"1

exposes republics to slavery. I have written at this length not to accuse you but to show my own sorrow.' He ends by reverently commending himself to Latimer.

It would seem that after a short imprisonment Latimer retired into private life, somewhere in the country, but that he was not long left in peace. A bishop, possibly Winchester, sent for him and "marvelled that I would not consent to such traditions as were then set out. And I answered him that I would be ruled by God's book, and rather than I would dissent one jot from it I would be torn with wild horses. And I chanced in our communication to name the Lord's Supper. 'Tush,' saith the bishop, 'what do ye call the Lord's Supper? What new term is that?' . . . I made answer that I would rather follow St. Paul in using his terms than them, though they had all the doctors on their side. 'Why,' saith the bishop, 'cannot we, without Scriptures, order the people? How did they before the Scripture was first written and copied out.' But, God knoweth, full ill, yet would they have ordered them,

-for seeing that having it, they have deceived us, in what case should we have been now without it?" 2

In 1546 Crome was called before the Council, and examined for heretical opinions. In the course of his trial it appeared that he had received advice from Latimer which might be deemed heretical, and accordingly Latimer was brought before the Council and examined, but to no effect, for he refused to answer the questions put to him, maintaining that their proceeding was more extreme than if he had lived 1 State Papers, xiv. i. 631. 2 Sermons, p. 121.

under the Turk. They told him they were only acting under the king's orders, but he took leave to doubt that statement, saying he had been told it was the king's will that he should resign his bishopric, and found afterwards it was nothing of the kind.1 Then they reproved him for disrespect, but to this he was indifferent; and being tormented with further questions, he refused to reply save in such wise as to leave the Council no better informed as to what he really thought than they were before. Then he appealed to the king, knowing that he could trust to his support so long as he adhered to the old belief in the matter of transubstantiation; his appeal, says Froude,2 was allowed, and he was troubled no further. Foxe, on the other hand, says that he was cast into the Tower, where he continually remained prisoner till the time that "blessed King Edward entered his crown." Bernher, Latimer's servant, who preserved and edited many of his sermons, says that he was cast into the Tower, and lay there looking daily for death.3

It may be observed that the reaction of this year was not quite so entire as might be thought. The general character of the period may be gathered from the book known as The Erudition of a Christian Man, or more popularly the King's Book. Henry had not been fully satisfied with the former book, which had been called the Bishops', and had therefore in 1540 appointed a fresh committee of divines to draw up another guide to doctrine for the benefit of the clergy and the more educated of the people. The 1 Froude, History of England, iv. 495. 2 lbid. iii. p. 385.

3 Sermons, p. 319.

Erudition is not so different from the Institution, as might have been expected from the reactionary views held by the king at the time of its publication. Cranmer still held influence over him, and Cranmer had more to do with this book than anyone else. The king's supremacy is stated much more strongly, and there is throughout the book a more distinctively Erastian tone than is to be observed in the Institution. The doctrine of transubstantiation is stated more strongly, the invocation of saints is encouraged, and the marriage of priests forbidden, but Rome is strongly condemned, and, as a whole, the book is confessedly a reforming work. In his preface Henry said he had had the advice of his clergy, but as he was well known to have himself had much to do with its construction, or rather compilation, it became commonly known as the King's Book, and as such received the approval of Convocation, though this was now hardly more than a matter of form; for Parliament had in 1540 passed an Act ruling that whatever should be agreed on by the committee of divines appointed, and allowed by the king, must be believed and accepted by all the king's subjects. Another excellent bit of work done by Cranmer at the command of the king was the translating and altering of the old Latin Litany, the first model of the present office. This was to be used in the churches on festival days. He also persuaded the king to order certain ceremonies to be disused, such as the creeping to the cross and vigils, as they engendered much superstition in the minds of the common people. Thus mainly by means of Cranmer things were made ready for the more complete readjustment possible on the accession

of the young Protestant prince. We may find it difficult to understand how Cranmer held on in his position, but undoubtedly had he withdrawn and left the conduct of affairs to Gardiner, the Reformation settlement might have been very considerably retarded.

CHAPTER IV

WITH the accession of Edward VI. the power passed into the hands of a strong Protestant party, led by the uncle of the young king. By Act of Parliament Henry was authorised to leave the crown by will, according as he saw fit. His idea seems to have been to hedge round his young son with counsellors carefully chosen from the rival parties in such wise that his own policy might be carried on much in the same fashion as in his lifetime, until such time as Edward was fit to take the reins into his own hands. But Henry might have foreseen what would happen, had he only looked ahead a little. No sooner was he dead than the Earl of Hertford, the maternal uncle of the king, took the control of everything, by rapid action managed to have himself appointed Lord Protector during the minority of the king, became Duke of Somerset, and proceeded to govern the country with the assistance of the Council. The more conservative members of Council were before very long ejected, and Somerset addressed himself, with the ill-considered haste of a rash and revolutionary spirit, to attack and overcome all the difficulties involved in his position. There were strained relations between England and Scotland, difficulties with Germany and France, trouble between the richer and