The affair now became serious; the nun and her chief abettors were arrested, and declared guilty of high treason. This was in January, 1534, but they were kept prisoners till the pope published the violent decree already mentioned, in March. A few weeks afterwards the nun, with six of her confederates, suffered at Tyburn, as traitors, on April 21. At the gallows Elizabeth Barton threw the blame upon "the learned men" who had instigated her, because the things she feigned were profitable to them. Hall, who lived at that period, probably speaks the sense of the nation, when he says these criminals justly deserved their punishment. This execution was by regular course of law; it cannot be said to have proceeded from the reformation of religion; and the persecution against the Reformers was urged forward in July, when Frith was burned alive as a heretic. By allowing the Protestants to be persecuted, the king showed that he had no desire to throw off the doctrines of popery, though he was at warfare with the pope. An oath of submission to the king, as supreme head of the church, was now required. This, though an unfair test, brought the question of rebellion to a speedy issue; in like manner, the questions of the Romanists, concerning the real presence in the sacrament, served as a test to ascertain those who differed from the church of Rome on the all-important question of justification and other points. In April, 1535, five monks and priests were accused of rebellion; in June, three more. They were found guilty, and executed as traitors, after refusing the oath of supremacy; upon taking it they would have been pardoned. A more lamentable execution followed. Fisher, bishop of Rochester, was beheaded. He had been imprisoned for his concern in the imposture of the nun, and declared guilty of misprision of treason, (which means, a knowledge and concealment of the treasons of others,) upon his refusing to take an oath setting aside the title of the princess Mary to the crown. He remained in prison till the May following, when the pope favoured him by appointing him a cardinal. This dignity was conferred by sending a scarlet hat to the person appointed. Henry, hearing of the honour intended for one whom he deemed a rebel, declared he would not leave him a head to put the hat upon. But mercy was offered upon condition of his acknowledging the king's supremacy, which would have been renouncing the papal authority. Fisher refused, and was executed as a traitor on June 22. A few days afterwards sir Thomas More was beheaded. He was charged with treason, and declined the pardon offered if he would take the oath of supremacy. The execution of these two learned and virtuous men on political grounds, is a serious blot upon Henry's character. It is a mournful proof of the extent of political and party rage; but it also shows the school in which the king had been trained. The term politi. cal is here used advisedly; for the question of supremacy was wholly political: there is no reason to believe that Henry wished to proceed to extremities with the sufferers, whose deaths have been noticed, upon any other ground. His self-will would have been gratified by their submission, which he was more desirous to obtain than to shed their blood. But their firmness irritated his pride and impatience of contradiction: we see the result. These executions rendered the temper of Henry more fierce and sanguinary, as the taste of blood has been observed to inflame the rage of animals. In human minds, the embittered feelings of self-accusation often carry an individual to additional and blacker crimes, as we find by many examples in Scripture. Sin is a downward road. Perhaps the recollection of Fisher and More made Henry increasingly reckless of the lives of others, though their deaths must not be ascribed to his will alone. Whoever looks into the complex state of the affairs of the nation at this period, with the various negotiations, conspiracies, and treasons that had resulted from the crooked proceedings of Wolsey, will see that these contributed much to cause their unhappy fate. Documents which yet remain show that the treasonable practices of many of the sufferers were encouraged by the emperor. One of the most touching among the circumstances connected with the last days of these venerable men, is the language of More to his judges, when they pronounced sentence upon him. He concluded thus: "I have nothing further to say, my lords, but that as the blessed apostle St. Paul was present and consented to the death of Stephen, and kept their clothes who stoned him to death, and yet they are now both holy saints in heaven, and shall there continue friends for ever; so I verily trust, and shall therefore heartily pray, that though your lordships have now been judges on earth to my condemnation, we may yet hereafter all meet in heaven to our everlasting salvation: and so I pray God preserve you all, and especially my sovereign ford the king, and send him faithful counsellors." It is painful to observe that More's character, like that of his master, had deteriorated. Once entertaining enlightened views, his mind did not go forward to throw off the errors of popery, and he fell a victim to political persecution, as he had caused many to suffer by his religious intolerance. Hall, a contemporary writer, observes respecting him: "I cannot tell whether I should call him a foolish wise man, or a wise foolish man; for undoubtedly he, besides his learning, had great wit, but it was so mingled with taunting and mocking, that it seemed to them that best knew him, that he thought nothing to be well spoken except he ministered some mock in the communication; insomuch that when the hangman kneeled down before him, asking him forgiveness of his death, as the manner is, he said, 'I forgive thee, but I promise thee, thou shalt never have honesty (honour) of the striking off my head, my neck is so short.' Also when he should lay down his head, he having a great grey beard, said to the hangman, 'I pray you let me lay my beard over the block, lest you should cut it.' Thus with a mock he ended his life." Certainly to mock at the approach of death was no proof of real wisdom, but the reverse. This gibing temper seems to have been a besetting infirmity with More, and to have grown stronger by indulgence. His death excited much abhorrence among the learned men on the continent, while it widened the breach between Henry and the court of Rome. It is said, that when the king heard of his execution, he told queen Anne, “Thou art the cause of this man's death," and secluded himself in his chamber for some hours. It is not probable that she had directly influenced Henry to cause More to be beheaded; he might mean that his union with her had led to that train of events which resulted in the death of More; and when feelings of deadly hatred are once roused, even a gentle female may become indifferent to sanguinary measures. Here the second period of his reign may be closed. Henry was now committed to pursue an arbitrary and reckless course; no human measures of a moderate character would carry him through the dark tempest that lowered around. Never was there a series of events which more clearly exemplified the declaration of Scripture, Psalm lxxvi. 10: "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: Other periods have displayed the direful effects of human wrath on a wider scale, in the horrors of widely extended warfare; but at no period did personal hatred ever rage more fiercely through all ranks. It resembled the concentration of solar rays by a powerful burning glass. The sunbeams may scorch a larger extent, and produce a withering effect upon the general expanse of nature; but even those rays of the sun may be rendered more destructive, by being brought into a narrower focus of operation. It was so in the matters now coming forward: but God caused the wrath of man to praise him, by consuming "wood, hay, and |
