wars, but not so long as to enervate its spirit; and the English ashamed of having rendered their own country so long a scene of discord and bloodshed, were eager to display their valour in some foreign war, and to revive the memory of the victories gained on the continent by their ancestors.

Henry's own temper perfectly suited the state of his kingdom, and the disposition of his subjects. Ambitious, active, enterprising, and accomplished in all the martial exercises which in that age formed a chief part in the education of persons of noble birth, and inspired them with an early love of war, he longed to signalize the beginning of his reign by some remarkable exploit. An opportunity soon presented itself, and the victory of Guinegate, together with the successful battles of Terrounne and Tournay, though of little utility to England, reflected great lustre on its monarch, and confirmed the idea which foreign princes entertained of his power and consequence. So many concurring causes, added to the happy situation of his own dominions, which secured them from foreign invasion, and to the fortunate circumstance of his being in possession of Calais, which served not only as a key to France, but opened an easy passage into the Netherlands, rendered the king of England the natural guardian of the liberties of Europe, and the arbiter between the emperor and the French monarch. Henry himself was sensible of this singular advantage, and convinced, that in order to preserve the balance even, it was his office to prevent either of the rivals from acquiring such superiority of power, as might be fatal to the other, or formidable to the rest of Christendom. But he was destitute of the penetration, and still more of the temper, which such a delicate function required. Influenced by caprice, by vanity, by resentment, by affection, he was incapable of forming any regular and

extensive system of policy, or of adhering to it with steadiness. His measures seldom resulted from attention to the general welfare, or from a deliberate regard to his own interest, but were dictated by passions which rendered him blind to both, and prevented his gaining that ascendant in the affairs of Europe, or from reaping such advantages to himself, as a prince of greater art, though with inferior talents, might have easily

secured.

His reign was of greater splendour than true glory; bustling though not active; oppressive in domestic government, and in foreign politics wild and irregular. But the vices of this prince were more beneficial to mankind than the virtues of others. His rapaciousness, his profusion, and even his tyranny, by depressing the ancient nobility, and by adding new property and power to the commons, laid the foundation of British liberty. His other passions contributed no less to the downfall of popery, and the establishment of religious freedom in the nation. His resentment led him to abolish the power, and his covetousness to seize the wealth of the church, and by withdrawing these supports, made it easy, in the following reign, to overturn the whole fabric of superstition.

CARDINAL WOLSEY.

ALL the impolitic steps in Henry's administration, must not however be imputed to his own character; many of them were owing to the violent passions, and insatiable ambition of his prime minister and favourite, cardinal Wolsey. This man, from one of the lowest ranks in life, had risen to an height of power and dignity, to which no English subject ever arrived, and governed the

haughty, presumptuous, and untractable spirit of Henry with absolute authority. Great talents, and of different kinds, fitted him for the two opposite stations of minister and of favourite. His profound judgment, his unwearied industry, his thorough acquaintance with the state of the kingdom, his extensive knowledge of the views and interests of foreign courts, qualified him for that uncontrolled direction of affairs with which he was intrusted. The elegance of his manners, the gaiety of his conversation, his insinuating address, his love of magnificence, and his proficiency in those parts of literature of which Henry was fond, gained him the affection and confidence of the young monarch. Wolsey was far from employing this vast and almost royal power, to promote either the true injerest of the nation, or the real grandeur of his master. Rapacious at the same time, and profuse, he was insatiable in desiring wealth. Of boundless ambition, he aspired after new honours, with an eagerness unabated by his former success; and being rendered presumptuous by his uncommon elevation, as well as by the ascendant that he had gained over a prince, who scarcely brooked advice from any other person, he discovered in his whole demeanour the most overbearing haughtiness and pride. To these passions he himself sacrificed every other consideration; and whoever endeavoured to obtain his favour, or that of his master, found it necessary to sooth and to gratify them. As all the states of Europe sought Henry's friendship at that time, all courted his minister with incredible attention and obsequiousness, and strove by presents, or by flattery, to work upon his avarice, his ambition, or his pride. By a large pension Francis attached him to his interest. By a larger, and by the prospect of the papal chair, Charles disengaged him, and attached him to his

interest. After gaining all that which he expected, or could gain through Wolsey, he neglected to employ his interest to obtain the papal dignity for the cardinal, which drew down his resentment in a singular degree. Thus he continued to amuse, or benefit, or harass the different kingdoms of Europe, through the unbounded influence he acquired over the affections and councils of Henry..

POPE LEO X.

HE occupied the papal chair at the eventful period when Francis and Charles convulsed Europe with their rivalship, and when Luther shook the papal throne by the introduction of the reformation. Leo was no less renowned for his political abilities than for his love of the arts, and he was the only prince of the age who observed the motions of the two monarchs who contended for the imperial crown. The imperial and papal jurisdiction interfered in so many instances, the complaints of usurpation were so numerous on both sides, and the territories of the church owed their security so little to their own force, and so much to the weakness of the powers around them, that nothing was so formidable to the court of Rome as an emperor with extensive dominions, or of an enterprising genius. Leo trembled at the prospect of beholding the imperial crown placed on the head of the king of Naples and of Spain, and the master of the new world; nor was he less afraid of seeing a king of France, who was duke of Milan and lord of Genoa, exalted to that dignity. He foretold, that the election of either of them would be fatal to the independence of the holy see, to the peace of Italy, and perhaps to the liberties of Europe. But to oppose them with any prospect of success,

required address and caution in proportion to the greatness of their power, and their opportunities of taking revenge. Leo was defective in neither. He secretly exhorted the German princes to place one of their own number on the imperial throne, which many of them were capable of filling with honour. He put them in mind of the constitution, by which the kings of Naples were for ever excluded from that dignity. He warmly exhorted the French king to persist in his claim, not from any desire that he should gain his end, but as he foresaw that the Germans would be more disposed to favour the king of Spain, he hoped that Francis himself, when he discovered his own chance of success to be desperate, would be stimulated by resentment, and the spirit of rivalship, to concur with all his interest in raising some third person to the head of the empire; or, on the other hand, if Francis should make an unexpected progress, he did not doubt but that Charles would be induced by similar motives to act the same part: and thus, by a prudent attention, the mutual jealousies of the two rivals might be so dexterously managed, as to disappoint both. But this scheme, the only one which a prince in Leo's situation could adopt, though concerted with great wisdom, was executed with little discretion. The French ambassadors in Germany fed their master with vain hopes; the pope's nuncio being gained by them, altogether forgot the instructions which he received; and Francis persevered so long, and with such obstinacy, in urging his own pretentions, as rendered all Leo's measures abortive.

During the time of Leo, from a source seeming. ly inconsiderable, the reformation of religion took its rise. When raised to the papal throne, he found the revenues of the church exhausted, by the vast projects of his two ambitious predecessors. His