48 A. D. CHARACTER OF CHARLES V. Ch. 3. retreat in Spain, which was the monastery of St. Justus, near Placentia, situated in a lovely vale, surrounded with lofty 1558. trees, watered by a small brook, and rendered attractive by the fertility of the soil, and the delightful temperature of the climate. Here he spent his last days in agricultural improvements and religious exercises, apparently regardless of that noisy world which he had deserted for ever, and indifferent to those political storms which his restless ambition had raised. Here his grandeur and his worldly hopes were buried. He lived with great simplicity, for two years after his retreat, and died (1558) from the effects of gout, which had long shattered his constitution. He was not, properly speaking, endowed charac- with genius; but he was a man of great sagacity, untiring ter. industry, and respectable attainments. He was cautious, cold, His death and and selfish, had but little faith in human virtue, and was a slave, in his latter days, to superstition. He was neither affable nor courteous, but he was sincere in his attachments, and munificent in rewarding his generals and friends. Inordinate ambition was his great defect, and this, in a man so prominent, and so favored by circumstances, was unfortunately enough to keep Europe disturbed for nearly half a century. REFERENCES.-Robertson's "History of Charles V.;" Ranke's "History of the Reformation;" Kohlrausch's "History of Germany;" Rus sell's "Modern Europe." CONTEMPORANEOUS with Luther and Charles V. was Henry Ch.4. VIII., whose reign is chiefly memorable for the first impulse given to the Reformation in England by royal power. A. D. 1509. sion of At the period of the Reformation, no European monarch was practically more absolute than Henry VIII., the second Accesof the Tudor princes, who had ascended the throne in 1509, Henry under the most auspicious circumstances. He was then in VIII. his 18th year, frank, handsome, and generous. He had considerable literary attainments, was the idol of the people, possessed a well-filled treasury, and was favoured with an obsequious parliament. We will not enumerate the various acts of Henry prior to the commencement of his domestic difficulties, such as his war with the Scots, his famous interview with Francis I., the execution of Stafford duke of Buckingham, and the rise of Wolsey. It was his divorce from his wife which led to the great events of his reign, and therefore we must content ourselves with that as a starting point. Arra Queen Catharine, daughter of Ferdinand, King of Spain, Cathawas six years older than her husband, whom she married in rine of the first year of his reign. She had been previously married gon. to his brother Arthur, who died of the plague in 1502. For several years after her marriage with Henry VIII. her domestic happiness was a subject of remark; and the Emperor, Charles V., congratulated her on her brilliant fortune. She was beautiful, sincere, accomplished, religious, and disinter 50 QUEEN CATHARINE. Ch. 4. ested, and every way calculated to secure, as she had won, the King's affections. A. D. 1527. But among her maids of honor there was one peculiarly accomplished and fascinating, to whom the King transferred Anne his affections with unwonted vehemence. This was Anne Boleyn. Boleyn, daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, a man of great wealth, who had married Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the first Duke of Norfolk. This alliance brought Sir Thomas Boleyn into close connection with royalty, and led to the appointment of his daughter to the high post which she held at the court of Queen Catharine. It is probable that the King suppressed his passion for some time; and it would have been longer concealed, even from its object, had not his jealousy been excited by her attachment to Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland. The King at last made known his wishes; but the daughter of the Howards was too proud, or too politic, or too high principled, to listen to his overtures. It was only as Queen of England, that she would return the affection of her royal lover. The King waited four years, but Anne remained inHe then meditated divorce from CathaHenry's flexibly virtuous. divorce. rine, as the only way to accomplish the object which now seemed to animate his existence. He confided the matter to his favorite minister; but Wolsey was thunderstruck at the disclosure, and remained with him four hours on his knees, to dissuade him from a step which he justly regarded as madness. He, however, recommended the King to consult the divines; for Henry pretended that, after nearly twenty years of married life, he had conscientious scruples about the lawfulness of marriage with his brother's widow. The learned English doctors were afraid to pronounce their opinions, and suggested a reference to the Fathers. But the King was not content with their authority; he appealed to the Pope, and to the decisions of half the universities of Europe. It seems very singular that a sovereign so unprincipled, unscrupulous, and DISGRACE AND DEATH OF WOLSEY. 51 passionate, and yet so absolute and powerful as was Henry, Ch. 4. should have wasted his time and money in seeking counte- A. D. nance to an act on which he was fully determined, and which 1527 countenance he never could reasonably hope to secure. But to his character was made up of contradictions. His caprice, 1529. violence, and want of good faith, were strangely blended with superstition and reverence for the authority of the church. Queen Catharine, besides being a virtuous and excellent woman, was powerfully allied, and was a zealous Catholic. Her repudiation, therefore, could not take place without offending the very persons whose favor the King was most anxious to conciliate, especially the Emperor Charles her nephew, the Pope, and all the high dignitaries and adherents of the church. Even Wolsey could not in honor favor the divorce, Its diffalthough it was his policy to please his master in everything. culties. In consequence of the scandal and offence so outrageous an act as the divorce of Catherine must necessarily produce throughout the civilized world, Henry long delayed to bring the matter to a crisis, being alike afraid of a war with Charles V., and of the anathemas of the Pope. Moreover, as the Pope had sent Cardinal Campeggio to London, to hold, with his legate Wolsey, a court to hear the case, he was not without hope in that quarter. But it was far from the Pope's intention to grant the divorce; as he was more afraid of Charles than of Henry. This court settled nothing, and the King's wrath was now Disdirected against Wolsey, whom he suspected of secretly thwart- grace of Wolsey. ing his measures. Sprung from a low class, Wolsey had risen by tact, talent, and favorable circumstances, to be a roya favorite, and had successively obtained the appointments of Dean of York, Bishop of Lincoln, Archbishop of York, Lord Chancellor, and Papal Legate. He now possessed several abbeys, and immense revenues. He supported a train of 800 servants, and his delegated power was greater than any English subject had ever before possessed, for through him the royal favour almost exclusively flowed. To be thwarted 52 MORE CRANMER CROMWELL. Ch. 4. by one on whom he had heaped such benefits was more than Henry could bear, so he at once determined on his disgrace 1529. and ruin. In vain did the accomplished courtier surrender his A. D. Sir Thomas Thomas Cran mer. palace, his treasures, his honors, and his offices, into the hands of him who gave them, without a single expostulation; in vain did he write abject letters to "his most gracious, most mesciful, and most pious sovereign lord;" he died of a broken heart on his way to a prison and the scaffold. "Had I but served my God as diligently as I have served the King, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs,”—were the words of the dying cardinal; his sad confession on experiencing the vanity of human life. But the vindictive prince suffered no word of sorrow or regret to escape him, when he heard of the death of a prime minister, who for twenty years had been his intimate friend. Shortly after the disgrace of Wolsey, which happened nearly a year before his death (1529), three remarkable men began to figure in English politics and history. These were Sir Thomas More, Thomas Cranmer, and Thomas Cromwell. More was the most accomplished, most learned, and most enlightened of the three. He was a Catholic, but exemplary in his life, and charitable in his views. In moral elevation of character, and beautiful serenity of soul, the annals of the great men of his country furnish no superior. His extensive erudition and moral integrity alone secured him the official station which Wolsey had held, that of lord chancellor. He was the intimate friend of the King; and his conversation, so enlivened by wit, and so rich and varied in matter, caused his society to be universally sought. He discharged his duties with singular conscientiousness and ability; and no one ever had cause to complain that justice was not rendered him. Cranmer's elevation was owing to a fortunate circumstance, rather than to his exalted merit. He happened to say, while tutor to a gentleman of the name of Cressy, in the hearing of Gardiner, then secretary of state, that the proper way to settle the difficulty about the divorce was, to appeal to learned |