trying to anticipate Anne's kinsman, Sackville, by writing the first tragedy in his native tongue. He read his verses to the Queen and George, but neither of these critics had the sycophancy to approve his lines. They knew good verses, and the King's were bad. Henry was deeply hurt, and made no secret of his wounded vanity. The Queen and George were laughing at him; so he put his ballads under his arm, and carried them from house to house; appealing to more prudent critics than his consort and his brother-in-law.

7. Norfolk took advantage of these poetic tiffs to press against his niece. The Queen was vexed with Norfolk on her aunt's account; for though the Duchess was no friend to her, she had a woman's feeling for the outraged wife. When Norfolk came to court, he spoke to her in haughty and aggressive tones. He wished to quarrel, and she met his saucy tongue with high and scathing words. Even in a better cause, Norfolk was no match for Anne; but the lover of Bess Holland, who allowed that shameless woman to attend his child, lay open to the Queen's direct attack. Anne spared the sinner little, and he left her presence in a fit of choler, saying he was treated worse than a dog, and calling his niece by names familiar to his comrades in the camp. Suffolk had used these terms before; and men whose heads the Queen had saved began to speak of her by these opprobrious and revolting

names.

8. An old and bitter enemy of priests, Norfolk rejoiced that Clement was breaking with the King.

He thought the reign of priests and cardinals at an end, and longed to show his master the advantages of governing by the sword. No conscientious scruples stayed his hand. Peers like Exeter and Montagu thought of Catharine; peers like Dacres and Dorset thought of Clement; but Norfolk was concerned for no one save himself. No leaning towards his Church and Queen disturbed his mind when dealing with the lay and clerical impugners of the law. More was lodged in the Tower as readily as Fisher, and a scholar's blood was not more sacred in his fancy than a priest's. Kingston enjoyed a busy time. The prior and proctor of the Carthusians were lodged in the Tower, and when the priors of Belville and Axholme came to London and refused to take the oaths, they too were swept into the hold. By help of Hales and Audley, Norfolk hung them all. Some monks of Syon and other convents died with them; all died bravely, as became true men; the victims of the revolution which they had not made. Fisher came next; the noblest of his cloth. Next after him came More, the noblest of them all. Audley detested More, as dull and wicked men detest their brilliant rivals, and this tool of Norfolk had a fiend's delight in murdering his illustrious predecessor in the marble chair.

BOOK THE TWENTY-THIRD.

REACTION.

CHAPTER I.

The Conspirators.

1535.

1. WHEN the Maid of Kent was taken, Gertrude of Exeter made haste to seek a pardon from the crown. Gertrude was no less guilty than the nun. In a moral sense, she was more guilty; being a better judge of what was true and false; yet sinning openly against the law. It was the countenance of women like Lady Exeter that made the village girl so dangerous to the public peace. Yet there was no desire at court to deal with her offence in a vindictive spirit. She appeared to be extremely sorry for her fault, "in frequenting the conversation and company of that most unworthy, subtle, and deceivable woman, called the Holy Maid of Kent, and in giving to the same and her adherents overmuch trust and light credence in their most malicious and detestable proceedings." She was humble; she was penitent. "I am a woman, easily seduced. I cannot excuse my offences." Lady Exeter declared

on her salvation that she had never harboured grudge against the Queen and her offspring. Anne was satisfied with her submission, and a royal pardon for the penitent marchioness was allowed to pass the seal.

2. Profuse in thanks and promises, Lady Exeter wrote to Henry, in acknowledging her pardon: "I protest before Almighty God, who knoweth all truth, I never had any such intent nor cogitation against your most royal majesty, the Queen's grace, your and her posterity . . . and so our Lord help me in my most need." Yet after swearing this oath, Gertrude ran to Chapuys' chambers, where she told the Savoyard all the secrets of the royal closet, and perverted everything she told him to the Queen's disgrace!

3. Lady Salisbury was no less active than Lady Exeter. These women had the same motives as Suffolk for detesting Anne. Anne came between them and the Crown. Lady Exeter's husband and Lady Salisbury's son were princes of the blood. Anne's progeny cut them off. The women of their kindred and connexion helped them to defame the Queen. Lady Essex and Lady Kildare kept up a correspondence with the Spanish agent; so that Chapuys heard of every rumour in the closet and the ante-room. Yet none of these great ladies were of so much use to him as Lady Willoughby. Unlike Lady Exeter, who swore to one queen in public, while serving another queen in secret, Lady Willoughby was a constant friend and open foe. No frown abashed her eye. The Barbican in which she

lived was not more stanch than she. A native of Castille, she could intrigue with monks and friars to whom an English lady dared not speak; and there was nothing on the earth beneath or in the heavens above that Lady Willoughby would not dare for Catharine's sake.

4. Catharine was calling in her pride and agony on Clement, when that aged and unhappy pontiff passed away, and Alessandro Farnese, his chief assailant in the Sacred College, was elected Pope as Paul the Third. A man of taste and liberal thought, Farnese had always been an advocate for the divorce; yet Catharine fancied he must stand to what his predecessor in the Papacy had done. Nor was she wholly wrong. Charles brought his sword to bear on Paul. A timid man, with illegitimate children to establish, Paul was anxious to avoid a quarrel with the Emperor. Charles might give his natural son, Pietro Luigi, an Italian duchy. Charles had a natural daughter, Marguerite, whom the Pope desired to have for Ottavio Farnese. What could England do for Paul compared with Spain and Austria! On the call of Charles, the Pontiff, casting to the winds his true conviction, laid the country under curse and ban, for having done a thing which Paul himself had always said was right!

5. The King's offences were recited in the papal bull. Ninety days were allowed to him for repentance; sixty days were given to his abettors. In default of his submission, he and his kingdom were cast out bodily from the fold of Christ. Henry