h he was naturally inclined. He sported with all the varieties
of fortune into which he was thrown; and neither the pride naturally
attending a high station, nor the melancholy incident to poverty and
retreat, could ever lay hold of his serene and equal spirit. While his
family discovered symptoms of sorrow on laying down the grandeur and
magnificence to which they had been accustomed, he drew a subject of
mirth from their distresses; and made them ashamed of losing even a
moment's cheerfulness on account of such trivial misfortunes. The
king, who had entertained a high opinion of his virtue, received his
resignation with some difficulty; and he delivered the great seal soon
after to Sir Thomas Audley.

During these transactions in England, and these invasions of the
papal and ecclesiastical authority, the court of Rome was not without
solicitude; and she entertained just apprehensions of losing entirely
her authority in England; the kingdom which, of all others, had long
been the most devoted to the holy see and which had yielded it the most
ample revenue. While the imperial cardinals pushed Clement to proceed
to extremities against the king, his more moderate and impartial
counsellors represented to him the indignity of his proceedings; that
a great monarch, who had signalized himself, both by his pen and his
sword, in the cause of the pope, should be denied a favor which he
demanded on such just grounds, and which had scarcely ever before been
refused to any person of his rank and station. Notwithstanding these
remonstrances, the queen's appeal was received at Rome; the king was
cited to appear; and several consistories were held, to examine the
validity of their marriage. Henry was determined not to send any proxy
to plead his cause before this court: he only despatched Sir Edward
Karne and Dr. Bonner, in quality of excusators, (so they were called,)
to carry his apology, for not paying that deference to the papal
authority. The prerogatives of his crown, he said, must be sacrificed,
if he allowed appeals from his own kingdom; and as the question regarded
conscience, not power or interest, no proxy could supply his place, or
convey that satisfaction which the dictates of his own mind alone could
confer. In order to support himself in this measure, and add greater
security to his intended defection from Rome, he procured an interview
with Francis it Boulogne and Calais, where he renewed his personal
friendship as wel