appear in persons of value and renown! Wherefore if any man will build his house high, let him lay his foundations very low, for envy shoots at high marks, and pride goes before a fall.’ Herein lay the secret of Sidney’s immense popularity. His haughtiness was reserved for the great and powerful.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE IRISH CHURCH DURING THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF ELIZABETH’S REIGN.
The Queen aims at outward uniformity.
Outward uniformity was what Elizabeth chiefly aimed at in the first years of her reign, and before a Papal excommunication forced her to be the enemy of all who adhered to Rome. The Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity were passed as a matter of course, but a clause in the latter statute shows that there was every disposition to treat the Irish tenderly. Most parts of Ireland, the Act declares, were devoid of English ministers to read the Common Prayer and administer the sacraments; ‘and for that also, that the same may not be in their native language, as well for difficulty to get it printed, as that few in the whole realm can read Irish letters,’ it was ordained that ministers and priests who knew no English might do their office in Latin. It was a singularly ill-advised plan, for the Jesuits and friars all knew Latin, and the Irish people knew it even less than English.
The English Bible and Prayer-book. Images.
In Dublin, however, everyone spoke English, and the Common Prayer Book of Edward VI. was used at the installation of Sussex. Open opposition was impossible, but on the following Sunday an attempt was made to discredit the new ritual by a trick. Christ Church contained a marble Christ with a crown of thorns on His head. This statue, which had been removed by Browne and replaced by Curwen, was observed to bleed during the service, and many were ready to believe in a miracle. Sedgrave, the mayor, who had sat quiet during the former service, produced a rosary and prayed openly before the bloody effigy. A former monk of the cathedral, named Leigh, cried out that Christ could not but sweat blood since heresy had come into the Church. A tumult seemed imminent, and Sussex and his suite hurried out of the choir. But Curwen stood upon a bench and showed the congregation that Leigh had placed a sponge filled with blood within the crown of thorns. The Protestants were triumphant, the Roman party confounded, and Curwen’s orders to have the statue broken up were obeyed without demur. Parker made good use of this occurrence to persuade the Queen to have images removed from all the churches. The exposure of so gross a fraud may have contributed to secure outward conformity in Dublin; but among the Irish-speaking people in the country it was perhaps scarcely heard of. The counter-reformation was everywhere in progress under teachers trained at Louvain. The actual state of the question as between Crown and Pope may best be arrived at by considering each diocese separately. A large Bible presented by Archbishop Heath to one or both of the Dublin cathedrals was eagerly read, and more than 7,000 copies are said to have been bought for the Irish market in two years; but they can have been of little use to those who did not know a word of English.[360]
See of Armagh. Adam Loftus.