te to Chapuys "that, sentence once pronounced,
the King, for all his bravado and obstinacy, would listen to reason, and
war would be unnecessary." "On that point," the Ambassador said, "she
would not find a single person to agree with her."[258]

Catherine had pictured to herself a final triumph, and she could not part
with the single hope which had cheered her through her long trial. If any
chance of accommodation remained after her peremptory answer, it was
dispelled by the discovery of the treason connected with the Nun of Kent.
The story of Elizabeth Barton has been told by me elsewhere. Here it is
enough to say that from the beginning of the divorce suit a hysterical
woman, professing to have received Divine revelations, had denounced the
King's conduct in private and public, and had influenced the judgment of
peers, bishops, statesmen, and privy councillors. She had been treated at
first as a foolish enthusiast, but her prophecies had been circulated by
an organisation of itinerant friars, and had been made use of to feed the
disaffection which had shown itself in the overtures to Chapuys. The
effect which she had produced had been recently discovered. She had been
arrested, had made a large confession, and had implicated several of the
greatest names in the realm. She had written more than once to the Pope.
She had influenced Warham. She had affected the failing intellect of
Wolsey. The Bishop of Rochester, the Marquis and Marchioness of Exeter,
had admitted her to intimate confidence. Even Sir Thomas More had at one
time half believed that she was inspired. Catherine, providentially, as
Chapuys thought, had declined to see her, but was acquainted with all that
passed between her and the Exeters.

When brought before the Council she was treated _comme une grosse
dame_--as a person of consideration. The occasion was of peculiar
solemnity, and great persons were in attendance from all parts of the
realm. The Chancellor, in the Nun's presence, gave a history of her
proceedings. He spoke of the loyalty and fidelity which had been generally
shown by the nation during the trying controversy. The King had married a
second wife to secure the succession and provide for the tranquillity of
the realm. The woman before them had instigated the Pope to censure him,
and had endeavoured to bring about a rebellion to deprive him of his
throne. The audience, who had listened quietly so far, at the word
"rebellion" broke out into c