g
had falsely attributed to his second wife Anne Boleyn; so, again the
dreadful axe made the King a widower, and this Queen passed away as so
many in that reign had passed away before her. As an appropriate pursuit
under the circumstances, Henry then applied himself to superintending the
composition of a religious book called 'A necessary doctrine for any
Christian Man.' He must have been a little confused in his mind, I
think, at about this period; for he was so false to himself as to be true
to some one: that some one being Cranmer, whom the Duke of Norfolk and
others of his enemies tried to ruin; but to whom the King was steadfast,
and to whom he one night gave his ring, charging him when he should find
himself, next day, accused of treason, to show it to the council board.
This Cranmer did to the confusion of his enemies. I suppose the King
thought he might want him a little longer.

He married yet once more. Yes, strange to say, he found in England
another woman who would become his wife, and she was CATHERINE PARR,
widow of Lord Latimer. She leaned towards the reformed religion; and it
is some comfort to know, that she tormented the King considerably by
arguing a variety of doctrinal points with him on all possible occasions.
She had very nearly done this to her own destruction. After one of these
conversations the King in a very black mood actually instructed GARDINER,
one of his Bishops who favoured the Popish opinions, to draw a bill of
accusation against her, which would have inevitably brought her to the
scaffold where her predecessors had died, but that one of her friends
picked up the paper of instructions which had been dropped in the palace,
and gave her timely notice. She fell ill with terror; but managed the
King so well when he came to entrap her into further statements--by
saying that she had only spoken on such points to divert his mind and to
get some information from his extraordinary wisdom--that he gave her a
kiss and called her his sweetheart. And, when the Chancellor came next
day actually to take her to the Tower, the King sent him about his
business, and honoured him with the epithets of a beast, a knave, and a
fool. So near was Catherine Parr to the block, and so narrow was her
escape!

There was war with Scotland in this reign, and a short clumsy war with
France for favouring Scotland; but, the events at home were so dreadful,
and leave such an enduring stain on the country, that