favour; and in that favour she continued to the end of his life.

Another cruel execution was that of Cromwell. You will remember him as the attendant to whom the unfortunate Wolsey is supposed, by our great poet, to address the advice contained in those beautiful lines you read in our last chapter. You will therefore feel interested in him, and no doubt wish to know whether he found "a way to rise in," and whether that way was "a sure and safe one."

He did rise certainly, for, like his master, from being at first in humble circumstances, he became a very great man,—he was made Earl of Essex. Cromwell was clever and industrious; and his abilities and diligence were of much service in raising him in the world. He was a friend to the Reformation; and he appears to have been a worthy and amiable man; though perhaps we cannot say of him, that he followed out the advice of the dying Cardinal so far as to let all the ends he aimed at "be God's and truth's ;" or that he died, in the highest sense of the words, "a blessed martyr." There is one little incident related concerning him which I will tell you, because it is a pleasing instance of a grateful disposition, and shows us that he did not, in prosperity, forget those who had been useful to him in humbler circumstances.

In the earlier part of his life, Cromwell had served in the Italian wars, and received some kindness from a rich merchant with whom he had become acquainted. Years passed on; and in the course of those changes which we so often see, Cromwell rose from poverty to grandeur, and the merchant sunk from grandeur to poverty. They had not met for a long time; and neither perhaps was aware of the state and circumstances of the other. But one day, while passing through London in all his magnificence, the Earl of Essex, for so Cromwell had now become, happened to cast his eye upon a face he had once known and still remembered,-it was that of his kind Italian friend. The merchant indeed had forgotten the poor young soldier whom he had once befriended, the whole circumstance had passed from his mind, but it had not passed from the mind of Cromwell. He sent for the merchant, heard his tale of sorrow, reminded him of their former acquaintance, and thanked him for the benefits he had received from his kindness; and then he ended all by restoring his fallen friend to riches and prosperity. Such a story is worthy of record; for seldom, when a benefit is bestowed, is it forgotten by him who gave it, or remembered by him who received it; and very seldom indeed do those who rise from poverty to riches, make so good a use

of their money, as to succour and relieve with it kind friends of early and humbler days. How much more would they promote their own happiness, as well as the good of others, if they followed the example of Cromwell, Earl of Essex.

Poor Cromwell! he did not find indeed that the way in which he had risen, or the honour to which he had attained, was at all more "sure and safe," than the way his master had trodden, and the honour he had experienced. He was accused of heresy and treason, and condemned to death without, as it appears, any just cause. He wrote an affecting letter to Henry petitioning for his life; but though the king could not read it without feeling a momentary sorrow, it produced no further effect; and Cromwell was led to execution.

There were many other celebrated men who lived in the reign of Henry VIII., but I will mention only two more of them; and I shall tell you merely the names of those two, because we shall have to speak of them another time. One was Dr. Latimer; the other Archbishop Cranmer, who first came into Henry's favour by agreeing with him on the subject of the divorce of Catherine of Arragon; and he retained his place in the king's esteem, notwithstanding the opinions he held on the doctrines of the Reformation.

It is almost time that we should conclude our history of this reign, which has already occupied us so long. It is indeed a most important and eventful one, and I hope you will carefully bear in mind some of the remarkable facts I have told you connected with its chief event, the rise of the Reformation. I might indeed tell you many more; and in particular I might mention the deaths of other martyrs who, like Fryth and Tyndale, suffered for their zeal for the truth. But as there will be many a sad tale of martyrdom to relate in another reign, at which we shall soon arrive, I will say no more on the subject at present.

The health of the king had for some time been in a declining state, but it was long before any one dared to tell him how very ill he was; for his temper was so irritable that it was dangerous to mention any thing to him which he did not like to hear; and some persons had even been executed as traitors, for venturing to predict his death. At last, however, the fatal news was communicated to him ;-he was told that he must soon die. This is solemn news for any one to hear, even for one prepared for that great change, and able to look forward to death and the grave with feelings very different from those with which Henry must have thought of them. He received the intelligence however with more calmness than was expected;

expressed his resignation, and desired that Archbishop Cranmer might be sent for immediately. But death was fast appoaching, and before Cranmer arrived, the king had become speechless. Cranmer asked him to give some sign that he died in the faith of Christ;—Henry pressed the Archbishop's hand, and expired.

And now, before we take our leave of this king, let us pause, and talk a little about his character. You have heard enough to be able to judge, in some measure, what that character was; and I fear we must all agree that, in many respects, it was a very awful one. Henry lived in a time when the light of truth was beginning to shine around him, and when those great doctrines which teach us the most important of all knowledge, the knowledge of God and the way to heaven, were beginning to be understood and professed. He had studied the doctrines of the Reformation; he had about him those who loved and acted upon them; and he had shown some respect for the Bible, by giving his sanction to the printing and circulation of it in the language which the people understood. And yet, notwithstanding all this, there is every reason to fear that Henry was not really a religious man. The truths which he knew never reached his heart, and they had therefore no influence upon his tem