I do not think it needful to recapitulate the history of Rose, which may
be found at length in Foxe's Acts and Monuments, eight, 581 _et seq_;
and I only propose to add a few particulars and explanations which are
not to be found in Foxe. It is only probable, not certain, that Mrs
Rose was a foreigner, her name not being on record; and the age and
existence of their only child are the sole historical data for the
character of Thekla. I must in honesty own that it is not even proved
that Rose's wife and child were living at the time of his arrest; but
the contrary is not proved either. The accusation brought against him
is extant among Foxe's Mss. (Harl. Ms. 421, folio 188); from which we
find that he was detained at the Cross, in the Green Yard, near the
Cathedral, Norwich; and that he was accused of having publicly held and
taught "that in the eucharist, or sacrament of the altar, the true,
natural, and real body and blood of Christ, under the forms of bread and
wine, are not; but that after consecration the substance of bread and
wine remaineth; and that whosoever shall adore that substance committeth
idolatry, and giveth divine honour to a creature." (Foxe's Mss., Harl.
Ms. 421, folio 188.) "Sir Thomas Rose, clerk, saith that he hath so
preached, and _will_ so preach" (Ibidem folio 146). On the 12th of May
1555, "Mr Thomas Rosse, preacher, was by the counsailles letters
delyvered from the tower to the shrief of Norfolk, to be convayed and
delyvered to the Bishop of Norwiche, and he either to reduce hym to
recante or elles to precede against hym accordinge the lawe." (Diary of
the Council's Proceedings, ibidem, Harl. Ms. 419, page 153.) And four
days later,--"16 May. A letter to the Lord Treasourer, signifyinge what
the 11 [Lords] had done for Rosse, and that order should be given
according his Ls [Lordship's] request for letters to the Busshopps."
(_ibidem_) Rose is by many of his contemporaries called Ross or Rosse,
but he appears to have spelt his own name Rose. I say _appears_,
because his autograph has been searched for in vain; the narrative of
his sufferings, written by himself, and printed in the Acts and
Monuments, is not extant among Foxe's papers. When Rose returned to
England after the accession of Elizabeth, he took possession again of
his old vicarage, West Ham; but resigned it when he was presented by the
Crown to the vicarage of Luton in Bedfordshire. This was on November 4,
1562; and the living was vacant by the death of the Reverend -- Mason.
It formed a quiet retreat for the old age of the persecuted preacher.
At Luton he spent nearly thirteen years, dying there in 1574; for on the
18th of June in that year, William Home was presented to the vacant
living. (Rot. Parl. 5 Elizabeth, part 4; 16 Elizabeth; Bibl. Topogr.
British Antiquities, volume four.) Foxe, therefore, was apparently
mistaken when he spoke of Rose as still living, in his edition of 1576;
he had in all probability not yet heard of his death. As Rose was born
at Exmouth in or about 1500, his age was about seventy-four when he
died--probably rather more than less. For such further details of his
life as can be found in Foxe's volumes, I must refer my readers to his
familiar and accessible work.