THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE THE SECOND, BY OLIVER GOLDSMITH, M.B. THE TWELFTH EDITION, CORRECTED; WITH A CONTINUATION TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE THE THIRD, BY CHARLES COOTE, LL.D. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: PRINTED FOR F. C. AND J. RIVINGTON; J. CUTHELL; J. NUNN; J. SCAT- 1823. HISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER I. HENRY VIII. A. D. 1509-1547. No prince ever came to the throne with a conjuncture of circumstances more in his favour than Henry VIII., who, now in the eighteenth year of his age, undertook the government of the kingdom. His prudent father. left him a peaceful throne, a well-stored treasury, and an undisputed succession. By his father's side he claimed from the house of Lancaster, and by his mother's from that of York. He was in friendship with all the powers of Europe, and his subjects were every day growing more powerful and more wealthy; commerce and arts had for some time been introduced into the kingdom, and the English seemed willing to give them a favourable reception. The young king himself was beautiful in person, expert in polite exercises, open and liberal in his air, and loved by all his subjects. The old king, who was himself a scholar, had him instructed in all the learning of the times: so that he was an adept in school divinity before the age of eighteen. |