which were seized without reserve, the regular clergy enjoyed a considerable part of the benefices of England, and of the tithes annexed to them and these were also at this time transferred to the crown, and by those means passed into the hands of laymen: an abuse which has left the church of England poor, and entailed misery on many of her ablest ministers.

The court of Rome saw this sacrilegious plunder with extreme indignation; and Henry was frequently reproached with his resemblance to the emperor Julian. Amongst those who distinguished themselves in the defence of the church, was Reginald Pole, descended from the royal family, being fourth son of the countess of Salisbury, daughter of the duke of Clarence. He gave in early youth, indications of a fine genius; and Henry, who intended to raise him to the highest ecclesiastical dignities, conferred on him the deanery of Exeter, and permitted him to retire to Padua to finish his studies, The king even desired his opinion relative to the measures he had taken for abolishing the papal authority. Pole replied by writing a treatise on the unity of the church, in which he inveighed against the king's supremacy, his divorce, his second marriage; and exhorted the emperor to revenge on him the injury done to the imperial family, and to the catholic cause. Henry, though provoked beyond measure at this outrage, dissembled his resentment; and he sent a message to Pole, desiring him to return to England, in order to explain certain passages in his book, which he found somewhat obscure and difficult. Pole was on his guard against this insidious invitation; and determined to re

main in Italy, where he was universally beloved.

Soon after he was raised by the pope to the dignity of a cardinal; and conscious of Henry's enmity, and on principle hostile to the inno vations that had taken place, engaged in every intrigue against him. Courtney, marquis of Exeter; sir Edward Nevil, brother to the lord Abergavenny; sir Nicholas Carew, master of horse and knight of the garter; Henry de la Pole, lord Montacute; and sir Geoffrey de la Pole, brothers to the cardinal, entered into a conspiracy with the cardinal against Henry, which being detected, all of them suffered, except sir Geoffrey de la Pole, who was pardoned; and he owed this grace to his having first carried to the king secret intelligence of the plot. We know little concerning the justice or ini quity of the sentence pronounced against these men; we only know, that the condemnation of a man who was at that time prosecuted by the court, forms no presumption of his guilt.

Henry was so much governed by passion, that nothing could have stopped his opposition against Rome, but some other object of animosity. Though he had gradually been changing the tenets of that theological system, in which he had been educated, he was no less dogmatical in the few articles which remained to him, than if the whole fabric had been unshaken. The

point on which he chiefly rested his orthodoxy happened to be real presence; and all departure from this principle he held to be heretical and detestable.

Lambert, a schoolmaster of London, had presumed to draw up his objections to the corporeal

presence, under ten several heads; and when cited before Cranmer and Latimer, instead of recanting, he appealed to the king.

Henry was not displeased at an opportunity of exerting his supremacy, and displaying his learning. Public notice was given, that he intended to enter the lists with the schoolmaster: scaffolds were erected in Westminster-hall for the accommodation of the audience; and Henry appeared on his throne, accompanied with all the ensigns of majesty, and with all his bishops, peers, and courtiers around him; while in the midst of this splendid assembly was produced the unhappy Lambert, who was required to defend his opinions against his royal antago

nist.

The conference being opened by the bishop of Chichester, the king asked Lambert, with a stern countenance, what his opinion was of Christ's corporeal presence in the sacrament of the altar; and when Lambert began his reply with some compliment to his majesty, he rejected the praise with disdain and indignation. He afterwards pressed Lambert with arguments drawn from scripture and the schoolmen. The audience applauded the force of his reasoning and the extent of his erudition; Cranmer seconded his proofs by some new topics; Gardiner entered the lists as a support to Cranmer; Tonstal took up the argument after Gardiner; Stokesley brought fresh aid to Tonstal; six bishops more appeared successively in the field after Stokesley; and the disputation, if it deserves the name, was prolonged for five hours; till Lambert, fatigued, confounded, browbeaten, and abashed, was at last reduced to silence. The

king then returning to the charge, asked him whether he were convinced? and he proposed as a concluding argument, this interesting question, Whether he were resolved to live or to die? Lambert replied, that he cast himself wholly on his majesty's clemency; the king told him that he would be no protector of heretics; and therefore if that were his final answer, he must expect to be committed to the flames. Cromwel, as vicegerent, pronounced the sentence against him.

Lambert was not daunted by the terrors of the punishment to which he was condemned. His executioners took care to make the sufferings of a man who had personally opposed the king, as cruel as possible: he was burned at a slow fire; and when there appeared no end of his torments, some of the guards, more merciful than the rest, lifted him on their halberts, and threw him into the flames, where he was consumed. While they were employed in this friendly office, he cried aloud several times, None but Christ, none but Christ; and with these words he expired.

Soon after this a parliament was sumA. D. moned: and after a short prorogation, 1539. the bill of the six articles, or the bloody bill as the protestants justly termed it, was introduced, and having passed the two houses, received the royal assent.

In this law the doctrine of the real presence was established, the communion in one kind, the perpetual obligation of vows of chastity, the utility of private masses, the celibacy of the clergy, and the necessity of auricular confession. The denial of the first article with regard to the

real presence, subjected the person to death by fire, and to the same forfeiture as in cases of treason; and admitted not the privilege of abjuring; a degree of severity unknown to the inquisition itself. The denial of any of the other five articles, even though recanted, was punishable by the forfeiture of goods and chattels, and imprisonment during the king's pleasure; and an obstinate adherence to error, or a relapse, was adjudged to be felony, and punishable with death. The marriage of priests was subjected to the same punishment. Their commerce with women was, on the first offence, forfeiture and imprisonment; on the second, death. The abstaining from confession, and from receiving the eucharist at the accustomed times, subjected the person to fine and imprisonment during the king's pleasure; and if the criminal persevered after conviction, he was punishable by death and forfeiture, as in cases of felony. The parliament having thus resigned all their religious liberties, proceeded to an entire surrender of their civil: by one act they gave to the king's proclamation, the same force as to a statute enacted by parliament. Henry, who seems to have thought that the word marriage, was sufficient to cover the blackest enormities, being for once innocently set free, by the death of Jane Seymour, began to think of entering into a new contract. His friendship for Francis induced him to think of a French princess; and he proposed to that monarch to have a conference at Calais, on pretence of business; and that he should bring along with him the two princesses of Guise, together with the finest ladies of quality in France, in order to select one