Now, as regards the suppression of the larger monasteries, they were to be carried out, if possible, by voluntary surrender. I shall show that this was purely a sham. The Commissioners, no doubt, tried in every way to persuade them to surrender by promising the abbots and priors good pensions during life, because no charges of immorality could have been preferred against them. In 1536-7, there were but three surrenders. In 1537-8 there were twenty-four. The Commissioners induced those who surrendered to persuade others to follow their example, for it was the King’s policy to let the public see that the surrenders were voluntarily made. When persuasion failed, the Commissioners used threats, and so we read that the monks of the Charterhouse were committed like common felons to Newgate, where five of them died, and five more were on the point of death from the cruel and barbarous treatment they received within the walls of that prison. But the most revolting act of pure despotism on the part of Henry VIII. was the execution of Whiting, abbot of Glastonbury, Coke, abbot of Reading, and Beche, abbot of St. John’s, Colchester. These despotic acts drove terror into those who had not yet surrendered. In 1538-9, one hundred and seventy-four surrendered, and in 1539-40, seventy-six. In April, 1539, a slavish Parliament ratified the surrenders up to that time, and allowed the King to extend the Act to all the other monasteries which had not yet surrendered, by 31 Henry VIII. c. xiii., “An Act for the dissolution of monasteries and abbeys,” by which about 277 monasteries of the value of £200 a year or upwards, were dissolved; and what makes their dissolution more remarkable and important, is that all the property of 193 of them was and is discharged of tithes up to the present time. Over 653 monasteries were dissolved by the Acts of 1536 and 1540, with properties equal to £250,000 per annum. In the preamble of the above Act we do not find those grave charges hurled against monks which appear in the Act which suppressed the smaller monasteries in 1535. In order to pass the above Acts, some of the nobility were promised estates by free gifts from the King, others obtained them by easy purchase. The members of the House of Commons were also promised large shares, and of course Henry’s agents dangled before the people: “No more subsidies, no fifteenths, no loans, no common aids,” as the wealth of the dissolved monasteries was considered ample to maintain an army of 40,000 men, and so all taxation may in future be dispensed with! The Church was also to be conciliated. There were to be twenty-one bishoprics created, with cathedrals, deans, and chapters all endowed out of the property. This number was, however, reduced to six. Westminster existed only for about nine years. Five now exist. Gloucester and Bristol were united in 1836; but when sufficient funds are collected to endow the Bristol bishopric, they are to be separated.