he might not discover the secret orders or directions he had given him for his own justification. For the particulars of bribery and extortion, with which he was also charged, they being mentioned in general expressions seem only cast into the heap to defame him. But for treasonable words, which were alleged against him, it was generally thought that they were a contrivance of his enemies; since it seemed a thing very extravagant, for a favourite in the height of his greatness to talk so rudely, that if he had been guilty of it, Bedlam was a fitter place for his restraint than the Tower. Nor was it judged likely that, he hav ing such great and watchful enemies at court, any such discourses should have lain so long secret; or, if they had come to the King's knowledge, he was not a prince of such a temper as to have forgiven, much less employed and advanced a man after such discourses. And to think that, during fifteen months after the words were said to have been spoken, none would have had the zeal for the King, or the malice to Cromwell to repeat them, were things that could not be believed."

The Earl of Essex had, in his fall, the common fate of disgraced ministers: he was forsaken by his friends, and insulted by his enemies. Archbishop Cranmer alone did not abandon him in his distress, but wrote to the King very warmly in his behalf: "Who cannot but be sorrowful and amazed, that he should be a traitor against your Majesty; he, that was so advanced by your Majesty; he, whose surety was only by your Majesty; he, who loved your Majesty (as I ever thought) no less than God; he,

A fate however, from which his own fidelity had ten years before exempted Wolsey.

who studied always to set forward whatsoever was your Majesty's will and pleasure; he that cared for no man's displeasure to serve your Majesty; he that was such a servant (in my judgement) in wisdom, diligence, faithfulness, and experience, as no prince in this realm ever had; he that was so vigilant to, preserve your Majesty from all treasons, that few could be so secretly conceived, but he detected the same in the beginning? If the noble princes of happy memory, King John, Henry II., and Richard II., had had such a councillor about them, I suppose, they should never have been so traitorously abandoned and overthrown, as those good princes were." He himself, likewise, concluded a very humble letter, to his royal master in those affecting terms; "Written, with the quaking hand, and most sorrowful heart, of your most sorrowful subject." The King had it thrice read to him, but without changing his purpose.

The Duke of Norfolk, and the rest of the Popish party, baffling every application in his favour, in pursuance of his attainder he was sentenced to be beheaded on Tower-Hill, July 28, 1540. Upon the scaffold, in tenderness to his son, he suppressed all complaints against his enemies; and instead of vindicating himself, by a happy turn of thought acknowledged that he had offended God by his sins, and had thus merited death.' Having then prayed for the King and the Prince, and assured the people that he died in the catholic faith,* after a short time

* That under this expression he intended to characterise the Reformed Doctrine is confirmed (against the assertions of Popish authors) by his praying in English, and to God through Christ, without any invocation of the Virgin Mary or of the Saints.

passed in private devotion he gave the signal to the executioner, who being either unskilful or timid cruelly mangled his unfortunate victim.

Thus fell Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex: a statesman of eminent abilities, joined with uncommon application to business, who had the public welfare deeply at heart, and invariably pursued it with the utmost vigour and perseverance; though he sometimes extended the royal perogative, at the expense of civil liberty. In his person he was comely, in his deportment manly and graceful, and in his general character exempt from pride and arrogance. teous and affable to all persons,* to the poor and the distressed he was remarkably charitable, no less than two hundred persons being fed twice every day at his door. To his dependents, and domestics, he was a kind and liberal master; and for his gratitude to those, who had befriended him in his humbler fortunes, he was an example singularly worthy of imitation.

Cour

Though it is perfectly in the moral order of things, that the instrument of a tyrant should die by tyranny, yet it is impossible not to feel a detestation of the merciless despot, who could thus sacrifice to his caprice or his convenience one, whose greatest fault was having served him too well.

His son, soon after his death, was created Lord Cromwell; and the title continued in his family for several generations.

* Stowe the historian, however, mentions an instance of his abuse of power, in taking away a piece of ground from his father without recompence, in order to enlarge the garden of his great house in Throgmorton-street.

197

THOMAS HOWARD

DUKE OF NORFOLK,*

[1473-1554.]

THIS nobleman having gained a brief ascendency in the state upon the fall of the Earl of Essex, and the elevation of his niece Katharine Howard to the throne, is here introduced, for the purpose of preserving a regular series of historical facts from the accession to the death of Henry VIII.

The progenitor of this illustrious family was John Howard, created Duke of Norfolk by Richard III. in 1483, who fell at Bosworth. His son Thomas, who had been created at the same time Earl of Surrey, forfeited his title on the accession of Henry VII.; though in the fourth year of that Prince's reign he was permitted to resume it, and to take his seat in the House of Peers. In 1499 he was made LordTreasurer, about which time his two sons, Thomas and Edward, began to be known at court: and in

* AUTHORITIES. Biographia Britannica, Rapin's History of England, and Salmon's Chronological Historian.

+ This gallant officer in 1492 discovered a strong inclination. for the sea-service, having embarked as a volunteer on board the fleet sent under the command of Sir Edward Poynings to assist the Duke of Burgundy against his rebellious subjects.

the first year of Henry VIII. he was farther appointed Earl Marshal. He attended the King, likewise, at

For his signal bravery during the expedition, he received the honour of knighthood, and was appointed by Henry VIII. upon his accession to be his Standard-bearer, a very distinguished office in those days.

In 1511, through the interest of his father, who was then of the privy-council, he was commissioned by the King with two ships to clear the narrow seas of Scottish pirates, the most notorious of whom was Sir Andrew Barton, acting (as it was suspected) under the impulse of James IV. of Scotland. Upon this occasion his eldest brother, then Sir Thomas Howard, served under him, and had the honour of engaging the ship commanded by Barton, who was killed in the engagement, while Sir Edward took her companion, and both were triumphantly brought into the Thames.

The year following, Sir Edward was made Lord HighAdmiral of England, and performed eminent services against the French, with whom Henry was then at war; particularly in 1513, when with forty-two ships of the line he compelled the enemy's fleet to take shelter in the harbour of Brest. Upon receiving information of this event, the King of France ordered Pregent, one of his ablest naval officers, to sail from Toulon with a squadron of galleys, effect a junction with the Brest fleet, and offer battle to the enemy. The English Admiral, in consequence, formed a plan for burning the French ships in the harbour before Pregent's arrival: and wishing to give the King the honour of commanding in person at the execution of so splendid an enterprise, wrote home to that effect. But his letter being laid before the council, it was pronounced imprudent, to advise the Sovereign to venture his royal person in such a dangerous attempt; and an answer was returned to Sir Edward couched in terms of angry reproof, ordering him to do his duty, and not to seek excuses. Deeply mortified by this unexpected and undeserved rebuke, and in obedience to his constant maxim, that a seaman never did good, who was not resolute to a degree of madness,' he with fifteen hundred men attempted to force the harbour in boats; but the French to the number of ten thousand lining the shore, he abandoned his project, to engage in another of equal bravery and equal temerity.