of Canterbury, with Cromwell, many of the Peers, and a large number of the educated class, endeavoured to conduct the nation, step by step, to abjure the errors and superstitions of the Roman Catholic worship. At the same time, they were obliged, even for the sake of the cause they favoured, to retain many ceremonies to which the people were attached, and which the English reformers copied from the Roman Church, as the Roman Church had originally copied some of their ceremonies from the heathen worship. The first step which Henry took against the Church of Rome after the divorce was the dissolution of the monasteries. The motive which induced him to adopt this measure was probably a spirit of rapacity; for with all his power he found it a very difficult matter to squeeze money from his subjects. With the sum to be derived from the sale of the monasteries, he proposed to make harbours all round the coast of England; a plausible pretext, rather than a bona fide reason, for his confiscations. Those of the nobility who had adopted the opinions of the reformers, gave willingly in to the measure, and no doubt their zeal was quickened by the share they got of the spoil. The abuses which prevailed in the monasteries were not, however, a groundless pretext. The relations of the visitors who were appointed by the King to reform the monasteries, and report their state, display grounds for believing that they were anything rather than seminaries of piety and morality.* The next steps taken in the road of reformation some directions respecting the worship of were * Burnet, Hist. of Ref., book i. p. 198. Dr. Lingard, indeed, refuses credit to those charges: he observes with truth that they were ex parte statements, to which the accused had no oppor tunity of replying. It would be difficult, on the other hand, to suppose all the facts alleged to be fabrications. Monks and nuns are not infallible or impeccable beings. images and praying to saints, and, what was much more important, a permission to the people to read a translation of the Bible, in St. Paul's Church. The people flocked to the place, and one person was generally chosen to read aloud to the rest, till the bishop, alarmed at the concourse, forbade the practice, as a disturbance to the service of the church. The destruction of some of the images exposed to the public several scandalous cheats.* The outset of the Reformation in England was marked by a more cruel and insupportable religious tyranny than had ever subsisted under the Papal dominion. In the times of Popery, the articles of faith were placed in the custody of the priest; and the people received from him some knowledge of the doctrines of Christianity, some notion of the duties of morality, and an unbounded reverence for the authority and magnificence of the Church. But Henry VIII., after partly removing the veil of ignorance from the eyes of his people, required them not to go a single step further than he himself did; and commanded the nation by Act of Parliament to believe six articles of faith therein laid down, and whatever else the King might choose to ordain. To punish men for their opinions on speculative articles of belief, is one of the luxuries which tyranny has invented in modern times. Dionysius and Domitian knew nothing of it. It was enjoyed by Henry to its full extent. He was not, like Philip II. or Charles IX., merely the minister of bigotry of which he was himself the disciple. He taught from his own mouth the opinions which were to regulate his subjects; he contained in his own breast the rule of orthodoxy; and he had the triumph of confuting the heretic whom he afterwards had the gratification to burn. *Note (A) at the end of the volume. The religion established by Henry VIII. was so far from being the reformed church of Luther or of Calvin, that he prided himself on maintaining the Roman Catholic faith after he had shaken off the supremacy of the Pope. His ordinances indeed vibrated for a short time between the old and the new religion, as he listened more to Cranmer or to Gardiner; but the law of the Six Articles, which contains the creed he finally imposed on his people, maintains and confirms all the leading articles of the Roman belief. They were as follows: First, That, in the sacrament of the altar, after the consecration, there remained no substance of bread and wine, but under these forms the natural body and blood of Christ were present. Secondly, That communion in both kinds was not necessary to salvation to all persons by the law of God. Thirdly, That priests after the order of priesthood might not marry by the law of God. Fourthly, That vows of chastity ought to be observed by the law of God. Fifthly, That the use of private masses ought to be continued; which, as it was agreeable to God's law, so men received great benefit by them. Sixthly, That auricular confession was expedient and necessary, and ought to be retained in the Church. The actual Reformation in England was the work of the Duke of Somerset, Protector, in the early part of the reign of Edward VI. In the first year of that reign, he sent visitors to persuade the people not to pray to saints, to procure that images should be broken; and to exhort the nation generally, to leave off the use of the mass, dirges, and prayers in a foreign language. By Act of Parliament in the same year he prohibited speaking against giving the sacrament in both kinds; in that and the two following years he established the liturgy of the Church of England. The law of the six articles was re pealed. The Reformation in England was thus made by the Crown and the aristocracy. The people, though agitated by religious disputes, seem to have been hardly ripe for so great a revolution. Insurrections of a serious nature took place in Devonshire, Norfolk, and elsewhere. The preaching of the Roman Catholic priesthood produced so strong an impression, that all the means of authority were put in motion to counteract it. The clergy were first ordered not to preach out of their parishes without a licence, which of course was granted only to the favoured sect; and this not proving sufficient, preaching was altogether prohibited,*-a singular step in the history of the Reformation! On the other hand, Mary, on succeeding to the throne, found it an easy matter to revive the ancient worship. Nor did she hesitate to call frequent new Parliaments, who each went beyond the former in the road of reconciliation. The first refused to reestablish the law of the six articles; but only one year afterwards, the nation was formally reconciled to the Church of Rome, and the Parliament thanked the Pope for pardoning their long heresy. He said, with equal candour and truth, that he ought to thank them for putting a rich country again under his dominion. * Burnet, Hist. Ref. CHAPTER V. QUEEN ELIZABETH. Sur ce sanglant théâtre, où cent héros périrent, Ses peuples sous son règne ont oublié leurs pertes; La Henriade, chant 1. QUEEN ELIZABETH is the greatest of English, perhaps of all modern sovereigns. In a period remarkable for long and sanguinary wars, she made her name respected abroad, without a waste of blood or treasure; and, in a time of great political ferment, she maintained the most absolute authority at home, without any loss of the affections of her people. She obtained glory without conquest, and unlimited power without odium. The means by which results so extraordinary were obtained, comprise all the springs of her foreign and domestic policy. Three principal sources of her fame and success, however, may be discerned. First. She made herself the head of the Protestant interest in Europe. To do this, it was not |