Dudley, who extorted money from the people in a most unjust manner. By these means, and by his unwillingness to spend anything upon himself, he amassed great riches.

One day, when the Earl of Oxford was giving him a magnificent entertainment, the King observed that the Earl had a greater number of servants than the law permitted. "By my faith, my lord,” said the King, "I thank you for my good cheer, but I must not allow my laws to be broken in my presence. My attorney must speak The Earl is said to have paid fifteen thousand marks for his offence. Henry died in 1509, in the twentythird year of his reign.

to you.

Henry had two sons,― Arthur, who married Katherine of Arragon, but who died in the following year; and Henry, who succeeded to the throne.

HENRY THE EIGHTH.

1509-1547.

HENRY VIII. ascended the throne with bright hopes of a prosperous reign. His treasury was full; he was at peace with all the neighbouring nations; and he united in his person the rival claims of the Houses of York and Lancaster. He was only eighteen years of age when he became king, and he possessed those frank and easy manners which won the hearts of his subjects.

Having obtained permission from the Pope, Henry married Katherine, his brother Arthur's widow. They lived happily together for eighteen years; and though they had several children, the Princess Mary was the only one who survived.

Henry was not so careful as his father in abstaining from foreign wars. About

four years after he became king, without any reasonable motive he made an incursion into France. But that war did not last long, for after one battle—the Battle of the Spurs, so called because the French made more use of their spurs than their swords—he was glad to make peace. While Henry was in France, England was invaded by James IV., King of Scotland. The brave Earl of Surrey commanded the English army, and having met the enemy at a place called Flodden Field, a battle took place in which the Scottish king and a great number of the nobility were slain, and their army was routed with great slaughter.

About this time Francis I. ascended the throne of France, and as he was about Henry's age, it was agreed that they should pass some time in each other's company. The spot fixed upon for their first meeting was near the town of Ardres, in Picardy.

The richest nobles of England and France, with their ladies dressed in their gayest attire and adorned with their most precious jewels, assembled at the appointed time. Nearly three thousand splendid tents were pitched in the neighbouring plain, and there was so much gold in the dresses of the men and in the trappings of the horses, that the place was called the Field of the Cloth of Gold. All the arrangements were made by Cardinal Wolsey, who at that time was in great favour with King Henry.

This Cardinal Wolsey, the son of a butcher in Ipswich, had by his great abilities risen to the highest position in the kingdom. Wolsey, however, was doomed to feel the uncertainty of trusting in princes; for having thwarted his royal master on some point on which he had set his heart, he was disgraced and his riches taken from him.

He fell ill after this, and his last