true a description of the past, it was the positive forerunner of all that is to come. In the following pages, if we continue to abide by the self-same stream, not omitting to observe as we pass on, whatever scenes may open to view on either side of the current; it will bring us ere long to a river, broad and deep, which no man can pass over. At last should it rise, and overflowing its banks, baffle every attempt at any adequate description, it will then at least be evident, that, in point of magnitude, the mind of England in our own day can be directed to no greater object; while with reference to the stability and vital interests of this kingdom, it will bow to no other.

In resuming this history, notwithstanding what occurred last year, it would be a great mistake to imagine, because Henry the Eighth and all around him had been overruled, that any visible change of character had taken place, either in him, or in them. On the contrary, they will go on in such a manner, and to such an extent, as to render the interposition already described, only the more striking. It must ever stand out in bold relief, among the current events of the time. Men overruled, in any rank, occupy very humble ground; but the higher their station, or the greater their influence, the ground is lower still; and the King himself will immediately satisfy us that there was no change upon him. Nor will this be less apparent in the servants of the crown.1

The Sacred Scriptures, however, in the English tongue, had now been introduced, and in a manner so remarkable as to excite curiosity with regard to the sequel. The victory already recorded, great as it was, would not yet suffice. If there was any spot on the Continent, where opposition to Divine Truth had been most of all virulent, that will be the proper place in which to complete the triumph of the English

Trivial incidents often strongly mark the character. The very next month after the arrival of the Bible, though the plague was raging still, his Majesty presents us with one incident characteristic of his own ideas respecting that Body of which he was now the determined Head. Sir William Fitzwilliam, on the point of being created Earl of Southampton, is writing to Crumwell, and among other passages, there is the following-" My Lord, one thing there is, that the King's Highness, at my last resort unto your Lordship, willed me to speak to your Lordship in; and at my return to his Grace, his Highness asked, whether I had remembered the same or not: which is-His Grace hath a Priest, that yearly maketh his hawks, and this year hath made him two, which fly, and kill their game very well, to his Highness' singlier plea sure and contentation. And for the pain which the said Priest taketh abouts the same, his Majesty would that he should have one of Mr. Bedell's benefices, if there be any ungiven, besides that which his Grace hath already given. And if there be none of the said benefices ungiven, that then your Lordship should have him in remembrance, that he may have some other, when it shall fall void!-At Hampton Court, this Wednesday, the 12th day of September-Your own, WYLLM FITZWYLLM,”

Bible. Before the printing of the Sacred Oracles is to become by far the most conspicuous or distinguishing feature of our own country, another conquest had been determined. Tyndale had toiled and died on the Continent, and that must be the seat of this second achievement. It comes like a double testimony to the work of his hands; but the story will appear in its proper colours, after we have glanced over other national, though to us now, subordinate affairs.

In the various transactions of the present year, there is such an intricacy, that without taking a three-fold view of them, it seems to be impossible for any one to arrive at the truth one connected with the King personally, another associated with Crumwell and Cranmer, and the third having reference only to the Scriptures. In a history such as the present, the year derives all its importance from its being that which immediately followed the public sanction of the Sacred Volume in England. In order, therefore, to ascertain the relative position of the reigning authorities, it becomes necessary to observe first, the general procedure of the King himself on the one hand, and then that of Crumwell and Cranmer on the other. After such a memorable event as that of last August, should the reader be anticipating any decided change of character, he will thus be able to judge for himself.

With regard to the leading sovereigns of Europe, Henry, Charles, and Francis, they come before us precisely the same men they have ever been. The two latter, whether as rulers or as men, had been chastised and humbled in succession, by their endless conflicts; and Henry, too, since the rebellions of Lincoln and Yorkshires, had by no means sat so easy on his throne. As for his being now a widower, we shall find that this, in no sense, lay heavy on his spirits. The Emperor and the King of France were still at war; and being as nearly balanced in point of power as ever, the King of England, by throwing his influence into either scale, might still change the current of European affairs; but the steps he had already taken, rendered him an awkward or ticklish ally for either party. This, of course, was owing to a fourth power, once the most formidable in the world, that of the Pontiff, to whose temporal sovereignty at least, Henry was as much opposed as ever; but whom neither Charles nor Francis would disregard, whenever it seemed likely to serve their respective political purposes.

The same outrageously crooked policy was, therefore, still keenly pursued by all these men, every one of them being engaged more or less, in playing a double game; while, situated as Henry was, he ran

great hazard of being befooled. Turner, who is sufficiently measured in his terms of censure, has said, in reference to the days of Wolsey— "The only extraordinary fact is, that great and able men should then have habitually acted like scoundrels, without suspecting that they were so; and with their sword ready for any man's throat, that should link the term for a moment to their names." Whether the same remark be equally applicable to the councils and policy of England, France, and Spain, at the present period, will become apparent as we proceed.

About ten years ago, we have seen that the overthrow of Cardinal Wolsey was owing, in no small degree, to his interference with Henry's passion for a second Queen. So now, the third having died suddenly, the critical period of Crumwell's life was come. It will be remembered, that he had acquiesced in Henry's determination to get rid of Anne Boleyn, though by that base step he incurred no risk whatever, as the passion of his imperious master was then already fixed; but now, the King was in a new and unwonted situation. The policy of Crumwell, therefore, when dealing with his Sovereign throughout the whole year, will serve to illustrate his character as a man. Cautious of any suggestion, he will leave the Monarch to the full freedom of his own caprice, and for some time to come go in, or seem to do so, most cordially, with all his whimsical proposals for a fourth Queen. Never will he venture even to whisper a choice, till his Majesty has literally wearied himself out, in search of a wife; and they will only be pressing, or, in his apprehension, desperate circumstances, which shall urge him into a different course; but not till next year.

By the death of Jane Seymour, the King had been stunned for the moment. Turner represents him as shutting himself up in his palace, lamenting the unexpected blow. Unexpected it certainly was; for only the day before, Henry was entertaining thoughts of leaving the spot where the Queen lay, and not till the morning of the 24th of October, was death certainly anticipated. In the evening of that day she expired. The Court was ordered into mourning till Candlemas this year— the Christmas holidays were dispensed with; but his Majesty had already been busy enough. The truth is, that the mournings were worn but a few days, when Henry's spirits were recovering; and before they were put off, he had been in pursuit of more than one successor to the mother of his only son. Jane, it is true, has been represented as the most beloved of all his Queens, chiefly from the circumstance of its being above two years before the King was married again; but certainly this was not his intention; and whether there was affection shewn, or even common respect, for her memory, can only be gathered from the procedure of his Majesty.

2 Gov. State Papers, i., p. 572.

Last year, while the Emperor and Francis were meditating a truce, as Katherine and Anne Boleyn no more stood in the way, Charles seemed much disposed to court friendship with England. Sir Thomas Wyatt had, therefore, been sent to Spain, to succeed Richard Pate as ambassador, and certain communications had passed between the two Courts.3 The truce referred to, was concluded in July; but the month before that, Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador, had arrived in England, with proposals for the marriage of Henry's eldest daughter Mary, with Prince Louis of Portugal; and in July Crumwell informs Wyatt that "there are hopes of good success as to the marriage." By the beginning of October, however, the French Government had insinuated charges against the Emperor's sincerity; so that by the 10th of that month, while Henry offers his mediation for peace between these two powers, Wyatt is instructed by the King himself, as well as Crumwell, to "fish out the truth, whether the Emperor do indeed love him (Henry) so well as he pretends to do."

"6

Meanwhile, Henry lost his Queen on the 24th of that month, and his first offer for another was made to Francis. "Queen Jane," says Carte, "had scarce been buried, (8th November,) when the King entertained thoughts of another marriage; and being more inclined to cultivate a friendship with the King of France than with the Emperor, proposed to take a French lady." According to Le Grand, the King's first proposal was made in November to Francis, for Marie, the Dowager Duchess of Longueville, or Mary of Guise; but she had been pre-engaged to James V. of Scotland, who had lost his Queen in July. Not at all fond of such an alliance as might another day be turned against himself, Henry was also piqued at the idea of James being preferred to him, after he had made the proposal; but there was no remedy. Mary of Guise, indeed, had two sisters, and Henry might have had either; but Francis would not bow to the humiliation of sending them to Calais for Henry's inspection. He behoved now to turn to the Emperor, or rival of the King of France, and in order to secure him in his favour, so early as the 23d of December, Henry was writing to Spain.

Thus matters stood at the close of last year. The truce between the two rival powers had been renewed in November, but the Emperor and Francis were still but too equal, and therefore mutually afraid. The latter had counted falsely upon Henry and the German States being with him, and found himself left to wage war alone. Charles was in apprehension of Francis uniting with the Turk, and so invading Germany; while the Pontiff, in like fear, imagined the coasts of Italy might thus be invaded by the Turkish unbelievers. In his letter of December, therefore, Henry had offered to assist Charles in his war with the Turk,

a Harleian MS., No. 282, fol. 7. 4 Idem, fol. 203-205. 5 Idem, fol. 208.

6 Idem, fol. 34.

on condition that he would accept of his aid in mediating peace 'with France, and "so join him as a principal contrahent in the treaty."7 The Emperor certainly sighed for peace with France, though it was chiefly in order that he might have leisure to chastise the refractory States of Germany; but, to understand this urgency of the King of England, it is only necessary to observe, that the Pontiff and Henry had started in the same race; each of them, in order to serve his own ends, alike eager to be the mediator. In writing to Charles, therefore, Henry objects to the Pontiff's Council summoned to meet at Vicenza, and uses many arguments with him to oppose it.

Proceeding in the same course, by the commencement of this year, so far from weeping over his lost Queen, matrimonial alliances had become, with Henry, the order of the day. Thus, on the 22d of January, and before the mournings for Queen Jane were laid aside, he commands his ambassador, Wyatt, in conference with the Spanish ministers, "to let fall some speech, as from himself, touching his wishes that he (the King) would marry, so that the Imperial Court may be thereby induced to offer him the Duchess of Milan, whom percase, he, the King, may honour by marriage, her virtue, qualities, and behaviour, being reported to be such as is worthy to be much advanced."8

This suggestion served for himself, but his Majesty had a child by each of his deceased Queens; and, in the frenzy of the moment, they are now to be treated as so many chattels, for political purposes; a degradation from which the children of the humblest peasant are happily exempt. In this part of the strange procedure, however, the King's Council must now go along with him; though not one of them dared even to whisper about a Queen. We have spoken of Crumwell, as chiming in with his Master's movements; and as one of the first proofs of this we have a very curious document, in his own hand-writing, applicable to the present moment. It is entitled "Things to be treated of in Council."

“Item, Specially to note in what state the King's affairs stand in, and to provide so that his Grace may at the least have one friend, and now the case standing as it doth, to accelerate that matter, so that it may be done in time.

"Which be the ways and means for the King to acquire this friendship, and upon what grounds. First, his Highness hath two daughters, though not lawful, yet King's daughters, and forasmuch as princes commonly conclude amities, and things of great importance, by alliances, it is thought necessary that these two daughters shall be made of some estimation, without the which no man will have any great respect unto them.

"And forasmuch as the one of them is of more age than the other, and more apt to make a present alliance than the other for want of age is, if it might please the King's Highness to declare her according to his laws, which to her estima

7 Harleian MS., No. 282, fol. 37.

Idem, fol. 15.