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 di- 
vorce, 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 omnia perpeti 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 Sherifl* 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. 
a 
