1536.]
PROSPECTS OF THE REFORMATION.
439
family; that he loved him for his own high and noble qualities, his liberality, his gentleness, his piety, his princely and illustrious nature.[1] Nor did he fail to
- ↑ Since Pole, when it suited his convenience, could represent the King's early career in very different colours, it is well to quote some specimens of his more favourable testimony. Addressing Henry himself, he says: 'Quid non promittebant præclaræ illæ virtutes quæ primis annis principatûs tui in te maximc elucebant. In quibus primum pietas quæ una omnium aliarum, et totius humanæ felicitatis quasi fundamentum est, se proferebat. Cui adjunctæ erant quæ maxime in oculis hominum elucere solent, justitia, clementia, liberalitas, prudentia, denique tanta quanta in illâ tenerâ ætate esse potuit. Ut dixit Ezechiel de Rege Assyriorum, in paradiso Dei cedrus te pulcrior non inveniebatur.'—De Unitate Ecclesiæ, lib. 3.Again, writing to Charles V., after speaking of the golden splendour of Henry's early reign, his wealth, his moderation, the happiness of the people, and the circle of illustrious men who surrounded his throne, he goes on—'Hi vero illam indolem sequebantur quam Regi Deus ipsi prius dederat, cujus exemplar in Rege suo viderunt. Fuit enim indoles ejus aliquando prorsus regia. Summum in eo pietatis studium apparebat et religionis cultus; magnus amor justitiæ, non abhorrens tamen natura ut tum quidem videbatur a clementia.'And the time at which the supposed change took place is also marked distinctly:—'Satanas in carne adhuc manentem naturâ hominis jam videtur spoliasse … suâ induisse … in quâ nihil præter formam videtur reliquisse quod sit hominis; … ne vitia quidem … sed cum omni virtute et donis illis Dei cœlestibus quibus cum optimis Regum comparari poterat, antequam in vicariatum Filii ejus se ingereret [præditus est]; postquam ilium honorem impie ambivit et arripuit, non solum virtutibus omnibus privatus est sed etiam,' etc.—PoliApologia ad Carolum Quintum.It was 'necessary to the position' of Romanist writers to find the promise of evil in Henry's early life, after his separation from the Papacy; and stories like those which we read in Sanders grew like mushrooms in the compost of hatred. But it is certain that so long as he was orthodox he was regarded as a model of a Catholic prince. Cardinal Contarini laments his fall, as a fall like Lucifer's: 'Quî fieri potuit per Deum immortalem,' he wrote to Pole, 'ut animus ille, tam mitis, tam mansuetus ut ad bene merendum de hominum genere a naturâ factus esse videatur, sit adeo immutatus.'—Epist. Reg. Poli, vol. ii. p. 31.
