HENRY VIII., king of England, second son of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York, was b. in 1491. On the death of his elder brother Arthur in 1502, he became heir apparent to the throne. In his 12th year, he was betrothed to his brother's widow, Catharine of Aragon, sister of Philip I. of Spain, thus early commencing a union after wards so fertile in evil-fortune. On his father's death, in 1509, Henry VIII. was found to possess many accomplishments with no practical ability. Leaving Dudley and Emp son, the instruments of his,,,father's economic extortions, to a sacrifice to popular indignation, he proceeded squander hiS treasures to his otti high Satisfaction, and to the great content of his people. He indolently allowed his ministers to manage every. thin for him, even to his marriage with Catharine. lint if he knew nothing of the foreign relations of the kingdom, he could speak several languages with ease; and if he despised domestic business, never was there a monarch who presided more gracefully in the court, or behaved more gallantly at the jousts or in the hunting-field. His tastes were otherwise innocent enough. He was passionately fond of music and of display, and he indulged in no other excess than that of physical exercise, sometimes, it is said, exhausting four or five horses in the field in one day. It is especially noteworthy, that the early years of the king were spent with scarce a stain on the purity of his life.
For the first 20 years of his reign, England had no reason to be dissatisfied. The period, indeed, was not an eventful one. In the beginning of it (1513) there were two short wars—one with France, in which Terouennc and Tournay were taken, and one with Scotland, in which the victory of Flodden was won. The following years were of that calm which comes before the storm. Wolsey was then minister; and from 1515, when he was made archbishop of York and chancellor, till his fall in.1529, he is wholly responsible for the government., and it was the best governed portion of Henry reign. The foreign policy, it is true, was somewhat tortuous, guided to some extent, perhaps, by the aspirations of the cardinal to the triple crown; and it may be that, in his home-government, Wolsey often exhibited a Jesuitical preference for accomplishing honest ends by dishonest means. The country, notwithstanding, was kept free from
foreign embarrassments, and at home justice was administered.
Of the king, it cannot be said that during this period he did anything of consequence. When satiety and diminished means had checked the pursuits of his youth, he had betaken himself to those well-known theological studies which earned for him (1521) the honor of defender of the faith. His book, in defense of the seven sacraments, against Luther, although a work of some erudition, contributed nothing to the solution of the questions it touched. Timidity in examining received opinions was accompanied by corresponding vigor in denouncing those who, possessed of more courage, had pro ceeded from examination to dissent.
It is impossible not to connect these theological studies with the origin of the suit between Henry VIII. and Catharine. The joyous temperament of Henry VIII. had passed away, and in its place had come discontented gloom. In his now superstitious mind the fancy dwelt, that the early deaths of all his made children had been the judg ment of Providence on some sin. From these dark thoughts the queen had not the power of weaning him. Older by G years than he was, her beauty had faded, and. haughty in her manners, she exacted all the stately etiquette of the Spanish court from one who had at no time felt for her more affection than was due to a bride selected for him by others. The nation, too, had grown dissatisfied with the union. The prospect of a succession left to be disputed around the person of a girl—the princess Mary, who was the immediate heiress to the throne—was viewed with anxiety. Men remembered the horrors of the wars of the Roses, and feared that their children might see them repeated. The doubt as to the validity of Henry VIII.'s marriage with his brother's widow, which had been started at the time of its celebration, was one certain to be revived on the slightest occasion. A strange mixture of public spirit, religious or super stitious feeling, and selfish desire, now determined Henry VIII. to seek a divorce.