"
From a life of innocence she was brought for the first time face
to face with vice, by one who should have been foremost in
shielding her from its contact. All her training taught her to
avoid the contamination sought to be forced upon her; all her
new-born love for her husband prompted her to loathe the mistress
who shared his affections. A stranger in a strange land, a
slighted queen, a neglected wife, an outraged woman, her
sufferings were bitter, Her wrongs were hard to bear. Therefore
when my lord chancellor came and made known the object of his
visit, she broke into a passion of tears, and could not speak
from force of sobs that seemed to rend her heart, and wholly
choked her utterance.
The chancellor then retired with some dismay, but waited on her
again next day, when he found her more calm. She begged he would
excuse the outburst of feeling he had witnessed, but added very
pitifully that when she thought of her misfortunes "she sometimes
gave vent to that passion which was ready to break her heart."
The advice, or, as he terms it, "the evidence of his devotion,"
which the chancellor gave was worthy of a courtier and a
philosopher. He told the young queen he doubted "she was little
beholden to her education, that had given her no better
information of the follies and iniquities of mankind; of which he
presumed the climate from whence she came could have given more
instances than this cold region would afford." Had she been
properly instructed, he furthermore hinted, she would never have
thought herself so miserable, or her condition so insupportable;
and indeed he could not comprehend the reason of her loud
complaint.
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