Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/34

 mSTOBY OF BISHOP AUOKLANI). 17 histoiian to trace the histoiy of this prelate from his humble origin of a butcher^s son at Ipswich, nntil he became, not only Cardinal, but the Pope's Legate, and is said to have even aspired to the Popedom ; or we might have traced him to the time when he ceased to be the tool of Hemy, and was gradually striped of his honours and his power ; being led to exclaim, in the sixtielJi year of his age,  If I had served God as diligently as I have done the King, He would not have given me over in my grey hairs I Shakespeare thus sums up his character : — This Cardinal, Though from a hmnble stock, andoabtedly Was f ashion'd to much honour from his cradle. He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one ; Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading : Lofty and sour to them that loVd him not ; But, to those men that sought him, sweet as summer. And though he were unsatisfied in getting (Which was a sin), yet in bestowing, Madam, He was most princely. Ever witness for him Those twins of learning that he ndsed in you, Ipswich and Oxford ! one of which fell with him. Unwilling to outUve the good that did it ; The other, thou^ unfinished, yet so famous, So excellent in art, and still so rising. That Christendom shall ever speak his yirtue. His overthrow heap'd happiness upon him ; For then, and not till then, he felt himself, And found the blessedness of being little ; And to add greater honours to his age Than man could give him, he died fearing Qod. CHAPTER IV. We now come to the episcopate of Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall, the events of whose time, though not immediately connected with the history of Bishop Auckland, yet form such an important part of the history of the north, and more particularly the See of Durham, that we give them in full, jfrom " Richardson's Local Historian's Table Book" : — In 1530, Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London, was translated to the See of Durham. In 1534, when Hemy YiiL, in defiance of the Roman Pontiff, assumed the titlo of Supreme Head of the EugliRh Church, Tunstall hesitated, argued, and submitted; and, soon after, publicly defended the Swing's supremacy from the pulpit. In 1535, he acted as one of the commissioners for valuing all ecclesiastical benefices, and settling the first fruits and tenths on the Crown. By the Act 27, Henry VILL, the Bishop was deprived of nearly all the ancient honours and peculiar privileges which a successbn of monarchs, during six centuries, had lavished on the See of DurhanL Bishop Tunstall bowed to the storm in silence, and preserved during the remainder of Henry's reign a considerable degree of personal favour and influence. On the accession of Edward YL, the cautious, yet open, conduct of Tunstall seems for a time to have saved him from ruin ; he had been dismissed from the Council Board in 1548, but suffered no farther molestation during the first years of the new reign. The ambitious views, however, of the daring and profiigate Dudley, Duke of Northum- berland, impelled him to hasten the downfall 'of the mild and unoffending prelate. Tunstall's deprivation was pronounced on the I4th of August, 1552, and he was immediately sent to the Tower ; and on the 21st of March following,a bill was lead for the suppression of the Bishoprick of Durham. The death of the young King defeated the projects and the lynbition of Dudley ; and amongst other consequences of the accession of the Princess Maiy, he appears to have constantly resided, and to have successfully exerted his influence in screening the unhappy victims of persecution, and if he be blamed for a tadt consent to horrors which he probably could not prevent, it may be stated that at least his own extended diocese was not stained with the blood of one religious martyr. During the heat of persecution, Russell, a leformed preacher, was brought before the Bishop at Auckland, charged with opinions which, if acknowledged, must liave proved fatal to him, and which Tunstall knew he would not deny :  hitherto," said the Bishop, we have a good xeport among our neighbours; I pray you bring not this man's blood upon my head," and immediately dismissed him unexamined. On the accession of Elizabeth, hopes were earnestly entertained, founded on Tunstall's known mildness and moderation, that he would not refuse taking the oath of supremacy. Without, however, expressing any hostile feeling, either to the queen or to the reformers, he dedined in his dd age again changing his religious creed. Digitized by Google -