sion to give some closer account of their
history. When the breach with the pope was made irreparable, and the papal
party at home had assumed an attitude of suspended insurrection, the
fortunes of the Protestants entered into a new phase. The persecution
ceased; and those who but lately were carrying fagots in the streets, or
hiding for their lives, passed at once by a sudden alternation into the
sunshine of political favour. The summer was but a brief one, followed soon
by returning winter; but Cromwell and Latimer had together caught the
moment as it went by; and before it was over, a work had been done in
England which, when it was accomplished once, was accomplished for ever.
The conservative party recovered their power, and abused it as before; but
the chains of the nation were broken, and no craft of kings or priests or
statesmen could weld the magic links again.

It is a pity that of two persons to whom England owes so deep a debt, we
can piece together such scanty biographies. I must attempt, however, to
give some outline of the little which is known.

The father of Latimer was a solid English yeoman, of Thurcaston, in
Leicestershire. "He had no lands of his own," but he rented a farm "of four
pounds by the year," on which "he tilled so much as kept half a dozen men;"
"he had walk for a hundred sheep, and meadow ground for thirty cows."[557]
The world prospered with him; he was able to save money for his son's
education and his daughters' portions; but he was freehanded and
hospitable; he kept open house for his poor neighbours; and he was a good
citizen, too, for "he did find the king a harness with himself and his
horse," ready to do battle for his country, if occasion called. His family
were brought up "in godliness and the fear of the Lord;" and in all points
the old Latimer seems to have been a worthy, sound, upright man, of the
true English mettle.

There were several children.[558] The Reformer was born about 1490, some
five years after the usurper Richard had been killed at Bosworth. Bosworth
being no great distance from Thurcaston, Latimer the father is likely to
have been present in the battle, on one side or the other--the right side
in those times it was no easy matter to choose--but he became a good
servant of the new government--and the little Hugh, when a boy of seven
years old, helped to buckle[559] on his armour for him, "when he went to
Blackheath field."[560] Being a soldier himself, the old