Articles." For disobedience to these despotic and impossible orders, many of both persuasions suffered death. The Parliament and House of Commons, so bold in the preceding century, seemed to grant whatever the king desired. He changed his wives at his pleasure, and the religion of the State whenever he pleased, at his mere caprice, and persecuted those who were not as fickle as himself.

After the death of his third wife, Jane Seymour, he married Ann of Cleves, but soon found means to divorce her; and then married Catherine Howard, who perished on the scaffold, like Anne Boleyn.

His sixth and last wife was Catherine Parr, the widow of Lord Latimer, a prudent woman, and much attached to the doctrines of the Reformation, in consequence of which she narrowly escaped the fate of her predecessors; for the king, as he grew older and became diseased, was irritated by the smallest difference of opinion from his own, and would not be contradicted by any one. His cruelty, however, was conspicuous to the last, in the alternate persecution of the Reformers as heretics, and the Roman Catholics as traitors.

When suffering under the disorder which ultimately proved fatal, he committed one of his worst acts. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, a man of great genius and learning, and one of the most accomplished poets of the age, had given offence to the Seymours, who, being connected with Edward, the heir apparent, had obtained considerable influence over the king in his latter years. The Earl of Surrey and his father were imprisoned in the Tower, and afterwards Surrey was brought to trial for high treason. All the accusation

that could be brought against him was, that he had assumed those arms exclusively worn by members of the royal family. On this charge, and without legal evidence, he was condemned, and executed on the 21st of January, 1547, five or six days before Henry died. The Duke of Norfolk, his father, was attainted in Parliament, and orders were issued for his execution; but Henry died on the night of the 27th of January, a few hours before the time fixed for Norfolk's death; so that the sentence was not carried into effect.

When it was announced that the king was dead, Parliament met, and heard the king's will read. By a statute passed a few years before, the subservient Parliament had given Henry the power of bequeathing the kingdom; and by his will it was now left to his son, Edward, and, during his minority, the fifteen executors of the will were to execute all acts of government.

There is nothing more astonishing in this reign than the perfect submission of the Parliament to the most arbitrary decrees of the king. In 1539, they had passed an act, "That proclamations made by the King in Council should be obeyed as though they were made by act of Parliament."

It seems very strange to us that, in spite of his tyranny and cruelty, Henry should have been generally popular, even to the close of his reign; but it must be remembered that it was chiefly the nobles and those in high places who felt the effects of his evil disposition. The great body of the people were contented, for the necessaries of life were, during most of his reign, abundant, and labour well remunerated. The long peace

promoted industry and commerce, the merchants prospered, and became the holders of much of the landed property which was taken from the Church.

EDWARD THE SIXTH was the son of Jane Seymour, and was about nine years old at his accession in 1547. The guardians of the young prince were men attached to the Reformed doctrines, and they appointed the Duke of Somerset to be Lord Protector and Governor of the King and Kingdom. The persecution instituted by Henry against the Protestants soon ceased, and the exiles were permitted to return. Cranmer was no longer thwarted in his projects for reform by the opposition of the monarch; and under his guidance the Reformed Church of England was fully established, and has remained to this day very much as it was then constituted. A uniformity in the mode of worship was established, and all ministers were enjoined to use the Book of Common Prayer prepared by Cranmer and other bishops,-the foundation of that which, with various alterations made in the reigns of Elizabeth, James the First, and Charles the Second, continues in use to this day.

All the persecuting statutes of Henry's reign, and the treasons declared by them, were abolished, and the law

of treason restored to the original simplicity of the statute of 25th of Edward the Third; while an important provision was added, by which two witnesses were required in every case of treason.

Edward was an intelligent, thoughtful, and gentle boy; proficient beyond his age in many branches of study; and his early years gave promise of a peaceful and happy reign. But the few years of his life were rendered unhappy by the vanity and quarrels of the Protector Somerset, first with his own brother Lord Seymour, whom he caused to be executed on a frivolous charge, and afterwards with the Earl of Warwick. Somerset gradually lost his popularity with the people, who manifested their discontent by insurrections in Norfolk, Devonshire, and Cornwall. This was caused in some measure by the attachment of many of the peasantry to the ancient faith, and their dislike of the innovations and changes in the established religion; and also by the large tracts of land which were now being inclosed and cultivated, and which in consequence deprived the peasantry of the use of the commons and woods as free pasture-land for their cattle. The prosperity of the preceding reign did not continue, and the numbers of mendicants and robbers increased to an alarming extent. The Protector's troops sent to put down the insurrection were at first defeated in Norfolk; but ultimately the Earl of Warwick succeeded in quelling the rebellion.

As a remedy for the enormous increase of beggars and vagrants, severe laws were passed; which provided that food and shelter should be afforded to the aged and infirm by the charity of each parish, but that sturdy beggars, and persons found idle for the space of three

days, should be summarily punished, and delivered to a master as bondsmen for a term of years; and that the children of beggars were to be held as common property, and any one who would feed them might have their services till they attained the age of twenty

one.

The Earl of Warwick was the Protector's rival, and his power in the Council gradually increased, till Somerset was by his order arrested, and shortly afterwards, in 1552, put to death. Warwick was made Duke of Northumberland, and acquired unbounded influence over the docile Edward.

The principles of toleration were not understood at this time, and both religious parties thought it their duty to persecute, even to death, their opponents; and though, to the credit of Edward and his counsellors, no Roman Catholic suffered death in his reign, yet severe laws were put in execution against their persons and property. Edward did not even spare his sister Mary, who, for her consistency in the Roman Catholic faith, suffered much hardship, and was not allowed the exercise of her own form of worship.

The health of Edward began in 1553 to give way. His constitution was originally weak, and the unskilful treatment of his physicians aggravated the disorder under which he laboured. Northumberland's great anxiety was for the aggrandisement of his own family, and he persuaded the king to leave, by will, the crown to Lady Jane Grey, who, as a Protestant, would carry forward and complete the work of religious reform which Edward had begun. Lady Jane had married the Protector's son, Lord Dudley. Edward reluctantly consented to dis