We will now subject him to a thorough analysis, and no fibre of his
heart, no atom of his brain shall remain unnoticed by us. We will
observe him in his domestic, his political, and his religious life,
and get a perfectly clear view of every peculiarity of his
character, in order that we may deal with him accordingly. Let us,
then, speak first of his wives. Their lives and deaths afford you
excellent finger-posts; for I do not deny that it is an extremely
difficult and dangerous undertaking to be Henry's consort. There is
needed for it much personal courage and very great self-control.
Know you which, of all his wives, possessed these in the highest
degree? It was his first consort, Catharine of Aragon! By Heaven,
she was a sensible woman, and born a queen! Henry, avaricious as he
was, would gladly have given the best jewel in his crown, if he
could have detected but a shadow, the slightest trace of
unfaithfulness in her. But there was absolutely no means of sending
this woman to the scaffold, and at that time he was as yet too
cowardly and too virtuous to put her out of the way by poison. He,
therefore, endured her long, until she was an old woman with gray
hairs, and disagreeable for his eyes to look upon. So after he had
been married to her seventeen years, the good, pious king was all at
once seized with a conscientious scruple, and because he had read in
the Bible, 'Thou shalt not marry thy sister,' dreadful pangs of
conscience came upon the noble and crafty monarch. He fell upon his
knees and beat his breast, and cried: 'I have committed a great sin;
for I have married my brother's wife, and consequently my sister.
But I will make amends for it. I will dissolve this adulterous
marriage!'--Do you know, child, why he would dissolve it?"

"Because he loved Anne Boleyn!" said Jane, with a smile.