136 



THE LIFE OF 



C H A P. 

 XL 



Admonit. 

 to the 

 People of 



the world, and made no choice of men or matter, so that it 

 . might serve his turn ; as an author in those times, (sup 

 posed to be Cowper, Bishop of Winchester,) in his answer 

 to Martin s libel, speaks ; who wiped off all these foul and 

 lying representations of this and other worthy Bishops in 

 Queen Elizabeth s reign, and set in true light the disguised 

 stories told of them. 



And from him to assoil these dire accusations. The busi 

 ness between the Bishop and the diers in truth was thus. 

 That upon notice given to the said Bishop, that such cloth 

 was waived within his manor of Fulham, and left in a ditch 

 there, and no owner known, he presently, hoping to take 

 them that brought it thither, or at least to save the same 

 from purloining or miscarrying, appointed the same to be 

 watched divers nights. And in the end, hearing neither of 

 the owners, nor of them that so waived it, willed the same 

 to be brought to his house in Fulham, and there to be kept 

 for him or them which by law ought to have it, were it in 

 respect of the first property, or of the alteration thereof by 

 means of the liberties. Whereupon a good space after, the 

 diers indeed came to the Bishop and claimed the cloth, and 

 sought by earnest means to have it again, without making 

 any proof that the cloth was theirs, or that the same cloth 

 was it, for which the thieves were executed, or that fresh 

 suit was made after the said thieves for the same. But 

 upon conference had with learned lawyers therein, it was re 

 solved, that the property of this cloth was altered, and trans 

 ferred to the liberties. And so the diers themselves found ; 

 else they would by law have sought remedy ere this, three 

 years being now past since this pretended loss of the cloth. 

 Yet nevertheless, so far had the Bishop been from exacting 

 the extremity, that offer had been made to the diers of a 

 good part of the cloth, where in law they had lost all: 

 and farther to restore all, or to make sufficient recompense, 

 if by law it ought to be so, upon the examination of the 

 truth of the cause. Marprelate indeed called this down 

 right theft, though it were taken and claimed by right and 

 law, because the true owners were defeated. And this is 



