ment, ever obsequious to Henry's will, ratified the decision of the church. The marriage of the king with Catharine Howard, which followed soon after his divorce with Anne of Cleves, was regarded as a favourable incident by the Catholic party; and the subsequent events corresponded with their expectations. The king's councils being now directed by the duke of Norfolk and bishop Gardiner, a furious prosecution was begun against the Protestants. The Law of the Six Articles, which Cromwell had, on all occasions taken care to soften, was excuted with rigour; and Dr. Barnes, and several other clergymen, were prosecuted, and brought to the stake. A. D. 1541. But Henry's attention was soon turned to prosecutions of a very different kind; and on a subject which affected him still more sensibly than even the violation of his favourite theological statute. He had thought himself extremely happy in his new consort. The elegant person, and agreeable manners of Catharine, had entirely captivated his heart; and he had publicly, in his chapel, returned thanks to heaven for the felicity which the conjugal state afforded him. This happiness, however, was of short duration. It disappeared like a gaudy meteor, almost as soon as perceived; and its loss afflicted the king the more keenly, by reason of the circumstances with which it was accompanied. It not only vanished on a point which intimately concerned his peace, but on which he peculiarly valued himself, his skill at distinguishing a true maid. It at once wounded his pride and his passion. The queen had led a dissolute life before marriage. She had abandoned herself to the footmen of her grandmother; the old duchess of Norfolk, while her maid, was in the same chamber, and even along with her in the same bed. The proofs of this licen tiousness were positive. There was also room to believe, notwithstanding her declarations to the contrary, that she had not been faithful to the king's bed; for it appeared, that one Colepepper had passed the night with her alone since her her marriage, and that she had taken Derham, one of her old paramours, into her service". A. D. 1542. When these proofs of Catharine's incontinence were laid before Henry, he was so deeply affected, that he remained for some moments speechless, and at last burst into tears. The natural ferocity of his temper, however, soon returned; and he assembled a parliament, the usual instrument of his tyranny, in order to satiate his vengeance. A bill of attainder was voted against the queen and the viscountess of Rochford, who had conducted her crimi nal amours. A singular bill was also passed at the same time, making it treason in any person to conceal the incontinence of a queen of England; and farther enacting, That if a king of England should marry any woman who had been incontinent, taking her for a true maid, she likewise should be deemed guilty of treason, in case she did not previously reveal her shame to him-And the queen and lady Roch ford were beheaded on Tower-hill, though their guilt had preceded the framing of that statute". Having got over this troublesome business, Henry again turned his attention to the affairs of religion; altering seve ral times the national creed, according to his own capricious humour. And he turned his arms against his nephew, James V. of Scotland, because that prince had refused to imitate his conduct, in throwing off the jurisdiction of the pope. The principles of the Reformation had already found their way into Scotland. Several persons there had fallen martyrs to the new faith: and the nobility, invited by the example of England, had cast a wishful eye on the ecclesiasti cal revenues; hoping, if a change of religion should take place, to enrich themselves with the plunder of the church. But the king, though very poor, not superstitious, and somewhat inclined to magnificence, fortified by the arguments of the clergy, and guided by the inclinations of his queen, a 21. Id. Ibid. 22. Burnet, ubi sup. daughter daughter of the duke of Guise, resisted every temptation to such robbery, and continued faithful to the see of Rome. This respect for the rights of the church proved fatal to James, and brought many miseries on his kingdom, both before and after his death. AUG. 24. Had the king of Scotland flattered the pride of Henry, by following his example in ecclesiastical affairs, he would have been supported in his measures with the whole force of England; whereas he now had that force to oppose, and a dissatisfied people to rule. Flushed, however, with an advantage gained over a detachment from the English army by lord Hume, he marched at the head of thirty thousand men to meet their main body, commanded by the duke of Norfolk, who had advanced as far as Kelso; and as that nobleman retreated on the approach of the Scottish army, the king resolved to enter England, and take vengeance on the invaders. But his nobility, dissatisfied on account of the preference shewn to the clergy, opposed his resolution, and refused to attend him. Equally enraged and surprised at this mutiny, he reproached them with cowardice, he threatened punishment; and still determined to make some ́impression on the enemy's country with the forces that adhered to him, he dispatched ten thousand men to ravage the western border. They entered England near Solway Frith, while he himself followed, at a small distance, ready to join them upon occasion. But this expedition also proved unsuccessful, and even highly unfortunate; and from a cause allied to that which had ruined the former enterprize. The king of Scotland, become peevish by disappointment, and diffident of all his nobility, deprived lord Maxwell of the command of the army, and conferred it on Oliver Sinclair, a private gentleman. The Scots, displeased with this alteration, were preparing to disband; when a small body of English forces appearing, they suddenly took to flight, and were all either killed or made prisoners23. His body wasted daily by This disaster had such an effect on the haughty mind of James, that he would admit of no counsel or consolation, but abandoned himself wholly to despair. All the passions that are inimical to human life, shame, rage and despondency, took hold of him at once. sympathising with his anxious mind; and he was brought to the verge of the grave, when his queen was safely delivered of the celebrated and unfortunate Mary Stuart. Hav. ing no former issue living, he anxiously enquired whether his consort had brought him a son or a daughter, and being told, a daughter, he turned himself in his bed, and said, "The crown came with a woman, and it will go with a "woman! Many woes await this unhappy king"dom: Henry will make it his own either by "force of arms or by marriage." He expired soon after uttering these sorrowful words. DEC. 14. What James had foretold came in part to pass. Henry was no sooner informed of the victory at Solway, and the death of his nephew, than he formed the project of uniting Scotland to his own dominions, by marrying prince Edward, his only son, to the heiress of that kingdom. For this purpose he called together such of the Scottish nobility as were his prisoners, and offered them their liberty without ransom, provided they would second his views. They readily agreed to a proposal so favourable to themselves, and which seemed so natural, and so advantageous to both kingdoms; and by their means, notwithstanding the opposition of cardinal Beaton, archbishop of St. Andrews, who had placed himself at the head of the regency, by forging a will in the name of the late king, the parliament of Scotland consented to a treaty of marriage and union with England 24. The stipulations in that treaty, it would be of little consequence to enumerate, as they were never executed. A. D. 1543. 24. Id. Ibid. See also Sir Ralph Sadler's Letters. Henry Henry now finding himself at peace with all his neighbours, began to look out for another wife; and by espousing Catharine Par, relict of Lord Latimer, he confirmed what had been foretold in jest, that he would be obliged to marry a widow, as no reputed maid would ever be persuaded to incur the penalty of his statute respecting virginity. Catharine was a woman of virtue and good sense: and though somewhat inclined to promote the Reformation, a circumstance which gave great joy to the Protestant party, she delivered her sentiments with much caution in regard to the new doctrines. Henry, however, whose favourite topic of conversation was theology, by engaging her frequently in religious disputes, found means to discover her real principles; and his unwieldy corpulence and ill health having soured his temper, and encreased the severity of his naturally passionate and tyrannical disposition, he ordered an impeachment to be drawn up against her. And the greatest prudence and address only could have saved her from the block. Having happily got information of the king's displensure, Catharine replied, when he next offered to converse with her on theological subjects, that such profound speculations were little suited to the natural imbecility of her sex; observing, at the same time, that though she declined not discourse on any topic, however sublime, when proposed by his majesty, she well knew that her conceptions could serve no other purpose than to afford him a momentary amusement; that she found conversation apt to languish when not revived by some opposition, and had ventured, at times, to feign a contrariety of sentiment, in order to afford him the pleasure of refuting her. And she ingeniously added, that she also proposed by this innocent artifice to engage the king in arguments, whence she had observed, by frequent experience, that she reaped much profit and instruction. "And is it so, sweetheart?" said Henry; "then we are friends again!" embracing her ten A. D. 1646. derly |