us to royal
authority; and he therefore determined not to increase, by any hazardous
enterprise, those numerous enemies with whom he was every where
environed. While a subject, he was believed to have strongly imbibed all
the principles of his father, the duke of Lancaster, and to have adopted
the prejudices which the Lollards inspired against the abuses of the
established church: but finding, himself possessed of the throne by so
precarious a title, he thought superstition a necessary implement of
public authority; and he resolved, by every expedient, to pay court to
the clergy. There were hitherto no penal laws enacted against heresy; an
indulgence which had proceeded, not from a spirit of toleration in the
Romish church, but from the ignorance and simplicity of the people,
which had rendered them unfit either for starting or receiving any new
or curious doctrines, and which needed not to be restrained by rigorous
penalties. But when the learning and genius of Wickliffe had once
broken, in some measure, the fetters of prejudice, the ecclesiastics
called aloud for the punishment of his disciples; and the king, who was
very little scrupulous in his conduct, was easily induced to sacrifice
his principles to his interest, and to acquire the favor of the church
by that most effectual method, the gratifying of their vengeance against
opponents. He engaged the parliament to pass a law for that purpose: it
was enacted, that when any heretic, who relapsed, or refused to abjure
his opinions, was delivered over to the secular arm by the bishop or
his commissaries, he should be committed to the flames by the civil
magistrate before the whole people.[*] This weapon did not long remain
unemployed in the hands of the clergy: William Sautre, rector of St.
Osithes in London, had been condemned by the convocation of Canterbury;
his sentence was ratified by the house of peers; the king issued
his writ for the execution; [**] and the unhappy man atoned for his
erroneous opinions by the penalty of fire. This is the first instance of
that kind in England; and thus one horror more was added to those dismal
scenes which at that time were already but too familiar to the people.

But the utmost precaution and prudence of Henry could not shield him
from those numerous inquietudes which assailed him from every quarter.
The connections of Richard with the royal family of France, made that
court exert its activity to recover his authority, or reven