on satin from head to foot, his mule was covered with
crimson velvet, and her trappings were all of gold.

There were jousts and many entertainments and rejoicings, many kissings of
Royal cheeks, but the Sovereigns hated each other cordially. While they
were kissing they were plotting against each other. A more unedifying page
of history has not been written. Appalling, indeed, are the shifts and
intrigues which go to make up the records of the time.

The rulers of Europe were playing a game of cards, in which all the
players were in collusion with, and all cheating each other. Temporizing
and intriguing, Henry met the Spanish monarch immediately before and
immediately after his meeting with the French King. Within a few months,
France and Spain were again at war, and England, in a fruitless and costly
struggle, fought on the side of Spain.

It was the divorce from Katharine of Aragon and its momentous
consequences, which finally put an end to the alliance with Spain, and to
the struggle with France succeeded a long struggle with Spain, which
culminated in the great event of The Armada in the reign of Henry's
daughter, Elizabeth.

However, in these pages it is not proposed to enlarge upon the political
aspect of the times, but rather to deal with the dramatic and domestic
side of Henry's being. In the play of _Henry VIII._, the author or authors
(for to another than Shakespeare is ascribed a portion of the drama), have
given us as impartial a view of his character as a due regard for truth on
the one hand, and a respect for the scaffold on the other, permitted.

_His Aspirations_

There can be no doubt that when Henry ascended the throne, he had a
sincere wish to serve God and uphold the right.

In his early years he was really devout and generous in almsgiving.
Erasmus affirmed that his Court was an example to all Christendom for
learning and piety. To the Pope he paid deference as to the representative
of God.

With youthful enthusiasm, the young King, looking round and seeing
corruption on every side, said to Giustinian, the Venetian ambassador:
"Nor do I see any faith in the world save in me, and therefore God
Almighty, who knows this, prosper my affairs."

In Henry's early reign, England was trusted more than any country to keep
faith in her alliances. At a time when all was perfidy and treachery,
promises and alliances were made only to be broken when self-interest
prompted. History, like Nature itself