ENGLAND. 
638 
be regretted as John Fiflier bifhop of Rochefter, and the 
celebrated fir Thomas More. 
The concurrence which the people gave to thefe feve- 
rities, added to the great authority which Henry, from 
his auftere adminiftration, poft'effed, induced him to pro¬ 
ceed (fill further in his fcheme of innovation. As the 
monks had (hewn him the greateft refiftance, he refolved 
to deprive them of future power. He accordingly di¬ 
rected Cromwell, fecretary of (fate, to fend commiffioners 
into every county, to infpedl the monafteries. This was 
done with fcrupulous exadtnefs ; and the commiffioners 
are faid to have difcovered monffrous abufes in many of 
the religious houfes. Whole convents of women were 
abandoned to all manner of lewdnefs; friars and monks 
accomplices in their crimes ; pious frauds pradtifed to 
impofe on the liberality of the people ; and cruel and in¬ 
veterate fa£tions maintained between the members of 
thefe ridiculous inflitutions. 
Henry thought he might with fome degree of popula¬ 
rity, abolifh thefe inflitutions; but, willing to proceed 
gently at firft, he gave directions to parliament, A. D. 
1536, to go no further than to fupprefs the letter monaf¬ 
teries, which poftetted revenues below the value of two 
hundred pounds a year. By this a£t, three hundred and 
feventy-fix monafteries were fupprefled; and their reve¬ 
nues, amounting to thirty-two thoufand pounds a year, 
■were granted to the king, befides their goods and plate, 
computed at a hundred thoufand pounds more. About 
two years after, he determined upon the entire deftruc- 
tion of all monafteries whatfoever in England. Thefe, 
on the whole, amounted to fix hundred and forty-five, of 
which twenty-eight had abbots, who enjoyed a feat in 
parliament. Ninety colleges were demolifhed in feveral 
counties; 2374 chantries and free|chapels, and a hun¬ 
dred and ten hofpitals. The whole revenue of thefe 
eftablifhments amounted to one hundred and fixty-one 
thoufand pounds, which was about a twentieth part of 
the national income. The lofs which was fuftained by 
the clergy upon this occafion, was by no means fo mor¬ 
tifying as the infults and reproaches to which they were 
expoled, for their former frauds and voluptuoufnefs. 
The numberlefs relics which they had amafled, to de¬ 
lude and extort money from the people, were now brought 
forward, and expofed before the populace with marked 
contempt. Such were the violent meafures with which 
the king proceeded againft thefe feats of impofture ; but, 
as great murmurs were excited, lie took care that all 
thofe who could be ufeful to him, or even dangerous in 
cafes of oppofition, fttould be (harers in the fpoil. He 
either made a gift of the revenues s of the convents to his 
principal courtiers, or fold them at low prices. He alfo 
erected fix new bilhoprics, Wettminfter, Oxford, Peter¬ 
borough, Briftol, Chefter, and Gloucefter, of which the 
laft five (till continue. He alio fettled falaries on the ab¬ 
bots and priors, proportioned to their former revenues ; 
and each monk was allowed a yearly penfion of eight 
marks for his fubfiftence. 
Still, however, the monks became Henry’s mod for¬ 
midable enemies, who, having their principal dependence 
on the pope, apprehended their total ruin would be the 
confeqnence of abolifhing his authority in England. Some 
of thefe entered into a confpiracy that proved fatal to 
themfelves. Elizabeth Barton, commonly called the 
Holy Maid of Kent, had been fubjeft to hyfterical fits, 
which threw her into unufual convulfions. The filly 
people in the neighbourhood were ftruck with thefe ap¬ 
pearances, which they imagined to be l'upernatural; and 
Richard- Matters, vicar of the pariftt, founded on them a 
projedt, from which he hoped to acquire both profit and 
confideration. He went to Warham archbifhop of Can¬ 
terbury ; and, having given him a wonderful account of 
Elizabeth’s fits, he fo far wrought on that fuperftitious 
prelate, as to receive orders to attend her in her trances, 
and carefully to note down all her fayings. The regard 
paid her by a perfon of fo high a rank, foon rendered her 
2 
an objedl of public confideration; and it was eafy for 
Matters to perfuade the world, as well as the Maid her- 
felf, that her ravings were infpirations of the Holy Ghort, 
Knavery foon after fucceeding to delufion, (lie learnt to 
counterfeit trances ; and then uttered fuch fpeeches as 
were dictated to her by her fpiritual director. Matters 
aflbeiated with him Dr. Booking, canon of Canterbury ; 
and, though their defign at firft was only to raife the 
credit of an image of the Virgin, finding their impofture 
fucceeded, they extended their views, and taught their 
penitent to declaim againft the new dodtrines of the ftate, 
and to prophecy the death of the king, if he perlifted in 
his intended divorce from queen Catharine. Henry at 
length began to think the matter worthy of his attention ; 
and, having ordered Elizabeth and her accomplices to be 
arrefted, they confeifed, and fullered for their guilt. See 
the whole of this impofture, under Barton, vol. ii. p. 
7 65- 
Though the king had now entirely feparated himfelf 
from Rome, yet he was unwilling to follow any guide in 
conducting a new fyftem. He would not therefore wholly 
abolifh thofe pradtices, by which prieftcraft had been 
carried to fuch a height of abfurdity. He gave orders 
for the Bible to be tranflated into the Englifh tongue ; 
but it was not permitted to be put into the hands of the. 
laity. It was a capital crime to believe in the pope’s fu- 
premacy ; and yet equally heinous to be of the reformed 
religion. The incoherence of the king’s opinions were at 
length delivered in a law, which, from its horrid con- 
fequences, was termed the bloodyJlatute, by which it was 
ordained, that whoever denied tranfubftantiation, who¬ 
ever maintained that the communion in both kinds was 
neceftary, whoever afferted that it was lawful for priefts 
to marry, whoever alleged that vows of chaftity might 
be broken, whoever maintained that private mattes were 
unprofitable, or that auricular confettion was unneceffary, 
fhould be found guilty of herefy, and burnt or hanged as 
the court fhould determine. As the people were chiefly 
compofed of thofe who followed the opinions of Luther, 
and fuch as (fill adhered to the pope, this ftatute, with 
Henry’s former decrees, in a great meafure exciuded both, 
and opened a field for perfecution, which too foon had 
its full and fatal harveft. 
Thefe perfecutions, however, were preceded by one of 
a different nature, arifing neither from religious nor po¬ 
litical caufes, but from fheer brutality and inordinate 
1 11 ft. Anna Boleyn, his queen, had been always a fa¬ 
vourer of tl;e reformation, and confequently had many 
enemies on that account. The king’s paflion for her was 
allayed;’and he now languifhed for a frefh beauty, the 
amiable Jane Seymour, maid of honour to the queen. 
As foon, therefore, as the queen’s enemies perceived the 
king’s difguft, they refolved on framing imaginary crimes 
againft her, which they knew his paflions would quickly 
magnify into real. The countefs of Rochford in parti¬ 
cular, who was married to the queen’s brother, herfelt a 
woman of infamous character, began with the moll cruel 
infinuations againft the reputation of her fifter-in-law. 
She pretended that her own hulband was engaged in an 
inceftuous correfpondence with his lifter ; and reprefented 
all the harmlefs levities of the queen as favours of a cri¬ 
minal nature. The king’s jealoufy was firfi publicly raa. 
nifefted in a tournament at Greenwich, on the 1 ft of May, 
1536; where the queen happened to drop her handker¬ 
chief, as was infinuated, to one of her minions to wipe 
his face. Though this might have been very harmlefs, 
or wholly unintended, yet the king abruptly retired, and 
fent orders to have the queen confined to her apartment. 
Anna fmiled, thinking the king was in jeft ; but, when 
fhe found it was a ferious affair, ftie received the facra- 
ment in her clofet, fenfible of what little mercy fhe had 
to expedt from fo implacable a tyrant. 
In the mean time her enemies were not remifs in in¬ 
flaming the accufation. The duke of Norfolk, from his 
attachment to the old religion, took care to produce feve¬ 
ral 
