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enacted, and rigorously executed; he ruled more absolutely than any English king had done before him; and such was the servility of his parliaments that they allowed his proclamations to have the force of laws; granted him, by the plunder of the Church, an amount of wealth which no former king had possessed; twice cancelled his debts; enforced all his changing opinions by the penalties of treason; and lastly, enabled him to dispose of the succession to the throne at his uncontrolled will and pleasure.

The last year of Henry's life was marked by the fall of the duke of Norfolk1, who had long been a main

The chronicler Hollingshead says that 72,000 persons were executed in the course of his reign; a number not incredible, when it is considered that numerous new treasons and felonies were created by almost every parliament, and that sparing life when convicted was seldom thought of.

1 Thomas Howard, born in 1473, was the son of the earl of Surrey, who gained the victory of Flodden; he was present there, and distinguished himself on many other occasions in Scotland, France, and Ireland. He was considered the head of the Romish party in England, procured the passing of the Act of the Six Articles, and otherwise greatly hindered the Reformation. At last, after many years of high favour, he fell into disgrace with Henry VIII., who seems to have suspected him and his son of aspiring to the crown, was attainted, and ordered for execution, but the king dying at that very period, the new government contented themselves with keeping him a prisoner during the whole of the reign of Edward VI. He was released by Mary, and his attainder set aside, but he took little further part in public affairs beyond presiding at the trial of the duke of Northumberland; he died July 18, 1554. He married, first, the princess Anne, daughter of Edward IV.; and, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of the duke of Buckingham.

Arms of Howard, duke of
Norfolk.

Henry, earl of Surrey, one of our early poets, was the son of the duke, and was born in 1516; he was the companion and brother-inlaw of the duke of Richmond, the king's natural son; travelled abroad, and distinguished himself in arms, in Scotland and France;

supporter of the Romish doctrines; Seymour, Cranmer, and others of the reformers, were appointed by his will the guardians of his son, and the king died shortly after, Jan. 28, 1547. He was buried at Windsor. Feb. 16, according to the Roman ritual, and a very gorgeous tomb was commenced to his memory; but it was never completed, and was at length plundered, and afterwards destroyed during the civil war in the time of Charles I.

Henry contracted the unexampled number of six marriages, all except the last unhappy in their results. His first union, with his sister-in-law, Katherine of Arragon, though clearly unlawful in its nature, was sanctioned by the authority of the pope, and afforded him, from the virtues of his partner, the only calm and peaceful years that he enjoyed in the married state. Scruples as to its legality at length arose, which were converted into certainty by the attractions of Anne Boleyn, an attendant of Katherine, who became queen only to find a dishonoured grave a few months after the death of her injured mistress. Henry next married Jane Seymour, who shortly died in child-bed; a political union was then entered into with Anne of Cleves, and shortly after unceremoniously dissolved, its chief result being the ruin of its contriver, Thomas Cromwell. His fifth marriage was with Katherine Howard, who in less

he was for awhile governor of Boulogne, but being ignominiously removed, he gave vent to his displeasure in words which were carried to the king; he was accused, like his father, of treason, condemned, and executed, Jan. 21, 1547. One of his sons was Thomas, duke of Norfolk, beheaded in 1572.

than two years was brought to the block; and in eighteen months more Henry espoused a widow lady, Katherine Parr, who though endangered by her adherence to the doctrines of the Reformation, had the fortune to survive him.

Beside children who died youngm, Henry had by Katherine of Arragon, MARY; by Anne Boleyn, ELIZABETH; and by Jane Seymour, EDWARD, who all became sovereigns.

Henry had also a natural son by Lady Elizabeth Tailboys. He was born about 1517, was named Henry; was created earl of Nottingham, duke of Richmond and Somerset, and appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (Sir William Skeffington being his deputy). He married Mary, a daughter of the duke of Norfolk, but died without issue in his 20th year, July 22, 1536, and was buried at Thetford. He is spoken of as graceful and accomplished.

The royal arms continued the same as in the preceding reigns, but are generally within the garter and crowned. The supporters, however, vary; the more ordinary are the golden lion and red dragon; but the red dragon also occurs as the dexter supporter, while for the sinister ones, a white bull, a white greyhound, and a white cock are mentioned.

The only known badge of Henry is the white greyhound, courant; but those of his wives are the pomegranate, the pomegranate and rose, and the sheaf of

m The number is disputed; some writers mention two, others four.

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and sceptre of Anne Boleyn; the castle and phoenix of Jane Seymour; and the maiden's head and rose of Katherine Parr.

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Badges of Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Katherine Parr.

As the prominent actor in the final breach between England and the Church of Rome, the character of Henry has ordinarily been estimated more according to the feeling of writers in favour of or against that great change, than with a due regard to other matters. His actions, however, shew that his temper was most impetuous, that he was vain of his learning, jealous of his power, and alternately avaricious and prodigal; it is also cvident that these defects were fostered by interested advisers, who thus served their own ends, but exhibited

their king as a capricious tyrant, who threw off the yoke of Rome only to be as absolute himself. His alliance was so sedulously courted by foreign princes that he was led to believe himself the arbiter of Europe, yet his various allies repeatedly deserted him without ceremony whenever they had an opportunity of making peace without him, and while they did adhere to him they usually managed to make him pay far more than his due proportion of the costs of their joint enterprises.

In his private character, Henry must be regarded with abhorrence. A boast is attributed to him that "he never spared a woman in his lust, or a man in his anger," and his conduct justifies the remark. Those who had served him but "too well" (as Wolsey" and Cromwell) were abandoned to destruction when no

"Cardinal Wolsey had been an nonest man if he had had an honest master," was a part of the "treasonable discourses" for which Lord Montacute (the brother of Reginald Pole,) was convicted and executed; it is, perhaps, a just estimate of Wolsey's character. His correspondence, which is preserved in the State Paper Office, shews that Henry only took the cardinal's advice when it pleased him; he does not appear to have changed any of his own purposes.

Thomas Cromwell, the son of a blacksmith, was born about 1490. He was employed in the English factory at Antwerp, was afterwards engaged in the service of Henry VIII., but at length became a soldier, and was present at the sack of Rome in 1527. He soon after returned to England, entered the family of Cardinal Wolsey, was much esteemed by him, and, as the redeeming feature in a bad character, had the honesty and courage to adhere to him when fallen. He perhaps thus recommended himself to the favour of Henry VIII., who bestowed many lucrative offices on him, and received in return all the services that a bold, artful, and utterly unscrupulous agent could render, whether in divorcing his queen, plundering the Church, or establishing his own opinions as standards of doctrine. In 1539 he was created earl of Essex, but soon after, for no very apparent cause, he lost the royal favour, was committed to prison, attainted without a hearing, after a fashion which he had lately employed against his opponents, and beheaded July 28, 1540, in spite of supplications of the most abject nature. He concludes one letter thus:

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