terous, by whose assistance he hoped to be better able to restrain the follies of the youthful king. Wolsey had at the time I speak of arrived at the dignity of dean of Lincoln. He soon acquired an unbounded influence over Henry, but instead of using it as the good bishop had intended, he only employed it to flatter the king's follies, and to promote his own advancement. He was soon made archbishop of York and chancellor: but his ambition did not rest satisfied with this; he even aspired to the popedom, and to procure the favour of the foreign princes by whose suffrage he hoped to obtain it, he sacrificed the interests of his own country, and made the king his perpetual dupe.

In 1513 Henry was drawn in by his father-inlaw, Ferdinand king of Spain, the most artful man of his time, to make war on France. He landed at Calais with a numerous army, and defeated the French troops under the duke de Longueville. This engagement has been called the battle of the Spurs, from the haste with which the French cavalry took to flight. Henry afterwards took Tournay, and thinking he had now done enough to establish his fame as a conqueror, amused himself with tournaments and splendid entertainments. -On the same day on which Tournay was taken, a battle was fought at Flodden, at the foot of the Cheviot Hills, between James the Fourth of Scotland, and the English army under lord Surrey, afterwards duke of Norfolk. In this battle the

king of Scotland was killed.-Henry soon after made a peace with France, one of the conditions of which was that Louis should marry Henry's young sister Mary. Henry then, after placing a garrison in Tournay, returned to England; and the princess Mary was sent in the following August with a splendid train of ladies and nobles to France, where her stay, however, was very short, for Louis soon dying, she returned to England, and, after a widowhood of a few weeks, married Brandon, duke of Suffolk.

Louis was succeeded by Francis I., one of the most gallant princes of his age. Ferdinand of Spain died in 1517, and was succeeded by his grandson, Charles V., who soon after became also emperor of Germany. Thus were the principal countries in Europe governed by three young monarchs, all equally emulous of fame and power. Charles and Francis were decided rivals, and they each courted and cajoled Henry, whose blunt and open character was no match for either of them. Henry and Francis had agreed to have a personal interview; and Charles, in the hope of preventing its taking place, came to England. He could not succeed in preventing the interview; but he flattered Henry, and bribed his chancellor Wolsey, till he had sufficiently detached them from the interests of France.

The projected meeting between Henry and Francis took place in June, 1520. Both monarchs

arrived within the English pale near Calais. The French king and his court took up their quarters at Ardres, and the English king was lodged in a magnificent palace which Francis had caused to be erected for him at Guines. Two thousand eight hundred tents, many of them covered with silk and cloth of gold, were pitched in the surrounding plain; but even this number was insufficient for the multitudes who flocked to this splendid festival; and many ladies and persons of rank were glad to obtain a lodging in barns, and to sleep upon hay and straw. The French and English vied with each other in the splendour of their dresses, and this meeting is celebrated by the name of "the field of the cloth of gold." It continued a fortnight, and was a succession of entertainments. Wolsey, who was now made cardinal, took upon himself to regulate all the ceremonials, and at first the two kings only met, attended by their trains, and passed the day together, according to the formal etiquette prescribed by the cardinal. But such dull parade did not suit the frank and ardent spirit of Francis, and after two or three of these interviews had taken place, he mounted his horse early one morning, and, attended by two gentlemen and a page, rode off towards Guines.

The English who were on guard at the palace were astonished to see the king of France at that hour, and so attended; but Francis desired to be conducted to Henry's apartment, and undrawing

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the curtains of his bed, awoke him out of his sleep. Henry was as much amazed as his guards had been; and from that time the intercourse between the two kings was conducted in a more free and confidential manner. It may appear, perhaps, to have become at last too free: for one day, after they had been looking at a wrestling match, Henry, seizing Francis by the collar, said, "My brother, you and I must wrestle," and endeavoured to throw him down but Francis being the most expert, nimbly twisted Henry round and threw him to the ground. Though Henry affected at the time to treat this as an agreeable pleasantry, it vexed him exceedingly, and he never quite forgave it. On June 25th the two kings separated, and Henry and the emperor exchanged visits at Gravelines and Calais. This occasioned a renewal of tournaments and splendid entertainments: but amidst them all Charles never lost sight of his own interests, and sought to counteract the effect of the treaties of friendship and alliance that had been made between the two kings at the "field of the cloth of gold."

Soon after Henry's return to England, the duke of Buckingham was accused of some treasonable expressions. against the king, and was beheaded; but his real crime was the having offended the cardinal, whose haughty and overbearing conduct had raised a host of secret enemies around him. His power over the king was so absolute, that

Henry, without perceiving it, was merely his tool. The ignorant of all ranks attributed this influence over the king to witchcraft, but more discerning men perceived that flattery was the art which Wolsey used. He affected to look up to Henry as the wisest of mortals; he promoted his amusements, and joined in them with the gaiety of youth; and thus making himself agreeable as well as useful, he ruled for ten years with absolute sway one of the most capricious and passionate of men.

In 1521 Henry distinguished himself as an author, and wrote a Latin book against the heresies of Luther, an eminent reformer of religion in Germany. This book was presented with great ceremony to pope Leo X., who rewarded the royal author with the title of "Defender of the Faith :" and sent him a letter praising his "wisdom, learning, zeal, charity, gravity, gentleness, and meekness;" most of which epithets few people could have less deserved.-The following year Leo died, and Adrian VI. was elected pope, to the great mortification of Wolsey.

In 1522 the emperor visited England a second time, and was entertained with a variety of splendid shows. Charles, as usual, mixed politics with his-festivities, and applied himself to win the favour of the English nobles. Amongst other courtesies he appointed lord Surrey, afterwards duke of Norfolk, lord admiral of all his fleets-a piece of flattery that gratified the whole nation. By these and other