"him! I wish the princes and potentates of "christendom to have had a meet place to have "seen it. Undoubtedly, they would have much "marvelled at his majesty's most high wisdom "and judgment, and reputed him no otherwise, "after the same, than, in a manner, the mirror "and light of all other kings and princes in "christendom." Cranmer, and the other bishops, frequently came to the aid of his majesty: Lambert replied. The trial lasted five hours; at length, quite exhausted, Lambert stood silent: Cromwell, as vicar-general, pronounced sentence upon him it was executed with uncommon circumstances of cruelty.

XIX. 6.

The death of Henry the eighth :-Genealogical Account of the Descendants from Henry the seventh, till the accession of the Stuart dynasty.

1547.

HENRY finished his reign on the 29th of January 1547: it is said, that, in the last years of his reign, he showed a disposition to favour the old religion: by his will, he directed large sums of money to be distributed for prayers for his soul.

Without a clear view of the royal genealogy of England, from the time of the union of the houses of York and Lancaster, in the person of Henry the eighth, till the reign of James the first, it is impossible to obtain an accurate notion of the events, even in the ecclesiastical history of England, during that period. We shall, therefore, present it

to the reader in the form of a table, simplifying it as much as its complexity will admit.

The title of Henry the eighth to the crown was clear and undisputed. In his reign, the succession was regulated by several legislative enact

ments.

1. By the act of the twenty-fifth year of his reign, the crown was entailed to his majesty, and to the heirs male of his body; failing these, to the lady Elizabeth, who was declared to be the king's eldest issue female, and to the heirs of her body,(in exclusion of the lady Mary, on account of her supposed illegitimacy, in consequence of the divorce of Henry from her mother, Katharine of Arragon), and so on, from issue female to issue female, by course of inheritance, according to their age; and failing these, to the king's right heirs.

2. Upon the king's divorce from Anne Boleyn, the lady Elizabeth was bastardized, and the crown settled on the eldest children of the king by lady Jane Seymour, and his future wives; and failing these, to the persons, to whom the king should limit the same by letters patent, or will: "A vast "power," says sir William Blackstone, "but notwithstanding, as it was regularly vested in him by the supreme legislative authority, it was there"fore indisputably valid*."

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3. But, by a statute of the thirty-fifth of his reign, the lady Mary and lady Elizabeth were legitimated, and the crown limited to prince Edward by name, and the heirs of his body; failing these, to the * Com. book i. c. 3.

lady Mary, and the heirs of her body; and failing these, to the lady Elizabeth, and the heirs of her body; and failing issue of both his daughters, to such persons as his majesty should appoint by letters patent, or his will.

4. By his will, Henry limited the crown, in default of issue of his daughters, to the heirs of the body of Lady Frances, the eldest daughter of his sister Mary, and failing such issue, to the heirs of the body of Eleanor, the second daughter of his sister Mary.

5. On the accession of Mary, her title to the throne was recognized by a legislative act*, and the same was done on the accession of Elizabeth†.

6. On the death of queen Elizabeth, without issue, the line of Henry the eighth became extinct.

СНАР. ХX.

EDWARD THE SIXTH.

1547.

KING Henry the eighth appointed sixteen executors of his will, and solemnly enjoined them to see it performed; the principal were Cranmer, Wriottesley, the chancellor, and the earl of Hertford. Wriottesley favoured the old religion, the two others were promoters of the reformation; Hertford was chosen protector, and acted, from that * M. p. 2. c. 1; and see 1 M. p 2. c. 2. + 1 Eliz. C. 2.