is bad habit of body, began both to
threaten his life and to render him even more than usually peevish and
passionate. The queen attended him with the most tender and dutiful
care, and endeavored, by every soothing art and compliance, to allay
those gusts of humor to which he was become so subject. His favorite
topic of conversation was theology; and Catharine, whose good sense
enabled her to discourse on any subject, was frequently engaged in
the argument, and being secretly inclined to the principles of
the reformers, she unwarily betrayed too much of her mind on these
occasions. Henry, highly provoked that she should presume to differ from
him, complained of her obstinacy to Gardiner, who gladly laid hold of
the opportunity to inflame the quarrel. He praised the king's anxious
concern for preserving the orthodoxy of his subjects; and represented,
that the more elevated the person was who was chastised, and the more
near to his person, the greater terror would the example strike
into every one, and the more glorious would the sacrifice appear to
posterity. The chancellor, being consulted, was engaged by religious
zeal to second these topics; and Henry, hurried on by his own impetuous
temper, and encouraged by his counsellors, went so far as to order
articles of impeachment to be drawn up against his consort. Wriothesely
executed his commands; and soon after brought the paper to him to be
signed; for, as it was high treason to throw slander upon the queen,
he might otherwise have been questioned for his temerity. By some means
this important paper fell into the hands of one of the queen's friends,
who immediately carried the intelligence to her. She was sensible of the
extreme danger to which she was exposed; but did not despair of being
able, by her prudence and address, still to elude the efforts of her
enemies. She paid her usual visit to the king, and found him in a more
serene disposition than she had reason to expect. He entered on the
subject which was so familiar to him; and he seemed to challenge her
to an argument in divinity. She gently declined the conversation, and
remarked, that such profound speculations were ill suited to the natural
imbecility of her sex. Women, she said, by their first creation, were
made subject to men: the male was created after the image of God, the
female after the image of the male: it belonged to the husband to choose
principles for his wife; the wife's duty was, in all cases, to