sidered as the peculiar characteristics of the Middle ages. He was
also a practitioner of alchemy. He would jeopard his life to make the
philosopher's stone if the king pleased, aye, and was willing to be kept
in prison till he had: in a year he would make silver, and in a year and
a half, gold, which would be better to the king than a thousand men. But
Henry was too shrewd thus to be allured into mercy; and Neville perished
in the prolonged agonies which his sentence involved. He appears, from
other documents, to have been of a light-hearted and merry temper; not
very wise, but wholly innocent of any crime, except a few idle words.

THE CONFESSION OF SIR EDWARD NEVILLE.

"Honourable Lords, I take God to record, that I did never commit nor
reconcile treason sith I was born, nor imagined the destruction of no
man or woman, as God shall save my soul; He knows my heart, for it is
He that 'scrutator cordium,' and in Him is all trust. I will not
danger my soul for fear of worldly punishment; the joy of Heaven is
eternal, and incomparable to the joy of this wretched world:
therefore, good lords, do by me as God shall put in your minds; for
another day ye shall suffer the judgment of God, when ye cannot start
from it, no more than I can start from yours at this time. Now to
certify all that I can:--William Neville did send for me to Oxford,
that I should come and speak with him at 'Weke,' and to him I went;
it was the first time I ever saw him; I would I had been buried that
day.

"When I came, he took me to a _littell_ room, and went to his garden,
and there demanded of me many questions, and among all others, asked
if it were not possible to have a ring made that should bring a man
in favour with his Prince; seeing my Lord Cardinal had such a ring,
that whatsoever he asked of the King's Grace, that he had; and Master
Cromwell, when he and I were servants in my Lord Cardinal's house,
did haunt to the company of one that was seen in your faculty; and
shortly after, no man so great with my Lord Cardinal as Master
Cromwell was; and I have spoke with all them that has any name in
this realm; and all they showed me that I should be great with my
Prince; and this is the cause that I did send for you, to know
whether your saying be agreeable to theirs, or no. And I, at the
hearty desire of him, shewed h