philosophic form of religious belief, and Puritanism the soundest
sort of ethical creed. The Church of England as understood by his
father was to him the healthiest of ecclesiastical institutions,
teaching godliness, inculcating duty, saying as little as possible
about dogma. Religion, he said, was meant to be obeyed, not to be
examined. The sun was invaluable, unless you looked at it
If you looked at it, you saw neither it nor anything else. But for
the Reformation, England, like France, might be under a worthless
despot sanctified by the Church, or, like Spain, be trampled under
the feet of priests. The statutes of Henry VIII. were the title-
deeds of the English Church. Henry established the supremacy of the
State by letters patent, praemunire, and conge d'elire. The old
bluebeard Henry, who spent his whole time in murdering his wives,
was a nursery toy. The real Henry put two wives to death by lawful
means on definite and substantial charges of which death was the
penalty. His subjects were quite as anxious as he could be that he
should have a male heir, and few now suppose that Anne Boleyn, or
Katharine Howard, was faithful to her husband. The Church of Rome
would have dethroned Henry and incited his subjects to rebellion. It
was war to the knife, and the King won.

Froude regarded Henry's victory as the salvation of England. The
dissolution of the monasteries was an incident in the struggle,
necessary for the public interest, and justified by the evidence.
Although part of their confiscated property was bestowed upon
statesmen and courtiers, part went to found new Cathedral colleges,
or grammar schools, and part to strengthen the national defences.
Henry was a strange mixture, quite as much patriot as tyrant, and
not safe enough on his throne to tolerate Popery. In Froude's view
he stood for the nation. More and Fisher were for a foreign power.