XXVI. CHA P. the proprietors are violent and ineffectual. During a century and a half after this period, there was a fre1509. quent renewal of laws and edicts against depopulation; whence we may infer that none of them were ever executed. The natural course of improvement at last provided a remedy. Z ONE check to industry in England was the erecting of corporations; an abuse which is not yet entirely corrected. A law was enacted, that corporations should not pass any bye-laws without the consent of three of the chief officers of state. They were prohibited from imposing tolls at their gates. The cities of Glocester and Worcester had even imposed tolls on the Severne, which were abolished. a THERE is a law of this reign, containing a preamble by which it appears, that the company of merchant adventurers in London had, by their own authority, debarred all the other merchants of the Kingdom from trading to the great marts in the Low Countries, unless each trader previously paid them the sum of near seventy pounds. It is surprising that such a bye-law (if it deserve the name) could ever be carried into execution, and that the authority of parliament should be requisite to abrogate it. It was during this reign, on the second of August 1492, a little before sun-set, that Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, set out from Spain on his memorable voyage for the discovery of the western world; and a few years after Vasquez de Gama, a Portuguese, passed the Cape of Good Hope, and opened a new passage to the East Indies. These great events were attended with important consequences to all the nations of Europe, even to such as were not immediately concerned in those naval enterprises. The enlargement of commerce and 19 H. 7. cap. 7. b Ibid. cap. 18. Ibid. cap. 8. navigation XXVI. 1509. navigation increased industry and the arts every CHA P. where: The nobles dissipated their fortunes in expensive pleasures: Men of an inferior rank both acquired a share in the landed property, and created to themselves a considerable property of a new kind, in stock, commodities, art, credit, and correspondence. In some nations the privileges of the commons increased by this increase of property: In most nations the Kings, finding arms to be dropped by the Barons, who could no longer endure their former rude manner of life, established standing armies, and subdued the liberties of their kingdoms: But in all places the condition of the people, from the depression of the petty tyrants by whom they had formerly been oppressed rather than governed, received great improvement; and they acquired, if not entire liberty, at least the most considerable advantages of it. And as the general course of events thus tended to depress the nobles and exalt the people, Henry VII., who also embraced that system of policy, has acquired more praise than his institutions, strictly speaking, seem of themselves to deserve, on account of any profound wisdom attending them. Ir was by accident only that the King had not a considerable share in those great naval discoveries by which the present age was so much distinguished. Columbus, after meeting with many repulses from the courts of Portugal and Spain, sent his brother Bartholomew to London, in order to explain his projects to Henry, and crave his protection for the execution of them. The King invited him over to England; but his brother being taken by pirates, was detained in his voyage; and Columbus meanwhile having obtained the countenance of Isabella, was supplied with a small fleet, and happily executed his enterprise. Henry was not discouraged by this disappointment: He fitted out Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian, settled in Bristol; and sent him westwards, 1509. CHA P. in 1498, in search of new countries. Cabot discoXXVI. vered the main land of America towards the sixtieth degree of northern latitude: He sailed southwards along the coast, and discovered Newfoundland, and other countries; but returned to England without making any conquest or settlement. Elliot, and other merchants in Bristol, made a like attempt in 1502. d The King expended fourteen thousand pounds in building one ship, called the Great Harry. She was, properly speaking, the first ship in the English navy. Before this period, when the Prince wanted a fleet, he had no other expedient than hiring or pressing ships from the merchants. e BUT though this improvement of navigation, and the discovery of both the Indies, was the most memorable incident that happened during this or any other period, it was not the only great event by which the age was distinguished. In 1453, Constantinople was taken by the Turks; and the Greeks, among whom some remains of learning were still preserved, being scattered by these barbarians, took shelter in Italy, and imported, together with their admirable language, a tincture of their science, and of their refined taste in poetry and eloquence. About the same time the purity of the Latin tongue was revived, the study of antiquity became fashionable, and the esteem for literature gradually propagated itself throughout every nation in Europe. The art of printing, invented about that time, extremely facilitated the progress of all these improvements: The invention of gunpowder changed the whole art of war: Mighty innovations were soon after made in religion, such as not only affected those states that embraced them, but even those that adhered to the ancient faith and worship: And thus a general revolution was made in human affairs throughout this part of the d Rymer, vol. xiii. p.37. Stowe, p. 484. world; XXVI. 1509. world; and men gradually attained that situation C H A P. with regard to commerce, arts, science, government, police, and cultivation, in which they have ever since persevered. Here, therefore, commences the useful as well as the more agreeable part of modern annals; certainty has place in all the considerable, and even most of the minute parts of historical narration; a great variety of events, preserved by printing, give the author the power of selecting as well as adorning the facts which he relates; and as each incident has a reference to our present manners and situation, instructive lessons occur every moment during the course of the narration. Whoever carries his anxious researches into preceding periods is moved by a curiosity, liberal indeed and commendable; not by any necessity for acquiring knowledge of public affairs, or the arts of civil government. DD 4 CHA P. CHAP. XXVII HENRY VIII. Popularity of the new King. - His Ministers. Scotland. Wolsey Minister. - His character.— THE HE death of Henry VII. had been attended with as open and visible a joy among the people as 1509. decency would permit ; and the accession and coroPopularity nation of his son Henry VIII. spread universally a of the new declared and unfeigned satisfaction. Instead of a King. Monarch jealous, severe, and avaricious, who, in proportion as he advanced in years, was sinking still deeper in those unpopular vices, a young Prince of eighteen had succeeded to the throne, who even in the eyes of men of sense gave promising hopes of his future conduct, much more in those of the people, always enchanted with novelty, youth, and royal dignity. The beauty and vigour of his person, accompanied with dexterity in every manly exercise, was farther adorned with a blooming and ruddy countenance, with a lively air, with the appearance of spirit and activity in all his demeanour. His father, in order to remove him f f T. Mori Lucubr. p. 182. from |