[61] This was written before the death of the courtiers already mentioned. [62] See the letters on the question of the appointment of the Abbess of Wilton in Fiddes' "Life of Wolsey," and the _Calendar Henry VIII._, vol. 4, part 2, &c. [63] This letter was stated by Sir H. Ellis in his "Original Letters" to be from Katharine and Henry; and many false presumptions with regard to their relations at this time have been founded on the error. [64] It will be remarked that her statement was limited to the fact that she had remained intact _da lui_, "by him." This might well be true, and yet there might be grounds for Henry's silence in non-confirmation of her public and repeated reiteration of the statement in the course of the proceedings, and for the stress laid by his advocates upon the boyish boast of Arthur related in an earlier chapter. The episode of the young cleric, Diego Fernandez, must not be forgotten in this connection. [65] The words, often quoted, are given by Hall. [66] _Calendar Henry VIII._, vol. 4, part 2. [67] Wolsey to Sir Gregory Casale, 1st November 1528. _Calendar Henry VIII._, vol. 4, part 2. [68] Or as Henry himself puts it in his letters to his envoys in Rome, "for him to have two legal wives instead of one," Katharine in a convent and the other by his side. [69] So desirous was the Papal interest to persuade Katharine to this course that one of the Cardinals in Rome (Salviati) told the Emperor's envoy Mai that she would be very unwise to resist further or she might be poisoned, as the English ambassadors had hinted she would be. Mai's reply was that "the Queen was ready to incur that danger rather than be a bad wife and prejudice her daughter." (_Calendar Henry VIII._, vol. 4, part 3.) [70] Hall's _Chronicle_. [71] This is Hall's version. Du Bellay, the French ambassador (_Calendar Henry VIII._, vol. 4, part 2), adds that Henry began to hector at the end of the speech, saying that if any one dared in future to speak of the matter in a way disrespectful to him he would let him know who was master. "There was no head so fine," he said, "that he would not make it fly." [72] _Calendar Henry VIII._, vol. 4, part 2. "Intended Address of the Legates to the Queen." [73] This is not surprising, as only a month before she had been reproved and threatened for not being sad enough.