The king was thrown into great excitement by the news of Catherine's confession of the reality of his misfortune. The very intensity of his love served to increase his trouble and his wrath; but, for all this, some feeling of pity remained in his heart. 'Return to her,' he said to Cranmer, 'and first make use of the strongest expressions to give her a sense of the greatness of her offences; secondly, state to her what the law provides in such cases, and what she must suffer for her crime; and lastly express to her my feelings of pity and forgiveness.' Cranmer returned to Catherine and found her in a fit of passion so violent that he never remembered--so he wrote to the king--seeing any creature in such a state. The keepers told him that this vehement rage had continued from his departure from her.[399] 'It would have pitied,' said the good archbishop, 'any man's heart in the world to have looked upon her.' Indeed, she was almost in a frenzy; she was not without strength, but her strength was that of a frantic person. The archbishop had had too much experience in the cure of souls, to adopt the order prescribed by the king. He saw that if he spoke first to her of the crime and its punishment, he might throw her into some dangerous ecstasy, from which she could not be rescued. He therefore began with the last part of the royal message, and told the queen that his majesty's mercy extended to her, and that he had compassion on her misfortune. Catherine hereupon lifted up her hands, became quiet, and gave utterance to the humblest thanksgivings to the king who showed her so much mercy. She became more self-possessed; continuing, however, to sob and weep. But 'after a little pausing, she suddenly fell into a new rage, much worse than she was before.'[400]