Parliament. It was not till a later period when the persecution extended more and more, that Cranmer, though with very great difficulty, obtained that the form of the proof should be amended, the law applied only to the Clergy, and the penalty not inflicted till the third transgression, in case it was not above a year old.

Proceeding in its servile course, the same Parliament declared, everybody shall believe and follow what the King and his Commissioners may in future command respecting the faith and ecclesiastical institutions. Royal proclamations issued by the consent of the majority of the Privy Council have the force of laws, but they are not to affect persons, privileges, and property; an addition, which was of little avail, partly because it was not attended to, and partly because the King could dispense with the laws. After religious and civil liberty had been so entirely sacrificed, it is scarcely worth mentioning that some individuals were accused and condemned by the Parliament, without a hearing and without proof.

Meantime Jane Seymour died, on the 24th of October, 1537, after the birth of Prince Edward, and the King, little affected by it, immediately thought of a new marriage. But some Princesses, fearing ill treatment, refused his proposals, and Cromwell, that no zealous catholic might ascend the throne, at last proposed Anne of Cleves, whose sis

ter Sibilla had married John Frederick Elector of

Saxony.(37) Induced by deceitful reports of eyewitnesses, and a portrait by Holbein, the King accepted the proposal, but was very much disappointed when he found that Anne's beauty by no means corresponded with the portrait,—when ignorance of each others' language rendered conversation very difficult, and the Princess, his bride, seemed very indifferent to music, of which he was extremely fond. Had not political considerations prevented him, he would probably have sent her home immediately; the marriage in January, 1540, did not, however, place matters on a better footing, so that Henry said, "Anne was a great Flanders mare, and probably not a virgin." Soon afterwards he applied to the Parliament and the Convocation for a divorce, affirming that Anne had been previously betrothed to another, that he had been deceived by exaggerated accounts of her beauty, that he had not even inwardly, sincerely, and entirely given his consent, and that he had not consummated the marriage:(38) the Parliament and the Convocation acknowledged the weight of these arguments, and pronounced a divorce in July, 1540. Anne, a meek and gentle tempered woman, wrote to her relations that nobody should make any noise about it; (39) that as she could not remain the King's consort, she was contented with a divorce, proper treatment, and satisfaction. Only a few weeks after this separation, the

King married Catharine Howard, a niece of the Duke of Norfolk. The new Queen, writes the French Ambassador Marillac, is only moderately beautiful, but has very engaging manners; she is short and stout, modest in her appearance, with a pleasing countenance. The King is very fond of her, more than of all the others.(40)

As Wolsey's fall had been connected with the proceedings of the divorce from Catharine of Arragon, so was Cromwell's fall with that of Anne of Cleves. Because the proposal to marry Anne of Cleves had orginated with Cromwell, the King was angry with him, and on this occasion also acted on his principle of turning all the hatred and complaints of his oppressed people on his servants, and of sacrificing them that he himself might appear innocent. Cromwell was odious to the nobility on account of his mean origin; (4) to many Protestants because he did not put an end to all persecutions; to the catholics because he directed the dissolution of the monasteries; and to not a few, because great power excites great envy. His office as Vicar General of the ecclesiastical rights of the King, gave him almost unlimited power over the clergy, and in those intolerant times, even over laymen. He was keeper of the Great Seal, Chamberlain, Knight of the Garter, and since the 18th April, 1540, Earl of Essex. few weeks after the King had, as it were, adorned him like a victim for sacrifice, he was accused on

A

the 17th of June of high treason. On the 29th of June, both Houses of Parliament had already declared him guilty, and, without regard to Cromwell's entreaties and to Cranmer's dignified and impressive remonstrance, Henry suffered the sentence of death to be carried into effect. Cromwell had not remained exempt from pride, harshness, and selfinterestedness; but there were no reasons whatever for his condemnation, nay, the accusations brought against him rather proved his prudence and integrity, than his guilt. Besides he was neither heard, nor any defence allowed him, nor was the only wrong which might have been ascribed to him mentioned, namely, too ready obedience to the King's tyrannical commands. In such an intimate connection with such a master, no one could remain entirely pure and faultless; but after the fall of Cromwell, despotism and persecution undoubtedly spread with greater licentiousness than ever, and even the Catholics, (as Winchester, Norfolk, and Catharine Howard,) who had persecuted him, saw only a small portion of their hopes accomplished. In the first place it appeared that the Queen had led a dissolute life previous to her marriage. was therefore, (for she denied any subsequent fault,) (42) beheaded on the 13th of February, 1542, together with her former lovers (43); the whole of the scandalous affair was laid before Parliament, and it was declared to be high treason in any woman who had

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been incontinent to marry the King, if she did not first make him acquainted with her shame. Considering the danger that Henry might deny the virtue of the chastest virgin, if he became tired of her, and might pass sentence of death upon her, no young woman would now venture to give her hand to this new blue-beard, and he therefore married Catharine Parr, the handsome widow of Lord Latimer: at the same time he restored the hereditary rights of the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth, without however revoking his preceding resolutions on their illegitimate birth (4): so that it was treason to hold the marriages of the King with Catharine of Arragon and Anne Boleyn legal, and the children illegitimate; treason to be silent, and treason not to take an oath upon it when required.

In the course of these years, the King, first in 1537, caused some Bishops to draw up Instructions, and, in 1543, the Guide of a Christian. Both works treated of faith, the Seven Sacraments, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, Justification, and Purgatory; but did not agree on all points, as they chiefly contained Henry's notions, which varied from time to time. He also prohibited the bible being read at Church, or by citizens, country-people, day labourers, and women, and caused a Royal Prayer Book to be published, with a command that these prayers only, and no