nly fourteen years of age,
Archdeacon of Canterbury, with fourteen benefices in England.

[Footnote 63: The fact is, that Henry, during his
wars in France, suffered Pope Martin to exercise
his pretended prerogative in the disposal of
benefices to an extent, if not unprecedented,
certainly most unjustifiable. The Chapter of York
gave the first blow to this growing usurpation by
refusing to admit, in obedience to the Pope's
mandate, Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln, into
the archiepiscopal see.]

* * * * *

Before we leave this subject, we cannot but record an instance
(mentioned by Walsingham) of Henry's personal exertions in reforming
abuses. He had received complaints against the Benedictine monks of
certain grievous corruptions; and, attended only by four persons, he
went into the midst of a full assembly of that order. The meeting
consisted of sixty abbots and priors of convents, and more than three
hundred monks, who were all assembled in the Chapter-house of
Westminster. After a speech from the Bishop of Exeter, (one of those
who accompanied him,) Henry himself addressed them at great length. He
reminded them of the ancient piety of the monks, and the devotion of
his predecessors and others in founding and endowing monasteries; he
expatiated on the negligence and remissness in the discharge of their
sacred duties, which, he said, had become notorious in their times;
and he then exhibited certain articles according to which he required
them to reform themselves; earnestly entreating them to recover the
ancient spirit of religion which they had lost, and habitually to pray
for the King, the country, and the church; assuring them that, if they
followed his directions, they needed fear none of their enemies. (p. 068)

* * * * *

That Henry V, though earnestly desirous of a sound reform in the
discipline of the church, and the lives and ministrations of the
clergy, did never lay the axe to the root of the evil, cannot be
denied. Perhaps he was disheartened by the total failure of the united
efforts of himself and Sigismund, with their honest and zealous
adherents, at Constance. Perhaps he resolved to wait till, at the
close of his continental campaigns, in the enjoyment of peace at