that the bishop, who was his confeffor for ten years, declares, that in all that time he had never committed any fin that required penance or rebuke. In a word, he would have adorned a cloifter, though he difgraced a crown; and was rather refpectable for thofe vices he wanted, than for thofe virtues he poffeffed. He founded the colleges of Eaton and Windfor, and King's College in Cambridge, for the reception of thofe fcholars who had begun their ftudies at Eaton.

On the morning that fucceeded his death, his body was expofed at St. Paul's church, in order to prevent unfavourable conjectures, and, next day, fent by water to the abbey of Chertfey, where he was interred; but it was afterwards removed, by order of Richard III. to Windfor, and there buried with great funeral folemnity.

74 Charader of EDWARD IV. Edward IV. was a prince more fplendid and fhewy, than either prudent or virtuous; brave, though cruel; addicted to pleafure, though capable of activity in great emergencies; and lefs fitted to prevent ills by wife precautions, than to remedy them after they took place, by his vigour and enterprize. Hume.

$75. Another Character of EDWARD IV.

He was a prince of the most elegant perfon and infinuating addrefs; endowed with the utmoft fortitude and intrepidity; poffeffed of uncommon fagacity and penetration; but, like all his ancestors, was brutally cruel and vindictive, perfidious, lewd, perjured, and rapacious; without one liberal thought, without one fentiment of humanity.

Smollett.

§ 76. Another Character of EDWARD IV. § 76. Another Character of EDWARD IV.

feveral overfights. But the crimes Edward is moft juftly charged with, are his cruelty, perjury, and incontinence. The first appears in the great number of princes and lords he put to death, on the fcaffold, after he had taken them in battle. If there ever was reafon to fhew mercy in cafe of rebellion, it was at that fatal time, when it was almoft impoflible to ftand neuter, and fo difficult to chufe the justest fide between the two houfes that were contending

for the crown.

And yet we do not fee that Edward had any regard to that confideration. As for Edward's incontinence, one may fay, that his whole life was one continued fcene of excefs that way; he had abundance of miftreffes, but efpecially three, of whom he faid, that one was the merrieft, the other the wittieft, and the other the holieft in the world, fince he would not flir from the church but when he fent for her. What is most aftonishing in the life of this prince is his good fortune, which feemed to be prodigious.

He was raifed to the throne, after the lofs of two battles, one by the duke his father, the other by the Earl of Warwick, who was devoted to the houfe of York. The head of the father was itill upon the walls of York, when the fon was proclaimed in London.

Edward efcaped, as it were, hy miracle, out of his confinement at Middleham. He was reftored to the throne, or at least received into London, at his return from Holland, before he had overcome, and whilft his fortune yet depended upon the iffue of a battle which the Earl of Warwick was ready to give him. In a word, he was ever victorious in all the battles wherein he fought in perfon. Edward died the 9th of April, in the 42d year of his age, after a reign of twenty-two years Rapin.

$ 77- EDWARD V.

Immediately after the death of the fourth Edward, his fon was proclaimed king of England, by the name of Edward V. though that young prince was but juft turned of twelve years of age, never received the crown, nor exerciled any function of royalty; fo that the interval between the death of his father, and the ufurpation of his uncle, the Duke of Gloucefter, afterwards Richard III. was properly an interregnum, during which

the

the uncle took his measures for wrefting the crown from his nephew.

$78. Charater of RICHARD III.

Thofe hiftorians who favour Richard, for even He has met partizans among later writers, maintain that he was well qualified for government, had he legally obtained it; and that he committed no crimes but fuch as were neceffary to procure him poffeffion of the crown: but this is a very poor apology, when it is confeffed, that he was ready to commit the most horrid crimes which appeared neccffary for that purpofe; and it is certain that all his courage and capacity, qualities in which he really feems not to have been deficient, would never have made compenfation to the people, for the danger of the precedent, and for the contagious example of vice and murder, exalted upon the throne. This prince was of fmall tature, hump-backed, and had a very harsh difagreeable vifage; fo that his body was in every particular no lefs deformed than his mind. Hume.

§ 79. Another Character of RICHARD III. Such was the end of Richard III. the most cruel, unrelenting tyrant that ever fat on the throne of England. He feems to have been an utter ftranger to the fofter emotions of the human heart, and entirely deftitute of every focial enjoyment. His ruling paflion was ambition; for the gratification of which he trampled upon every law, both human and divine; but this thirit of dominion was unattended with the leaft work of generofity, or any defire of rendering himself agreeable to his fellow-creatures: it was the ambition of a favage, not of a prince; for he was a folitary king, altogether detached from the reft of mankind, and incapable of that fatisfaction which refults from private friendship and difinterefted fociety. We must acknowledge, however, that after his acceffion to the throne, his adminiftration in general was conducted by the rules of justice; that he enacted falutary laws, and established wife regulations; and that, if his reign had been protracted, he might have proved an excellent king to the English nation. He was dark, filent, and referved, and fo much master of diffimulation, that it was almoft impoffible to dive into his real fentiments, when he wanted to conceal his defigns. His ftature was fmal, his afpect cloudy, fevere, and forbidding: one of his arms

Slain at the battle of Bofworth.

was withered, and one fhoulder higher than another, from which circumftance of deformity he acquired the epithet of Crookbacked. Smollett.

$80. Character of HENRY VII.

The reign of Henry VII. was in the main fortunate for his people at home, and honourable abroad. He put an end to the civil wars with which the nation had been fo long harraffed; he maintained peace and order to the ftate; he depreffed the former exorbitant power of the nobility; and, together with the friendship of fome foreign princes, he acquired the confideration and regard of all.

He loved peace, without fearing war; though agitated with criminal fufpicions of his fervants and minifters, he discovered no timidity, either in the conduct of his affairs, or in the day of battle; and, though, often fevere in his punishments, he was commonly lefs actuated by revenge than by the maxims of policy.

The fervices which he rendered his people were derived from his views of private intereft, rather than the motives of public fpirit; and where he deviated from felfifh regards, it was unknown to himfelf, and ever from malignant prejudices, or the mean projects of avarice; not from the fallies of paffion, or allurements of pleasure; ftill lefs from the benign motives of friendship and generofity.

His capacity was excellent, but fomewhat contracted by the narrowness of his heart; he poffeffed infinuation and address, but never employed thefe talents except fome great point of intereft was to be gained; and while he neglected to conciliate the affections of his people, he often felt the danger of refting his authority on their fear and reverence alone. He was always extremely attentive to his affairs; but poffeffed not the faculty of feeing far into futurity; and was more expert at promoting a remedy for his mittakes, than judicious in avoiding them. Avarice was on the whole his ruling paffion; and he remained an inftance almoft fingular, of a nian placed in a high ftation, and poffeffed of talents for great affairs, in whom that paffion predominated above ambition. Even among private perfons, avarice is nothing but a species of ambition, and is chiefly incited by the profpect of that regard, distinction, and confideration, which attends on riches.

Died April 12th, 1509, aged 52, having reigned 23 years. Hume..

Tt 4

§ 81.

§ 81. Another Character of HENRY VII. Henry was tall, ftraight, and well-fhaped, though slender; of a grave afpect, and faturnine complexion; auftere in his dress, and reserved in converfation, except when he had a favourite point to carry; and then he would fawn, flatter, and practife all the arts of infinuation. He inherited a natural fund of fagacity, which was improved by study and experience; nor was he deficient in perfonal bravery and political courage. He was cool, clofe, cunning, dark, diftruitful, and defigning; and of all the princes who had fat on the English throne, the most fordid, selfish, and ignorant. He poffeffed, in a peculiar manner, the art of turning all his domeftic troubles, and all his foreign difputes, to his own advantage; hence he acquired the appellation of the English Solomon; and all the powers of the continent courted his alliance, on account of his wealth, wisdom, and uninterrupted profperity.

The nobility he excluded entirely from the administration of public affairs, and employed clergymen and lawyers, who, as they had no intereft in the nation, and depended entirely upon his favour, were more obfequious to his will, and ready to concur in all his arbitrary measures. At the fame time it must be owned, he was a wife legiflator; chafte, temperate, and affiduous in the exercise of religious duties; decent in his deportment, and exact in the adminiftration of juftice, when his private intereft was not concerned; though he frequently ufed religion and juftice as cloaks for perfidy and oppreffion. His foul was continually actuated by two ruling paffions, equally bafe and unkingly, namely, the fear of lofing his crown, and the defire of amaffing riches: and thefe motives influenced his whole conduct. Nevertheless, his apprehenfion and avarice redounded, on the whole, to the advantage of the nation. The first induced him to deprefs the nobility, and abolish the feudal tenures, which rendered them equally formidable to the prince and people; and his avarice prompted him to encourage induftry and trade, because it improved his cuftoms, and enriched his fubjects, whom he could afterwards pillage at difcretion.

Smollett.

82. Character of HENRY VIII. It is difficult to give a juft fummary of this prince's qualities; he was fo different from

himself in different parts of his reign, that, as is well remarked by Lord Herbert, his history is his best character and description. The abfolute and uncontrouled authority which he maintained at home, and the regard he obtained among foreign nations, are circumstances which entitle him to the appellation of a great prince; while his tyranny and cruelty feem to exclude him from the character of a good one.

He poffeffed, indeed, great vigour of mind, which qualified him for exercifing dominion over men; courage, intrepidity, vigilance, inflexibility; and though thefe qualities lay not always under the guidance of a regular and folid judgment, they were accompanied with good parts, and an extenfive capacity; and every one dreaded a contest with a man who was never known to yield, or to forgive; and who, in every controverfy, was determined to ruin himfelf, or his antagonist.

A catalogue of his vices would comprehend many of the worft qualities incident to human nature. Violence, cruelty, profufion, rapacity, injuftice, obftinacy, arrogance, bigotry, prefumption, caprice; but neither was he subject to all these vices in the moft extreme degree, nor was he at intervals altogether devoid of virtues. He was fincere, open, gallant, liberal, and capable at least of a temporary friendship and attachment. In this refpect he was unfortunate, that the incidents of his times served to display his faults in their full light; the treatment he met with from the court of Rome provoked him to violence; the danger of a revolt from his superstitious fubjects feemed to require the most extreme feverity. But it must at the fame time be acknowledged, that his fituation tended to throw an additional luftre on what was great and magnanimous in his character.

The emulation between the Emperor and the French King rendered his alliance, notwithstanding his impolitic conduct, of great importance to Europe. The extenfive powers of his prerogative, and the fubmiffion, not to fay flavish difpofition of his parliament, made it more eafy for him to affume and maintain that entire dominion, by which his reign is fo much distinguished in English history.

It may feem a little extraordinary, that notwithstanding his cruelty, his extortion, his violence, his arbitrary adminiftration, this prince not only acquired the regard of his fubjects, but never was the object of

their hatred; he seems even, in fome degree, to have poffeffed their love and affection. His exterior qualities were advantageous, and fit to captivate the multitude; his magnificence, and perfonal bravery, rendered him illuftrious to vulgar eyes; and it may be faid with truth, that the English in that age were fo thoroughly fubdued, that, like eastern flaves, they were inclined to admire even thofe acts of violence and tyranny, which were exercifed over themselves, and at their own expence.

tions. As he had it in his power to make either fcale preponderate, each courted his favour with the moft obfequious fubmiffion, and, in trimming the balance, he kept them both in fubjection. In accuftoming them to these abject compliances, they degenerated into flaves, and he from their proftitution acquired the most defpotic authority. He became rapacious, arbitrary, froward, fretful, and so cruel that he feemed to delight in the blood of his fubjects. He never seemed to betray the leaft fymptoms of tenderness in his difpofition;

Hume.

§ 83. Another Character of HENRY VIII. Henry VIII. before he became corpulent, was a prince of a goodly perfonage, and commanding afpect, rather imperious than dignified. He excelled in all the exercises of youth, and poffeffed a good understanding, which was not much improved by the nature of his education. Inftead of learning that philofophy which opens the mind, and extends the qualities of the heart, he was confined to the ftudy of gloomy and fcholaftic difquifitions, which ferved to cramp his ideas, and pervert the faculty of reafon, qualifying him for the difputant of a cloifter, rather than the lawgiver of a people. In the first years of his reign, his pride and vanity feemed to domineer over all his other paffions; though from the beginning he was impetuous, headstrong, impatient of contradiction and advice. He was rafh, arrogant, prodigal, vain-glorious, pedantic, and fuperftitious. He delighted in pomp and pageantry, the baubles of a weak mind. His paffions, foothed by adulation, rejected all restraint; and as he was an utter ftranger to the finer feelings of the foul, he gratified them at the expence of juftice and humanity, without remorfe or compunction.

He wrefted the fupremacy from the bishop of Rome, partly on confcientious motives, and partly from reafons of ftate and conveniency. He fuppreffed the monasteries, in order to fupply his extravagance with their spoils; but he would not have made thofe acquifitions, had they not been productive of advantage to his nobility, and agreeable to the nation in general. He was frequently at war; but the greatest conqueft he obtained was over his own parliament and people.-Religious difputes had divided them into two fac

to Cranmer was an inconsistence in his character. He feemed to live in defiance

of cenfure, whether ecclefiaftical or fecular; he died in apprehenfion of futurity; and was buried at Windfor, with idle proceffions and childish pageantry, which in thofe days paffed for real tafte and magnificence. Smollett.

84. Character of EDWARD VI. Thus died Edward VI. in the fixteenth year of his age. He was counted the wonder of his time; he was not only learned in the tongues and the liberal fciences, but he knew well the state of his kingdom. He kept a table-book, in which he had written the characters of all the eminent men of the nation: he studied fortification, and understood the mint well. He knew the harbours in all his dominions, with the depth of the water, and way of coming into them. He understood foreign affairs fo well, that the ambaffadors who were fent into England, published very extraordinary things of him, in all the courts of Europe. He had great quickness of apprehenfion; but, being diftruftful of his memory, he took notes of every thing he heard (that was confiderable) in Greek characters, that those about him might not understand what he writ, which he afterwards copied out fair in the journal that he kept. His virtues were wonderful: when he was made to believe that his uncle was guilty of confpiring the death of the other counfellors, he upon that abandoned him.

Barnaby Fitz Patrick was his favourite ; and when he fent him to travel, he writ oft to him to keep good company, to avoid excefs and luxury; and to improve himself in those things that might render him capable of employment at his return. He was afterwards made Lord of Upper Of fory in Ireland, by Queen Elizabeth, and

did