Page:The Queens of England.djvu/316

 276 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. The angry spirit of Henry broke forth with unbridled fury in the case of Elizabeth Barton, a nun, called the Holy Maid of Kent. This poor woman, a person of weak intellect, excited by the general sympathy felt among the religious in England for Katharine, denounced the divorce and marriage of Henry with Anne Boleyn in the incoherent ravings of her disordered imagination. For this act the wretched woman was attainted of high treason and executed, instead of being consigned to a hospital ; and Sir Thomas More and Fisher, bishop of Rochester, incurred the hatred of Henry for being suspected of giving ear to her wild predictions. Katharine removed from More to Ampthill. Here she employed her hours in prayer and good works, her only amusement being embroidery, in which she ex- celled and took much pleasure. Having heard of the illness of the Princess Mary, which occurred soon after her cruel separa- tion from her mother, and probably in consequence of it, Kath- arine entreated, through Cromwell, to have permission to see her child ; but this entreaty, though made in a spirit of humility and motherly tenderness, that must have wrought on any heart less stern than Henry's, was refused. The residence of Kath- arine was now removed to Bugden, a few miles from Hunting- don, whence the letters from her to the Princess Mary are sup- posed to have been written. Here, her ill-health increasing, she was observed to devote even more time than before to pious contemplation and prayer. For hours she would remain in the privacy of her chamber, on her knees, bathed in tears. It is piteous to think of this proud woman reduced to such sorrow, and though looking only to death for a release from it, too deeply attached to her daughter to desire that relief. But even the quiet of this solitude was denied her ; for it was broken by the visits of those sent by Henry from time to time to offer her some new insult, either by bringing before her articles to prove why she should resign all right to the title of queen or wife to Henry, or to insist that those around her addressed her only as princess-dowager. Such visits, however they angered or tortured her, never induced her to resign her rights, nor to betray any hatred of her who had usurped them. The cruelties that marked the reign of Henry at this period prove that the gratification of his passion for Anne Boleyn had not smoothed his rugged nature. The violent deaths of Sir Thomas More and Fisher, bishop of Rochester, had greatly shocked and grieved Katharine ; and the effect on her health