It is a noble one, and to discredit great men with low motives is the vice of ignoble minds.

The reign of Henry VIII., after Wolsey's fall, was rich in horrors and in tragical catastrophes.

But it was not a mere carnival of lust and blood.

High principles were at stake, and profound issues divided parties, beside which the levity of Anne Boleyn and the eyes of Jane Seymour were not worth a moment's thought.

Hobbes wondered that a Parliament man worth thousands of pounds, like Hampden, to pay twenty shillings for ship-money, as if the amount had anything to do with the principle that taxes could only be levied by the House of Commons.
Henry's vices are dust in the balance against the fact that he stood for England against Rome.