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 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 bable that he corresponded with cardinal de la Fole. He was declared guilty of high treason, and was beheaded Jan. 19, 1547.

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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 died in the 56th year of his age, and the 38th of his reign. He had been six times married, and left three children-Edward, by Jane Seymour, who succeeded him; Mary, by Catharine of Arragon, Elizabeth, by Anne Boleyn, who both were afterwards queens of England.

Though Henry had declared both his daughters illegitimate, he appointed them in his will, after their brother, to the succession of the crown. In case they all died without children, he left the succession after them to the children and heirs of his youngest sister, the duchess of Brandon, to the entire exclusion of his eldest sister Margaret, who after the death of her first husband, the king of Scotland, had married the earl of Angus, and had one daughter, wife of the earl of Lenox, and mother of Henry Darnley, whom we shall hear more.

Wickliffe's opinions notwithstanding the early persecu ions of his followers, had never been eradicated. During

Upon what charges was lord Surrey executed?

How did the duke of Norfolk escape?

At what age did Henry VIII. die, and who were his family?

How did Henry VIII. order the sucession?

Had the Lollards been eradicated in England?

the long civil wars the government had so many cares, that it attended but little to any affairs of religion. Consequently the Lollards increased in number; and in the early part of this reign their opinions gathered strength from the success of their protestant brothers in Germany, where Luther, a new reformer, had arisen, and drew people more and more from popery. Henry VIII. at first treated the Lollards with the utmost rigor, but relaxed towards them at the time of his quarrel with the pope.

This reign is generally considered as the era of the Reformation in England, and much certainly was at this time done towards it. The country was freed from subjection to the pope: the clergy were made amenable to the same laws with the laity. But the same caprice and violence of temper that had made the king do thus much prevented him from completing the great work he had begun. He abolished the religious houses with all their rules and observances, and yet appointed priests to say masses for his own soul. He forbade the worship of images, and commanded the church service to be read in English: and yet he burnt many persons for heresy.

Henry permitted the Bible to be translated, and then forbade it to be read except by particular persons. But notwithstanding all the impediments the king's inconsistencies put in the way of the Reformation, and the steadier opposition of the Romish clergy, the pure light of the new religion was still kept burning, chiefly through the firm perseverance of Cranmer, till in time it cleared away the darkness of superstition and popery.

His

The great men of this reign demand some consideration. Few characters known in history deserve more commendation than Cranmer. He was the only one of Henry's favorites who had no little selfish views of his own. whole soul was placed on one great object—the reformation of religion; and to that all the powers of his mind were applied. Wolsey's great abilities were chiefly employed in raising himself to the highest worldly dignity. Cromwell, though a zealous reformer, was intent on enrich

Did Henry VIII. promote the Reformation of Christianity?
By whose influence was the reformation advanced?

Who were the chief men of Henry's reign?

ing himself from the pillage of the religious houses. And the other courtiers, one and all, had their own narrow selfish ends to serve.

Such is the power of virtue over vice, that the overbearing Henry stood in awe of the gentle-tempered Cranmer. The king's regard for him was at all times sincere; and at one time, when Gardiner and the duke of Norfolk thought they had got the king's consent to have him sent to the Tower, Henry privately warned the archbishop of the plot, and advised him how to defeat the malice of his enemies, who were the chief supporters of the popish party.

Cranmer was very anxious that the public service of the church should be in English instead of Latin, but he knew that the king would violently oppose such a change. He therefore thought best to lead to it by degrees; and when a prayer was to be composed for the king's preservation in the expedition to France in 1544, Cranmer besought him that it might be composed in English, that the people might pray with more fervor from understanding what they uttered. By degrees Cranmer gained permission to have the Lord's prayer also, the creed, and the commandments, read in English in the churches; and the year before the king's death the liturgy was added.

Some few copies remained of Wickliffe's translation of the Bible, but Cranmer was desirous of obtaining a better translation. At last he got the king's permission to have one made, but it was four years before the work was completed. These Bibles, when they at length appeared, were received with thankfulness all over the kingdom: they were placed in churches, and secured by a chain to the reading desk. The people flocked to the places where they could hear the Bible read, and many persons learned to read, for the sole purpose of perusing it. But Henry, in the latter part of hs life, withdrew this general privilege, and would not permit the Bible to be read by the lower orders of the people.

What influence had Cranmer over the mind of Henry?
What services did Cranmer render to religion?

Did Cranmer procure the scriptures to be translated, ana did religion dispose the English to improve in learning?

It was cruel to deprive them of their Bibles yet by learning to read, they had gained something that the king could not take away from them. The increase of books, through the invention of printing, had already made the English much greater readers than formerly; but in regard to writing they do not seem to have been much advanced. In that art but a small number was then instructed.

Not all the learned men of that time were reformers. Two of the greatest ornaments of this reign were zealous papists, sir Thomas More, and lord Surrey. The latter was a poet, and a man of elegant literature. The former, besides his learning, possessed a sarcastic wit which he could not help indulging even when on the scaffold. Erasmus also, though a native of Holland, greatly aided the progress of learning in this country. He taught Greek at Oxford, till he was driven thence by the violence of the popish party, who, alarmed at the appearance of any thing new, thought the study of Greek a dangerous innovation.

Cardinal Wolsey, also a Catholic, was a great man. He began the building of Hampton Court, intending it for his own residence. He began also the building of Christ Church, in Oxford, meaning to call it Cardinal College but after his disgrace Henry seized on the revenues with which Wolsey had endowed it, and completing the building, took upon himself the credit of founding it. On his death-bed he uttered these affecting words :-" Had I but served my God as diligently as I have served my king, he would not have left me in my grey hairs."

The trade in African slaves was first practised by the English nation in this reign.

Were the people of England generally able to write in the reign of Henry VIII.?

Who were sir Thomas More, lord Surrey, anu Erasmus ?

Had Cardinal Wolsey any loyalty and public spirit?

What inhuman traffic commenced in the reign of Henry VIII.?

CHAPTER XXVI.

EDWARD VI.

[Years after Christ, 1547-1553.]

Edward was in his tenth year when his father died. He had already displayed a gentleness of character that endeared him to those about him. Henry had appointed sixteen executors and twelve counsellors, to whom he en trusted the care of the king and kingdom. But at the first meeting of the executors, they deviated from Henry s will by making lord Hertford, Edward's eldest uncle, whom they created duke of Somerset, protector of the kingdom.

The protector, who was a favorer of the Protestants, was careful to entrust the education of the king to men of the reformed religion. Edward's young mind readily imbibed their opinions; and he showed a knowledge, zeal, and early piety, that was quite extraordinary in a boy of his age. The completion of the Reformation itself, which had been left in a very unfinished state at the death of Henry was Somerset's next care.

A commission was formed for drawing up a book of offices; that is, a prayer book, to be used in churches, for the general use of the church. Cranmer, and Ridley afterwards bishop of London, were at the head of this commission. They agreed to make every thing as near as they could to the practice of the pure and early ages of the Gospel. They retained many of the prayers that had been used in the service of the Romish church, and fixed the Liturgy nearly as it is now.

A considerable portion of the lower orders of the people were won over to the reformed religion; and many of the higher orders, some from conviction, and some for the sake of doing as others did, abjured popery. Those who had obtained grants of abbey lands, warmly supported the views of the protector. Thus the nation was in a great measure

Whom did the executors of Henry VIII. appoint protector during the minority of his son?

Did the protec.or regard the young king's education, and the interests of religion generally?

What commission was appointed to regulate the public worship?
Was the nation brought to conformity in religion?