he dignity of
history; they help to explain the extraordinary hold Henry obtained
over popular imagination. Suppose there ascended the throne to-day a
young prince, the hero of the athletic world, the finest oar, the best
bat, the crack marksman of his day, it is easy to imagine the
enthusiastic support he would receive from thousands of his people who
care much for sport, and nothing at all for politics. Suppose also
that that prince were endowed with the iron will, the instinctive
insight into the hearts of his people, the profound aptitude for
government that Henry VIII. displayed, he would be a rash man who
would guarantee even now the integrity of parliamentary power or the
continuance of cabinet rule. In those days, with thirty years of civil
war and fifteen more of conspiracy fresh in men's minds, with no
alternative to anarchy save Henry VIII., with a peerage fallen (p. 042)
from its high estate, and a Parliament almost lost to respect, royal
autocracy was not a thing to dread or distrust. "If a lion knew his
strength," said Sir Thomas More of his master to Cromwell, "it were
hard for any man to rule him." Henry VIII. had the strength of a lion;
it remains to be seen how soon he learnt it, and what use he made of
that strength when he discovered the secret.

[Footnote 77: F.M. Nichols, _Epistles of Erasmus_,
i., 457.]

CHAPTER III. (p. 043)

THE APPRENTICESHIP OF HENRY VIII.

Quietly and peacefully, without a threat from abroad or a murmur at
home, the crown, which his father had won amid the storm and stress of
the field of battle, devolved upon Henry VIII. With an eager profusion
of zeal Ferdinand of Aragon placed at Henry's disposal his army, his
fleet, his personal services.[78] There was no call for this sacrifice.
For generations there had been no such tranquil demise of the crown.
Not a ripple disturbed the surface of affairs as the old King lay sick
in April, 1509, in Richmond Palace at Sheen. By his bedside stood his
only surviving son; and to him the dying monarch addressed his last
words of advice. He desired him to complete his marriage with Catherine,
he exhorted him to defend the Church, and to make war on the infidel;
he commended to him his faithful councillors, and is believed to have
urged upon him the execution of De la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, the White
Rose of England. On the 22nd he was