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HISTORY OF PRINTING.
tower. The duke prepared for death ; the follow- ing morning was to be his last ; but an event of greater consequence to the kingdom intervened, and prevented his execution — the death of the king. Daring his imprisonment in the tower, he sent » peUtion to the lords, in which he requests to have some of the books that are at Lambctli; " for," adds he, " unless I have books to read here I fall asleep, and after I am awake again, I cannot sleep, nor have done these dozen years. That I may hear mass, and be bound upon my life not to speak to him who says ma.ss, which h« may do in the other chamber whilst I remain uithin. That I may be allowed sheets to lie in ; to have license in lie day-time to walk in the chamber without, and in the night be locked in, is I am now. I would' gladly have license to send to London, to buy one book of St. Austin, <fe Civitate Dei ; and one of Josephus, de Anli(jttitatibut ; and another of Sabeuius ; who both declare most oi any book that I have read, how the bishop of Rome, from time to time, hath usurped his power against all princes, by their unwise sufferance."
" 1547, Jan. 28. Died, Henry VIII. king of England. Some kings have been tyrants from contradiction and revolt ; some by being misled by favourites ; and some from a spirit of party ; but this king was cruel from a depraved dispo- sition alone ; cruel in govenunent, cruel in religion, and with regard to his domestic con- cerns, history scarce affords his parallel. And it must not be forgotten that he, who insisted on such rigid fidelity from his wives,* was himself the most faithless of mankind. Sir Walter Ra- leigh , says of Henry VIII. that if all the patterns of a merciless prince had been lost to the world, they might have been found in this one king.
The king had been for some time approaching fast towards his end; and for several days all those about his person plainly saw that his death was inevitable. His monstrous corpulency, which rendered him unable to stir, made him more furious than a chained lion. He had been very stern and severe; he was now outrageous. In this state he had continued for nearly four years before his death, the terror of all, and the tormentor of himself; his courtiers having no inclination to make an enemy of him, as they were more ardently employed in conspiring the death of each other. In this manner, therefore, he was suffered to struggle, without any of his domestics having the courage to warn him of his approaching end: as more than once, during this reign, persons had been put to death for foretelling the death of the king. At last, sir Anthony
- Married toCatharineofArTagoD,JaneS,I509,diTaTced
May 23, I J33 ; the died at AmpthUl. Bedfordihire, iu ISSS. Married to Anne Boleyn April, 1S3S, crowned Hav 3 1 , In the same year, and beheaded May ig, 163g. Married to Jane Seymour, May 92, 1538 : she died in two days after the birth uf her first child, afterwards Edward VI., October 24, 1S37. Married to Anne of Cleres, January 6, 1S4I : Heniy called her a great " Flander's mare," from whom he was divorced: she died July IS, liij. Married to Catharine Howard, August 8, 1540 : she was lieheaded February 13, 1543. Married to Catharine Par, July t», 1J13: !.he died September 9, IMS.
Denny had the courage to disclose to him this dreadful secret; and, contrary to his usual cus- tom, he received the tidings with an expression of resignation. His anguish and remorse were at this time greater than can be expressed: he desired that Cranmer might be sent for; but before that prelate could arrive he was speech- less. Cranmer desired him to give some sign of his dying in the faith of Christ; he squeezed his hand, and immediately expired, afler a reign of thirty- seven years and nine months, in the fifty- sixth year of his age. He was born at Greenwich, June 28th, 1491.*
His character is pourtrayed in the following lines by a writer of the eighteenth century ; he says that Henry was a king
"Whom we find A man to every vice inclined, Rerengtful, cruel, blood/, proud) UiOust, unmerdfal, and lewd) For in bia wmth be spared no man. Nor in his lust spared any woman i Was never rul'd by any law. Nor Ooapet valu'd he a straw. Unless when interest spurn'd bim on. And then a zealot— only then. Counsel he •corned, slave to hi* will. Impenitent of any illi In short, he was dose swaddl'd in The whole black catAlogne of sin ; In sin confinM, and drown*d in sense. An impious, sacrilegious prince."t
Notwithstanding the inconsistency of Henry's conduct with regard to the reformation, arch- bishop Newcome enumerates /ourt«»i editions of the whole bible, and eighteen editions of the new testament, besides several editions of dis- tinct parts of the scriptures, printed during his reign. It is pleasing to reflect that the great bulk of the people sought after the scriptures with eagerness, and read them at every nsk of personal danger ; and the free use of them at length became a mark of honourable distinction to tue higher classes. Msmy of the clergy hftve taken some pains to vindicate the character of this brutal tyrant, as if his conduct and the re- formation had any connexion with each other. There is nothing so absurd as to defend the one by the other; the most noble designs are brought about by the most vicious instruments.f
The only historian deserving of notice in this reign, was Edward Hall, who was sometime recorder of London, where he died in the year 1547. He wrote an account of the wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, which he dedicated to Henry VIII.. If the reader desires to know what sort of clothes were worn in each king's reign, and how the fashions altered, this is the author for his purpose. In other respects his information is not very valuable.
In an inventory of Henry Vlll'ths guarderohe, &c. made by virtue of a commission under the
- In the household regulations of Henry V III. it was m
rule ttiat '* no herald, mhuMif falconer, or either, do brin^ to the court any Ixiy, or rateal; nor keep lads, or raacals in court to do their business for them.**
t England* Reformation, from the time of kinf Henrjf VIII. to the end of Oateo'e Plot, a poem in four ooiUoe, adonted with copper-plata. By TAomoi Ward, London, 1747.
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