or twice, and sometimes twice in one day, and her head broken in two or three places.' More knew better. I have given you kisses enough,' he wrote to his children, but str pes hardly ever.' As is almost always the case, the gentle man was also the strong man, resolved to do his duty, and to die rather than to say what he believed to be untrue. Soon after the king's marriage with Anne Boleyn, parliament passed an act of succession, requiring all persons, asked by the king to do so, to swear that Henry's second marriage was lawful, and that any children which he and Anne might have would be the lawful successors to the Crown. More was sent for from Chelsea where he lived to come and swear. 'Whereas,' we are told, at other times, before he parted from his wife and children, they used to bring him to his boat, and he there kissing them bade them farewell; at this time he suffered none of them to follow him forth of his gate, but pulled the wicket after him, and with a heavy heart he took boat.' For some minutes he sat silently musing. There was a conflict in his mind whether he should yield or not. At last he gave a start and cried, I thank our Lord, the field is won.' He had trodden temptation under foot. When he came to Lambeth he was asked whether he would swear. He replied that he would willingly swear to acknowledge the children of Anne as lawful successors of the throne, because he believed that the king, with the consent of parliament, could settle this as he pleased. But he would not swear that Anne was Henry's lawful wife, because he did not believe that

she was. Upon this answer he was sent a prisoner to the Tower. He had not been there long before another act of parliament was passed, the Treason Act, directing that every one who refused to give the king a title properly belonging to him was to be put to death as a traitor. One of these titles was that of Supreme Head of the Church of England, and this title More thought that he could not honestly give to Henry. He was brought to trial and condemned. He was carried to execution on Tower Hill. He was always fond of a jest, and he was merry and fearless to the end. See me safe up,' he said, when he was asked to mount the scaffold; 'for my coming down I can shift for myself.' After he had laid his head on the block he raised it again for an instant, and moved his beard away. Pity that should be cut,' he said, 'that has not committed treason.' The axe descended, and the head of the noblest Englishman of Henry's day was severed from his body.

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4. The Translation of the Bible.-Far more important than anything else that Henry did was the translation of the Bible which he ordered. He had little idea how great a change he was preparing when he gave orders that the Bible should be printed in English. He thought that people would learn from it to resist the pope, and he did not suspect that they were likely to find in it very different things from those which he himself believed. He little thought that from that book to which he appealed, his subjects would learn a higher faith and a purer virtue than his, and that they would gain a con

fidence which would make them as determined to resist kings as they were to resist popes, when kings or popes ordered them to believe what they thought was untrue, or to do what they though was wrong.

He

5. The Suppression of the smaller Monasteries.Henry's habit of convincing himself that he wa doing something very good when he was really doing what he wanted to do for some selfish reason, appear plainly in his dealing with the monasteries. wanted money sadly. His life was an expensive one, and he was fond of gambling. A gambler is always in want of money, and Henry's case was no exception to the rule. He suddenly became convinced that the monks and nuns who lived in the smaller monasteries were very wicked. Men were sent to inquire whether it was so, and they reported that it was quite true. Most probably there were many monks and nuns who lived very badly. They were no longer full of burning zeal to lead a monastic life, as they had been some centuries before, and when a number of people lead idle lives, they are very likely to fall into mischief. But there can be little doubt that the report spoke of them as much worse than they were. An act of parliament was passed putting an end to all monasteries which had less property than 2001. a year, and giving all the money to the king.

6. Execution of Anne Boleyn and Death of Jane Seymour. Before the seizure of the monasteries happened, Henry had an heiress if not an heir to the throne. Catharine's only surviving child, Mary, had

been declared no lawful daughter of the king's. His second wife, Anne, brought him a daughter Elizabeth, who was to be more famous than any son could be. She was to be nourished in adversity, the best of trainings to those who know how to profit by it. Even in her cradle, whilst she was but a helpless babe know

ing neither good nor evil, the first blow fell upon her. Her mother was suddenly accused of the vilest misconduct to the king her husband. Whether she was guilty or innocent cannot now be known. She was sentenced to death and beheaded. Her marriage was set aside, and Henry at once married a third wife, Jane Seymour. Queen Jane bore him a son who

was afterwards Edward VI., and then died. Henry then for some years remained unmarried.

7. The Pilgrimage of Grace. The seizure of the smaller monasteries was followed by a rebellion in the North. Yorkshire and Lancashire, and Durham and Northumberland, are now very rich and very full of people, because the discovery of the use of the steam-engine brought work to a country in which there is plenty of coal. In the time of Henry VIII. this part of England was very poor and thinly peopled, and those who lived there did not like changes as much as the richer people in the South. The nobles were more popular there than in the South. The monasteries were still doing some good in helping the poor. The people of these parts, therefore, rose to fight against the king because he had been making changes. The insurrection was called the Pilgrimage of Grace, and the rebels followed a banner on which was worked the five wounds of Christ. So hard it was to put them down that the king promised to pardon them and to hold a parliament in the North to hear what they had to say. After a little time a few small disturbances took place, and Henry made them an excuse for breaking his promise. The leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace were executed.

now seized and

8. Destruction of Images.-Sir Thomas More had felt sure that if the king tried to settle the affairs of the Church he would be sure to make changes. It now appeared that More was in the right. Henry did not mean to make any changes at all. He