216. ENGLAND. 



tensions to Francis I, of France, and Charles of Austria, king of Spain? 

 who was elected in 1519. 



Henry continued all this time the great enemy of the reformation} 

 and the champion of the popes and the Romish church. He wrote a 

 book against Luther, " Of the Seven Sacraments," about the year 

 1521, for"' which the pope gave him the title of Defender of the Faith, 

 which his successors retain to this day. But, about the year 1527, 

 he began to have some scruple with regard to the validity of his 

 marriage with his brother's widow. It may be difficult to say at pre- 

 sent how far he might be influenced by scruples of his conscience, or 

 aversion to the qileen, or the charms of the famous Anne Boleyn, 

 maid of honour to the queen, whom he married before he had obtain- 

 ed from Rome the proper bulls of divorce from the pope. The diffi- 

 culties he met with in this process ruined Wolsey, who died heart- 

 broken, after being stripped of his immense power and possessions. 



A variety of circumstances, it is well known, induced Henry at last 

 to throw off all relation to, or dependence upon, the church of Rome, 

 and to cause a reformation ; in which, however, many of the Romish 

 errors and superstitions were retained. Upon a slight suspicion of 

 his queen's inconstancy, and after a mock trial, he cut off her head 

 in the Tower, and put to death some of her nearest relations. The 

 dissolution of the religious houses, and the immense wealth that came 

 to Henry by seizing all the ecclesiastical property in his kingdom, 

 enabled him to give full scope to his sanguinary disposition ; so that 

 the best and most innocent blood of England was shed on scaffolds, 

 and seldom any long time passed without being marked with some 

 illustrious victim of his tyranny. 



His third wife was Jane Seymour, daughter to a gentleman of for- 

 tune and family ; but she died in bringing Edward VI, into the world. 

 His fourth wife was Anne, sister to the duke of Cleves. He disliked 

 her so much, that he soon obtained a divorce, though he suffered her 

 to reside in England on a pension of 3000/. a year. His fifth wife 

 was Catharine Howard, niece to the duke of Norfolk, whom he caus- 

 ed to be beheaded for anti-nuptial incontinency. His last wife was 

 Catharine Par, in whose possession he died, after she had narrowly 

 escaped being brought to the stake, for her religious opinions, which 

 favoured the reformation. Henry's cruelty increased with his years, 

 and was now exercised promiscuously on protestants and catholics. 

 He put the brave earl of Surry to death, without a crime being proved 

 against him ; and his father, the duke of Norfolk, must have suffered- 

 the next day, had he not been saved by the death of Henry himself, 

 1547, in the 56th year of his age, and the 38th of his reign. 



The state of England, during the reign of Henry VIII ? is, by *he 

 means of printing, better known than that of his predecessors. His 

 attention to the naval security of England was highly commendable j 

 and it is certain that he employed the unju /ttnd arbitrary power he 

 frequently assumed, in many respects, for the glory and interest of 

 his subjects. Without inquiring into his religious motives, it must 

 be candidly confessed, that the partition he made of the property of 

 the church among his courtiers and favourites, and thereby rescuing 

 it from dead hands, undoubtedly promoted the present greatness of 

 England. With regard to learning and the arts, Henry was a gene- 

 rous encourager of both. 



In this reign the Bible was ordered to be printed in English. 

 Wales was united and incorporated with England. Ireland was erect- 



