Slike strani
PDF
ePub

1

0

ners of the people, as, at length, was productive of mighty confequences. The civil wars had greatly weakened the numbers and ftrength of the feudal lords, and it was the policy and intereft of the king ftill farther to reduce their power, and deftroy their influence. But this fcheme could not take effect without his paying a regard to the body of his fubjects, and endeavouring to promote their general interefts. He was induced, therefore, to encourage, in various ways, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, than which nothing could be better calculated to render the bulk of the people less: dependent upon the nobility and great landholders. Particular ftatutes were, at the fame time, paffed, which co-operated with the natural and gradual improvements that had begun to take place. The diffolution of entails was now fully and finally established, and the profpect of acquiring landed property was opened to those who, in their former ftate, could never have lifted up their minds to fo agreeable an expectation. It was forbidden to the nobles to keep retainers in livery, for the purpose of asfifting them in their quarrels; and hence numbers of men, who before had been idle, licentious, and nuifances to the public, were obliged to betake themselves to honeft employments. By the exercise of industry they grew to be more independent; and the change in their external circumstances produced an alteration in their views, manners, and fentiments. Their understandings became capable of looking to objects which had not formerly been thought of; and, in particular, the feelings of property awakened a feeling of the value and importance of civil liberty. It is true that it was only the foundation of improvement which was laid in the prefent reign, and that the progrefs was comparatively very fmall. The people were too fubfervient to the king, on whom they leaned for fupport; and he fo far availed himself of the advantages of his fituation, as to carry, in many cafes, his prerogatives to a great height. Nevertheless, the government under him was not fo abfo

lutę

lute as hath often been reprefented. No material alterations were made in the ancient conftitution. The king was under the neceffity of having recourse to frequent parliaments; and his authority, when difplayed with the greatest vigour, was ftill confidered as fubordinate to that of the national affembly.

With regard to the ftate of theology in the reign now before us, fcarcely any thing can be faid in its praife." The popish clergy adhered to the system of the schools; and the followers of Wickliff were too much depreffed for their divines to make any ftriking figure. Their principles, however, were gaining ground by degrees; and the minds of numbers of the people were becoming more and more prepared for the mighty changes hereafter to follow.

John Alcock, fucceffively bishop of Rochester, Worcefter, and Ely, ftands among the foremost of the divines who flourished in the time of Henry the Seventh. Though he was much engaged in public employments, he found leifure for the profecution of his private ftudies, the fruits of which appeared in feveral theological and devotional tracts. One piece of his, entitled, "Mons Perfectionis," was fo much admired and read, as to pass through the hands of different printers. Independently of his character as a divine, bifhop Alcock was, in various refpects, a man of diftinguished abilities. Though he wrote upon the Penitential Pfalms in English verfe, we cannot prefume to rank him as a poet.

A Maurice de Portu, who was appointed archbishop of Tuam foon after the acceffion of king Henry the Eighth, and who died before he took poffeffion of his fee, has been reckoned among the learned divines of this period. His works were certainly written in Henry the Seventh's time; but, as he chiefly refided abroad, it may justly be doubted whether he ought to be claffed among

the

the English, or, to fpeak more properly, the Irish authors. At any rate there would be no great lofs of him, as his excellence lay folely in the fcholaftic theology.

John Fisher, the celebrated bishop of Rochester, may in part be referred to the prefent reign. It was in 1502 that he was appointed, by charter, the lady Margaret's first divinity profeffor in Cambridge. He was undoubtedly one of the most learned men of that age: but his theology was entirely devoted to the fupport of the doctrines and claims of the Roman pontiffs. His contemporary, dean Colet, was in this refpect far his fuperior. The dean had a liberality of mind which enabled him to defpife the fubtleties of the schoolmen; and he founded his divinity on the ftudy of the fcriptures, and of the primitive fathers. Even among the fathers, he paid but little reverence to the authority of St. Auguftin; which was a ftretch of freedom very uncommon at the time in which he lived.

The period we are treating of was too fhort, and the age was yet, comparatively fpeaking, too dark, to admit of any confiderable improvement in general philofophy. That continued, for the most part, on the footing which it had formerly maintained. Nevertheless, there was a tendency, in the difpofition of the times, to fome enlargement of fcience. The fpirit of difcovery, which now began to fet Europe in motion, neceffarily occafioned an application to thofe branches of mathematics with which the art of navigation is connected; nor was this fpirit without its influence in our own country. The king, in particular, had imbibed it, and felt the power of it in no fmall degree. Henry the Seventh had fenfe and policy enough to difcern that the ardour for exploring diftant countries, and failing over immense feas in fearch of new worlds, might be converted to the public advantage. He was very near having the honour of being the patron of the great Columbus; and it was only

nour.

only by an accident that he was deprived of this ho That illuftrious navigator, after having met with frequent repulfes from the courts of Portugal and Spain, fent his brother Bartholomew into England, in order to explain his projects to Henry, and to entreat his affiftance in carrying them into execution. The king invited Columbus to England; but his brother, in returning to Spain, was unfortunately taken by pirates, and detained in his voyage. In the mean time, Columbus obtained the protection of Ifabella, queen of Caftile, by whom he was furnished with a small fleet, with which he happily accomplished his enterprife. But though Henry in this inftance met with a difappointment, he did not remit in his zeal for the encouragement of navigation. John Cabot, a native of Venice, but an inhabitant of Bristol, was fent out by the king, in fearch of new countries. Accordingly, in the fpring of the year 1497, he proceeded on his voyage, accompanied by his fon, afterwards the famous Sebastian Cabot, and on the 24th of June following, arrived at the island of Baccalaos, now known by the name of Newfoundland. In purfuit of his object, John Cabot reached the main land of North America. He is understood, therefore, to have difcovered the American continent, before it was done by Columbus, who was not acquainted with it till his laft voyage, in 1498, when he coafted along a part of the ifthmus of Darien. Cabot's difcoveries, though important in their confequences, were not productive of any immediate conquefts or fettlements. A fimilar voyage was undertaken from Bristol, in 1502. The king was not inattentive to the naval force of England; for he expended fourteen thousand pounds in building one fhip, called the Great Harry. This was, properly speaking, the first ship in the English navy, as, heretofore, when the prince wanted a fleet, he had no other method of procuring one, than by hiring veffels from the merchants. Such a man of war as the Great Harry could not have been conftructed, unless there

had

1

1

had been fome improvement in mathematical fcience, and in naval architecture.

There are scarcely any hiftorians to be taken notice of in the present reign. Robert Fabyan, whom we have formerly mentioned, might here have been introduced, as he continued to flourish, and to write, during a confiderable part of Henry the Seventh's Time. But we have seen that he would be little worthy of notice at any period, excepting that he was one of the first of our ancient chroniclers who compofed in the English language. It was at the instance of the king that Polydore Virgil began his hiftory, though it was not till the next reign that the work was completed. Hence, however, it is apparent, that Henry was not indifferent to fo important a matter as hiftorical compofition.

The greatest literary object of the period before us, is the zealous attention that was now paid to claffical learning. Some regard had begun to be fhown to it previously to the king's acceffion; but it was not till this reign that it became a point of very ardent pursuit. Several eminent men, whofe memories deferve to be held in the highest honour, contributed to a revolution fo important in the literature of England. One of them was William Grocyn, who had early made himself mafter of all the learning of his own country, had risen to great reputation, and obtained feveral valuable preferments. Not satisfied with the acquifitions he had already attained, he determined to go abroad for farther improvement. Accordingly, he went into Italy, where he perfected himself in the Greek and Latin languages, under three of the moft celebrated inftructers of the time, Demetrius Chalcondylas and Politian at Florence, and Hermolaus Barbarus at Rome. Upon his return to England, he made it his bufinefs to promote the knowledge of these languages to the utmost of his power. He publicly taught the Greek tongue at Oxford, and is under

ftood

« PrejšnjaNaprej »