hundreds of thieves and robbers, and took vigorous measures to recover the crown lands from the rapacious nobles.

Though all these measures were right and just in themselves, it could not be expected that the nobles would tamely submit to them. The king saw that most of the evils under which the country suffered arose from the overgrown power of the nobility, and he set to work vigorously to restrain this power. The nobles, finding they could not contend openly against their sovereign, had recourse to conspiracy; and a plot was formed for his assassination. The head of the conspiracy was the king's uncle, the Duke of Athole, and Sir Robert Stewart, the royal chamberlain. Sir Robert Graham, a bold bad man of the most determined character, undertook the conduct of the plot.

On the night of the 20th of Feb. 1437, the conspirators proceeded towards the royal bedchamber where James was conversing with the queen and her ladies before retiring to rest. The noise of the approaching assassins alarmed the king and those with him. He flew to the windows, but found them secured by immovable bars. The ladies rushed to fasten the door, but it was found that the bolts had been taken away; and a heroic woman, Catherine Douglas, making her arm a bolt for the door, held it till the bone was snapped in two. In the meantime, James having torn up one of the planks of the floor, dropped into a dark vault below. At first the mode of the king's escape was not detected, and the assassins left the room. On hearing a noise, which was occasioned by the king attempting to come up from the vault, the conspirators again returned to the chamber, and soon discovered the place of concealment. Unarmed as he was, James made a desperate defence when they sprang down upon him; but Graham at last succeeded in dealing a fatal stroke. His body, when examined, was found to be pierced with sixteen wounds.

James possessed natural abilities of the highest order, and his attainments were remarkable both for their

variety and extent. He was distinguished for his skill in all chivalrous exercises. He had a considerable knowledge of medicine; could play well on the lute and harp, and was skilful as a writer, painter, and illuminator. Besides his chief work, The King's Quhair, two other poems of a humourous character have been attributed to him, Christ's Kirk on the Green, and Peblis to the Play; but the evidence of their authorship is doubtful.

SIR THOMAS MORE.-1480-1534.

WE have stated that Chaucer was the first great English poet: Sir Thomas More was the first who wrote good English prose. He was born at London, in Milk Street, Cheapside, in the year 1480. His father, Sir John More, was one of the judges of the Court of King's Bench. At the age of fifteen More was placed, as a page, in the household of Cardinal Morton, who was at that time Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor. The cardinal appreciated the boy's intelligence and ready wit, and on one occasion remarked to his guests" This child here, waiting at the table, whosoever shall live to see it, will prove a marvellous rare man," At the suggestion of his patron, More was sent to Oxford, where he was a most diligent student. At the end of two years he returned to London, and was called to the bar. His industry and abilities soon placed him in the front rank of his profession; and at three and twenty he entered Parliament.

In 1504, Henry VII. demanded from Parliament a large subsidy, on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter Margaret with James IV. of Scotland. The marriage was made a pretext for extorting money; and More, young as he was, resolutely opposed the grant. The subsidy was lost; and the king revenged himself on More by throwing his father into prison, and keeping

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him there until he paid a heavy fine for some imaginary offence. To avoid the king's resentment, More deemed it prudent to give up the practice of his profession, and to live a secluded life during the remainder of the reign. It was probably at this period that he wrote his History of Richard III., a work respecting which Mr. Hallam says, "it appears to me the first example of good English language, pure and perspicuous, well chosen, without vulgarisms or pedantry."

On the accession of Henry VIII., More emerged from his seclusion. He rose rapidly in his profession, found himself in the receipt of a considerable income, and built a large house in Chelsea. This populous suburb of the metropolis was at that period a pleasant rural retreat. It was the favourite residence of the nobility, and on account of its numerous stately mansions was termed a "village of palaces." The Thames was at this time the great highway for traffic, and every nobleman kept his six or eight oared barge. More's house stood about one hundred yards from the banks of the river, near Battersea Bridge, but it has long since been pulled down. Here he was visited by his friend Erasmus, and here occasionally the king himself would call; for More was a great favourite with Henry VIII., and was often invited to the palace. In 1514, he had quitted the bar, was knighted, and made a privy counsellor; and in 1523, he was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons.

At this time the Reformation had taken deep root in Germany owing to the preaching of Martin Luther. Sir Thomas, like his friend Erasmus, was aware of the many abuses which then existed in the church, and was desirous to reform them; but he was not prepared to renounce his allegiance to the Pope, or to give up the doctrines then taught. Accordingly, we find him assisting King Henry, when he engaged in a controversy on the sacraments with the great German Reformer. But events were hastening the approach of the Reformation in England. The king pretended to have scruples about his marriage with Katherine of Arragon, and wished for

a divorce. Wolsey, who was Lord Chancellor, and had hitherto been Henry's chief adviser, now disgusted his royal master because he did not carry out his wishes with sufficient alacrity. The Great Seal was taken from him; and in October 1529, More took the oaths as Lord Chancellor.

Sir Thomas More was the first layman who held this high office, and his conduct in it was admirable. The business of the court was despatched with promptitude, the strictest impartiality was shown to all suitors, and the very appearance of bribery disappeared. His father, now nearly ninety years of age, had lived to see his son reach the summit of the legal profession; and "every day during term time, before the chancellor began business in his own court, he went into the Court of King's Bench, and, kneeling before his father, asked, and received his blessing." The same simplicity of character and absence of display distinguished him in every relation of life. When he attended service at the parish church in Chelsea, it was his custom to put on a surplice and sit in the choir. The Duke of Norfolk on one occasion took him to task, and told him that the Lord Chancellor, in playing the parish clerk, dishonoured the king, and his own office. "Nay," said Sir Thomas, smiling, "your grace must not deem that the king, your master and mine, will be offended at my honouring his master."

More only held the Great Seal two years and a half. Being pressed by the king to urge on the divorce, he resigned his office. The way he announced his resignation to his family was very characteristic of him. It has been mentioned that the chancellor sat in the choir. It was the custom when, at the close of the service, he had put off his surplice in the vestry, for one of the gentlemen of his household to step up to the pew in which Lady More sat, and say, "Madam, my lord is gone." On the first occasion of his being at prayers after his resignation, he himself stepped up to the pew, and with a smile on his face said, bowing low as he spoke, "Madam, my lord is gone." His wife took it for one of his many

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jests, and it was not until they had left the church that she understood that the Lord Chancellor was gone, that she only had Sir Thomas More left.

After resigning the Great Seal, More never busied himself any further in public affairs, but devoted his time to study and prayer, in order to prepare himself for the conflict which he saw approaching. Shortly after More's resignation, Cranmer pronounced the divorce, and the king was married to Anne Boleyn. A new oath of allegiance was then voted by Parliament. It declared the marriage with Katherine invalid, sanctioned that with Anne Boleyn, and fixed the succession in the children of the latter. Among those who refused to take the oath were Sir Thomas More, and Fisher, bishop of Rochester. To the words fixing the succession, More did not object, but he scrupled to take the oath as a whole. Upon this he was committed to the Tower. Here he languished for twelve months, and was then tried for high treason, found guilty, and condemned to be beheaded.

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He was conveyed back to the Tower in a barge with the axe carried before him, with its edge turned towards him, to signify his sentence. On reaching the Tower wharf, his favourite daughter, Margaret, forced her way through the guards, clasped him round the neck, and sobbed aloud. The bystanders wept, and the guards were so much affected, that they could hardly summon up resolution to separate father and daughter. More maintained his cheerful serenity until the last. When the day of execution arrived, some fears were expressed lest the scaffold, which was not very secure, might break down. "Mr. Lieutenant," said More cheerfully, "see me safe up, and for my coming down, let me shift for myself." After prayers he laid his head upon the block, and bade the headsman hold his hand until he had moved aside his beard, saying, with a smile, "My beard has never committed treason; pity that should be cut." Then the axe fell, and the neck was severed at one blow.

The work by which More is best known is the Utopia, which was originally written in Latin. It is the descrip