g, and it is
difficult to believe that he did not mean what he was saying. From the
first step in the process to the last, he maintained consistently that his
only object was to do what was right. He was thoroughly persuaded that the
course which he was pursuing was sanctioned by justice--and persons who are
satisfied that he was entitled to feel such persuasion, need not refuse him
the merit of sincerity, because (to use the language which Cromwell used at
the fatal crisis of his life[431]) "It may be well that they who medelle in
many matters are not able to answer for them all."

Cranmer, then, being fortified with this permission, and taking with him
the Bishops of London, Winchester, Lincoln, and Bath and Wells (the latter
perhaps having been chosen in consequence of his late conduct in the
convocation, to give show of fairness to the proceeding), went down to
Dunstable and opened his court there. The queen was at Ampthill, six miles
distant, having entered on her sad tenancy, it would seem, as soon as the
place had been evacuated by the gaudy hunting party of the preceding
summer. The cause being undecided, and her title being therefore uncertain,
she was called by the safe name of "the Lady Catherine," and under this
designation she was served with a citation from the archbishop to appear
before him on Saturday, the 10th of May. The bearers of the summons were
Sir Francis Bryan (an unfortunate choice, for he was cousin of the new
queen, and insolent in his manner and bearing), Sir Thomas Gage, and Lord
Vaux. She received them like herself with imperial sorrow. They delivered
their message; she announced that she refused utterly to acknowledge the
competency of the tribunal before which she was called; the court was a
mockery; the archbishop was a shadow.[432] She would neither appear before
him in person, nor commission any one to appear on her behalf.

The court had but one course before it--she was pronounced contumacious,
and the trial went forward. None of her household were tempted even by
curiosity to be present. "There came not so much as a servant of hers to
Dunstable, save such as were brought in as witnesses;" some of them having
been required to give evidence in the re-examination which was thought
necessary, as to the nature of the relation of their mistress with her
first boy husband. As soon as this disgusting question had been
sufficiently investigated, nothing remained but to pronounce judgment. Th