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EDWARD VI.- 1547.

CHAPTER CXXXIII.

The Duke of Somerset appointed Protector.-Edward VI-A Book of Prayer prepared.-Sternhold and Hopkins make a Metrical Version of the Psalms.-The Thirty-nine Articles.-An apparent generai Conformity in religious Faith.

1. HENRY, who desired to rule even after his death, left very peremptory commands for the government of the state until his son Edward should be old enough to take the reins into his own hands. But all his directions were disregarded, and the government was intrusted to the Duke of Somerset, Edward's eldest uncle, under the title of Protector.

2. Edward was in his tenth year when his father died, and his love of study and early application already gave great promise of his future capacity for government. The protector, who favored the Protestants, intrusted his education to men of the reformed religion. The young king readily imbibed their opinions, and he showed a knowledge, zeal, and piety quite extraordinary in a boy of his age. 3. Theology was his favorite study, and his greatest delight was listening to sermons. Latimer, who had suffered much in the reign of Henry for his zeal in behalf of the reformed faith, was appointed the king's preacher, and had a pulpit placed in one of the royal gardens, where Edward loved to sit out of doors and listen for hours to his very long, but very eloquent sermons.

4. But we must not suppose that the king neglected his other studies. His Latin exercises have been preserved, and do him great

CXXXIII.-1. What of the government after Henry's death? 2. What of Edward? & What was his favorite study? 4. Did he respect others? 5. What of the progress

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credit. There can be no question that he possessed abilities of a very high order. At the same time he endeared himself to all around by the gentleness of his disposition.

5. The work of reformation in religion was now undertaken in earnest. By direction of the protector, Cranmer, and Ridley, afterwards Bishop of London, prepared a Book of Prayer, from which the one now in use in the English Church differs but little. To conciliate those who yet inclined to popery, many of the prayers of the Romish Church were retained.

6. About the same time, Thomas Sternhold, an officer in the palace of the king, being displeased by the silly and profane songs he used to hear the courtiers sing, and thinking he should do them a kindness by furnishing them with something better, made a translation of the Psalms of David into verse, being assisted in the work by a schoolmaster, named Hopkins.

7. At first these Psalms were sung to the tunes of songs, but soon becoming generally known and approved of, they were adapted to church music, and placed at the end of the Prayer-Book. That there might be a general conformity in religious belief, Cranmer drew up forty-two articles, from which, with some slight alterations and retrenchments, the Thirty-nine Articles are formed. These articles are a short summary of the doctrines of the Church of England.

8. Severe penalties were denounced against all who did not avow their belief in the religion of the government. The Princess Mary, who was a rigid papist, refused to conform to the law. On this, her chaplains were imprisoned, and she herself threatened with punishment; but when she appealed to her cousin, the emperor, and made an attempt to escape from England, it was deemed prudent to permit her to worship God according to the dictates of her own heart, provided she did it privately in her own house; a concession which cost the young king many tears.

9. Bishop Gardiner likewise refused to conform, and suffered imprisonment. But the nation was in a great measure brought to a seeming conformity in religion. Some adopted the reformed faith from conviction of its truth; some, because it was the religion of the court; while those who had obtained grants of abbey lands warmly supported the views of the protector, lest, with the restoration of the old religion, they should be obliged to refund their share of the plunder.

of the Reformation? What of the Book of Prayer? 6. Who made a metrical version of the Psalms? Why was it done? 7. What are the Thirty-nine Articles? 8. Who refused to conform to the reformed mode of worship? What was the result? 9. By what dif ferent motives were the people actuated?

21*

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BATTLE OF PINKIE.-1547.

CHAPTER CXXXIV.

The Protector seeks to force a Marriage between Edward and Mary.— Battle of Pinkie.-Mary sent to France.-Catharine Parr marries Lord Seymour.-Her Death.-Dudley, Earl of Warwick, induces Seymour to commit Acts which lead to his Execution.

1. THE marriage of Edward with the young Queen of Scots had been a favorite measure with Henry, who foresaw the advantages which would result from the union of the whole island under one government. He had enjoined it upon his council to procure its completion by force, if it could not be done by negotiation.

2. Failing in the latter, the protector, in 1547, marched into Scotland at the head of an army, and advanced to within four miles of Edinburgh, without meeting with much opposition. At the same time a large fleet arrived in the Frith of Forth to assist the operations of the army. The governor of Scotland summoned the whole force of the kingdom to repel this formidable invasion, and posted his army in a very advantageous position on the banks of the river Esk.

3. Somerset, seeing the impossibility of attacking the enemy with any hope of success, moderated his demands, and only required that the young queen should not be married to any one else until she was old enough to choose for herself. But the Scots refused to agree to these terms, supposing that Somerset only offered them from finding himself in a perilous condition; and they were confirmed in this belief, by observing that the English army moved towards the sea, as if to embark.

4. To intercept its escape, the Scots unwisely left their strong post, and descended into the plain, placing themselves between the English and the sea. Here they were exposed to the cannon of the ships, and, being thus placed between two fires, were compelled to fall back. A panic now seized them, and the retreat became a flight.

5. The Battle of Pinkie, as it is called, from the name of a house near the field, was fought September 10th, 1547. In it perished more than ten thousand Scots. Among these were a great number of monks and priests, who had been drawn to the camp by their hatred of the English heretics. A large number of prisoners were taken, amongst others the Earl of Huntley, who, being asked how he stood affected to the marriage, replied, "That he liked the marriage well enough, but he liked not the manner of wooing."

6. These rough proceedings so irritated the Scots that they resolved their queen should never marry Edward. To place her beyond the power of the English, they sent her, being now six years old, to be educated at the court of France, and betrothed her to the dauphin.

CXXXIV.-1. Why did Somerset invade Scotland? When? 2. What did the Scota do? 3. What terus did Somerset propose? 4, 5. What of the battle of Pinkie? 6.

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7. Somerset now returned in great haste to England, for he had received intelligence of some designs to remove him from his high office. At the head of the malcontents was his own brother, Lord Seymour, who aspired to supplant the protector. Seymour was a man of great powers of flattery, and had won so much on the good opinion of Catharine Parr, that she married him very soon after Henry's death.

8. She lived only a year after the marriage, and Seymour then aspired to a still higher connection; for he addressed the Princess Elizabeth, and it is supposed would have been successful in his suit, had it not been opposed by other officers in the state.

9. Seymour was encouraged in his opposition to Somerset by Dudley, Earl of Warwick, son of that wicked Dudley who had been a judge in Henry VII.'s reign, and who hoped to raise himself by the ruin of both the brothers. Having induced Seymour to commit some violent actions, he then persuaded Somerset to have him arrested for high treason. His condemnation and execution soon followed, and thus the wicked designs of Dudley were to that extent successful.

CHAPTER CXXXV.

Consequences of the Suppression of the Religious Houses. - Somerset resigns the Protectorship. Is condemned and executed for High Treason.- Warwick rules the Country.—Many Books destroyed for the sake of their rich Ornaments.

1. THE destruction of the religious houses was a very severe measure upon large numbers of people. Some of the heads of these establishments were allowed small sums for their own support; but the monks and nuns were turned adrift, a helpless race of creatures, who could do but little towards their own maintenance.

2. It was also a harsh proceeding to those farmers who had enjoyed the church lands at easy rents. There was a still more numerous class of sufferers, the idle poor, who had been fed daily at the convent gates, and scarcely knew how to work. All these were now obliged to seek their daily bread by labor.

3. In addition to the distresses of these persons, the industrious poor suffered greatly from a change which took place about this time in the system of agriculture. Many arable farms were, on account of the high price of wool, turned into sheep-pastures; and a scarcity of corn, and a diminution of the demand for labor, were the consequences. These causes made the year 1549 a period of insurrections and tumults all over England.

What effect had this invasion on the Scots? What resolution did they adopt? 7. What induced Somerset to return to England? What of Lord Seymour? Whom did he marry? 9. Who encouraged the opposition of Seymour? What was the result? CXXXV.-1 What was one consequence of the destruction of the religious honsos!

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DISPOSAL OF THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES.

4. The protector, who really felt a pity for the poor, did all in his power to relieve their distresses, and the commotions were quelled. But the protector gave offence to the nobles by the great state and royal dignity which he assumed. He also displeased the people of London, by demolishing a church to erect a magnificent palace upon its site. This palace, after being the residence of many roya personages, was pulled down in 1775, and a grand edifice for the accommodation of the public officers erected. The name of Somerset-house was still retained.

5. A confederacy, headed by Warwick, was formed against the protector, who, seeing himself deserted by all except Cranmer and his secretary, Paget, resigned the protectorship. The government was intrusted to a council of regency, of which Warwick was the president. Not satisfied with the degradation of Somerset, Warwick, in 1551, accused him of a design to excite a rebellion.

6. Upon this charge Somerset was tried, condemned, and executed, to the sincere grief of the people, to whom his goodness of heart had much endeared him. When he was beheaded, many rushed on the scaffold to dip their handkerchiefs in his blood, and these were preserved as memorials of him.

7. Under Warwick the work of the reformation was carried on with more intemperate zeal. The good Archbishop Cranmer endeavored to preserve to the popish clergy the scanty provision that still remained to them. But his integrity was no match for the avarice of the spoilers, whose rapacity nothing could escape.

8. Under pretence of searching for forbidden books, the libraries of the Universities of Oxford, and that at Westminster, were rummaged, and all books with gold or silver ornaments on their bindings were seized as being superstitious relics, and thus many valuable works were destroyed.

9. Books in those days were commonly bound in parchment, and much ornamented. Sometimes the clasps and the corners of the covers were of gold or silver, and they were frequently secured to the shelves by long chains, to prevent their being carried away. One of the later kings, Charles I., had some books which were bound in velvet, and their clasps set with pearls and precious stones.

CHAPTER CXXXVI.

How the Religious Houses were disposed of.—Fashions of Dress.—Pins and Needles come into use.

1. THE reader may be curious to know what became of the old monasteries and nunneries. Some of them were, doubtless, levelled with the ground; others were left to decay, and their ruins still

3. What other cause produced distress? What was the consequence? 4. How did the protector offend the nobles? 6, 7. Relate the rest of his story. 8. What of the progress of the Reformation? 9. What of the binding of the books?