but they give me little or nothing to eat, as God knows! At my age, the stomach wants food; and if I have it not, I shall soon die. I beseech you then, in the name of charity, beg the king, to deliver me from this cold and murderous prison; this would be indeed an act of of charity, for which I should be ever grateful, and God would reward you for it by taking you under his protection and good guardianship. I have yet two more favours to request: the first, to allow me to see a priest to whom I may confess, for Christmas is drawing nigh; and secondly, to lend me an office book, that I may be able to say my prayers during that holy season, and comfort my soul. Grant me all this, I beg of you, for the sake of charity. May our Lord vouchsafe you as happy a new year as you can wish. -From the Tower, 22nd Dec., 1534; written by the hand of your poor servant."(a) Such were almost word for word, the expressions of Servetus, when he wrote from the prisons of Geneva to Calvin: "I am devoured by lice and other vermin. I am in rags, and have no clothes wherewith to change, and suffer much from the cold, and am subject to attacks of cholic, which have given rise to other inconveniences, of which I am ashamed to write. It is indeed cruel that I am not allowed to leave, even for a season, to obtain what is necessary. For the love of God, or for pity's sake, or from duty, give the requisite orders."(b) The theocrat who reigned at London was as merciless with regard to Fisher, as had been the theocrat who reigned at Geneva to the prayers of Servetus. At Florence, Macchiavelli, after having been implicated in the conspiracy of Boscoli against the Medicis, was waiting in prison the chastisement due to his crime, when Leo X., compassionating the secretary of the Republic, gave him his liberty.(c) If modern historians are to be believed, Henry prayed that death might deliver him of Fisher. Death, however, came not; instead of falling a victim to that grim tyrant, the prisoner was about to receive a crown. Clement VII. had been succeeded by Paul III. One of the first

Biog. Brit., (Art. Fisher.)-Tytler.

(b) Audin.-Hist. de Calvin.
(c) Audin.-Hist. de Léon X.

thoughts of the new Pontiff was to reward Fisher's heroism and attainments by the cardinal's hat. On hearing that a courier was en route with the emblem of this glorious dignity for the Bishop of Rochester, the king gave orders that he should not be allowed to land at Dover; then, in order to be acquainted with the impression that this intelligence would produce on the old inan, Cromwell was commissioned to visit the prisoner. "What would you say, my lord,” asked Cromwell of the bishop, "if you were told that the Pope intended sending you a cardinal's hat; would you accept it?" “I think myself truly unworthy of such a favour," replied Fisher; "but if the Pope, as a testimony of my conduct, were to send it to me, I should receive it on both my knees, as a mark of respect and gratitude." "Mother of God!" exclaimed the king, on hearing Fisher's reply, “he shall wear it then on his shoulders, for I shall leave him no head to set it on."(d)

During Fisher's imprisonment, the Parliament had on the 31st November, 1534, by a new statute, declared those to be traitors to the state who denied to the king the title of Supreme Head of the Church in England; and it was by virtue of this statute that the prisoner was to be adjudged. It would indeed have been a victory if they could have made the captive acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of the Pontiff king : this they hoped to accomplish by means of privations and sufferings, but the bishop was inflexible; and it was only necessary to secure his condemnation that he should utter one or two indiscreet words. Rich, the Solicitor General, went one day to the Tower with a message from the king; he entered the captive's room and told him, with a smiling countenance, that his majesty wished to have the opinion of so enlightened a prelate as the prisoner, on the supremacy which Parliament had acknowledged to be one of the attributes of royalty, as the prince had his scruples on the subject. Rich assured Fisher that he had no cause to be afraid, but that he might express himself freely and unreservedly; the

(d) Mother of God: he shall wear it on his shoulders then, for I wlll leave him never a head to set it on.-Biog. Brit.-Tytler.

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king expressly wished to have the prisoner's opinion; favourable or unfavourable, none should know anything of it. Rich spoke with such persuasive candour that the old man took courage. 'More than once have I, if I remember rightly, spoken with his majesty on this subject, and I shall not change my tone now that I have but a few more days to live; I am of the same opinion to-day as I was yesterday, that if the king is at all concerned for his salvation, he will have nothing to do with the statute of supremacy."(a) Rich now took his leave. The case was tried. Before the trial, however, the prisoner was examined several times. He was asked on 14th June, 1535, if he would recognise the king as Supreme Head of the Church, that prince's marriage with Lady Anne as legal, and Henry's union with Katharine as incestuous.(b) Fisher made the same reply as he had previously done to several prelates who had visited him in prison; he was prepared to take the Oath of Succession, but he begged that they would not press him to give an answer to the other questions.(c)

The

Robert Southey regards Fisher's refusal as a fit of obstinacy ;(d) but happily sectarianism is not universally inimical to the light of truth, for another Protestant writer (Bruce) laments that so dangerous a doctrine had so able an advocate.(e) bishop appeared at the bar before the Duke of Suffolk and other peers, appointed to try him by virtue of a royal commission.(f) The indictment was read aloud. The bishop was accused of having falsely, maliciously, and traitorously desired, imagined, invented, essayed (the terms as well as the idea of the bill are equally barbarous) to deprive the king of his royal attributes, i.e.,

(a) Biog. Brit. (Art. Fisher.) (b) Lingard.

(c) To this interrogatorie he desireth, that he maye not be driven to answere lest he shulde fall thereby into the daungers of the statutes. -MSS. Chap. House, Westminster, VII. 5. (d) The bishop's persistance in refusing to do the oath was plainly a matter of obstinacy, not of conscience.-Book of the Church.

(e) It is a pity that a doctrine so dangerous had so able an advocate-Archæol. XXV. 68. -Bruce.

(f) Rapin de Thoyras.

of his title and of his name as Supreme Head of the Church. This crime, provided for by the statute, had been committed among other places at the Tower, on 7th May, when Fisher had maliciously, traitorously, and falsely said: "The king is not the Head of the Church."(g) Rich arose to affirm that he had heard these blasphemies; the old man then perceived the snare into which he had fallen by means of the Solictor General; but he did not endeavour to justify himself, still less to implore the pity of his judge, and he was accordingly condemned to be beheaded. He was led back to prison on horseback or in a boat, as he was unable to walk;(h) on returning to his cell he prepared, by prayer, to appear before God.

On the 22nd of June, the lieutenant of the Tower came to awaken him. Kingston was at a loss how to communicate the purport of his mission to the prisoner. 'My lord," said he, with great effort,

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you are very old, very infirm, and almost worn out, and a day more or lessMy lord the pleasure of his grace is that this morning "Thank you,"

said Fisher, "I understand; but at what hour?" "At nine, my lord." "And what o'clock is it now?" "It has just struck five?" "Five o'clock. Oh, I have yet time to take a good two hours' sleep. Let me rest." "It is the king's pleasure that you do not speak too long to the people." "His grace shall be obeyed." Fisher went to sleep. He arose at seven, and dressed himself in the best clothes he had; for permission had at last been obtained for him to have books and clothes.(i)

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Why such care?" inquired Kingston, "Because I am going to my wedding. I shall today be married to death, and one ought to dress well on a festival. Kingston, give me my fur cravat, that I may keep my neck warm.' Kingston smiled. "Eh! have you forgotten that this neck belongs to God, who gave it to me, and that I must therefore take care of it."

The scaffold was ready and waiting to receive its victim. Fisher asked for a New

Testament, which he opened on leaving his room to enter a carriage. The distance was long, it being some miles from the prison to the scaffold. On arriving at Tyburn, he gave the book to one of his guards, and turning to the people, said, “I die for our holy Faith, pray for me. O my God, take my soul, and save the king and his people?" Then kneeling down, he sang the Te Deum Laudamus, and laid his head on the block. (a) His head was picked up and placed on London Bridge, where it was exposed for five days. The legend relates that the countenance, preserved from corruption, seemed to be coloured with a supernatural redness, and that his vermilion lips appeared as if about to speak, as has been related of several noble martyrs. (b) Henry, fearing that the saint's lips might open, had his head thrown into the Thames.(c) The body, stripped by the executioner, remained until evening at the place where the sacrifice had been accomplished, when it was buried in the churchyard of All Hallows, Barhing. (d) The legend again relates, that one day Cromwell and the king, who were passing near the bishop's grave, saw some blood, and fled quite alarmed."

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The Catholic world lamented deeply the bishop's death. At Rome, Paul III., affected even to tears, called on Christendom to commence a crusade against a sovereign who " had allowed the saints of the Lord to be devoured by dogs." He

(a) These details have been taken:-1. From a Life of Fisher, in English, by Richard Hall, D.D., of Christ's College, Cambridge, who died in 1604, at St. Omer. The manuscript came after the author's death into the hands of Bailey, who published it under his name.— (Wood, Ath. Oxen, Art. Lewis Bayly.) More than one Protestant writer has borne witness to Hall's veracity. 2. From an excellent work by Mr. Bruce in the Archæologia, vol. XXV. 3. From Newcourt's Repertorium. 4. From Dodd's Church History.

(b) Roverus Pontanus, Rerum memorabilium jàm indè ab Anno Domini M.D. ad annum ferè LX in Rep. Christianâ gestarum, libri v. Coloniæ, 1559. Goclenius, in the MSS. letter above quoted, says that Fisher's head was exposed for several days without the slightest trace of decomposition being remarked. (c) Dodd's Church History.

(d) It was removed from the churchyard, and placed in the chapel of St. Peter ad Vencula, in the Tower, near the remains of More. -Newcourt.

wrote to the emperor, Ferdinand of Austria, and the Kings of Portugal and Scotland, calling on them to avenge the rights of the Church and the world. He thus addressed Francis I.:-"The Roman Church ha recourse to you, dear son in Jesus Christ as she ever had to your predecessors wher oppressed. She appeals to your piety your benevolence, your love. Come to he succour by following the example of your ancestors, who vindicated her rights when insulted."(e)

Henry did not only write his title of Supreme Head of the Church in the blood of his victims, but on brass and on paper. On a medal is the following inscription around the effigy: "Henry VIII., King of England, Ireland, and France, and Supreme Head of the Church of Christ."(f) He wrote with his own hand at the commence. ment of a Latin Bible, of which only the Pentateuch appeared, Ut in regno sumus sicut anima in corpore et sol in mundo.(8) The poor peasant who assisted at Mass, at his parish church, could only pray in a book of prayer in which the hand of an apostate had inserted the spiritual titles of the King of England;(h) and the priest who ascended the pulpit was compelled to recommend to God's care and protection the anointed Head of the Church. Some canonists, as Sampson, endeavoured to prove to the people the sacerdotal descent of Henry: "The state is the body, the subjects are its members, the king is the head; the head commands the body and the members. Open Holy Writ; what read you there? Obey the king: obedite regi ;(i) is it obedite episcopo ?" Calvin was deeply hurt when he heard of these servile titles being heaped on Henry, and he cursed, as blasphemers, these bold zealots for the primacy of Henry. Woe to Sampson had he preached the royal supremacy at Geneva !

(e) Raynaldus.-Ann. Eccles. (1535.) (f) Biblothèque Anglaise, par Armand de la Chapelle.

(5, Ut in regno sumus sicut anima in corpore et sol in mundo.

(h) The order for a form of bidding prayers set out by the king's authority.- Wilkins' Concilia.-Strype.

(i) Richardi Sampsonis regii sacelli decan oratio qua docet, hortatur, admonet omnes potissimum Anglos regiæ dignitati ut obediant

SIR Thomas More did not only lose his life in refusing the Oath of Supremacy, but all that could make life dear. Never did there exist a more united family: a wife, who overcame every obstacle on account of her devotion to her husband; three daughters who adored him, and whose minds and hearts he had himself formed-three models of learning and grace, especially the eldest, whom Erasmus regarded as a treasure of virtue and learning; sons-in-law, who studied to make their wives happy; a library filled with rare books, which he had collected on the continent; autograph letters from the cleverest men of the day; pictures from the pencil of Hans Holbein; a cottage built after his own design; a chapel, of which he had been the architect and decorator-a retired sanctuary, where he was wont to pray every morning; a garden, which he had planted with his own hand; a green sward, where in summer he entertained his friends, numerous acquaintances, and a yet larger number of poor dependants. All this More gave up when he followed Kingston to the Tower of London.(a) On entering his future apart

(a) It is presumed that the Tower of London was built by William the Conqueror in 1078. His successors, William Rufus and Henry I. enlarged it considerably, and the former surrounded the Tower with a thick wall in 1087. In the reign of Richard I., (1190,) Longchamps, Bishop of Ely, who was then governor of the Tower, increased the fortifications, and surrounded it with an outer ditch. Henry III. (in 1240) added a stone gate to the one at the entrance, and a rampart

ment, he cast his eyes on a small wooden table and smiled, as if thanking Heaven for this unexpected fortune, for on this table

and other buildings towards the west. Edward I., and several of his successors, enlarged and fortified it. This fortress is situated on the northern bank of the Thames, at the extremity of the city, and occupies twelve acres of ground; the exterior enclosure is 3156 feet in circumference. It is surrounded with a ditch, fed with water by the Thames. There are four entries; the principal is on the S.W. of the building; it is large enough for a carriage to pass through. He built a double gate over this ditch, with a small stone bridge, and a third beyond it. The Tower is separated from the Thames by a platform and a portion of the ditch; at the two extremities of the platform were passages leading to Tower-hill. Besides the two drawbridges on the south, which separate the fortress from the terrace, there is a private entry, called the Traitor's Gate, because state prisoners were brought that way. The royal apartments (for the Tower was for a lengthy time used as a royal residence) were in the principal turret, encircled by a stone wall twelve feet thick and forty feet high; they had battlements, and were fortified by thirteen turrets, the majority of which still exist. The White Tower is the largest and most ancient part of this fortress; it is not, however, the most interesting. It is a massive edifice, of a quadrangular form, 116 feet in length, by 6 feet broad, and 92 feet high. It has battlements, with a turret at each angle; the walls are 12 feet thick; the steps twine round, and the whole building is composed of three floors. In the second floor is an apartment called Cæsar's Chapel, which may be regarded as one of the most perfect models (we have) of Norman architecture. When the kings of England held their courts in the Tower, this chapel was destined for their devotions, and those of the members of the royal family. It was dedicated to St. John the Evangelist. The principal hall

were a writing desk and pens, but the gaoler soon deprived him of them. Happily there was in the grate a little charcoal, which he sharpened on the wall and used

was used as the Privy Council Chamber. Besides Cæsar's Chapel there was another in the fortress built in the reign of Edward I., and consecrated to St. Peter ad vincula. It is a very small building, and is interesting, inasmuch as it was the burial place of many of Henry VIII.'s principal victims. Here repose

the remains of Anne Boleyn, as well as her brother, George Boleyn; John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester; Thomas Cromwell, who was for some time the tyrant's favourite; the Lord Chancellor, Thomas More; the Countess of Salisbury, the last of the Plantagenets; Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, executed in 1552; and the two victims of Elizabeth's jealousy, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scotland. The famous Earl of Essex, one of Queen Elizabeth's favourites, is also interred here. The belfry is of a circular form, and its vaulted roof is exceedingly curious; it is said that Elizabeth was confined here; the room belongs to the governor. Near the Belfry Tower is Beauchamp or Cobham Tower, which has always been used as the state prison. It consists of two stories, and the walls of the apartments bear evidence of the sufferings endured by those who were imprisoned there. Among the celebrated persons incarcerated in this tower, were Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey, Charles Bailly, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, and Philip, Earl of Arundel, son of the Duke of Norfolk. The Pearl Tower, known also by the name of the Martin Tower, contains the crown jewels. The value of the crown jewels is estimated at about £2,000,000. Here are kept the gold orb which the sovereign holds in his hand at the time of his coronation; the swords of justice and mercy; the large gold salt-cellar; the silver baptismal fonts, which are only used for royal christenings; the vessels used for the coronation; the gold ampulla for the sacred oil, and other articles of value. The following parts of the building are remarkable:-The Broad-arrow Tower, built on dimensions somewhat smaller than those of Beauchamp Tower; the Salt Tower, celebrated for an inscription written by an hotel keeper, who was confined there for sorcery, in 1560; the Lantern Tower, which is very ancient: it contained formerly the king's bed chamber, and communicated with the banquetting hall; the Bloody Tower, where it is supposed that Edward V. and his brother Richard, Duke of York, were suffocated, by order of their uncle, Richard III. There is a fine octagonal hall in the Wakefield Tower, dependant on the Records office, were it is said that Henry VI was assassinated. This tower is called Wakefield Tower in consequence of the prisoners taken at the Battle of Wakefield having been there confined.-Lake's Guide to London.

as a pen.(a) Henry had not toought of this device, or he would have been so mean as to deprive him of this consolation. More was soon at his desk, and wrote a few passages of the Psalms on a soiled sheet of paper: "I have slept and I have awoke, because the Lord kept me under his care." 'My God! Thou hast armed me with a shield of strength." 66 See how sweet the Lord is!" "And I said who will give me wings like a dove that I might fly towards thee, O Lord ?" And other texts from the royal Psalmist appropriated to one in suffering, on which he commented, and collected under the title of "Prayers taken from the Psal.ns of David."(b) We doubt not that our fair readers have long wondered at what Margaret was doing. Meg had been for a whole month imploring the Lord Chancellor (Audley) and others of the Privy Council with whom she was acquainted, to grant her permission to have an interview with her father. Margaret, after much deliberation on the part of those in authority, obtained the necessary authority to see her father and write to him, provided her letters were first read by the king, and she could only converse with Sir Thomas in the presence of one of the guards.(c) How many prayers of thanksgiving, and with what true sincerity, were offered up that evening by More's family to Almighty God! Henry acted from crafty motives for which they did not give him credit at Chelsea. He hoped that Meg would be able to influence her father, and what a victory for

(a) Ail the while Sir Thomas was in the Tower he was not idle, but busied himself in writing, with a coal, spiritual treatises.-More.

(b) Devout Prayers, collected out of the Psalms of David. More also wrote while in confinement: A Goodly Meditation, written in the Tower 1534. A Devoute Prayer, made by Sir Thomas More after he was condemned to die Thursday, the first day of July, 1535. A Dialogue of comfort against the tribulacion made by an Hungarien in Latin, and translated out of Latin into French, and out of French into Englishe, by Sir Thomas More, Knt., 1534, while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London, in 3 books. These various pamphlets are in "The works of Sir Thomas More, sometyme Lord Chancellor. London, at the costs and charges of John Cawood, John Valey, snd Richard Tottell, 1557, in folio."

(c) More.-Campbell.