stasy of
everybody."

He also gave himself to masquerades and charades. We are told: "It was at
the Christmas festivals at Richmond, that Henry VIII. stole from the side
of the Queen during the jousts, and returned in the disguise of a strange
Knight, astonishing all the company with the grace and vigour of his
tilting. At first the King appeared ashamed of taking part in these
gladiatorial exercises, but the applause he received on all sides soon
inclined him openly to appear on every occasion in the tilt-yard.
Katharine humoured the childish taste of her husband for disguisings and
masquings, by pretending great surprise when he presented himself before
her in some assumed character."

He was gifted with enormous energy; he could ride all day, changing his
horses nine or ten times a day; then he would dance all night; even then
his energies were not exhausted; then he would write what the courtiers
described as poetry, or he would compose music, or he would dash off an
attack on Luther, and so earn from the Pope the much-coveted title of
"_Fidei Defensor_."

In shooting at the butt, it is said, Henry excelled, drawing the best bow
in England. At tennis, too, he excelled beyond all others. He was addicted
to games of chance, and his courtiers permitted him to lose as much as
L3,500 in the course of one year--scarcely a tactful proceeding. He
played with taste and execution on the organ, harpsichord and lute. He had
a powerful voice, and sang with great accomplishment.

One of Henry's anthems, "O Lord, the Maker of all thyng," is said to be of
the highest merit, and is still sung in our Cathedrals. In his songs,[2]
he particularly liked to dwell on his constancy as a lover:

"As the holly groweth green and never changeth hue,
So I am--ever have been--unto my lady true."

and again:

"For whoso loveth, should love but one."

An admirable maxim.

_As Statesman_

In spite of all these distractions, Henry was an excellent man of business
in the State--indeed, he threw himself into public affairs with the energy
which characterised all his doings. The autocrat only slumbered in Henry;
and before many years had passed, he threw the enormous energy, which he
had hitherto reserved for his pleasure, into affairs of State.

Under Henry, the Navy was first organised as a permanent force. His power
of detail was prodigious in this direction. Ever loving the picturesque,
even in the most practical affairs of li