to be built, by which he
intended to block up the harbor. After a considerable loss of time and
money, the fort was found so ill constructed, that he was obliged to
abandon it; and though he had assembled on that frontier an army of
near forty thousand men, he was not able to effect any considerable
enterprise. Henry, in order to defend his possessions in France, had
levied fourteen thousand Germans who, having marched to Fleurines, in
the bishopric of Liege, found that they could advance no farther. The
emperor would not allow them a passage through his dominions: they
received intelligence of a superior army on the side of France ready
to intercept them: want of occupation and of pay soon produced a mutiny
among them; and having seized the English commissaries as a security for
arrears, they retreated into their own country. There seems to have been
some want of foresight in this expensive armament.

The great expense of these two wars maintained by Henry, obliged him to
summon a new parliament. The commons granted him a subsidy, payable in
two years, of two shillings a pound on land.[*] The spirituality voted
him six shillings a pound. But the parliament, apprehensive lest more
demands should be made upon them, endeavored to save themselves by a
very extraordinary liberality of other people's property; by one vote
they bestowed on the king all the revenues of the universities, as well
as of the chauntries, free chapels,[**] and hospitals. Henry was pleased
with this concession, as it increased his power; but he had no intention
to rob learning of all her endowments; and he soon took care to inform
the universities that he meant not to touch their revenues. Thus
these ancient and celebrated establishments owe their existence to
the generosity of the king, not to the protection of this servile and
prostitute parliament.

The prostitute spirit of the parliament further appeared in the preamble
of a statute;[***] in which they recognize the king to have always
been, by the word of God, supreme head of the church of England; and
acknowledge that archbishops, bishops, and other ecclesiastical persons,
have no manner of jurisdiction but by his royal mandate; to him alone,
say they, and such persons as he shall appoint, full power and
authority is given from above to hear and determine all manner of causes
ecclesiastical, and to correct all manner of heresies, errors, vices,
and sins whatsoever. No mention is here made of t