Dowager of Naples, to Margaret, Duchess of Savoy. In order, however, to be united with either of these widows, he felt that he could do nothing without the aid of Ferdinand, who would not refuse his assistance as long as the English crown was held in suspense over Katharine's head. (a) Everything, whether it were conspiracies or revolts, attempts against his crown, peace or war, mercy or despair, punishments or rewards, treaties, marriages, or even deaths, became subjects of gain to Henry; and what his subjects called rapacity, he dignified by the title of policy; like those slaves, mentioned by Tacitus, who called repose the silence of the tomb. Two men, Empson and Dudley, were his instruments; the one vindictive and revengeful, the other hypocritical and cunning; both excellent lawyers, who employed their talent in persecuting innocence, and under their tuition the young Prince of Wales was to learn the art of oppressing the nation. Numerous spies, like birds of prey, destined for the royal amusement, formed a part of their staff. A citizen, on being arrested, was allowed to remain in prison unless he purchased his liberty by giving a large sum of money, called, in the language of the day, a composition.

At a later period, Empson and Dudley became themselves informers, for by virtue of a commission given them by their royal master, they summoned the accused to their residence, whom they there examined, and without jury or evidence, condemned to an enormous fine. Trial by jury was no security to the citizen, for the jury were liable to be imprisoned, did they dare acquit a prisoner that had been convicted beforehand by the court. In addition to the court of assizes, where Empson and Dudley disposed of the liberty and occasionally of the lives of the subjects, there was a serinium where acts were fabricated, transforming private property into royal fiefs, and thus giving occasion to innumerable lawsuits which invariably terminated in favour of the crown. (b) The minor, who was a ward of the crown, could not, on attaining his majority, inherit his property

(a) Rapin de Thoyras.-Hume. (b) Lingard.

without paying a heavy fine. Not in one single instance, during his long reign, did Henry grant a free pardon. Lord Bacon once saw Empson's account in which each article was thus signed by the sovereign: "Received of N—, five marks to obtain his pardon, which if not obtained, the money or an equivalent shall be returned to him;" the words "or an equivalent" being written by the king in the margia. A few grains of gold, adds the chancellor, which finished by becoming a mountain.(c) We have also seen the royal accounts, which must have made the chancellor blush, where the prince is proved to have unjustly extorted money from his subjects. The following is from his accounts: Carell and his sons are condemned-it is not said for what. If they pay £1,000, they shall be pardoned; if they have not the cash, Henry receives a bill for £900, and £100 in ready money. A Carthusian monastery, petitioning for the confirmation of its privileges, is required to pay £5,000 for it. The Bishop of Bath, on taking possession of his see, engages to pay £100 annually to the crown. The Chapter of York solicits a royal favour and obtains it for 1,000 marks. The Earl of Derby begs for pardon; the royal heart is touched, and his pardon granted for £6,000.(d)

We must not, like Lord Bacon, call down curses on the ministers, for Henry was the most culpable. When the Parliament or a jury was assembled to judge any great criminal case, Empson or the AttorneyGeneral would interfere, by saying: "Go

(c) Bacon. Reign of Henry VII.

(d) Dudley's account; Carell and his son, for their pardon, £1,000; recognizances, £900, and £100 in money. Pardon of Knosworth, £500; Shore, £500; Growe, £133 6s. 8d. An alderman of London, £200. Bishop of Durham, an indenture, for which he was to pay the king £200. The Abbot of the Cistercians, for confirmation of their franchises and privilege, and the freedom of election, £5,000. Cardinal B. Bath, according to agreement, £500. P.C., for his pardon, 300 marks; obligation, £1,000. Bishop of Bath, £100 per annum. so long as he shall be bishop. Discharge for buying certain allows, contrary to restraint, £200. For the king's favour in the deanery of York, 1,000 marks. Pardon for an alderman, 1,000 marks. Earl of Derby's pardon, £6,000.-Brit. Mus. Harl. MSS., N. 1877.

away; the matter is in the king's hand;" (a) in other words, "William Harper is accused of felony, or treason, but he is in treaty with the king; he has offered him 300 marks, but the king wants 400; the matter, will, however, be managed."(b) Or again, such a one has committed fratricide, but the murder must not be avenged by the culprit's death; there is no lex talionis; the murderer is about to purchase his liberty; he has only £25 to offer, being a poor man, in order to efface the brand of Cain from his forehead, and the king has agreed to accept it. Well might we ask what had become of that beautiful adage of Magna Charta: "Nulli vendemus rectum aut justiciam." An end to such iniquities at length arrived. A prey to a disease of the chest, which became worse every winter, Henry turned his eyes towards eternity. Warnings were not wanting to the monarch; he was not cut off by Providence without notice, as he himself had cut off poor Warwick. Preachers admonished him from the pulpit, and exhorted him to prepare for death, whilst he had yet time, by acts of restitution to the innocent sufferers. calm his conscience, and to be reconciled to Heaven, he pardoned all offences against the crown, and paid the creditors, from the privy purse, of all that were confined for debts under 40s. (c) He also desired Henry to make restitution for all the wrongs his officers had committed, but his last wishes A father's wcre never complied with. vices, like organic maladies, are transmitted with the blood; the Prince of Wales showed himself to be a worthy son of the Earl of Richmond, by disobeying his father's dying exhortation. Who knows, had he been eighteen previous to his father's death, whether he would have waited for that event to succeed to the crown? We should, perhaps, have seen him setting up the claims of his mother, as heir of the House of York, revolting against his father, as the

To

(a) The king took the matter into his own hands, and the prisoner was discharged, upon the king's attorney certifying that fact to the court.-Lansdowne, MSS. 160. p. 307.

(b) For the pardon of William Harper, for treasons, felon's escapes, and other offences, 400 marks.

(c) Bacon.-Lingard.

king de facto, and not de jure. Empson and Dudley would doubtless have acted the part of Tyrrell, and with the first bolster have suffocated the asthmatic sovereign. If success form the providential splendour of equity, as some historians of the materialist school teach, Henry deserved the name of a great king, for never was prince more prosperous; but he loses all claim to that title when we consider the horrible oppression which he exercised over his subjects during a reign of twenty-four years. Whilst his remains were being transported to that chapel at Westminster, liberty was dying on the highway, with its cloak transpierced by the sword of royalty.

M. Guizot has truthfully described the first period of the reign of the Tudors.(d) Power, under Henry VII., the founder of this house, had become systematic in its absolutism. Henry broke those laws that he had sworn to maintain, and by terror and corruption succeeded in perverting his subjects. Under the Plantagenets, the Commons had gloriously defended their private rights, the houses of private citizens, and individual liberty; under Henry VII., they willingly laid aside their popular mission, and became the instruments of a tyrant. It was Parliament that permitted, sometimes by its silence, and sometimes by its co-operation, the violation of the rights of liberty, property, and conscience. The people petitioned their representatives in vain, for such was the terror with which Henry had inspired them, that they actually elected Dudley as their Speaker. The sheriffs were transformed into inquisitors to collect fines for the royal exchequer ; the kingdom was overrun with spies and informers who were munificently rewarded.(e) The king was perfectly regardless as to the law being in conformity with the principles of justice, his only object being to amass money; what matter if his coffers were filled with money extracted from the sufferings of the people? It was his delight at night, when all were asleep, to open his chest secretly, and gaze on his treasures. He was the wealthiest monarch

(d) M. Guizot's Histoire de la Civilization, p. 345. (e) Hume.

in Europe (a) His legacy to his son was despotism, avarice, and tyranny; and yet strange to say, he found a celebrated architect, Torrigiano, to erect to his memory one of the most splendid monuments that Christian art has ever beheld, in the Chapel of our Lady at Westminster Abbey ;(b) a Latin poet to celebrate his fame,(c) a

(a) Hume.-Henry.

(b) Among the MSS. in the Harleian Library is an account of the expenses incurred for the chapel; we there see that under Torrigiano there worked " Lawrence, timber kerver, for making the patrons in timber; Humphrey Walker, founder; Nicholas Ewer, coppersmith and gilder; John Bell and John Maynard, painters; Robert Jennings and John Lebens, master-masons. Torrigiano received £1000 for the tomb, (£6000 of the present coinage.)--Henry's History of Great Britain. (c) The following were André's verses on Henry VII. :

Princeps, ingenio nitente præstans

bishop to preach his funeral sermon,(d) and Lord Bacon, as an historian.

Famâ, religione, comitate,

Sensu, sanguine, gratiâ, decore. -Brit. Mus. MSS., Cott. Domit., A. XVIII. (d) We shall quote a few lines from the funeral sermon preached by the Bishop of Rochester: he thus alludes to Henry VIII.:

"That justice from thenceforward might be truly and indifferently executed in all causes; that the promotions of the church, which were in his disposal, should be thenceforward given to able men, who were virtuous and well learned; that as to those who were in jeopardy from his laws for things formerly done, he would grant pardon generally to all."-Harls MSS., n. 209. See Turner in his History of England during the Middle Ages: he has given an analysis of his principal statutes passed in the reign of Henry VII., and the regulations respecting commerce and navigation."

To a king worn out by age and anxiety, there succeeded, on the 25th of April, 1509, a young prince of eighteen, whose accession was hailed with joy by all parties. Mountjoy wrote to Erasmus a description of the popular feelings: "I do not for a moment doubt, beloved Erasmus, that your sorrow will be suddenly changed into joy on hearing that Henry Octavus, or rather Octavius, has succeeded his father. Oh! if you could but witness the happiness of the people you would weep for joy. Heaven smiles, the earth ieaps with gladness, every thing seems redolent with milk, honey, and nectar."

Henry, whom England thus welcomed, was one of the handsomest young men of his day.(a) His figure might be truly called Anglo-Saxon; he had a smooth forehead, arched eyebrows, an eye of tender blue, his chin crnamented with down in lieu of a beard, large shoulders, and a mien altogether feminine. He seemed to be one that lavished much time on himself; his velvet cap, with a plume of ostrich feathers, was placed in a coquettish manner over his ear, and his mantle fell, á l'espagnole, over his shoulders. He was con

(a) Sanderus de Schismate.

sidered one of the best horsemen in England, and when out with his young courtiers it was impossible for a stranger not to be struck by his healthy and manly appearance. He was styled King by the women, before his accession. (a) But if observed rather closely, an impatient liveliness was observable in his manner; like his father, he could look no one in the face; his eyes blinked incessantly, and he was so eccentric, that he was wont to give short and curt replies when a more detailed answer was expected. There are extant in England old ballads, in which the poet represents the Prince of Wales leaving the palace in disguise(b) to study the wants of his future subjects, but he was invariably discovered. His grace and affability of manners, and a certain indescribable something about him, not only betrayed the sovereign, but won for him the admiration of the people.(©) Justus Lipsius said, that if the names of all the princes that had merited the title of 66 The Good," were placed within a circle, Henry's would have held a spicuous place among them, if, resembling the portrait drawn of him by some of his contemporaries, he had died after a reign of two years. The people, intoxicated with hope and joy, pressed round the young prince, whom they accompanied to the palace. Henry lost no occasion of showing off to advantage his noble and manly figure. He was passionately fond of all active exercises, generally tired eight or ten horses in hunting;(d) he was a good bowler,(e) played balls well, and was an excellent marksman with the bow. Born with impetuous passions, Henry, the son of Elizabeth of York, might have one day proved a source of great uneasiness to his father, by putting forth his pretensions to the throne, and would have been a more formidable opponent than either Simnel or Perkin

(a) Moryson's Apomaxis. (b) Strype's Memorial.

(c) Chaloner.-Strype's Memorial.

con

(d) An admirable horseman: he is uncommonly fond of the chase, and never indulges in this diversion without fatiguing eight or ten horses. Giustiniano, translated by Turner, in his History of Henry VIII.

(e) He takes great delight in bowling.-Id.

Warbeck. He was, therefore, destined for the ecclesiastical state, so that there was every probability that he would one day be Primate of England and Archhishop of Canterbury; his education was in consequence entirely clerical.(f) He commenced chanting at seven, at ten, he had his part assigned him in the choir of the chapel royal, and at twelve composed masses. One of his anthems is still sung at Christ Church, Oxford, composed while he was Duke of York:(8) " O Lord, the Maker."(h)

Henry displayed great aptitude for his theological studies. He had given to him the "Summa" of St. Thomas, which was studied with much avidity in the sixteenth century. The "Angel of the Schools" has solved in this some of the most profound mysteries of psychology with such clearness, as to cause the student to hesitate respecting its being a Divine revelation. St. Thomas is the great type of the middle ages, as he was the life and soul of the theologian of the sixteenth century. During the religious discussions of that period, it was invariably found that none of the priests who apostatized had been students of St. Thomas. Henry was one of his most ardent admirers, and yet he fell; we shall, in the course of this history, be made acquainted with the secret of his fall. Like Luther, Henry, when fatigued with his studies, used to amuse himself by playing the flute. It was remarked that he had a very high opinion of his attainments, and could not brook the least contradiction. We shall shortly find him engaged in a controversy with

(f) Herbert.-Rapin de Thoyras. (g) One of his anthems is still performed at Christ Church, Oxford.-Seward.

(h) Appendix (D.) "In the first book of selected music, collected by John Bernard,' published in 1621, the anthem is ascribed to William Munday, but it has been proved by Dr. Aldrich to have been composed by Henry. In a collection of anthems and motets by John Baldwin, of the choir at Windsor, himself a composer, finished in 1591, is one for three voices, thus headed: "Quod quoth Henricus Octavus:" at the commencement of the anthem, Quam pulchra et decora,' are read the words, "Quod Henricus Octavus."-In the Harl. MSS., 1419, p. 2.0, is a list of the numerous musical instruments left at Westminster by Henry after his death.

66

Luther, and endeavouring, like Eck of Ingolstadt, to defeat his adversary with quotations from the Fathers. The reader, if unacquainted with Henry's attainments, will not be a little astonished at his theological knowledge, and perhaps be inclined to believe that his work was written by his almoner, or some other bishop; however, such was not the case.

Literature had been aroused from its lengthened slumber, during the latter portion of the reign of Henry VII., by the genial heat of the Italian sun. Divinity and humanity had at that period as their representatives, Warliam, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Mountjoy, Sir Thomas More, William Grocyn, Thomas Linacre, William Latimer, Richard Pace, and Cuthbert Tonstal, of whose characters and works we shall presently speak. They had all been cordially received by Henry VII. Erasmus, then in England, had been presented at court, and we have a lively description of the royal family in his correspondence.(a) The old king, with his hair grown gray through grief; the young Duke of York, then only nine by his side, expressing himself with great ease and grace in Latin; near him Margaret, who was about eleven and who was afterwards married to James IV., King of Scotland; and at a little distance Mary, their younger sister, playing with her doll. He was introduced by Mountjoy to our Henry, who received him as one who had an European reputation, and begged, as a favour, to be allowed to correspond with him. This proposal from the young prince Erasmus accepted with ill-concealed pride. The child did not forget his promise, and a year after Erasmus showed Richard Pace,(b) with feelings expressive of sincere joy, a letter from the Prince of Wales, written in elegant Latin.(c)

(a) Jortin's Life of Erasmus: Erasmus Johanni Botzhemo.

(b) Erasmi Epist., Card. Mogunt, p. 141. -Knight, Das Leben Erasmi.

(c) Princeps Henricus, Desid. Erasmo viro undecunquè doctissimo, S.

Tuis plurimum sum literis affectus, disertissime Erasme, quippe quæ et venustiores sunt quàm ut raptim videantur exaratæ, et lucidæ simplicesque magis quàm quæ ab ingenio tam

It was delightful to see the royal family at Greenwich: Henry VII. might then be seen in his natural character. Instead of the austere monarch, he was the kind indulgent father, delighting to play with his children. The Countess of Richmond was one of the ornaments of the court and of her sex; she was accustomed to rise at six, and spend an hour in prayer; before dinner it was her custom to read a book of meditation.(d) She fed and clothed several poor families, and though the king's mother, prepared their medicines with her own hand: she was a great patroness of literature. She established two professorships of religious instruction at the universities, and founded two colleges (St. John's and Christ's) at Cambridge. Erasmus composed a beautiful epitaph to her memory.(e) Katharine, Dowager Princess of Wales, and the affianced bride of Henry, was highly accomplished and a model of every feminine virtue. She rose at midnight to assist at the divine office, wore the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis, fasted every

solerti præmeditatæ judicentur. Fit enim,
nescio quo pacto, ut quæ ab ingeniosis elabo-
rata, deditiore deprimuntur operà, plus pariter
affectatæ secum afferant difficultatis. Num
dum tersiori studemus eloquio, subterfugit nos
clanculùm apertus ille, clarusque dicendi mo-
dus. Sed tua ist hæc epistola quantùm venus-
tate pollet, tantum etiam suâ perspicacitate
liquet, ut prorsus omne punctum tulisse vide-
aris. Sed quid ego tuam landare paro facun-
diam, cujus per totum terrarum orbem est
nobilitata scientia? Nihil queo equidem in
tuain laudem effingere, quod tam consummata
isthâc eruditione satis dignum sit. Quare tuas
laudes omitto, de quibus silere satius puto
quàm nimis parcè dicere.-Rumorem illum de
morte principis Castellani regis (Philippi) mei
fratris, penitus penitusque desideratissimi,
longè antequàm ex tuis literis oppido invitus
acceperam sed eum utinam aut scrius multò
aut minus verum ad nos fama tulisset?
quam enim, post charissimæ genetricis mortem,
nuncius huc venit invisior. Et parcius, ut ve-
rum fatear, huic literarum parti favebam, quàm
earum singularis postulabat elegantia, quod
cicatricem, cui callum tempus obduxerat, re-
fricare visa est. Verum quæ superis sunt visa,
mortalibus rata haberi fas est. Tu vero perge,
eaque nobis literis significa si qua sunt istic
nova, sed jucundiora. Deus fortunet quæ-
cunque memoratu digna acciderint. Vale. Ex
Richemundiâ. 17 Januarii.-Erasmi Epist.
Pars. II. Epis. 451.

(d) Tytler's Life of Henry VIII.
(e) Jortin's Life of Erasmus.

Nun