Page:The Queens of England.djvu/372

332 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. a slender and temporary web of affinity between them! That she succeeded in winning" their affection while guiding their studies, there can be no doubt. Proofs of this exist in their letters to her, as well as in the harmony in which they are reported to have lived, — convincing and irrefragible arguments in favor of the goodness of her heart, the excellence of her temper and the soundness of her understanding. While thus conscientiously and tenderly fulfilling her conju- gal and maternal duties, Katharine found herself, very soon after she entered upon them, placed in a position not only diffi- cult, but dangerous to her own safety. Her devotion to the principles of the reformation, while it won her the esteem and reverence of those who espoused and advocated them, awak- ened the fears and excited the dislike of those opposed to any change. Some persons of little note, but of unspotted charac- ters, had formed a religious pact, professing opinions of dissent from the six articles, still held inviolable by the church and state. Information having been given to the leaders of the adverse party, they, suspicious that the queen tacitly favored these humble reformers, though she did not, and perhaps dared not, openly extend her protection to them, induced Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, to plead with the king for permission that a search should be instituted for the discovery of books meant to propagate the reformed faith. Here we find the very prelate who had so lately pronounced the nuptial benediction on Henry and his queen actively em- ployed in sowing the first seeds of dissension between them — seeds so calculated not only to destroy the happiness of both, but to endanger the life of one ; for the unrelenting cruelty of the king was too well known not to give rise to the thought of the possible, if not probable, result to Katharine, if she incurred the displeasure of her stern husband. Little was found to justify suspicion ; but that little, con- sisting of some commentaries on the Bible and an unfinished Latin concordance, offered sufficient cause, to those who were predisposed to find one, for casting into prison John Marbeck, a chorister, in whose house they were found, and three indi- viduals with whom he was associated. These three were tried and sentenced to the stake ; but Marbeck, more fortunate, escaped this terrible death, some one having interceded for him with the king. What must have been the feelings of the queen at this barbarous cruelty exercised towards men guilty of no