Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/466

446 A servant of Cromwell in the Exchequer had married a nun. The Duke of Norfolk met the man a few days after the execution: 'I know ye well enough,' the Duke said: 'by God's body sacred it will never out of my heart as long as I live.' The servant quoted Scripture. 'I never read the Scripture,' the Duke answered, 'nor never will read it: it was merry in England afore the new learning came up; yea, I would all things were as hath been in times past.' 'I did ask of my friends,' said a Mr Lascelles, 'what news there were pertaining to God's holy Word. We have lost, I said, so noble a man, which did love and favour it so well. I supposed the ringleaders, as the Duke of Norfolk and my Lord of Winchester, not to lean that way; and I did advise that we should not be too rash and quick; for if we would let them alone, and suffer a little time, they would, I doubted not, overthrow themselves, standing manifestly against God and their prince.'

These are specimens of the language used by different men, according to their sympathies, in the summer and autumn of 1540. Meanwhile, Anne of Cleves being pensioned off, the King married, without delay or circumstance, Catherine, daughter of Lord Edmund Howard. Three full years of unproductiveness had gone since Jane Seymour's death; and