Compare 1577 edition: 1 Canonizing of kings, [...].By reason whereof, king Henrie the seauenth sued to Pope Iulio the second, to haue him canoni|zed a saint. But for that the canonizing of a king sée|med to be more costlie than for a bishop, the said king left off his sute in that behalfe; thinking better to saue his monie, than to purchase a new holie daie of saint Henrie with so great a price, Abr. Fl. ex I.S. pag. 730, 731, &c. remitting to God the iudgement of his will and intent. ¶But bicause princes princelie qualified, can not be too highlie praised, I will here record a collection of his com|mendable conditions, dooings, and saiengs, as I find them set downe to my hand, to his perpetuall re|nowme; and right worthie of imitation, not onelie of such as are singled out from among infinite thou|sands, to be magnified with roialtie; but also of pri|uat and meane men that conuerse and liue one with an other in the world.

This king hauing inioied as great prosperitie as fauourable fortune could afoord, & as great troubles on the other side as she frowning could powre out; yet in both the states he was patient and vertuous, that he maie be a patterne of most perfect vertue, as he was a worthie example of fortunes inconstan|cie. He was plaine, vpright, farre from fraud, wholie giuen to praier, reading of scriptures, and almes|deeds; of such integritie of life, that the bishop which had béene his confessour ten yeares, auouched that he had not all that time committed anie mortall crime: so continent, as suspicion of vnchast life ne|uer touched him: and hauing in Christmasse a shew of yoong women with their bare breasts laid out pre|sented before him, he immediatlie departed with these words:

Fie, fie, for shame; forsooth you be too blame.

Before his marriage, he liked not that women should enter his chamber, and for this respect he com|mitted his two brethren by the moothers side, Iasper and Edmund, to most honest & vertuous prelats to be brought vp. So farre he was from couetousnesse, that when the executors of his vncle the bishop of Winchester, surnamed the rich cardinall, would haue giuen him two thousand pounds, he plainelie refused it, willing them to discharge the will of the departed, and would scarselie condescend at length to accept the same summe of monie toward the in|dowing of his colleges in Cambridge & Eaton. He was religiouslie affected (as the time then was) that at principall holidaies, he would weare sackecloth next his skin. Oth he vsed none, but in most earnest matters these words: Forsooth and forsooth.