ar-general, made also in the king's name a speech to the upper
house; and the peers, in return, bestowed great flattery on him, and in
particular said, that he was worthy, by his desert, to be vicar-general
of the universe. That minister seemed to be no less in his master's good
graces: he received, soon after the sitting of the parliament, the title
of earl of Essex, and was installed knight of the garter.

There remained only one religious order in England; the knights of St.
John of Jerusalem, or the knights of Malta, as they are commonly called.
This order, partly ecclesiastical, partly military, had by their valor
done great service to Christendom; and had very much retarded, at
Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta, the rapid progress of the barbarians.
During the general surrender of the religious houses in England, they
had exerted their spirit, and had obstinately refused to yield up
their revenues to the king; and Henry, who would endure no society
that professed obedience to the pope, was obliged to have recourse to
parliament for the dissolution of this order. Their revenues were large;
and formed an addition nowise contemptible to the many acquisitions
which the king had already made. But he had very ill husbanded the great
revenue acquired by the plunder of the church: his profuse generosity
dissipated faster than his rapacity could supply; and the parliament was
surprised this session to find a demand made upon them of four tenths,
and a subsidy of one shilling in the pound during two years: so ill
were the public expectations answered, that the crown was never more to
require any supply from the people. The commons, though lavish of their
liberty, and of the blood of their fellow-subjects, were extremely
frugal of their money; and it was not without difficulty so small
a grant could be obtained by this absolute and dreaded monarch. The
convocation gave the king four shillings in the pound to be levied in
two years. The pretext for these grants was, the great expense which
Henry had undergone for the defence of the realm, in building forts
along the seacoast, and in equipping a navy. As he had at present no
ally on the continent in whom he reposed much confidence, he relied only
on his domestic strength, and was on that account obliged to be more
expensive in his preparations against the danger of an invasion.

The king's favor to Cromwell and his acquiescence in the marriage with
Anne of Cleves, were both of them