proof of guilt, yet
it is a proof of the absence of innocence.

[Sidenote: The news reaches Cranmer. He is ordered to Lambeth till he
hears further.]

Meanwhile, on the Tuesday morning, a rumour of the queen's arrest was
rife in London; and the news for the first time reached the ears of
Cranmer. The archbishop was absent from home, but in the course of the
day he received an order, through Cromwell, to repair to his palace, and
remain there till he heard further. With what thoughts he obeyed this
command may be gathered from the letter which, on the following morning,
he wrote to Henry. The fortunes of the Reformation had been so closely
linked to those of the queen, that he trembled for the consequences to
the church of the king's too just indignation. If the barren womb of
Catherine had seemed a judgment against the first marriage, the shameful
issue of the second might be regarded too probably as a witness against
that and against every act which had been connected with it. Full of
these forebodings, yet not too wholly occupied with them to forget the
unhappy queen, he addressed the king, early on Wednesday, in the
following language:--

[Sidenote: He writes to the king. He implores Henry to bear his
misfortune like a man,]

[Sidenote: And to accept submissively the trial which God has sent upon
him.]

"Please it your most noble Grace to be advertised, that at your Grace's
commandment, by Mr. Secretary's letter, written in your Grace's name, I
came to Lambeth yesterday, and there I do remain to know your Grace's
further pleasure. And forasmuch as without your Grace's commandment, I
dare not, contrary to the contents of the said letter, presume to come
unto your Grace's presence; nevertheless, of my most bounden duty, I can
do no less than most humbly to desire your Grace, by your great wisdom,
and by the assistance of God's help, somewhat to suppress the deep
sorrows of your Grace's heart, and to take all adversities of God's
hands both patiently and thankfully. I cannot deny but your Grace hath
good cause many ways of lamentable heaviness; and also, that in the
wrongful estimation of the world, your Grace's honour of every part is
so highly touched (whether the things that commonly be spoken of be true
or not), that I remember not that ever Almighty God sent unto your Grace
any like occasion to try your Grace's constancy throughout, whether your
Highness can be content to take of God's hands as well things