tions of land should be carefully preserved. At a later period, and under other circumstances, this rule lost its force; while the law against marrying a brother's wife could be altered neither by time, nor any change of circumstances.

The pope and the emperor observed these proceedings with little complacency. An application was made to the former, on the part of the king's agents, for authority to receive the opinions of divines and casuists, and after some time it was reluctantly granted. No surprise, perhaps, ought to have been entertained at the unwillingness of the pope to concede such a point. The terms of the dispute implied a doubt of his authority on matters about which, in the more flourishing times of the papacy, no question could have been safely entertained. Nor was it to be supposed that the emperor would patiently listen to any proposal which tended to set aside his so frequently declared resolution of defending the cause of his near relative. It was, consequently, against the influence and authority of both these potentates, that the agents of Henry had to strive; and no better proof, perhaps, could be given of the rapid change which was every where taking place in the minds of men, and in their feelings respecting the right of private judgment, than their success in this proceeding. Numerous scholars and divines, in every country of Europe, openly declared opinions in direct opposition to the known wishes of those whose power had till lately been the arbitrator in such disputes. The question was examined, not by the light of pontifical decrees, but by that of Scripture and philosophy; and the decision came forth supported, not by the infallible judgment of the pope, but as the result of a free inquiry carried on in the halls of learned universities.

Things being in this state, it was considered in England that steps might now safely be taken for bringing the affair to an issue. In order to effect this object, the king obtained the signatures of the cardinal, of the archbishop of Canterbury, of four bishops, and several

noblemen and commoners, to a letter addressed to the pope, the purport of which was, that his holiness had treated the king with injustice, and even ingratitude; and that, unless immediate attention were paid to his demands, means would be resorted to, which might lead to the assertion of an independence highly injurious to his authority.

The pope replied to this address in the mingled style of apology and reproof; excusing himself from the charge of neglecting the king's application, and reminding the writers, that it was only their love and loyalty to their sovereign which could apologise for their boldness of expression. But Henry had already taken his determination. He was too far alienated from the pontiff, and too restless, to await any farther reply to his remonstrances; and, soon after despatching the above document to Rome, he caused an act to be passed, whereby his subjects were prohibited from purchasing or publishing any thing from that court, on pain of imprisonment. This, with the solemn presentation of the arguments in the king's cause to the houses of parliament and convocation, and the yet bolder measure of suing the whole body of the clergy as guilty of violating the statutes against provisors, went far to convince the least penetrating of observers that the time was near at hand when England would no longer be a part of the pope's patrimony.

Two mo

It was with no slight alarm that the higher orders A. D. of the clergy saw the king determined to pursue the 1531. above charge against them to its full extent. tives urged him forward in this important measure: the one resulting from his cupidity; the other from his wish to bring his power and authority into direct collision with those of the pope. In both these respects he was successful. The convocation of Canterbury offered the sum of 100,000l. as the price of a pardon; and that of York, 18,8401. On the payment of these sums, and the delivery of a solemn promise by the representatives of the clergy, that no violation of the statute of provisors

should again take place, the king granted a general pardon. This occurrence led also to a new display of Henry's feeling respecting his supremacy in the national church. The petition of the convocation of Canterbury was addressed to him as "The protector and supreme head of the church and the clergy of England." Many of the members strongly objected to this title, and wished to add this qualifying clause,-" in so far as is lawful by the law of Christ." Henry saw at once that the petition, in its original form, must greatly aid his present views and pretensions; and the clergy, being involved in a business which threatened them with ruin, found it expedient to silence the scruples felt on the cccasion, and satisfy the ambition of the monarch.

Affairs proceeded in this train till the end of the year 1532, when Henry solemnised his marriage with Anne Boleyn; and soon after, the pope addressed him in a letter, in which he says that he had heard that he had put away his queen, and kept one Anne about him as his wife, thereby creating a general scandal, and being guilty of high contempt towards the apostolic see, before which his suit was still depending. To this epistle the king replied in the same manner as to earlier representations of the pontifical court. But no arguments could persuade the pope to change his policy in this difficult business. Instead, therefore, of answering Henry's address in a more indulgent tone, he at once cited him to appear before him in person, or by proxy. The king so far yielded as to send one of his courtiers, with the celebrated Bonner, to plead his cause before the consistory; and the accounts given of the period plainly prove, that both parties were under the influence of feelings which had nothing to do with the decision of the question according to the simple argument of right

or wrong.

A. D. Excuses were still made for delay, but Henry seemed 1533.resolved to hasten the ruin of the papal power in Eng

land with a corresponding degree of adverse policy. Thus, he obtained an act of parliament, abolishing the

future payment of annates to Rome; and, shortly after, he brought into the house a copy of the oaths taken by the bishops to himself and to the pope, demanding their revisal on the plea that the prelates, according to these oaths, were but half his subjects. Of a similar character was the bill which prohibited any appeal to Rome, either in temporal or spiritual matters; and which, it appears, was brought forward with the direct view of rendering any further mention of the proceedings at Rome not only unnecessary but illegal.

In the midst of these proceedings, the venerable chancellor, sir Thomas More, resigned the great seal. He had lost none of his virtue by the possession or exercise of power; and his piety being combined with a deep sense of the unlimited obedience due to the church, he beheld with equal fear and disgust the hostile preparations of his sovereign.* He took the part, therefore, which religion and honesty dictated. So far as he could free himself from the influence of intolerant zeal, he was willing to correct abuses in the same spirit as every other virtuous man who has the courage and power to attempt it but the supremacy of the Roman pontiff was a fundamental article of his creed. It was that by which he framed the course of his policy, and which mingled itself most intimately with all his views of government, both as to the state and to the church. The proceedings of Henry, therefore, were in direct

Sir Thomas is thus described by his own party:-" For virtue, learning, and integrity of life of a layman, he was such a lord chancellor as England never had the like; so true and blessed a confessor in joyfully suffering disgrace, imprisonment, loss of goods and lands, for justice' sake, as well he may be compared to the ancient confessors in that kind. But his special and peerless prerogative is, in that he died a martyr for the defence and preservation of the unity of the catholic church. And his martyrdom is so famous and noble, that it is not inferior to the martyrdom of those that suffered because they would not deny the holy faith of Christ: nay, rather, it seemeth to be more esteemed. For, as the learned and great clerk, Dionysius of Alexandria, writeth, that martyrdom,' saith he, that a man suffereth to preserve the unity of the church, that it be not broken and rent, is worthy no less commendations, but rather more than the martyrdom that a man suffereth because he will not sacrifice to idols for in this cause a man doth die to save his own soul; in the other, for the whole church.' Therefore he is a happy and blessed martyr."- Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography, from MS. in the li brary at Lambeth, vol. ii. p. 225.

opposition to the advice of his counsellor. They struck at the root of the maxims whereby he thought to support the grandeur of the church and the inviolable sanctity of the laws; they rendered null those principles, the authority of which he had himself supported at the expense of human blood. But while his resignation was a duty which he owed both to his conscience and his sovereign, he greatly weakened thereby the supports on which the Romish party had hitherto depended. His character and learning enabled him, in the high station which he occupied, to answer complaints which, gathering strength every day, threatened the speedy ruin of the catholic hierarchy. He carried his virtues into retirement; but a period of change and excitement is not the season when private worth is sufficiently valued to be allowed a voice against the general sense of public necessity.

The greatness of the loss which the catholic party suffered by the resignation of More, was only to be equalled by that of the advantage gained on the side of the reformers by the elevation of Cranmer to the archbishopric of Canterbury. That eminent man was still in Germany when Warham died; and he owed his appointment not less to the king's estimation of his worth and sound ability, than to his inclination to promote him as an advocate of the divorce.

Cranmer found it expedient to yield to the wish of the sovereign and his advisers, and allow himself to be confirmed in his office by a bull from Rome. That he was averse to this proceeding is shown by various evidence; and his reasons for giving up the point are not to be considered in the light of those of a man formally separated from the church, but as scruples which the most conscientious of men might deem it their duty to yield when peace and union may be promoted by the concession.

The first care of the new archbishop was to settle the minds of the people on the subject of the king's marriage. A large portion of the clergy regarded that step