army of England became from this time an independent body. The officers and soldiers serving by their own consent, and being paid by the nation.

In this reign the Star Chamber was first instituted; ar. arbitrary court of law, in which the king used to attend in person as judge, and which was called the Star Chamber, from the decorations of the room in which the sittings were held.

Though Henry was a very unamiable man, yet in some respects his conduct as a king was beneficial to his country. His dislike to the nobles made him considerate of the lower orders, and his love of money made him encourage commerce, and the navy. He built some four-masted ships, of a larger size than had ever been seen before.

Intelligence of the discoveries made by Columbus in the western hemisphere, disposed Henry to similar enterprises, and he fitted out a small fleet of ships, and sent them on a voyage of discovery, under the command of John Cabot, a Venetian merchant.

Cabot sailed in a north-west direction, and the first land he saw was what we now call Newfoundland, but which he called Prima Vista (first seen :) he next saw the island of St. John's and sailed to the south as far as Virginia, and then returned to England, where the king received him with great honor, and knighted him.

What was the court of Star Chamber?

Were the English navy and commerce bere fitted by Henry VIL?
Did Henry encourage maritime discovery.

How did Henry treat John Cabot?

CHAPTER XXV.

HENRY VIII.

[Years after Christ, 1509-1547.

A soldier in Henry the Eighth's reign.

Henry VIII. was in his nineteenth year when he ascended the throne. His understanding was shrewd and clear; he had received what was then thought a good edu cation, and had more learning than most princes of his time. The pretensions of the two rival families of York and Lancaster were united in his person, and he was the first king since Richard II. who had ascended the throne with an undisputed title to it. He enjoyed great popularity, his father had left him an ample treasure, and the country was free from both foreign and from domestic wars. In short, no king of England had ever begun to reign under more prosperous circumstances.

For the first two years of his reign the political affairs of England prospered. Henry appointed a council of men of approved wisdom. He brought Dudley and Empson

When and under what circumstances did Henry VIII. succeed to the throne of England?

What were the first measures of Henry's reign, and who became his chief counsellor ?

to punishment for their exactions in his father's reign, and he made advantageous treaties with France and Scotland At the same time he was extravagant in his amusements, and soon squandered much of his father's hoarded wealth in tournaments and other expensive pastimes, to the grea! grief of his careful counsellor Fox, bishop of Winchester, who, finding his remonstrances unavailing, intro duced at court the afterwards highly celebrated cardinal Wolsey, a man of inferior birth, but very shrewd and dexterous, by whose assistance he hoped to be better able to restrain the follies of the youthful king.

Wolsey soon acquired an unbounded influence over Henry, but 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 be pope of Rome.

Henry was drawn in by his father-in-law, A. D. 1513. Ferdinand king of Spain, the most artfui 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 him self 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 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 his sister was sent in the following August, with a splen

fo what dignities did Wolsey attain, and to what did he aspire ? What were Henry's enterprises in 1513?

What happened at Flodden Field?

On what conditions did Henry make peace with France?

did 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 charac ter was no match for either of them.

Henry and Francis had agreed to have a personal interview; and Charles, in hopes 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 multitude 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 splendor 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

Who were the three greatest monarchs of Europe in 1517?

How did Char.es V. interfere between the kings of France and Eng .and?

What occurred at Guines in 1520?

What was done at The field of the cloth of gold?"

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 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.

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 cardinal Wolsey, whose haughty and overbearing conduct had raised a host of secret enemies around him. Wolsey's power over the king was so absolute, that Henry, without perceiving it, was merely his tool; and making himself agreeable as well as useful, he ruled for ten years with absolute sway one of the most ca pricious and passionate of men.

Did the kings on this occasion depart from the pomp of majesty? Did Charles V. manifest any real friendship for Henry of England? Was Wolsey's influence upon Henry of great importance?