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FRANCIS LANCELOTT, ESQ. Queens of England. Vol.1.

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FRANCIS LANCELOTT, ESQ.
Queens of England. Vol.1.
page 450



licy, delegated the sole direction of the proceedings against his unhappy consort to Cranmer and the council, who placed Katherine under arrest, deprived her of her keys, and on the thirteenth of November removed her to Sion House, where she was treated with the respect due to her rank, two apartments being reserved exclusively for her accommodation, whilst several others were allotted to that of her attendants. In anticipation of her attainder, nenry took possession of all her personal property, ordered that, the day before her departure to Sion House, all the ladies, gentlemen, and gentlewomen of her household should be made acquainted with her misdoings, saving such acts as might imply a precontract, which subject was to be carefully avoided ; and as a royal favour, he allowed her six French hoods, with edges of goldsmiths' work, but without pearls or diamonds, and six changes of rich apparel, with the appurtenances belonging thereto, excepting also pearls, diamonds, or other precious stones. As Katherine would not admit the pre-contract, the council resolved to proceed against her for the crime of adultery. To procure evidence of her guilt, her whole conduct since she became Queen was strictly scrutinized ; and as it was discovered that at Lincoln she had permitted Thomas Culpepper to remain in company with her and Lady Rochford from eleven o'clock at night till two in the morning, it was resolved to fix the crime upon him, and also, if possible, to make Derham, who was already in custody, a partner in his guilt. Accordingly, Culpepper and the base Lady Koch ford, who had borne murderous testimony against her own husband when Anne Boleyn was brought to the block, were both taken into custody. The Queen's female attendants were next strictly examined, but without eliciting anything like a proof of the guilt of the parties accused. Katharine Tylney and Margaret Marton, two of the Queen's chamberers, bribed, it is supposed, by the unscrupulous Wriothesley, bore the strongest evidence against their rovai mistress. Besides other frivolous details, they swore that Culpepper, as reported, had on one occasion, at Lincoln, visited the Queen at night; that they had conveyed sundry strange messages to and from Katherine and Lady Rochford; that they believed Lady Rochford had carried letters to and from the Queen and Culpepper; and that on one occasion, when at Fontefract, the Queen, when in her bedchamber with only Lady Rochford, bad locked and bolted the door so securely, that when the King's majesty went unexpectedly to pass the night there, there was a great noise inside, and some time elapsed before he could gain admittance. Shortly after obtaining this unsatisfactory evidence, the council learned that the arrest of Derham and the Queen had so alarmed the weak-minded old Duchess of Norfolk, that she busied herself to ascertain how matters were proceeding, and endeavoured to purchase Derham s silence by a presento! ten pounds. This information the council laid before the king ; and as Derham had left papers and other effects at the Duchess's house at Lambeth, the Duke of Norfolk was, by Henry*s orders, dispatched to take possession of them. But, before his arrival, the Duchess, assisted by several of her servants, broke open Derham's trunks, and, as it was supposed, took out of them and destroyed all writings and articles that might he brought against any of the parties implicated in the Queen's evil doings ; a step which so irritated the King, that the Duchess herself, together with her daughter, the Countess of Bridgewater, the Lord William Howard and his wife, Derham's friend Damport, Manox, the musician, and eight or nine other persons of inferior rank in tho Duchess's service, were committed to the Tower, and rigorously examined by the council. From the menials, nothing of importance could be learned, beyond the known fact that whilst they and tho smith who picked the lock stood by, the Duchess had taken all the papers out of Derham's trunks, and carried them away, saying, that she would read them at her leisure in private. Some of these papers were writings, done up in bundles, and others were ballads and music for the lute. Derham, when cross-examined,


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