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greater firmness of mind and resolution than in the death of Seneca, Cato, or even Socrates.

Mr. Addison has observed upon this subject, "that if he was so much pleased with gaiety and humour in a dying man, he might have found a much nobler instance of it in Sir Thomas More, who died upon a point of religion, and is respected as a martyr by that side for which he suffered. The innocent mirth, so conspicuous in his lifetime, did not forsake him at the last. His death was of a piece with his life-there was nothing in it forced or affected. He did not look upon the severing of his head from his body as a circumstance which ought to produce any change in the disposition of his mind; and as he died in a firm and settled hope of immortality, he thought any unusual degree of sorrow or concern improper."*

"His character, both in public and private life, comes as near perfection as our nature will permit," writes Lord Campbell. "No good Catholic could declare that the King's first marriage had been absolutely void from the beginning. I own I feel little respect for those by whose instrumentality the Reformation was brought about, and, with all my Protestant zeal, I must feel a greater reverence for Sir Thomas More than for Cranmer or Cromwell.”

It has remained for Lord Herbert and Mr. Froude alone to deteriorate from the character of this great man.

Sir Thomas More and the venerable John Fisher were the first to seal with their blood their adherence to the ancient faith, their loyal devotion to the Holy See. They were foremost in the rank of those noble souls who,

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encouraged by their example, laid down their lives in the same cause, and amongst them we must not forget to name the parish priest of Chelsea, Dr. Larke, who suffered martyrdom shortly after Sir Thomas More.

More than three centuries of penal persecution were the small number of Catholics, who stood firm to the faith of their fathers, fated to undergo. Now we behold the Church, in these our happier times, rising like a Phoenix from its ashes, and not in vain has the blood of the English martyrs been shed, not in vain did they die in defence of the faith of their fathers, for truly the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.

Inflexible, as is the faith for which he so nobly died, the character of Sir Thomas More is marked throughout by a firm and earnest straightforwardness of purpose. One and all alike, even those whose religious opinions were deeply imbued by the new teaching, bore unfaltering testimony to his sincerity.

Would that our humble pen could pourtray his character in the glowing terms it so well deserves; we are fain to say we can in no ways do it justice by any words of ours.

Sir Thomas More was an accomplished gentleman, a profound scholar, in the fullest acceptation of the term. He was an eloquent orator, a clever statesman, an equitable judge, and yet, it is amid the quiet scenes of his Chelsea home that we love best to contemplate his character. His playful, almost childlike simplicity, his tenderness as a father, his compassion to his servants, his earnest love of God and His Church, are strikingly pourtrayed in each and every action of his daily life.

Sir Thomas More lived the life of a saint, and he died the death of a martyr.

"The remembrance of him shall never be lost, and his name shall be in request from generation to generation.

"The nations shall proclaim his wisdom, and the church shall publish his praise."

357

CHAPTER XXVI.

CHELSEA, OR, In Memoriam.

AGAINST the south wall of the chancel in the old Parish Church at Chelsea, in which Sir Thomas More was wont daily to assist at Mass, is the monument erected by himself in the year 1532. The tablet on which the inscription is engraved is under a Tudor arch, the cornice of which is ornamented with foliage, and in the centre of it is his crest, viz., a Moor's head. The spandrils of the arch are ornamented with branches of the vine, and in the midst are his arms and those of his first wife, and on each side are the arms of himself and his two wives.

It may be observed that Sir Thomas More's tomb stands in the Rector's chancel, on the south side, near the communion table, once the altar; and, since he had a chancel of his own why did he not erect his monument there? I answer that Sir Thomas often officiated (served?)* at the altar, his intimate friend and parish priest, Dr. Larke, who suffered soon after him in the supremacy matter, and therefore it may be supposed he desired to lay his remains as near the altar as could conveniently be, and that was within the rails where he used to attend Mass.

*The above is evidently a mistake of the Protestant author. I quote from "Faulkner's History of Chelsea." It was the custom of Sir Thomas More to serve the Mass of his friend, Dr. Larke, in the Parish Church, at Chelsea. The word officiate can only be applied to the priest.

The following is the translation of the epitaph written by Sir Thomas himself, and engraven on his monument :—

"Thomas More, a Londoner born, of no noble family but of an honest stock, was yet well brought up in learning, who, after he had for some years, while still young, pleaded in the Courts, and acted as judge in the Sheriff's Court in the city, was summoned to Court by the invincible King Henry the Eighth, who alone, of all kings, worthily deserveth to be styled Defender of the Faith, which honour he merited by his sword and his pen; he was chosen one of the Council, made Knight, and at first appointed ViceTreasurer, after that Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and last of all, with great favor of his Prince, Lord Chancellor of England. But in the meantime he was chosen Speaker of the Parliament, besides being in divers times and places the King's Ambassador, last of all at Cambray, being joined with Cuthbert Tunstal, chief of that Embassy, then Bishop of London, and awhile after Bishop of Durham, who so excelleth in wit, learning, and virtue, that the whole world hath none more learned, wise, and better; he both joyfully saw, and was present when the leagues between the chief princes of Christendom were renewed again, and peace so desired restored to Christendom; which peace may God confirm and make lasting.

"While he was thus employed in a course of honourable duties, so that neither his gracious prince could disapprove his doings, nor was he odious to the nobility nor unpleasant to the people, but yet he was to thieves, murderers, and troublesome.

"At length, Sir John More, his father, knight, and chosen by the Prince to be one of the Justices of the King's

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