pensing power of the pontiff, they might free the mind from that "absolute monarchy which superstition had erected in it."

He therefore admitted, but with the diffidence that always distinguished him, the conversation into which he had been accidentally drawn. "I am content therewith," said his sovereign; "but yet, nevertheless, I will have you specially to write your mind therein. And so, calling the earl of Wiltshire to him, he said, I pray you, my lord, let doctor Cranmer have entertainment in your house at Durham-place for a time, to the intent he may be there quiet to accomplish my request; and let him lack neither books, nor any thing requisite for his study."

The service, now required, was certainly not of his seeking; nor could the present notice of his opinion have been within his thoughts. What he was commanded, however, to do, he soon did; and produced a treatise alleging the king's object to be supported by the authority of the Scriptures, of general councils, and of ancient writers; and at once affirming the bishop of Rome to have no authority that might dispense with the Word of God. Upon the perusal of the composition, the

1 Lord Bacon.

2 Gardiner and Fox much marvelling at Cranmer's being at Waltham.

Foxe.

3 Durham-place is said to have been on the site of the Adelphi, in the Strand; and to have been a house belonging to the bishop of Durham. Herbert, 246.

king said to him," Will you abide by this, that you have here written, before the bishop of Rome?" Cranmer answered, "That I will do, by God's grace, if your Majesty shall send me thither;" and the royal reply was, " I will send you."

Such was the introduction of Cranmer into public life, as well as into the family of a 'distinguished nobleman, who himself had been employed in foreign embassies on the business of the divorce, and who, as being the father of Anne Boleyn, was deeply interested in the process. The earl would be grateful for such a guest; the strong endowments of whose head could not but recommend him as a sound adviser, and the mild virtues of his heart as an intimate friend. By 2 Romish writers it has been said, that Cranmer was a dependant on the Boleyn family, and through

1 Erasmus has given a very engaging character of this nobleman; that he was one of the most learned of his rank, that he had the mind of a philosopher as well as a Christian, that he was the patron of learning as well as an accomplished courtier, that he was a sincere admirer of the Scriptures, and that at his desire three pious treatises had been written by Erasmus himself. "These accomplishments," Strype justly observes," as they rendered his house a suitable harbour for the learned and pious Cranmer, so were they not a little increased by Cranmer's converse and familiarity there."

2 Sanders, and Dr. Lingard: The latter contemptuously calls him (and equally without proof as to Cranmer and her with whom he is associated)" a dependant on the family of the king's mistress."

the earl became known to the king. Of this dependance no proof has ever been adduced. The introduction was the 'reverse. Retained in the especial service of his sovereign, he was appointed one of the royal chaplains; and, by the king's donation also, 2 archdeacon of Taunton. By his noble host it has never been alleged that he was preferred. The monarch, who confided in him, would hardly suffer him, we may believe, to depend on other patronage than his own, or leave him any thing perhaps to ask. The intercourse with his sovereign was now frequent; and Henry soon discerned, what afterwards he avowed, "that he could have no difficulty while Cranmer was at his elbow." Nor were his merits overlooked by

The MS. Life of Cranmer, C.C. Coll. Camb. also notices the introduction of Cranmer by the sovereign to the earl.

2 Archbishop Parker, 496. "A rege archidiaconus Tauntonensis creabatur." The date of this promotion is not named. Le Neve in his Fasti refers it to the year 1522, but without any authority. There is no mention of it in the episcopal register of the bishop of Bath and Wells of that period; nor in the Chapter Acts of Wells, which indeed commence not till 1533. [Communicated by the present bishop of Bath and Wells.] Cranmer was preferred to this dignity, perhaps, soon after his introduction to the king; the archdeaconry being a lapse, we may suppose, to the sovereign, by its having continued vacant since the death of Dr. Honywood, the last incumbent, in 1522. Cranmer was also promoted by the king to a parochial benefice, the name of which is not mentioned. MS. Life of Cranmer. C.C. Coll. Camb.

the courtiers.

Lord Herbert, 'recording him as

a very able man, adds, that he was much favoured by the nobility.

CHAPTER II.

1529 to 1532.

The embassy in which Cranmer was employed in 1530-Pole's book on the divorce-Cranmer's account of it to the earl of Wiltshire-Goes abroad again as an ambassador-His transactions in Germany-Marries the niece of Osiander, at Nuremberg-Is summoned home to receive the archbishopric of Canterbury.

CRANMER was now to appear, as he had engaged to do, before the bishop of Rome. He was accordingly joined with other divines to the embassy, at the head of which was the earl of Wiltshire. The king was still desirous, if yet it might be done, to obtain, from the perplexed and dilatory pontiff, a divorce in the regular way. Yet his agents were every where collecting decisions to disencumber him, when he pleased, of the authority to which he now again addressed himself.

But before Cranmer was thus personally employed to contend for his sovereign, his book was circulated to the same purpose. It was sent to Cambridge, before the final answer of that University was obtained in favour of the divorce;