13th y. to Maft' Bray for re- £. s. d. Henry VII. feems to have been particularly fond of this diverfion, as there are other entries of this fort in his ac counts. + Bacon fays, the King had (though he were no good Schoolinan) the honour to convert a heretic at Canterbury. HENRY THE EIGHTH. [1509-1547.] LORD BACON intended to write the history of the very interefting reign of Henry the Eighth. A few pages only of the Introduction are preserved. 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 elsewhere: A "young King, about eighteen years of age; for ftature, "stature, strength, and making, and beauty, one "of the goodlieft perfons of his time. And "though he were given to pleasure, 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 learning, though "therein he came fhort of his brother Arthur. "He had never any the least 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 firft heir of the White and Red Rofe, "fo that there was now no difcontented party " left in the kingdom, but all men's hearts turned "towards him; and not only their hearts but their eyes also, for he was the only Son of the King"dom. He had no brother, which though it be "a comfortable thing to have, yet draweth the fubjects eyes a little afide. And yet being a « married man in these young years, it promised hope of fpeedy iffue to fucceed to the crown. "Neither was there any Queen-Mother who might share any way in the Government, or "clash with his Counfellors for authority, while "the King attended his pleasure: no fuch thing "as any great and mighty Subject, who might any way eclipfe or overfhade the Imperial power; "and for the People and State in general, they "were in fuch lownefs of obedience as fubjects "were "were likely to yield, who had lived almoft four"and-twenty years under so politic a King as his father; being also one who came partly in by the fword, and had so high a courage in all points "of regality, and was ever victorious in rebellions " and feditions of the people. The crown ex tremely rich and full of treasure, and the king"dom like to be fo in a fhort time; for there was " no war, no dearth, no ftop of trade or com"merce: it was only the Crown which had fucked "too hard, and now being full, and upon the " head of a young King, was likely to draw lefs. Laftly, he was the inheritor of his father's "reputation, which was great throughout the "world." 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 perhaps the most wicked as well as the weakest man is to be found amongst thofe who have nothing either to hope or to fear. Henry's reign ushered in with so bright a morning, closed with clouds and with tempefts: murder, rapine, and desolation, marked its progress, and the only bright event in it took its rife more from a fatiety of pleasure, and from a defire to command, than from any regard to religion, or any any defire to promote the happiness of his people. The well-known Spanish lines fay of this Monarch, Sure as thefe 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 ChriftChurch, Oxford. The following fpecimen of his Latin, annexed to fome MSS. of Church Difcipline in his time, fhews him to no great advantage as a scholar: « Illa eft Ecclefia noftra Catholica, cum qua nee Pontifex Maximus nec quifquis alius Prælatus "habet quicquam agere, præterquam in fuas dio* cefas." "This then is our Catholic Church, with which "neither the Pope nor any other prelate has any thing to do, except in their own dioceses.” "The number of Monafteries fuppreffed by "this King," fays Lord Herbert," was fix hun"dred 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 thousand "three "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 " stock 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 res cords 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 8oool. a-year. So that religion," adds Lord Herbert," feemed not fo much to fuffer thereby " σε as fome of the Clergy of thofe times and of ours "would have it believed; our kingdom having "in the meanwhile, (as Lord Cromwell projected it) instead of divers fupernumerary and idle "perfons, men fit for employment either in war "or peace, maintained at the coft of the aforefaid Abbeys and Chauntries: fo that the diffolu. "tions (appearing in their stately foundations at "this day) are by our politics thought amply re"compenfed. Befides, the King, in demolish ing them, had fo tender a care of learning, that "he not only preferred divers able perfons which " he found there, but took special care to pres |