of as is our king..... He
is the most cruellest capital heretic, defacer and treader under foot of
Christ and of his church, continually applying and minding to extinct
the same; whose death, I beseech God, may be like to the death of the
most wicked John, sometime king of this realm, or rather to be called a
great tyran than a king; and that his death may be not much unlike to
the end of that manqueller Richard, sometime usurper of this imperial
realm. And if thou wilt deeply look upon his life, thou shalt find it
more foul and more stinking than a sow wallowing and defiling herself in
any filthy place."

[Sidenote: The Irish will persevere in the quarrel, and the Welsh will
join them.]

[Sidenote: Three parts of England be against the king.]

These words were spoken in English; Feron translated them into Latin,
and wrote them down. Hale then continued: "Until the king and the rulers
of this realm be plucked by the pates, and brought, as we say, to the
pot, shall we never live merrily in England, which, I pray God, may
chance, and now shortly come to pass. Ireland is set against him, which
will never shrink in their quarrel to die in it; and what think ye of
Wales? The noble and gentle Ap Ryce,[399] so cruelly put to death, and
he innocent, as they say, in the cause. _I think not contrary, but they
will join and take part with the Irish, and so invade our realm. If they
do so, doubt ye not but they shall have aid and strength enough in
England. For this is truth: three parts of England be against the king,
as he shall find if he need._ For of truth, they go about to bring this
realm into such miserable condition as is France; which the commons see,
_and perceive well enough a sufficient cause of rebellion and
insurrection in this realm. And truly we of the church shall never live
merrily until that day come_."[400]

[Sidenote: The persecuting laws against the Catholics.]

These informations may assist us in understanding, if we cannot forgive,
the severe enactments--severely to be executed--which were passed in the
ensuing parliament.

[Sidenote: Effect of circumstances upon policy.]

[Sidenote: A modern analogy.]

It is a maxim of sound policy, that actions only are a proper subject of
punishment,--that to treat men as offenders for their words, their
intentions, or their opinions, is not justice, but tyranny. But there is
no rule which is universally applicable. The policy of a state of war is
not the polic