against the king. What the objects of these plots were is not exactly known; but it is supposed that the chief design was to dethrone Henry, and bring about a marriage between the princess Mary and himself. These conspiracies were not carried on so secretly but that Henry obtained some hint of them; and the cardinal's two brothers were executed in consequence. Even his aged mother, the countess of Salisbury, was not spared. This venerable and last remaining Plantagenet was beheaded for having received a letter from her son. The rich spoils the king had got by dissolving the smaller monasteries had made him greedy of more; and in 1539 his obsequious parliament passed an act for putting at his disposal all the remaining religious houses, which either had been or should be surrendered to him. The king was not backward in forcing them, by all sorts of means, to surrender. In 1545 another act was passed, which even empowered him to seize the revenues of the universities. But these were spared, and (as some have said) by the intercession of queen Catherine Parr. Henry, who was very fond of royal interviews, was now desirous of having one with his nephew the king of Scotland (James V.); and in 1541 a meeting was to have taken place at York. Henry and his court kept the appointment, and waited for some days; but the king of Scots, having been prevented by his clergy, never came, and Henry was so much enraged at this insult that he declared war against him. The English army obtained an important victory at Solway Moss, and James was so much overwhelmed when he heard of it that he sunk into a settled melancholy, and died Dec. 14, 1542, leaving an infant princess only seven days old. This princess was the celebrated Mary queen of Scots, of whose unhappy life and death you will hear in its proper place. Henry was desirous to procure a marriage between the young queen of Scotland and his son Edward prince of Wales, and used both force and artifice to bring it about. He wanted also to be made protector of Scotland during the queen's minority; but the Scots were too bold to be frightened, and too wary to be ensnared. After Henry and the emperor had been at open enmity for many years, a reconciliation was patched up between them; and Henry, who, with all his violence of temper and self-conceit, was generally the dupe of others, was drawn in to make war on Francis. Charles and Henry, at the head of their armies, joined each other near Calais; and though the latter was now grown fat and unwieldy, he appeared in person in the field, and laid siege to Boulogne, which was soon taken. The king of France now sent ambassadors to negotiate a peace with the two potentates. But while the ambassadors were going through their formal ceremonials, a Dominican friar who was in their train, and had secret instructions from Francis, concluded a separate peace with the emperor, who withdrew his army, and left his friend and ally to take care of himself. Henry returned to England, after leaving a garrison in Boulogne. In 1546 peace was made between France and England; and it was agreed that Boulogne, which had been bravely defended against all the attempts Francis had made to regain it, should remain in the possession of the English for eight years, after which time it was to be given up to France on the payment of a certain sum of money. Peace was also about this time made with Scotland; and Henry, being no longer troubled with foreign enemies, had the more time to torment his own subjects. As he required the people to make his opinion the standard of their faith, and was continually changing that opinion, and making contradictory laws, it was scarcely possible for his subjects to steer a safe course among the difficulties which his tyrannical caprice laid in their way. Many were put to death for denying his supremacy. Towards the end of his life he became very dropsical, and was much tormented with ulcers in the legs, which being added to his unwieldy corpulence, disabled him from walking, and made him "more furious than a chained lion." These infirmities, indeed, so greatly increased the natural violence and irritability of his temper, that every body was afraid to come near him. Even the queen, though she was his most attentive nurse, and dressed the wounds in his legs every day herself, was not treated by him with the tenderness she might have expected, and with all her patience and discretion very narrowly escaped being impeached for high treason, in consequence of having one day displeased him by expressing herself warmly in a religious argument. Indeed, his tyranny and caprice were such that none could feel themselves secure. The duke of Norfolk and his son lord Surrey were committed to the Tower. The duke had been one of the king's earliest favourites, and lord Surrey was one of the most accomplished noblemen in England, and had by his talents and acquirements retained the king's regard for many years. Both these noblemen were very zealous supporters of the Roman Catholic cause, and some people thought that a fear lest they should disturb the peace of the young Edward's reign, when he should come to the throne, was the real cause of their ruin. Whatever the real cause was, the charges actually brought against them were frivolous. The chief charges against lord Surrey were that he had quartered in his coat of arms the arms of Edward the Confessor, which had been done by all his ancestors; and that he studied Italian, and was fond of conversing with foreigners, which made it probable that he corresponded with cardinal de la Pole. He was declared guilty of high treason, and was beheaded Jan. 19, 1547. The duke of Norfolk seemed to cling to life with more solicitude than his accomplished son had done. He tried every concession that he could think of to soften the king: but Henry, as if he thirsted for his blood, hurried on the proceedings of parliament, and his death-warrant was signed Jan. 27, but before it could be executed the king expired, and thus his victim escaped. Henry's temper was so terrific, even to the last, that when he was dying no person dared to give him the least hint of his danger. At last, one bolder than the rest ventured to tell him he had not long to live, and asked if he would have a clergyman sent for. He replied: "If any, Cranmer." When the archbishop arrived, the king was speechless, but he knew Cranmer, and expired as he pressed his hand. He was in the 56th year of his age, and the 38th of his reign. He had been six times married : 1. to Catherine of Arragon, whom he divorced; 2. to Anne Boleyn, whom he beheaded; 3. to Jane Seymour, who died; 4. to Anne of Cleves, who was divorced; 5. to Catherine Howard, who was beheaded; Edward, by Jane Seymour, who succeeded him; Mary, by Catherine of Arragon, who both were afterwards queens of Elizabeth, by Anne Boleyn, England. Though Henry had declared both his daughters illegitimate, he appointed them in his will, after |