out of pity and sympathy did Jane Colt become Mistress More.

He then sought to mould her character to his liking, for she was but young in years, and also had her education completed, for in those days the education of the daughter of a country squire was a very imperfect affair.

After his marriage he removed to Bucklersbury, still prosecuting his studies at Lincoln's Inn with indefatigable ardour, remaining there until he was called to the

Bench.

In the course of a few years Mistress More presented him with four children, three daughters, the eldest of whom became the incomparable Margaret Roper, and one son, whom he named John, after his father, the Judge.

Probably his long residence amongst the Carthusians had much to do with the exactitude and regularity with which the subsequent days of More's busy and toiling life were passed. With him procrastination, "that thief of time,” was known but by name, each hour of the day, so full in the world's work, as well as in preparation for that which is to come, being devoted to its own particular duty.

The day never dawned, unless sickness prevented it, which did not witness the presence of More at the holy sacrifice of the Mass, and it was doubtless owing to this careful offering of the day's first fruits to his God which shed so much peace over the life of this great and good man. So strictly, indeed, did he observe this custom, that on one occasion, when he was high in favour with the king, it is said that a messenger being sent to him while Mass was being offered up, he would not leave, though the message was twice repeated, until Mass was wholly finished, and when requested to hasten quickly

for that the king awaited his coming, he calmly replied that he must first perform his duty to a King who was above all earthly princes.

At this time he was only working his way up to the future eminence he so deservedly enjoyed, and a sore trial it must have been to a man so careful of the interests of his children, and so affectionate a father, when they were deprived by death of their mother's care.

We may not then blame him as soon forgetting the young wife to whom sympathy had led him to offer his hand, and with whom he appears to have led, if but a short, still a happy wedded life, because, in little better than two years, he again entered the married state.

However devoted and affectionate a man may be to his children, and it is as a father that we love to contemplate the character of Sir Thomas More, he never can supply the void to his children occasioned by a mother's death. The busy career of a rising barrister's life led him much from home, and he wisely decided on marrying again for the sake of these motherless little ones.

Love, however, could have had no place in his heart when he espoused the widow, Alice Middleton. She was well advanced in life, plain and hard of feature, with small earthly substance. She had, too, an only daughter, and was grasping and worldly in her disposition. Something, too, was there about this second wooing almost as whimsical as about the first, for, as the story goes, More was set to woo Mistress Middleton for a friend, not for himself; but the widow promptly replied:

"Your wooing will speed better if you do it on your own account, Mr. More; go, tell your friend what I have said."

The story further goes, that More referred it to his friend, who, as he could not get the lady for himself, was well pleased More should become her husband, an event that speedily happened.

Careful and kind, however, she proved to his motherless children; and he, on his part, was a loving father to a child of hers by her first husband. Nevertheless, Mistress More was a downright shrew, and one would think that, but for the good quality we have named, More must often have regretted that he married her.

More then became under-sheriff, an office at that time judicial, and of much importance. His court, we find by a letter written by Erasmus to Hutton, which the reader will peruse when he comes to the description of More's life in his Chelsea home, sat every Thursday, and it testifies to the fact that no judge gave more righteous decisions, often remitting the fines to which he was entitled by the suitor, and the way he conducted himself in this new office endeared him extremely to his fellow-citizens.

A new life, however, shaped itself before More. After an intermission of seven years, Henry VII. called a new parliament, in order to obtain a subsidy of three-fifteenths on the occasion of the marriage of his eldest daughter, the Lady Margaret, with James, king of Scotland. More, whose abilities and talents had speedily won for him the admiration of his fellow-citizens, was returned in parliament, "for many had now taken notice of his sufficiency," and he is recorded as the first member who become famous as an orator, and who, whilst others held their peace, not daring to resist, became a successful leader of the opposition, and incurred the enmity of the court, for his arguments were so powerful

why these exactions should not be granted, that a denial was returned to the king's request,* and Mr. Tyler, a gentleman of his privy chamber, hastening from the house, told his majesty that it was owing to a "beardless boy," that his expectations were disappointed. According to Tudor dealings with refractory subjects More might have been committed to the Tower for the offence, but Henry always had a keen eye to the state of his exchequer, and as More, "nothing having, nothing could lose," his grace devised a causeless quarrel with the eminent Sir John More, his unoffending old father, and placed him in the Tower till he had paid a fine of a hundred pounds.

The trouble this caused to the mind of his son may be easily conceived, and he at once sought out Dr. Fox, Bishop of Winchester, one of the Privy Council; the Bishop affecting great kindness promised him that if he would follow his advice he would get him restored to the king's favour; meaning, as it was afterwards thought, that he should confess his offences against the king, but on leaving the Bishop, More chanced to meet an intimate friend, Dr. Whitford, the Bishop's chaplain, whose advice he also asked.

Whitford instantly conjured him not to follow the Bishop's counsel, and thus serve the king's purpose, adding, “Why, my Lord, to please the king would not stick to agree to his own father's death." It is stated as a proof that More did wisely in not making any confession that he had acted

* Henry was entitled by the feudal customs to ask for aid to make his eldest son a knight, and to marry his eldest daughter. It was, however, so contrived that he might have the merit of moderation whilst he imposed the burden.-Lingard.

† Life of More, by his Great-grandson.

wrongly, that when Dudley and Empson, for their shameful exactions, were led to execution in the next reign, that the former meeting with More, said to him-

"Oh, Mr. More, God was your good friend, that you did not ask the king's forgiveness as many would have done, for if you had done so, perhaps you should have been in the like case with us now."

Henry VII. continued to watch the movements of the young patriot, so that at the first opportunity he might succeed in wreaking his vengeance against him, and justly fearing that in the end some pretext would be devised for doing so, More by degrees almost withdrew from his practice at the bar,* and passed his time in the study of the French language, in learning the viol, and perfecting himself in most of the liberal sciences, geometry, and astronomy, and he strove also to become a perfect historian.

He even meditated leaving England, but such a step was rendered unnecessary, for the death of Henry VII. preserved him for the service of his country.

*It appears from the Statute Book and the Parliament Roll, that this Parliament met in January, 1504, so More must then have been twenty-four years old, the age of William Pitt when Prime Minister. His early biographers say he was twenty-one.-Campbell.