[CHAPTER XXVI.]
THE MAY-DAY SPORTS.
SIR MILES spent several days in London and Westminster. There were purchases to be made for his wife and household, for the cloth and linen made at home was neither so fine or so perfect, as yet, that it was suitable for all their requirements. Then there were old friends to look up; and although many of these had left the neighbourhood of London when the Cardinal fell from power, still a few remained, and he was glad to renew his acquaintance with some of them to hear their opinions as to the changes now in progress.
Of course these could scarcely be expected to hold the same view as citizens, like Master Monmouth; but they agreed in one point, and that was that the King and Cromwell had shown themselves so masterful in defying the Pope, and claiming the supremacy of the Church as the right of the Crown, that they feared it would never again revert to Rome; that for good or evil the Church of England would remain independent of Papal control, except in so far as the people chose to hold themselves bound to obey as a matter of conscience.
It was evidently a matter of sorrow to some of these friends that the Pope had driven the King to take this step; but then, as one of them argued, what could the Pope himself do between the King of England and the Emperor of Germany? He was the nephew of Queen Catherine, and had been known to threaten the Pope with all sorts of punishments if he dared to pronounce the divorce of his aunt; and so the supreme Pontiff must have felt himself like a shuttlecock between these two masterful monarchs, until Henry cut the Gordian knot, by declaring himself head of the Church, and he and his kingdom free of Papal control.
"It would have been better if our Master Wolsey had succeeded in his aims, and been made Pope. He would have found some way out of the difficulty without this severance," said one friend, who was ready to follow Sir Thomas More to the block rather than acknowledge the right of the King to be head of the Church.
Sir Miles shook his head. "Whatever the outcome of this struggle may be in the present," he said, "it must in the end enlarge the liberties of England. Her people are waking here in the towns, as we in Oxford some years ago, and among her citizens—"
"What!" interrupted his friend. "You know little of what is going on to suppose that we have more liberty now than we had under the Cardinal. He hated Parliaments, I know; but this upstart, Cromwell, has learned how to make them do his bidding, and it is through the Parliament that an Englishman scarce dare breathe what he thinks, even in his own home. Why, I may be taking myself to the block for talking to you as I have done; and you say the King and Cromwell will enlarge our liberty."
"They have granted the people the right to read the New Testament," retorted Sir Miles; "and I tell you that, in doing this, they are putting a weapon into the people's hands they will not fail to grasp, and to use with all the tenacity and power that make an Englishman what he is. This is the seed that shall presently grow into such a tree as neither King nor priest shall be able to uproot; and I hear that, to make its truths more widely known, a copy of this book is to be set up on a desk in every church, that those who cannot read for themselves may repair thither and listen to some who can read it to them."
"Well, Sir Miles, if you are like to prove a true prophet in this matter, the Church has been wise to forbid any but the clergy reading this pestilent book. For my part, I shall forbid it in mine own household, and any knave or wench bringing a Testament under my roof shall be cast out instantly."