covery of a
design formed by Thomas Howard, brother of the duke of Norfolk, to
espouse the lady Margaret Douglas, niece to the king, by his sister the
queen of Scots and the earl of Angus. Howard, as well as the young lady,
was committed to the Tower. She recovered her liberty soon after; but he
died in confinement. An act of attainder passed against him this session
of parliament.

* The parliament, in annulling the king's marriage with Anne
Boleyn, gives this as a reason, "For that his highness had
chosen to wife the excellent and virtuous Lady Jane, who,
for her convenient years, excellent beauty, and pureness of
flesh and blood, would be apt, God willing, to conceive
issue by his highness."

Another accession was likewise gained to the authority of the crown;
the king or any of his successors was empowered to repeal or annul, by
letters patent, whatever act of parliament had been passed before he was
four and twenty years of age. Whoever maintained the authority of the
bishop of Rome by word or writ, or endeavored in any manner to restore
it in England, was subjected to the penalty of a premunire that is, his
goods were forfeited, and he was put out of the protection of law.
And any person who possessed any office, ecclesiastical or civil,
or received any grant or charter from the crown, and yet refused to
renounce the pope by oath, was declared to be guilty of treason. The
renunciation prescribed runs in the style of, "So help me God, all
saints, and the holy evangelists."[*] The pope, hearing of Anne
Boleyn's disgrace and death, had hoped that the door was opened to a
reconciliation, and had been making some advances to Henry: but this was
the reception he met with. Henry was now become indifferent with regard
to papal censures; and finding a great increase of authority, as well as
of revenue, to accrue from his quarrel with Rome, he was determined to
persevere in his present measures. This parliament also, even more than
any foregoing, convinced him how much he commanded the respect of
his subjects, and what confidence he might repose in them. Though
the elections had been made on a sudden, without any preparation or
intrigue, the members discovered an unlimited attachment to his person
and government.[**]

* 28 Henry VIII. c. 10.

** Burnet, vol. i. p. 213.

The extreme complaisance of the convocation, which sat at the same
time with the parliament, encouraged him i