STEPHEN GARDINER and Edward Fox accompanied the king on that hunting party at Grafton, when Wolsey's disgrace was decided: at night the two councillors slept at Waltham Abbey, the residence of Mr. Cressy, (a) where they met with Thomas Cranmer, the tutor of that gentleman's children.

Thomas Cranmer was of a good family; born on the 2nd July, 1489, at Aslacton, in the county of Nottingham, he had the misfortune to lose his father at an early age. At fourteen he entered Jesus College, Cambridge, where he soon distinguished himself.(b) In 1511 he was elected Fellow of his college; during his residence at the University he became deeply enamoured with a servant of the Dolphin Hotel,(c) known by the appellation of Jacqueline the

(a) Todd's Life of Cranmer. (b) Strype.-Todd.

(c) Milner's Letters to a Prebendary. From this local habitation and a name, doubtless she was a servant.-Lodge's Historical Portraits.

Black. The Dolphin was chiefly frequented by merchants, who could scarcely believe that Cranmer, the Fellow of Jesus College, whose courtship with the barmaid was still fresh in their memory, was the same individual as the newly-elected Archbishop of Canterbury; but Todd, one of Cranmer's biographers, bids his readers remember that these merchants were "bitter Papists and sworn enemies to JESUS CHRIST."(d) Cranmer, in consequence of having infringed the University rule which prohibits the marriage of fellows, was compelled to quit Jesus College; he left his wife at the Dolphin,(e) and was elected reader at Buckingham College. Jacqueline died a year. after her marriage, when Cranmer returned to his fellowship at Jesus;(f) he ceased to frequent the Dolphin, and waged deadly war in his lectures against the religious of

every order who at that time thronged the town ;(a) his principal accusation against them was their idleness and ignorance. This monacophobia was his best claim on the sympathy of his hearers, and was highly instrumental in forwarding his success. More than one Saxon theologian had sucIceeded to his heart's content in the monastic habit; but Cranmer especially distinguished himself by his bitter controversial spirit; he did not endeavour to resemble Luther, with whose writings he was well acquainted, for he carefully avoided every thing like excitement. He was like Calvin, cold, crafty, pitiless, and unenergetic; indeed one might have said on seeing their portraits, that Calvin and Cranmer were twin brothers, so strong was their likeness, morally and physically.

Cranmer graduated in theology in 1526, when he was elected Divinity Lecturer of Jesus College,(b) and often preached before the University;(c) these discourses were generally heavy and dull, but in no way vitiated by the fault, too common to learned men, of showing their attainments.

The plague drove Cranmer from Cambridge;(d) and it was then that he entered Mr. Cressy's family as private tutor, in 1528. Gardiner and Fox only made his acquaintance when they came to demand hospitality of their mutual friend, Campeggio's abrupt departure for Italy, Katharine's appeal to Rome, Wolsey's fall and disgrace, and the bickerings of the Universities on the subject of the divorce, formed the general theme of conversation. Cambridge had declared itself against the Levitical precept, where Cranmer, singlehanded, had more than once supported the necessity of an immediate divorce.(e) The king's councillors were naturally led to speak of a subject of such vast importance to their sovereign. Gardiner commenced the conversation, by saying to Cranmer, "I cannot see distinctly how we can get out of this accursed trial." "Do you not?"

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(a) Cranmer rubbed the galled back and curried the lazy hide of many an idle and ignorant friar.-Fuller's Hist. of Camb.

(b) Jes. Col. Camb. MSS.

(c) Jes. Col. Camb. MSS.

(d) Bailey's Life of Fisher.-A. Wood. Annales Univ. Oxon.

(e) Todd.

rejoined Cranmer. "Let us first lay down the question: Is the king's marriage with Katharine, in a religious point of view, lawful or no?" "That is the very question the Pope is unwilling to decide." "The Pope," replied Cranmer, smiling, "is only a man like ourselves." "The Head of the Visible Church," remarked Fox. "Head of the Visible Church? But remember that the Word of God, like Himself, is immutable. Now if the marriage be opposed to the Divine Law, Julius's dispensation is null and void, for the Pope has no authority to approve of that which has been condemned by God. But were I in the king's place, I should not address myself to the Pope." "To whom then?" asked Fox and Gardiner together. "The Catholic Universities; if they decide that the marriage is null and void, of what avail will the voice of one Pope be against their decision? If the Universities be also against the divorce, the king may live and die at ease."(f) The courtiers could not have been happier had they been presented with the seals of which Cardinal Wolsey had been deprived. Gardiner proposed to Fox that they should go immediately to Henry, and lay before him Cranmer's opinion as if it were their own; but Fox objected to this plan, as sooner or later the fraud would be discovered.(5)

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As soon as Henry had been made ac quainted with Cranmer's plan, he exclaimed, By St. Mary! I have at last caught the right sow by the ear.(h) But where is Cranmer? I must see him; had I but known him two years ago, how much money should I have saved!"(i) A messenger was immediately dispatched for him to Waltham Abbey. The interview between the sovereign and the tutor is highly amusing. "Doctor," exclaimed Henry, on seeing him, "you have discovered the knot of the whole affair. We are, I perceive, losing time. I beg of you; nay, I command you, to give me your advice when called on to do so, and I confide my case to your

(f) Voss Heinrich der Achte.
(g) Todd.

(h) Burnet.

(i) And if I had known this device but two years ago, it had been in my way a great piece of money.-Todd.

hands." Cranmer was about to reiterate his argument of the previous evening, when Henry stopped him, by saying that he wanted a book to be composed, and calling the Earl of Wiltshire, (father to Anne Boleyn,) said, "My Lord, you will, doubtless, be able to find an apartment for the doctor at your house, in Durham-place; and, furthermore, will furnish him with every work that he may stand in want of.”(a)

We are compelled to concede that the retreat assigned to Cranmer was in every way propitious to his undertaking, and that without a peculiar grace from Heaven it would have been utterly impossible for him to have written against the divorce, in a house frequented by the king's charming and lovely mistress. The work composed by the Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, has the appearance of having been written on Anne Boleyn's knees. It is the production of a gallant scholar, where the Fathers, Holy Writ, and the Councils are alternately quoted in favour of the monarch's scruples.(b)

The king was delighted with it, and inquired if Cranmer would defend it in the presence of the Bishop of Rome;(c) for in Henry's eye, the Sovereign Pontiff, after he had refused to grant a divorce, had lost his tiara, and was no more than any other bishop. Cranmer inclined his head, and acknowledged himself prepared to start for Italy, if such were the will of God. "You shall go," rejoined Henry; and Cranmer returned to Durham-place, the residence of the Earl of Wiltshire.(d)

Cranmer was aware, while writing his work, that it would certainly end in rescuing England "from the yoke of that accursed despotism which had weighed so heavily on this country with its pernicious superstitions for so many centuries, and had during that time kept the human mind in captivity."(e)

Let us endeavour to keep these words of the Anglican historian in our minds' eye, as we shall then be able to see the drift of the negotiations pursued by the king's agents at Rome. If they did not succeed, it was owing to the Pope; but several, under cover of an hypocritical zeal for Henry, concealed a well-digested plan to detach him entirely from the Roman communion.

Let us return to Italy. Clement VII., as the reader no doubt recollects, had regained his liberty. The two cabinets of Rome and Madrid seemed to be sincerely reconciled.(t) Charles had left Spain to be crowned in Italy by the Pope; after having intrusted the command of his army to Leyva, he had started from Genoa for Bologna. (8) He no longer wore long hair after the fashion of the Burgundians, but had his head closely shaven like a monk, thus accomplishing a vow he had made on his vessel being overtaken in a storm.(h)

Clement, who, as well as the cardinals, had allowed his beard to grow, was seated with the tiara on his head on a throne sparkling with precious stones. Charles dismounted, ascended the steps leading to the canopy under which the Pontiff was sitting, and humbly kneeling down kissed his foot, whereon Clement arose to embrace him.(i) Fründsberg, who but three years before had boastingly exhibited the golden collar with which he proposed strangling the Pope, could never have believed that the day would arrive when the emperor would incline before that royalty, which Reformed Germany imagined to be buried under the ruins of Adrian's mausoleum. The coronation took place in the church of St. Petronio. Charles knelt down to receive the anointing from the hands of the Pope, his feet being shod with sandals and his shoulders covered with a mantle belonging

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to the Byzantine emperors. (a) The Holy Pontiff, while pouring the oil on the prince's forehead, used the same formula as that which Hincmar of Rheims had pronounced in 877 : May this holy oil flow down from thy head and descend to thy entrails."(b) With the crown of Charlemagne on his head, the emperor swore to defend the Pope, the Roman Church, and the patrimony, privileges, and rights of the Holy See.(C) During these preparations for the coronation an embassy left London for Rome, to carry on the interminable affair of the divorce, composed of the Earl of Wiltshire, father of the favourite; Stokesley, Bishop Elect of London; Bonner, a lawyer, and Lee, almoner to the king. Lee was the theologian whom Luther had designated as a phlegmatic sophist, whose arrogance and folly has been mentioned by Erasmus ; (d) and whom Bilibad Pirckheimer publicly stigmatised at Nuremberg as a fool, and as one too contemptible to excite the anger of a scullion. (e) Cranmer accompanied this deputation by order of the king, carrying in his valise the important book destined to convert the Sacred College.

The English cabinet, notwithstanding the many checks it had received, had not abandoned its system of corruption, and again bade the ambassadors endeavour to tempt the Pope by some valuable presents. In case of the Pontiff's persisting in his refusal to grant the divorce, as it was feared would be the case, the agents were instructed to threaten the Pontiff with a schism. If Clement would not authorise his marriage with Anne Boleyn, Henry had resolved to withdraw his obedience from the Papal authority, no longer to refer to the Holy See with regard to benefices and provisions, and to invest one of the English bishops with patriarchal authority; an example that would be

(a) De duplici coronatione Caroli V. Cæsaris, apud Bononiam historiola auctore H. C. Agrippa.-In Schardio.

(b) Cujus sacratissima unctio super caput ejus defluat atque ad interiora ejus descendat. (c) Ranke.-Krönung Carl's V.

(d) Erasm. Ep. xii. 32.

(e) Bilib. Pirckeymerus Erasmo. - Ep. Erasm. xii. 12.

soon imitated by the other sovereigns of Europe. (f) Henry no longer kept his intention a secret, but spoke of it openly at London, at Hampton Court, at York House, and at Durham Place. He called the Sovereign Pontiff an ignorant bishop, because Clement would not interpret a verse in the Book of Leviticus in the same sense as an amorous sovereign ; and a simoniacal priest, because Clement refused to be seduced from his path of duty by English gold. One of Fründsberg's countrymen, a German Protestant, (Ranke,) has nobly defended Clement, and cleared his character from these false accusations. (We trust that the Holy Pontiff will not be insulted at our mentioning these charges.) "Clement," says Ranke, 66 was remarkable for his irreproachable conduct and consistent moderation as a statesman. He prevented Francis advancing further than Naples at the time of his first invasion of Italy. It was he that prevailed on Leo X. not to offer any opposition to the election of Charles V., and to suppress the ancient constitution, by virtue of which no king of Naples could be elected emperor. By his means Leo X. entered into a treaty with Francis for the recovery of Milan. He assisted greatly in the election of Adrian VI. As a scientific man, he understood mechanics and hydraulics."()

The Earl of Wiltshire, as the most interested in the success of the negotiation, was ordered to work on Charles V. He was a highly polished courtier, and in consequence of his long residence in France and intimacy with Francis' ministers, had acquired a great facility of expression. When the English ambassadors were presented to the emperor, he had great difficulty in restraining his indignation on seeing the father of Anne Boleyn. The earl had

"

(f) Lettera di Joachimo. M. Beth. v. 8663. (8) Ranke.-Vittori (Storia d'Italia) says of Clement: "He was neither proud, simoniacal, nor immoral; but sober in his way of living and dress, and a devout, religious man.' To have an idea of Clement's character as a politician, the reader should consult "Instructione al Card. Reverend di Farnese (afterwards Paul III.) quando andò legato all' imperatore Carlo V., doppo il sacco di Roma.-G. M. Giberto al vescovo di Veruli, Lettere di principi, i., 192.

scarcely opened his lips, ere he was stopped by Charles, who bid him be silent, as he was a party concerned in the matter.

The earl, with great firmness, replied, "What he did was not as father, but as a subject and servant, and that his master was acting sincerely in following out the scruples of his conscience for having lived so long in mortal sin; and that he would indeed be delighted were the emperor to coincide with him, but that his refusal would not have the slightest influence on him.(a)" As a reward for consenting to the divorce, the ambassadors offered Charles 300,000 crowns, the restitution of Katharine's dowry, and a life annuity for that princess. Charles replied in Spanish, that he was not a merchant, and, consequently, had not the power to sell his aunt's rights; that the courts would decide on her fate; that if the marriage were dissolved by the Pope, he would submit in silence to the sentence, but that if a contrary decision were given, he would uphold the cause of the oppressed queen by every means that God had placed in his power. (b) In the meanwhile, Katharine's complaints, at first repressed by submission to the decrees of Divine Providence, were at last heard. The letters which she secretly wrote to her nephew affected him deeply. Her piety, her strength in the day of trial, her love for Henry, who treated her with marked contempt, her long-suffering and kindness towards her rival, whose name never escaped her lips, her tears, her groans, and her sufferings interested the whole of Christendom in her. Clement could not, without visible emotion, hear of the insults which this real heroine underwent, and to evince the interest he felt for his wellbeloved daughter, he forbade Henry, by a brief,(c) to re-marry, until the Pontifical sentence had been promulgated. His Holiness, ere he signed the document, consulted Cardinal Cajetan,(d) one of the most

(a) Lettre de l'évêque de Tarbes, 27 Mars 1530, à François I.-MSS. Béthune, Le Grand. (b) Lettre de l'évêque de Tarbes à M. de Montmorency, 28 Mars.-MSS. Béthune v. 3565.-Le Grand.-Lingard. (c) Appendix (I.)

(d) Raynaldus, xxii. 196.

eminent of the Roman cardinals for his learning and piety. When the trumpets of the Prince of Orange announced the triumphant entry of the Imperialists into Rome, Clement might have been heard imploring the rude soldiery, near the Bridge of St. Angelo, when about to seize the cardinal, "not to extinguish one of the lights of the Church."(e)

During his stay at Rome, Cranmer was honoured with several private interviews with his Holiness. On presenting the Holy Father with his work in favour of the divorce, he expressed a wish to be permitted to discuss the controverted point with the theologians of the Roman Gymnasium. Clement was unwilling to concede this favour; but to alleviate the disappointment arising from his refusal, conferred on him the dignity of Grand Penitentiary of the three kingdoms, which office Cranmer accepted from "a bishop" who, he contended, had no spiritual or temporal jurisdiction in England. This act has been justly blamed, even by his panegyrists.(f) The Earl of Wiltshire was the first to perceive that Clement was opposed to the divorce, and accordingly urged the English Court to press the decision of the Universities, before whom the question had been laid, in accordance with Cranmer's suggestion.(g)

The history of the discussion, raised in the Universities by this question, form an interesting episode in the trial of the divorce. Scandalous and disgraceful scenes occured at Oxford. The deceit used towards the elder members of the senates so wounded the pride of the junior M.A.'s, that like a parcel of undisciplined schoolboys, they revolted, and disturbed the convocation. Henry's agents had recourse to violence; the Masters were excluded from the Academy, and several Bachelors imprisoned or maltreated; and the remainder, alarmed by the threats and menaces of Suffolk, or corrupted by bribes received from the sovereign, agreed, on the proposal of

(e) Ciaconius, Vitæ et gesta Pontif. Rom.

(f) Clement bestowed upon him a mark of distinction, which Cranmer has been blamed for accepting, as though he had been insincere in his professions against the Papal power.Todd.

(8) Le Grand