his master. He was born in a humble station of life; but the king raised him to the highest honours and dignities in the state,-which made him an object of envy and hatred to all ranks and conditions of the people. But miserable is that man who builds his hopes on earthly greatness! Wolsey's high honours only made his fall the more ruinous for he did fall as soon as the king's inclinations, and his interests, disagreed. You have often heard that Henry the Eighth had six wives, -the first was Catherine of Arragon. And, when Henry was tired of her, and could not fairly get rid of her, he made a strange excuse for parting with her, and he expected Wolsey to help him but this did not suit the cardinal, and the king, therefore, was determined to ruin him. Wolsey was compelled to give up his palace at York, where he was archbishop; and the king seized all his splendid plate and rich furniture, and then ordered him to be arrested and brought to London, to take his trial for high treason. He began his journey, and proceeded as far as Leicester; but he had great difficulty in performing this long journey, for he was then old, and sick, and feeble. When he got to Leicester, he went

to the abbey, and the monks came out to meet him. He told them, that he was come to die among them, and begged them to give him, for charity's sake, a little earth to cover his weary bones.

with easy roads, he came to Leicester,
Lodg'd in the abbey; where the reverend abbot,
With all the convent, honourably receiv'd him;
To whom he gave these words: "O, father Abbot,
An old man, broken with the storms of state,
Is come to lay his weary bones among you;
Give him a little earth for charity."

SHAKSPEARE.

Soon after this, he died, full of sorrow and remorse, grieving that he had wasted all his life in pursuit of worldly greatness, instead of aiming at that heavenly kingdom, where the happiness and rich reward are all-glorious and everlasting! "Had I but served my God," he cried, "with half the zeal that I have served my king, he would not in mine age have given me over to mine enemies."

The reason which Henry pleaded to get rid of his wife, was, that his marriage was not lawful, as she was the widow of his elder brother, Arthur,

This, however, he did not think of, till the queen had lived eighteen years with him, 'and had a daughter by him, (who was afterwards the bloody Queen Mary.) The truth was, that he had found a young and handsome lady in his court, whom he liked better than his wife; this was Anna Bullen; and he was determined to divorce Catherine, that he might marry her ;-this did not please Wolsey and the Papists, because Anna Bullen was inclined to the Protestant religion : and it was Wolsey's unwillingness to encourage this match, which first provoked the king's anger against him, and brought on his fall. The king, soon after this, married Anna Bullen privately; and, after a time, he publicly acknowledged her,

-she brought him a daughter, who was afterwards the famous Queen Elizabeth. Soon, however, the king grew weary of this queen, as he had done of the former one, and he seemed determined to get rid of her, and to marry another beautiful lady, called Jane Seymour. To effect his purpose, he endeavoured to find some accusation against the queen, which might justify him in cutting her off; she was accused of loose behaviour and high treason, and she was condemned

to death; and was soon afterwards executed on Tower Hill. She was beheaded by the executioner of Calais, who was brought over from France on purpose, being considered more expert than any in England. Her body was thrown into a common chest, and was buried in the Tower. If you ever go to see the Tower of London, they will shew you the very axe which was used in beheading Queen Anna Bullen.

The very next day, the cruel tyrant married Jane Seymour; and he declared that both his daughters, Mary by his first wife, and Elizabeth by the second, were illegitimate, and that they were neither of them to succeed to the crown. Such savage and tyrannical acts of the king, we may be sure, excited great hatred in the minds of the people, and there were many insurrections and rebellions ;-the king denied the power of the pope, but still he held the doctrines of popery, so that he persecuted the Papists for supporting the pope's supremacy, and he persecuted the Protestants for denying the popish doctrines ;-his angry passions, indeed, were dreadful; and the discontents and oppositions of his subjects filled him with fury. He was, however, put in better

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humour for a time, by the birth of a son, (who was afterwards that excellent prince, Edward the Sixth ;) but his queen died two days afterwards.

Not long after this, the king resolved to have another wife, and here he took a foreign lady whom he had never seen;-her picture was painted for him, and the artist (Holbein) had made it handsome; but when she came over, and the king met her at Rochester, he declared that she was a fat, ugly person, and that he never could like her. However, he still determined to marry her, because it was a match that would gain him friends and allies on the continent, and add to his power. The king's dislike, however, to this lady, continued, and he resolved to get rid of her :-and, moreover, he had fixed his affections upon another lady, Catherine Howard, and he turned off his queen, and married this new favourite. Henry seemed for a time delighted with his new wife, he was soon, however, informed that her character was bad, and that she had been guilty of much improper conduct, both before and after her marriage. She was tried, and found guilty, and beheaded on Tower Hill.

All this time, the king pretended to be con