ry to his principles as that of the king's supremacy;
and though Henry exacted that compliance from the whole nation, there
was as yet no law obliging any one to take an oath to that purpose.
Rich, the solicitor-general, was sent to confer with More, then a
prisoner, who kept a cautious silence with regard to the supremacy:
he was only inveigled to say, that any question with regard to the law
which established that prerogative was a two-edged sword; if a person
answer one way, it will confound his soul; if another, it will destroy
his body. No more was wanted to found an indictment of high treason
against the prisoner. His silence was called malicious, and made a part
of his crime; and these words, which had casually dropped from him,
were interpreted as a denial of the supremacy.[*] Trials were mere
formalities during this reign: the jury gave sentence against More, who
had long expected this fate, and who needed no preparation to fortify
him against the terrors of death. Not only his constancy, but even his
cheerfulness, nay, his usual facetiousness, never forsook him; and
he made a sacrifice of his life to his integrity, with the same
indifference that he maintained in any ordinary occurrence. When he was
mounting the scaffold, he said to one, "Friend, help me up; and when I
come down again, let me shift for myself." The executioner asking him
forgiveness, he granted the request, but told him, "You will never get
credit by beheading me, my neck is so short." Then laying his head on
the block, he bade the executioner stay till he put aside his beard:
"For," said he, "it never committed treason." Nothing was wanting to the
glory of this end, except a better cause, more free from weakness and
superstition. But as the man followed his principles and sense of duty,
however misguided, his constancy and integrity are not the less objects
of our admiration. He was beheaded in the fifty-third year of his age.

* More's Life of Sir Thomas More. Herbert, p. 393

When the execution of Fisher and More was reported at Rome, especially
that of the former, who was invested with the dignity of cardinal, every
one discovered the most violent rage against the king; and numerous
libels were published by the wits and orators of Italy, comparing him
to Caligula, Nero, Domitian, and all the most unrelenting tyrants of
antiquity. Clement VII. had died about six months after he pronounced
sentence against the king; and Paul III., of th