spectators, deeply affected, beheld this tender scene in silence; and even the guards could not refrain from tears, while they gently forced her from the arms of her father." "His condemnation had taken place on the 1st of June; and on the 6th of the same month, Sir Thomas Pope, one of his particular friends, came very early in the morning, by the king's command, to acquaint him that his execution was to take place that day, at nine o'clock. More thanked his friend for the good news; and observing that he was deeply affected with the painful commission which he had been obliged to execute, he endeavoured to convince him, by the gaiety of his conversation, how little his lot was to be lamented; and, when his friend could not refrain from weeping bitterly at parting, he reminded him with a look of exultation, that the interval could not be long before they should meet in eternal felicity." "As he passed along to the place of execution, on Tower Hill, the sympathy of the spectaOne tors was expressed by silence and tears. man alone, from among the crowd, was heard to reproach him with a decision which he had given against him in Chancery. More, no wise discomposed by this ill-timed expression of resentment, calmly replied, that, if it were still to do he would give the same decision." "His behaviour on the scaffold corresponded to the whole tenor of his conduct; perfectly composed and collected, and dying in harmony with all mankind, his countenance was unaffectedly cheerful, and his words expressed a mind well at ease. Perceiving that the scaffolding was weakly erected, he said, in his usual tone, to the attending officer, I pray thee, friend, see me safely up, and for my coming down, let me shift for myself.' Observing the executioner pale and trembling, he said to him, 'Pluck up thy spirits, man, and be not afraid to do thy office; my neck is very short; see, therefore, that thou do not mar thy credit by cutting awry.' Having spent a short time in devotion, he took the napkin with which his eyes were to be bound, and calmly performed that office for himself; then laying his head on the block, he bade the executioner stay, till he removed his beard; for it,' said he, has committed no treason.' "Thus perished Sir Thomas More, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, deeply lamented by all who knew his worth, and admired even by his enemies. By those who knew him best, and who shared his intimate friendship, his loss was bewailed as an irreparable calamity. More is dead!' says Erasmus, in the accents of despondency, 'More! whose breast was purer than About a year after the death of More, another tragical scene was enacted to gratify the capricious and cruel temper of Henry VIII. Having fallen in love with another lady, the king began to grow tired of Anne Boleyn. This was perceived by the popish party at court, who eagerly made use of it to increase their own power and to destroy the Queen. Her gay and thoughtless disposition gave some appearance of truth to the stories by which the jealousy of Henry was so excited, that he determined to satisfy his rage and make way for the gratification of his new passion, by the death of a wife, to obtain whom he had defied the authority of the Pope and the resentment of Charles V., the most powerful prince in Europe. She was brought to trial and condemned upon evidence, altogether insufficient to sustain the charges preferred against her. Anne met her fate with resignation. While confined in the Tower she endeavoured to make amends for her past errors. Her conscience reproached her for having treated Mary, the daughter of Catherine, with too much severity. The day before she suffered she called the lady of the lieutenant of the Tower, and falling upon her knees, charged her, with many tears, to go to the princess, and, in the same humble posture, ask, in her name, forgiveness for the wrong she had done her. Anne also sent a message to the king, in which she declared her innocence, and commended her daughter Elizabeth to his care; she concluded with saying, "that having from a private gentlewoman made her first a marchioness and then a queen, he now, since he could raise her no higher on earth was about to send her to heaven." On the 19th of May the queen was beheaded, by an executioner sent for from France, because he was more expert than any in England. The next day the shameless and cruel king married Jane Seymour! WARD AND DEATH OF QUEEN JANE - FURTHER DESTRUCTION OF THE MONASTERIES AND RELICS- THOMAS A BECKET MIRACLES EXCOMMUNI HENRY VIII. was not content with making himself the supreme head of the English Church. Prompted, in part, by the advice of those counsellors friendly to the Reformation, but still more by his own rapacity, he now determined to strike another blow at popery in his dominions, by the destruction of the Monasteries. Various causes contributed to the introduction, at an early period, into the church, of that passion for a secluded and ascetic life, to which is to be referred the establishment of the religious houses. In the first place, the warm and enervating climate of the East, where Monastic institutions had their origin, is said to produce a disposition to indolence and melancholy, and a love of solitude. This propensity was augmented by the prevalence of doctrines which taught that matter was the source of all evil, and consequently that the soul would be purified and |