CHARLES WATERTON, ESQ. XVII 



" From thence the tide of fortune left their shore, 

 And ebb'd much faster than it flow'd before." 



The cause of our disasters was briefly this : The 

 king fell scandalously in love with a buxom lass, 

 and he wished to make her his lawful wife, notwith- 

 standing that his most virtuous queen was still 

 alive. Having applied to the head of the Church 

 for a divorce, his request was not complied with ; 

 although Martin Luther, the apostate friar and 

 creed-reformer, had allowed the Margrave of Hesse 

 to have two wives at one and the same time. Upon 

 this refusal, our royal goat became exceedingly 

 mischievous : " Audax omniaperpeti ruit per vetitum 

 nefas." Having caused himself to be made head of 

 the church, he suppressed all the monasteries, and 

 squandered their revenues amongst gamesters, har- 

 lots, mountebanks, and apostates. The poor, by his 

 villanies, were reduced to great misery, and they 

 took to evil ways in order to keep body and soul 

 together. During this merciless reign, seventy-two 

 thousand of them were hanged for thieving. 



In good * Queen Mary's days there was a short 

 tide of flood in our favour ; and Thomas Water- 

 ton of Walton Hall was High Sheriff of York. 

 This was the last public commission held by our 

 family. 



The succeeding reigns brought every species of 

 reproach and indignity upon us. We were declared 

 totally incapable of serving our country ; we were 

 held up to the scorn of a deluded multitude, as 



* Camden, the Protestant historian, says that Queen Mary was a prin- 

 cess never sufficiently to be commended of all men for pious and religious 

 demeanour, her commiseration towards the poor, &c. 



