The dates of these papers cannot always be determined; this which follows, probably, is something later, but it shows the general temper in which the clergy were disposed to meet the measures of the government.

“Robert Legate, friar of Furness, deposeth that the monks had a prophecy among them, that ’in England shall be slain the decorate rose in his mother’s belly,’ and this they interpret of his Majesty, saying that his Majesty shall die by the hands of priests; for the church is the mother, and the church shall slay his Grace.  The said Robert maintaineth that he hath heard the monks often say this.  Also, it is said among them that the King’s Grace was not the right heir to the crown; for that his Grace’s father came in by no line, but by the sword.  Also, that no secular knave should be head of the church; also that the abbot did know of these treasons, and had made no report thereof."[367]

Nor was it only in the remote abbeys of the North that such dangerous language was ventured.  The pulpit of St. Paul’s rang Sunday after Sunday with the polemics of the divorce; and if “the holy water of the court” made the higher clergy cringing and cowardly, the rank and file, even in London itself, showed a bold English front, and spoke out their thoughts with entire recklessness.  Among the preachers on Catherine’s side, Father Forest, famous afterward in Catholic martyrologies, began to distinguish himself.  Forest was warden of a convent of Observants at Greenwich attached to the royal chapel, and having been Catherine’s confessor, remained, with the majority of the friars, faithful to her interests, and fearless in the assertion of them.  From their connection with the palace, the intercourse of these monks with the royal household was considerable; their position gave them influence, and Anne Boleyn tried the power of her charms, if possible, to gain them over.  She had succeeded with a few of the weaker brothers, but she was unable (and her inability speaks remarkably for Henry’s endurance of opposition through the early stages of the controversy) to protect those whose services she had won from the anger of their superiors.  One monk in whom she was interested the warden imprisoned,[368] another there was an effort to expel,[369] because he was ready to preach on her side; and Forest himself preached a violent sermon at Paul’s Cross, attacking Cromwell and indirectly the king.[370] He was sent for to the court, and the persecuted brothers expected their triumph; but he returned, as one of them wrote bitterly to Cromwell, having been received with respect and favour, as if, after all, the enmity of a brave man found more honour at the court than the complacency of cowardice.  Father Forest, says this letter, has been with the king.  “He says he spake with the king for half an hour and more, and was well retained by his Grace; and the King’s Grace did send him a great piece of beef from his own table; and also he met with my Lord of Norfolk, and he says he took him in his arms and bade him welcome."[371]