t received the Royal assent two years
later. See 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 9.

[238] 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 5. An Act concerning fines and sums of money to be
taken by the ministers of bishops and other ordinaries of holy church for
the probate of testaments.

[239] HALE, _Precedents_, p. 86.

[240] Ibid.

[241] 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 6. An Act concerning the taking of mortuaries, or
demanding, receiving, or claiming the same.

In Scotland the usual mortuary was, a cow and the uppermost cloth or
counterpane on the bed in which the death took place. A bishop reprimanding
a suspected clergyman for his leaning toward the Reformation, said to
him:--

"My joy, Dean Thomas, I am informed that ye preach the epistle and gospel
every Sunday to your parishioners, and that ye take not the cow nor the
upmost cloth from your parishioners; which thing is very prejudicial to the
churchmen. And therefore, Dean Thomas, I would ye took your cow and upmost
cloth, or else it is too much to preach every Sunday, for in so doing ye
may make the people think we should preach likewise."--CALDERWOOD, vol. i.
p. 126.

The bishop had to burn Dean Thomas at last, being unable to work conviction
into him in these matters.

[242] 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 13. An Act that no spiritual person shall take
farms; or buy and sell for lucre and profit; or keep tan-houses or
breweries. And for pluralities of benefices and for residence.

[243] HALL, p. 767.

[244] Ibid. 766

[245] Ibid. 767.

[246] Ibid. 766.

[247] Ibid. 768.

[248] So reluctant was he, that at one time he had resolved, rather than
compromise the unity of Christendom, to give way. When the disposition of
the court of Rome was no longer doubtful, "his difficultatibus permotus,
cum in hoc statu res essent, dixerunt qui ejus verba exceperunt, post
profundam secum de universo negotio deliberationem et mentis agitationem,
tandem in haec verba prorupisse, se primum tentasse illud divortium
persuasum ecclesiam Romanam hoc idem probaturum--quod si ita ilia
abhorreret ab illa sententia ut nullo modo permittendum censeret se nolle
cum ea contendere neque amplius in illo negotio progredi."

Pole, on whose authority we receive these words, says that they were heard
with almost unanimous satisfaction at the council board. The moment of
hesitation was, it is almost certain, at the crisis which preceded or
attended Wolsey's fall. It endured but for three days, and was dispelled by
the influence of Cromwell