lty of much
that was laid to her charge, the enlightenment of Henry as to her life
before and after marriage was intended to serve the political and
religious ends of those who were instrumental in it.

The story as set forth by Cranmer was a dreadful one. It appears that a
man named John Lascelles, who was a strong Protestant, and had already
foretold the overthrow of Norfolk and Gardiner,[215] went to Cranmer and
said that he had been visiting in Sussex a sister of his, whose married
name was Hall. She had formerly been in the service of the Howard family
and of the Dowager-Duchess of Norfolk, in whose houses Katharine Howard
had passed her neglected childhood; and Lascelles, recalling the fact,
had, he said, recommended his sister to apply to the young Queen, whom she
had known so intimately as a girl, for a place in the household. "No,"
replied the sister, "I will not do that; but I am very sorry for her."
"Why are you sorry for her?" asked Lascelles. "Marry," quoth she, "because
she is light, both in living and conditions" (_i.e._ behaviour). The
brother asked for further particulars, and, thus pressed, Mary Hall
related that "one Francis Derham had lain in bed with her, and between the
sheets in his doublet and hose, a hundred nights; and a maid in the house
had said that she would lie no longer with her (Katharine) because she
knew not what matrimony was. Moreover, one Mannock, a servant of the
Dowager-Duchess, knew and spoke of a private mark upon the Queen's body."
This was the document which Cranmer handed to the King, "not having the
heart to say it by word of mouth": and it must be admitted that as it was
only a bit of second-hand scandal, without corroboration, and could not
refer to any period subsequent to Katharine's marriage, it did not amount
to much. Henry is represented as having been inclined to make light of it,
which was natural, but he nevertheless summoned Fitzwilliam (Southampton),
Lord Russell (Lord Admiral), Sir Anthony Browne, and Wriothesley, and
deputed to them the inquiry into the whole matter. Fitzwilliam hurried to
London and then to Sussex to examine Lascelles and his sister, whilst the
others were sent to take the depositions of Derham, who was now in
Katharine's service, and was ordered to be apprehended on a charge of
piracy in Ireland sometime previously, and Mannock, who was a musician in
the household of the Duchess.

On the 5th November the ministers came to Hampton Court with t