the weak, and a home for the mourners. And it should be remembered, that whatever learning existed in the middle ages, owed its preservation mainly to the fact that students were reared and leisure found for study in the cloister. The smaller monasteries were first attacked, either because they were most corrupt, or because they had been principally founded by the several orders of mendicant friars, who were the pope's most zealous supporters, or because they were the more easy prey. But the larger monasteries were soon involved in a similar ruin; although in the act of parliament for dissolving the others, it had been set forth, that they were spared as being "regular, devout, and praiseworthy." It is very possible that the monasteries, great and small, had been perverted to uses not intended by their founders; but it must ever be a matter of deep regret, that the revenues gained by their suppression were not scrupulously applied to the promotion of religion and learning. One unobjectionable application of the funds thus seized by the civil power might have been the augmentation of the smaller benefices; the foundation of diocesan colleges for education might have been another. A measure of this latter sort was urged warmly by various bishops, but to no purpose. In vain Bishop Latimer interceded with great earnestness for the priory of Malvern, "not that it should stand to monkery, but so as to be converted to preaching, study, and prayer;" and in vain he suggested to Cromwell, "Alas! my good lord, shall we not see two or three abbeys in every shire changed to such a remedy?" Five' new bishoprics indeed were slenderly provided for, and two colleges were founded; but the greater part of the revenues were bestowed on Henry's rapacious courtiers. Spoliation had well-nigh proceeded further even than this. The universities were threatened, and an act was procured by the king for their dissolution, in A.D. 1545. But God's mercy averted this blow from the Church. They were spared, it is said, through the intercession of Queen Katharine Parr. But we must return to the narrative. The king soon became weary of Queen Anne, and his affections fixed 1 Bristol, Gloucester, Peterborough, Chester, and Oxford. themselves on Jane Seymour, a lady in her court. The gaiety of Anne's manners gave occasion for a charge against her of unfaithfulness to her husband, and she was beheaded in the Tower within little more than two years after her marriage. On the day after her execution the king married Jane Seymour, who died within a year, after giving birth to a son, who was afterwards Edward VI. Anne Boleyn had left a daughter, the Princess Elizabeth. Henry's next wife was the Princess Anne of Cleves. He was so disappointed with her person that he could scarcely be persuaded to marry her, and soon applied for a divorce, which was granted by his obsequious clergy. Nothing can more show the subserviency of those about him to his caprice, unless it be an act of parliament which gave to his proclamations the force of law. The marriage of Anne of Cleves had been advised by Cromwell, and led to his disgrace and death. The king was highly indignant with his minister, and sent him to the Tower, where he was beheaded, 1540. Henry immediately married the Lady Katharine Howard, who was soon discovered to be a woman of abandoned character, and was executed, with several persons concerned in her guilt. His last wife was Katharine Parr, who was more than once in great danger from her attachment to the reformation of religion; but by her prudence was enabled to lull the irritation of her husband, whom she survived. Though Henry had severed his kingdom from the Roman Church, it was not his intention that his subjects should embrace the reformed opinions farther than they were held by himself. At the beginning of his opposition to Rome, he had authorized the translation of the Bible, and the publication of a book by the bishops, called the "Institute of a Christian Man." (1537.) At a later period, the use of the Scriptures was restricted, and a book less unfavourable to Rome was published, called the "Erudition of a Christian." An act was also passed (1539), requiring the assent of all persons to six articles which still embodied the principal Roman errors. These were :—transubstantiation, or the change of the substance of the bread and wine, in the Holy Eucharist, into the corporeal substance of our Lord; the denial of the cup to the laity; the profitableness of private masses; the enforcement of confession to a priest; the unlawfulness of marriage in a priest; the obligation of vows of celibacy. This act was called "The Bloody Statute," and 66 The Whip with Six Strings," from the vast number of executions which it occasioned. Reformers were burnt for refusing assent to these articles; while Romanists suffered for denying the king's supremacy. It was not until almost the end of his reign that the king would sanction a return to the English language in the public service of the Church. Two Primers (or first books) had indeed been set forth, one by William Marshall, in A.D. 1535, and another by Thomas Hilsey, bishop of Rochester, in A.D. 1539, the latter of which had received Cromwell's sanction. But these were rather indications of a public want, devotions for private use, and awkward adaptations of old offices, than authoritative documents for the use of the Church. But in 1545, what was called King Henry the Eighth's Primer was published by royal authority. In the preface the king says, "We have set out and given to our subjects a determinate form of prayer in our own mother tongue, to the intent that such as are ignorant of any strange or foreign speech, may have what to pray in their own acquainted and familiar language." And again, "We have judged it to be of no small force for the avoiding of strife and contention, to have one uniform manner or course of praying throughout all our dominions." This Primer contained in English the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments, together with prayers, suffrages, hymns, and select passages of Scripture, for morning and evening devotion. It gave also in English the Litany,-nearly the same as that now in use, to be said alternately by the priest and the people. It embraced also other prayers, rather suited for private than for public use, but no form in English for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The king insisted to the last on retaining the Romish expression of that doctrine, and would not allow the office relating to it to be meddled with. The task of restoring the cup to the laity, and preparing men's minds for an intelligent reception of the blessing conveyed in that sacrament, was reserved for the purer hands of his successor. As the king advanced in years, he suffered most severely from an ulcer in his thigh; he had become so unwieldy in person that machines were invented to move him; his temper, never good, now grew even ferocious; and his caprice and cruelty were such that even his attendants feared to approach him. He seemed to live for severity. The fatal axe in the Tower was constantly employed, and the fires in Smithfield blazed with innocent victims. The most distinguished of these was Anne Askew, who had been put to the torture by the Chancellor Wriottesly with his own hands, and died with remarkable faith and devotion. The last victim of Henry's tyranny was the accomplished Earl of Surrey, who was beheaded in the Tower, on the most slender and ill-supported charges. His father, the Duke of Norfolk, escaped a similar fate only by the death of Henry on the night before he had been ordered for execution. The king breathed his last Jan. 1547, and was succeeded by Prince Edward, his only son. Henry was never unpopular with his subjects. His measures, indeed, occasioned at times some partial insurrections, the principal of which (called the Pilgrimage of Grace) was in the year 1536; but they were put down without difficulty. The people remembered the early magnificence of his reign; and, among all his vices, he possessed that blunt courtesy and openness of hand, which are so captivating in persons of his exalted rank. 87 CHAPTER XXVI. EDWARD VI. Born at Hampton Court. Buried in Westminster Abbey, Reigned 6 years. From A.D. 1547 to a.d. 1553. Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas Cranmer, A.D. 1533-1555. EDWARD was little more than nine years old when he became king. He had been trained in the principles of those who had sought and found, amid the additions of Romanism, the elements of the pure and primitive faith. His intelligence was beyond his years, and his early piety was a pattern to all around him. When the three swords were (as was usual) carried before him at his coronation, he said, There is yet one wanting," and called for a Bible. "For," said he, "that is the sword of the Spirit, without which we are nothing." His uncle, who became Duke of Somerset, and was declared Protector, was a firm friend to the Reformation, which was now zealously promoted. Englishmen cannot be sufficiently thankful that this great religious movement was, under the Divine Providence, guided by a prelate of Cranmer's moderation and judgment. In Germany and Scotland it was, to a great degree, conducted by persons whom their zeal against popery made blind to the apostolic origin of many established practices. Thus excesses were committed by the mobs in many places; churches were profaned and mutilated, and wild and extravagant doctrines were preached. In England, by God's blessing, a milder spirit pervaded all the changes that were made; and it was a great advantage that these changes were made by the authorities in Church and State, not by the zeal of individuals nor by the lawlessness of mobs. The principle on which changes were made was not a mere antipathy to Rome, but a desire to return to Scripture and primitive usage. Thus the use of a prescribed form for public worship was retained, together with the apostolic institution of Episcopacy, while the comparatively modern corruptions of Romanism were removed. The principal of |