Sir John of Leiston unto me, that then we should soon speed our purpose, for the said Sir John of Leiston was with the parson of Lesingham when the spirits appeared to the said book; and so I went to Colkett Hall, and took the said book and instruments with me; but he” (Sir John) “came not; wherefore, when I had tarried three or four days, I and the parish priest of Gorleston went about the said business, but of truth we could bring nothing to effect.”
His lengthened confession then goes into details of other expeditions aided by Lord Leonard, which ended in his imprisonment for deserting Lord Leonard, but he was afterwards pardoned and set at liberty. He then goes on to say in his letter, “and whereas your noble Grace here of late was informed of certain things by the Duke’s Grace of Norfolk, as touching to your Grace and him, I faithfully ascertain that the truth thereof is as herein followeth, that is to say, one Wright, servant to the said Duke, at a certain season showed me that the Duke’s Grace, his master, was sore vexed with a spirit by the enchantment of your Grace; to the which I made answer that his communication might be left, for it was too high a subject to meddle with. Whereupon Wright went into the Duke’s presence and showed things to me unknown, which caused the Duke’s Grace to send for me; and at such time as I was before his Grace I required his grace to show me what
his pleasure was, and he said I knew well myself, and I answered ‘Nay.’ Then he demanded of Wright whether he had showed me anything or nay, and he answered he durst not, for because his Grace gave so strait commandment unto the contrary. And so then was I directed to the said Wright unto the next day, that he should show me the intention of the Duke’s Grace.”
Wright seems then to have suggested to Stapleton that he should pretend power to rid the Duke of the troublesome spirit; and being strongly tempted by hopes of reward, he consented, “and feigned to him,” when he sent for him again, that he had forged an image of wax of his similitude, and sanctified it—but whether it did any good for his sickness he could not tell.
“Whereupon the said Duke desired me that I should go about to know whether the Lord Cardinal’s Grace had a spirit, and I showed him that I could not skill thereof. And the Duke then said if I would take pains therein, he would appoint me to a cunning man, Dr. Wilson. And so the said Dr. Wilson was sent for, and they examined me, and the Duke’s Grace commanded me to write all these things, and so I did. Whereupon, considering the great folly which hath rested in me, I humbly beseech your Grace to be a good and gracious lord unto me, and to take me to your mercy.”
The case of Sir Edward Neville, quoted from the same authority, commences by a statement of the treasonable words laid to his charge, which were, “The King is a beast, and worse than a beast; and I trust knaves shall be put down, and lords reign one day, and that the world will amend one day.” He was found guilty, hanged, drawn and quartered.
He is suspected to have been connected with Stapleton the monk, who has already appeared as a necromancer. At all events, his confession shows again how much Wolsey was supposed to be conversant with magic; and indeed the ‘ring’ by which the Cardinal was thought to have won the fatal favour of the king, was noticed in the accusations against him when he fell.
In seeking for treasure, Sir Edward fully acknowledges being led to it by “foolish fellows of the country.”
In his account of his own dealings with spirits and magic, there is much curious mixture of half-doubting marvel and self deceit, probably not unconnected with influences baffling the human intellect, so apparent in the kindred delusions of Mesmerism, that strange development of the age of civilization, in no respect differing from the superstitions usually considered as the peculiar characteristics of the Middle ages. He was also a practitioner of alchemy. He would jeopard his life to make the philosopher’s stone
if the king pleased, aye, and was willing to be kept in prison till he had: in a year he would make silver, and in a year and a half, gold, which would be better to the king than a thousand men. But Henry was too shrewd thus to be allured into mercy; and Neville perished in the prolonged agonies which his sentence involved. He appears, from other documents, to have been of a light-hearted and merry temper; not very wise, but wholly innocent of any crime, except a few idle words.