dress to ingratiate himself with the English king and minister, in which he seems to have fully succeeded with respect to the former, yet a distant prospect of the papacy, with some immediate advantages, artfully thrown before the cardinal by young Charles, gave a preponderance to his interest in the English councils. The sacrifice of Bohun, duke of Buckingham, and constable, to the enmity of Wolsey, on a charge of high treason, while it was a further proof of the minister's influence, aggravated that general odium under which he began to labour.

Charles V., now emperor, paid a visit to England in 1522, and used arguments with Henry and Wolsey which produced a declaration of war against Francis. Its events were of no great consequence, though France was again invaded by an English and Flemish army, under the earl of Surrey. The defeat and capture of Francis at the battle of Pavia, in 1525, gave such a preponderance to the power of Charles, that several of his former allies began to regard him with dread; and as he had repeatedly disappointed the hopes of Wolsey in relation to the popedom, he no longer possessed an advocate with Henry. This prince seems also to have felt some generous emotions in favour of the unfortunate Francis, whose frank and chivalrous character more accorded with his own, than that of the cool and crafty Charles. He opened a correspondence with the queen-mother, now regent of France; exacted from her a promise that she would never consent to the dismembering of that kingdom as a ransom for her son, and after a time concluded an alliance with her, for the purpose of procuring the liberation of Francis upon reasonable terms. Supposing that this measure might involve him in a war with the emperor, he endeavoured to raise a large tax upon his subjects by his prerogative alone; but though his former arbitrary requisitions for loans and benevolences had been complied with, he met with a resistance to this direct violation of law which obliged him to soften his proceedings; and Wolsey, the supposed adviser of the project, incurred an additional load of hatred. War afterwards was actually declared against the emperor, and this alienation of the two courts prepared them for the most important event of Henry's reign.

The principles of the Reformation propagated by Luther were at this time making a rapid progress, to the great alarm of the votaries of the Roman-catholic church. Among the most sincere and zealous of these was Henry, who had been carefully nurtured in that science, so unfit for a prince, whom it is almost sure to render a bigot and persecutor, controversial divinity. Ambitious of glory of every kind, he entered the scholastic lists, and wrote a Latin book against the tenets of Luther, which he presented to pope Leo X., and_was in return honoured with the title of DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, still preserved by his protestant successors. Luther published a

reply to Henry's work, in which he treated his crowned antagonist with little ceremony.

Wolsey had continued high in the king's favour; and as no monarch was ever more despotic than Henry VIII., no minister was ever more powerful than Wolsey. This extraordinary elevation served only to render his fall the more conspicuous, and himself the more miserable, when it took place. The cause of his final overthrow was Henry's desire of having his queen Catharine divorced. Though Henry's marriage with his brother's widow had been sanctioned with a papal dispensation, and had subsisted with conjugal union for many years, yet objections to its legality seem never to have been entirely dormant. It is affirmed that Henry VII. himself had on his death-bed enjoined his son not to consummate his espousals; and when a project was entertained of marrying Mary, the only living offspring of this union, first to Charles when prince of Castile, and then to the duke of Orleans, objections against her legitimacy were made by both their courts. Henry, who was addicted to the study of theological casuistry, had examined this question in his favourite authors, and had found an absolute condemnation of such an alliance. It is not improbable, therefore, that some real scruples dwelt on his mind upon the subject. But these might have been submitted to in silence, had not Catharine's superior age, and impaired health, rendered her an undesirable consort to a husband in the vigour of life, and of a warm constitution. The wish for an increase of progeny, in order better to secure the succession in his family, was also naturally felt by him; and the death of several children in infancy was viewed as a mark of the divine displeasure which threatened to leave him without any children. It can scarcely be doubted that, from all these motives, he had begun to look towards a dissolution of his marriage, before an event took place which certainly urged him on to the immediate attempt. This was the appearance at court of Anne Boleyn, lately returned from a residence in France, and possessed of charms which made a powerful impression upon the heart of the monarch. Her prudent resistance to his amorous advances so inflamed his ardour, that he formed the resolution of making her his queen, and, with his characteristic impatience, immediately began to pursue the measures requisite for procuring a divorce from his present consort. He grounded his application entirely upon his scruples respecting the legality of his marriage, in which he obtained the ready concurrence of his clerical advisers. pope, Clement VII., on a private consultation upon the business, gave a very favourable answer, and issued a commission to Wolsey, as apostolical legate in England, in conjunction with any other prelate, to examine into the validity of the marriage, and of Julius's dispensation. The emperor, however, coming to the knowledge of Henry's intention with respect to Catha

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rine, his aunt, threw out menaces which induced the timid pontiff to waver in the performance of his promise of favouring the divorce; and when farther pressed by the English envoys, he issued a new commission, in which he joined cardinal Campeggio with Wolsey for the trial of the cause. After many delays, these legates opened their court in May, 1529, and cited the king and queen to a personal appearance before them. The queen however, who had received assurances of support from her nephew, and who, with all her conjugal duty, was firm in supporting her right. efused to acknowledge the authority of the court, and appealed to the pope. She was declared contumacious; and the trial proceeded, when on a sudden an order came from Rome, in consequence of which Campeggio prorogued the sitting. The fall of Wolsey, brought about by the king's ill-humour and the efforts of his many enemies, soon followed. He was indicted first in the star chamber, and then in parliament; his immense property was forfeited to the king, and his person for a time committed to custody. And though he received a pardon, and was cheered with some gleams of his master's kind remembrance, he was never recalled to court. A general peace put an end to Henry's war with the emperor, and left him at full leisure to pursue his darling project. The papal court still acting with duplicity, he gladly adopted the suggestion of Cranmer, to state the cause of the marriage to all the universities of Europe, and obtain their opinion concerning it. The most eminent of them, even in countries where Henry could have no influence, decided against its legality, as did also the convocations of Canterbury and York. The pope persisting to call the cause before his own tribunal, the king was forced into measures derogatory to the authority of the holy see; and it was probably by way of showing his disregard to the ecclesiastical character, that he renewed his prosecution of Wolsey, and summoned him to London in order to be tried. for high treason. But the cardinal's death on the road freed him from the effects of this new fit of resentment. Various acts were passed subversive of the papal claims in England; and in November, 1532, the king ventured privately to marry Anne Boleyn. Her subsequent pregnancy caused, in the next year, an open avowal of this marriage, followed by a sentence of divorce from Catharine, pronounced by Cranmer. The papal court, highly incensed at this contempt of its authority, declared Cranmer's sentence null, and threatened to excommunicate the king if he should not restore things to their former state. The interposition of Francis retarded the operation of this menace, and affairs seemed to be in a train for agreement, when the casual delay of the courier who was bringing the king's promise to submit his cause to the Roman consistory, having first been assured of a decision in his favour, threw

the pope and cardinals into a hasty fit of anger, under which they launched the withheld censure. Henry on his part, kept no further measure, but proceeded entirely to break off all spiritual allegiance to Rome, declaring himself the only supreme head on earth of the English church; a title which has adhered to all his successors. Thus was effected the great revolution, which has distinguished this reign in the annals of ecclesiastical history, and made it the commencement of an era of comparative light and reason. The birth of a daughter by the new queen produced a bill for regulating the" sion of the crown, which settled it upon the issue of this marriage and the king's future heirs, setting aside the daughter of Catharine as illegitimate.

Though Henry had given so great a blow to the power of the Romish church, it was by no means his intention to discard its theological system; and he displayed a rooted aversion to the principles of the reformers, by favouring a persecution which brought several of them to the stake. On the other hand, he was equally intolerant of the resistance made by zealous papists to his assumption of the ecclesiastical supremacy, and caused laws to be passed, rendering such resistance capital. Two great men, Fisher the learned bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas More, late chancellor, were victims to this inconsistent severity. Indeed the temper of Henry seems to have grown more arbitrary and unrelenting as he advanced in years; and his reign henceforth is that of a stern tyrant, who did not scruple to sacrifice every obstacle to his capricious will.

The violent proceedings of the court of Rome against the king were favoured by the monks and friars in England, who exerted all their influence to excite an insurrection among the people. Henry therefore was provoked to a measure which most of all contributed to the overthrow of the Catholic religion in this kingdom; this was the suppression of the monasteries. He began with the lesser religious houses, for the abolition of which an act of parliament was obtained, and their revenues were granted to the king. Having tasted of their spoils, he was not likely to remain contented with a part, and a new visitation some time after was followed by his suppressing all the remaining foundations of the kind, many of them large and splendid. His own coffers, however, received an inferior proportion of the alienated property. He was lavish of grants to his courtiers and favourites; he pensioned the discharged abbots, priors, and monks; and he erected six new bishoprics, which were endowed out of the lands of dissolved monasteries. Another step highly favourable to the Reformation was a vote of convocation for a new version of the Scriptures into the vernacular tongue. The arguments furnished by such an appeal to the popular judgment have always been found dan

gerous to the claims of church authority. An event however happened which for a time injured the cause of the reformers. The new queen, Anne, who was attached to their opinions, was suspected of infidelity to her husband; and, by means of the ill offices of her enemies, his wrath against her was inflamed to such a degree, that she was sent to the Tower, tried, and, on every inadequate evidence, capitally convicted. She attempted to soften the mind of her unfeeling lord, but in vain, and she was beheaded in May, 1536. Her fate was hastened by the king having conceived a passion for Jane Seymour, whom he married the very day after the execution of the unfortunate Anne. His satisfaction, however, was of no long continuance; for the queen becoming pregnant immediately after marriage, died two days after the birth of the child; who being a son, was baptized by the name of Edward. Henry now resolved to marry again; and his principal minister, Cromwell, who was secretly a favourer of the Reformation, recommended to him Anne of Cleves, daughter to the duke of that name, a prince of great influence with the German Protestants. She was accordingly sent for over; but her person proved so disgusting to the king, that he swore they had sent him a Flanders mare. He submitted, however, to accomplish his marriage, in 1540, and even created Cromwell earl of Essex; yet the minister's subsequent fall is supposed to have been chiefly owing to this match. Though a very faithful and useful servant, he was condemned upon an ill-grounded charge, and executed, having in vain attempted to soften the heart of his obdurate master. The king at the same time procured from the convocation and parliament a divorce from Anne of Cleves, who had phlegm enough to be little affected by this disgrace, and continued to reside in England. He then married Catharine Howard, niece to the duke of Norfolk. This union brought him more under the influence of the Catholic party, and a rigorous persecution was carried on against the Protestants. At the same time, with an impartiality of intolerance, Papists who denied the king's supremacy were put to death, and the opposite victims were sometimes dragged to execution coupled together. The aged countess of Salisbury, mother of cardinal Pole, and the only relic of the Platagenets, was the most eminent of the Catholic sufferers. Her death was hastened by an insurrection in the North, supposed to have been instigated by that cardinal. The king's fondness for his new queen met with a return which would have entitled a less tyrannical husband to pity. It was discovered that she proved false to his bed, and, upon farther inquiry, it was found that her life had been loose before marriage. Henry's first emotions of tender grief was soon converted into fury; and a bill of attainder was passed in parliament against the queen and her confidante the viscountess Rochford, which brought