to the Church.  It was wresting away the power which the clergy had enjoyed from the days of Alfred and Ina,—­a reform which Henry II. and Edward I., and other sovereigns, had failed to effect.  This was the great work of Cromwell, and in it he had the support of his royal master, since it was a transfer of power from the clergy to the throne; and Henry VIII. was hated and anathematized by Rome as Henry IV. of Germany was, without ceasing to be a Catholic.  He even retained the title of Defender of the Faith, which had been conferred upon him by the Pope for his opposition to the theological doctrines of Luther, which he never accepted, and which he always detested.

Cromwell did not long survive the great services he rendered to his king and the nation.  In the height of his power he made a fatal mistake.  He deceived the King in regard to Anne of Cleves, whose marriage he favored from motives of expediency and a manifest desire to promote the Protestant cause.  He palmed upon the King a woman who could not speak a word of English,—­a woman without graces or accomplishments, who was absolutely hateful to him.  Henry’s disappointment was bitter, and his vengeance was unrelenting.  The enemies of Cromwell soon took advantage of this mistake.  The great Duke of Norfolk, head of the Catholic party, accused him at the council-board of high treason.  Two years before, such a charge would have received no attention; but Henry now hated him, and was resolved to punish him for the wreck of his domestic happiness.

Cromwell was hurried to that gloomy fortress whose outlet was generally the scaffold.  He was denied even the form of trial.  A bill of attainder was hastily passed by the Parliament he had ruled.  Only one person in the realm had the courage to intercede for him, and this was Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury; but his entreaties were futile.  The fallen minister had no chance of life, and no one knew it so well as himself.  Even a trial would have availed nothing; nothing could have availed him,—­he was a doomed man.  So he bade his foes make quick work of it; and quick work was made.  In eighteen days from his arrest, Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, Knight of the Garter, Grand Chamberlain, Lord Privy Seal, Vicar-General, and Master of the Wards, ascended the scaffold on which had been shed the blood of a queen,—­making no protestation of innocence, but simply committing his soul to Jesus Christ, in whom he believed.  Like Wolsey, he arose from an humble station to the most exalted position the King could give; and, like Wolsey, he saw the vanity of delegated power as soon as he offended the source of power.

     “He who ascends the mountain-tops shall find
      The loftiest peak most wrapped in clouds and storms. 
      Though high above the sun of glory shines,
      And far beneath the earth and ocean spread,
      Round him are icy rocks, and loudly blow. 
      Contending tempests on his naked head.”