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2. Wolsey's great abilities were solely employed in raising himself to the highest worldly dignity. Cromwell, though reformer, was intent on enriching himself from the pillage of the religious houses. Cranmer's character was so devoid of covetousness and ambition, that he at first declined the archbishopric, and at last accepted only from the hope that it would give him better means of forwarding the cause he had at heart.

3. Notwithstanding a timidity of character which betrayed him into some weaknesses, the virtue of Cranmer awed the overbearing Henry, who usually contrived to send him to a distance when he was about to commit any of his flagrant acts. The king's regard for him was at all times sincere.

4. Upon one occasion, Gardiner and the Duke of Norfolk, the leaders of the papists, thought they had obtained the king's consent to send Cranmer to the Tower; but Henry privately warned the archbishop of the plot, and advised him how to defeat the malice of his enemies.

5. Cranmer was very anxious that the public services of the church should be in English instead of Latin, but he knew that the king would violently oppose such a change. He therefore thought it best to lead to it by degrees; and when a prayer was to be composed for the king's preservation, in an expedition to France, in 1544, Cranmer besought him that it might be composed in English, that the people might pray with more fervor, from understanding what they uttered.

6. By degrees he gained permission to have the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Commandments read in English in the churches. He was also desirous of obtaining a better translation of the Bible than Wickliffe's, of which a few copies were yet extant. At last he gained the king's permission to have one prepared, but it was four years before it was completed.

7. These Bibles, when they did appear, were received with thankfulness all over the kingdom; they were placed in churches, and secured by a chain to the reading-desk. The people flocked to the places where they could hear the holy book read, and many persons learned to read for the sole purpose of perusing it. But Henry, in the latter part of his life, would not permit the Scriptures to be read by the lower orders of the people.

8. The increase of books, through the invention of printing, had already made the English much greater readers than formerly; but in regard to writing, they do not seem to have been much advanced. An anecdote illustrative of this is contained in a letter, dated 1516, giving an account of some seditious paper which was stuck up on St. Paul's Church.

9. In order to discover who had written it, the aldermen of London were ordered to go round all the wards, and "see all write who' could." We may conclude, also, that country gentlemen were not better scribes than the citizens; for in a book on agriculture, written

What instance of the king's regard for him? 5. What object had Cranmer much at heart? 6. What of his translation of the Bible? 7. How did the people receive the Bible? 8, 9. What instances of the ignorance of the people?

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TYRANNY OF HENRY.-1546.

about this time, it is suggested that those gentlemen who could not write might note down anything they wished to remember by cutting notches on a stick.

CHAPTER CXXXI.

War between England and Scotland.-Battle of Solway Moss.-Death of the King of Scotland, who is succeeded by the beautiful Mary, Queen of Scots.-Henry becomes more tyrannical, as he grows old.Arrest of the Duke of Norfolk, and of the Earl of Surrey.—Character of these Noblemen.-Death of Surrey.—Death of Henry VIII.

1. HENRY was very fond of royal interviews, and, in 1541, a meeting between him and his nephew, James V., of Scotland, was agreed upon, to be held at York. Henry and his court kept the appointment, and waited for some days; but the King of Scots was prevented by his clergy from fulfilling the engagement.

2. Henry was so much enraged at this insult, that he declared war against him. The English army obtained a victory at Solway Moss, and James was so much overwhelmed when he heard of it, that he sunk into a settled melancholy, and died December 14th, 1542, leaving an infant daughter, only seven years old, as heir to his throne.

3. This princess was the celebrated Mary, Queen of Scots, of whose unhappy life and death you will hear in the proper place. Henry was desirous of a marriage between the young Queen of Scotland and his son Edward, and used both force and artifice to bring it about. He wished also to be made Protector of Scotland during the queen's minority; but the Scots were too bold to be frightened, and too wary to be ensnared.

4. In 1546 peace was made with Scotland, and Henry, being also at peace with France and Germany, had nothing to do but to torment his own subjects. As he required the people to make his opinion the standard of their faith, and was continually changing that opinion, and making contradictory laws, it was scarcely possible for his subjects to steer a safe course, among the difficulties which his tyrannical caprice laid in their way.

5. Towards the end of his life he was troubled with a very painful disorder in his leg, which, added to his unwieldy corpulence, disabled him from walking, and made him more furious than a chained lion. These infirmities so greatly increased the natural violence of his temper, that everybody was afraid to come near him.

6. Even the queen, though she was his most attentive nurse, per

CXXXI.-1, 2. What led to a war with Scotland? What effect had the defeat of the Scots upon their king? Who succeeded James V.? 3. What marriage was Henry desirous to effect? 4. What of his treatment of his own subjects? 5. What increased his natural ill temper? 6. What was one of the last acts of his life? 7. What of the Duke

DEATH OF HENRY VIII.-1547.

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forming the most disagreeable offices for him, was treated with harshness. His tyranny and caprice were such that none could feel safe. Among the last acts of his life was the arrest of the Duke of Norfolk and his son, Lord Surrey.

7. The former was regarded as the greatest subject in the kingdom. He had been one of the king's earliest favorites; he had rendered great services to the crown, which had been rewarded by honors and estates; he was allied to the royal family by marriage in various ways.

8. The Earl of Surrey was the most accomplished nobleman in the kingdom. He was equally distinguished as a courtier, a scholar, and a soldier. Himself a poet, he was a liberal patron of letters and of the fine arts. Both these noblemen were zealous Roman Catholics, and the duke was regarded, both at home and abroad, as the head of that party.

9. It was doubtless the king's fear that they might prove dangerous subjects during the minority of his son Edward, that led to their ruin. But the charges actually brought against them were frivolous in the extreme. But with the parliaments and juries of Henry's reign this was of small consequence. Surrey was found guilty of high treason, and was beheaded January 19th, 1547.

10. Norfolk tried every concession to save his own life, but Henry, as if he thirsted for blood, hurried on the proceedings of parliament, and the death-warrant was signed January 27th, but before it could be executed, the king expired, and thus his victim escaped.

11. Henry's temper was so terrific, that, when he was dying, no person dared to give him the least hint of his danger. At last one bolder than the rest ventured to tell him he had not long to live, and asked him if he would have a clergyman sent for. He replied, "If any, Cranmer." When the archbishop arrived, the king was speechless, but he knew Cranmer, and expired as he pressed his hand. He was in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and the thirty-eighth of his reign. 12. Though the princesses, Mary and Elizabeth, had been declared not to be capable of inheriting the crown, Henry appointed them in his will, after their brother, to the succession. In case they all died without children, he left the succession to the heirs of his youngest sister, the Duchess of Suffolk, in exclusion of those of his eldest sister, Margaret, who, after the death of the King of Scotland, had married the Earl of Angus.

FAMILY OF HENRY VIII.

WIVES.

Catharine of Aragon, whom he divorced.
Anne Boleyn, whom he beheaded.
Jane Seymour, who died a natural death.
Ann of Cleves, whom he divorced.
Catharine Howard, whom he beheaded.
Catharine Parr, who survived him.

of Norfolk? 8. What of Lord Surrey? 9, 10. What was the fate of these noblemen? 11. Relate the particulars of Henry's death. 12. What did he appoint as the order of succession?

Anecdotes of Henry VIII.—His patronage of Men of Learning.-Erasmus invited to England to teach Greek.- Violent Disputes as to the proper Pronunciation of that Language.-The King interferes to put a stop to them.-Hans Holbein, the Painter.-Several new Vegetables introduced into England.

1. It may seem extraordinary, that, notwithstanding his cruelty, his extortion, his violence, and the many vices which disgraced his character, Henry possessed to the last, in some degree, the love and affection of his subjects. His exterior qualities were calculated to captivate the multitude; his magnificence and personal courage made him illustrious in vulgar eyes. His liberality helped to reconcile his courtiers to his ill-humors.

2. A single anecdote will suffice to show how completely the English people were subdued by the royal authority and will; indeed, in regard to freedom of thought or action, they were little better off than the slaves of an eastern despot. Upon one occasion, the House of Commons did not pass a law granting a supply quite so speedily as the king wished.

3. Whereupon Henry sent for Edward Montague, one of the members who had considerable influence in the house; and he, introduced to his majesty, had the mortification to hear him speak in these words: "Ho! man! will they not pass my bill?"

4. And laying his hand on Montague's head, who was then on his knees before him, "Get my bill passed by to-morrow, or else to-morrow this head of yours shall be off!" The bill was passed within the appointed time. After the evidence we have given of barbarism in the manners of the age, it will not surprise us to learn that the traffic in slaves, by Christian nations, began in the reign of Henry VIII.

5. We have already said that Henry was distinguished among the princes of his age for his scholarship. Learning now became fashionable in England. Erasmus speaks with great satisfaction of the regard paid by the nobles to men of knowledge. To speak and write pure Latin was deemed a polite accomplishment, to which persons of the highest rank and of both sexes aspired.

CXXXII.-1. What were the feelings of Henry's subjects towards m? 2, 3, 4

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6. The greatest scholars of the age did not disdain o spend their time in writing grammars, vocabularies, colloquies and other books, to assist the unlearned in making this acquisition. Cardinal Wolsey is said to have written the preface to a grammar, which has not yet gone entirely out of use in England, prepared by William Lilly, a man who, for his great learning, was made the first master of St. Paul's School, then just founded in London.

7. The restorers of learning found it much more difficult to persuade people that a knowledge of the Greek language was either useful or agreeable. By the invitation of Wolsey, Erasmus came to Oxford to teach Greek. The introduction of this study rent that university into violent factions, which frequently came to blows.

8. The students divided themselves into parties, which bore the names of Grecians and Trojans, and sometimes fought with as great animosity as formerly animated those hostile nations. A new and more correct method of pronouncing Greek being introduced, the Grecians themselves were divided into parties; and it was remarked that the Catholics held to the old, while the Protestants favored the new mode.

9. Bishop Gardiner declared that, rather than permit the liberty of changing the pronunciation of the Greek alphabet, it were better the language itself were banished from the universities; and the king, by his influence, made it an offence, subject to whipping and other ignominious punishments, to use the new pronunciation.

10. Hans Holbein, having acquired a great reputation as a painter in his native city of Basle, in Switzerland, was invited to England, where he was patronized by Henry VIII., who employed him to portray the beauties of his wives, or of those whom he proposed to wed. To procure a just report of the latter, he was twice despatched to the continent of Europe, as the secret emissary of the king's love.

11. But he was not always a faithful messenger, for his pencil imparted unmerited charms to Ann of Cleves, and ensnared his employer into a marriage. As he was one day engaged in painting a lady's portrait for the king, a nobleman made his way into his room. Offended at the intrusion, Holbein pushed him down stairs. 12. The nobleman went straight to Henry, complaining loudly of the insult, and demanding redress. "It is I, in the person of Holbein, who have been insulted," said the monarch; "I can, when I please, make seven lords of seven ploughmen; but I cannot make one Holbein even of seven lords."

13. It was not till the end of this reign that carrots, turnips, and other edible roots were produced in England. The little of these vegetables that was used was formerly imported from Holland and Flanders. Queen Catharine, when she wanted a salad, was obliged to despatch a messenger thither on purpose.

What anecdote is related of him? 5, 6. What is said of the study of Latin? 7, 8, 9. What of the Greek language? 10, 11, 12. What of Hans Holbein? 13. What of vege tables?