while, the king allowed him to come out of prison, and he left London and went to his archbishopric in the north. But again the king grew wroth with him, and commanded that he should be sent back to the Tower.

6. So the king's officers seized him. But on the way to London, Wolsey fell very ill, and, knowing that he was dying, he stopped at a Religious House in the town of Leicester. The abbot came out to the gate to receive him, and Wolsey said to him, "Father abbot, I have come to lay my bones among you."

7. As he lay on his death-bed he thought over his life, and repented of his ambition and worldliness. He knew that he had cared more to win the favour of the king than to do what was most right; and he said to the officer who had charge of him, "If I had served my God as diligently as I have served my king, He would not have given me over in my old age."

33. THOMAS CROMWELL (B. 1490; D. 1540).

1. The Minister who served King Henry best after the fall of Wolsey was Thomas Cromwell. He was a clever and industrious man, and he was faithful and loyal to every one who employed him. But he had no firm belief in anything, and cared less to do what was right than to succeed in what he undertook.

2. Thomas Cromwell was the son of a blacksmith; in his youth he was a soldier, and then became Wol

sey's secretary, and served him most faithfully to the end of his life. Cromwell defended Wolsey continually against his accusers, and he begged the king to be merciful to him. But Cromwell could not persuade the king.

3. Now many of the monks and nuns who lived in the Religious Houses had at that time ceased to live holy lives. They neglected the service of God, and paid no attention to the rules they had promised to obey, but lived lazy lives of pleasure and greediness.

4. King Henry, when he had cast off his obedience to the Pope, and made himself the head of the Church in England, appointed Thomas Cromwell to set the Religious Houses in order. So officers were despatched throughout England to visit them; but they were more eager to take the money from the Religious Houses than to mend the lives of the monks and nuns. They dealt as harshly with those who were living holily as with those who were given up to luxury and sin; and they collected such fearful stories about the lives of the monks and the nuns, that when their report was read out to the members of the House of Commons assembled in Parliament, they cried out angrily, "Down with them! down with them all!"

5. So the Parliament decreed that the Religious Houses should be put down, and that all the money that had belonged to the Religious Houses should pass to the king. It was Thomas Cromwell's business to see that these laws were carried out. He sent officers of state to all the monasteries and convents in every part of the country, and they turned out the monks

and nuns.

And Cromwell and all his friends grew

very rich out of the wealth of the monasteries.

6. But at last Cromwell too lost the king's favour; and he was executed by the king's command.

34. EDWARD THE SIXTH (R. 1547-1553).

1. Though he married so many wives, Henry the Eighth had but one son and two daughters, and these reigned in turn after him. His son, Edward the Sixth, was only nine years old when his father died. He became king in his stead; but he only lived to be sixteen.

2. King Henry had taken great pains with his son's education. Edward lived at Hampton Court, with five tutors to teach him; and he learnt Latin, Greek, French, and German, as well as all things belonging to the ceremony of courts and the duties of princes. A little friend of his own age was educated with him, who, when the prince did not learn his lessons, got whipped instead of him; but though Edward was never whipped himself, he was so gentle and loving that he always worked his hardest to save his friend from getting whipped for his sake.

3. His favourite playmates were his sister Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn, and the Lady Jane Grey, his cousin, and they were both as fond of study as he was; he was fond also of Katharine's daughter Mary, though she was twenty-one years older than himself.

4. As soon as King Henry was dead, Edward's uncle, the Duke of Somerset, took all the power into his own hands, and ruled as if he were king. But before long the nation grew discontented with him; so the Parliament took away the power from him, and condemned him to death. Then the Duke of Northumberland became the ruler of England; he governed in the young king's name, and his son, Lord Guildford Dudley, married Edward's cousin, Lady Jane Grey. But all the people looked forward to the day when their beloved little king should be old enough to rule for himself.

5. But King Edward was very sickly and delicate, and suffered from many ailments which his doctors could not cure. And day by day he grew weaker and thinner, until he died; and all his attendants and the whole nation grieved greatly at his death.

35. LADY JANE GREY (B. 1537; D. 1554).

1. The Duke of Northumberland was a very ambitious man, and he desired to make his son King of England. So when Edward was dying, he persuaded him to leave the crown to Lady Jane Grey, and shut out his two sisters from reigning. The Princess Mary was the lawful heir of the crown, but the Duke of Northumberland persuaded Edward that it would be bad for England that she should be queen, because she favoured the old religion, and would make the Pope head of the Church again; and as Edward was set

H

against this, he consented to leave the crown to Lady Jane Grey.

2. As soon as he was dead, the Duke of Northumberland went to see Lady Jane, and told her that she was queen, at which she was most astonished and grieved. She said she did not want to be queen at all, and begged the duke to let her go on living quietly among her books which she loved; but he insisted that she must be queen, and took her to London and crowned her.

3. But the English people knew that Mary was their rightful queen, and were resolved that the Duke of Northumberland should not dispose of the kingdom as he pleased. So Mary was crowned at Westminster Abbey; and Lady Jane and her husband, and the Duke of Northumberland, were all sent to the Tower.

4. They were all condemned to death, for Queen Mary was very stern and unforgiving; and even poor Lady Jane Grey was beheaded too, though she had never cared for the crown, and accepted it only because King Edward had wished it, and the Duke of Northumberland had compelled her to be queen.

36. QUEEN MARY (R. 1553-1558).

1. The reign of Queen Mary was a very sad time for England. She had never forgiven the unjust and cruel treatment which her mother, Queen Katharine, had received, and she felt bitterly towards all the