Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/500

480 , perhaps, to forget his misfortune in the business of the State. The Houses determined that the issue of it should not long remain in uncertainty. They could now dispose of the Queen in their own way. The attainder bill was read a second and third time on the 7th and 8th of February. On the 11th the Commons were invited to the Upper House. The Duke of Suffolk, in the name of the committee who had waited upon Catherine, declared that she had confessed the crime which she had committed against God, the King, and the English nation; that she implored God's forgiveness, and only entreated that her faults might not be imputed to her family. Lord Southampton added a few words, which are not preserved; the bill was declared to be passed, and the King's signature was produced and attached.

Four days later the following letter was written by a gentleman in London to his brother at Calais.

'According to my writing on Sunday last, I saw the Queen and Lady Rochford suffer within the Tower the day following; whose souls I doubt not be with God, for they made the most godly and Christian end that ever was heard tell of, I think,