Itm to Ric Bedon for writ- . s. d. 13th y'. -to Maft' Bray for re wards to them that brought cokkes † to the Herytik at Canterbury O 20 O 6 8 *There are many payments for writing books, which fhew the flow progrefs the art of printing made for fome years. † Henry VII. seems to have been particularly fond of this diverfion, as there are other entries of this fort in his accounts. Bacon fays, the King had (though he were no good Schoolman) the honour to convert a heretic at Canterbury. HENRY THE EIGHTH. [1509-1547.] LORD BACON intended to write the history of the very interesting reign of Henry the Eighth. A few pages only of the Introduction are preferved. It begins thus: ઃઃ "After the decease of that wife and fortunate King Henry the Seventh, who died in the height of his profperity, there followed (as "ufeth to do when the fun fetteth fo extremely "clear) one of the faireft mornings of a kingdom "that hath been known in this land or elfe"where: A young King, about eighteen years "of age; for ftature, strength, and making, and beauty, one of the goodlieft perfons of his "time. And though he were given to pleasure, 'ડ yet he was likewife defirous of glory, fo that "there was a paffage open to his mind for glory "by virtue. Neither was he unadorned by learn"ing, though therein he came fhort of his "brother Arthur. He had never any the leaft ce pique, difference, or jealoufy, with the king "his father, which might give any alteration of Court or Council upon the change, but all things paffed in a still. He was the first heir of "the White and Red Rofe, fo that there was now no discontented party left in the king"dom, but all men's hearts turned towards "him; and not only their hearts but their eyes "alfo, for he was the only Son of the Kingdom. "He had no brother, which though it be a com"fortable thing to have, yet draweth the subjects ¿C eyes a little aside. And yet being a married "man in these young years, it promised hope of "fpeedy iffue to fucceed to the Crown. Neither ❝ was ઘર 66 was there any Queen-Mother who might share any way in the Government, or clash with his "Counsellors for authority, while the King at"tended his pleasure: no fuch thing as any great and mighty Subject, who might any way eclipse or overshade the Imperial power; and "for the People and State in general, they were "in fuch lowness of obedience as fubjects were likely to yield, who had lived almost four-and"twenty years under fo politic a King as his "father; being alfo one who came partly in by "the fword, and had fo high a courage in all "points of regality, and was ever victorious in "rebellions and feditions of the people. The crown extremely rich and full of treasure, " and the kingdom like to be fo in a fhort time; "for there was no war, no dearth, no ftop of "trade or commerce: it was only the Crown "which had fucked too hard, and now being full, and upon the head of a young King, was "like to draw lefs. Laftly, he was inheritor of "his father's reputation, which was great throughout the world." 66 Princes, however, like private men, do not always take advantage of the bleffings that are afforded them. Whatever good is procured without effort, is feldom or never improved in proportion to its facility of being fo; and per haps haps the most wicked as well as the weakest man is to be found amongst those who have nothing either to hope or to fear. Henry's reign, ushered in with so bright a morning, closed with clouds and with tempests: murder, rapine, and defolation marked its progress, and the only bright event in it took its rise more from a fatiety of pleasure, and from a defire to command, than from any regard to religion, or any defire to promote the happiness of his people. The well-known Spanish lines fay of this Monarch, Sure as these ftones thy mortal part conceal, Head of the Church, yet at a woman's feet! Henry was intended for the Church while his eldest brother, Prince Arthur, lived, and was of course brought up to mufic and to Latin. A Te Deum of his compofition is ftill fung at ChristChurch, Oxford. The following fpecimen of his Latin, annexed to fome MSS. of Church Discipline in his time, fhews him to no great advantage as a scholar: "Illa eft Ecclefia noftra Catholica, cum qua nec "Pontifex Maximus nec quifquis alius Prælatus ❝ habet "habet quicquam agere, præterquam in fuas "diocefas." "This then is our Catholic Church, with "which neither the Pope nor any other prelate "has any thing to do, except in their own "diocefes." "The number of Monafteries fuppreffed by "this King," fays Lord Herbert, "was fix "hundred and forty-feven, whereof twenty-feven "had voices amongst the Peers; of Colleges there "were demolished, in divers fhires, ninety; of "Chauntries and Free Chapels, two thoufand "three hundred and feventy-four; of Hofpitals, "one hundred and ten: the yearly value of all "which were, as I find it caft up, 161,100l. "being above a third part of all our spiritual re venues, befides the money made of the present "ftock of cattle, corn, timber, lead, bells, &c. "and lastly, but chiefly, of the plate and church ornaments, which I find not valued, but may "be conjectured by that one Monastery of St. "Edmond's Bury, whence was taken, as our "records fhew, feven thousand marks of gold "and filver, befides divers ftores of great value. "The revenues allotted by the King to the new "Bishopricks which he had founded, amounted "to 8000l. a-year. So that religion," adds Lord |