Transcriber's Note:
Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Hyphenation has beenrationalised. Inconsistent spelling (including accents and capitals) hasbeen retained.
Running headers, at the top of each right-hand page, have been movedin front of the paragraphs to which they refer and surrounded by=equal signs=.
LONDON
PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.
NEW-STREET SQUARE
BY J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGNÉ, D.D.
AUTHOR OF THE
'HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY' ETC.
'Les choses de petite durée ont coutumede devenir fanées, quand elles out passé leur temps.
'Au règne de Christ, il n'y a que lenouvel homme qui soit florissant, qui ait de la vigueur, et dont ilfaille faire cas.'
VOL. V.
ENGLAND, GENEVA, FERRARA.
NEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
No. 530 BROADWAY.
1876.
St. Johnland Stereotype Foundry,
Suffolk County, N. Y.
This is the tenth volume of the History of theReformation of the Sixteenth Century, and the fifth ofthe Second Series. The first series described thehistory of that great epoch from its commencementdown to the Confession of Augsburg (1530). Thesecond will include the years intervening betweenthat period and the triumph of the Reformation invarious parts of Europe. It is not always easy to fixthe latter limit, which varies according to locality.
Nevertheless, a rule laid down by the author in hisfirst volume sensibly limits the work he has undertaken.'The history of one of the greatest revolutionsthat has ever been accomplished in humanaffairs, and not the history of a mere party, is theobject of the present undertaking. The history ofthe Reformation is distinct from that of Protestantism.'One or two volumes coming, God willing,after this one will bring it to a conclusion. Theauthor divided the history into two series for theconvenience of the public, but he does not separatethem. Together they form a single work.
The course that he will probably pursue in futurewill better express the unity of the great event which{iv}has made the sixteenth century famous. Streams atfirst flow apart; they afterwards unite with eachother in succession and form a single river. Therecomes a moment when the waters undergo the law ofconcentration: the same phenomenon is manifestedin a history like ours. After following up successivelythe facts of the Reformation in Germany,German Switzerland, France, England, WesternSwitzerland and elsewhere, we shall concentrate ournarrative a little, and present the progress of thegreat transformation in a single picture.
New countries and new men will come before us.In our next volume we shall travel through Scotland,Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, and other parts ofEurope, retracing the great features of their religioushistory. We shall even return to Luther andMelanchthon, whose society is at once so healthy andso pleasant; and also see Calvin at his work inGeneva.
One circumstance, besides that already indicated,warns the author to restrict his labor, and mightsuddenly interrupt