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of our regard , notwithstanding the abhorrence and disgust with which other parts of his character inspire us . So far , however , was Henry from acknowledging , in the most distant manner , the right of private judgment in matters of religion , that never , under Pope nor under Potentate , were the consciences of men held in more thorough thraldom than under this reforming Sovereign . To make his own opinions , instead of those of Popes and Councils , the standard by which his subjects were to form theirs , is the sole merit to which ,
as a Reformer , he is entitled . But in the eyes of Mr . Soames , the royal antagonist of Popery necessarily finds favour , and excuses are framed and apologies offered for some of his most reprehensible acts . No one who has fairly studied the character of Henry , can doubt for a moment that , in procuring his first divorce , his pretended religious scruples were merely urged in order to further his personal wishes ; and yet we are gravely told by Mr . Soames , ( Vol . I . p . 258 , ) that " he could not rest satisfied until his marriage
was dissolved by the same authority that had allowed him to contract it ; so that while he gratified his love for Anne Boleyn , his conduct should be solemnly pronounced no other than such as became a man of religion and integrity" So , again , we are informed that " something must in fairness be conceded to the King's conscientious scruples , by those who are anxious to take a sound view of this memorable affair . " ( P . 264 . ) The conduct of
Henry itself furnishes an answer to these remarks . He made Anne Boleyn his wife before his prior marriage had been " dissolved by the same authority that had allowed him to contract it : " and little credit can be given to scruples which never occurred to his mind for the first seventeen years of his marriage , nor until a new passion had rendered the person of his wife distasteful to him .
It is not merely by offering apologies for the conduct o ? Henry that Mr . Soames endeavours to raise his character in the estimation of his readers , but he has also adopted the indirect system of which Hume has made so skilful a use , that of bestowing upon his champion eulogistic epithets , to which he has not in reality the slightest claim . Thus , in speaking of the King ' s conduct to Catherine of Arragon , after their separation , he says , ( Vol . I . p . 390 , ) " He so far departed from his wonted nobleness of mind , as to harass the repudiated Princess by a second message in July , of which the Duke of Suffolk was the bearer "—as if nobleness of mind could dwell with the dark
and cruel passions which inhabited the bosom of Henry . But it is chiefly in reviewing the conduct of Henry in Ecclesiastical matters , that the prejudices of Mr . Soames manifest themselves . Aware that every person of common feeling must reprobate the severities practised at the period of the Reformation , Mr . S . endeavours sometimes to justify them as acts of
political necessity , and sometimes to throw the blame attaching to them entirely upon the Catholics . Thus , in speaking of the unfortunate Carthusians , who suffered , to the letter , the pains of treason , for refusing to acknowledge the King ' s supremacy , Mr . Soames makes the following observation : " Nor are rulers ever placed under more painful circumstances than when , from a due regard to the public peace , and to their own security , they are obliged to
visit honest but dangerous men with the penalties of the law "—a plea which might be urged with precisely the same degree of justice by all who choose to impose their dogmas upon others , and to regard a reluctance to receive them as the sign of rebellion . A similar apology is offered for the execution of Fisher and More , a deed of barbarity which even Mr . S . acknowledges " has impressed a stain of cruelty upon the Reformation . " In the same spirit , the execution of the Maid of Kent , and of those who perished with her ,
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276 Review . — English Reformation .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1827, page 276, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1795/page/44/
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