f the Order of the Garter. In his right hand he holds
the gold baton of his office as Earl Marshal, and in his left the White
Staff of the Lord Chamberlain.

Illustration: PLATE 36
THOMAS HOWARD, THIRD DUKE OF NORFOLK
_Oils. Windsor Castle_

According to Roper, Norfolk, then Earl of Surrey, was a great friend of
Sir Thomas More. But it would be hard to imagine a greater contrast than
the records of the two men. The latter a pattern of personal purity and
lofty ideals; the former as venal as the King's Parliaments, and as
unscrupulous in pursuit of his passions as the King himself.

Norfolk's star of influence had already waxed and waned with the evil
destinies of one niece, before it arose anew with the fortunes of
another only to plunge sharply after them into the gulf of ruin. For the
present he and Gardiner, restored to favour with him, were all-powerful.
Their calculations seemed to prosper, too, beyond their most ambitious
dreams, when, instead of ruling through a rival to Anne who should be
the King's mistress, they were to rule through a legal successor. For
the King was nothing if not technically correct; and from the moment
when the fatal royal glance flamed on Catherine Howard when Gardiner was
entertaining him, nothing would do but she should become his wife. And
thus once more the wild wheel of Fortune was to make Norfolk uncle to a
Queen of England.

Anne was divorced on the 12th of July, 1540, and on the 28th of the
same month, on the very day when Thomas Cromwell was beheaded, the King
married Anne Boleyn's cousin, Catherine Howard. On the 8th of August she
was proclaimed Queen, and on the 15th of that month she was publicly
prayed for as such in all the churches of the realm. Well might she be!
Dry your outraged tears, Anne of Cleves, and give thanks to God that you
are well out of it!

There is a miniature in the Windsor Collection now believed to be
Holbein's portrait of Catherine Howard. Until recently it was held to be
the portrait of Catherine Parr. But there is a larger portrait of the
former among the Windsor drawings, a study evidently made for an oil
painting (Plate 37). By this it seems that she had auburn hair, hazel
eyes, a fair complexion, and a piquant smile. There is a painting which
accords with this drawing in the Duke of Buccleuch's collection, but it
is said to be by a French artist.

Illustration: PLATE 37
CATHERINE HOWARD
_Chalk Drawing. Windsor Castle_

In the a