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SOME REMARKS TO JUSTIFY THE SUPPOSITION 

 THAT HENRY VIII. WAS THE REAL AUTHOR 

 OF '' THE ASSERTIO SACRAMENTORUM/' &c. 



That the once famous Icon Basilike did not come from the pen 

 of the sainted Charles was thought a bold piece of criticism in 

 Bishop Burnett at the time he delivered it. This judgment, how- 

 ever, has been since confirmed by most writers of authority. But 

 with respect to his other dogma, that Henry VIII. was only the 

 ostensible writer of the celebrated letter to Luther, in reply to his 

 treatise, De Captivitate Babylonica, this argues, in my opinion, an 

 equal want of acquaintance with the nature of Henry, and with the 

 most authentic statements upon this curious topic. This dictum of 

 the historian of the Reformation, seems to partake of that sort of 

 reasoning which Locke describes " as seeing a little, presuming a 

 great deal, and so jumping to a conclusion." That the king received 

 some assistance in his book, is highly probable ; but I cannot be- 

 lieve it to have been of that magnitude which should invalidate his 

 claims to the honours of this production. And here, by the way, it 

 is worthy of remark, that while Burnett by no means scruples to 

 palliate the vices of Henry's heart — to take the brand from his fore- 

 head — to gloss over acts which were barbarous and unmanly in the 

 extreme, he willingly disparages his learning and talents where he 

 has the fairest opportunity of commending them. I shall proceed 

 to state the motives which, in all likelihood, urged Henry to gird 

 up his loins for the task of preparing this memorable letter upon his 

 own responsibility, and the grounds for concluding that the compo- 

 sition, in point of style and argument, was not above the grasp of 

 his intellect. 



It should be observed, and this Burnett seems strangely to have 

 forgotten, that before the publication of this work, entitled Assertio 

 Septem Sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum,* Henry had 



* A Vindication of the Seven Sacraments. — The full title is as follows : — 

 Assertio septem Sacramentorum adversus Martyn Lutherum edita ab invic- 

 tissimo Anglise et Franciae Rege et Dom Hybernice Henrico ejus Nominis 

 octavo. It ends, — Apud inclytan urbem Londinum in sedibus Pynsonianis 

 anno MDXXI quarto idus Julii cum privelegio a rege indulto Editio 4to« 

 In the Althorpe Library, there is a magnificent copy of this first edition, in 

 vellum, and finely illuminated. The original, in an elegant MS. is still pre- 

 served in the Vatican. The work was dedicated to Leo X, and transmitted 

 to him with the following lines, and the name of Henry written under them 

 with his own hand : 



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