ENGLAND. 
640 
It only remained, therefore, with the king, to haften or 
retard the deftruCtion of a man who had no partifan in 
the nation, except himfelf. But he had already a new 
motive for increafing his difpleafure. He had fixed his 
luftful eye on Catharine Howard, niece to the duke of 
Norfolk ; and the only means of gratifying this infatiate 
pailion was, as in former cafes, by difcarding the prefent 
queen, to make room for a new one. The duke of Nor¬ 
folk had long been Cromwell’s mortal enemy, and eager¬ 
ly embraced this opportunity to deflroy a man he confi- 
dered as his rival. He therefore made ufe of every arti¬ 
fice to ruin the favourite; and when his project was ripe 
for execution, he obtained a commiflion from the king to 
arrefi Cromwell for high-treafori. His difgrace was no 
fooner known, than all his friends forfook him, except 
Cranmer, who earneftly pleaded for him ; but in vain. 
He was accufed in parliament of herefy and treafon, and, 
without being ever heard in his own defence, was condemn¬ 
ed to fuft'er the pains of death, as the king fhould think 
proper to direCt. Cromwell’s fortitude feemed wholly 
to forfake him in this dreadful exigency. On the 28th 
of July, 1540, he fubmitted his neck to the executioner, 
who mangled him in a (hocking manner. A few days after 
his death, a number of people were executed together 
upon very different accufat-ions ; feme for having denied 
the king’s fupremacy, and others for having maintained 
the doCtrines of Luther. 
The parliament, upon very flight grounds, pronounced 
a divorce between Henry and his wife Anne of Cleves: 
(he quietly accepted a penfion, and continued to refide in 
England. About a month after the death of Cromwell, 
the king publicly declared his marriage with Catharine 
Howard. This was regarded as a favourable incident by 
the catholic party ; and the fubfequent events for a while 
turned out to their with. The king’s councils being en¬ 
tirely directed by Norfolk and Gardiner, a furious perse¬ 
cution commenced againft the proteflants ; and the law of 
the bloody fiatute was executed with rigour; infomuch 
that a foreigner, then refiding in England, obferved, that 
thofe who were againft the pope were burned, and thofe 
who were for him were hanged. The king, with an of- 
tentatious impartiality, reduced all parties to an equal 
(hare of fubordination, and infufed terror into every 
breaft. But the meafure of his abfurdities was not yet 
filled up. He had thought himfelf happy in his new 
marriage. He was fo captivated with the queen’s accom¬ 
pli fhments, that he gave public thanks for his felicity, 
and defired his confefl'or to join with him in the fame 
tbankfgiving. This joy, however, was of fhort dura¬ 
tion. While the king was at York, upon an intended 
conference with the king of Scotland, a man of the name 
Lafcelles, waited upon archbifhop Cranmer at London ; 
and, from the information of this man’s filter, who had 
been fervant to the duchefs-dowager of Norfolk, he gave 
a very unexpected account of the queen’s incontinence. 
He averred that lhe had led a very lewd courfe of life 
before her marriage, and had carried on a criminal corre¬ 
spondence with two men, named Derham, and Mannock ; 
and that (he continued to indulge herfelf in the fame 
lafeivious pleafures fince (lie had been raifed to the 
crown. Cranmer, equally furprifed. and embarraffed at 
this intelligence, made the king acquainted with the 
whole afFair, on his return to London. Henry at firft 
difbelieved the report; he therefore ordered the keeper 
of the privy-feal to examine Lafcelles, who perfifted in 
his former narrative, and even produced his litter to con¬ 
firm the faff. Upon this, Derham and Mannock, being 
asrefted, confefted their guilt, and the queen’s inconti¬ 
nence. They went ftill further, by impeaching the old 
lady Rochford, who had formerly been inftrumental in 
procuring the death of Anna Boleyn. They alfo alleg¬ 
ed that this lady had introduced one Culpepper into the 
queen’s bed-chamber, who ftayed with her from eleven 
at night till four in the morning. When the queen was 
firft examined, (lie totally denied the charge; but find* 
ing that her accomplices were her accufers, (he confeffed 
her incontinence before marriage, but denied her having 
difhonoured the king’s bed fince their union. But three 
maids of honour, who had been admitted to her fecrets, 
ftill further alleged her guilt; and fome of them even 
confefted having paffed the night in the fame bed with 
her and her paramours. The king was fo affeCted, that 
he burft into a flood of tears, not knowing how to vent his 
rage, or hide his fhame, at having been fo completely 
duped. Derham, Mannock, and Culpepper, were exe¬ 
cuted ; but Henry was refolved to throw the odium of 
the queen’s death upon the parliament, who had always 
(hewn themfelves the ready minifters of his will. Thefe 
tools of arbitrary authority, being informed of the queen’s 
crime and confeftion, quickly found her guilty, and peti¬ 
tioned the king that (he might be punilhed with death ; 
that the fame fentence might be inflicted on lady Roch¬ 
ford, the accomplice of her debaucheries; and that her 
grand-mother, the duchefs-dowager of Norfolk, together 
with her father, mother, and nine others, as having been 
privy to the queen’s irregularities, (hould participate in 
her puniftunent. With this petition the king was highly 
pleafed, and they were all condemned to death by an act 
of attainder. The queen was beheaded on Tower-Hill, 
February 12, 1542, together with lady Rochford, who 
found but little companion with the public. The queen 
was more pitied, as (heowned that (lie had led a diflolute 
life before marriage, but moll ferioufly denied that (lie 
had ever been untrue to the king’s bed. 
Henry having thus, by various a6ts of tyranny, proved 
himfelf deftjtute of juftice, morals, or humanity, took it 
into his head to compofe a book of religion, by which 
his fubjeCts were in future to regulate all their belief and 
aCtions. Having procured an aft of parliament, A.D. 
1541, in which all fpiritual fupremacy was declared to 
be vefted in himfelf, lie publiflied a fmall volume, called 
the “ Inftitution of a Chriftian Man,” which was received 
by the convocation, and voted to be the infallible rule 
of orthodoxy. All the abftrufe points of juftification, 
faith, free will, good works, and grace, are there defined, 
upon nearly the principles of the reformers; while the 
facraments, which a few years before were only allowed 
to be three, are increafed to their old number of feven, 
conformable to the catholics. But the king was not long 
fatisfied with this rule of belief. He Coon after procured 
a new book to be compofed, called the “ Erudition of a 
Chriftian Man,” which he publithed upon his own au¬ 
thority ; and though this new creed differed a great deal 
from the former, yet he was no lefs politive in requiring 
univerfal alfent to this, than he had before been to that 
of the other. In both thefe books he was very ftrenuous 
in enforcing the doctrine of paflive obedience. And to 
heighten his tyranny, the parliament made a law, by 
which the king’s proclamations were to have the fame 
force as the ftatutes; and to facilitate the execution of 
this aCt, by which all fhadow of liberty was totally anni¬ 
hilated, they appointed that any nine of the privy-coun¬ 
cil fhould form a legal court for punifhing difobedience 
to his will. Thus the king was empowered to iffue.a 
proclamation to deftroy the lives, or take away the pro¬ 
perties of any of his fubjeCts; and the only appeal was 
to himfelf in council. 
In the year 1543, Henry once more changed his condi¬ 
tion, by marrying his laft wife, Catharine Parr. She had 
been the wife of the late lord Latimer, andwvas confidered 
as a woman of diferetion and virtue. She had already 
paired the meridian of life, and knew how to manage this 
capricious tyrant with prudence and fuccefs. Henry was 
now in his dotage, and verging on imbecility : he was 
almoft choaked with fat, and had contracted a morofe air, 
and forbidding afpeCt. Neverthelefs, this woman, facri- 
ficing her appetites to her ambition, fo far prevailed in 
gaining his confidence, that (he was appointed regent of 
the kingdom during his abfence in France, whither he 
vainly paffed over at the head of thirty thoufand men, to 
profecute 
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