Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century

by Georgiana Fullerton

such a sin."Maybe not," I answered; "yet, I ween, there should be more faith in asole commitment to God of the events than in doing the least evil sothat good should come of it."

  He said, "I marvel, Mistress Constance, what should be your thoughtsthereon if the life of a priest was in your hands, and you able tosave him by a lie."

  "Verily," I answered, "I know not, Master Rookwood; but I have so muchtrust in Almighty God that he would, in such a case, put words into mymouth which should be true, and yet mislead evil-purposed men, or thathe shall keep me from such fearful straits, or forgive me if, in thestress of a great peril, I unwittingly should err."

  "And I pray you," Hubert then said, as if not greatly caring to pursuethe theme, "what be your thought concerning the unhappy youth Olindo,who did so dote on this maiden that, fearful of offending there whereabove all he desired to please, had, greatly as he loved, littlehoped, nothing asked, and not so much as revealed his passion until acommon fate bound both to an equal death?"

  "I thought not at all on him," I answered; "but only on Sophronisba."

  At which he sighed and read further: "That all wept for her who,albeit doomed to a cruel death, wept not for herself, but in this wisesecretly reproved the fond youth's weeping: 'Friend,' quoth she,'other thoughts, other tears, other sighs, do beseem this hour. Thinkof thy sins, and God's great recompense for the good. Suffer for hissole sake, and torment shall be sweet. See how fair the heavens doshow, the sun how bright, as it were to cheer and lure us onward!'"

  "Ah!" I exclaimed, "shame on him who did need to be so exhorted, whoshould have been the most valiant, being a man!" To the which hequickly replied:

  "He willed to die of his own free will rather than to live without herwhom he jewelled more than life: but in the matter of grieving lovedoth make cowards of those who should else have been brave."

  "Me thinks, rather," I answered, "that in noble hearts love's effectsshould be noble."

  "Bethink you, Mistress Constance," he then asked, "that Sophronisbadid act commendably, insomuch that when an unlooked-for deliverancecame, she refused not to be united in life to him that had willed tobe united to her in death."

  "You may think me ungrateful, sir," answered; "but other meritsmethinks than fondness for herself should have won so great a heart."

  "You be hard to content, Mistress Constance," he answered somewhatresentfully. "To satisfy you, I perceive one should have a hard aswell as a great heart."

  "Nay," I cried, "I praise not hardness, but love not softness either.You that be so learned, I pray you find the word which doth expresswhat pleaseth me in a man."

  "I know not the word," he answered; "I would I knew the substance ofyour liking, that I might furnish myself with it."

  Whereupon our discourse ended that day; but it ministered food to mythoughts, and I fear me also to a vain content that one so gifted withlearning and great promise of future greatness should evince somethingof regard beyond a mutual friendship for one as ignorant and young asI then was.

  Some months after Kate's marriage, matters became very troublesome, byreason of the killing of a great store, as was reported, of FrenchHuguenots in Paris on St. Bartholomew's day, and afterward in manycities of France, which did consternate the English Catholics for morereasons than one, and awoke so much rage in the breasts ofProtestants, that the French ambassador told Lady Tregony, a friend,of Mistress Wells, that he did scarce venture to show his face; andnone, save only the queen herself, who is always his very good friend,would speak to him. I was one evening at the house of Lady Ingoldby,Polly's mother-in-law, some time after this dismal news had beenbruited, and the company there assembled did for the most partdiscourse on these events, not only as deploring what had taken place,and condemning the authors thereof,--which, indeed, was what all goodpersons must needs have done,--but took occasion thence to use suchvile terms and opprobrious language touching Catholic religion, andthe cruelty and wickedness of such as did profess it, without so muchas a thought of the miseries inflicted on them in England, that--albeitI had been schooled in the hard lesson of silence--so strong a passionovercame me then, that I had well nigh, as the Psalmist saith, spokenwith my tongue, yea, young as I was, uttered words rising hot from myheart, in the midst of that adverse company, which I did know, them tobe, if one had not at that moment lifted up his voice, whosepresence I had already noted, though not acquainted with his name; aman of reverent and exceedingly benevolent aspect; aged, but with aneye so bright, and silvery hair crowning a noble forehead, that somuch excellence and dignity is seldom to be observed in any one as wasapparent in this gentleman.

  "Good friends," he said, and at the sound of his voice the speakershushed their eager discoursing, "God defend I should in any way differwith you touching the massacres in France; for verily it has been alamentable and horrible thing that so many persons should be killed,and religion to be the pretence for it; but to hear some speak of it,one should think none did suffer in this country for their faith, andbloody laws did not exist, whereby Papists are put to death in alegal, cold-blooded fashion, more terrible, if possible, than thesudden bursts of wild passions and civil strife, which revenge forlate cruelties committed by the Huguenots, wherein many thousandCatholics had perished, the destruction of churches, havoc of fiercesoldiery, and apprehension of the like attempts in Paris, had stirredup to fury; so that when the word went forth to fall on the leaders ofthe party, the savage work once begun, even as a fire in a city builtof wood, raged as a madness for one while, and men in a panic struckat foes, whose gripe they did think to feel about their throats."

  Here the speaker paused an instant. This so bold opening of his speechdid seem to take all present by surprise, and almost robbed me of mybreath; for it is well known that nowadays a word, yea a piece of aword, or a nod of the head, whereby any suspicion may arise of afavorable disposition toward Catholics, is often-times a sufficientcause for a man to be accused and cast into prison; and I waited hisnext words (which every one, peradventure from curiosity, did likewiseseem inclined to hear) with downcast eyes, which dared not to glanceat any one's face, and cheeks which burned like hot coals.

  "It is well known," quoth he, "that the sufferings which be endured byrecusants at this time in our country are such, that many shouldprefer to die at once than to be subjected to so constant a fear andterror as doth beset them. I speak not now of the truth or the falsityof their religion, which, if it be ever so damnable and wicked, is nonew invention of their own, but what all Christian people did agreein, one hundred years ago; so that the aged do but abide by what theywere taught by undoubted authority in their youth, and the young havereceived from their parents as true. But I do solely aver that Papistsare subjected to a thousand vexations, both of bonds, imprisonments,and torments worse than death, yea and oftentimes to death itself; andthat so dreadful, that to be slain by the sword, or drowned, yea evenburned at the stake, is not so terrible; for they do hang a man andthen cut him down yet alive, and butcher him in such ways--plucking outhis heart and tearing his limbs asunder--that nothing more horrible canbe thought of."

  "They be traitors who are so used," cried one gentleman, somewhatrecovering from the surprise which these bold words had caused.

  "If to be of a different religion from the sovereign of the country bea proof of treason," continued the venerable speaker, "then were theHuguenots, which have perished in France, a whole mass and nest oftraitors."

  A gentleman seated behind me, who had a trick of sleeping in hischair, woke up and cried out, "Not half a one, sirs; not so much ashalf a one is allowed," meaning the mass, which he did suppose to havebeen spoken of.

  "And if so, deserved all to die,' continued the speaker.

  "Ay, and so they do, sir," quoth the sleeper. "I pray you let them allbe hanged." Upon which every one laughed, and the aged gentlemanalso; and then he said,

  "Good my friends, I ween 'tis a rash thing to speak in favor ofrecusants nowadays, and what few could dare to do but such as cannotbe suspected of
disloyalty to the queen and the country, and who,having drunk of the cup of affliction in their youth, even to thedregs, and held life for a long time as a burden which hath need to beborne day by day, until the wished for hour of release doth come--andthe sooner, the more welcome--have no enemies to fear, and no objectto attain. And if so be that you will bear with me for a few moments,yea, if ye procure me to be hanged to-morrow" (this he said with apleasant smile; and, "Marry, fear not, Mr. Roper," and "I' faith,speak on, sir," was bruited round him by his astonished auditors), "Iwill recite to you some small part of the miseries which have beenendured of late years by