LETTER XV.

MY DEAR BOY,

In my last letter I gave you a short account of the history of Henry the Fourth. The next king was Henry the Fifth, his eldest son. I told you what a wild, ill-disposed, young man this prince had been, and how fond he was of bad company -the way, of all others, to teach a young man every thing that is wrong.

You may be sure that, when this young prince came to be king, all his riotous companions would expect that they should be in great favour; and that they should be enabled to indulge in all their profligate schemes and wicked pleasures. But they soon found the difference; for the king sent for them, and told them, that he was thoroughly ashamed of his past behaviour: he gave them each a small allowance, sufficient to enable them to live honestly without being tempted to unfair means

of supporting themselves; and he, at the same time, ordered them never to come into his presence again, till they had completely altered their manners and practices.

The orderly and good people, on the other hand, expected that they should find no favour; but they soon experienced, to their great joy, the altered disposition of the new king. There is a pretty story of Sir William Gascoyne, who had once sent the young prince to prison for his riotous and bad behaviour. This upright judge felt it to be his duty to punish what was wrong wherever he found it; he knew that the laws of England made no difference between the rich and the poor, and he was honest enough to execute these laws in a fair and impartial manner. He thought of his duty rather than of his interest, and, therefore, he committed the prince to prison for his ill conduct, just the same as he would have done the poorest person in the kingdom. But, when this young prince came to be king, Sir William Gascoyne naturally expected that he should suffer for his former conduct but, instead of this, the young king sent for him; told him that he had acted rightly and nobly, encouraged him to go on in the same

honest and independent manner, and bestowed on him great marks of approbation and favour. Thus did this young king begin to govern; pursuing exactly the course to make his kingdom prosperous, and his people happy; encouraging all those whose characters were good, and setting his face wholly against flatterers, and drunkards, and profligates.

You know, that, in the times of which I am writing, the Roman Catholic form of religion was professed in England; the religion of this country, and of many others, being then very much under the power of the popes of Rome, whose ambition and pride had led them, in many respects, to corrupt and pervert the true religion of Christ. It seemed to be their wish to keep the people in ignorance. The Bible and Prayer-book were in the Latin language; so that the people knew little of the real meaning of the Gospel, and had but little opportunity of knowing more. When we get to the reign of Henry the Eighth, we shall see that these things were altered: there was a Reformation; and those who opposed and protested against the religion of the pope were called Protestants; which is the name, as you know, by

which we are called now.

But though, I say,

the Protestant religion was not established in England till the reign of Henry the Eighth, yet there were some good men who endeavoured to enlighten the minds of the people long before that time. So early as the reign of Richard the Second, Wickliff translated the Bible into English; but this gave great offence, and people were forbidden to read it; and many were actually put to death, because they wished to read the Bible.

There was one nobleman, in particular, Lord Cobham, who was very desirous of bringing about a reformation; and he encouraged the people to read Wickliff's Bible. For this he was seized, and sent a prisoner to the Tower; and, some time afterwards, he was put to death in the most cruel and dreadful manner that can be conceived. They applied all sorts of tortures to him; and, at last, they fastened a chain round his body, and actually roasted him alive over a slow fire.

It was by such cruelties as these, that the enemies of religion endeavoured to keep down the knowledge of the truth; and, as we go on in

our history, we shall see a great deal more about these dreadful persecutions.

These cruelties could not, however, put a stop to the progress of religion; on the contrary, they were the means of giving strength to the cause. They proved how little of true Christianity these persecutors had, and thus made the real Christians more anxious for a reformation. The patience, too, with which the Protestant martyrs bore their sufferings, was a convincing proof that they felt their cause to be good; and they were supported under their trials by the almighty power of God. The Papists did indeed persecute the Protestants in a most dreadful manner, and inflicted every torture that their malice could invent. It is true, that cruelties were practised on both sides; and, indeed, where there is a want of the true spirit of Christ's religion, whatever a man may be called, he will be ready to commit any kind of wickedness to which he may be tempted. We shall, however, see more of this subject when we come to the time of the Reformation in the reign of Henry the Eighth; and more still, when we look at the cruelties in the time of his daughter, the bloody queen Mary. But I think, that, even