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indignation did not subside, she reflected on his obstinate unrelenting spirit, and prepared herself for that melancholy doom which seemed to await her.

As she was conveyed to the tower, she was informed of her supposed offences, of which she had been hitherto ignorant: she made earnest protestations of her innocence, and when she entered her prison, she fell upon her knees, and prayed God so to help her, as she was not guilty of the crime imputed to her.

Of all those whom the beneficence of the queen's temper had obliged during her prosperous fortune, no one, except Cranmer, durst interpose between her and the king's fury; and the person whose advancement every breath had favoured, and every countenance had smiled upon, was now neglected and abandoned. Even her uncle, the duke of Norfolk, preferring the connexions of party to the ties of blood, was become her most dangerous enemy, and all the retainers to the catholic religion hoped, that her death would terminate the king's quarrel with Rome, and induce him to renew his intimate connexion with the Apostolic See.

In this crisis of alarm and danger, the queen endeavoured to soften the heart of her obdurate husband, by a letter, which from its simplicity and firmness, conveys internal evidence that she was not essentially culpable.

This letter had no influence on the mind of Henry. The four gentlemen who were arrested, were tried, but no legal evidence was procured against them. Smeton was prevailed on, by the vain hope of life, to confess a criminal correspondence with the queen; but her enemies never dared to confront him with her, and he was im

mediately executed. Norris, who had been much in the king's favour, received an offer of pardon, if he would confess his crime and accuse the queen; but he generously rejected that proposal, and said, that in his conscience, he believed her entirely guiltless, and would die a thousand deaths rather than calumniate an innocent per

son.

The queen and her brother were tried by a jury of peers, their uncle, the duke of Norfolk presided as lord high steward. Upon what proof or pretence the crime of incest was imputed to them, is unknown: the most trivial and absurd circumstances were admitted by the peers of England as a sufficient evidence for sacrifi‹ing an innocent queen to the cruelty of a tyrant. Though unassisted by counsel, she defended herself with great judgment and presence of mind, and the spectators could not forbear pronouncing her entirely innocent. Judgment however was given by the court, both against the queen and lord Rocheford. When sentence of death was pronounced, lifting up her hands to heaven she said: "O Father, O Creator! thou art the way, the truth and the life, thou knowest that I have not deserved this death;" -and then turning to the judges, made the most pathetic declaration of her innocence.

The queen now prepared for death. She sent her last message to the king, and acknowledged her obligations to him, in continuing thus uniformly his endeavours for her advancement: from a private gentlewoman, she said he had first made her a marchioness, then a queen, and now since he could raise her no higher in this world, he was sending her to be a saint in heaven. She then renewed the protestations of her innocence,

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and recommended her daughter to his care. Before the lieutenant of the tower, and all who approached her, she made the like declaration, and continued to behave herself with her usual serenity and even with cheerfulness.

When her execution was deferred for a few hours, she said to the lieutenant of the tower, "I am sorry I shall not die till noon, for I thought to be dead by this time, and past my pain; but the executioner, I hear, is very expert, and my neck is very slender." Upon which she grasped it in her hand and smiled.

Such was her calmness and serenity at the hour of her death, that the lieutenant of the tower said, "I have seen many men and women executed, and they have been in great sorrow; and to my knowledge, this lady hath much pleasure in death."

When she was brought to the place of execution, she expressed herself in the following man

ner:

"Good christian people! I am come hither to die according to law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak any thing of that whereof I am accused and condemned to die. But I pray God, save the king, and send him long to reign over you; for a gentle and more merciful prince was there never, and to me he was ever a good, a gentle, and a sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I request them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of this world, and of you all; and I heartily desire you to pray for me."

CATHARINE PAR.

HENRY having divorced himself from Catharine of Arragon, and Anne of Cleves, lost Jane Seymour by death, and beheaded Anne Boleyn, and Catharine Howard; espoused in 1543, lady Catharine Par, widow of Nevil, lord Latimer, "a woman," according to lord Herbert of Cherbury, "of much integrity and worth, and some maturity of years; beautified with many excellent. virtues, especially with humanity, the beauty of all other virtues.

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Henry, who was as fickle in his opinions and sentiments about religion, as he had shewn himself with regard to his wives, was continually altering his religious tenets, which he obstinately required should be believed and followed throughout the kingdom. Many persons were cruelly tortured and punished with death for not recanting their opinion; among others, queen Catharine was near falling a sacrifice to his malignity. In 1546, the king, from his extreme corpulency and bad habit of body, became afflicted with disorders which threatened his life, and rendered him more than usually peevish and passionate. The queen attended him with the most tender and dutiful care, and endeavoured by every soothing art and compliance, to allay those gusts of humour which were increased by his infirmities, to a most alarming degree. His favourite topic of conversation was theology; and Catharine whose good sense made her capable of discoursing on any subject, was frequently engaged in the argu ment; and being secretly inclined to the princi

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ples of the reformers, she unwarily discovered too much of her mind on these occasions. Henry, highly provoked that she should presume to differ from him, made complaints of her obstinacy to Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, who gladly laid hold of the opportunity to inflame the quarrel. He praised the king's anxious care for preserving the orthodoxy of his subjects; and represented, that the more elevated the person was, who was chastised, and the mere near to his person, the greater terrour would the example strike into every one, and the more glorious would the sacrifice appear to all posterity.

Henry, burried by his own impetuous temper, and encouraged by his counsellors, went so far as to order articles of impeachment to be drawn up against his consort. Wriothesely, the chancellor, executed his commands; and having obtained the signature of the warrant, he chanced to drop this important paper from his pocket; and as some persons of the queen's party found it, it was immediately carried to her. She was sensible of the extreine danger to which she was exposed; but did not despair of being able by her prudence and address, still to elude the efforts of her enemies. She paid her usual visit to the king, and found him in a more serene disposition than she had reason to expect. He entered on a subject which was so familiar to him, and he seemed to challenge her to an argument in divinity. She gently declined the conversation, and observed that such profound speculations were ill suited to the natural imbecility of the sex. "Women," said she, by their first creation, were made subject to men, the female after the image of the male; it belonged to the husband to choose principles for his wife; the wife's duty

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