He thought it right still further to testify his zeal for the faith by his writings, that all might see he was ready to defend the Church, not only with his arms, but with the resources of his mind.

He dedicated therefore, to the Pope, the first offerings of his intellect and his little erudition."[347] The letter had been preceded, on 12th May, by a holocaust of Luther's books in St.Paul's Churchyard.

Wolsey sat in state on a scaffold at St.Paul's Cross, with the papal nuncio and the Archbishop of Canterbury at his feet on the right, and the imperial ambassador and Tunstall, Bishop of London, at his feet on the left; and while the books were being devoured by the flames, Fisher preached a sermon denouncing the errors contained therein.[348] But it was July before the fair copy of Henry's book was ready for presentation to Leo; possibly the interval was employed by learned men in polishing Henry's style, but the substance of the work was undoubtedly of Henry's authorship.

Such is the direct testimony of Erasmus, and there is no evidence to indicate the collaboration of others.[349] Pace was then the most intimate of Henry's counsellors, and Pace, by his own confession, was not in the secret.

Nor is the book so remarkable as to preclude the possibility of Henry's authorship.