12 INTRODUCTION. During this queen's reign, several hundred persons suffered death under the foul charge of heresy ;o among whomwere great numbers of pious and learned divines, all zealous for the reformation. Many of these divines being avowed nonconformists in the reign of King Edward, maintained their principles even at the stake. Mr. John Rogers, the protomartyr, peremptorily refused to wear the habits, unless the popish priests were enjoined to wear upon their sleeves, as a mark of distinction, a chalice with an host. The same may be observed of Mr. John Philpot and Mr. Tyros, two other eminent martyrs. + Bishop Latimer derided the garments ; and when they pulled off the surplice at his degradation, he said, Now I can make no more holy water. In the articles against Bishop Farrar, it was objected, that he had vowed never to wear the cap, but that he came into his cathedral in his long gown and bat ; which he did not deny, alleging that he did it to avoid superstition, and giving offence to the people.t When the popish vestments were put upon Dr. Taylor, at his degradation, he walked about with his hands by his sides, saying, " How say you, my lord, am I not a godly fool How say you, my masters, if I were in Cheapside, should I not have boys enough to laugh at these apish toys and toying trumpery?" And it is observed, that when the surplice was pulled off, he said, Now I am rid of a fool's coat.§ The famous John Bradford excepted against the habits, and was ordained without theni; and even Cranmer and Ridley, who, in the late reign had exercised great severity against Hooper and others, lived to see their mistakes, and to repent of their conduct. Cranmer being clothed in the habits, at his degradation, said, " All this needeth not. , I had myself done with this years ago."a Ridley, when he refused to put on the surplice at his degradation, and they put it on by force, " vehemently inveighed against it, calling it foolish and abominable, and too fond for a vice in a play."i And even during his confinement in prison, he wrote to Hooper, saying, " That Burnet reckonsthe numberof those who suffered in the flames to bo 284; and Mr., Strype, 288; but it is said there were no less than 800, during Queen Mary's bloody persecution.-Thid. p. 364.-Strype's Ecct. Nem vol. iii. Appen. p. 291. Heylin's Hist. of Refor. part i. p. 93. ++ Fox's Martyrs, vol. iii. p. 168, 172. § Ibid. p. 143. It is observed that both Cranmer and Ridley intended so have procured an act for abolishing the habits, but were prevented.-Poirce's Vindication, part i. p. 44. 2 Fox's Martyrs, vol. iii. p. 427.
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