BISHOP AYLMER. 77 



&quot; your Lordships by the Clerk of the Council, that I com- CHAP. 



&quot; mitted him by her Majesty s commandment. Alas ! my V1L 



&quot; Lord, in what a dilemma stood I, that if I had not shew- 



&quot; ed that warrant, I should have had all your displeasures, 



&quot; which I was not able to bear : and using it for my shield, 



&quot; (being not forbidden by her Majesty,) I am blamed for 



&quot; not taking upon me a matter, wherein she herself would 



&quot; not be seen. Well, I leave it to God, and to your wisdom 



&quot; to consider in what a dangerous place of service I am. 



&quot;But God whom I serve, and in whose hands the hearts 



&quot; of princes are, as the rivers of waters, can and will turn 



&quot; all to the best ; and stir up such honourable friends as 



&quot; you are to appease her Highnesses indignation.&quot; 



Perhaps the Bishop s enemies took their opportunity now charged 

 to buzz in the Queen s ears slanders and misreports against j|&quot; v &quot; s s pjiid 

 him : whereof one was, that he had spoiled the revenues of the bishop- 

 the bishopric ; and how he was noted for this, she bade the 

 Archbishop of Canterbury let him know from her. This 

 was in August. Apprehending well how this tended to his 

 great discredit, and knowing his innocency herein, and the 

 good service he had done in truth to the bishopric, he drew 

 up a brief note of particulars, which he communicated to 

 the Treasurer, and to some other persons of honour, his 

 friends, to shew that he was so far from impairing the bi 

 shopric, that he had bettered it in divers respects : and that 

 so it would easily appear, whensoever the matter should 

 come to trial, that he had by no means diminished it, but 

 increased it considerably. And he applied to the said Trea 

 surer, beseeching him even in equity to weigh what wrong 

 he had sustained by such reports, and, as occasion should 

 serve, to let her Majesty understand that all was not true 

 that had been reported. 



In the month of October following, another business fell A contro- 

 out to our Bishop, by the instigation of some troublesome J*J n the 



persons unknown, which created some controversy between Queen and 

 the Queen and him. But herein the Bishop shewed him- a vicarage, 

 self a true friend to his poor Clergy, and withal a tight 

 maintainer of the rights of his bishopric. The case was 



