[238] 21 Hen.  VIII. cap. 5.  An Act concerning fines and sums of money to be taken by the ministers of bishops and other ordinaries of holy church for the probate of testaments.

[239] HALE, Precedents, p. 86.

[240] Ibid.

[241] 21 Hen.  VIII. cap. 6.  An Act concerning the taking of mortuaries, or demanding, receiving, or claiming the same.

In Scotland the usual mortuary was, a cow and the uppermost cloth or counterpane on the bed in which the death took place.  A bishop reprimanding a suspected clergyman for his leaning toward the Reformation, said to him:—­

“My joy, Dean Thomas, I am informed that ye preach the epistle and gospel every Sunday to your parishioners, and that ye take not the cow nor the upmost cloth from your parishioners; which thing is very prejudicial to the churchmen.  And therefore, Dean Thomas, I would ye took your cow and upmost cloth, or else it is too much to preach every Sunday, for in so doing ye may make the people think we should preach likewise.”—­CALDERWOOD, vol. i. p. 126.

The bishop had to burn Dean Thomas at last, being unable to work conviction into him in these matters.

[242] 21 Hen.  VIII. cap. 13.  An Act that no spiritual person shall take farms; or buy and sell for lucre and profit; or keep tan-houses or breweries.  And for pluralities of benefices and for residence.

[243] HALL, p. 767.

[244] Ibid. 766

[245] Ibid. 767.

[246] Ibid. 766.

[247] Ibid. 768.

[248] So reluctant was he, that at one time he had resolved, rather than compromise the unity of Christendom, to give way.  When the disposition of the court of Rome was no longer doubtful, “his difficultatibus permotus, cum in hoc statu res essent, dixerunt qui ejus verba exceperunt, post profundam secum de universo negotio deliberationem et mentis agitationem, tandem in haec verba prorupisse, se primum tentasse illud divortium persuasum ecclesiam Romanam hoc idem probaturum—­quod si ita ilia abhorreret ab illa sententia ut nullo modo permittendum censeret se nolle cum ea contendere neque amplius in illo negotio progredi.”

Pole, on whose authority we receive these words, says that they were heard with almost unanimous satisfaction at the council board.  The moment of hesitation was, it is almost certain, at the crisis which preceded or attended Wolsey’s fall.  It endured but for three days, and was dispelled by the influence of Cromwell, who tempted both the king and parliament into their fatal revolt.—­POLI Apologia ad Carolum Quintum.

[249] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 446.  The censures were threatened in the first brief, but the menace was withdrawn under the impression that it was not needed.

[250] Ibid.  The second brief is dated March 7, and declares that the king, if he proceeds, shall incur ipso facto the greater excommunication; that the kingdom will fall under an interdict.