26. Now Henry the Eighth had a disagreement with the Pope, about his second marriage; so he determined to abolish the Catholic religion, to seize on and destroy the monasteries and nunneries, and to have Protestant clergymen to preach and read the prayers in the churches.
27. It would be too long a story to tell you how he accomplished all this; but it was done. There were nearly a thousand religious houses, that is, convents, abbeys, and priories, in England, inhabited by monks and nuns, clerks and friars, of different orders, who had no other homes, nor any means of living, but on the property of the establishments to which they belonged; and these were all suppressed, together with many colleges and hospitals, which also supported a great many poor people.
28. The poor were very sorry the convents were broken up, for they had been accustomed to go there when they were in distress, for food, clothing, or medicine; and now they did not know where to get relief, as there were no workhouses; the hospitals, and all other charitable institutions, except some alms-houses, having been destroyed; nor was it till almost the middle of the reign of queen Elizabeth that any provision was made by law for the destitute poor.
29. The manufactures of England were now fast increasing. Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield, were beginning to be known as manufacturing towns; the first, for woollens and cottons; the others, for cutlery and hardware.
30. Pewter plates and dishes were made in large quantities, for they were now used in the most respectable families instead of wood; hats were also made in England in this reign; and a clock, the first ever manufactured in this country.
31. But nothing was more useful than the improvements made in gardening, for which we are indebted to the Flemings and Dutch, who were the best gardeners in Europe, and who brought here many kinds of vegetables for the table, such as cabbages, lettuces, &c., and many fruits that had not been cultivated in England since the time of the Romans, particularly cherries and currants.
32. Potatoes were not known until the reign of queen Elizabeth, when Sir Walter Raleigh brought some from America, and planted them, first in Ireland, little thinking, perhaps, that this root would, at a future time, be almost the only food of the Irish people.
33. Henry the Eighth had three more wives, Anne of Cleves, whom he divorced; Catherine Howard, whom he had beheaded, like poor Anna Boleyn; and Catherine Parr, who outlived him.
34. He reigned thirty-eight years, and was succeeded by his son, Edward the Sixth, who was only nine years old, and died before he was sixteen; so that he can scarcely be reckoned among the kings of England.
35. He was a pious and amiable prince, fond of learning, and extremely charitable. He founded St. Thomas’s Hospital, for the sick poor; and Christ’s Hospital and School, for the education of boys who had lost their fathers.