Of the conversation between himself and Gardyner perhaps he thought no more, although he may have looked back with satisfaction to the honour he had received in being admitted to the society of men so eminent in station as were the Secretary of State and the Grand Almoner of the King. It was, however, with surprise that, soon after Cranmer's return to Cambridge, he received a summons to wait upon the King's highness at Greenwich.

"It appeared afterwards (quoting Dean Hook) that in the course of some discussion with the King on the divorce case, the opinion of Dr. Cranmer was mentioned either by Stephen Gardyner or by Edward Fox. Of Cranmer the King had never heard, not even the name, but the acuteness of his judgment was immediately recognised by the quick sagacity of Henry, who exclaimed, 'Who is this Dr. Cranmer?-where is he? Is he still at Waltham? Marry, I will speak to him; let him be sent for out of hand. This man, I trow, has got the right sow by the ear.' A mandate from Henry was not to be disobeyed. A few civil words uttered by royal lips have such a magic influence on a large class of minds that royalty ought always to be popular, and Cranmer's was the sort of mind to be enslaved by royal condescension and kindness. The King penetrated the character of the man at once. He spoke to him of what he called his conscience; and, forgetting that his Queen had a conscience too, he desired to be relieved from the burden by which he imagined himself to be distressed and perplexed. He had been informed that Cranmer had devised a plan by which he might be extricated from his difficulties, and he prayed him as a favour to devote himself to the cause. Cranmer showed some reluctance to withdraw himself from literary pursuits, and to become the leading counsel in the pending lawsuit, for this, in fact, was the King's proposal. This is apparent from the tone which King Henry now assumed. 'Maister Doctor,' said he, ‘I pray you; and nevertheless, because you are a subject, I charge and command you, all other business and affairs set apart, to take some pains in this my cause to be furthered by your devices, so that I may shortly understand whereunto I may trust.' Upon Cranmer the task was

now imposed of placing his argument on paper. He was enjoined to produce a treatise in which he was to be supported by the authority of Holy Scripture, of the General Councils, and of the Fathers. And now might Cranmer truly say: 'A change came o'er the spirit of my dream.' He is no longer writing in a dull, cold chamber, looking out on a darker quadrangle, or in a public library, where neither candle nor fire was permitted, but in the fine library of the Earl of Wiltshire, at Durham House,* looking down upon the great thoroughfare of London, crowded with boats and barges of every description and size. The student had now become a courtier. Henry had reasons of his own for not lodging Cranmer at Greenwich, where, though the Queen still lived, Anna Boleyn was the ruler, and ruled like રી despot.† The King commended Cranmer to the hospitality of Anna's father, the Earl of Wiltshire; a father not being then known as one of the basest of men. Here Cranmer was a sufficient distance from the royal residence, and, at the same time, near enough to admit of frequent conferences with the King. That such conferences took place is shown by the speech which Henry was reported to have made, to the effect that there was no difficulty which he was not ready to encounter if he had only Thomas Cranmer at his elbow."‡

Cranmer's star was now in the ascendant. The unknown Cambridge student suddenly became a royal chaplain; the Archdeaconship of Taunton and other livings were conferred upon him-the recipient taking the emoluments,

*The Adelphi, in the Strand, now occupies the site of the then Durham House. In the reign of Henry VII, the Infanta Katharine resided in this mansion. + I must dissent, with regret, from the learned Dean, as to the above passage. Anna Boleyn was incapable of acting in the spirit described. Many of the actions attributed to her during the divorce litigation were those of her base father and her aunts. Her position at this juncture was the saddest that can be imagined. Her father forced her step by step, till at last, with a fainting heart, she surrendered her stainless honour. The recollection of her early religious training caused a long and painful struggle with conscience-a feeling which Anna Boleyn's new spiritual guide was never able to remove.

Archbishops of Canterbury, vol. vi. pp. 435-441.

but performing no duties. of the Boleyns, the Suffolks, and the Clintons and in fact of all those courtiers who wished to insult and injure Queen Katharine. When Dr. Cranmer presented his treatise on the "Marriage Question" to the King, Henry asked him if he could maintain his views in Rome, if sent thither. He replied that he was ready to go there and argue the question with any canonists put forward by the Pontiff. His chief argument was, that "the King's marriage with his deceased brother's wife was not merely voidable, but ab initio void."

He became the caressed friend

In the treatise above mentioned, Cranmer endeavoured to uphold his case by a reference to some obsolete theories which were directly opposed to his subsequent opinions as a follower of Zwingli, whose tenets are so well known for their dissidence from those of the Catholic Church. He had, however, a lively sense of the importance of promoting his sovereign's schemes for another marriage. There is now reason to believe that the book on the "Marriage Question" was the joint production of Stephen Gardyner, Edward Fox, and Cranmer. If the book possess any merit for theological learning, that portion does not belong to Cranmer, who was specially ignorant, as before noted, of theology. Pending the divorce between Henry and Katharine, he was commanded by the King to discuss the merits of the question with Sir Thomas More, on which occasion Cranmer exhibited unsatisfactory acquaintance with any canon law on which to base his plea against Katharine. Even the pretences he adopted failed in subtlety, and, as the correspondence advanced, his arguments, fraught with specious assumptions, became weak and contradictory, and were finally dissipated by

the potent theological reasoning and open-hearted eloquence of the good Chancellor.*

Cranmer repaired to Oxford and Cambridge to argue the question of his treatise,† and was there sustained in all his sophistry by Stephen Gardyner and Edward Fox, who appeared there at the "Royal command." As the patronage of the Crown was at the disposal of these prelates, they made some converts to the royal will. An embassy to Rome was next arranged, and the Earl of Wiltshire was appointed head of the Commission. Amongst the High Commissioners were Gardyner, Cranmer, Lee, Edward Fox, Bonner, and other ecclesiastics, supplemented by the King's private agent-Sir Gregorie Cassali, a personage whose liability or proclivity for unduly stating facts, and a concurrent capability for performing his master's behests, are now fully ascertainable. The proceedings at Rome were conducted in a mode suited to the motive of the occasion. The conduct of the Commissioners could not but fail to impress the Pontiff with the kind intentions of the King, seeing, as he did, the scant courtesy of his representatives. Cranmer, nevertheless, was an exception to this lack of respect. His "fresh winning semblance of heart" gained the confidence of Pope Clement, whilst he won the Pontiff's esteem by his respectful bearing and the moderation which marked his every movement. Cranmer, after

* See Roper's Life of More; also Pomeroy, Heylin, Strype, Burnet, and Collier.

+ Cranmer's treatise on the divorce is said to be lost; but many bookworms think, with Dean Hook, that it is probably amongst, or beneath, ponderous piles of literary adversaria in the British Museum.

In the first volume of this work, I have referred to the commission above named in the chapter upon the "Royal Scruples."

spending some weeks at Rome, took leave of the Pontiff "in special kindness," but remained on the Continent for more than a year-on the "King's business," as it has been averred. As to the proceedings in which he may have been engaged for his royal master at this particular period there is little reliable known, unless it can be ascertained in the ultimate results of his policy. He may have had personal notions antagonistic in their elements to divorce, or he may have been essaying to impress on Universities, never unassailable to gold, that the angels* themselves were on the side of his employer in his outrage on the Queen.

It has been contended that Cranmer's multitudinous tergiversations had their birth in the weakness of his character. A feeble excuse this to the most confiding of hero-worshippers. A close examination of his career will result in a conviction that the anomalies in Thomas Cranmer's conduct derived their origin from an utter and soulless want of principle. The man endeavoured to fashion himself to the times; his disposition was naturally stern and unbending, but "pliable as a reed at the breeze of interest." When despatched to Rome on the mission about Henry's divorce, as above remarked, he won upon the Pope and his advisers; for, notwithstanding the cynicisms of all "philosophers," from Voltaire to this day, there are laymen even virtuous, trusting, and unsophisticated. By his expressed horror of "loose ecclesiastics" and laboured demonstrations of piety, Cranmer deceived the ruler of the

* "Golden angels were more in favour with Henry than the Rose nobles with his Plantagenet predecessors."