“HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION.” By 7h 
could not follow truth with a sure and steady step, even when she 
stood before him to direct his way. 
Of the general execution of the History of the Reformation, as to 
accuracy and trustworthiness, there can be no wide difference of 
opinion among competent judges ; but it will not be difficult to show 
that Burnett, in some instances, contracted such strong preposses- 
sions for or against particular persons and measures, as make consi- 
derable drawbacks upon his claims to a sternimpartiality. We will 
proceed, then, to confirm this assertion by some illustrations ; as, we 
believe, we have now noticed the principal objections made at home 
and abroad, against the History of the Reformation, during the life- 
time of its author. 
Although Burnett does not manifest towards the most prominent 
personage in his history, Henry VIII, that undistinguishing parti- 
ality for his character which flashes so broadly and offensively in 
the pages of a recent historian—who so lauds the king as almost to 
invest his conduct with the honours of infallibility—there is a strong 
propensity in the bishop to espouse this prince’s side whenever it can 
be done with any sort of propriety—to palliate what, in strict mo- 
rality and justice, every man must unequivocally condemn, and to 
gloss over the worst excesses of his tyranny ‘in the most holiday 
and lady terms.” The indications which lead to this positive con- 
clusion are quite evident in the commencement of the king’s reign, 
when the subject of the celebrated divorce is introduced to the notice 
of the reader. 
Now, if we are to believe Polydore Vergil,?° the union of Henry 
and Catharine was a match of policy or interest on the side of the 
former. Cardinal Pole, however, assures us that Henry sought the 
alliance, not merely because he respected the virtues of Catharine, 
but because he was captivated with her female charms.3! We 
have the assurance, also, of the same authority, for the fact that 
Henry himself admitted to the emperor, her nephew, that his bride 
was a virgin ; and which receives a very specious and plausible co- 
lour from the following circumstance: that Catharine, on the cele- 
bration of her nuptials, was dressed in white, and wore her hair 
80 Hist. of the Reform. vol. i, p. 
%1 “Tpsam ille supra omnes mulieres appetabat, supra omnes amabat ; 
hoc szpe illum dixisse.”—Apol. Reg. Poli. p. 83. In his Apol. ad Car. v. 
Ces. p. 162, we have another sentence to the same effect :—“ Quam sic ini- 
tio regni amavit, ut nemo vir erga carissimam conjugem majorem ostendet 
amorem.” 
VOL. IX, NO. XXVII, 48 
