Lancaster, was made Lord Chancellor in the room of Cardinal WOLSEY on
Sunday, the 24th of October 1529.

The following undated work--the second of his controversial ones--was
therefore written, printed and published prior to that day, and while as
yet he held the lower dignity of the ducal Chancellorship.

** The supplycacyon of soulys Made by syr Thomas More knyght councellour to
our souerayn lorde the Kynge and chauncellour of hys Duchy of Lancaster.

** Agaynst the supplycacyon of beggars.

At fol. xx. of this work occurs the following important passage, which,
while crediting the Reformers with a greater science in attack, and a more
far-reaching design in their writings than they actually possessed: fixes
with precision the year of the first distribution in England of SIMON
FISH's _Supplicacyon for the Beggers_, and with that its sequence in our
early Protestant printed literature--

For the techyng and prechyng of all whych thyngys / thys beggers proctour
or rather the dyuels proctour with other beggers that la[c]k grace and
nether beg nor lo[o]ke for none: bere all thys theyr malyce and wrathe to
the churche of C[h]ryste. And seynge there ys no way for attaynyng theyr
entent but one of the twayn / yat ys to wyt eyther playnly to wryte
agaynst the fayth and the sacramentys (wheryn yf they gat them credence
and obtaynyd / they then se[e] well the church must nedys fall therwyth)
or els to labour agaynst the church alone / and get the clergye dystroyd /
whereuppon they parceyue well that the fayth and sacramentes wo[u]ld not
fayle to decay: they parceyuyng thys / haue therfore furste assayd the
furst way all redy / sendyng forth Tyndals translacyon of the _new
testament_ in such wyse handled as yt shuld haue bene the fountayn and
well spryng of all theyr hole heresyes. For he had corrupted and purposely
changed in many placys the text / wyth such wordys as he myght make yt
seme to the vnlerned people / that the scripture affirmed theyr heresyes
it selfe. Then cam sone after out in prynt _the dyaloge_ of freere Roy and
frere Hyerome / _betwene ye father and ye sonne_ [_Preface dated
Argentine_ (Strasburg), _31 August, 1527_] agaynst ye sacrament of ye
aulter: and the blasphemouse boke entytled _the beryeng of the masse_
[i.e. _Rede me and be not wroth_ / printed at Strasburg early in 1528].
Then cam forth after Tyndals wykkyd boke of _Mammona_ [_Dated Marburg, 8
May 1528_] / and after that his more wykkyd boke of