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"to touch it more slenderly; for doubt of some things, as might hap to fall in question, between "his highness, and some pope; as between princes,

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and popes, diverse times, have done; whereunto his highness answered me, that he would, in no wise, minish in that matter.""

His majesty sent, by Dr. Clarke, dean of Windsor, his ambassador at Rome, a copy of his work, sumptuously bound, to pope Leo the tenth. At a solemn assembly of cardinals, the ambassador, after a set speech, delivered it into the hands of his holiness. The pope received it most graciously; expressed himself in high terms of praise, of the zeal, and learning, of the royal author; and caused the copy to be deposited, with great ceremony, in the Vatican. By a bull, dated the following October, he conferred on the king the title of "Defen"der of the Faith;" and "ordered all the faithful "in Christ, in their verbal and written addresses "to the monarch, to add, after the word king,' "the words Defender of the Faith." " With this honour his majesty was extremely gratified.

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But, neither the arguments, nor the rank of his royal adversary, nor the title conferred upon him by the pope, dismayed Luther. He published a reply, replete with arrogance, and the foulest abuse. Some of his expressions we insert, in the words of the text for, an English reader would not endure a translation of them.-Hoc agit inquietus Satan, ut nos a scripturis avocet, per sceleratos Henricos, et sacrilegos Thomistas. Hæc sunt robora nostra, adversus quæ obmutescere coguntur Henrici,

Thomista, Papista, et quidquid est fæcis, sentina, et latrinæ, impiorum, et sacrilegorum ejusmodi. Indulgendum esset, si humano more erraret; nunc, quum prudens, et sciens, mendacia componat adversus mei regis majestatem in cœlis, damnabilis putredo est, et vermes, jus mihi erit pro meo rege, majestatem Anglicanam, luto et stercore conspergere; et coronam istam, blasphemiam in Christum, pedibus conculcare.

This, certainly, tender part.

But it was not, in

At a subsequent period, Luther apologised to the king, for the style of his letter. He seems, by his apology, to discover, that he had then some hopes of the monarch's favouring the reformation. But he expresses himself, in severe language, concerning the pope, and cardinal Wolsey; and the reader will think, he was a bad politician, in those parts of his letter, in which he intimates, that his majesty was not the real author of his work. was touching the king in a very The king returned an answer. general, written in those terms, which were calculated to please Luther. Henry imputes the troubles of Germany to the reformer's writings; and exhorts him to retire from the world; to quit his engagements with the nun, whom he had married; and to spend the remainder of his life, in discipline and penance. In reply to that part of Luther's work, in which he intimates, that his majesty's work was written by others, the royal author says, "And although ye fayne yourselfe to thynke my booke not my owne, but, to my rebuke, (as it lyketh you to affyrme), put on by subtell sophisters; yet, it is

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"well knowne for myne, and I, for myne, avouch "it. The style of Henry's answer provoked Luther exceedingly. He declared, he would throw away no more civilities upon him.

It remains to observe, on the subject of this controversy, that, in 1523, Fisher, bishop of Rochester, entered the lists, by a work against Luther, intitled "Assertionis Lutheranæ Confutatio."

Henry was extremely pleased with it; and by letters patent, conferred on the prelate, the exclusive right of printing it, during the course of three years.

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The first edition of the work of Henry the eighth is in particular request. It is intitled "Assertio septem sacramentorum aduersus Martin. Lu"theru &c. Apud inclytam vrbem Londinum in "ædibus Pynsonianis. An. M.D. XXI. quarto Idus

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Julij. Cum privilegio a rege indulto." Quarto. The earl Spencer possesses a magnificent copy of it, upon vellum, splendidly illuminated.-A collection, containing, 1st. The speech of Dr. Clarke, when he delivered the work to the pope; 2dly. The answer of the pope; 3dly. The bull of the pope, confirming the work; 4thly. A summary of the indulgences, granted to the readers of it; 5thly, The royal book, libellus regius; and 6thly, The letter of the king to the dukes of Saxony,was printed by Pynson, in the same year; and reprinted, with a preface, at Strasburgh, by Erasmus, in the following year. The letter of Henry the eighth to Luther was printed by Pynson, both in English, and Latin. This account of the editions of these works is taken from Mr. Dibdin's Typo

*

graphical Antiquities. The fullest account of the proceedings at Rome, respecting the work of Henry, is to be found in Cardinal Pallavicini's History of the Council of Trent. An elaborate discussion of the whole transaction is to be found in Disputatio circularis de titulo defensoris Fidei,-a Joh. Christophero Majero Cuzelsavia-Franco-Altdorfii, 1706.

Henry's work is still preserved in the Vatican library. The following verses are subjoined to it; and the monarch's name is written under them, with his own hand.

Anglorum rex Henricus, Leo Maxime, mittit
Hoc opus, et fidei testem, et amicitiæ.

CHAP. V.

THE DIVORCE OF HENRY THE EIGHTH FROM QUEEN KATHARINE.

1533.

THE HE subject of these pages, neither requires, nor admits of, more, than I. A short mention of the transactions, which attended this interesting event: II. Some observations on the lawfulness of the marriage of Henry the eighth with queen Katharine : III. Some account of the sentence, pronounced by Clement the seventh, for its validity: IV. And

*Vol. ii. pp. 484 et seq.

of the act of parliament, ratifying the divorce and establishing the marriage of Henry with Anne Boleyn.

V. 1.

Principal events in the history of the Divorce of
Henry the eighth.

MARRIAGE, with the widow of a deceased brother,

is prohibited, in Leviticus xviii. 6. The same prohibition is repeated, in chapter xx. 16; with a denunciation, that such marriage should be unfruitful. This denunciation imported, not that God would miraculously prevent the parents from having offspring; but, that the children should not be entitled to the rights of heirship: So that, in a civil sense, the parents would be childless. This was the general rule Moses excepted from it, the case, where the deceased brother left no child, Deut. xxv. 9. Here the legislator not only permits, but commands, as a civil duty, the next brother to marry the widow.

Henry was in this situation. On the 14th of November, 1501, Katharine, the daughter of Ferdinand, king of Spain, was married to prince Arthur, the eldest son of Henry the seventh. The prince died, in the following April. Soon after his decease, it was agreed, by both parents, that Katharine should be espoused to prince Henry. Her previous marriage was a canonical impediment; as, under the Christian dispensation, marriages, within the degrees prohibited by Leviticus, were unlawful; and the exception of the case, where the deceased.

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